Marketing is like Teenage Dalliances...
Marketing
Everybody talks about it
Some claim to be doing it
Some of them are
But most of them are doing it very, very badly
Indeed the whole concept of marketing is vague for many businesses which begs the question... If you cannot define it, how can you do it?
The Chartered Institute of Marketing offers a very technical definition... Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably... phew!
Put more simply by Peter Drucker... The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits them and sells itself.
Thankfully, the good news is that Marketing can be simple if you focus on three classic and foundational questions:
What is your business?
Who is your customer?
What does your customer consider valuable?
But a word of warning... don’t put all of your eggs in one basket by using just one form of marketing... there are various forms and to use just one can be dangerous.
Testing and measuring each one to know what combination works for your business is the key to marketing success.
I confess that I have become a fan of direct marketing which Drayton Bird describes as ‘any communication through any medium which reaches people directly, or where they respond directly’. The medium can be as different as television and email but each one will ask for some form of reply.
Now mix direct marketing with the speed of digital marketing for testing and measuring and you have the ability to take your marketing to new levels.
More to follow...
Keep your powder dry,
Warren Cottis