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    So What's So Important About Marketing

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    Mikhail
    Marketing plays a central and important role in all businesses by creating an environment where sales can occur. While many view marketing as unnecessary or only as sales, it actually performs three key functions: (1) raising awareness of products/services, (2) generating interest in them, and (3) defining their unique value in the marketplace. Embedded in these functions are various business considerations like pricing, delivery, and customer service that also influence customer perceptions and interest levels. Rather than questioning whether to market, businesses should focus on developing effective marketing strategies and tactics to communicate with and attract their target markets. Seeing marketing as separate from or less important than sales is a mistake, as marketing is what creates the potential for sales and continued revenue and

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    So What's So Important About Marketing

    Uploaded by

    Mikhail
    37 views2 pages
    Marketing plays a central and important role in all businesses by creating an environment where sales can occur. While many view marketing as unnecessary or only as sales, it actually performs three key functions: (1) raising awareness of products/services, (2) generating interest in them, and (3) defining their unique value in the marketplace. Embedded in these functions are various business considerations like pricing, delivery, and customer service that also influence customer perceptions and interest levels. Rather than questioning whether to market, businesses should focus on developing effective marketing strategies and tactics to communicate with and attract their target markets. Seeing marketing as separate from or less important than sales is a mistake, as marketing is what creates the potential for sales and continued revenue and

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    Marketing plays a central and important role in all businesses by creating an environment where sales can occur. While many view marketing as unnecessary or only as sales, it actually performs three key functions: (1) raising awareness of products/services, (2) generating interest in them, and (3) defining their unique value in the marketplace. Embedded in these functions are various business considerations like pricing, delivery, and customer service that also influence customer perceptions and interest levels. Rather than questioning whether to market, businesses should focus on developing effective marketing strategies and tactics to communicate with and attract their target markets. Seeing marketing as separate from or less important than sales is a mistake, as marketing is what creates the potential for sales and continued revenue and

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    37 views2 pages

    So What's So Important About Marketing

    Uploaded by

    Mikhail
    Marketing plays a central and important role in all businesses by creating an environment where sales can occur. While many view marketing as unnecessary or only as sales, it actually performs three key functions: (1) raising awareness of products/services, (2) generating interest in them, and (3) defining their unique value in the marketplace. Embedded in these functions are various business considerations like pricing, delivery, and customer service that also influence customer perceptions and interest levels. Rather than questioning whether to market, businesses should focus on developing effective marketing strategies and tactics to communicate with and attract their target markets. Seeing marketing as separate from or less important than sales is a mistake, as marketing is what creates the potential for sales and continued revenue and

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    So What’s So Important About Marketing Anyway?

    The idea that marketing is the central function of all business has long been displaced by
    business owners who, at best, view marketing as a necessary evil. The challenge is,
    perhaps, born of the frustration experienced when sincere efforts at good marketing fall
    short of expectations – leading business owners to conclude that the marketing activity
    (and not the program and its execution) were flawed. No business – not MacDonald’s,
    not Coca Cola, not Microsoft – is immune to the need to market its products. Most
    certainly, your company isn’t immune either.

    The importance of marketing is wrapped up in i the role it plays in the business equation.
    While many misunderstand marketing to be sales, the true purpose of marketing is not to
    close the sale, but rather to create the environment in which the sale becomes possible.
    The marketing precedes the sales effort and, when executed properly, creates a
    welcoming and knowledgeable customer, willing to consider the sales pitch because
    they have been sufficiently conditioned by the marketing to be receptive to the notion of
    buying.

    Under this purpose, marketing’s objective is to (a) raise awareness, (b) create interest,
    and (c) shape and deliver the offering. Raising Awareness can mean letting your target
    market know that your products or services are available. Creating Interest involves
    demonstrating the benefits of the product or service and connecting it to the market need
    (or desire) that it addresses. Shaping and delivering the offer includes establishing the
    value, quality, and personality of the product and service so that the customer is able to
    determine your “unique selling proposition” within the marketplace (how you compare to
    your competitors).

    Imbedded in these three steps are functions you typically would not realize are
    associated with marketing, but in fact are pure marketing functions, such as product
    features, pricing, delivery timetable, availability, customer service guarantee, and even
    sales channels. All of these business tasks, even when handled outside the marketing
    department, are marketing considerations because they influence how customers view a
    company’s products or services, affecting perceptions and levels of interest.

    The question, therefore, is never whether or not to market, but rather how to market,
    what strategies to pursue, and what tactics to use to realize them. The strategies will
    determine who you market to, what channels you deploy, and what messages you
    communicate. The tactics will resolve how you place the message in front of the target
    market, what tools you use to communicate, and the proportion of the mix (of the various
    tactics).

    The idea that marketing takes a backseat to sales because sales is what brings in the
    revenue is a critical error many companies make either because they don’t completely
    understand the role marketing plays in supporting (actually creating) sales, or because
    they lack the discipline or patience to engage in marketing and prefer to go straight to
    sales. The denial of marketing as a central task within your business will restrict your
    sales potential and reduce the revenues you could be bringing in. Conversely, by
    conditioning your market, and maintaining communication with it, you are creating the
    recognition and comfort required to drive sales, and the momentum and loyalty needed
    to sustain them.
    And that’s what’s so important about marketing.

    Craig Frank is CEO of Tudog Creative Marketing, an advisory and implementation firm
    offering a broad range of marketing related services designed to increase revenues and
    create value. Craig can be reached at [email protected]

    Editors Note: Marketing Matters is a new monthly feature in The Source. Questions
    regarding marketing are welcome and can be sent to

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