Marketing with Pam Armstrong
Written by Madyson Kiepprien-Fraser
Reading time 3:04 minutes
Welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind-the-scenes moments.
This week’s episode features Pam Armstrong, a Marketing Placement Facilitator working for St. Lawrence College, who helped us navigate the tricky question of, “What is marketing?”. Since this is our first episode, we wanted to give Pam a massive thank you for the patience and good humour she showed during our film session. Thank you for being an outstanding professor, and for your enthusiasm in joining Spark Compass during your summer break!
WHAT IS MARKETING?
For many, marketing takes on its own meaning. Door to door sales or telephone pole posters are the most common scenarios that come to mind. For Pam, marketing is all about identifying the needs and wants of your consumer. Can your product fulfill a desire? Can your service solve a problem? If the answer is yes then congratulations! You’ve got a viable business idea.
The second half of marketing is all about understanding the environment you’ll be occupying. Who are your competitors and do they share a similar audience to yours? Where are your consumers currently shopping and how can you grab their attention? Having an answer to these questions makes marketing your business easier, just be sure to always keep your consumer in mind with everything you do!
WHAT ARE THE FOUR P’S?
This is also known as the marketing mix and it’s a fundamental concept for marketers.
The four p’s can be broken down into individual concepts that, when applied together, creates the secret sauce of any business, product, or service.
Price: How much does it cost and how will you get it into the hands of your customers?
Place: Where will you sell your product and is it easily accessible to your customers?
Promotion: Why is it the best option for your customers to purchase?
Product: Consider everything from product design to packaging, will it appeal to your customers and fulfill a want, need, or challenge they’re experiencing?
We’ll cover the discovery of your four p’s in the following section!
KEY CONSIDERATIONS TO FINDING YOUR FOUR P’S
The final goal behind any business should be to know and delight your customers.
There’s another quick list of questions you should answer that can help establish what your four p’s will/should be:
Who are your consumers?
Where are your consumers?
How will you satisfy your consumers?
How can you keep your consumers coming back?
What are your consumers saying about business?
In the end, everything always circles back to your consumers. Do your best to understand them and align your business accordingly.
In the words of Pam, “What interests them should fascinate you.”
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH INTERNAL MARKETING?
Happy employees can quickly become the biggest advocate for your business. If they don’t believe in your business then they aren’t going to become your champions, and you’ll lose out on a valuable piece of marketing. Word of mouth also applies to your staff so it’s important to target and retain talented employees who are passionate about your business.
When employees leave a company, there’s always the risk of your customers following them. This is where internal marketing can also come into play. By reaching out as a business rather than relying solely on a representative, you can build connections and familiarity with your customers that will encourage them to stay long after their usual representative has moved on.
FINDING ADDITIONAL RESOURCES!
Some of Pam’s favourite resources for marketing include:
LinkedIn Learning
Business Incubators
Funding Agencies
Community Resources
Post-Secondary Institutions
Depending on whether you’re hoping to learn more or have someone help with aspects of your marketing will change which resource is right for you.
TO SUMMARIZE!
When asked to summarize our conversation in three points or less, this is what Pam had to say:
Know your customers and delight them
Think about the lifetime value of your customer
Communicate meaningfully, even if it isn’t always perfect
If you want to know more, be sure to check out this episode’s video!