Marketing is a verb. Seth Godin points it out in his book Tribes, but the fact is any dictionary will tell you the same thing. The point is that, as a verb, marketing is about doing something.
As with anything in life, action creates reaction. It's a basic law of physics that also applies to
marketing. Not all marketing gets the reaction you want. Some seems to fall on totally deaf ears, but in reality, may be softening a final sale. It's what makes marketing maddening. Sometimes you can't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what works, but you do know what doesn't. Doing nothing doesn't work.
The goal of marketing is to get your company into the customer's conversation zone. If you're not talked about, considered, or part of the discussion, you're invisible. That's not a good marketing strategy, and yet it's the summary of most marketing plans in the industry.
In the days of yore (probably only 10 years ago), marketing was thought to be reserved for big companies with big budgets. The world has changed, and some of the most effective marketing is not expensive, close to free, does take time and thought, and has flattened access to all companies big and small. In fact, smaller companies may be able to do modern marketing better.
"Big budgets may be more of a hindrance than a help for many package-goods brands coming up with ideas that resonate with consumers, " stated Unilever's Chief Marketing Officer Simon Clift at the Advertising Age Digital Conference. As one of the largest companies in the world, Unilever still has a decent marketing budget, but Clift implied the healthy budget may make it too easy for Unilever's team to fall back on old ways rather than come up with innovative marketing ideas. Necessity continues to be the mother of invention, and even if your budget is small to nonexistent it doesn't mean your marketing should be as well. Rather, it means you need to be smarter about how you market, but market you must.
Full disclosure: I used to work for a Unilever company. It was a great experience, and probably gave me my first taste of the power and importance of marketing. If there's one thing consumer goods companies don't take for granted, it's marketing. You shouldn't either. B:B can learn much from B:C companies, not the least of which is the importance of being front of mind with a consumer, client or prospect long before the sale is made.
Don't have time or the desire to do a marketing plan? Just start by asking yourself one simple question: "What do you need to do be more top of mind with your ideal customer?" Whatever the answer, that is your first marketing action step. Get started today. Remember action creates reaction, so just get moving, or as marketing genius company Nike would advise: "Just do it."
~ Rhona Bronson
