Really, What is Marketing?

by Victor J. McCoy

3vdesignmedia.com

 

In its most basic definition, marketing is making products or providing services (made available) to a specific audience. That group can be large or very small but it should satisfy the customers need (the "need" can be questionable) or produce some type of benefit - while generating profits for the company. Basically, you must identify those that want to buy or use your "stuff". For example, I have no need nor desire to wear men's red dress shoes. Therefore I am not a good target for that sale. Some of my demographic profile  may say I am - I'm male or a certain age. But, if you drill down into my buying habits and other data you will see that I don't wear red shoes or any color other than black or brown. But, there may be men who love red dress shoes and may search for them online. Now, how would you know I "will not" wear red dress shoes? How would you locate those who would? Where are those who would? And, how much are they willing to pay for those shoes? This is the essence effective marketing.


The second aspect I believe should be understood concerning the definition of marketing is competition. You may not be the only company online or offline selling red dress shoes. You may find in your research 1,000 other companies across the U.S selling the same thing.How will you compete with them? How will you persuade the consumer to buy from you? Will you sell the same shoe for less? How will you distribute the item? So, marketing in its basic definition as about finding your audience and persuading them to purchase from your company - at a profit.

Building an Effective Marketing Strategy

A good strategy must first clearly understand and recognize the nature of the challenge. Sometimes small business owners cannot clearly see the nature of the challenge. The day-to-day challenges consume their thoughts and actions, and the immediate is always the immediate. A well constructed strategy recognizes the challenges and offers a way of surmounting them. Simply having a desire to overcome them is not good enough. Simply being ambitious is not enough. Motivational speeches will only accomplish so much.

Strategy development is hard work and many don't want to do it. Instead we sometimes charge ahead with ideas and visions and plans that are nor will move us in the direction we know we should go. Strategy is the path you take to overcome the challenge, to eliminate it. If those steps are not clear or can be actually be accomplished you are operating with a faulty strategy.

A strategy that fails to define a variety of plausible and feasible immediate actions is missing a critical component. It's like having a beautiful car that doesn't have an engine. It looks good, but of little value.

A good strategy will have an analysis of the situation, a guiding policy and coherent action from those responsible for the execution of the strategy. A good strategy has "buy-In" by the team that has the skills to accomplish the task. You could have buy-in by a team that does not have the skill to complete the task. This will result in frustration and failure. Which means your strategy was flawed because you did not take into account the capabilities of your team versus the skills needed by your team.

If your approach to building an effective strategy to accomplish organizational objectives is objective and driven by quantitative and qualitative information you may be on your way to building a strategy that will produce designed intent.