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Marketing is NOT Advertising

By: Larry Heiman

Courtesy Of: E-Myth

08. Jul. 2008

We need to begin with an important distinction: Advertising — what E-Myth refers to as "Lead Generation" — is the "magnet" you use to attract the customers you want to your business. Marketing is the process you use to determine who and where those people are, what they buy from you, why they buy from you, and how they think. With that information at your command, then — and only then — can you begin to construct the strategic magnet that irresistibly attracts your ideal customers.

In our thirty years of working with business owners, we have discovered that many don't have a clue about what draws customers into their business, and what exactly their "ideal customer" does once he or she gets there! Customers are either coming in or customers are not coming in. The vast majority of businesses operate with this shotgun approach to their market. An E-Myth business strives to convert that shotgun to a laser. So, before you begin to broadcast your message, you have to uncover the facts about who you're talking to. Marketing is the process of discovering the truth about your "Target Market" — those groups of customers or clients you would most like to clone.

Effective Marketing Research Seeks All the Answers

At the cash register in Charlie's Diner, there's a fishbowl. On the sign taped to that fishbowl is an invitation to drop your business card for a drawing for a free lunch. Ever wonder about that fishbowl? Did you leave your card? If so, you participated in the greenest of grassroots marketing research. You became a data point for Charlie's Central Demographic Model ("CDM"). Your business card provided Charlie with invaluable information. Charlie now knows how far you traveled to be his customer (his Trading Area), your gender, and, based on what your card says about your business and your title, a surprising amount of assumptive information about your view of the world and the kind of messages you might best respond to.

Talk about a free lunch!

But the fishbowl leaves some essential questions unanswered.

Your business card in the fishbowl provided Charlie with the Who and Where, and some of the How, but his critical missing component is the What. What did your visit to Charlie's Diner represent in terms of his "Product Mix?" Did you stop in for a cup of coffee...

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