NO idea what business they’re in. If you ask a chiropractor or a pet groomer “what business are you in?”, they will most likely respond based on their chosen profession – “I’m a chiropractor” or “I’m a pet groomer”. Or, they might answer with the service they provide, such as “I’m in the health services business” or “I maintain and groom pets”. What business are YOU in? Are you in the ‘bottled water’ business? Are you in the ‘real estate business’? Maybe you’re an engineer, or a doctor or an accountant. These may be the services you provide, but this is not the business you’re in. The chiropractor that operates a practice is in the business of marketing chiropractic services to the market. The pet groomer isn’t in the business of grooming pets — they are in the business of marketing pet grooming services. In other words, EVERYONE is in the marketing business. This is a very powerful distinction to make, because it explains why so many great ‘technicians’ that go into business fail .. and how many companies with mediocre – or even BAD products or services – can dominate a market and stay around forever. The message here is that if you do not know how to market, it doesn’t MATTER how great you are at your business, or at providing the product or service you offer. If you can’t market that product or service, you’re dead in the water. Plain and simple. A great example my friend Keith Cunningham gives is McDonald’s. Here’s a company that produces a truly AWFUL product. If I ask you to think of your favorite restaurant, I guarantee McDonald’s does NOT come into your mind. They sell a product that not only doesn’t taste good, but if you eat enough of it .. it will KILL you! Yet, here they are, the most profitable restauranteur in the history of the world — selling a crappy product that can KILL you if you ‘enjoy’ it enough. How is that possible? It is possible because McDonald’s is one of the greatest marketing machines in the history of the world. Plain and simple. They know that they are in the business of MARKETING fast food. They’re not in the fast food business. Make sense? Another example. If you were the world’s greatest chef, and decided to open a restaurant but knew nothing about marketing, the chances of you succeeding is very, very slim. Emeril struggled for many years even though he was a great chef, because he didn’t understand marketing. Then, he figured out the game and decided that getting onto television would be a great marketing opportunity. The rest is history, and now there are line ups for his food – because he got great at marketing his talents, as opposed to thinking his talents alone would ensure success. The bottom line is this — I’d rather have a mediocre product with great marketing (which brings a lot of customers to me), than the world’s greatest product and no idea how to find customers. Which would you prefer? Obviously, you would love to have the best product AND great marketing — and that’s the path that Apple has taken over the past couple of years. Judging from their stock price, I’d say it’s working! Having the greatest product or service in the world means NOTHING if you don’t know how to market. So many business people that I see struggle simply do not “get” this powerful distinction in their business. Once you recognize that you are in the business of marketing X, whatever X is to you .. you then can start to truly build a world class business!]]>