Name a business without customers.  There is no such thing—at least not one that plans to stay in business.  The truth is, all businesses count on customers to survive.  Without customers, there will be a “Going Out Of Business” sign on the front door sooner rather than later. 

 

Attracting customers is a significant challenge for businesses, which is exactly why marketing is so important. You cannot expect to be a successful business if you place an “Open” sign on the front door and hope customers find their way to your counter.  The effective use of marketing gets the word out to customers about your company; marketing lets them know what you have for sale. 

 

But marketing is more than that; marketing serves as a tool to help you establish a brand and make that brand recognizable in the marketplace. The strategies are used by marketers help burn the image of that brand into your mind.  The goal is not brand recognition or even brand preference but brand insistence. Brand insistence is the stage of brand loyalty where the buyer will accept no alternative and search extensively for the required brand.

 

Effective marketing develops customers who would rather go without a drink than have a Coke instead of their preferred Pepsi. In the perfect marketing world, the customer seeks out the brand instead of the brand seeking out customers.

 

As the brand is established, marketing efforts continue to help the company secure and retain customers.  The objective is to identify the market for the product and target the people within that 

market with all their efforts.  Go for the group that has the need rather than market to the masses.  Of course, new competitors will enter the game, so retaining customers is crucial.

 

Communication is a critical part of marketing.  The effort to communicate the benefits of a particular good or service to potential customers is an integral part of marketing.  The more familiar a current or potential customer becomes with a product, the more likely they are to make a purchase or to continue purchasing the product.

 

If a business does an excellent job of marketing, it will help it become profitable much more quickly—which is, after all, what being in business is all about.

 

Over an extended period of time, relevant, anticipated, and limited marketing communications can create a foundation of trust.  If a company is successful at creating a climate of trust, it will likely be the brand or company of choice, regardless of the number of competitors. 

 

Social media and its predecessor, word of mouth, rely on satisfied customers spreading the word.  The increased level of visibility of a product, generated through effective marketing, will improve the chances of customer referrals through various media.  It’s hard to recommend a product that you seldom see or hear about.  Marketing can fix that.