Understanding Marketing: A Marketer’s Perspective
What is Marketing?
Marketing, from a marketer’s perspective, is an intricate process of creating, communicating, developing, refining, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. As a marketer, I can tell you that it’s about understanding customer needs and wants, developing products or services to meet those needs, determining the most effective ways to reach and engage with the target audience, and ultimately persuading them to choose your offerings over your competitors.
The Customer Decision
At its most basic level, a customer’s decision could stem from the fact that they’ve never heard of your product before. They might not know you exist, or they might think you don’t offer anything relevant for them.
At a slightly more advanced level, you might have the perfect product for a consumer, but they perceive a competitor’s offering as better, simply because their marketing activities have done a better job of highlighting the aspects of the product that the consumer actually cares about.
Or worst case scenario, your perfect customer doesn’t even know that you exist!
Note:
This article features content from the Marketing Made Clear podcast. You can listen along to this episode on Spotify below:
The Power of Unique Selling Points (USPs)
Sometimes, these aspects are known as Unique Selling Points (USPs). But not always. Good marketing can create something called “brand preference,” which might come down to something as simple as nicer packaging, a more modern or nostalgic brand image, or a brand that just seems cooler.
I say not always, because we can sometimes imagine this ideal world where every company or product actually has something unique to offer. But that isn’t always the case, and I think marketing theory can have a tendency to overlook that.
That being said, consumers often make purchasing decisions based on emotion rather than logic. This is where marketers focus on how marketing makes people feel, rather than just effectively communicating the specifications and attributes of a product.
The 7 P’s of Marketing
Marketing encompasses a wide range of activities, including:
- product
- price
- place
- promotion
- people
- process
- physical evidence
These are known as the 7 P’s. But while these models can help marketers think about many aspects of marketing, they don’t cover everything. It’s crucial to understand their limitations and recognise that they don’t offer a hierarchy. You have to determine which aspects of marketing are most important to your target market.
If the 7 P’s can help with that, then great – but please don’t narrow your horizons.
Generating Demand Sustainably
The primary goal of marketing is to generate demand for products or services and drive profitable customer action sustainably over the long term. Effective marketing involves a deep understanding of consumer behavior, market dynamics, and the competitive landscape.
This is why smaller businesses can sometimes do a better job than larger ones. Bigger companies can become disconnected from their customers and end up marketing products and services based on things consumers don’t care about or don’t care about anymore.
A Marketing Mantra: “Adapt or Die”
Customer demands change, so products and the way they are presented to customers have to change. Keeping up with this requires strategic thinking, creativity, research, data analysis, and the ability to adapt to changing market conditions. As our old pal Charles Darwin said:
“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is best able to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”
In today’s digital age, marketing often involves leveraging technology and online platforms to reach and engage with audiences across various channels such as social media, search engines, email, and mobile apps.
As a marketer, if you don’t stay ahead of the competition, you will get overtaken and fall behind.
Stay competitive people!
Final Thoughts
In essence, marketing is about adaptation and understanding. Whether you’re a big brand or a small business, the key to successful marketing lies in your ability to understand your audience, stay connected with their evolving needs, and adapt your strategies to meet those needs.
Remember, adapt or die!
That doesn’t mean you can’t keep on doing what currently works for you, but be ready to evolve.
Keep roaring, you marketing beauties!
Up Next:
Trends: Marketing from an academic perspective.
