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To too many people marketing equates to one of two things:
- Selling: with all that entails such as the dreaded
double-glazing or financial salesman. - Advertising: with all
that entails such as the slick young creative and smarmy account
person.
Of course marketing also encompasses these functions - though,
hopefully not as in the stereotypes that are in so many minds -
but marketing is about a great deal more than just selling or
advertising.
Marketing is the wide range of activities involved in making
sure that you're continuing to meet the needs of your customers
and are getting value in return.
It includes:
- Finding out what groups of potential customers or markets
exist - What groups of customers you prefer to serve - your
target markets - What their needs are, what products or services
you might develop to meet their needs - How customers might
prefer to use the products and services - Who competitors are
and what they are doing - What pricing mechanism and approach
you should use - How each of target markets might choose to
access the product, etc. - How much customers / clients might be
willing pay and how. - How to design and describe the product
such that customers/clients will buy from the organization,
rather than from its competitors - the unique value proposition
- How the company or products should be identified - personality
-to be most identifiable i.e. naming and branding - Ongoing
campaigns, which can include advertising, public relations,
sales and customer service
All of this was characterised many years ago by Dr. Philip
Kotler as the 4Ps:
- Product - making what customers want - Place - delivering it
via the channels they want to use - Promotion - making them
aware of its existence - Price - making it available at a price
they will pay
At the end of the day marketing is really about not losing sight
of the basics. You have to be focused on what customers require
as the outcome and then find out how to get there by meeting
customers needs over a period of time, in a socially responsible
way, whilst making a reasonable profit.
Marketing is really a philosophy and attitude about customer
focus that has to run through the whole organisation. If you get
that you get marketing.
Easy, of course to say.
Frequently not so easy to achieve!
About the author:
Richard Hill is a director of E-CRM Solutions and has spent many
years in senior direct and interactive marketing roles. E-CRM
http://www.e-crm.co.uk helps you to grow by getting you more
customers that stay with you longer. We provide practical
solutions that pay for themselves. We help you to make sure that
your marketing works.
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