Three Common Myths about Marketing

In marketing, perception is reality. Ironically, the perception of marketing is nothing like the reality. Marketing is one of the most underestimated and misrepresented activities in the business world. It’s often seen as superfluous and expensive. It’s often confused with sales and/or assumed it’s synonymous with advertising. Finally, it’s assumed that initiatives need to be tracked in order to justify each individual investment. In reality, marketing is one of the most important activities a business can conduct. It’s the conduit that feeds life into the brand, and it’s time to change the perception.

Myth #1: Marketing is expensive

No one will deny the allure of marketing. I often hear from business owners that they would love to market their company but simply can’t afford it. Marketing in a word is communication. Communication is imperative for any business to tell the world they exist; that they have something the market needs. Communicating doesn’t have to be expensive, but is necessary. It’s as if you are throwing a party: unless you send invites, how will anyone know to come? Business owners can be creative about employing cost-sensitive initiatives to communicate their products to the marketplace. Some creative solutions have included: strategic sampling, coop advertising and clever PR. Truth be told, businesses cannot afford not to market.

Myth #2: Marketing is just another name for sales and/or advertising

Say “marketing” and two things come to mind straight away: sales and advertisements. The general perception about marketing, depending on whom you ask, is that it’s about sales or it’s about the ads. Both sales and ads are devices used to communicate a company and its offering to the world. Both are contributory to the total marketing effort, but neither one is exclusive to the practice.

A company has products that address a need in the marketplace. Sales teams are employed to “push” these products through to the retail channels. This ensures products are available for sale. Advertisements are used to “pull” consumers into retailers looking for products. Both efforts drive revenue. Sales revenue goes directly back to the business and is easily measurable. Advertisements drive consumers into the stores to buy products generating revenue for the retailers. Retailers need the products to sell in order to place replenishment orders (i.e. sales revenue for the business). While they are inherently tied to each other they are indeed separate activities and certainly not the only means to effect a business’s bottom line: PR, online activities, direct mail and other tactics can also drive sales both for the manufacturers and their retailers.

Trade advertising is also an important consideration to help generate brand awareness and increase retail distribution so that more consumers will be able to find the product easily. The “pull” of consumer advertising is usually more effective after the brand has achieved adequate distribution.

Myth #3: Tracking each effort can reveal which ones return the greatest ROI

For all the coupon codes, Web site analytics and e-mail trackers, one would assume that a business could track each and every marketing effort. Sure, an ad can be placed with a coupon code to see how many are redeemed; or web analytics can be watched to see if the recent promotion is driving traffic to the Web site, but how accurate is this information? Monitoring, when metrics are available, is advisable as a good way to gauge movement in the market place.

However, it’s near impossible to know each and every person’s prior experience with your brand before encountering your latest initiative. Generally it takes about a dozen impressions before someone is motivated to act. It’s unfair to judge the outcome of a single activity when it’s unknown where on the impression spectrum each person is. This is why it’s important to have marketing efforts on several fronts, impressing upon prospective customers through a mix of mediums: paid media, PR, online social media, and direct mail, among others. The goal is to get to the dozen impressions as soon as possible, to as many as possible.

So what is marketing? It’s communication

Marketing is an art, not a science, and is comprised of three fundamental principles: communication, consistency of message and creation of opportunities. If businesses don’t communicate to the market place that they have a product available, there’s no way for the market to receive it. Longevity depends on building relationships with retailers and customers. Communication is the key to initiating and nurturing these desired relationships. Marketing utilizes all the various forms of media to facilitate communication for a business. In the United States alone there are approximately 300 million people. Even if your target audience is only 1% of the population, that’s still 3 million people. Letting all these people know about your products is no easy task.

It’s consistency of message

Once you have someone’s attention, you will want to ensure you make an impression that counts. Consistency in messaging is imperative. As noted earlier, impressions can be made through various forms of media or simply by word of mouth. Every touch point with your brand should work together to form a favorable opinion for your products. This requires that not only copy be consistent, but imagery and context as well.

Additionally, only one idea can be communicated at a time for it to be received and memorable. It is certainly difficult to resist the temptation to say as much as possible when given the opportunity. However, to say too much is to potentially say nothing. If your communication is too overwhelming, it will not be grasped. Certain forms of media lend themselves to some elaboration, such as Web sites, but in general, successful communication entails

It’s the creation of opportunities

If you communicate successfully; reaching the people you consider to be the most interested in your products and you do it with consistency; such that you make it easy for anyone to understand who you are and what you sell; then you will have created opportunities for your business. Retailers will want to carry your products. Customers will be praising your products to their friends. Sales will increase, affording additional opportunities such as product introductions, a growing staff and geographic expansion.

Successful marketing can drive a company’s growth. It’s not a luxury; it’s a necessity. It’s more than sales and advertisements; it’s an entire communication program designed to reach consumers and retailers, through several touch points. It’s not about one-off efforts; it’s about impressions that add up to sales. The reality of marketing is that it’s the stimulus that promotes success through communication.

About Insights Discovered
Penny Redlin of Insights Discovered is a guest expert on The Giggle Guide™. She is a regular contributor to the “Business Sense” feature, sharing insights about business planning and marketing strategies. To read more articles by Penny Redlin, see http://thegiggleguide.com/biz/features/business-sense.

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Insights Discovered was founded by Penny Redlin in an effort to share her professional expertise within the children’s product category. The company’s mission is to give every mompreneur an opportunity for success. Insights Discovered exclusively services children’s products brands. The specific industry focus demonstrates a strong dedication to the unique needs of children’s products companies. Insights Discovered offers strategic planning, market research and traditional marketing services.

For more information, visit www.insightsdiscovered.com or call 702.218.5707