I was sitting in a meeting with the VP of Marketing & Communications of a Retirement Home, years ago in a town called Pasadena. Pasadena, the City of Roses, is known for its New Year’s Rose Bowl Parade and Rose Bowl Game, located northeast of Los Angeles. It is a perfect town to retire to.
The gentleman heard about My Unbounded and wanted to see what digital marketing services may benefit his team. When I heard he had a marketing team, I was a little confused about his question…
“What is Digital Marketing?”
The company had a website, it was a little old fashion, but it got the job done. They had instagram and other social media, that was not doing well. In my mind, if you have a marketing team, then you will have someone that focuses on digital marketing. I explained, “we create digital footprints for companies to be found online”.
“Well how are you getting new clients?” I asked him.
“Referrals”, he replied.
“From the website?”
“Occasionally, but my Marketers go to the field…”
“Oh”, I replied.
It is important that I tell you that this was in 2018. When handshakes ended business deals and we could see everyone’s faces. Going to the field meant that he was doing more business to business marketing, which is interesting since the parent’s of the retired individuals are usually the final decision makers.
The reason why I replied with “oh”, is because I figured out the mindset of the company and what marketing in business meant to them.
It was basically a refurbished word for “sales people” since no one likes to use the word “sales”. Another reason why I said “oh”, is because I quickly calculated the amount of money they were wasting and leaving on the table.
Marketing in business is really the way you attract/reach out and make connections to prospects, customers, investors, the community, etc. If you held the sign to your high school car wash in 10th grade, then according to the definition of this company, you were a Marketer. Is that marketing to you?
Fast forward to 2020 I was sitting in another meeting in Los Angeles, doing a pitch and the word “marketers” came up again. Different company, same definition of what marketing is in business. Basically what these companies are doing is getting traditional referrals and sending out their team to close the deal. It is the traditional way of getting business. It does work, but it can waste resources. Also, after 2020 do you really want to count on face to face meetings anymore?
The first company should have had a digital marketing team that worked closely with the web developer to create content that would bring the appropriate traffic to the website with several ways for prospects to reach them. They should have had the digital marketer do media buying and purchasing. They needed PR and also, inbound marketing. This is what marketing is in 2021. Websites are no longer an option. It is the most consistent way you will be found in these days and times.
After you read this article, I want you to think of what marketing means to you. It is the person that knocks on your door and asks if you need landscaping services, the billboard of the retired football player that is now a personal injury lawyer or is it the new restaurant that you “found” online? “Found” because hardly anything is found online not on purpose.
Marketing is the avenue/path of the reach. It is not sales. It is not advertising. Although, they do all go hand-in-hand.
Marketing covers a lot of avenues. Here are a couple more articles that are helpful.