To say that marketing has evolved over the last half century is like saying Albert Einstein was just an average guy.  Like a tsunami descending upon a sleepy island paradise, the viral marketing  avenues introduced through our new central nervous system—the Internet—have completely changed the way we think and do business.  But there is a huge caveat here:  the basic principles, concepts, and message of marketing remain unchanged.  What has changed is the delivery system—the way we communicate with the customer and the public.

Less than twenty years ago, portable communication was restricted to a small portion of the population:  those who could afford car phones, then “bag” phones, radio phones and pagers.  Then “cell” technology changed the game.  Suddenly, phones and portable communication became reasonably affordable for the common masses and in the past five years or so, cell phones morphed into BlackBerrys and iPhones; giving us the ability to connect instantly practically anywhere in the world!

Satellite technology coupled with Smart phones and laptops have made doing business globally as easy as walking to the corner store.  It’s all about communication.  And communication simply delivers a message and, hopefully, elicits a response.  Back and forth.  Pretty simple concept.

In the past 25 years letters have evolved into emails; phone calls have been reduced to text messaging; and IMs and Web cams, etc., etc., the list goes on.  But no technology can, will, or should ever take the place of building customer relationships—enter marketing.

To best understand what marketing is, you need to know what marketing isn’t:

• Marketing isn’t advertising—it is so much more
• It is NOT sales—the two terms are related but very different
• Marketing isn’t about winning awards, it’s about winning business
• Marketing isn’t complicated, but it can be complex
• While solid marketing principles do not change, marketing must be flexible

Marketing determines not only who your audience is, but how best to reach them and what to say.  The message MUST be central to any marketing plan and the manner of delivery [the way the message is sent] has to be determined by the target market/audience.  Marketing is as much an art as a science—a blend of creativity and empirical methodology—balanced carefully and executed appropriately.

Are there really new rules for marketing?  I don’t think so.  New and exciting ways to get the message out and more accurate ways of tracking response and productivity? Absolutely!

The Savannah area is teaming with “growing” businesses and organizations which encompass the entire spectrum of products and services.  Most of these are financially lean with management and sales often the responsibility of the same individual.  Marketing management is often overlooked and many times lumped into sales.  Ki-neckted, llc was created to help alleviate this problem.

Ki-neckted, llc provides high quality marketing management through strategic planning and development; implementation planning; project, process, and vendor management; and leadership assistance and management. Every situation is approached individually and specifically crafted so that each marketing strategy is designed to maximize revenue and profit based on a thorough understanding of the customer base as well as current competitive position in the market.

Using traditional methods of qualitative marketing research [focus groups], quantitative marketing research [statistical surveys], experimental techniques [test markets], and observational techniques [on-site] ki-neckted, llc then creates a comprehensive marketing plan which utilizes many of the newer marketing tools including viral marketing, online media, blogs, podcasts, and social media.  These are implemented according to the plan and monitored carefully for results.

Ki-neckted, llc will connect you and your business to the people and places that will help your business succeed.  Give us a call and we’ll get started!