What is the Most Important Aspect of Marketing?

The function of ‘Marketing’ is very misunderstood. Many think it is Sales. Others think it’s advertising or branding. Some even think that marketing is waste of time, money and resources.

Well it is none of the above – although there is a small component of advertising and branding.

Let me put it this way, if the company, organization or business was an airplane, then Operations would be the plane itself (Systems, Processes, HR, Finance, Engineering, Manufacturing, …), Sales would be the Pilot, and Marketing would be the Navigation System.

Nothing happens without a sale. Sales would have nothing to sell if not for Operations. However, if not for the navigation system, the airplane would fly aimlessly around all over the place ‘hoping’ to arrive somewhere (land a client).

What is the true function of marketing?

And… what is the most important aspect of marketing? The true function of Marketing is not any ‘one thing’ that I can point out. The real value of Marketing is in charting the direction for the business. That means, Marketing is responsible for:

1. What a customer looks like, where they can be found, and what is important to them.
2. How the business will be positioned in order to capture the most value for shareholders.
3. What the strategic distinctive advantages of the business are, compared to those of their competitors.
4. Determining what products and/or services will be made available.
5. Forecasting the demand for products and/or services.
6. What price will be charged for products and/or services.
7. What geographic markets the business will serve.
8. How to communicate to prospects and customers in a world that is noisy and complicated.
9. How will the business serve and retain customers.
10. What people resources and partners and/or alliances will be needed.
11. What replicable processes need to be developed in order to deliver to customers on a consistent basis.
12. How will the business know that it is all working – in other words, how will the organization measure every aspect of the customer journey.

As you can see, Marketing is WAY more than advertising, sales or branding, it is the guiding GPS that helps the business find and land more business.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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