Marketing needs Marketing

Marketing has two layers. Lets us call it Group A and Group B.

Group A = external visibility. It is the activity that everyone sees.

Group B = the foundation. The invisible work that drives growth.

If you ask an SME business owner what marketing means, you’ll get all kinds of answers. But if they’re being honest, most describe it as Group A (external visibility). Evidently, Advertising and creative agencies make their living selling Group A when serving SMEs.

The problem is that most SMEs walk into those agencies already convinced that visibility is what they need. They buy the tools, they buy the campaigns, and they hope for results. Sometimes they see a spike, sometimes nothing happens. Either way, the money is gone. The problem isn’t the external visibility itself. The problem is that there was no foundation underneath it.

With bigger brands, the story is different. They do not walk in blind. Their briefs are usually anchored in Group B (they know who they are, who they are serving, and what message they need to put out). Advertising then has something to stand on, and it tends to work. It can be measured, it has an objective, and it builds over time.

So where does this all point to?

We have successfully reduced the concept of marketing, for many SMEs in emerging markets, into an external visibility exercise. A decoration piece (a very expensive one).

SMEs are paying the price for that misunderstanding. When SMEs lose, economies collapse and the poverty cycle repeats.

We can all put in the effort to market MARKETING better. To reposition it from a decoration tool into what it really should be: a growth engine for SMEs.

For agencies: please demand better briefs. Challenge clients on the relevance of foundational work. Don’t just execute, ask why.

For marketers: please do a better job explaining what marketing really is. Stop selling it as tactics, challenge yourself to scratch beyond the surface of external visibility.

For SME business owners: please stop burning cash on tools and campaigns before doing the hard work internally. Build the foundation, then go for visibility.

Until next time,

Rahwa