A Study of Marketing Basics Using King Solomon’s Principles

With a little study we can see that there are several concepts and misconceptions about marketing that need to be addressed before we get into the meat of this article. The basic concept of marketing is 'the diversity of activities used in assuring that we are meeting the needs of our clients and that we are getting a valuable return in response.' A major misconception of marketing is that it only entails 'advertising your product or service.' Advertising is important, however, it is only one component in the process of marketing.

We can define the essence of marketing as 'understanding your customers' needs and developing a plan that addresses those needs.' By understanding marketing in this way, a business owner who has a desire to 'grow' his business can set the proper goals.

The most effective way to grow or expand a business is to focus on 'organic growth.' In order to understand 'organic growth', we need to realize that a business is a living organism. We can either let it fend for itself or we can determine what it needs to help it grow. By determining what the business needs we can thus determine what we need to do to make it thrive.

We should look at two basic components of marketing in order to get a better idea of the things that we need to create a successful business. The first component of marketing that we need to consider is 'developing a marketing plan.' The second component is the 'ongoing promotion.' One mistake that many business owners make is to create a product or service and immediately jump into an advertising campaign. When we define these two basic components, you'll understand why this mistake can be a disappointing and costly one.

For the survival of your business, it is extremely important to develop a 'marketing strategy' or 'marketing plan.' Refined research and analysis are the first steps to developing the 'marketing plan' best suited to your business. Don't let this frustrate you. This is not as grueling as it sounds. It may take some time and effort on your part but you will find that it is well worth every minute.

Let's begin by looking at a simplified explanation of 'marketing analysis.' We can apply two of Solomon's Keys to Success at this point.

Proverbs 1:5 (Amplified Bible) "The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly]" Wise counsel can be found in many forms. We should also remember, for those of us who think we understand better than others, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who listens to counsel is wise." Proverbs 12:15 (Amplified Bible)

A well planned market analysis contains the following:

1.) Discovering our 'market' or the groups of potential customers that exist,

2.) Determining our 'target market' or those clients that we prefer to serve,

3.) Determine the needs that they have,

4.) Choosing the best products or services that might meet the needs of our target market,

5.) Determining how our potential customers might use our products and services,

6.) Learning what our competitors are doing,

7.) Determine the pricing structure that best fits your product and/or service and

8.) Decide on a plan for the distribution products and services to your target markets.

There are numerous methods of 'market research' that can be used to gather information concerning markets, target markets and customer needs, competitors' products, etc. The ease of Internet research will reveal many sources of specific information. We must target our searches on the Internet search engines. This can be accomplished by beginning from a broad area of possibilities and with each subsequent search get more specific until we have discovered as much as possible about our market in general and specifically our target market. The resulting information will determine our 'niche' market, our specific area of a market that is best for our product or service.

After having developed our marketing plan, we should look at our plan for 'ongoing promotions.' Our plan for ongoing promotion will include advertising, public relations, sales and customer service to name a few. These terms (advertising, marketing, promotion, public relations and publicity, and sales) can easily become confusing. These are terms that are often used interchangeably. However, they refer to different but similar activities.

Let's look at a list of definition of each term.

1.) Advertising -- presenting a product (or service) to potential and current customers. Advertising should be focused on one particular product or service. It is important to understand that an advertising plan for one product might be different from that for another product. Advertising is typically done with signs, brochures, commercials, direct mailings or e-mail messages, personal contact, website banners, etc.

2.) Promotion -- Promotion can be defined as the tasks that maintain the product in the minds of the customer (product recognition). The ongoing effort of advertising, sales and public relations are often considered aspects of promotions.

3.) Public Relations -- ongoing processes we use to ensure that our business has a strong and positive public image. This is referred to as "PR."

4.) Publicity -- being mentioned in the media. This is always the review of someone else but can include news releases.

These are a few of the many terms that need to be learned. The health and well being of our business, your business, is determined by the extent of diligent study that you do and the application of the principles that you learn through study. To best know your product or service or clients or competitors, you must develop a sincere determination to become as diligent as possible.

Remember these few examples of Solomon's Proverbs to help you develop a growing and successful business.

Proverbs 10:4 (NLT) "Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich."

Proverbs 12:24 (NASB) "The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack hand will be put to forced labor."

Proverbs 13:4 (NLT) "The Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper"

Proverbs 21:5 (NASB) "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty."

Commit this last Proverb to memory. It will serve you well.