What Marketing Is SUPPOSED To Do!
There is a lot of guff talked about marketing and about what it actually is and what job it has in your business. This short blog will give you the lowdown about what you need to understand about marketing and how to hire a great marketeer.
So what is the job of marketing, well it boils down to 3 simple things and here they are:-
- The first Job of marketing is to capture the attention of your target market. To get them to pay attention to you and your offering.
- The Second Job of marketing is to give them the hope that by reading or listening to your marketing you will give them enough information to help them make the best decision possible when buying whatever it is that you sell. In other words train and teach them how to recognise the true value of your product or service…and conclude that you and you alone… offer the best value versus your competition.
- The final job of marketing is to lower the risk of taking the next step in the buying process… and if necessary continue to educate the prospect regarding the value you offer.
Lots of marketers talk about branding and how important it is and to some extent it is, particularly if you use the definition of branding that Joe Calloway uses in “Becoming a Category of One”* in which he describes your brand as “Who you are, what you promise, and your ability and willingness to keep that promise”. So while branding is important it is not the primary function of marketing.
Marketing that accomplishes the three objectives above will result in your prospects and customers coming to one single conclusion… that they would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but you, regardless of price.
In the UK official government statistics state that 65% of all small business start-ups fail within their first 5 years. The main reason for this tremendously high failure rate has to do with the lack of expertise when it comes to generating leads and making the phone ring. Most small business start-ups don’t know anything about those three things we just discussed that marketing is supposed to do. But there’s also an additional problem to consider.
Running an ad in the local newspaper… sending out an email or direct mail letter… airing a radio or TV ad on a local media station are all examples of tactical marketing. Now don’t get me wrong… the newspaper, radio or direct mail can be successful marketing channels… IF your marketing message is powerful and compelling. But that’s the problem… the message is the strategic side of marketing… and yet, it’s the most neglected.
This distinction between strategic and tactical marketing is huge and one you need to be acutely aware of any time you start talking about generating more leads. Many start-up businesses mistakenly assume that when you talk about lead generation, you’re automatically talking about tactical lead generation… placing ads, sending out letters, joining a networking group, attending trade-shows, implementing a prospect follow up system and so on.
They fail to realise that the strategic side of the coin, what you say in your marketing and how you say it is almost always far more important than the marketing medium where you say it. If you fail to make this distinction, then you risk becoming jaded towards certain forms of marketing and advertising that should be a part of your tactical plan, but you eliminate them from consideration because they haven’t worked for you in the past.
When lead generation results are less than optimal, small business start-ups tend to almost always blame the marketing medium… like the newspaper the ad ran in or the postcards they sent out. They blame the tactical part of the plan… without any regard for how good or how bad the strategic messaging in that marketing piece was. New business owners often say things like, “we tried radio and it doesn’t work for our kind of business,” or “we sent out 50,000 pieces of direct mail and only generated 3 orders. It just doesn’t work.” Just because it didn’t work, don’t assume that it won’t work.
To help you with your Ad’s and marketing messages I put a little tool up on my website (Click Here) which is designed to assess how well your Ad will attract your prospects and get them to do something. It’s called the conversion equation evaluator and it pretty does what it says on the tin, it’s also free to use as often as you like. Have a go and let me know how you got on. The last thing I promised you was how to identify a great marketer, just ask them if they know the marketing equation, it’s a simple question with only one real answer. I’ll give you the answer on my next blog.
* Members of the ‘Business Success Club’ can read a summary of Joe Calloway’s book in the book summary section of the member’s area.
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