I find it interesting when I speak with new acquaintances and they ask me what I do. I’ll typically respond with “I’m a marketer” or “I’m part of a marketing team.” Nine times out of ten, the response I’ll get back is “Oh, you do advertising.” I used to be surprised with this response, given that advertising is really just a small part of the marketing discipline. Now, I have come to expect it.
Of course, advertising is a part of the marketing mix. It comes in many forms, as shown in this recent media share chart.
Each of these categories is part of the advertising spend, with each component offering unique advantages and opportunities, depending upon what you are selling and where your audience resides.
But, the role of a marketer is far more than planning a media spend and allocating budget to various communications channels. Marketing is really about understanding customers. Who are they? Where do they shop? What leads to a purchase decision? And, with this knowledge, what can be done to influence and accelerate the process? These are the questions a marketer must understand. With this knowledge, advertising spends can then be established and executed, with hopefully an understanding of what results will emerge.
Working in high tech for the past couple of decades, my advertising spend is highly focused on trying to reach a specific audience. I have never worked in the role of advertising to the masses. I do marketing campaigns tied to some sort of “asset” that yields inquiries for helping prospects to solve business problems. As you likely can tell by now, I work in what marketers call a “b2b” or business-to-business environment. Traditional advertising spent for this type of marketing is typically more brand or image-based, so done only by the largest companies interested in building awareness of their name or presence within a particular market.
The Age of Experience
Today, marketing might be better described as “managing to create and sustain the best customer experience,” which is rewarded by new and existing customers purchasing your goods or services. There are many ways the purchase experience is impacted – from what other customers are saying, to what is published on news sites, to what is involved in the purchase process. (See “Is Customer Satisfaction” article link)
The role of a marketer is to ensure that each of these “parts” of the experience lifecycle all come together to tell a consistent story with a logical conclusion: purchase this product or service, and you will be better off, will solve your problem, or will feel good about yourself for doing so. If any part of the prospective customer experience lifecycle fails to consistently deliver this story, you have a problem. And, this problem isn’t something that just the marketing department needs to worry about … it impacts your entire business.
Let me give you an example. I recently had an experience where I was undergoing a purchase of a product that required some level of knowledge of what options to consider as well as what choices would be appropriate. The owner of this business didn’t think it necessary to train their new sales staff. As a result, I was stuck with someone who had no business being in a sales role – he didn’t know anything about the products, the competition, or how to even proceed forward with the purchase process. This lack of training led to a terrible customer experience, one that scarred the entire process (and one that will lead me to never do business with that company ever again.)
Marketing Plan as part of a Business Plan
When preparing a business plan or speaking with a business plan writer, it is important to understand what role marketing will play as part of your plan. Marketing professionals are tasked with a critical role – helping the sales process be effective. This is way more than just running ads in a local newspaper, magazine, or billboard.
Today’s marketers have much more responsibility to look at the entire purchase process – from how a product or service is introduced to a prospective user, to what the purchase process is like. Without a clear focus on the entire process, a company’s financial future is limited, to say the least.
Those companies that are too small to justify hiring a marketing person or staff must rely upon themselves to review their own customer purchase experience and to then address any shortcomings that might be identified. Unfortunately, this can often be a difficult exercise when there are likely other pressing needs involved with running the business. Ironically, it is in these situations where the greatest price is paid and the greatest opportunity for improvement is available.
Perhaps the first step to raising awareness of this opportunity is to get the stereotype of “Marketing is advertising” out of our heads.
