SmallBusinessNewz

How would you define marketing? Although many people profess to knowing what it is, the role is often misinterpreted. According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is: "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

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As noted in the video above, unfortunately, a lot of businesses tend to focus the majority of their efforts on the promotional aspects of marketing. While promotion is important, an effective marketing strategy involves much more.

As you develop your marketing strategy, consider your location, the attitudes of your employees, the company name or logo, pricing, policies, and other similar aspects. Are these areas either helping or hindering your business's sales? If an area is hindering, you may need to re-evaluate your marketing efforts.

Another aspect of marketing that is frequently misunderstood is marketing communications. Sometimes businesses are so eager to push their message that it appears one-sided. Consumers want to know what's in it for them. A marketing message should contain:

- Description of products and services
- One or two attraction factors
- Demonstration of the benefits
- Answers to why consumers would want the benefits

A third area that is also falsely translated is marketing differentiation. If your business is one of the seven florists in town, you can still set it apart from the others. Consumers make choices for a reason. Notice where the other businesses are lacking and capitalize in those areas. There are opportunities for differentiation in anything from updating your website to improving customer service.

Marketing is too critical in the success of a business to misinterpret. As you build your marketing strategy, make sure you understand what you are doing.