Do You Really Need Marketing? 5 Ways to Cut the BS
Marketing is a broad term, which can sometimes lead business owners astray, thinking that one form of marketing is all they need or that “sales and marketing” are the same function. There is also a lot of BS and jargon that surrounds supposed marketing “strategies.” Let’s be real: there are a lot of people out there selling marketing that don’t understand it. When a business signs with the wrong company, a marketing program can easily seem like a waste of monetary resources.
So Do We Really Need Marketing?
I hear business leaders say something from time to time that both surprises me and pumps me up. When I first tell it to you, you might wonder why it excites me but the phrase goes something like this:
“We don’t really need marketing.” Or “We don’t really do marketing.”
Then they go on to say something like, “Because we’re really an RFP based industry.” Or “We sell to X market and it’s pretty straightforward.” Each instance is slightly different, but the common theme is:
“We don’t need marketing. We do some business development. We do some sales. We’re good.”
I laugh inside and then, as I mentioned, become excited because I know they have an incredible opportunity ahead of them, and it’s my job to do my best to explain what real marketing is.
Here’s the deal. If you are breathing, you need to do real marketing.
Yep. I don’t care if you work at a nonprofit or not-for-profit…I don’t care if you work for a B2B company…I don’t care if you are in construction and do projects for the state or federal government…I don’t care…
You simply don’t understand marketing if you think you don’t need Marketing.
Some of you are thinking: “What’s Dave talking about? Who thinks they don’t need marketing?” You’d be surprised at how many people think that. Plus, you might be part of another faction that thinks that marketing is branding or digital marketing or social media. That contingent doesn’t realize the full potential of real marketing. Or doesn’t understand the key principles. Or maybe just doesn’t want to do some of the less glamorous stuff related to marketing.
And of course there are also those who do Sales or Business Development and want to say they do Marketing.
What is ‘Real Marketing?’
- Marketing is about clearly defining your target audiences, knowing and outlining who you want to reach and influence.
- Marketing includes realizing that who you market to is different than who you sell to…I’ll dig way deep into that subject on a rant dedicated to it in the future but suffice it to say that you need to look beyond the obvious target markets…then drill down those target markets through some serious segmentation that only happens with hard work, honesty, and courage.
- Marketing involves leveraging marketing intel to find out what those target audiences want…what they think…what they perceive…
- Marketing means changing based on the marketing intel so you can give your customers what they want, when and where they want it…
- Marketing uses creative messaging to position your company, products, and services to reach and influence each of those key target market segments in their own unique way–the right message through the right channel at the right time.
So yes, you NEED marketing…the no BS kind.
No BS with MASSolutions | Pittsburgh Marketing Company
When it comes to real marketing, the most valuable detail is who you hire to run your marketing. There are many companies out there who will talk circles with confusing jargon just to get you to sign, and then they don’t deliver the results they promised. That’s frustrating.
And that’s why we developed our no BS model at our marketing & message agency—no BS, no confusing “strategies,” just results.
Need more No BS marketing insight?
Why MASSolutions is Called the World’s Only No BS Marketing Firm
