On our way to drop off my daughter to school, she started asking me why did I put my card in when I was getting gas. Try explaining it to a 5 year old. I explained to her that it’s a way to pay for gas so that our car can run.
She then went on to ask why do we need to pay for gas? (Good question) So I tried giving her an economic lesson about exchanging of goods and services, and how my money that pays for the gas allows the gas station owner to buy things he needs for his family and the money he spends in the store allows that person to buy services from me so that we have money, and so on.
And as I’m explaining all of this, as simply as I possibly can, I started to think about marketing and economy. And the fact is that without marketing and businesses we wouldn’t have the convenience and the luxury to buy what we want and when we wanted.
As my daughter kept asking why, like every 5 year old does, the conversation kept leading to the fact that marketing is everything. Our entire existence in this society wouldn’t be the way it is without marketing. I’m not sure how much of my oversimplified explanation she got, but wouldn’t it be great if every little kid out there continuously received lessons about marketing and the free enterprise system. The bottom line is that we are all involved in marketing. When a person begins to understand the true meaning of what marketing is all about, they become better marketers.
It’s not about selling something to someone. But providing products and services that add value to other people’s lives. And in return you get paid in proportion to the amount of value that you provide. Simple as that. If everyone looked at their business as marketing, the way I just described, they’d have a lot more fun at it, and probably make more money as a result. People can’t help but be attracted to others who are fun to be around and add more value to them.
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