Introduction to Marketing

I know I am definitely going to offend some people for saying this, but it needs to be said. Do you know what sort of people should NEVER go into business for themselves? Those who are unwilling to take responsibility for the successful marketing of their business.

To them I say: save your time, effort and the money put in from your own savings, your relatives and other investors. If you don't want to take final responsibility for marketing, you don't have what it takes to start and run a business.

There are people who think having a great idea or concept for a business is enough to bring about success. Oh, please! Great ideas, creative inventions are a dime a dozen. But it takes more than good ideas to succeed. It also needs people who can bring those ideas to fruition, make them into sell-able products or services, AND bring them successfully to the end-consumer, the customer.

I had this conversation with a friend once. She was telling me about someone who she thought was a great businessman. Why? Because he knew how to set up shops and had done so a number of times. My question was "But can he bring in customers?" When she paused to think about that, I pointed out that any business without customers is out of business. So how can we call someone a good businessman if he can't bring in customers?

If you are in business for yourself, or thinking of starting up your own business (and this includes being an insurance agent or a property agent), please understand that things are very different now, compared to even 10-15 years ago. I'll be describing these changes from a Singapore context, but the same changes have occurred in many other places around the world.

In the OLD DAYS

1) It was harder to get into business, write and publish a book, set up a shop or dining place, or start a training centre or school. There were less book publishers in the scene, less record companies to launch and promote music albums, and, especially in Singapore, less office and retail space available for rent. Those factors meant that only the serious, the very good and those who had loads of capital to spare could go into business for themselves.

But this also meant that those who managed to get into the scene had less competition to worry about. Therefore they didn't need to be that good at marketing. It was still easier for them to capture enough market share to survive or thrive.

2) There were less distractions. I remember growing up with only 1 English newspaper in Singapore, 2 Chinese newspapers (that eventually merged), 2 English language stations on radio and even less for Chinese, Malay and Tamil. On TV we only had 1 channel each for English and Chinese programmes, and would get 2 channels from Malaysian TV (complements of our neighbor to the north).

What this means is that people had less distractions and less to remember. So they could remember your business, book or album a lot more easily. It also meant that it was easier to dominate the various marketing channels (print, radio and TV) and get public attention for your business.

3) Fewer channels of communications. If people wanted to talk to each other about your business, they would have to either write letters to each other or call each other on the telephone. This meant that word-of-mouth happened very slowly, if at all, and there were less things clamoring for people's attention every day.

BUT NOW

1) It is very much easier for people to go into business for themselves. They could sell insurance, be property agents, or make use of the loads of retail and office space now available for rent to start a dinning place, retail outlet or some other business. Technology has made it easier and cheaper for someone to write a book or cut an album, or maybe even do a great music video to go along with it.

This means that there are a lot more businesses now taking aim at the customers' dollar. Unless you find a compelling way to make your business stand out from the crowd, AND effectively make it known to your customers, you are in trouble. And please, don't expect that claiming you provide the best service/product at the lowest price to work. Many others are also claiming exactly the same thing!

2) We are flooded with distractions. I read in passing that an average American is hit by 3000 sales messages a day. We should be nearing that here in Singapore! In just TV alone we have 170 channels on cable TV, for radio we can listen in to stations from around the world via the Internet, and besides all that we can access almost any form of entertainment we want, thanks to Youtube and other similar sites. We have Facebook and Twitter to keep ourselves occupied and up-to-date with the events around the world, and there are blogs galore to satisfy our interest in our not-so-mainstream interests.

So that means that even if you can get your business/book/album noticed positively, the odds are that your prospective customers will have forgotten you and the name of your business/book/album within a few days. And I think I am being generous here! If people forget your restaurant before they get a chance to patronize it, you have lost that opportunity right there.

3) We have MANY more channels of communication. Blogs, forums , Facebook, Twitter, and email allow us to communicate with people within moments. Moreover, they usually connect people who trust each other, so word-of-mouth messages about your business/book/album get passed more powerfully.

