My philosophy on marketing
Marketing is honest, truthful, authentic and genuine. Otherwise it is not worth your time and effort.
A marketing driven business places the customer at the centre of all that they do; they understand their customer, their person, they exist because of that person.
When you talk to your person you need to be honest and authentic and have a genuine interest in them, not only driven by profits, but by really wanting to help them.
Businesses who believe in marketing do market research on any scale, and they make decisions knowing that they are filling a need. In customer centric organisations, of any size or shape, products and services are not created based on top down decision making and then forced on to unsuspecting consumers!
Marketing is genuinely about building a relationship with your people, your tribe, your community. A communicative, mutually beneficial and rewarding relationship. It is not about force or manipulation. It is about genuinely striving to help your customers or clients to achieve what they want to.
From simply looking good in the right pair of jeans – honestly – to providing air conditioning systems that will give them the relief they need in the most cost effective way possible, to giving them the answers they need to get their business moving in the right direction. ALL about legitimately helping them. A customer who goes home only to be told by their boyfriend that, um yes, your bum looks big in those jeans, is not going be a loyal customer are they?!
Actually, I think marketing has come full circle for a lot of people and businesses. It was always a concept that placed the consumer at the start and the end of the process; identify a need, want, desire in your consumer and give them what they need to fill that perceived void. I think for many marketing has been a bit misguided for a while though.
At the risk of sounding like a rapper(!), when it comes to your marketing you have to keep it real!
Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Kate
