If you asked 50 business owners in Nanaimo you would get 50 different answers. If you combine the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the American Marketing Associations definition it would be could be defined as follows:
“Marketing is the activity, set of instructions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, and stakeholders at large.”
However, what does this actually mean to the small business in Nanaimo? Breaking it down, activity is not only the promotional activity such as Logo design, digital marketing, social media marketing, etc. but any activity your business undertakes that sends a message, this will include customer care, how you deliver (or not) your offering, any follow-up post offering. It also involves the intrinsic communications that you send to customers, often referred to as your brand values and brand reputation, the real why you do what you do, that is not financially related.
With this in mind, marketing also has an internal element, your people and processes will send a more powerful message than any promotional activities you might undertake. Consider a member of staff having poor interactions with customers, versus a google AdWords campaign. Which will impact greater on the sustainable success of your business?
Here at Friendlier Organics we are passionate about all aspects of marketing and believe it is a principle that should be at the core culture of all businesses, rather than just a promotional function.
We understand that not everyone can be the ultimate best or the cheapest, however, when considering the 4 P’s of your marketing mix, you can be the best within your brand/business positioning. For instance, you can be the best customer care within your price bracket.
Marketing in its modern form has been around since In the 1960s with Philip Kotler, and E Jerome McCarthy developing marketing theories over 60 years ago. The mediums may have changed from Print, Radio, and TV to social media, Google My Business, and websites but the theories hold strong.
As a starting point, you can review your business’s 4 Ps.
Product
Let’s say you come up with an idea for a product you want your business to sell. What’s next? You probably won’t be successful if you just start selling it.
Instead, you need your marketing team, which may be you, to do market research and answer some critical questions: Who’s your target audience? Is there a sufficient market fit for this product? What messaging will increase product sales, and on which platforms? How should your product developers modify the product to increase the likelihood of success? What do focus groups, if you do not have the budget for a focus group, you could ask friends and family who fit with your customer demographic, think of the product, and what questions or hesitations do they have?
Marketers and business owners use the answers to these questions to help businesses understand the demand for the product and increase product quality by mentioning concerns stemming from focus group or survey participants.
Price
Your marketing team will check out competitors’ product prices, or use focus groups and surveys, to estimate how much your ideal customer is willing to pay. Price it too high, and you’ll lose out on a solid customer base. Price it too low, and you might lose more money than you gain. Fortunately, marketers can use industry research and consumer analysis to gauge a good price range.
Place
It’s critical that your marketing department, again this might be you, uses their understanding and analysis of your business’s consumers to offer suggestions for how and where to sell your product. Perhaps they believe an eCommerce site works better than a retail location, or vice versa. Or, maybe they can offer insights into which locations would be most viable to sell your product, either nationally or internationally.
Promotion
This P is what most consider to be marketing, it is likely the one you expected from the get-go: promotion entails any online or print advertisement, event, or discount your marketing team creates to increase awareness and interest in your product, and, ultimately, lead to more sales. During this stage, you’ll likely see methods like public relations campaigns, advertisements, or social media promotions.
Hopefully, our definition and the four Ps help you understand marketing’s purpose and how to define it. Marketing intersects with all areas of a business, so it’s important you understand how to use marketing to increase your business’s efficiency and success.
Unsure if all your 4P’s of marketing are sending out the same messages to your clients and stakeholders then please book an initial marketing consultation.
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