Message Understood

I recently saw an interesting quotation relating to marketing, “time and again studies have proved that no other activity adds more to the bottom line than marketing”.

This makes marketing a pretty important topic. Yet I find or that many people in business talk glibly about marketing without a full understanding and proactive approach.

There are various definitions of marketing. I happen to think it that it is “having a complete understanding of what your customers want, knowing what trends and changes are taking place in your market and responding to these changes better and quicker than your competition so that you can deliver what the customer wants profitably”.

Note; do not be tempted to substitute needs for wants.

The first bit understanding the customers' wants is where many businesses fail. The situation is usually one of someone having an idea for creating a product or service and then trying to find a market. They end up supplying a product or service which they think is what the customer is seeking and if it is not quite right trying to reach a compromise in an effort to make a sale.

If this is the case, and of course it not always as bad as that, then what chance is there of understanding trends, developing a response and delivering? No matter what size your business you must be in constant contact with your market to fully understand current and future wants.

By implication this means that top level involvement is crucial. How many businesses do you know where the top person is really heavily involved in marketing?

It would be interesting to know across the various sectors how different businesses gather, assimilate and act upon their market intelligence and where the true responsibility lies. I suggest in the food industry they are satisfying ‘wants’ rather than ‘needs’.

In my corporate life I tried to be in touch with the market but I confess it is difficult.

What does it come down to?

Communication - Listening - Action.

Many years ago I went into one business as CEO. The Business was losing £1m annually. Casually wandering around (listening and communicating) I asked a member of the sales team, “how do we find our customers?” Reply “we don’t, everyone knows (name of company)”. That business was dying. After much deep root and branch change, which is another story, it did not die but I am sure you get my point.

Whether you are CEO of a multinational or a one person business, without a marketing strategy, your products and services will not reach any one.

Central to that strategy is communication - using it to attract customers and converting their interest in to sales. There are many tools for us to use ranging from direct mail and PR activities to web sites and even text messaging. The aim at all times must be to keep those customers happy and coming back for more.

How we market our business is evident in the way we produce our letters, e-mails and brochures. We must consistently convey the right image. Of course we must listen to what our customers and prospects say and respond accordingly. Marketing should be on going, no matter how well we are doing.

Successful marketing need not be costly but it does mean that we must understand our market(s) and have an effective means to attract customers to our products, services and business. Be vigilant and take action!

Tip: Don’t suppose, endeavour to know.

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