There are really 4 phases of marketing that organizations move through…
1. Inactive: This is no thought or effort is put into how the organization is going to sell their products or services to the world. In some cases, a brand has been established along the way that is so strong that marketing isn’t needed and that people will beat a path to your door…though it isn’t likely.
2. Sporadic: This is when you know you need to market, but you don’t have the resources or expertise to test and verify that you are doing things consistently and effectively.
3. Consistent: This is the point when you have developed a strategy with tactics and actions that is rolled out on a regular basis.
4. Holistic: This is when you come to the organizational belief that everything you do is marketing. This point is when every action can have 2-3 different uses and that even “non-marketing” activities have a basis for marketing the organization.
I’d argue that holistic is what we should all be moving for and that sporadic is the most dangerous of all…