On the seventh day, when God sat down to rest, he grabbed his tablet and googled 'marketing'. Ok, maybe God didn’t but I’m pretty sure if he was a small business owner he would have.
Most small business owners know that marketing is important to their business. Yet few have a good understanding of what it is or how it works. This isn’t really surprising. A single search on Google will generate over one billion results in less than a second offering a bewildering range of perspectives on what marketing is and how to do it. It's no wonder that marketing remains a mystery to many small businesses.
The definition I like to use with my clients comes from Dr Richard W. Buchanan in his book ‘When Customers think we don’t care’. He proposed that marketing could be defined as any activity aimed at minimising barriers to customers purchasing your product/service.
What I like about this definition is that it is easy for my clients to remember. It also implies that marketing is more than just advertising and everybody in the organisation has a part to play.
For example, if a potential customer walks into your business and it’s dirty, what impression do you think that makes? Or if a customer receives bad service at the front desk or the product is poorly made or the business owner didn’t return a call to a customer. In each case, these are barriers to customers purchasing your product or service.
Marketing is about knowing your customers and minimising barriers to them purchasing your product or service. It’s not easy but done well it will set your business on the path to growth.
Most small business owners know that marketing is important to their business. Yet few have a good understanding of what it is or how it works. This isn’t really surprising. A single search on Google will generate over one billion results in less than a second offering a bewildering range of perspectives on what marketing is and how to do it. It's no wonder that marketing remains a mystery to many small businesses.
The definition I like to use with my clients comes from Dr Richard W. Buchanan in his book ‘When Customers think we don’t care’. He proposed that marketing could be defined as any activity aimed at minimising barriers to customers purchasing your product/service.
What I like about this definition is that it is easy for my clients to remember. It also implies that marketing is more than just advertising and everybody in the organisation has a part to play.
For example, if a potential customer walks into your business and it’s dirty, what impression do you think that makes? Or if a customer receives bad service at the front desk or the product is poorly made or the business owner didn’t return a call to a customer. In each case, these are barriers to customers purchasing your product or service.
Marketing is about knowing your customers and minimising barriers to them purchasing your product or service. It’s not easy but done well it will set your business on the path to growth.
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