A very nice definition of marketing from Jeremiah Owyang:

"Marketing is the act of connecting customers to products."

The comments (up to 51 as I write this) are just as interesting. If it seems like I quote Owyang alot, it’s because I do. He’s one of the best thinkers I know of, on stuff that I’m interested in.

To put this in the context of ABV, remarkable wisdom is the product. The branding/marketing piece of ABV aims to identify the customer and figure out how to talk about the remarkable wisdom so that a connection can be made.

I don’t much like the term "customer," as it doesn’t have the same feeling of partnership that comes from a community member. But people know what a customer is. And yes, there are buyers for remarkable wisdom in the sense that these are people who give their attention and thought to add to the conversation.