Marketing = A BIG Deal

by Danny Summers

Does the image above look like your Marketing challenge today?

When we hear the word "Marketing" it seems very straight-forward and pretty simple. We all have ideas of what it means. But when we step back and look at it from a larger point of view, we quickly realize it really is a much bigger subject. If you look up "Marketing" in a dictionary (see it HERE), one of the definitions is:

'an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer'

A few decades ago, Marketing for a Garden Center was much simpler... local newspaper, maybe radio, and of course direct mail... we're talking snail mail with postage in real mailboxes. Fast forward to today. The "aggregate' of Marketing has grown significantly and is much more complex.

Thinking about the complex task of Marketing as it relates to our Group Team of Service Providers... Robert Hendrickson would want your story to be a consistent flow, from front to back. Tom Kegley would want your branding, everything from your logo, signage inside and out, and of course, your visual content throughout your messaging to be part of this great big coordinated effort. And Steve Kendall would be challenging you about how you are leveraging your information systems and tying them closely to your digital marketing systems in the most efficient way possible. John Kennedy would want your core company values to be at the heart of all of this. Sid Raisch would be wanting your strategies to be nailed down on the why and how you plan to implement your marketing plans. And lastly, Steve Bailey and Tim Quebedeaux would want to make sure you are able to monitor and evaluate your plan to assure the best return on the investment of your marketing plan. This is a complex and very important task and deserves great attention.

Last week, we created our newest Group eList (listserve) and its subject is "Marketing." The idea of creating a new eList (email list serve) was first discussed back on August 14th when Gardens of Babylon’s Marcus Kerske (thank you Marcus) brought up the idea of getting their marketing director together with others doing the same or similar positions across The Group (now over 130+ Centers). Following an email on the idea that went through our Owners-Only eList, we received about 60 requests to be added to the new list.

When I discussed the idea of creating a Marketing eList with some of our Group Team of Service Providers, both Sid Raisch and Steve Kendall provided input. Here's a few key thoughts as we get started in sharing this important topic:

• Marketing is a very large umbrella that encompasses many topics, not just advertising.
• Marketing is much larger than just advertising. Advertising is a function of marketing and should be identified for what it is. For so many years we have referenced an Ad budget but not a Marketing budget. We may think of them as one-in-the same but as we move forward, we should begin to identify and discuss the broader topics of marketing.
• Each of you have your own circumstances, objectives, goals dictated by your business type, location, market, resources and budget.
• When we share ideas, concepts, challenges, and successes it’s imperative we ask important questions to clearly understand how that same idea could be beneficial when repeated in context in another business situation.
• Not all ideas are ideal for everyone even though they sound “really cool”.  

Sharing is part of the DNA in The Group, so sharing creative ideas is a very appropriate addition. You have many tools and systems available to you today and at the same time, your audience is changing. While the methods for sharing your Marketing efforts may change, your most important messaging can be pretty stable. An example of this was in Joey Bokor's enews last week for Kerby's Nursery... "Plants Make You Happy, Plants Make You Healthy." You can see (and hear) Joey's message HERE.

If you have not yet subscribed to the new Group Marketing eList, login into The Group WebSystem, and from your Member Landing Page, click on My Profile, then on My Features, and then on eLists. Then turn on the MARKETING eList. If you need help, please send me an email or give us a call.

Thank you in advance for sharing creative ideas in the new Marketing eList. I look forward to seeing all of them!