Is marketing just adverts and social media?
Have you ever had a house built or extended a property? Whack up some walls, slap on a roof, fill the holes in the walls with glass or a door…job done? Clearly not, though from the outside that’s what seems to have happened. No-one gets to see the detail; the months of plan alterations, the re-wiring, the plumbing, the RSJs and million other things that only the experts really understand, yet are so crucial to making the building work for you.
Some time ago I was talking through the new marketing strategy I’d put together for a client and I’m pleased to say they were very excited with the ideas I shared, wanting to pursue them all! As the conversation progressed, one of the Directors said to the other – “This all makes absolute sense but I have to be honest, I didn’t consider it to be marketing.”
“Nor did I” replied the other Director, “but having thought about it, it absolutely is!”
So what is marketing?
Let me give you a brief bit of context. I began working with this client to help them generate more members. This involved looking at their organisation, what was working, what wasn’t and where they wanted to get to. The next step was identifying how they could move towards success.
The solutions I proposed went beyond the commonly perceived elements of marketing; advertising, blogs, emails, PR and web sites. That’s because, whilst they are important tools to grow this organisation’s membership base, executing campaigns wasn’t going to be a good use of spend without putting in place some all-important foundations.
My analysis had identified that there was an issue around their use of data, inconsistencies with the brand experience and member service delivery. There were various processes leading to existing opportunities being lost and a lack of belief in the proposition the company offers.
A builder will lay the foundations, build a frame, route the utilities and check it against the architect’s plans before putting the walls, roof, doors and windows in place on a new house. In the same way, if marketing is going to work the support has to be there, and so I emphasised the need to focus on ‘enabling elements’ before executing hundreds of campaigns (if I’ve lost you, the campaigns represent the walls and roof etc)!
Of course, you could build the outward facing parts of a house but it might fall down, the house wouldn’t be very warm and it probably wouldn’t support the vision you had before the project began.
And thus, marketing is much more than the outward facing campaigns – it’s not all about glamourous ad shoots and clever copywriting.
The 4…or 7 Ps of marketing
You may have heard of the ‘4 P’s’ of marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Well several years ago, this accepted framework grew to 7 P’s, recognising the point I’ve been making.
The additional 3 stand for People, Process and Physical Evidence. When you combine all 7 Ps you ensure everything is in place to effectively run your marketing – the right people, the right processes and systems, the right customer experience, the right pricing strategy and yes…the campaigns to get the message out there.
So – when thinking about what your organisation needs, go beyond the quick and obvious and ensure you’ve put all the foundations in place to make your marketing house a home.
In later articles I’ll share details of how you can use different marketing tools. For now, why not understand how we could help you build your marketing home?
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