It’s Still Marketing, and the Basics Still Apply

In the middle years of this decade, I taught a Marketing course for a few years at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. Back then, we taught the classic principles of marketing.

First, the planning steps:

• Identify a market opportunity
• Define your target audience
• Define your unique selling proposition and position yourself vs. the competition

Then, the execution:

• Create your messaging
• Promote it through advertising, public relations, direct mail, and special events
• Collaborate with partners to reach customers and distribute product

A bit simplified, perhaps, but that was it, in a nutshell. (Pricing figured in the mix also, but I’m going to leave that aside for this discussion).

Today, it’s a whole new ballgame. Web-based commerce, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, social media marketing, blogging – it appears that everything has changed. But has it, really?

To be successful, you still need to be clear about the market opportunity and audience you’re targeting, and what makes you stand out vs. your competition.  The Internet has made research and analysis of these questions easier, but it has also created a more level playing field .  Tools and information sources for investigating market planning questions are more extensive, sophisticated, and widely available, thanks to Internet and search engine technology.   The blogosphere and social media discussions can help you “feel out” a marketplace before you enter and provide a more informal read on your target audience.  And your competitors’ positioning is more accessible than ever, as online branding, corporate websites and blogs have created a big window into most companies’ marketing presence.

And yet, after taking advantage of these new resources, you’d do well to return once more to the market planning basics and make sure you have a good answer to these questions:

• Is the market you’re targeting large and growing and does it offer a profitable opportunity?
• Can you clearly articulate who your target audience is and how they will benefit from your product or service?
• What sets you apart from your competitors and will that give you a sustainable competitive advantage?

For marketing execution, the changes happening today are huge, and have turned the traditional mass-marketing game on its head. First, search engine marketing turned Advertising around from a “push your-message-out” to a “pull-your-audience-in” strategy, where searchers only see ads related to their search entries and advertisers only pay when their ads are actually clicked. Likewise, traditional PR has evolved from courting relations with influential media to courting links from authoritative websites in order to lend credibility to a brand. Social Media and company blogs enable marketers to “socialize” their brands with a target audience and establish direct dialog and community discussions with customers and partners. Email marketing allows you to stay in touch with customers, inform them of happenings, offer special discounts, etc.  And Web Analytics have added measurement, tracking and profitability analysis that was sorely missing from more traditional marketing tactics.

Internet Marketing cycle

Yet here too, a return to marketing basics can serve as a valuable reality check.  Smart marketing practitioners know that the same rules still apply in the new world of Internet Marketing:

• You cannot measure your success without a clear articulation of your goals.
• Content must be clear, compelling, and creative or it will be ignored.  Tell a story and you’ll win more followers.
• A strong call-to-action can turn a prospect into a lead; without it you have only a lost opportunity.
• Customers respond best when you address benefits, from their perspective.
• Influential and authoritative sources are looking for valuable news and insights, not a chance to promote your product or service.
• Practice honest and straightforward communication with your customers; they will reward you with their trust.

I’m sure this is not an exhaustive list of the “basics” that marketers should keep in mind. But I find it a helpful checklist for me to return to, at those times when I’m so enamoured by new opportunities that I think the past has nothing valuable to offer.