Do You Understand What Real Marketing Is?
Before we start, I just want to tell you that this is not a course for digital marketers but a reflection of how many people misunderstood the word “marketing”. Many people say it’s an art of building your audience, some say it’s building awareness about your products or services, while others say it’s a complicated process of promoting your business.
I’ve asked a number of people “what is marketing” and did some research, and here are the answers that I’ve got.
- It’s a form of advertising online, in social media, on TV, on the radio, or in magazines or other printed materials to promote a product or a business
- It’s conducting surveys to find out what people think of your product or your company
- It’s a process of creating a brand for a company, including its logo and a catchy tagline
- It’s creating a brand for a product or services, including the name of the design of its package
- It’s the art of selling/sales
All of the above answers can be considered correct. Anybody who are performing these specific tasks can call themselves marketers. But do these processes really defines marketing?
Marketing by Definition

Here’s Merriam-Webster’s definition of marketing, “The activities that are involved in making people aware of a company’s products, making sure that the products are available to be bought, etc.” On the other hand, Oxford Dictionary defines it as, “The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.”
Business Dictionary described it as:
The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the coordination of four elements called the 4 P’s of marketing:
- identification, selection and development of a product,
- determination of its price,
- selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer’s place, and
- development and implementation of a promotional strategy.
Lastly, Entrepreneur says “Marketing is a form of communication between you and your customers with the goal of selling your product or service to them. Communicating the value of your product or service is a key aspect of marketing.”
What Do These Definitions Tell You?
Summarizing the definitions provided above, you can say that:
“Marketing is all about communicating to your customers by connecting your product and/or services to their deepest desires, dreams and problems.”
Some people may have a better explanation about how marketing works, but I assure you that the moment you learn who your customers are, identify where you can find them and understand your customers needs, you will be successful with your marketing strategies. But are these definitions enough?
Peter Drucker has said:
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
Are you confused yet? Here’s more..
Marketing as a Form Communication

Communicating with your existing and potential customers is a prerequisite to understand their needs and aspirations. It is in this process that you get ideas which could further be converted into products or services. Did you know that this process gave birth to Google.
By communicating with the people using search engines like Yahoo, Ask, Altavista, etc., Google founders are able to find the problems to solve and the desires to fulfill, and from there they created the billion dollar company that until now, billions of people are using everyday.
Now that you have the product that will solve some the problems of the world, you still have the challenges of presenting it to them. So what should you do next?
Marketing is All About Values
https://youtu.be/Li9a0JFUuos
We all know that Steve Jobs is one of the best marketers in the world, and he knows how to make every product great not only by its features but how these products can connect to people and how it can change their lives. See the video below to find out what I’m talking about.
What do you think? Did you get any clue after watching the video?
Marketing is About Customers Engagement
https://youtu.be/hlgOe99WEpc
Marketing is vast and wide. It can be funny, emotional, or serious. It can be any mix of text, photos, charts, graphs, and videos. Most people think marketing efforts are designed to engage, but what will make them coming back for more? Competition is fierce, and in fact there are companies who offer better products and services — some with the exact same products and services that you offer.
How can you make your business standout and create loyal customers? Don’t you know that sometimes, marketing can screw things around if you don’t do it properly. Some businesses, instead of acquiring new customers, created hate among their customers because of unfulfilled promises and false hopes. One wrong move and you will lose your business. You should know how can you make healthy engagement with your customers.
Marketing Should Touch Your Audience’s Heart
Do you remember the recent viral videos by Jollibee? I’m sure you have seen one of them. Did you feel your tears running down your cheeks after watching it? Jollibee never fails to create commercials that touches the heart of their market. They focus on building meaningful relationships by showing different values that their target customers can relate to, and it’s so damn effective!!!
Marketing Amplifies Your Brand Message
Marketing helps connect the audience through stories — most importantly success stories about how your brand has helped other customers with your products and services. People love stories and it’s one of the best marketing strategies that until now is still being used by many companies worldwide. The only problem is some businesses neglect to build their brand and only focuses on acquiring more money from their customers even if their reputation is turning sour. If you market a brand with bad reputation, it will only make it’s reputation status worse.
TLDR;
I’m sure there’s still a lot to say, and while marketing methods will evolve, and respond to current industry and cultural trends, it is very important for you to understand how marketing works.
Marketing is simply making your audience fall in love with your brand, build a meaningful relationship with them, keep them coming back for more and live up to their expectations.
Even though marketing is simple, the processes, methods and strategies are crucial. If you want to learn more about different marketing strategies that work. Subscribe to my blog and watch out for next week’s digital marketing blog.
What do you think? Do you have a different perspective about marketing? Please share your comments below and let’s help more people understand how marketing works and how simple marketing is.
Originally published at jenusitsolutions.com on August 8, 2017.