Why marketing is no longer optional? Was it ever?

Why is marketing no longer optional? Was it ever?

Some businesses think marketing is optional. This thinking may come about either because they believe they don’t need to promote their product or service and or they are not aware of the definition of marketing, which is broader than their understanding. (See a previous post)

There are very few businesses (if any) that don’t need to promote themselves to prospective customers. In these competitive times, you need your business to stand head and shoulders, if not whole body above your competitors. Customers need to know why they should purchase from you and not a competitor. You may think you have the best product or service and it is a “no-brainer” decision to use. But the reality is prospects don’t know you exist and why they should choose your business over the competition. Marketing is the process to achieve this. So marketing is essential.

Businesses may think marketing and advertising are the same things. Advertising is a tool used by marketers and is part of the promotion mix. Marketing is so much more than just advertising.

When we ask businesses what marketing activities they are doing, we still sometimes get a response of “we don’t do advertising”. Some of these businesses see this as a badge of honour to state that they don’t need to advertise. Customers arrive by magic. Actually, they arrive by networking and referral, which is fine, but all businesses need more than one way to gain new clients. Every business needs to gain new customers and clients. There should be a process and procedure for obtaining customers, which is marketing. It should definitely not be left to good luck, fingers crossed, “build it and they will come” (quote from the film – Field of dreams- 1989) or only one form of promotion and acquisition.