Business Development For Dummies

Chapter 8

Appreciating the Benefits of Marketing for Your Business

In This Chapter

Welcoming a new era of sales-orientated marketing

Putting marketing to use as part of business development

Considering whether you need branding

Not that long ago, many people thought of marketing as being ‘fluffy’, of no real substance. When times were good, spending money on fluffy stuff was okay – but when money was tight, marketing staff were the first to go. But the times, they are a-changing.

At the root of that change is technology; at the epicenter is the connected individual. From my couch, I can log onto the web at the drop of a hat, finding out pretty much anything I want to know and then asking my private and business networks what they think. I bet you I can find a new apartment, view it, submit all the paperwork, order furniture, get services turned on and arrange a moving firm, all without leaving that couch. Well, maybe on moving day I’d have to haul my backside out of the chair.

But the Internet isn’t only a massive information source – it’s also where transactions happen and, increasingly, where prospective customers research services. Buyers expect to get to know your business ...