Everything Is Marketing

I'll be honest... "Marketing" used to feel icky to me. Truly, "icky" is the best word I can come up with to describe the feeling! Everything I had ever learned about marketing, or heard about marketing, conjured up notions of being sneaky, manipulative... "Here's how you get people to buy!" I always got the sense that it was about tricking people into buying more of your services or products. That there wasn't much thought about the customer/consumer - it was all about driving sales.

I now know that was misguided!

The more I learned about what marketing truly is, I came to understand my initial feelings were misguided. But, that's what can happen when you aren't trained in business and/or marketing (as in, I didn't study them in college!) and you cobble together your own definitions based on what you see online. 😂

You know that common trope of the "sleazy car salesman"? That's basically what I thought of when I thought about anything related to marketing.

I want to make it clear once again: I now know marketing is about so much more! And, well, that's sort of what this article is about haha But I just want to make sure everyone out there who may be in marketing and may be reading this knows that I am not at all hating on marketing. We need marketing.

Without marketing, no one knows about your business and why they should choose your business!

Marketing is tied very tightly to advertisement. 🤝🏻 (that's the handshake emoji if you can't tell haha)

But it's more than advertisement. Putting up a sign that you made with a piece of cardboard and a permanent marker could be counted as advertisement! Marketing goes further.

Marketing tells the public WHO you are, WHAT you're about, and WHY they should choose you.

I could say it tells the public why they should "choose you over the competition," but... I honestly don't like to come at business from a competition mindset. I don't like the way that feels. I do not believe that having a competition mindset is the only way to be successful in business! But I will dedicate an entire article to that soon. Anyway... So, I won't be saying "choose you over the competition" here.

But you still want to let people know why your business is awesome! You want to let people know what you can do for them, why you're different (read: awesome).

Welcome in: marketing.

Marketing is your messaging, your branding, your image. Marketing is tied to how people feel when they see or hear your business name.

EVERYTHING is marketing.

It's not just the crew t-shirts, the truck signs, the yard signs, the website, the business cards, the social media pages (those are what are applicable to us!). It's also...

• The upkeep of your equipment (Yep, people see this and take notice!)

• How you interact with your customers - everyone in your business/on your crew, not just the owners or admins

• The tone conveyed in your advertising messaging

• How you dress/your appearance overall (I'm not talking about shirking our unique styles! I'm referencing whether or not you're caring for yourself and your appearance. Upkeep, if you will.)

• The care you put into your service or product (Have you been sloppy, just trying to get the job done, or have you been intentional?)

And it's certainly not about perfection. No one can reach a place of perfection! (To be philosophical for a second... What even is perfection? Everyone's going to have a different definition!)

• It's about doing your very best. People can sense this and feel this. They truly can. And at the end of the day? You still won't be everyone's cup of tea! That's okay - that does not automatically mean you've done something wrong or need to change something (but, at the same time, regular reflection is always a great idea!👍🏻).

• It's putting your very best foot forward.

• It's (to be a bit cliche!) thinking about how YOU would like to be interacted with - put yourself in the customer's/potential customer's shoes.

• It's being committed to doing your very best each and every day (And "your very best" CAN look different on each and every day!).

• It's being genuine, authentic, honest, respectful. It's not about faking anything! It's not about putting forth some sort of image that you think is going to win people over. That's something that most people can sense and...it doesn't feel great. It's not going to get you the business you think it might. It's not going to lead you to the success you think it might.

• You don't have to change yourself to make yourself palatable to all! Again, you're not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Figure out what truly matters to you and stand strong. Stay in your values. Don't water yourself down, because then people aren't really going to know who you are and what you're about. But also? I caution you away from an in-your-face type of "well, this is just who I am and people should just get over it" type of attitude... Need I explain this one further? I think not haha

• It's being committed to learning and growing and changing. Change doesn't mean you were wrong before. Change just means, well, you're growing!

Everything you do is marketing. Everything.

Thank you for reading! Until next time...

Katie Flinchum

Owner

Complete Tree Service ROA LLC