It became glaringly obvious to me over the years that most people are still not practicing the simple art of marketing with any consistency. Because there was (is) so much print on the subject, people were not introduced to the finer (simple) points of marketing in a fashion that was taken seriously. My focused observation confirms that people either do not know enough to be concerned about marketing, or they think they have already heard all there is to hear on the subject. This happens to be a popular error.
We feel that since we have heard something more than once, we know all there is to know. The truth of the matter is that knowing is not doing. And until we do, we don’t know. “Knowing” might earn you a gold star, which is impressive. “Doing” pays the heating bill.
This lack of appreciation and lack of marketing activity introduced what I considered to be an enormous opportunity to educate the masses in the Marchev-Style of edutainment… that’s entertaining education. For the rest of you, you can categorize it as business-building content with a giggle.
The phrase “More-On” is my way of coupling the need for “MORE” information “ON” the subject with two already successful formats of delivering information to the masses. I was hoping that enough of you would read the title and pause long enough to ask “Wuts Up Widdat?” Pretty clever, eh?
Marketing Holds the Key to the Vault
Being immersed in marketing during my graduate school days, I often found it strange when my business-executive father consistently brought to my attention that he did not understand the difference between sales and marketing. I am going to cautiously move forward at this juncture, since I am quite certain that many readers share the same ambiguity when it comes to differentiating the two disciplines. The difference to me is as clear as a comparison between a 7-foot basketball player and a horse racing jockey. This is not to say that one is bigger or more important than the other. I simply am using this analogy to indicate that they are as different as night and day.
Let’s see if I can make this easy for you. Marketing can be thought of as setting your Thanksgiving Day Table. It involves getting things in place, in readiness, prepared, and ready to go. Whetting your appetite for what is to follow. Marketing takes place long before you dig in and grapple for more mashed potatoes. When executed properly, marketing makes the sales process a walk in the park.
Remember when you were approaching the table and someone said, “I am SO hungry, I can already taste it.” That, my friends, is what marketing does. It pre-sells you and your service.
Sales, on the other hand, involves the physical act of “chowing down.” Sales can be truly thought of as a contact sport that involves a number of street-savvy skills. Sales can be spelled “p-e-o-p-l-e.”
There is no better activity than sales, if you have any interest whatsoever in:
- Helping people,
- Pulling your own strings
- Making as many geeters as your bank roll can handle. (Geeters = Dollars in many small coastal towns in New Jersey and in rural North Dakota. You can’t make this stuff up.)
Does that help clarify the sales vs. marketing confusion? If not, let’s try looking at it from one more angle.
Marketing is the process of establishing credentials, likeability, and trust. Sales involve the process of trading value for value. You give me this, and I’ll give you that. Kind of a tit-for-tat type of relationship.
I recently came across a definition of marketing that I really connected with. It came from John Jantsch in his very good book Duct Tape Marketing. JJ defined marketing as:
“Getting people who have a specific need or problem to know, like and trust you.”
John Jantsch
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club, mike@mikemarchev.com.
*** You want more to think about? Check out my weekly podcast (Miked Up Marchev). Also listed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, and iHeartRadio.
