The Market for Marketing

I was recently reminded in a business telephone conversation that distributors sell specific products to specific businesses. I use the term "reminded," as I had forgotten that a vast majority of distributors of advertising specialty products envision a specific client and the specific product match for that client. Our company follows a bit of a different philosophy than this concept. I do not believe our philosophy is unique, nor is it divergent from the majority of thinkers. However, a certain marketing idealism seems to vacate during these trying economic times or in settling with the idea that any order is a good order.

For your direct consideration:

Marketing Definition-

Management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer.

As a philosophy, it is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction.

As a practice, it consists in coordination of four elements called 4P's: (1) identification, selection, and development of a product, (2) determination of its price, (3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer's place, and (4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy. Marketing differs from selling because (in the words of Harvard Business School's emeritus professor of marketing Theodore C. Levitt) "Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs."

(Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing.html)

There appear to be many Sellers in the distributor arena and far fewer Marketers.

Speaking directly as a company, Clothpromotions Plus (CPP) has invented itself through the expressed needs of a marketplace. Expressed needs indicating it is what the industry desires, whereas implied needs indicate what the Vendor imposes upon the industry in hopes they will desire.

CPP had researched the industry (industry defined as the entire product and service business world), and discovered something, EVERYONE WANTS THE SAME THING in a "marketing" product or campaign: Quality product, low cost, maximum value for exposure, usability, function, branding, high return on investment (ROI), universal appeal and usefulness. Most business marketers will certainly also tell you, an individual targeted marketing campaign is always more successful than throwing a wide net and hoping you catch something.

Sure, we could sell any imprintable item. We could SELL any imprintable item. We chose to market.

We use our product to brand ourselves, we use our product to give away at tradeshows, we use our product as our business card, we use our product daily on all the items it is useful for, we use our product to sell our product.

CPP is marketing a concept, that corporations, universities, non-profits, wholesalers, manufacturers, health care agencies, distributors and everyone that is in any type of business or service industry is seeking and expressing. Businesses desire and express needs for high ROI.

We are marketing a product that primarily functions as a marketing tool. Moreso, we market the idea that our product everyone in America and beyond can use multiple times a day (and actually will use), will remain in an individual's possession for over one year and up to ten years (the longest thus far we have seen), brands a company's name and message and exposes that brand to the user of the product multiple times a day, and is less than one dollar total cost of said product. Now divide $0.50 by 365 (days in a year) and then by 5 (average number of uses per day). Your answer should be $0.000274. This number indicates that each exposure will cost the company that uses this marketing item $0.000274.

That is what we market, the concept of using an advertising specialty item to MARKET an end user's brand, and result in a sales conversion.

My advice to distributor's is market to your clients, do not sell. Anyone can sell with enough moxie.

Meet the client's expressed needs, listen to your client, discover what they want to occur with spending their money and match them with the appropriate techniques and campaign to deliver a truly value added service. Assist your clients to assist their business. You will walk away a hero, every time.

Clear vision with Clothpromotions.
www.clothpromotions.com