Back to the Basics in Marketing: Is It Bad?

During an interview with a reporter last week I was asked to respond to a “bad” comment about my teaching of marketing to entrepreneurs as being “pretty basic, not unique.”

My initial response was, “What’s bad about that?”

Realizing that the reporter was seeking to create controversy, I turned his negative into a positive by telling him that I agreed with the comment. I also did not consider the comment to be “bad.” Most entrepreneurs’ biggest problem with marketing is that they do not practice the basics. In fact, they are probably not even aware of what constitutes the basics of marketing. That is why entrepreneurs don’t practice them.

That is also why I teach these basics.

You see, just as a basketball player cannot practice the strategy moves of the game until he or she has mastered the basics of basketball such as dribbling, shooting, and hitting free throws, so an entrepreneur cannot employ sophisticated marketing moves until he or she masters the basics of planning, setting objectives, targeting markets, and establishing a message. In fact, many sports fans make the case that practicing the basics and executing them well is enough to put a game in the “Win” column.

It’s the same with marketing. Mastering the basics in marketing and practicing them daily puts a business in the “Profitability” column.