Weekly Column: 2017-07-07

With the recent development of internet and mobiles along with the advent of social media, the importance of marketing is becoming greater. Why, then do people think marketing is important? Also, why do we do marketing?

The answer is quite simple, really. It is to create profit. Many people are marketing for this reason, but become disappointed when they do not see immediate profits. This very feeling is what I often come across during my consultations with many people. Many confuse the concepts of marketing and sales, and they think of marketing as an option that is utilized as a part of sales. Therefore, they become easily dissuaded if they do not see results soon.

However, marketing is not only just for sales. Some tactics include putting on makeup, dressing in nice clothes in order to increase their value, impress the opposite sex, highlight their strengths during a job interview, or negotiate a more advantageous salary by convincing the company they really need them. These are all marketing strategies but it can be difficult, even for beggars, to ask for more money without marketing. Instead of standing on a corner playing an instrument or alongside a dog to draw attention, they use marketing strategies that will work for them.

Marketing, simply put, is the act of moving the hearts and persuading others in order to ensure what they want will come true. However, when most people think of marketing, they think of sales and distribution, services, products, pricing, etc. People must be the most important aspect of marketing because moving the hearts of people is directly related to your marketing success.

So why do so many people fail at marketing?

First, they try to connect marketing directly to sales. Marketing is not a part of sales and it's difficult to equate marketing with sales. It is more important to attract the attention of consumers through marketing, not make sales by securing customers. The greatest role of marketing is not forcing sales, but letting people decide on their own once you get their attention.

Secondly, they try to sell products immediately through marketing. It is not important to make sales immediately through marketing. You cannot understand the true needs of the consumer if you only focus on making an immediate profit.  Instead, try to understand what consumers want and need even if you have some losses in the beginning. If you work on this concept, you will create and raise CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) and discover the true impact of marketing.

Finally, they must know who they are marketing for. It's pretty much the same as being in a relationship. When you go on a date and meet someone you are interested in, you must appeal to them and draw their attention in order to build a successful relationship. It is the same in marketing. You have to meet the needs of others first in order to create success. However, people do not want to see a loss when they start marketing. If you don’t think about your partner and only think about yourself, while you’re in a relationship, would you ultimately be successful in dating?

Marketing nowadays must be done differently from how it was done in the past. Even a few years ago marketing was enterprise-centric, it was structured so that consumers would enter the marketing plan through persuasion by the business. However, now the trend of consumer-oriented marketing has recently emerged. All marketing is now centered on consumers, and many companies are changing their marketing strategy to satisfy consumers. In the past, restaurants were marketing by attracting more customers to their establishments and selling more food. Now the goal of marketing is to provide the consumers with delicious food and a good atmosphere while aiming to provide a good experience and customer satisfaction. Basically, it means they have shifted their focus from initially selling food to making customer satisfaction a priority. This is the difference between sales and marketing.

The reason we market is to create profits. In order to do so, rather than pursuing marketing for your own benefit, you should approach it from the consumer’s perspective and a market geared towards consumer satisfaction. Even if you do not immediately see the benefits, you will eventually see the true effect of marketing. After all, the biggest part of marketing is to move the hearts of people.