Marketing is so simple and yet so distant and cold to so many.
I have been asked many times “what do you do?”
“Marketing” I respond
And I am still surprised to hear “What’s that?”
Marketing is a message that emblazons a brand in our minds; often subtly and if with great precision is something we don’t think of as marketing.
Marketing is a tool of branding; “Brand Management” is brand-marketing technospeak. Branding is to truly identify and secure a position as a product and service provider; a point of difference and a product no one can provide (that is except you).
The marketing world is so imprinted in our minds that we have certain perceptions, needs, fears and aspirations–the “secret sauce” is to make one brand advantageous compared to another.
If you ask someone why they use an Apple Computer, drive a Mercedes-Benz or love flying Southwest; these brands aren’t just competing for lowest price—yes, even Southwest which built its reputation on low price doesn’t depend on lowest price as its only way of attracting it’s consumer base. Many people who fly Southwest do so because they love the brand. What some people think about Southwest “always get where I am going on time” “I like choosing my seat” “the flight attendants are super friendly”
I am surprised how many entrepreneurs I work with have no marketing strategy or even business strategy—the strategy of the product will speak for itself or the opportunities will present themselves.
But the realty is being strategic in all aspects of your business are road maps of how you move your business instead of just hoping your business does well.
If you were asked to drive across the country from say Wilmington, Delaware to Port Angeles, Washington without a road map could you do it?
The answer is that few of us can and this applies to your brand. Business fail more often that they succeed and that is because a strategic mapping of the business was not surveyed and completed.
I was asked to write a business plan for a business in operation for over two years. This business had a huge pipeline of funding but no plan. I asked the financial officer how the financial goals were set. “Budget” is what I got back as an answer. Basically the market had no other service providers. I asked how big the market was and I got no answer back. The lack of answer was an answer; they believed the market was sufficient to meet their budget. But ultimately there was no reason for being. I was hoping for passion—there wasn’t any there.
Most entrepreneurs I know who have asked for my help either are a new business or an established business hardly turning a profit. But a business hardly turning a profit is a sign that not only is the business viable it is possibly under recognized. Creating a marketing plan and to strategically cultivate your consumer base is more interesting and more profitable than what most business owners and leaders do today.
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James Meléndez can be instrumental in moving your business forward and registering in your consumers heart your businesses brand offering. Contact me for more information on how I can help you business.
