Marketing is Simple in Theory but Complex in the Real World

People think that marketing is difficult. In theory it's really quite simple because you only need to know how to do four things:

1. Attract new customers (or clients)

2. Retain the customers you have attracted

3. Maximize the number of purchases they make and the value of each purchase

4. Win back those customers you have lost

That's it, just four marketing activities. It's simple, but there is a big challenge that adds complexity.

The challenge is to discover ways to make those four activities work for you and that is where it gets difficult because there are so many options and details associated with making them work. Dealing with those options and details requires creativity, decisiveness, discipline, and courage.

It takes creativity to conceive of a strategic plan from which a marketing plan is developed. It takes decisiveness to determine the message(s) (brand, features and benefits, promotional timing). It takes discipline to implement the plan and to focus on the big picture when seductive offers arrive that attempt to change your plans. It takes courage to follow through, measure effectiveness, and plan improvements for future activities.

Few small companies invest the time and energy in extensive strategic planning or marketing planning but, if the company's goals are much greater than "let's just continue doing things the way we have been doing them and hope we'll see increased business," then planning is essential to making it happen.

Understanding that there are just four marketing activities will jump-start the planning process by discovering the parts of your marketing strategy that need to be improved. From there goals and budgets are established and action plans are conceived which places tasks on the calendar to accomplish. All of a sudden some order starts evolving from the complexity and projects start being formulated and implemented. It doesn't happen over night, but the starting point is to simplify the process into the four marketing activities and make the process manageable instead of seeing the whole thing as a complex, overwhelming maze filled with difficult decisions and options.