What digital marketer doesn’t love a good marketing quote?

In this post, I’ve compiled 101 of the very best marketing quotes from business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and more — each selected to wow you, inspire you or give you a swift kick in the rear.

What are we waiting for? Let’s jump right in.

1. “Marketing is a race without a finishing line.” — Philip Kotler
2. “Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world you are one.” — Robert Rose
3. “Look for people who are making tons of money but they are lazy and stupid. Watch. Learn. Then go do the same thing, but don’t be lazy, and don’t be stupid.” — Jon Morrow
4. “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time.” — Elon Musk
5. “We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” — Craig Davis
6. “Discoverability equals sales in the digital world.” — Dev Chandan
7. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
8. “Ignoring online marketing is like opening a business but not telling anyone.” — Kevin Bornemann
9. “Less is more. Keeping it simple takes time and effort.” — Jeff Bullas
10. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” — Jim Rohn
11. “Social media is about the people. Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.” — Matt Goulart
12. “Market like the year you are in.” — Gary Vaynerchuk
13. “Our jobs as marketers are to understand how the customer wants to buy and help them to do so.” — Bryan Eisenberg
14. “Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.” — Ann Handley
15. “Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” — Brian Solis
16. “Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” — David Beebe
17. “Know thyself. Know the customer. Innovate.” — Beth Comstock
18. “Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.” — Brian Chesky
19. “On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline copy, but only 2 out 10 will read the rest.” — Brian Clark
20. “Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” — Jay Baer
21. “Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.” — Beth Comstock
22. “Marketing is really just about sharing your passion.” — Michael Hyatt
23. “Every company needs two marketing departments, one that has mastered the tactics of getting rid of today’s products and the other that has mastered the strategy of imagining tomorrow’s products.” — Philip Kotler
24. “Not viewing your email marketing as content is a mistake.” — Chris Baggott
25. “Social media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide you.” — Matt Goulart
26. “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” — Robert McKee
27. “Hard sell marketing is a contradiction.” — Philip Kotler
28. “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” — Walt Disney
29. “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” — Benjamin Franklin
30. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney
31. “Make your customers the hero of your stories.” — Ann Handley
32. “Your top of the funnel content must be intellectually divorced from your product but emotionally wed to it.” — Joe Chernov
33. “Getting the like is easy. It’s a light action. Anything else requires trust.” — Jon Loomer
34. “Incorporate easy email marketing strategies with your Facebook efforts to see bigger results (aka profits!).” — Amy Porterfield
35. “Successful companies in social media function more like entertainment companies, publishers, or party planners than as traditional advertisers.” — Erik Qualman
36. “Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” — Jean Luc Godard
37. “If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life.” — Brian Chesky
38. “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” — Scott Belsky
39. “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” — Jeff Bezos
40. “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” — Andrew Davis
41. “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” — Steve Jobs
42. “Instead of one-way interruption, web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the right moment that a buyer needs it.” — David Meerman Scott
43. “Master the topic, the message, and the delivery.” — Steve Jobs
44. “Social media requires that business leaders start thinking like small-town shop owners. This means taking the long view and avoiding short-term benchmarks to gauge progress. It means allowing the personality, heart, and soul of the people who run all levels of the business to show.” — Gary Vaynerchuk
45. “Nothing begets creativity like constraints.” — Christopher Mims
46. “You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.” — Beth Comstock
47. “Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.” — Joe Chernov
48. “If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger.” — Jay Baer
49. “You can’t just place a few “Buy” buttons on your website and expect your visitors to buy.” — Neil Patel
50. “If your evergreen content is forgettable, being “timeless” is pretty pointless.” — Kevin J. Duncan
51. “Content is the atomic particle of all digital marketing.” — Rebecca Lieb
52. “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” — Seth Godin
53. “Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve that problem.” — Laura Fitton
54. “First, think. Second, dream. Third, believe. And finally, dare.” — Walt Disney
55. “Don’t build links. Build relationships.” — Rand Fishkin
56. “Social media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people, and the people will provide you.” — Matt Goulart
57. “Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.” — Anthony Volodki
58. “Our head of social media is the customer.” — McDonald’s
59. “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” — Henry Ford
60. “A great headline mixed with a lame opening is like inviting someone into your house, only to slam the door in their face as they approach.” — Brian Clark
61. “Content is the reason search began in the first place.” — Lee Odden
62. “Marketers need to build digital relationships and reputation before closing a sale.” — Chris Brogan
63. “I use social media as an idea generator, trend mapper, and strategic compass for all of our online business ventures.” — Paul Barron
64. “In network marketing, the whole point is not to sell a product but to build a network, an army of people who are all representing that same product or service to share with others.” — Robert Kiyosaki
65. “If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing.” — Guy Kawasaki
66. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” — Arianna Huffington
67. “You don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea.” — Larry Page
68. “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” — Jeff Bezos
69. “Before you create any more ‘great content,’ figure out how you are going to market it first.” — Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett
70. “Content is King, but engagement is Queen, and the lady rules the house!” — Mari Smith
71. “Start an editorial calendar that everyone involved in your blog (writers, editors, marketing team, etc.) can access.” — Kristi Hines
72. “Leverage the strength that you have: that no one else can be you.” — Todd Wheatland
73. “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” — Tom Fishburne
74. “Going viral is not an outcome; it”s a happening. Sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn’t. Just remember, fans are vanity and sales are sanity.” — Lori Taylor
75. “If great content is the hero, then banners are the villain.” — Michael Brenner
76. “What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.” — David Ogilvy
77. “Content marketing represents the gap between what brands produce and what consumers actually want.” — Michael Brenner
78. “Don’t settle: Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.” — Chris Brogan
79. “To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.” — George Kneller
80. “Worry is a waste of imagination.” — Walt Disney
81. “What separates good content from great content is a willingness to take risks and push the envelope.” — Brian Halligan
82. “The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.” — Michael Brenner
83. “And do you know what is the most-often missing ingredient in a sales message? It’s the sales message that doesn’t tell an interesting story. Storytelling, good storytelling, is a vital component of a marketing campaign.” — Gary Halbert
84. “I don’t believe in tricky advertising, I don’t believe in cute advertising, I don’t believe in comic advertising. The people who perpetrate that kind of advertising never had to sell anything in their lives.” — David Ogilvy
85. “Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” — Seth Godin
86. “We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.” — Jimmy Neil Smith
87. “Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.” — Seth Godin
88. “Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell.” — Seth Godin
89. “Quality content means content that is packed with clear utility and is brimming with inspiration, and it has relentless empathy for the audience.” — Ann Handley
90. “Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.” — Dan Zarrella
91. “If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.” — Don Draper
92. “Speak to your audience in their language about what’s in their heart.” — Jonathan Lister
93. “Smart brands don’t just ride trend shifts. They start them.” — Ann Handley
94. “Brand equity is the sum of all the hearts and minds of every single person that comes into contact with your company.” — Christopher Betzter
95. “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” — Edwin Land
96. “Failure is an option.” — Matthew Schwartz
97. “The customer is not a moron. She’s your wife.” — David Ogilvy
98. “Too often, feeling intimidated becomes our excuse not to be awesome.” — Scott Stratten
99. “Don’t push people to where you want to be; meet them where they are.” — Meghan Keaney Anderson
100. “Content is king.” — Bill Gates
101. “Do the right thing as marketers to build trust.” — Jon Dick

Which Marketing Quote is Your Favorite?

Let me know in a comment below!

And don’t forget to bookmark this post before you go. If you ever need words of wisdom or encouragement, these quotes will be standing by to help you.

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