And How Would You Define “Marketing”?

The term “marketing” has been used by so many people to mean so many different things, it's no wonder that people find it confusing. Rick Pence defines marketing as the activities that precede the sales conversation. My best description of the term is to say that the purpose of marketing is to create a qualified sales lead.

Too often, people use “marketing” when they really mean “advertising”, and sometimes it is used as a substitute for “sales”. While these concepts are all inter-connected, the important marketing activities occur before the advertising kicks in. These early-process activities are sometimes referred to as strategic marketing.

What is it?

In the world of small business, marketing is the triangulation of three things:

• The benefits that your products / services provide, as compared with
• The benefits on offer from the competition, as compared with
• The wants and needs of your target buying group.

An effective marketing plan will offer an in-depth analysis of these three components, and will produce the single most important marketing tool: The Message.

In an earlier post, I discussed how most small business advertising fails to answer the Big Question. To save you going back and looking it up, I'll remind you: Before making any significant buying decision, the customer asks, “Why should I buy from this company, instead of 6 others that do the same thing?”. If you don't answer the Big Question, you don't have much chance of getting the customer's business.

That's where The Message comes in. It gives the customer a great reason to buy from you rather than the competition, and is formulated in a way that resonates with the buyer. The Message clearly states the unique extra value that you offer.

Once The Message is formulated, everything else gets easier:

• Advertising can be created to push the message to the targeted (receptive) audience
• Leads will come in from prospects that are attracted to the message
• Sales staff can tailor the message to the needs of individual buyers

And why doesn't it get done?

Because, too often, the small business owner prefers to stay in his comfort zone. Further, practical business people often prefer the tangible (What deals did we close this week?) over the intangible (How do our customers perceive our value proposition vs the competition?).

Additionally, there is the Never Quit Credo, which condemns many businesses to endless mediocrity. More on that later.


Practical Tip of the Day: 

     Does your advertising really give your prospects a good reason to buy from you instead of the competition?  If not, try this 4-step approach:

• STOP YOUR ADVERTISING ! It isn't really working anyway.
• Bank your savings, to use when you have something better to say..
• Analyze your top 25 accounts, and determine why they buy from you instead of the competition. (Hopefully, it isn't just price.)  If you are having trouble figuring this out, ASK THEM.
• Create a message based upon these strengths, and re-build your advertising campaign according.