plant for ages and what you can sell is only the plant and equipment , then you missed a huge opportunity to develop a brand .
In any business that is managed into the long term , the real investment is in the brands not in the hardware . Have a look at all the top multinationals and see what they care for most . These businesses are , from the onset , built on foundations that will support great and valuable brands that will be worth billions of dollars into the future . Look at the top brands in the world like Apple , Google , Microsoft , Facebook , and Amazon , they are worth billions not because of their hardware , but because of the brands they have created over time . And there lies the real value of Marketing .
So , Marketing is working , Marketing is valuable , and Marketing is great where it is appropriately applied and appreciated . Making Marketing Great Again will start by addressing the root cause of our ailment . If businesses are created to be fed on one side and milked from the other , with little care given to the health of the cow , then serious health symptoms will soon surely show .
But if you knew , from the beginning , that you will finally make more money from the cow than from the milk , then you would show more care to the health
of the cow itself . When the Java brand is sold , and that has happened many times , the new investors care less about the tables and cutleries , what they buy is the brand .
When businesses hit a hard patch , the marketing budget is the first to be slashed . Marketing is mostly prioritized when a company falters and wants to increase sales , hence revenues . Brand-building is held in abeyance for even much longer . With a short-term or survival mindset , spending is prioritized on areas yielding quick gains . While a spend in sales activities should yield a commensurate and immediate result , a return from a brand building activity is not that obvious and instant .
Greatness is earned not demanded . Marketing must be given an opportunity to showcase its value and its worth in the midst of other competing needs . It ’ s not a big ask . As marketers , we have a role to play especially when it comes to deciding on the split between sales and brand building activities . While sales activities may seem urgent , brand building is very important . Can we achieve both sales growth and brand building from one activity ?
Marketers must re-engineer sales activities , brand building programs , and PR projects to maximize and realize expected outcomes simultaneously . Low budget companies should wisely develop above and below-the-line activities to ensure they both achieve sales and brandbuilding results . Even the big boys will not tolerate mega-budget sapping brandbuilding activities that are not yielding volume sales .
We don ’ t reward mediocrity with honor . Greatness is honored for the value it creates . The elegance of marketing is in the value it generates for businesses . Marketing will never be honored with greatness unless it emancipates itself from mediocrity .
Marketing needs a soul-searching moment : To rediscover itself as a powerful cure for today ' s ailing businesses ; To show and proof value created by investing in marketing ; To demonstrate the importance of prevention over curing , and the wisdom of curing over resurrecting ; To become that medicine that every business gladly or bitterly seeks to swallow .
Herman Githinji is a management and seasoned marketing consultant and law graduate from the University Of Nairobi . You can commune with him on this and related issues via email on : Hermangithinji @ gmail . com .