In business management, the term marketing is ever-present, but do you really understand what it means?
A Google search of the term “what is marketing” may yield more confusion than answers. A survey of your staff will likely result in many different answers.
Sometimes it’s worth a pause in our busy day-to-day to get back to the basics.
So what is the basic meaning of marketing?
The Surprising Definition of Marketing
A simple definition of marketing, according to Miriam-Webster:
The activities that are involved in making people aware of a company’s products, making sure that the products are available to be bought, etc.
The most important part of marketing is found in that simple definition, and that is to make people aware.
My definition of marketing is simple too.
The easiest way that I know how to explain marketing is that it’s all of the ways your business can make a connection with a person.
No matter what product you sell or the service you offer, business won’t be very good if people can’t connect with it.
How much marketing and what tactics to employ depend on your business, but the experts agree that it’s an important component of your success.
Making Connections
Marketing is a huge part of any business and should factor heavily into the business plan.
However, what kind of marketing your business needs is entirely subjective.
Marketing can be as simple as handing out a business card to as complex as psychological behavior studies. It can be found in a hand-shake, on a website, in an email, and even in the packaging of a product.
Marketing can be everything from the signature scent of your retail store to posting on Facebook.
As a consumer yourself, you know the importance of marketing in your own decision-making process.
What Now?
If you are reading this blog, you are looking for insight into marketing, social media, or inbound and content marketing. You may even have inquired about hiring an agency to do some or all of those things for you.
Marketing can be a tough job and is not something you can leave out of your business strategy. It is not something you can afford to get wrong.
Whether you are an in-house marketing person or are in charge of building a marketing team, start by going back to the basics of what marketing is and making sure the connection is there.
Helpful Resources from Move Digital:
Blog: Ways to Integrate Your Social Media and Traditional Marketing