How To Explain Marketing To A Child

Let’s say that you have a playroom full of toys that you’ve outgrown. You decide to clean up and sell some and use the money to buy new ones.

So how do you sell your old toys?

You set up a stand in front of your house, arrange your toys on it, and wait for passersby to see your wares and start to buy.

Here the three critical factors of that strategy:

- the number of people who pass by

- the number of people who pass by and notice your stand

- the number of people who pass by and notice your stand and decide to buy

This strategy is fine if you have the time and if the money you are trying to make is just for new toys. But when time and money are critical elements, you’ll need to speed up the selling process.

Let's say that you have the idea to call in a grown-up who is knowledgeable about marketing and offer them money to help you. The first question you’re asking yourself is: why I should pay for something I can do by myself? And the second is: what can this marketer provide that I cannot?

The answer is twofold: time and knowledge.

As I said, if you just want to buy new toys (and you don't have to pay rent, employees, suppliers, taxes, and so forth), it works to simply sit at your stand waiting for customers. But when you need to earn money in a reasonable time frame, you need to use your time wisely to make your business flow.

Once you make the smart choice to ask for help from the grown-up marketer, they will come into your playroom, see what you want to sell, and spend a few minutes writing down some memos. And then the new sales process will start. The marketer will advise the following 3 steps process.

First step: Know which doors to knock on.

To optimize your time, you need to understand which of your neighbors could be interested in your toys, so you need to figure out this potential connection.

Second step: Start knocking on those doors.

Once you selected the potential buyers amongst your neighbors, knock on their doors to advise them that tomorrow you will open a special toy stand. Tell them why you have decided to sell and the story behind some toy you are offering.

Third step: Build a visible stand in a strategic place.

Find a location nearby where you can see many people passing by. Place your colorful stand there.

Consider the toy stand scenario with and without the help of the marketer. In which scenario do you think the kid will sell more of his toys and come back home richer?

Marketing is not a magic wand; marketing didn't change the toys themselves. What the marketer did was simply to focus on the most suitable buyers, improve the perceived value of the toys, and speed up the selling timeline.

So, if you’re a kid with a playroom full of toys and you want to sell them in the shortest time possible, you need to implement marketing strategies in your business process.

Thank you for reading, I would appreciate hearing your thought on this.

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Davide Scalia is the CEO & Founder of Namaka Consulting, with over 15 years of experience in the Marine Industry and over 10 years’ experience in Strategic Business Development, helping over 500 businesses to clarify what to do next to build the Brand, how to increase sales, giving new ideas to obtain exponential Business Growth.

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