Often, the most important work is the work you don’t see.
Take Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, for example. You immediately think of the gold medals, the finals, the world records, the cameras, the screaming fans, the glory. Bolt will be remembered for his showmanship on the track, his seemingly effortless victories and his speed.
He won’t be remembered for the intense training sessions, the hours spent in the gym and on the track, the sports psychologists, and all the years of hard work and effort that he put into building that success. But this work is the sole reason he’s successful.
And so it goes with marketing.
The interviews in local press, the well-made promotional videos or brochures, the insightful and shareable social media posts—the ‘gold medals’—are all well and good. But this visible element, known as the promotional mix, is just the manifestation of all the planning, research and hard work that has already taken place. It really is the tip of the iceberg, to coin a phrase: the bulk is below the surface, invisible to your clients until they come to be involved with the brand.
Simply, there is more to marketing than meets the eye.
Today the prevalent view of marketing is the American definition, which the AMA puts like this: “Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives.”
This view is in line with the 4Ps idea: product, price, place, promotion. However, this contention misses some important aspects of marketing and instead focuses on the loud, shiny stuff.
The UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing like this: “The management process for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” This is a much more expansive concept that puts the values of the customer and how you are meeting their needs at the forefront .
If marketing is more than just promotion, what other aspects are there?
These areas aren’t necessarily elements you would naturally associate with marketing, but make no mistake, they’re essential to a winning strategy. Much as you can’t achieve gold medal success without putting in some serious training, you shouldn’t expect a marketing strategy to be all about the noise. The glory is great, but that can only be achieved by some seriously hard work which is, frankly, not ‘sexy’ at all.
But, as with Usain Bolt, hard work pays off. Often in spectacular fashion.
Do you have a winning marketing strategy? If you’d like a quick, easy and free assessment, take our Marketing 360 Healthcheck.