By Michelle Carvill
I want you for a moment to consider the question; what is ‘marketing’?
The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as ‘The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability’.
If we take a moment to look at this definition in more detail, Marketing is therefore a management responsibility. Marketing requires co-ordination, planning, implementation of campaigns and competent managers with the appropriate skills to ensure success.
Personally, my view is that very ’simply’, the goal of marketing has always been, and will continue to be, to attract and retain customers.
However, that’s not so simple, is it? It means building and leveraging relationships between your organization and various customers, current and prospective, services you provide, employees, partners, shareholders and clearly communication your brand personality.
We’ve all heard of ‘customer focused’ organizations- well this is where an organization is driven by market need. Listening to the market (be it internal, team or external clients, prospective clients, third party referrers/influencers etc) and responding effectively.
Marketing cannot be practiced in isolation. It’s a long-term commitment that becomes ingrained as part of the business culture and it touches every business process.
And whilst many organizations have marketing departments that manage the bulk of the tactical marketing activity, (practical elements such as putting campaigns together and sending letters / communications to market) – every single person within a marketing focused business is indeed a ‘marketer’. So, when new marketing activities, plans, policies and directions are created, it’s fundamental that they are communicated to the organization as a whole.
‘One hit wonders’ are rare in the world of marketing. Effective marketing is about having the right platforms, the right resources on board to listen, learn and respond effectively, and creatively.
What it’s not…
Marketing is NOT ’short-term’ it’s not about sending a mailer to a list of 500 people, who you ‘think’ may be interested in what you say, and hope that you may get a response, with no planned follow up. That’s bad practice to act with no campaign planning – practice, that is not sustainable.
In my view: “Marketing is a strategic business process, supporting the strategic objectives of the business – it requires thought, planning and sustainable platforms and resource for effective execution.”
