What is marketing? If you scour the internet, Marketing is defined in so many ways. And all these definition boils down to one point – the process, method, tool, an art of selling your products and getting people to change their mind. Simply put, it’s just another word for selling. Let me reiterate this, marketing, is not just “an event”, it is a process. It involves a lot of common sense, creativity, resourcefulness and patience on the part of the seller. It is a contract made between the seller and an individual who is not a part of your business.

Marketing is the pulse of your business.  It keeps your business afloat and alive amidst a very competitive industry. If you understand and utilize the right ingredients, it will not only keep your business afloat but also stand out.  If you’re in business for a long time and have tried all approaches and failed, you might think, “easier said than done”. Think again. Did you really utilize all the resources that the 20^th century can offer?  We’ll it’s about time to find out.

Did you pay for an advertisement on the radio, TV or the print media? That’s good. But marketing isn’t advertising alone. That’s a myth. Don’t think that since you’ve put up an ad on TV and paid an exorbitant amount of money, you are marketing.  Advertising is just one of the MANY FORMS of marketing. If you ONLY did this, you have committed the one of the greatest blunder of Marketing. But don’t worry, you are not alone.

If you didn’t advertise, did you send out a plethora of mail order forms? If not, how about telemarketing? Other businesses pride themselves for making sleek brochures to be given out to people and that’s it. Others limit themselves within  yellow pages of the famous phonebook. “Hey, there are millions of people listed in this yellow bible of numbers. Therefore, it is equivalent to the number of exposure my business can have.” Okay, I’m going to give that to you. But the question is, does it work? By “work” means, is it also equivalent to the number of sales you get?

Majority prefers going from one house to the next or spending a precious time pitching their business to their circle of influence. You can use your charm and humor if you want. Unfortunately, in most cases people only recalls the handsome face and the funny jokes. But not your business offer. Five percent of the time, this works. However, this 95% of the time it just doesn’t. This is a classic example of marketing disaster based on ignorance.

What I’m really trying to tell you are: businesses do not require one, but two or more marketing methods. Advertising cannot work alone; neither can telemarketing, brochures, even websites. There is a plethora of marketing weapons available in the world. Utilize high-ranking websites such as, YouTube, Google, facebook, Yahoo, etc. But don’t stop there. Augment it with other forms of Marketing. Think of them as “hooks”. The more you have, the greater leads you get, the more money you rake.

Marketing is easy if you arm yourself with the right knowledge, techniques and strategies. Make a plan and commit to it. Otherwise, you are bound to lose a lot of money.