The word "marketing" covers a lot of ground, and it is often used with the wrong idea of what it means.
One reason may be that it is hard to find a concise explanation of what marketing that makes a business succeed actually is.
So here it is, from me. I have led marketing at IT (SaaS) companies, from Japanese and global startups to listed companies, and launched the marketing function at the Japan office of a global IT company. Today I run businesses of my own and advise others on marketing, consumer and B2B alike, across industries. Below, I cover:
The concepts
What is marketing that makes a business succeed?
What to do, and how
The essential mindset
What artists can actually do
Which tools and programs to use, and how
What thinking to base it on
How to run marketing that makes the business succeed, in a realistic setup that still leaves room for making the work
1. The concepts may feel a little difficult at first. They will make sense later, so a quick read-through is enough.
1. For a company or a sole proprietor, what is "marketing that makes the business succeed"?
Grasping the following, and how they change, accurately, then setting priorities flexibly and acting on them as the situation changes
The market
Competitors
Your own business (assets such as customer data, strengths and weaknesses, organisation, resources, the business plan, and so on)
※ What does "grasp accurately" mean?
Not from your own point of view: qualitative and quantitative information from the customer's point of view
Based on an objective view that puts what you "should" do ahead of what you "want" to do
※ If the market does not exist yet, you should start by creating it, but that gets complicated, so it is left out this time
In short…
Unless you grasp the above accurately, it is impossible to plan a marketing strategy or any concrete measures
