Every Business is in the Marketing Business

We tend to think of great promoters like the legendary promoter P.T. Barnum as special people. For all their faults, these individuals are incredible salesmen who can sell the wings off a fly. We also tend to think that because many of their businesses involved putting on a show, their marketing legerdemain isn’t necessary for our business. We’re computers programmers or accountants or cosmetologists at heart, not sales people.

Marketing is where your sales come from. The simple truth is that in order to stay in business, at some point you’re going to have to convince someone you have something they should pay money for. In other words, you have to sell something. That’s where marketing comes into play. You may consider it a necessary evil, but the key word is ‘necessary.’

Marketing is your gateway to the world at large. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best (fill in the blank) in the world if nobody knows about you. How do you tell the world your story? How do you convince potential customers that you, and only you, are the best person to take care of their needs? How do you convince them they even need a certain product or service? The simple answer is you tell them, and that’s what marketing is.

Marketing gives you and your company a reputation. When you set high standards and then follow through on them, it helps build up your brand name. Over time you may even come to be synonymous with a particular product the way Xerox was with copiers or Coke with soft drinks. On the flip side, without proper marketing, you may lose potential customers who are not aware of what your business has to offer.

Marketing is more than just sales. It’s your introduction to a stranger so you can have a conversation. And just like you watch for verbal clues during a conversation like facial expressions or body language, marketing can give you clues about how your conversation is going with your customers. Which particular products do they like? Where do they get their information? What do they think you do well at, and where are some opportunities to expand or improve?

Marketing can also tell you what your competition is up to. What types of products are they offering? What specials? Where are they advertising and what appeals are they using to their customers? Marketing is a way to tap into those conversations as well.

While not all of us are social butterflies at heart, marketing is the only way your business is going to succeed. And if you want to dig deeper into turning your business into a marketing business, try our mentoring program to get started. As P.T. Barnum said, “Without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!”