You can also view this blog post as a captioned video.
Some Center for Independent Living staff have told me, when they hear the word “marketing,” that words like “slimy” or “pushy” come to mind. Others have told me they think of “necessary” or “important.” Let’s see what the real definitions are.
There are three different ways marketing is practiced.
- Marketing.
- Marketing & Sales.
- Marketing Communications.
Though there are technical definitions for all of these, Marketing by itself is commonly thought of as the promotion of an organization’s products and/or services. It’s showing the value that a Center for Independent Living can bring to a consumer, and even to society, as a whole.
Marketing & Sales are two distinct business functions but, when coupled together, share the common goal of selling an organization’s products and/or services. Marketing activities get customers interested in the product and/or service, then sales activities convert that interest into a sale that produces revenue.
Most Centers for Independent Living wouldn’t say they use Marketing & Sales, unless they have a revenue-producing program that helps fund some of their core services.
Marketing & Sales is usually the type of marketing where some people associate marketing with being “slimy” or “pushy.” Yet, it’s not the activities of marketing, nor of sales, that’s unpleasant. It’s the delivery of those activities by people who can come off as slimy or pushy. These people are generally motivated by obtaining money from the sale.
Marketing & Sales for a Center for Independent Living obviously has a different flavor. When a CIL conducts Marketing & Sales activities, the motivation is to help People with Disabilities by letting them know about the services a CIL offers. And this is so consumers can achieve their goals toward greater independence. These are “necessary” and “important” activities for a Center for Independent Living.
Marketing Communications (MarCom) encompasses so much more than marketing, though a MarCom department is generally referred to as either a marketing department or a communications department. Since this is the type of marketing that most nonprofits, and CILs, practice, it’s important to understand the most accepted definition. MarCom is the coordinated promotional messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Marketing communications messages are delivered through one or more channels such as digital media, print, radio, television, direct mail, and personal selling.
One way to visually describe this is seeing Marketing Communications like an orchestra, starting with the conductor (marketing strategy), who leads all the different sections (branding, marketing, public relations, digital, and internal agency), for the combined production of a musical arrangement (marketing content and materials). Pictured above are the different disciplines, and sub-disciplines, of Marketing Communications (see image description for accessible list).
Centers for Independent Living must inform existing and potential consumers of how they can help them reach their goals. That’s why CILs need to have a marketing communications staff member/department.
Marketing is necessary and important for CILs. Marketing Communications gets the word out and creates additional ways for consumers to engage with a CIL’s mission, like through social media. Without marketing communications, a CIL will remain the best-kept secret instead of becoming what it should have been all along – the best-known resource for People with Disabilities.
If you want a CIL marketing director’s feedback on your thoughts about marketing for your CIL, schedule a free 30-minute consultation.