A Marketing Definition To Kick Things Off…
by Glen Crosier
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As this is the first post on this blog, I want to “set my stall out”.So here we go…
The 3 ‘truths’ for any organisation to be successful…
1. Deliver brilliant services that make a difference
2. Develop a marketing mindset
3. Implement a marketing plan (and follow through consistently)
No amount of marketing however good it looks will make up for rubbish services.
But…
Organisations that do fantastic work and provide great services loved by their clients will still always be vulnerable if they cannot sell themselves properly and adapt to new opportunities.
Being realistic it seems most people are just too busy attending to urgent day to day matters to “do marketing” even if they had the skills and resources.
Sometimes learning what to isn’t enough on its own – action is always the key…
Perhaps some need to be persuaded to have a re-think about the critical importance of marketing and business development skills. These skills are essential if people are to have a full range of personalised services to choose from delivered by local community based organisations.
C’mon surely no one wants local community based organisations to be replaced by Tesco! And if you think the market isn’t big enough for anything like that, think again – Stannah stair lifts advertise on terrestrial TV at peak time…
What’s ‘marketing’ anyway?
First off, – it really isn’t just about your website, your leaflets, your brochure, your annual report (or even TV advertising?).
Marketing is about pretty much everything you do – that means the way you deliver your services, the way you communicate in meetings, the look and feel of your website, the messages that connect you with the people who matter to your organisation.
Every organisation needs people to take certain actions which allow you to stay in business and grow. Some of these “actions” we all need from others are:
- “Buy In” to your ideas and support your projects
- Enquire about your services
- Complete your survey
- Visit your website
- Purchase your services
- Support your mission…
- Listen to your proposals
- Give you referrals
- Donate funds
- Volunteer time and skills
- Recommend you
- Work for you
- Partner with you
- Attend your events
- Read your brochure
- Give you their attention
- And so on…
A Simple Definition of Marketing
All the above “actions” happen when people get to know, like and trust you which is really what marketing is all about.
This applies in everything whatever the purchasing/selling/funding process happens to be…
Even if you stretch this to a competitive tendering scenario in which the commissioning authority follows a strict process to establish who will be awarded a new contract, many parts of the process are about establishing trust.
Most of the pre-qualification questionare (PQQ) is just a formal way of establishing whether an organisation can be trusted to deliver a service reliably.
The next stage is about getting to know you – the presentation is when they decide if they like you…
Here’s the simplist definition of marketing I’ve come accross which is someting I’ve reworked slightly from small business guru John Jantsch.
“Marketing is connecting with the people that matter to your organisation so they get to know, like and trust you…”
And it’s this process of building relationships that creates new opportunities – whatever that means in your situation…
Any thoughts?
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