We wrote this book because we decided it was time to democratize marketing. We want marketing to be accessible to all.
A well known quote from Steve Jobs best expresses our approach: “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”
Marketing is complex. We want to make marketing simple. We want to make marketing understandable, approachable, and applicable to everyone – so we wrote a book. Marketing Strategies for Everyone is everything you need to know about marketing without having to know everything. The book represents the third in a series of strategy books targeted to entrepreneurs and business owners, and aims to provide an all-inclusive resource using real-speak, simple terms, and a little bit of scrappy know-how.
Making Sense of Marketing
The most daunting aspect of marketing involves orchestrating activities aimed at promoting and selling. The most successful marketing strategies often involve a combination of these activities, tailored to the specific needs of the consumer and the goals of the business. The trick is understanding which combination makes the most sense.
It can seem a little overwhelming to be able to grasp all of the tools available to businesses in the digital age. The book is meant to guide and provide a better understanding of some of the core fundamentals:
- Various activities that make up a successful marketing plan
- Process of developing a plan that suits your business needs
- Individual aspects of a marketing plan
- How to maximize elements of a plan so that they can work together
Readers can choose to adopt any of these components based on the individual needs of their businesses. In the book, we urge readers to use what will work best for them.
Why We Wrote The Book
Big-brand advertising can be intimidating. These companies, typically well-funded, can afford to partner with sophisticated agencies teeming with specialists. Not everyone has the benefit of multimillion-dollar budgets or global agency partnerships; therefore, this book is tailored to the needs of all-sized business owners. We know marketing is an investment – not an expense – and, like all investments, it must be done wisely.
We know the tried-and-true benefits of solid marketing efforts. We also understand the pitfalls of trying to do too much with too little.
Marketing For All
Our aim is to represent the elusive industry of advertising and to help businesses find scalable efforts that drive results.
There doesn’t have to be a sophisticated or scientific approach to everything when it comes to marketing. In fact, we believe we can help anyone become a little more of what we call “scrappy” when you need to be.
We believe business leaders shouldn’t have to fend for themselves when it comes to marketing. Rather than settling for someone who doesn’t have the skill set, experience, or their best interest in mind, this allows business leaders to learn the basics.
Understanding marketing is essential for today’s business owners. It works when done right. However, it can also burn cash fast, and we don’t want that to happen to anyone.
Keeping It Simple
To help explain a complex topic or to highlight additional insight into a subject, we i ncluded tip boxes throughout the book with easy-to-understand information and advice offered at a glance.
We also included worksheets, which include supplemental information that can be used as a guide and as the framework for formulating your own plans.
The book can be purchased at Target, on Amazon and other vendors.
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Scott Harkey is CEO of THE HARKEY GROUP, a collection of agencies meeting the needs of the modern marketer. The Harkey Group of agencies includes O.H.Partners——the largest independent full-service agency in the Southwest U.S.——Matter Films, and MONOGRAM.
Amy Colbourn is Managing Director of MONOGRAM, a boutique specialty brand agency in Las Vegas serving the hospitality and casino industry specifically.
