Garry, when it comes to marketing everyone has an opinion and everyone is an expert. After 18 years as a marketing consultant this is what I believe.
Short Answer:
Marketing is anything that touches a customer.
Garry that is as concise as I can make it.
Longer Answer:
"I tried marketing, and it didn't work." - A small business owner in Townsville, Australia. He closed his business not long after making that comment.
"We don't do any marketing." - A small business owner in New Orleans, United States. His doughnut business is thriving and growing.
Both business owners used the word marketing.
But what they were talking about was advertising.
Marketing is not just advertising.
Marketing is anything that touches a customer.
Marketing is a category like medicine, music, sport or art.
Advertising is a subcategory of marketing.
And advertising has subcategories like message selection, copy, media planning, and production.
Sales is a subcategory of marketing.
Customer experience is a subcategory of marketing.
Online is a subcategory of marketing.
Marketing is making decisions that attract or repel customers.
You can do this by design or by accident.
By design is faster and more profitable.
What things in your business touch the customer?
Here is a small list to get you thinking.
Your business location.
The name of your business.
The signage you select.
The products you decide to stock or services you offer.
How you price your products and services.
The staff you hire.
The training you give to staff.
The way you treat customers.
Your advertising.
Your website.
If you install products, your installation team.
Your delivery process and times.
Your refunds policy.
Your social media.
The way staff answer the phone.
Your sales team.
How often do you clean your windows, update your website, supply new staff uniforms?
And on and on the list goes.
Marketing is like a rainforest, a complex ecosystem, a network of interconnected parts and decisions. For your business to grow and flourish everything must be on strategy and work together.
So, before you make any marketing decisions, ask yourself these two questions,
1. Is it on strategy? (You do have a marketing strategy?)
2. Does this decision help or hinder the customer?
Craig Arthur
Wizard of ads Australia
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