By Terri Langhans
Service providers sometimes think of marketing as the fix-all, cure-all, magic element that can pick up business when it's slow. We'd like to believe that. The reality, however, is that marketing is not magic at all. If we think of marketing as something to "do" in case of business emergencies, or don't consider our prospects' perspective, it won't be able to fix anything... in fact, faulty marketing plans might even make things worse.
Mistake #1: We Think That Marketing Is Something We "Do."
"We need to do some marketing."
"Quick! We need to do some marketing."
The odds are whoever is saying or thinking about "doing" some marketing is actually referring to doing some form of promotion, not marketing. Publicity, direct mail, 1-sheet, email, ads, posters, web pages, and the like. When you or people you work with think of marketing this way, it pigeon-holes the marketing function as the go-to graphics, wordsmiths, and proposal writers, when marketing is really much more.
The Fix: Expand your definition of marketing. Marketing is anything that helps or hinders the sale or use of your services. Attitudes, scope of services, accents, location, pricing, client list, specialty, or lack thereof. So, before you write a promotional word, make a list. What's helping you get business, and what's getting in the way? Make sure you've done a "help or hinder" once-over, before you race to "do" some marketing.
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