Marketing 101

Came across the following on Freelance UK.

Given that the recent Hotel eMarketing Conference empahasised that we have to get Web 1.0 sorted out before we move on to Web 2.0, the article below looks like we have to get Marketing 1.0 sorted out before we even consider eMarketing!

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Marketing? Beats us, say small firms

We’re not sure how to use it, or where it fits into our business - so don’t expect us to implement it online. Such is the message coming from two surveys that quizzed new start-up companies about their feelings on marketing.

Marketing experts selling themselves to these small firms will no doubt be upbeat, as the first survey found almost one in three firms don’t know what marketing is. Forty-per cent had no marketing plan, and almost half launched without any budget for advertising or marketing, says the survey of 3,000 firms by Project Word.

Obtained by FreelanceUK, the headline findings show one-third of new firms are clueless as to what role marketing should play in a start-up business. Of the nearly 50% of start-ups who had no form of marketing at their launch, 36% said they would make a success of their firm solely through word of mouth.

“These statistics establish the downfall of many new companies that just assume consumers will have heard of their website,” said Jamie Delo, Project Word’s founder.

His comments tally with the second survey, which found company owners are missing out on sales by failing to market their business effectively on the internet.

The poll of 225 companies, reported by the Financial Times, by SuccessTrack found that only 11 per cent of owners felt their marketing skills were good or very good. Not being able to get their message across was the biggest barrier to firms getting more sales online, though the pollster admitted “there was no magic formula.”

“You just have to pay attention to the basics,” the firm advised, “and do everything 1 per cent better than your competition.”

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Given the theory discussed below I do not think "1 per cent better than your competition" cuts it any more!