What IS marketing, anyway?

What IS marketing, anyway?

There are many answers to the question "What IS marketing, anyway?"

WordNetWeb says marketing is an exchange of goods for an agreed sum of money.

Wikipedia says marketing is an integrated communications-based process involving sales and advertising.

Still others say marketing relates to sales, customer service, advertising to make prospective customers aware of your products or services, publicity, branding, and so forth.

Not only are these definitions boring, they are wrong, wrong, WRONG!

Marketing is anything to do with a customer (or a prospective customer)!

Marketing is a mindset that begins when we get up in the morning, and continues until we drift off to sleep at night. In other words, "Marketing is everything!"

Now we're getting closer to answering the question, "What IS marketing, anyway?"

Let's begin at the beginning. To answer completely the question, "What IS marketing, anyway?", we need to know precisely who our target market is. This is where we focus our time, energy, and resources.

Here is what Paul and Sarah Edwards (Getting Customers to Come to You) have to say about focus:

"We conducted a nationwide survey that included in-depth interviews with over 100 successfully self-employed individuals.

"We were startled to discover that these individuals were different in almost every conceivable way but one.

"They were men and women of different ages from different ethnic groups.

"They had diverse educational backgrounds.

"Some had had years of experience in their fields before going out on their own, while others had entered entirely new fields.

"They had different motivations for being their own boss.

"Some wanted to be home with children, others wanted to pursue their passion, while still others were on their own as a result of a life-altering crisis like an illness or losing their job.

"Some had started with a carefully prepared and detailed business plan. Others had operated successfully without a plan, flying intuitively by the seat of their pants.

"Among all these differences, all but two individuals had one thing in common: they were highly focused."

My story:

When I started selling life insurance in a new town at age 24, my target market was anyone breathing! I spoke to anyone at any time. I would meet people at the gas station, in a grocery store, in a furniture store. Wherever there were people, there I was.

I developed a little introduction that answered the question: "And, so, what do you do?"

My answer: "I help people save money."

The individual might respond, "And just how do you do that?"

I would follow up with: "Well, if I could show you a way to save a dollar day that was better than any other way you'd ever seen, with you to be the sole judge, would you like to know about it?"

I learned very quickly that not everyone was a prospect!

I also learned something else. In today's world such an approach would be considered to be rough, crude, rude, pushy and manipulative. But in the 1960's it worked just fine!

But it illustrates my point: I knew my target market (anyone standing up), and I knew what to say to them if I was given the opportunity.

Over time, of course, I refined my target market (and my approach, thankfully!) much more tightly: anyone standing up who had money to save. Over more time that was further refined to: anyone standing up who had money who was expecting my call.

Over a three year period, starting out in a new town and knowing no one, I developed a clientele that shortly thereafter allowed me to qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table! (Back then a million dollars was a lot of money! Today? Not so much!)

And so, what is marketing, anyway?

Is it just advertising? Or sales? Or publicity? Or customer service?

No! It is a "mindset" that focuses on our existing and potential customers during every waking moment of our day.

This website, "Small Business Marketing Strategies That Work", is dedicated to offering you various ideas, strategies, concepts, protocols and programs to help you present you and your business to your target market in an attractive, low-key, usually low-cost, winsome and highly effective way.

Now that we've answered the question, "What IS marketing, anyway?", let's get started! Take me from "What IS marketing, anyway" back to the Home Page