Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Hi Hanna

The answer lies in this dilemma. You have an enterprise, you do something you are good at and that you enjoy. Great, but you need to earn a living, so you need people to buy the things you make. But they don’t know that you exist, so somehow, you find a way to tell them. That’s Marketing.

Now they know that you exist. Word of “Hanna’s Store” has spread but no-one knows what you make, so your customers are the curious who are prepared to risk wasting their time. You decide to tell people what you make. That’s marketing.

People come and visit, but don’t all buy because the colours are not to some of their liking. So you ask them what colours they’d like and then make them something in those colours. That’s marketing.

Some people seem to be impressed, but they find things too expensive. So you make a less expensive range, in the right colours and find a way to tell people about them. That’s marketing.

Someone else wants a piece of the action and does the same as you, taking away some of your trade. So you find a better way of getting your message across, learn to persuade people to buy whilst they’re in your shop and get them to bring a few friends along through some clever incentives. That’s marketing.

Then you make the thing as complicated as you possibly can so that no one can really understand what the heck you’re really doing or why your doing it. That’s when marketing stops being an enhancement to the development of your organisation!

Good luck

Steve