Marketing is EVERYTHING!

Have you noticed that nothing is traded, sold, acquired, communicated, educated, really nothing happens without the marketing? The truth is that no matter what you are trying to get accomplished it requires marketing to make it happen. What is marketing really? It is the communication or education of an idea, product or service to others. Telling people "what's in it for them". I believe most people lump marketing with sales and therefore the translation is lost as it pertains to the unique qualities of what marketing is all about. OK, I am in sales and from my perspective good marketing makes the sales effort so much easier. If there is a clear message being sent to the market regarding the benefits of the product or service, and if the message can differentiate the product or service from the competition then most of the sales work has already been accomplished. This is a relatively obvious concept when it comes to basic products we purchase everyday. But what about a product like new church plants? Surely you can't "sell God"?! Well there we go again confusing marketing with sales. The reality is that the target audience needs to be "educated" as to the who, what, when, where and why's of the new idea or in this case the new church plant. Of course the 4 P's of marketing are also very important - those being - Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place.
Marketing is everything and when you educate your target audience to the benefits of your product then the "close" is so much easier. In the case of planting new church's we are talking about the target audience's very salvation - that puts a whole new level of gravity on the situation doesn't it? You had better be good, better be excellent because aren't you in fact marketing on behalf of God Himself? WOW! The Good News is that we know the product works and that it will do what it says it will do - so the key is the packaging. Educating the target audience as to the benefits of eternal life is the key point, however how they get there is also very important. Is your product relevant? Is it fun?
We are in an election year and I can't let this subject end without mentioning something about the marketing by our two candidates for president - Obama and McCain. Both have very different ways to lead our great nation for the next four years. Both believe in their products, and both offer many options and services - but there is one who is educating more effectively, differentiating himself clearly and therefore leading in the poles. Yes people want change, but people don't just want change for change sake. They want positive change and they want to understand the change they are going to get. Right now Obama is doing a much better job of communicating and educating us all on his brand of change. McCain has a fine product, but he needs to hurry up and tell us how his product is going to benefit each one us.