Marketing

Marketing

When people look at a building, what they see from the outside is mostly just aesthetic covering. They see walls, windows, ceilings and floors. These external attributes comprise the sum total of the experience most people have with that building. The outer skin, if you will, IS the building to the vast majority of people who interact with it.

However, there are crucial elements of a building that truly make it functional. A building has a foundation, plumbing, electricity, etc. Without these "invisible" elements the building would be of little use to anyone. The same holds true for marketing systems that are built on an unstable foundation.

The work that makes marketing programs effective and profitable is the grunt work of marketing. It is the marketing equivalent of digging foundations, setting up walls, putting in piping for the plumbing, and installing the electrical wiring. When it comes right down to it, many marketers just don't have the stomach for it. They want to avoid the dirty work and move quickly to the glamour and glory of promotion.

There are four layers to the optimum marketing infrastructure. These layers are the Business Foundation, Marketing Foundation, Promotional System, and the Promotional Activity. The efficiency of each layer is dependent upon the preceding layer. In other words, without a strong business foundation, it is impossible to have an effective marketing foundation, promotional system, and promotional activity because you will be so plagued with business problems and breakdowns, that all marketing efforts will go largely unheeded.

If any one of these elements is not functioning correctly it can completely wipe out any promotional marketing efforts that you undertake. For instance, you can write an ad that pulls like crazy and has the phone ringing off the hook, but if you staff your order desk with a rude, surly, ex drill sergeant... well, there is a breakdown in your system.

If you have established a solid business foundation, then you are ready for the dirty work of forming a strong marketing foundation. You don't have to be a genius, you just have to be willing to do the work.

What the foundation really comes down to is four things. They are knowing WHO your prospects are (market), differentiating your company (brand), having a product(s) that meet the needs of the market (product), and having a marketing infrastructure that helps move your product to the market in exchange for appropriate payment (infrastructure).

Successful marketing provides companies the potential to grow sales through unique marketing campaigns, to lower distribution costs, develop new international markets, and increase customer loyalty. Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance long-term customer relationships at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is done by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises

The new definition of marketing, as released by the American Marketing Association, is: "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders" (AMA, 2006).

However, the most widely accepted definition of marketing on a global scale comes from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK which is the largest marketing body in the world in terms of membership. The definition claims marketing to be the "management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably" (2006).Some examples of these marketing strategies used in organizations, include Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and McDonalds.

Starbucks