Marketing = run/do errands?

[Skrej]

This morning I heard a brief snippet of a conversation on the radio. Two women were extolling the virtues of our local public radio station (it's fundraising time again, unfortunately).

One of the women said something like "My mother and I really enjoy listening to the station while we're doing our marketing."

I found it strange, because I interpreted that it to mean they listened while they were marketing (i.e. promoting) their business, and found it kind of strange they'd only listen during marketing, as compared to say other business tasks throughout the day or while working in general.

Then she said something 'like "even if we only hear bits and pieces when we're in the car between errands while we're running around doing things it's still so interesting...", which made it clear she was using 'marketing' as a synonym for 'running errands'.

I've never heard 'marketing' used as a synonym for running errands. Has anybody else? She sounded like a native speaker of AmE, albeit with a fairly strong regional accent I'd place somewhere in Tennessee or Alabama, so I don't think it was any kind of second language error.

Just wondering if anybody else has heard it used this way, in AmE or any other dialect.

 

[Raymott]

It doesn't sound strange to me. Marketing = shopping, going to the markets; doing the rounds of the markets/shops.
It's not an AusE term. But I'm pretty sure I've read it a few times.

market
US
go shopping for provisions.
"then I have to go uptown and market"
https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=marketing+meaning

 

[Barb_D]

It does sound odd to me (northeastern US).

 

[MikeNewYork]

It sounds odd to me too (US Midwest and Northeast).

 

[probus]

In some dialects, marketing does not mean promoting your brands; it means going to the market to buy things. I am quite certain that most Indians use it that way.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is it at all possible that they were out "marketing" (ie dropping off flyers, putting up posters to advertise their business) by car? I'm probably reaching a bit too far with that interpretation but using "marketing" to mean "shopping/running errands" is completely alien to me (BrE, southeast).

 

[davefranco]

Even i was not familiar with this term until my high school friend who is native indian use it. I agree indian freq use this term for grocery.

 

[emsr2d2]

Even I was not familiar with this term until my high school friend who is a native Indian English speaker used it. I agree that Indian English frequently uses this term for grocery shopping.

Note my changes to your post above, marked in red. The use of "marketing" to mean "shopping/running errands", it appears, can be used happily in Indian English. I don't recommend using it that way if you are in an AmE/BrE/AusE/CanE environment.

 

[LaMelange]

Well, I am an Indian and I have never heard of this usage!