Not 100% sure what marketing is, or how to do it?

[Limited100]

One of the better answers. What textbook does it come from?

Cheers! I did just write it from scratch but did study a postgrad in direct and digital marketing with B2B so guess that has helped

 

[Forseti]

I agree with you. But a large number of people are focused on money. They do not perceive earnings on marketing as the result of the spent efforts and solving the problems of the target audience.

 

[NaturalHealth]

Good Thread. I have three businesses about to be four and i am THE WORST at marketing ever. so I might just contact you about helping as I have always seemed to have a mental block when it comes to marketing. And as people have said, business is ALL about marketing! Cheers

 

[Beckie North]

Many people struggle to have a serious marketing strategy when it's their own business, as they just have so much going off. Marketing tends to be forgotten about, or not done well enough.

Always here to offer any advice, should anyone need it!

 

[Emre Eldar]

Good points. In my opinion, you have done your task well in marketing when you get the customer's trust and satisfaction.

 

[japhyryder]

good marketing is addressing the customer's pain points, and letting them know you can solve that.

 

[Jyothi Tulasi]

Creating something amazing and just selling through word of mouth is unprofitable these days. Marketing through various channels gives more scope for brand recognition as well.

 

[fisicx]

Creating something amazing and just selling through word of mouth is unprofitable these days.

Is it. All my profits must be imaginary then.

 

[Jyothi Tulasi]

Is it. All my profits must be imaginary then.

Not at all. If you are getting profits only through word of mouth, it means you are doing very well but not everyone can be working like that. That's my point that's all.

 

[Jyothi Tulasi]

good marketing is addressing the customer's pain points, and letting them know you can solve that.

Agree to that as well.

 

[Sanjay Patoliya]

Marketing is all about finding your target market and audience and providing them the right kind of material about your business services and products at the right time.

 

[MC Wright]

I can honestly say I have never had to mass market anything yet. I don't even have a company website. Social media, word of mouth, and positing on a specific site has garnered me work. I am in the waste disposal buisness. I of course, know it's not the same for every sector.

Perhaps I can begin a scale of large advertising but for where I am at the moment. I feel I'm comfortable.

I don't believe it's a laid back none caring Blaise attitude either. I am of the strong belief of taking company growth slowly and sensibly.

 

[AW-UK]

Marketing is a funny thing, it's quite impressive how some people can get creative with it.
I guess it depends on the market but for the tech industry it is difficult, maybe other sectors are easier, I don't know, but to "sell" a technology that can cover multiple markets in a way that you know the end customer doesn't care what the technology is just how it can solve their business needs is where it gets a bit messy, you have to hone in on a particular market and research the nuts out of it, then you get the how to approach, do you call, email or a n other method? Well, it becomes a vicious circle, you email the potential customer to ask them about their "pain points" and they either reply or more often than not, they just ignore your email, then when you do get a bite you have to try and word your questions as such that they understand.

I did some research into marketing a while ago and I saw a video on YouTube (can't remember who it was now) of a start-ups day 0 to multi million £ turn over, and I remember the bloke saying that in the beginning they tried to understand their customers issues by emailing and asking them and out of 500 emails they sent they got 5 people reply, the rest just ignored it.

I am sure this applies to other marketing sectors too, but I only have experience (albeit limited) with the tech industry.

 

[Oporteo]

Marketing is very important function for all businesses, but saying that it's 'everything we do' does not do it justice and needs breaking down further to help others understand it.

Marketing is about communications - internal communications between staff, external communication to customers and other stakeholders. This communication can be in the form of branding, emails, letters, stationary, digital marketing, social media, visual media, press and more. The role of marketing is to manage these communications with the purpose of supporting business objectives, whether that's business growth, leads, sales, brand awareness.

 

[AllUpHere]

Marketing is very important function for all businesses, but saying that it's 'everything we do' does not do it justice and needs breaking down further to help others understand it.

Marketing is about communications - internal communications between staff, external communication to customers and other stakeholders. This communication can be in the form of branding, emails, letters, stationary, digital marketing, social media, visual media, press and more. The role of marketing is to manage these communications with the purpose of supporting business objectives, whether that's business growth, leads, sales, brand awareness.

You are talking about promotional marketing. Strategic marketing has a much wider scope.

 

[cjd]

I wonder why this thread keeps getting zombied? Six years old now and a newbie revives it ever year or so.

 

[AllUpHere]

I wonder why this thread keeps getting zombied? Six years old now and a newbie revives it ever year or so.

Because it's pinned to the top of the forum.

