Marketing is relational driven

Solely highlighting company strengthens limits marketing impact. People buy from people; they generally do not buy from companies (unless the product/brand is widely known like Coke or Kleenex).

More than almost anything else, a systems company will be selected on past performance and perceived future delivery. These duties are performed by people in the company, and messages are delivered by people. And hopefully, the ones delivering the messages possess the ability to solidify the personal relationship.

I was recently criticized by a marketing "guru" for a huge company (Fortune Top 20), who felt it inappropriate that I often highlight people, rather than the company, in my marketing efforts. He kept saying "it's about what the company can do" and I kept asking "and who is the company?"

Ah, I hear the buzz of nay sayers' And to this I say two things. First, keep your marketing plans and materials up to date, so that any personnel changes can be made easily and cost effectively. Second and most most most importantly: treat your people right and they will not leave; in fact, they will be your biggest asset, in terms of marketing and all other "company" functions.

Marketing is sales

Certainly sales and marketing are two distinct entities, yet the primary goal of marketing is to create sales opportunities. The way that marketing leads to sales may be direct or indirect. Direct like a discount coupon, indirect like brand recognition. If a sales benefit can't be derived from a marketing effort, it shouldn't be pursued.

Therefore...

Marketing is measurement

Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing Excellence states in rather blunt terms that if you can't measure it, don't do it. All that is invested in marketing needs to be tracked and analyzed.

Just a year ago (before the dot com crash) talk centered upon "number of eyeballs". While this may be important in establishing a brand, it may very well not ring the cash register (as we have all seen).

My simple way of tracking marketing efforts: ask customers how they heard about us, and why they decided to contact us. In our case, the answers to these questions let to the cutting of yellow-page ads and a doubling of training and educational seminar offerings. I found that 40 percent (!!!) of our seminar attendees make a purchase from us within a 12-month period. In addition, a survey given to the attendees showed that they were very likely to tell others about our services and about our future seminars.

Marketing is not an option

Managing a business is a whole lot easier if you don't have to worry about marketing. But in most cases, there's no choice. Competition dictates that a company must reach as many potential customers as possible with a positive, distinctive message that will help drive/increase sales.

Back to the electrical contracting firm referred to at the top. They've done a superb job of building a business without what we've come to view as traditional sales and marketing efforts, yet they've employed at least some what's been discussed above.

But like any other great idea or business concept, no one stands alone with success. Others are more than willing to jump in and take a piece of the pie. And in the case of the contracting firm, it's time to leverage their leading position. Any significant future growth opportunities will need an aggressive approach. So, the contracting firm is in the process of creating a focused, well-conceived and consistent sales and marketing effort.

And thus I can tell you one thing that marketing is: when used properly and thoughtfully, it is a valuable tool for growth.

Gary Zandstra is head of A/V Systems development for Parkway Group of Holland, MI and can be reached at garyz@prosoundweb.com.