Marketing means different things to different people. Yes, it’s all about the perception but the concept of marketing has become blurred over recent years.
If we asked various individuals, some would say marketing is a Facebook or Instagram post, others might refer to a brochure or an ad, but the truth is marketing is so much more.
It’s the means by which we communicate our products and services to the desired audience, whether that’s current customers, targeted sectors or a specific demographic. Of course there are many ways in which you could do this and that’s where social media, graphic design and websites start to be seen as ‘marketing.’ However they’re just a part of the marketing puzzle.
Marketing is strategic
Got a great vision for the business? Know what sectors you ideally want to target for the next financial year? Well, where does the marketing fit in? In most cases, it doesn’t. Marketing should sit alongside finance, sales and operations, because it has a part to play in every single department and has a key role in working to achieve the company objectives and realising the overall vision.
Marketing sits between the business and its customers
The job of marketing is to understand what customers and the wider audience want and need from the business, how changes to the external environment impact this and to tailor products and services accordingly.
Marketing communicates the brand messages consistently and effectively to increase the positive associations with a business.
Successful businesses are built on having a deep understanding of what the customers want and need and creating products and services specifically around these needs and wants. We only have to look at the major tech companies to see the huge value in getting this right.
Marketing is a conversation
This is where social media really comes in. Businesses on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or wherever customers are present, start conversations. An audience is introduced to what businesses do and the more the business posts, the more an audience discovers and becomes informed. They might see others commenting, asking questions and those questions being answered. Others join in and a greater understanding is developed, thus strengthening the brand positioning.
Marketing is more than lead generation
Lead generation has become one of the buzz phrases of the last few years. Marketing uses the right tools to bring the leads in and sales converts them. Simple.
Well, not really.
It costs to bring in new customers.
It’s far more cost effective to make full use of the data you have before you go and spend huge amounts of money on paid campaigns to generate more leads, who then sit in the CRM system post first contact.
All too often leads are generated which don’t repeat purchase, because they’re not effectively marketed to. Gain more value from the data you have.
Marketing adds value to the customer process
Customers will always want to feel they’ve made the right decision by purchasing your products or using your services.
By regularly communicating to current customers and making them feel valued the retention of customers is increased and so are opportunities to cross sell other products and services.
Having a positive customer experience adds to the effectiveness of every single other marketing activity. Saying one thing and doing another devalues a brand in a very short amount of time.
Not making full use of marketing? Let’s get a conversation started.
