I Don’t “Do” Marketing.

Ever heard someone say that? Have you ever said it? Or, maybe it’s just that you thought marketing was something you needed specific skills or experience to do?

I’ll let you in on a little secret. The truth is, we’re all marketers, regardless of our actual job title. 

 If you’re a business owner you’re surely in the business of marketing your product or service to your customers, investors, potential employees, and suppliers. Or maybe you work for a small business. Most people do. (After all, 90% of businesses in the US have fewer than 20 employees). If so, then you’ve no doubt been marketing that business during the course of your workday, whether you realized it or not. It may have been the way you conducted yourself in your workplace, responded to an email, answered the phone, made a delivery, and so on. Each of these actions, intentional or not, sends a message to the person with whom you are interacting about your company’s product or service and what it stands for.

 But what about those of us who’ve always thought of marketing as a specific function within a large company where specialists are hired for that sole purpose?

The fact is, even if we work in a “non-marketing” capacity at a large corporation – like accounting for instance, we inevitably find ourselves persuading, cajoling, and influencing others during the course of our workday. Interestingly, studies show that even when our actual job is something other than marketing or sales we still spend 40% of our time trying to persuade others to take a specific action, or influence someone to part with something of value (money, time, and/or resources). And, research shows that we find the time spent doing these things to be crucial to our success on the job.

So you see, whether you’re an executive or employee at a large corporation, a small business owner, consultant, teacher, author, or homemaker, you too are in the business of marketing.  

..This much I know.

Hope you’ll read on. This blog is written for you.

-Jeanine