Want dollars in the till? Start marketing.

Laurence Harrould - Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Firstly, marketing is the ONLY activity a business can undertake that will result in ‘dollars in the till’. It’s vitally important that we don’t confuse marketing with selling, the skills are similar, but ARE NOT the same.

Selling ONLY OCCURS when a sales opportunity is converted into a sale, this opportunity can come either from a new prospect or a new opportunity to an existing client.

Either way, marketing is involved in order to CREATE THE OPPORTUNITY, or if you will, generate the lead. You see, marketing can be used to both acquire new customers or retain existing ones and the tactics involved usually differ.

ACQUISITION MARKETING is typically broad brush, scatter gun ‘above the line’ advertising, obviously to a selected target audience but still designed to cover a lot of ground. It can measured in the usual ways, “where did you hear about us” type questions or bring in or mention this coupon etc. Google now allows us far better analysis but is still quite broad in its reach and is predominately an acquisition tool.

RETENTION MARKETING on the other hand is all about increasing the frequency of purchase or adding new or different products/services to existing clients who already know us. You know the client and they know you and must use this intelligence to PREDICT future needs and your marketing activity is single shot rifle aimed right at the heart of the client. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A ‘ONE SIZE FITS ALL’ RETENTION STRATEGY!!!

Clearly your company and by association your brand must stand for something positive in the customer’s intellectual and emotional quotient, being a me too is not good enough and spurious claims of service or price or warranty can be claimed by everyone of your competitors. You must take the time to build your brand to a recognition point that exudes trust and you won’t get that solely from a sales/marketing funnel, it comes from hard work and dedication to your customer.

In conclusion, you have to have a BRAND in order to identify yourself and it is up to you to CREATE YOUR BRAND.

From Jack Fraenkel www.motivatories.com.au

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