What Is Marketing?

You often hear people talk about marketing in terms of specific tasks: “we need to work on the marketing” is interchangable in their mind with “we need a brochure & a website”. Sure, in some cases websites & brochures can be used in marketing, but this is focusing on “the means”, not “the ends”. These are just tactics you use within marketing.

So - if marketing is not just the sum of these tactics - what is marketing?

Marketing is: Finding, Creating & Keeping Customers.

If you are ‘marketing’ something, you’re trying to ‘find, create & keep customers’ for it.

You might find them via word of mouth, or via advertising, or via a scheme to get your website to the top of Google for some relevant term…

You might create them (turn them into a customer) via a ‘free 30 day trial’, or by selling them something, or by gaining permission to send them emails every now & again…

You might keep them by providing them with exceptional service (great), or by creating new products that match their needs perfectly (great), or by making it exceptionally difficult for them to leave you (not so great!)…

Is Marketing Really About ‘Customers’?

What do we mean by “Finding, Creating & Keeping Customers“? ‘Customer’ can mean different things to different people: For your particular situation, you could swap it for donors, or readers, or friends, or voters, or patients…

Is That It?

I said ‘Finding, Creating, Keeping Customers’ at the top. You might also like to add a fourth part to that: ‘Turning your customers into advocates’: Delighting them so much that they do your marketing for you.