An Elephant’s Guide to Marketing
The Simplest Overview Of Marketing You Will Ever Read
The circus is coming to town! And for the first time in its history, the circus will have a publicist, a marketing director and a sales manager. Never mind that the circus has been around for hundreds of years without these positions being filled; they’re needed now because they are buzz words in the world of business.
However much we might hate them, buzz words are really just shorthand used to describe specific jobs within an organization: PR people do publicity work; marketers manage advertising budgets; salespeople sell products. So while these three buzz words may seem intimidating on their own, they’re really just shorthand ways of describing other jobs you may already have heard about!
Advertising
If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus Coming to the Showground Saturday,” that’s advertising.
Advertising is a one-way conversation: you tell your audience what you want them to know about your product or service without giving them any opportunity for input. That’s great if you have a clear message and strong branding; however, it can be risky if there isn’t enough demand for what you are selling or if it isn’t easily understood by those who receive it (i.e., if people don’t understand how your product will benefit them).
Promotion
If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.
Promotion refers to the process of creating an interest in a product, service or event. It includes advertising, publicity and public relations (PR). A company may use promotion to increase awareness about its product or service. Promotion is often the first step in a marketing mix, which could also include things like pricing and distribution (the channels used to deliver products or services).
Publicity
If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed and the local newspaper writes a story about it, that’s publicity.
Publicity is the result of a news story being published. Publicity can be good or bad, but it always draws attention to your product or service. The best form of publicity comes from an unexpected event that’s interesting to the public and makes a connection between your company and the event. It could be something as simple as an elephant walking through a mayor’s flower bed in front of a local television crew (as seen here).
Public Relations
And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.
Public Relations is all about building relationships with stakeholders. It’s about building trust and credibility with them through storytelling. You want your community of stakeholders to be supportive of what you do and how you do it, so that when something happens in their communities they will turn to your brand first for support or information.
At the end of this journey, we hope that you understand why PR professionals are such an important part of any organization’s marketing team.
Sales
If the town’s citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and, ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.
Sales is what happens when you get someone to buy your product or service. It’s about getting people excited about whatever it is you’re selling and encouraging them to take action by purchasing it from you. Sales involves educating your customers on why they need your product in their life and why it will make their lives better — and then helping them through each step of the buying process until they sign off on adding your item(s) into their cart!
We’ve all been taught how to pitch our products: “Come see me before I leave town!” But that’s not always effective when trying to sell something online (you can’t say that in person). So instead of just offering advice on how best present yourself as an expert or salesperson — I’ll teach you how to create an excellent customer experience online so people want what YOU have so badly they’ll do whatever it takes — even if this means paying full price!
Marketing is an ever-changing buzzword that doesn’t need to be treated like rocket science!
Marketing is an ever-changing buzzword that doesn’t need to be treated like rocket science!
The elephant walk is a great example of how marketing can be done without jargon or complicated strategies. It uses simple language, and it’s easy to understand for anyone who has seen the movie “Dumbo” or read about the real life elephants who did this at circuses.
Conclusion
So, to recap:
You can’t just sell your product, you need to sell the story.
The key is in creating a narrative around who you are and what you do that people can relate to.
It’s not about what you say about yourself or your product—it’s about how others talk about it. That’s when sales happen naturally!
