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Adrienne Zoble's Marketing Myth #30:
Marketing and advertising -
they're the same thing and too expensive right now. |
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 Almost two weeks ago, I had back-to-back speaking engagements on the East Coast and in the Southwest. At the first session, I spoke on "Thriving in Difficult Times or Getting your Phone to Ring Again." At the second engagement, I presented "Emotional Marketing."
I was overwhelmed by the positive responses at both events and am still receiving thank-you emails and product orders, which is manna from heaven for any speaker. That's not the point, though. In those five days on the road, I had an epiphany: there are still hordes of business owners and executives who equate marketing with media advertising. Or, they think marketing and selling are the same thing. Since marketing is not always quantifiable and selling is, people ignore the former and concentrate on the latter.
Let's be clear about this: advertising is just half of one of the seven marketing components: price, place, product or service, promotion (advertising and public relations), distribution, positioning and people; but marketing isn't just advertising.
Moreover, selling isn't even a marketing component. Marketing is the cause, and sales are the effect. They're polar opposites!
Therefore, when I spoke of all the inexpensive ways to market and generate sales, people were very enthusiastic. Until that point they were stuck, thinking they had no money to advertise!
Now, please forget the formal, seven-component definition of marketing. Instead consider these three definitions I created at least 20 years ago:
- Marketing = Education, and Education = Marketing. You can't overeducate your clients and customers. People love to be educated; they're not so thrilled about being sold. When you educate, people think of you as The Expert; and we all want to do business with experts.
- Marketing is a combination of common sense and The Golden Rule ("Do unto others . . . "). Consider when you're blown away by great customer service. How does your company duplicate such service? Or, what gets you totally frustrated as a consumer? How guilty are your employees of similar behavior?
- Marketing is the little things. How is your phone answered? How easily can people reach you by email, or do you hide behind "info@"? When you promise quick response time to voice mails or emails, how well do you deliver on your promise?
You see, people buy from you because of three reasons: confidence, comfort level and trust. When I keep suggesting you get out there and schmooze, I'm asking you to build relationships based on those emotions. Engage in this marketing, and referrals leading to sales will result.
Face-to-face, voice-to-voice and education - those are the elements of the most successful marketing today. If you're still running impersonal ads or sending out huge, unknown to unknown mailings, you just don't get it. In marketing it's all about confidence, comfort level and trust.
How many of you have Marketing Plans? How many have a Schmoozing schedule? How consistently are you "out there"? This isn't expensive, even in this economy. An average of $120.00 per month for 2 breakfasts and 2 lunches shouldn't kill any business owner's cash flow.
It's time to understand just how crucial consistent marketing is. It's time to recognize that in marketing, it's not what you spend; it's how you spend it.
Now get out there and market!
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Visit Adrienne Zoble at www.azobleassoc.com. Check out her Do-able Marketing Plan workbook and her 10 minute Marketing Plan Program. Make sure you pick up her Schmoozing Calendar and her latest E-book, "Thriving in Difficult Times or Getting the Phone to Ring Again."
Perhaps your organization or company is looking for a dynamic, tell-it-like-it-is speaker; or you need an article/column for your publication or newsletter.
Adrienne Zoble will help you sell more in less time,
even in these challenging times.
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Adrienne Zoble Associates, Inc. azoble@azobleassoc.com
1060 Sailors Reef www.azobleassoc.com
Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 970/282-1150
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