When we talk about Marketing, thoughts only arise in our heads about large corporations, such as Apple or Microsoft. This concept is typical for corporations and small companies that are just starting their way. Every company is engaged in what can be called marketing; only some of them do it illiterate. In my speech, I would like to tell you the essence of marketing and explain why it is more than just advertising. I will also try to highlight situations you can do without a marketer, and even a professional cannot help us.
Marketing Helps to Understand the Customer
Indeed, you have studied the assortment and prices of competitors. Such an analysis is already marketing, as it is superficial market research. It remains only to delve into it and understand who is interested in your products and how to offer people exactly what they want. Determine, at least approximately, the critical characteristics of your audience: gender, age, place of residence, income level, interests (Jeff, 2012). Then divide the clients into groups. So, the audience of a furniture salon can include couples with children, bachelors, managers of companies buying office furniture, and all these people will be interested in entirely different advertising offers. Understanding the audience, habits, and needs will allow you to “please” more customers.
Marketing Attracts Those Who Do Not Come by Themselves
Starting a business, some entrepreneurs rely solely on word of mouth. How will the customers of a paint factory on the other side of the city find out that it has the lowest prices if the price list is not freely available and the company has not declared itself in any way? Marketing offers many practical tools for promoting goods and services, and not all of them require significant investments (Jeff, 2012). Publication of thematic posts on social networks (Instagram, Telegram), the attraction of specialized distributors, various advertising – this can use for self-promotion for potential customers.
Marketing is Constantly Improving the Product
Companies often face the problem that they cannot sell what people don’t need. It is even more difficult to cause the buyer to need to buy something else from this company in the future. This situation where Marketing comes to the fore allows you to more accurately determine customers’ real needs, which are not immediately apparent. (Jeff, 2012). To understand what is more important for the consumer: convenience, aesthetics, accessibility, quality, or a combination of some parameters. And thanks to this, not only to correctly build a promotion strategy but also to detect imperfections of the product from the client’s point of view.
Marketing Allows You to Communicate with the Consumer
By paying attention to the needs and characteristics of the target audience, it is easier to choose the proper communication channels and get prompt feedback. If a business communicates with a client in the same language, the consumer feels that he is heard and understood, his values are shared, and this increases loyalty (Jeff, 2012). And, of course, marketing allows you to avoid elementary mistakes in communicating with the audience. For example, a familiar tone in a mailing addressed lawyers with ten years of judicial practice.
Marketing is the Basis of a Customer-Oriented Business
It is unnecessary to use all existing tools; in some places, common sense is enough. It is essential to be guided by the critical idea of marketing: at the center of the business are the needs and interests of the client, which correspond to the company’s product. Otherwise, what an entrepreneur does will be needed only by himself, and no advertising tricks motivate customers to buy regularly.
Reference
Jeff, T. (2012). Marketing Principles. Creative Commons.