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There are several concepts and misconceptions about marketing that need to be addressed before we get into the meat of this article. The basic concept of marketing is ‘the range of activities involved in assuring that you are meeting the needs of your customers and that you are getting a valuable response in return.’ One major misconceptions of marketing is that it is only ‘advertising your product or service.’ Even though advertising is important, it is only one component in the process of marketing.

We can define the core meaning of marketing as ‘understanding’ your clients’ needs and ‘developing’ a plan that effectively addresses those needs. By understanding marketing in this way, a business owner who desires to see his business ‘grow’ can set the proper goals.

What is meant by ‘organic growth?’ This is a wonderful concept. Your business is a living organism and, as a living organism, it must be cultivated and nurtured. We can ignore its needs and let it fend for itself or we can determine those needs and do whatever is best to make it thrive.

We should look at two basic components of marketing in order to get a better idea of the things that we need to create a successful business. The first component of marketing that we need to consider is ‘developing a marketing plan.’ The second component is the ‘ongoing promotion.’ One mistake that many business owners make is to create a product or service and immediately jump into an advertising campaign. When we define these two basic components, you’ll understand why this mistake can be a disappointing and costly one.

When we develop a ‘marketing plan’ or ‘marketing strategy’, we create a guide that is necessary for the well being of a business. The first consideration in creating a marketing plan is research and analysis. This is not as difficult as it may seem. It may take a little time but it will be well worth the effort.

To help us get started, let’s begin by looking at a simplified explanation of ‘marketing analysis.’ We should apply two of Solomon’s Keys to Success at this point.

Proverbs 1:5 (Amplified Bible) “The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly]” Wise counsel can be found in many forms. We should also remember, for those of us who think we understand better than others, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who listens to counsel is wise.” Proverbs 12:15 (Amplified Bible)

A well planned market analysis contains the following:

1.) Discovering our ‘market’ or the groups of potential customers that exist,

2.) Determining our ‘target market’ or which groups of customers that we prefer to serve,

3.) Determine the needs that they have,

4.) Developing the best products or services that might meet the needs of our target market,

5.) Determining the uses our potential clients might have for our products and services,

6.) Understanding what our competitors are doing,

7.) Determine the pricing structure that best fits your product and/or service and

8.) Decide on a plan for the distribution products and services to your target markets.

There are numerous methods of ‘market research’ that can be used to gather information concerning markets, target markets and customer needs, competitors’ products, etc. The ease of Internet research will reveal many sources of specific information. We must target our searches on the Internet search engines. This can be accomplished by beginning from a broad area of possibilities and with each subsequent search get more specific until we have discovered as much as possible about our market in general and specifically our target market. The resulting information will determine our ‘niche’ market, our specific area of a market that is best for our product or service.

After having developed our marketing plan, we should look at our plan for ‘ongoing promotions.’ Our plan for ongoing promotion will include advertising, public relations, sales and customer service to name a few. These terms (advertising, marketing, promotion, public relations and publicity, and sales) can easily become confusing. These are terms that are often used interchangeably. However, they refer to different but similar activities.

Let’s look at a list of quick definition of each term.

1.) Advertising — effectively presenting a product (or service) to potential and current customers. Advertising must be focused on one particular product or service. This demonstrates that an advertising plan for one particular product or service might not work for another product or service. Advertising is done with signs, brochures, commercials, direct mailings or e-mail messages, personal contact, website banners, etc.

2.) Promotion - keeping our product in the minds of our customer (product recognition). The ongoing activities of advertising and public relations are often considered aspects of promotions.

3.) Public Relations — ongoing processes we use to ensure that our business has a strong and positive public image. This is referred to as “PR.”

4.) Publicity — Publicity is public or ‘media’ attention, whether favorable or not. These are the review that others present of your product or service and can include news releases. These are only a few terms that are good to learn.

These are only a few terms that are good to learn. The health and well being of a business, your business, is truly determined by the amount of diligent study that you do and the application of the principles that you learn through study. To best know your product or service or customers or competitors, you must develop a sincere determination to be as diligent as possible.

Remember these few examples of Solomon’s Proverbs to help you develop a growing and successful business.

Proverbs 10:4 (NASB) “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.”

Proverbs 12:24 (NLT) “Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.”

Proverbs 13:4 (NASB) “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.”

Proverbs 21:5 (NASB) “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.”

Write this last Proverb over and over until it is embedded into your memory. It will be a blessing.