The Marketing Mindset

Today I’d like to talk with you about the Marketing Mindset.  What is it?  How can you benefit from it?  And how to develop it, if you don’t have it now.  We’ll expand on this in future posts, no doubt, but since it’s so important I thought it would be best to have a discussion about it right up front. First off, what is the marketing mindset?  I suppose the real first question to be asked is “What is Marketing?”, right.  The author of the book “Guerrilla Marketing”, Jay Conrad Levison, defines marketing as “Every bit of contact your company has with the outside world.”, and also “the art of getting people to change their mind-or to maintain their mindsets if they’re already inclined to do business with you….and every little thing you do, show, and say…is going to affect peoples perception’s of you.” So what does that mean?  It means that there is a lot more to marketing then most folks think about.  It’s not just the ads you run or your website or your business cards.  It penetrates every aspect of your business.  The way you dress when you meet prospects, the way you or your staff answers the phone when they call, the look and feel of your office if they have to come in to see you.  So there are a lot more marketing opportunities out there then you realize at first glance.  And a lot of business people are not even conscious of this.  So, not only are they missing out on opportunities to strengthen their business, the are unconsciously neglecting customers and losing out on business that they thought was in the bag. This is what the Marketing Mindset is all about.  Being totally conscious of every little thing that you do in the marketplace and thinking of those things as marketing.  Almost any problem a business is having is related to a marketing problem.  Not enough customers/prospects, marketing.  Not enough repeat business, marketing.  Not getting any referrals, marketing.  Not enough cash flow, marketing.  Customers taking up too much of your time and not giving you enough cash in return, marketing. You can see where I’m going with this.  Everything is marketing.  And every business, no matter what your product or service is, is in the Marketing Business.  That’s just the way it is.  And once you start to think of your business that way, as a marketing business, you will undoubtedly see a great improvement. Another aspect of the Marketing Mindset is to become consciously aware of all the marketing going on around you, and observe it.  Scratch that…study it.  Study it well.  Get to know it.  Not just within your industry, but across all markets.  Some of the greatest marketing innovations have come from one industry taking tactics from another that nobody in their industry had thought of using yet.  These can produce some terrific results and profits.  And that is what you’re after, right? And that is really how you develop the Marketing Mindset.  You are always looking for marketing around you.  Studying it and thinking of ways you can make it work in your business.  Looking at all aspects of your business as marketing opportunities and making the most of them.  And making the paradigm shift from being in whatever business you thought you were in, to being in the marketing business. That is the big take-away I want everybody to get.  It doesn’t matter what you’re selling.  Hot dogs, insurance, books, gadgets, information, or a business opportunity.  As the owner of your business, you are a marketer.  Whether you want to be or not.  Learn marketing, learn it now, and you will see greater results from your business. You might think that marketing is not your thing.  But it can be, and really, it has to be.  The time and effort it takes to learn it will produce so much more fruit in the end.  More prospects, more customers, more profits, and in the end, probably a lot more free time to do the things you really enjoy in life.  Like spending more time with your family, traveling, playing golf.  Whatever it is, a Marketing Mindset is the key to giving you more of it.