WHAT IS MARKETING?

Marketing is what you do to capture people’s attention. It’s the story you tell and the actions you take to attract people to you. 

If you are not marketing yourself, people will not know you exist, which will make selling pretty difficult. 

Bridging the Gap Between You and Your Audience

"If you build it, they will come" is great for the movies, but is terrible for business. More like, "If you build it, then you need to go out and tell people that it's there."

Your business is here, and the audience is over there. How do you get them from over there to over here? You have to talk to them…through marketing. 

Not marketing what you do is like building out a store, but never putting a sign out front. You are left standing there wondering why no one is showing up. Meanwhile, people are passing by oblivious that you even exist. 

So, how do you let the people know you exist? 

Here are seven essential elements of marketing:

The 7 essential elements of marketing 

1. An Audience

This one seems obvious, but we see a lot of marketing that starts with the company or product at the heart of their messaging, instead of the customer. "I've got this product, and I need to sell it. Who wants it?" Starting with this question never works. All of your marketing efforts will come off as pushy, needy, and all about you. 

Instead, start with this type of question, "Who is our ideal customer?" 

If you don't know who your audience is, you won't know how to talk with to them. A great way of discovering what your ideal customer looks like is by putting together a Persona. A Persona is a detailed outline of the traits that most represent who your customer is. 

Detailed Traits like the below are useful to help you understand how (and where) to communicate with these types of people.

  • Age

  • Location

  • Average Salary

  • Number of Children and Marital Status

  • Hobbies, Interests and Habits

  • Favorite Brands and Stores

  • Personality Type

  • Hopes, Dreams and Goals

Doing a Persona outline will also highlight how many types of people would be attracted to your company. You may have multiple ideal personas, which means you will need to create different strategies for each. Start with marketing to your top ideal Persona and then incorporate the others later. 

2. Audience Location

Now that you know who your audience is, we need to know where they typically are. This is both physical and digital. Where do they spend their time physically and on what type of digital platform? 

Knowing where your audience is physically can tell you all sorts of things about income, spending habits, cares, concerns, types of friends, what they pay attention to, etc. Do they send a lot of time at the gym, or in health food stores? Do they walk, bike, drive or bus to work? For example, did you know the average person has a 27 minute commute to work?This type of information can be useful when trying to understand how to communicate to your audience, and also explains why podcasts are becoming so popular… 

Digital locations are very similar. Is your audience spending time on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, or searching Google? Are they typically on their phone or desktop computer? Each digital platform has their own unique benefits that can help you understand your audience. 

Before someone builds a retail store, they do research to find out if there is foot traffic, sidewalks, street lamps, adequate parking, nearby competition, etc. If you build a store by a dangerous intersection, with no easy way for people to get to, you will have a difficult time. So, whether you are advertising in a physical location like a or a digital location like Facebook, do research to make sure your audience is there first. Trust me - this research will save you loads of money in the long run.  

3. Communication Method(s)

We all have a preferred method for being communicated to. Some of us prefer in-person communication, while others prefer a personalized email or a letter, so they can spend time understanding. The same is true about your audience. They have a preferred way of receiving specific types of information. 

The famous media theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, "The medium is the message." This means that the way you communicate means more than the actual message itself. 

  • A handwritten letter shows concern and effort.

  • A video conveys openness.

  • An image connects with emotion.

People will pay more attention to the way that you communicate with them more than the actual message you are saying. 

So, which one is the best way to communicate? ALL of them. Each medium shares a different side of the story, and they all work together. So, let’s recap: 1- find out who your audience is, 2- find out where you audience is, and 3- find the communication method that best resonates with your audience.

4. Timing

Timing is important when it comes to communicating.

A handwritten letter is heartwarming. A handwritten letter every single day for a month means it's time to call the police.

If we are too sporadic with our marketing, however, there is a chance that we become forgettable.

Studies show that it takes about 8 times before someone registers seeing or hearing something. When it comes to marketing, we need to communicate often enough that people will remember, but not so often that we become an annoyance. 