Before all the cheapskate "business"-men start rubbing their hands in glee and thinking that they can sit back and let word-of-mouth handle ALL their marketing work for them, please remember: 1) People may be passing around BAD publicity about your business; 2) Why WOULD they talk about your business to their friends? Just because you want them to? It doesn't work that way!

So That Means:

1) Your marketing has to stand out, and in a compelling way. Many people think that entertaining and clever ads lead to good sales, or they blindly copy the same ads their competitors are using. Entertaining ads may get some attention at the beginning, but I have read of award-winning ads leading to a drop in sales before. So please be careful before you had over loads of money over to an advertising agency. I'm not saying that they can't help you, but please don't switch off your mind, hand them a blank cheque and expect your business to boom uncontrollably after that!

In order for your business/book/album to stand out, you MUST be clear what are you offering that is superior or different compared to your competitors. If you are vague about it ("good service, prompt delivery, good prices") your marketing will leave a vague impression in people's minds. And in this day and age, a vague impression is as useful as no impression at all, except that you wasted more money and time to get it…

And if you are a writer, if you yourself can't put into words why other people should buy your book rather than the next bestseller from Dan Brown or John Grisham (or John C. Maxwell, for that matter) don't expect other people to be able to do it for you. Besides, if you claim to be a writer and can't write a persuasive ad for your own book, I personally would suspect you are a lousy writer and I won't be bothered to read your book at all!

2) People are distracted, so your marketing efforts have to be done on a consistent basis. Don't think a one-shot ad or a short-term marketing blitz will bring in customers in droves for the rest of your life. You need to bring the message of the benefits of your business to your customers and prospects over and over again, once a month at least, or your business will be forgotten.

Writers, don't think that your job is done once a person has bought your book. He or she may have bought your book on the spur of the moment but later forgotten to read it. Your marketing will remind your customer to read your book and benefit from your writing efforts (which is what you want, right?). And if your book is that good, that is where you can get more testimonials to use in your marketing efforts.

3) People will talk and share with their friends about what has captured their attention. So make sure they are saying good things about your business (because people WILL trust their friends more than your promotional efforts) AND make sure they have a good reason to share about your business to their friends.

It need not be in the form of money (rebates, discounts, referral fees), it could even be simply a personally written thank-you note, a special report useful to their lives or small gift (like a cute or classy cup with your company name on it). Just make sure that gift fits in with everything else you are saying about your company. If you deal with serious matter such as estate planning or ending world hunger, a cutesy, teeny-bopper cup design will probably backfire!

By the way, word-of-mouth doesn't only apply to getting customers. If you are a boss, what are your business vendors, suppliers and former employees saying about your business?

For example: Billy Graham Ministries (BGM) has a great reputation with their suppliers.

• They are famous for paying their bills IMMEDIATELY, on the very day they receive the bill, rather than waiting for the end of the month. Because of that reputation, many people want to do business with them. They never have to ask for discounts, the suppliers are falling over themselves to offer them discounts and good rates.
  
  
• Lousy suppliers are fired immediately, because BGM has hordes of other suppliers and vendors waiting at the door.
  
  
• Non-Christian vendors are known to send offerings and donations to them even after the business deals are over, because BGM gave them opportunities when they were down and out, and those vendors responded by giving excellent value in the work they did. Those vendors still remember the hand of compassion extended to them at their time of need, and show their appreciation by making voluntary donations to BGM for years after.

So how much easier would it be for you to run your business and get top-notch employees if your business/company has this kind of reputation? Because word WILL spread, but you have to determine if it is going to be good or bad…

In Conclusion:

I hate seeing businesses go down. Something about it just offends me, because it just stinks of broken dreams, shattered hopes and wasted money. Most of the time I see a business go down because of a lack of customers, and so that is why I am taking a huge detour from my usual writing to bring all these thoughts to you.

Many of us had our impressions about marketing set in our growing years, the years before marketing was so deeply affected by the three major changes I described above. Many people rose to become bosses, or made lots of money from selling insurance, their books or their albums, based on what happened in that era, and are now wondering why what used to work doesn't work anymore. I hope this article will give you a broad sweep of the changes that have happened and why they will affect the way you conduct marketing in the future.

Business people, I wish you success!