So What On Earth Is Marketing?

And it's very easy to get confused as to what it is. So in this article I am going to look at answering the question:

What is marketing?

Let me just have a quick look at dictionary.com and see what they have to say...

"The total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling."

Notice it says the total of activities.

Now when most people think about marketing, they just think of advertising and promotion.

But in reality it goes deeper than that.

For instance, at Disney theme parks they consider cleaning up the park as marketing.

And at McDonalds, you'll notice they also go to the extra effort to ensure their grounds are clean as soon as you get there.

Marketing is how you answer the phones. How your salespeople present themselves.

How your car looks out on the road. How clean your premises are.

Because there is absolutely no sense in advertising and marketing like a pro and then turning people off as soon as they reach your business.

For instance, years ago I was a call centre trainer and one of the things we used to do to train new operators was have them jump on the phone and contact the competition.

Why?

So they could see how bad they were at answering the phone. And they could see all of the mistakes they could make and what to avoid.

After all, there's no sense learning the tricks to advertising only to generate hundreds of new leads and blow them away as soon as they come in.

It's a tough job - making sure your systems are set up to handle inquiries and keep your customers happy... ensuring you train your staff to handle customers properly... and doing everything you can to ensure a positive customer experience.

And I am not speaking from a space of mastery. I need to stay on top of my systems, I have not made enough time to train up those who worked with me in the past. And the bottom line is I am far from perfect.

But the key is to be aware that marketing is not just about advertising - it's about the entire customer experience.

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Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter and the author of "Cash Flow Advertising" and "More Customers Made Easy". Although Scott is accepting very few clients, he generously shares his experience on copywriting at his web site at www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/