If I were to ask 100 people to define “marketing” I’d probably get 100 different answer. Somehow over the years the concept of marketing has become intermingled with sales, advertising and lead generation. 

Marketing is NOT sales. Marketing certainly leads to sales, but its scope is much more extensive than that.

Marketing is NOT just another word for advertising. Flyers are NOT marketing, emails are NOT marketing. These are ‘tools’ used in the process of marketing. Yep that’s right, marketing is a process and it involves systems.

Marketing is everything you do to grow your company.

Marketing is the platform that your company is built on and it starts with an idea about who you are, and who you serve. Marketing is communication, branding, lead generation, advertising, and your voice. Marketing is a portrait of who you are. It’s how you sell and how you build the relationships that grow your business ... and it affects 'all' aspects of your company.​ Knowing this can change the dynamic of your marketing efforts and will lead to solving a problem that people want help with. And that my friend results in more dollars in your pocket.

What is advertising: The purpose of advertising is profit and you generate that profit when you create a message that motivates people to take action. Good advertising is influential, demands attention and breaks through the daily noise in both the offline and online realms. You can consider advertising a form of gentle persuasion. An ad persuades your ideal client to take a specific action that leads directly to a sale.

After providing value to the leads you have generated - you can advertise and promote offers to them.

What is lead generation: 

Lead generation is a marketing process that involves collecting the contact information for potential customers, and getting their permission to contact them with offers. It locates a group of people interested in what you have to offer and finds a way to connect with them. Lead generation lets people know what you do and gets your message out to those that need your products and services. When you connect with the right people they want to stay in contact with you and hear more.

Lead generation makes use of both offline and online (digital) strategies and is an ever evolving process. You need to adapt to new tools and strategies so your business stays current and appeals to your customers.

If you’re serious about growing your business you need to invest time and/or money in marketing. The goal of course is to get an excellent return on investment and get more out of it then you put into it.