Are You Confused About Marketing?

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“What’s confusing about marketing?  Print up some flyers to circulate.  Purchase a yellow page listing.  If you’re really into it, air a commercial on cable tv or place an ad in the local paper.  That’s marketing, isn’t it?”  Well, yes.  Those are all marketing activities, but it’s only a small aspect of it.   “Oh, I know.  You mean marketing online?  Blogging, Twitter, and Facebook?”  Well, not quite.

This is the typical conversation I have with small business owners when the topic of marketing arises.  Can I make a confession?  As an accountant, I was trained to dismiss marketing as a necessary evil.  It’s lumped together with sales on financial statements because we tend to think of marketing as just an extension of sales.

4 Aspects of Marketing You Should Know

Since I became a business owner myself, I’ve learned that some of the most valuable aspects of marketing have nothing to do with the sales process.

Still, marketing and sales will always be linked together in the minds of most people so here are four aspects of marketing as it relates to sales that you should know.

Advertising

This is what most of us think about when it comes to marketing, and where most small businesses spend the bulk of their marketing dollars.  Advertising is bringing attention to a particular product or service – the “Hey! Look at me!” function designed to peak the attention of potential customers.

Promotion

Once you’ve got their attention, keeping it and generating a sustained buzz about your product or service is called promotion.  This is accomplished through a continued mix of advertising, publicity, and public relations.

Publicity

You know what they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity (I’m not sure BP would agree).  Publicity is the engagement of the media in promoting your product or service. It’s great because it’s free and widespread, but you can’t control the message.

Public Relations

Isn’t this just spin or damage control?  When there’s bad publicity, this is certainly true; however, the role of public relations is primarily one of telling your company’s story, usually through the media, and maintaining a strong public image.

The Reader’s Digest Version

The following quote is attributed to M. Booth and Associates, Inc. as taken from a Reader’s Digest story called, Promoting Issues and Ideas.  I think it does a great job illustrating these four aspects of marketing.

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying ‘Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday’, that’s advertising.  If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.  If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity.  And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.  If you did all of this on purpose, that’s marketing.

If you’re still wondering how this is different from sales?  The quote goes on to say …

If the town’s citizens go the circus, you show them the entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.

Your Marketing Budget is Not Peanuts to You

Every dollar you spend as a small business owner has to have a real impact.  There’s just never enough of them to make mistakes when letting them loose.

Coming up with advertising campaigns or promotion ideas is not rocket science, but they’ll likely be ineffective unless they’re part of a true marketing strategy.

Are your marketing dollars being spent with a purpose, as part of an overall strategy, or are they running wild through the mayor’s pansies?

Photo Credit: Flickr/saintbridge