Marketing is what you believe marketing is. A strange statement, but very true.

When I was studying marketing we were at a “braai” at a friends house. It was around December. Exams were finished and it went well.

This friends dad stopped there with his car and opened the boot. He looked at me and said, this is marketing. The boot of his car was lined with whiskey and sparkling wine. For him, marketing was gifting his clients in December as a thank you.

But wait … there is more … marketing is a mix of things. That is how the marketing mix came about.

The Marketing Mix became known as the 4Ps:

• Product
• Place
• Promotion
• Price

The Marketing Mix expanded to the 7ps:

• Product
• Place
• Promotion
• Price
• People
• Process
• Physical Evidence

Marketing is definitely a mix of things and not just one thing.

Marketing is everywhere in the business. Borrowing from Star Wars, it’s like the force. It is the power that holds everything together. It flows through everything, it is everywhere. Marketing is the same.

Has your definition of marketing changed yet?

No? Ok … here is a definition I found searching:

Marketing is the the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

Promoting and selling might feel a bit more comfortable for some when thinking about what marketing really is. Thing is, keeping a customer costs 5 times less when compared to getting a new customer. So selling to current customers is part of the service and or product delivery to keep a customer. Which then makes it part of marketing.

Here is a story … guy delivers some boxes at his local retailer. He pulls up the truck to the loading bay. The truck is branded with the company logo and slogan. The guy steps out, he is dressed with a company shirt which has the logo on and a slogan. The slogan says, best service guaranteed. As he gets ready to unload, the floor manager asks to have the products packed in the back. Our guy smiles and says: “No problem, will do that”.

As our guy finishes, he goes to floor manager to let him know its all done. The floor manager says thank you, and that they will get the pallets ready for the products to be packed on. Our guys says, no need we have already packed the product on pallets.

The floor manager is pleasantly surprised. Our guy asks if there is anything else he needs help with? The floor manager is already happy because packing the product on pallets saved him 30 minutes of work. He has dinner with his wife tonight. This 30 minutes gives him some time to get her something special.

Our guy then thanks the floor manager for the business. We really value and appreciate it. As he gets to his truck, he asks if he can close the sliding gate.

The slogan says, best service guaranteed … our truck hero just proved it. That is marketing.

Marketing is not only found in the ads you create, or your website, or the corporate branding … it is everywhere.

It is how the phone is answered, the quality of the products and services, it is the small things that many times makes the difference. It could be a smile someone needed that day. It could 30 minutes of time saved.

Marketing is NOT an after thought. It is not placing an advertisement. It is a way of doing business.

Marketing is the glue that holds everything together in your business. And at the center of that is your client. Everything revolves around your client. When you align your business, your marketing, your sales, your processes, your operations around your client … your clients WINS, and you WIN! Everyone smiles.