What is Marketing?Marketing is the commercial processes involved in promoting, selling and distributing a product or service. It is an ongoing process of planning and executing the marketing mix around the famous ‘4 P’s’ of Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Marketing should be considered as both ‘inbound’ and ‘outbound’.
What typical Marketing issues arise in the business?- Unsure of what Marketing is;
- No clear idea of target market;
- No clear Unique Selling Proposition;
- Look at Marketing as expense and not an investment;
- Unsure of return on advertising investment;
- Invests all marketing funds in single advertising message; and
- No testing and measuring of Marketing messages.
What would a successful Marketing Framework be in a business?Clear understanding of value of Inbound and Outbound marketing
Inbound Marketing includes:
- What specific groups of potential customers have specific needs;
- How those needs might be met for each group, which suggests how a product might be designed to meet the need;
- How each of the target markets might choose to access the product, etc. ;
- How much the customers might be willing pay and how;
- Who the competitors are;
- How to design and describe the product such that customers will buy from the business, rather than from its competitors; and
- How the product should be identified -- its personality -- to be most identifiable.
Outbound Marketing includes:
- Advertising and promotions (focused on the product);
- Public and media relations;
- Customer service; and
- Customer satisfaction.
Too often, people jump right to the outbound marketing. As a result, they often end up trying to push products onto people who really don't want the products at all. Effective inbound marketing often results in much more effective -- and less difficult -- outbound marketing and sales.
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