SMART MARKETING: Marketing: An Attempt At Defining

I’m a word guy. In fact, my nickname around my office is “Word Man,” a title I wear with more than a little pride. I try not to let any communication device go out without me (or someone equally as anal-retentive as I am) reviewing it.
So, as Mr. Shakespeare asked some time ago, “What’s in a word?” Well, if the word is “MARKETING” there’s a great deal of misunderstanding.

MINDING P, S AND C. In traditional academic and theoretical terms, marketing is the process that moves a product or service from the producer to the consumer. Historically, it involved the four Ps…“product, place, price and promotion.” Latter-day thinkers added a couple of Cs to the mix, along with a very important S. The two Cs are “customer sensitivity” and “customer convenience.” The S, of course, is “service,” although in the case of an industry like ours, service is the product. The service in the new definition of marketing is service AFTER the “product” is in the hands of the consumer. Have I confused you sufficiently?

It gets worse.

Some companies call their salespeople things like “marketing consultants” because they’re trying to distance themselves from the word “sales.” I’m not sure when sales became a bad thing, but a significant number of organizations don’t even venture close to the word when talking about their salespeople. Go figure.

Others confuse advertising, public relations and even merchandising with marketing. Let me try to clear things up for you. (I’m guessing you’re about ready for some clarity.)

Think of marketing as a tree. In fact, draw a tree on a blank sheet of paper and write the word “marketing” on the trunk. Then, write advertising, public relations, promotions, sales, packaging, pricing and positioning on individual branches. Are you beginning to see where we’re going with all of this?

DEFINING MARKETING. Marketing is defined as the entire process of developing a product or service (pest prevention, for example), pricing it (competitively, but so you can make a profit), finding a place for it in the marketplace (positioning it for something like price, experience, image, etc.), promoting it (through advertising, public relations, etc.), while connecting with the customer’s sensitivities (not necessarily chemically, but in terms of wants, needs, expectations) and making it convenient for the customer to purchase. Whew!

Now, in the grand scheme of things, you might be asking yourself, does all of this really matter? The short answer is, of course it does. It matters because different talents, skills and abilities come into play in executing all of these different facets of the marketing process. A true “marketing” person works with lots of information in order to design a cohesive plan for growing a business. A marketer can develop a demographic model with, for example, customer-generated research regarding wants, needs, expectations, etc., a budget, a time line, and more such valuable minutiae.

An advertising person works with message development, creativity, and the science of selecting appropriate media to cover a given geographical marketplace. A public relations person thinks strategically about things like reputation, image, regulatory issues, employee relations, the news media, etc.
By now you should have an inkling of why it’s important to discern between marketing, advertising, public relations, promotions, sales, and the other aspects of moving your business forward. In future “Smart Marketing” columns here in PCT, I’ll be focusing on the elements of marketing mentioned above.
I hope this helps.

The author is senior vice president of Massey-Persons-Brinati Communications, a subsidiary of Massey Services Inc., Maitland, Fla. He can be reached via e-mail at bbrewer@pctonline.com.