Entrepreneur magazine discusses changing your definition of marketing. Dan Kennedy has some good examples of businesses that have used tools such as membership and market positioning to grow, but I’m not sure they can be treated as marketing.
All of the examples; Starbucks, Disney, Florida timeshares, barbers and gourmet pizza shops illustrate some great business models which is exactly what they are; ways of doing business that engage the customer and sell a better product.
The marketing aspect is simply telling the story of why the business is better, unique or why it does something so well.
One of the problems with marketing is it’s often about telling porkies, not about describing the product or why the business is unique. This type of marketing fails when the customer finds they’ve been sucked in.
In the past, big brands have been able to get around this by using mass media to shout it louder and stronger on the idea that if you repeat the lie often enough, people will believe it.
Marketing is part of your business DNA, you have to tell your story to get business. The key is to be telling a true story based on your product’s strengths.
Totally agree, the brand idea is the foundation for all marketing and this needs to be based on true beliefs and ideally passion from within the business. This passion can be leveraged to connect to the needs and wants of consumers, and communicated in a way that really adds value to their lives, the brand story does this in a compelling way to connect at an emotional level as well as selling the functional benefits.
Marketing can fall into the trap of shouting about deals or shallow product benefits that may only be true at a stretch. Some of this type of activity is like building a skyscraper without foundations… eventually it will topple and fall.
Every business today needs to have a Brand Plan, as well as a Business Plan and Budget to help ensure success of the business through relationship marketing.