Marketing in today’s world, where the rules change by the minute thanks to the web and new methods of social marketing creates confusion to many. Most people know about the phrases relationship marketing, social marketing, viral marketing, Web 2.0 and all the other terms floating around. But when you ask them, they all fall into the old trap of defining marketing as selling and advertising.

Defining marketing as sales and advertising is like defining Ford Motors as bumpers and speedometers. Ford makes complete vehicles, marketing makes (or breaks) complete Businesses.

Marketing has been defined in many ways, one popular definition is David Jobber’s “The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition.”

The problem with all these definitions is that they attempt to define something but only succeed in limiting it. Marketing is indeed about meeting and exceeding customer needs, it is also about understanding, predicting and creating customer needs.

The only way I know how to explain and thereby define marketing without killing its real potential is by leaving the definition broad.
Marketing Is: Everything and Everyone that comes into contact with the customer.

If you leave it this broad, it will help you understand how for instance branding works, Branding isn’t about needs, branding is about perception, it is about value and quality. You can ruin the customer’s views of your company based on what paper you use to print your invoices. That is not a need, it has little to do with the competition. It’s just a matter of perception. And perception IS reality to a customer. An invoice printed crooked because your printer is bad, on cheap paper won’t give the customer the view of professionalism. It may create questions as to your legitimacy and intent.

Most commonly when I ask people about their perception on a company that uses cheap looking stationery, business cards etc.  Their answer is that they don’t believe this company will be around long. It has little or nothing to do with whether the company has what they want at the price they want. It simply diminishes their perception.

A customers perception will determine their expectations, and that in itself will determine both if they want to do business with you, and also if you can meet those expectations. Meeting and exceeding expectations is the true definition of value, not needs.

Needs only create an intention to look for something. Expectations determine what they will perceive as good value.

This is why small Businesses Fail to the tune of over 80% in four years, they lack the long term view of keeping customers, and keeping them happy. A happy customer will return, and will bring other customers along for the ride.

Referrals are the true path to sustained and constantly growing revenue. This long term perspective of marketing will bring you far greater returns than the best written sales copy ever will if it is only intended to sell an item, not focus on the customer experience.