N D Brown
Marketing is a very misunderstood word.
Some think it means advertising; some public relations; some pricing, some packaging; some sales and promotion, some distribution.
Text books will tell you marketing is all of that.
The truth is, the roots of marketing are firmly set in the culture of a company.
This is not my story, it was told to me by one of the kindest, smartest most human savvy clients I have ever worked with. She is a Harvard MBA and one of the first women to be made a Vice President at the august McKensey Company consulting firm.
One of her first tasks was to interview numerous employees at Steuben Crystal & Glass. Her task was to get an understanding of how each employee described their separate tasks.
She was taken aback when every single employee answered her opening request of, “Please explain to me what you do all day.” with the same statement –
“I help make the world’s finest crystal.”
That is marketing.
That simple statement demonstrated the culture of Steuben Crystal & Glass.
It is a Mission Statement. It is an operational and marketing strategy. It is the essence of a brand. It is the message of their brand.
Every employee, small business or large, should know the message of the company they are working for. They should know, and be proud of, their role in making the culture live and work.
When that knowledge and commitment is the culture, than selling products becomes easy.
You will often hear company owners claim their first job is customer service. They will pump out their cheats and say “We deliver a great product, on schedule and at a good price and we make the customer happy enough to return.” Then when you talk to the employee who do all those things they will probably tell you what their specific job is. It would be truly amazing if they start with “My job is to help this company give the best customer service.”
Another example of a marketing culture that reinforces the brand is BMW’s slogan. It audaciously claims it is the ‘ultimate driving machine’. Everyone working at BMW knows that they must check and re-check every detail to make sure every customer experiences what it is like to own and operate an ‘ultimate driving machine’.
Smart business marketing is a lot more than clever advertising or inventive pricing or on time delivery or well placed manufacturing plants or retail locations or shelves of 3 ring binders detailing every facet of the marketing process.
Smart marketers know they must first develop a believable culture that every employee is proud of. Then they will know there company has a strong team headed in the same direction. When that happens sales are bound to increase.
My client, who discovered the depth of marketing in the culture of Steuben Crystal and Glass, made sure her company’s slogan – We’ll take better care of you – was the essence of her brand. She made it the daily promise of every employee.
Success is based your ability to state exactly what your brand stands for. Communicate it to everyone who works for you. Then make that your culture by constantly reinforcing that message.
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N D Brown is the Principal of brownchild ltd inc, 3754 Sunset, Houston, TX 77005
You can contact him at 713 807 9000 or cell 713 822 8370
