The Two Money-Making Functions of Businesses

Peter Drucker, often called the father of modern management, famously advised that businesses have only two money-making functions—marketing and innovation. Everything else is an expense, Mr. Drucker said.

These two profitable pursuits have one common channel running between them that should drive all business and marketing efforts—change.

Innovation creates important changes in the marketplace. And marketing, at its finest, changes consumer behavior.

Marketing is About Change

Many people, assume that marketing is all about creativity. While creativity is important and helpful to the process, it isn’t the central driver of a successful strategy. It is about change. It is about meeting someone’s needs better than they are currently being met and positioning your product with the right value proposition to overcome resistance to change.

When thinking about marketing as a catalyst for change, there are three main categories of people to consider – those who want change, those that you want to change, and those that you don’t want to change.

Those who want change are perhaps the easiest group to reach. These people are already out there in the marketplace, ready to buy, ready for a new product or service, and searching for the best option. All you as a marketer have to do is inform them of why the change you offer is the best value, highest quality, most beautiful – whatever the case may be – and they will make the switch.

Those that you want to change are a little trickier to reach. This group isn’t currently ready for change or to buy. They are happy with the status quo of an outdated service or piece of technology that they’ve been using out of habit for years. Successful marketing to this group must convince them that it is time for a change and the change is beneficial. Getting through to the people you want to change is more difficult, but crucial to a successful business.

Those that you don’t want to change are you current customers. A different approach is required to keep your clients from heeding some other marketer’s call for change. This is where great customer service, building brand loyalty, and keeping things simple for repeat customers comes in. The people you don’t want to change are already a part of the club and you want to make sure they stay satisfied, interested, and keep coming back for more.

Change is Tough Business

The “change” business is a tough business. It is often said that “no one likes change” or “change is hard.” Changes in our lives can be a source of great stress, and because of this, many top agencies stick to branding or creative services.

These agencies focus on how to make your products, services or business as a whole look more appealing. And while design fills a purpose by snagging people’s attention or making them feel good about a product, this approach is just greasing the wheels. Real, lasting, highly effective marketing must foster change. A change-based approach is what provides the fuel to drive the revenue engine behind a lasting business.

Other agencies simply focus on positioning a company or product to be seen within a particular marketplace. Again, this serves a purpose and can be necessary to generate brand awareness or snag leads from that group of people who want change and are in buying mode. But this approach is also just scratching the surface. Awareness alone is not enough to accelerate meaningful growth.

Meaningful growth and lasting success must facilitate change in the marketplace among all three groups of consumers – those who want change, those that you must inspire to change, and those who you need to keep loyal and satisfied.

Quicklight Media is a full-service marketing agency based in Austin, Texas that deeply understands how to effectively foster change in the marketplace. Give us a call to discuss how we can create marketing that inspires change, so that your team can focus on that other foundation of business – innovation.