What actually is marketing, and how to do it well for your business (featuring Vicki Smith)
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Marketing is nebulous. It encompasses a ton of roles – from advertising, communications, recruitment, HR + more. Ultimately, the essence of marketing is distillation. We get to the heart of our core message/value + make it easily digestible to an audience.
Someone who REALLY gets this is Vicki Smith. Over the past 20 years, she’s lived + breathed marketing across a range of industries + business sizes. Currently, in addition to running her own business (Cool Chain), she also works for Greater Whitsunday Alliance, helping them market our region through the lens of economic development.
In Vicki’s words; “Marketing is all about think, feel, do”. As marketers, we influence thoughts, which will affect your feelings, and then drive your actions. This could make someone choose to engage in your services, or it could drive them away if you’re not a good fit.
What is the most important thing to understand about marketing?
Marketing is always subservient to your greater business plan. If you don't know where your business is going + what your goals are, marketing won’t be nearly as effective.
This is so important that we’re going to write it twice.
Without a business plan (whether that’s a physical document or a set of goals in your head), marketing will fall flat.
What's the simplest way to describe marketing?
Marketing is a toolbox, like how a mechanic needs to first diagnose the cause of a problem + then pick the appropriate tool to fix it. Marketing is about diagnosing your target audience and choosing the channel(s) that best suit their needs.
What is the essence of marketing?
It's the thing that makes you stand out in a crowd. Once you have your books in order + your services nailed down, marketing is the thing that then propels you forward as you find your people. To make another mechanic analogy, it doesn't matter how shiny the car is, if the engine is broken – it isn't going anywhere. Your engine is your core business services, the day-to-day running of things. Marketing is the coat of paint that draws people in.
What are Vicki's top tips for small business owners?
You have to know your audience. Every conversation you have, every email you send – it is not about you. It's about your customers. Once you know your audience, what are their problems? What are their pain points? How can you alleviate those? Every single thing you do should be aimed at making things easier/better for them!
This isn't static either. Even if your audience doesn't change, their pain points probably will. You need to iterate. Do something, see how people react, adjust + tweak. Once you get better at this + understand your audience better, you'll hopefully be able predict pain points they didn't even know they have.
Final note
‘Build it and they will come’ is rubbish. No matter your industry, there are a ton of options out there. As a business, you need to find your audience + make sure they know you exist. What platforms do they use? Make sure you’re on them. Do they like short form, long form, or video content? Make sure you produce that.