How to Create Holistic Marketing Organization in the Long Run

There are no shortcuts in digital marketing; there are no shortcuts in marketing.

Marketing is an organized management function of a business. One cannot afford to keep it unorganized to survive and grow in the industry.

Sometimes, an idea can go viral, or a campaign can generate more sales, but that may not happen all the time, and hence it is not correct to stamp such incidents as 'good marketing'.

At the bottom of that idea or campaign, the marketing function has to be well-organized, well-designed, well-strategised and constant.

It is essential to understand marketing management as a subject - just like it is essential to study medicine to become a doctor or to study engineering to become an engineer.

Even a car mechanic feels he doesn't require to study automobile engineering until he understands the core of the automobile subject!

Similarly, until you don't understand marketing management, you may not get into the depth of the subject.

For any core subject, there are many layers to excavate, which we are unaware of! If we keep knowing those layers, we may keep digging in well.

For example, if a business leader knows how to design and manage integrated marketing communication, he will better understand the importance of a marketing budget and distribution. This knowledge will lead to a proper media selection. The media selection will make the leader understand how omnichannel communication builds a brand and can help generate sales. This will lead him to know the role of content in digital and other media. This knowledge will help the leader understand the actual role of social media content and how it differs from a print media ad creative.

Knowledge is power if it is acquainted well and then executed well.

Sales and Marketing are not the same!

Sales are the constant by-product of the marketing function. Constant and continuous marketing communication helps generate sales.

To boost sales, a company spends an extra budget on 'sales promotion' activities but not at the cost of 'marketing' activities.

Even if you are spending on digital 'marketing', you cannot see it as an alternative to hiring a sales team!

If you want the internet as a medium to generate more revenue, parallel to your digital 'marketing' activities, allot a separate budget to boost sales (that's sales promotion).

Does it mean that digital 'marketing' doesn't generate sales?

No, it also generates sales, but because its core objective is not the 'conversion', a business should have patience and need to be consistent and constant to get the conversions.

To go ahead with the goal of 'conversion', a business should opt for digital 'sales' in which there are no branding, engagement, trust building, or brand recall lift objectives. The only objective is to generate revenue.

If digital 'sales' is the ultimate solution, then a business may not reach the heights of becoming a national/global brand like Nike, Louie Vuitton, Jio, Manyavar, Aramco, Phillips, or Mcdonald's.

So ultimately, what should a business do?

• To get crystal clear clarity between digital 'marketing' and digital 'sales'.
• To understand that spending on digital marketing and hiring a sales team are two different things.
• To keep growing as a brand by reaching out to more people regularly through different media and to keep building a strong trust among the people.
• To keep separate budgets for digital 'marketing' and digital 'sales'.
• To be very clear that marketing and sales are two different functions and not synonyms.
• To get very clear about own business - whether to become a brand and go miles or to keep generating revenue only without focusing on building a brand - or to do both parallel.

The global market is competitive and tough. With the constant change in technology and unclear consumer behaviour, this is the right time for local businesses to focus on creating and managing Holistic Marketing Organization.