Secrets of Effective
Marketing
by Lisa
Gray
There's a secret about marketing that few
investment professionals know: marketing is not
advertising and it is not sales. Marketing is a process.
Advertising is designed to get your target audience's
attention. Good advertising then steers that attention
to the marketing process by prompting your target
audience to find out more about your business. Plain and
simple; no more and no less. It is at that point that
marketing picks up the ball and runs with it.
Marketing,
unlike advertising, is actually a process that builds
upon itself over time. It's a relationship and business
builder whose most basic function is to implement the
business plan. Marketing is quite a different phenomenon
than either advertising or sales. In fact, if marketing
is done properly and with the right focus, sales should
happen as a natural result, virtually eliminating the
need for 'sales.'
The
Marketing Pyramid
A
well-designed marketing plan separates the functions of
advertising, marketing, and sales. By thinking of these
three functions as the top, middle, and bottom portions
of a pyramid, one can easily see a logical progression
and the separate purpose each portion serves.
Advertising is the top tip of the pyramid that provides
the initial 'touch' the potential client receives.
Advertising should be prudently snappy, eye-catching,
and clever. It should also include a 'catch phrase' that
will stimulate the reader to seek out more information.
This should result in an email, phone call, or other
response from the reader.
It
is at this point of contact where marketing enters the
picture. The process of marketing begins to develop a
relationship with the reader (a.k.a. potential client),
thus leaving the function of advertising behind.
Advertising has, at this point, done its job and is left
in the dust. Marketing begins the process of discovering
the reader's needs and creating a path to fulfill them.
Once
a potential client clearly sees the path to having his
or her needs fulfilled, the 'sale' occurs. Marketing
then elevates its function by supporting the
relationship and ferreting out other needs that lead to
continual sales throughout the relationship.
Lisa
Gray, CIMC is president/CEO of graymatter
STRATEGIES
LLC,
a financial journalism and marketing consulting firm
based in Memphis, TN. She has 15 years' experience in
wealth management and is the author of "The New Family
Office: Innovative Strategies for Consulting to the
Affluent," www.iibooks.com.
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