On the other side of it, if we are too sporadic with our marketing, there is a chance that we become forgettable.  

It’s about finding a balance. Let your data show you the sweet spot of timing. Open rates, click-throughs, engagement are all great indicators of how often you should be communicating. 

5. A Goal

The late Zig Ziglar said “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” You need to have a goal for marketing. Marketing without a goal creates one thing, noise. You need to have a goal for marketing. Think about WHY you need to communicate with them? WHAT are you trying to accomplish? Here’s a few types of marketing goals. 

Sell

This is an obvious one, whether you are selling physical products or a service. We would all love to sell more, but it isn't always that simple. So we need to look at some other goals that can make this one easier to accomplish. 

Inform

Your audience may not be aware of you or the problem you are solving for them. Spend some marketing effort informing your audience that you can help them with a need they have.

Educate

Sometimes people know a problem exists but don't know what can be done about it, or maybe assume that nothing can be done. Let people know that there is a better way, and that you can help. This is especially important for those looking to disrupt a particular market.

Bring Value

People don't always see the value immediately. How are you going to make their lives better if they buy your product or service? People purchase from those that they like and trust. The best way to build trust is to communicate and DELIVER the value you promised. So be likable and trustworthy. 

Call to Action

Many companies do a great job of describing the value but fall short when it comes to calling customers to action. You HAVE to call people to action, because most people don't take action on their own. They need that deciding moment to move forward.

6. A Clear Message

The most important part of marketing is saying something that attracts the attention of others. 

Most companies try too hard, overloading the listener with too much information or the wrong kinds of information. In the battle for attention, noise loses every time. 

So, what do you say that grabs the attention of your audience? You need to say something that is important to the listener, not just to you. This is why the first element is so important. If you don't know what is important to them, they will never pay attention to it. You can talk about yourself all day long, but if that is not what is important to your audience, you won't have their attention.

At Riches Consulting, we utilize the StoryBrand framework to create messaging that centers around what people care about. Want to learn more about StoryBrand? We'll send you the book for free! Send us your address, and we'll send you a book.  

7. Repeated Activities

On average, people see about 5,000 marketing messages a day. 

This means that you are not just in competition with your competitors, but with every other company trying to catch people's attention.

Have you ever said, "We tried marketing, and it didn't work." The truth is that it may not have worked yet. We believe this is why most companies think marketing is a waste of money because it can take time to really see results.

People will see your ad, but immediately be bombarded with thousands of other marketing messages. So how do you get the message to stick with someone? Repetition. 

Repetition helps to solidify your company in their mind. Remember, it takes about 8 times seeing or hearing something before the mind starts to really remember it. 

Companies that can get at least 3 different touch points (Email, Retail, Social Media) with their audience find higher rates of success. How often are you communicating with your audience?

So…. What Is Marketing?

Marketing is all about knowing who your audience is, where they are, and how to talk to them. This also means that marketing is not just for big companies; it is for everyone. Non-profits, tech companies, retail, restaurants, everyone needs to utilize marketing. Understanding the basic elements of marketing will help you do it effectively. 

If you don't have a plan for marketing, or if you are not doing any marketing, you are missing out. If you are doing marketing, but you don't see the results you want, revisit these seven essential elements to see where you can improve. If you can't see what is missing, bring in a fresh pair of eyes to look at your marketing plan.

When it comes to marketing, something is better than nothing. Try different approaches, go back to the basics, show up in person, listen to what your clients are saying, look at what other industries are doing, all of these activities will bring you marginal success and momentum for more substantial results. 

 

Get unstuck.

It’s time to move your brand forward.

How much is the lack of a brand strategy costing you? Do your customers really know who you are and what you do? Do people know why they need your company? How many potential customers are not purchasing your product? Is the lack of unity on your team making it difficult to get work done? Are people excited to be a part of what you are doing?

 

Strategic Planning • Brand Strategy Development • Support