Common Marketing Mistakes: Who Said Marketing Is Just About Getting Customers?

I am not a marketing professional. I learned marketing the hard way, by experimenting first and then studying the theory. Initially, I believed that marketing was solely about acquiring new users and increasing sales. Nothing more and nothing less, just focusing on expanding the user base.

Unsurprisingly, I kept failing to grow my user base, which I saw as the only purpose of marketing at that time. I was putting in the required effort but couldn't achieve a proportionate outcome. Why was I failing? It was time to return to the board room and begin the introspection process. Here are a few practical things I learned that might be useful:

1. Marketing is not just about expanding the user base and increasing sales. These are only parts of marketing that fall under promotions (the first P of marketing). According to Philip Kotler's theory of marketing, there are actually four Ps: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.

2. Marketing starts with the customer, not with the product. It's about understanding and fulfilling the customer's needs and desires. The very development of a product is part of marketing. So, don't think that the marketing team will only start working once the product development is finished.

3. You cannot think about user acquisition in isolation. Consider the impact of pricing on your marketing strategy, among other factors.

4. Making noise is one thing, but attracting meaningful users is a different ball game altogether. It's better to start with user segmentation and target only those who need your product/service. Otherwise, even if you acquire a large customer base, you won't be able to retain them for very long.

5. Every startup has limited resources, and it's not possible to do everything at once. You may not be able to launch a fully-fledged product from day one. So, it's better to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) and validate user needs before going for aggressive marketing.

6. There is a reason why the "Product" is one of the four Ps of marketing. Outsourcing product development to the product team would be a mistake. Your input as a marketer can be very useful for the product, as you are building it for the customers, not the company or product team. Satisfying user needs is a marketer's primary responsibility.

7. Sales falls under promotions and is solely driven to augment sales. Therefore, sales is not the same as marketing. Sales start from the product, while marketing starts from the customer. A salesman doesn't ask to change the product's architecture, but you, as a marketer, can suggest changes.

8. The best marketing occurs when your consumers start marketing for you. Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of marketing, and no amount of cash spent on user acquisition can dominate it. So, before spending on marketing, think about whether you are creating something worthy of word-of-mouth promotion. It's difficult to achieve but always helpful.

9. Psychology can be really useful in marketing to understand user needs and behaviors. Familiarity with concepts like the principle of scarcity, the principle of reciprocity, social proof, and others can act as catalysts in your marketing efforts.

10. Marketing can be costly if not done correctly. Relying too much on money to scale a product isn't a great idea. Most successful startups scale their products organically. Just imagine the cost of scaling WhatsApp among billions of users if you applied the standard cost-per-acquisition and lifetime value (LTV) theories. It's neither wise nor sustainable.

There are many things to consider before acquiring users, during user acquisition, and after acquiring users. Marketing works in all three stages, not just in user acquisition, and having a holistic understanding can yield magical results