What is Marketing?
Firstly, it’s easy to tell you what it isn’t. It is not just advertising, PR,
e mail marketing, internet marketing or direct mail. These are all tools and
actions used by marketers.
Marketing is so much more.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) definition of marketing is “The management
process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements
profitably” Most businesses do some of this without even thinking about it.
Performance success comes to the companies that fully exploit the marketing
process and put the customer truly at the centre.
Marketing is more important today to obtain and retain customers as well as
increasing revenues and profits, with increasing competition, more complex communications
channels with the likes of internet, global competitor presence, and customer
decreasing time.
The marketing process can be broken down into what used to be referred as the
“4 p’s”, which has now been extended to the” 7 p’s”. This is also known as the
marketing mix.
Product – the service or product which you are offering.
Price - in the definition is “profit” and this is important,
as well as setting the price for customers that is not too high and not so low.
Promotion – this is the area most people first think of marketing.
This is the communications to your prospects and clients as well as your other
stakeholders such as employees and shareholders.
Place – how do customers obtain the product, the channels used
such as distributors, e commerce and sales teams.
People – how do you provide the product or service (increasingly
service is also part of the product offering) to your prospects and customers
with your all staff.
Physical evidence – how do you demonstrate, particularly to
prospects, the benefits of them using your business?
Process – have you got systems in place for taking suspect
to prospects through to customers and retaining them?
All these “ingredients” of the marketing mix can be used in forming a marketing
strategy rather than an adhoc approach typically in using one of these tools.
Often the tool is tried for a short period without any measure and abandoned.
Of course some tools work better than others for different businesses and situations.
Some trial should be considered, but as we have mentioned before start with
a plan of where the business is going and then place your marketing strategy
around achieving these goals.
At The Business Marketing Company we write and implement marketing
strategy, so if you need assistance please contact us, and we will be more
than pleased to help.
If you need to discuss your sales and marketing then please contact us.
The Business Marketing Company Ltd Tel: 01296 715288
E
mail The Business Marketing Company