0 What is Marketing?

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas or goods and services, that will ultimately satisfy a customer demand.

Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or another, maybe an idea even. So why there such a high percentage of products on the market that just don't survive? Well in most cases, the problem lies not in the idea or service itself, but in the cultivation thereof.

Lets try and analyse where most businesses go wrong:

Most small businesses don't have a Marketing plan

Successful businesses thrive because every single person in the organisation is aware of where the business is going. In other words, the business is as a result of one mans vision, and with the help every employee, the company as a whole is dedicated to see that vision through.
A Marketing plan helps to achieve this kind of focus and when used effectively, it will ensure that the business is able to adapt to todays dynamic business environment and changing customer needs.

They tend to confuse Sales with Marketing

One important fact to remember is that Sales is a direct byproduct of effective Marketing. The objective of sales is to increase revenue that the company generates by distributing products and services, none of which would be possible if the consumer of that product had no information on which to base their purchase. Although it is important not to confuse the two, Sales and Marketing together with PR tend to work hand-in-hand and removing any one of these from the chain could result in failure.

“We don't need marketing, we're a small company”

That should be that exact reason as to why a business does need to have a  marketing process. Lets be honest, no business owner wants to remain the same size forever and to just keep breaking even. But the only way of changing that is to be proactive, know what the market is, where its going and where you fit in.

Marketing gurus say that Marketing is an art, not a science. We could argue this point forever but the bottom line is that I don't believe it is. You can learn how to Market. Marketing is not some God given talent that only those born with can exploit, it is a process, a method, a way of succeeding that you can start learning right now.