Marketing can be costly. There, I said it. Happy now, finance? Nothing like a spot of interdepartmental bickering to fuel debate, but true marketing is as fundamental to any business as the diligent efforts of our peers in accounts receivables.
To be fair, it’s little wonder that marketing occasionally gets a bad rap; all too often people hastily associate marketing singularly with the promotion of goods and services—advertising—and these activities do come at a considerable cost. What’s more, our perpetual exposure to advertising as consumers means that our very profession is often picked apart by those ignorant about the creative engineering behind marketing communications. As a result, marketing and advertising become synonymous, and its amateur hour at the creative mill.
Marketing should be all-encompassing. Effective marketing should involve market research (is there even a market to tap?), product development (OK, so there’s a need, how can we satisfy?), distribution (we have the solution, how can I get this to people?), sales strategy (what’s compelling about the proposition?), public relations (how can I get other people to help promote my solution?), customer relations (how do I maintain a dialogue with customers). And we haven’t even begun talking about advertising.
Conveniently for us, someone named E. Jerome McCarthy came up with a handy way to define marketing (you only need four fingers, in fact)—the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. There is no one business strategy that won’t lean on one of these pillars we call our profession. Experts have since introduced additional ingredients to the mix, including Physical Evidence, Process, and People (the 7Ps, more commonly associated with services marketing). There are also advocates of the 4Cs out there (Customer Value, Cost, Convenience, Communication), which serves more like an extension of the original 4Ps model.
In theory, as we marketers seek new ways to define progressive marketing strategies, design credible brands and create evermore engaging content in an ROI-hungry work environment, it’s comforting to know that the forefathers of marketing have our back. But I wish to sprinkle in some unspoken Ps to the mix: Passion and Persistence; the passion to challenge, provoke and innovate paired with the persistence to defend our patch in the battle to define marketing. After all, I’m pretty good with numbers, but ask me to prepare a consolidated financial statement for a group of companies and you’ll get… well, you just wouldn’t, would you? What I do bring, along with marketing companions, is a passion for understanding consumers and connecting with them through memorable experiences. My means of doing this might come at a financial cost, but I prefer the word investment.