75 Quotes to Inspire Marketing Greatness
June 9, 2014
As marketers, we pride ourselves on coming up with fresh ideas. It’s how we stay relevant, and it’s how we grow in our careers.
So, where do some of the most brilliant marketing minds get their inspiration? From other brilliant minds, of course.
As you start your day, awaken your mind with positive thought and a healthy dose of inspiration from these great minds.
Quotes on Creativity
1. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
2. “To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.” – George Kneller
3. “Creativity about life, in all aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” – Leo Burnett
4. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
5. “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” – Edwin Land
Quotes on Marketing
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6. “Whether B2B or B2C, I believe passionately that good marketing essentials are the same. We all are emotional beings looking for relevance, context and connection.” – Beth Comstock
7. “Good marketers see consumers as complete human beings with all the dimensions real people have.” – Jonah Sachs
8. “Our jobs as marketers are to understand how the customer wants to buy and help them do so.” – Bryan Eisenberg
9. “Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.” - Mike Volpe
10. "If you're a good marketing person, you have to be a little crazy." – Jim Metcalf
11. “The consumer is not a moron; she is your wife.” – David Ogilvy
12. “Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.” – Joe Chernov
13. “Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go.” – Seth Godin
14. “Make your marketing so useful people would pay you for it.” – Jay Baer
15. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek
16. “Today it's important to be present, be relevant and add value." – Nick Besbeas
17. "Great Execution is the Ultimate Differentiator." - Margaret Molloy
18. “The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing.” - Tom Fishburne
19. "Know thyself. Know the customer. Innovate." – Beth Comstock
20. "Instead of using technology to automate processes, think about using technology to enhance human interaction." – Tony Zambito
21. “If you are an artist, learn science. If you are a scientist, cultivate art.” – Karin Timpone
22. “We’re all learning here; the best listeners will end up the smartest.” - Josh Bernoff
Quotes on Storytelling
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23. “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
24. “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” - Seth Godin
25. “The stories that spread today empower us and give us belief in our own heroic potential.” – Jonah Sachs
26. "You can't sell anything if you can't tell anything." – Beth Comstock
27. “Speak to your audience in their language about what’s in their heart.” – Jonathan Lister
28. “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
Quotes on Social Media
29. “Build it, and they will come” only works in the movies. Social Media is a “build it, nurture it, engage them and they may come and stay.” – Seth Godin
30. "Social media are tools. Real time is a mindset.” – David Meerman Scott
31. “Social media is a contact sport.” - Margaret Molloy
32. “Successful companies in social media function more like entertainment companies, publishers, or party planners than as traditional advertisers.” - Erik Qualman
33. “If you get bored with social media, it’s because you are trying to get more value than you create.” – Fast Company
34. “Social media is about the people. Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.” – Matt Goulart
Quotes on Content
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35. “Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.” - Ann Handley
36. “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” - Andrew Davis
37. “If your content isn't driving conversation, you're doing it wrong.” – Dan Roth
38. “Content is anything that adds value to the reader's life.” – Avinash Kaushik
39. “Content should ask people to do something and reward them for it.” – Lee Odden
40. “My goal is to spark something within the reader and allow it to initiate an idea they then can grow.” – Warren Whitlock
41. “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
42. “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” - Benjamin Franklin
Quotes on Branding
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43. “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is -- it is what consumers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook
44. "Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touch points." – Jonah Sachs
45. "Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.” - Seth Godin
Quotes on Simplicity
46. "If you can't explain it to a 6-year old, you don't know it yourself." - Albert Einstein
47. “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance. ― Coco Chanel
48. “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” – Dr. Seuss
Quotes on Teamwork
49. “Never doubt a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
50. “In the long history of humankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” - Charles Darwin
Quotes on Innovation
51. "Marketing's job is never done. It's about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day." – Beth Comstock
52. “New ideas are sometimes found in the most granular details of a problem where few others bother to look.” – Nate Silver
53. “I’d rather apologize than to be so timid as to never try to do anything smart or brave.” – Lee Clow
54. “If you’re not failing now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything innovative.” - Woody Allen
55. “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” – Tony Robbins
56. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” - Henry Ford
57. “If you don’t have room to fail, you don’t have room to grow. – Jonathan Mildenhall
58. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
59. “If you’re looking for the next big thing, and you’re looking where everyone else is, you’re looking in the wrong place.” – Mark Cuban
60. “Be where the world is going.” – Beth Comstock
61. “Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.” – Tim Ferriss
Quotes on Inspiration
62. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you’re a leader.” - John Quincy Adams
63. “Inspiration doesn't respond to meeting requests. You can't schedule greatness.” – Jay Baer
Quotes on Motivation
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64. "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
65. “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” - Zig Ziglar
66. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
67. “If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough.” - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
68. “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
69. “Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” –Eleanor Roosevelt
70. “You have brilliance in you, your contribution is valuable, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do, and you must.” – Seth Godin
71. “Bring the best of your authentic self to every opportunity.” - John Jantsch
72. “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” - Oscar Wilde
73. “Do one thing every day that scares you.”― Eleanor Roosevelt
74. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” –Zig Ziglar
75. “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” – Seth Godin
BONUS: Five quotes to knock it out of the park today.
76. “A year from now, you'll wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb
77. “Do or do not; there is no try.” – Yoda
78. “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
79. “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the park. Aim for the company of immortals.” – David Ogilvy
80. “It’s quite fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney
Looking for more creative marketing inspiration? Download our Sophisticated Marketer's Guide for fresh tips & insights for marketers, by marketers.