Planning for the year ahead is never an easy task. Some companies do act unethical in their advertising, for example I have seen some ads on the internet especially where companies would advertise a product and make it very appealing to the consumer then at the very bottom is tiny fonts the word ‘restrictions apply’ they would hide the link that takes you to where the restrictions are listed.
Many consumers who have stayed loyal to the same brand, dealership, or salon for years will say that they appreciate the personal attention they receive there. Unless time is dedicated to each and every week to working a marketing strategy, forward movement in business is highly unlikely.
One truly cannot exist without the other, but their skill sets are not the same – especially today, where advances in technology require the modern marketer to have a very specific, honed, and competitive set of skills that most sales people simply do not need to have.
It is not a marketing employee’s responsibility to follow up with a salesperson’s existing customer once the lead has been handed off, nor is it their responsibility to convert a lead to a sale, “close the deal,” or make sure the client remains a client for many years.
Breaking Down Sales And Marketing
One of the basics of all marketing and advertising training is a teaching of “Maslow’s needs pyramid”. It is important to note here that the retention function of a marketing department doesn’t really overlap the retention efforts of a sales team. Marketers, through the ages, have identified who their customers are, and directed their efforts at influencing their buying decisions.
One of the themes behind their partnership was to create the desire within consumers that if they wore Michael Jordan’s sneakers they could play basketball or jump as high as him. That is the way marketing works: Find a gap, develop a plan to address the gap, and then market to that gap.
Instead of bothering strangers, connect with your existing customers or people who have indicated interest in your services or products. Especially in the early days it’s easy to underestimate the time required for certain actions or miss some important actions all together.
Marketing Chocolate
Marketing to specific groups of consumers, or target marketing, is one of the most important concepts in marketing. Yes, many old-school salespeople (or go-getter small business entrepreneurs) are quite capable of drumming up business on their own, and may even have some tried-and-true marketing tactics up their sleeve – but few have the time, skill, or technological resources to effectively capitalize on the true potential of their market.
That’s why most small businesses turn to marketing experts for assistance, and when they do, their business explodes. Mike Roach, CEO of CGI, was quoted as saying, “Strategy without execution is a hallucination!” If that is true, then marketing theory without strategy and execution is psychosis.
All marketing and marketing communications should flow from this positioning, and it should be fully understood and embraced by all employees, sales reps, partners and management. While trying to conserve capital, many of these companies will attempt to combine their sales and marketing departments, essentially tasking their employees with two job descriptions, and that’s usually a bad move.
Marketing Theory Without Execution
No doubt if you are trying to progress on your journey to MLM success and you have been doing some training and some research then you will have discovered the importance of having a good MLM marketing plan in place. Other tactics that companies use to shape consumers needs and wants is to use celebrities or other famous people to sell their products. Marketers and salespeople work together to determine what consumers need and how to deliver it. Sales and marketing should motivate, inspire and feed one other.
Marketers now direct promotions at those of certain age groups, gender, race, marital status, gender preferences, and just about any other category you can place people in. In developing your own plan and budget, determine and recognize the effectiveness of all marketing tactics, not just their efficiency.
The Key To Make Your Marketing Message Stand Out
A. Marketing merely reflects the needs and wants of customers. Regarding the second argument ‘Marketing shapes consumer needs and wants.’ I have to also agree with this statement. There are various criteria that companies use to segment their products and some of them are geographic, demographic, psycho graphic and behavioral.
Oftentimes salespeople have a broader focus, preferring to spend their days with appointments and meetings – activities that build relationships – rather than sitting behind a desk doing what a marketing department does best. Because it has never been more apparent that the relationship between sales and marketing is still just as misunderstood as ever, especially with advances in marketing technology.
Segmentation is another way that companies target the consumer to satisfy their needs and companies use this technique to target where they should market their products.