Edit. I suggested years ago it would be better to be locked. I receive a lot of PM's thanking me for it, and it acts as a useful resource for many, but realistically new replies don't add any value

 

[thenameoftaste]

I would say marketing is a combination of the things you do from logo design, website design, marketing efforts such as FB, Linkedin, Twitter (for networking) to AdWords and analytics and content which is for your customers and not for search engines. Being clear, concise, fair, and objective

Marketing has become confusing over the years as people want their businesses on page 1 but sometimes forget to just aim their content at their customers which in turn would lead to good SERPs

I agree branding is a great place to start

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Good post.

The other thing is the underestimation many people and businesses have of the amount of effort marketing can take. There are innumerable threads on UKBF from people struggling to get sales but when questioned about how much makering they have done if often reduces to posing on facebook and tweeting.

Markering can be 90% of everything you do. The other 10% is processing the enquiries.

Even processing the enquiries is marketing ? Surprising how bad people are in handling it.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Marketing evolved as an alternative approach to the established method of getting sales. At the time, the main approach was to persuade your customers to buy your product using the old AIDA model.

The idea was that, rather than trying to sell something to people, why not find out their needs, and then they will buy it. The process was customer based, customer focused.

With the development of a wider range of promotional tools, quality management and greater competition, marketing involves everyone from delivery man to MD.

 

[sashabrown]

Yes, you are very right. Understanding consumer behaivours let you define your marketing in a better way. Understanding society norms and preferences also add much to it.
I really liked reading your view point about setting ourselves to path of growth.
It would be great if you keep on sharing your experience for others to learn and grow.
Thanks for sharing gems of marketing.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Yes, you are very right. Understanding consumer behaviours let you define your marketing in a better way. Understanding society norms and preferences also add much to it.
I really liked reading your view point about setting ourselves to path of growth.
It would be great if you keep on sharing your experience for others to learn and grow.
Thanks for sharing gems of marketing.

Hi Sasha,
Glad to see it was useful.

Before you set a path to growth you need to understand all the aspects of where you are now.

I used to give this Business Model Canvas to my students to understand all the aspect of setting up a business. You might find it useful. There is a good description on how it is used on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Model_Canvas

 

[HouseReno]

marketing is such an important thing to have for a business without it your business will not thrive against competitors

 

[Deleted member 339964]

Apologies if this has been said already.

How to market without marketing, or to do minimal marketing

Rely on word-of-mouth - best results are from customers referring other customers

And hence the value of feedback and reviews.

1. How to gain authentic feedback and reviews?

Go above and beyond and people will want to note your exceptional service.

Especially true if you slip up and get it wrong. If you can correct your mistake efficiently and effectively, you'll have a more loyal customer than if you hadn't slipped-up.

Why?

Because in this day and age services that don't own their mistakes are in the majority and that's why you'll stand out as an 'honest and reliable' trader if you do own them!

2. Praise and criticism are the two biggest drivers for things going viral on the web.

So if you want to harness the power of social media for 'free marketing' engage accordingly on those platforms. The content you wrote may be unrelated to your service but the result of high-views can be profile visits, followers and eventual customer engagement.

Just my two-penneth.

 

[MBE2017]

The best way to gain honest feedback from clients is to ask for it.

 

[Zak@Pondhop]

As some of you will know, I'm a marketing and business development consultant who specialises in speaking to business owners just before they embark on any kind of marketing activity, to make sure they base all of their decisions and activities on a sound strategy. As such, I speak to many hundreds of small business owners every year. If I could pinpoint one topic of conversation that gets clients thinking about marketing in the right way, more than any other topic, it's this.

Marketing is everything you do. There isn't a single thing you do in your business that shouldn't be thought of as marketing (or shouldn't at least be considered from a marketing perspective).

If you are struggling to understand exactly what marketing is or how it should be used, try thinking of it like this. It shouldn't take you long at all to have a much better understanding of what marketing is, and how you should be incorporating in into absolutely everything you do.

Marketing isn't another name for advertising, or a way in which you find clients (although obviously, if done well marketing will provide you with as many clients as you could ever need). Marketing is a process you use to tailor every part of your business to both meet the needs of your target market, and also to maximise your profits. Whilst I'm on the subject, it's also the way in which you choose who your target markets are in the first place, and also how you find out what their needs are.

I hope some of you find the above thought provoking.

Great points here. I think another mistake people make is assuming marketing is something you 'switch on' when you need sales, rather than an ongoing process. It’s not just about attracting new customers, but also retaining existing ones and building a reputation. Some of the best marketing happens in the way you handle customer service, follow-ups, and even the way you price your services.
Curious to hear how others here approach this in their own businesses.