Narrowing down things to their core is really useful strategy to figure out and embrace the basics of anything.
Often we focus too much on the details that we forget the fundamentals.

That’s why I’m writing this article because it focuses on the fundamentals of marketing. With so much information about different hacks and strategies we can get overwhelmed and we forget the fundamental pillars of great marketing.
Remember, no matter how pretty your house is, if it’s not laid down appropriately on the ground it will ultimately fall.

The 3 pillars of great marketing are… 

Good audience
Who is getting the message? Are they the people you want to sell to? That’s the so called ‘target market’. It has to be identified.
You don’t sell baby diapers to a family without kids or with grown kids. You don’t want to offer tropical plants to Scandinavian farmers. Targeting is key. And sometimes it’s not that easy.

Good offer
Actually it’s better be a great offer. What are you offering? What’s the value? If you are in your consumers’ shoes how would you react to such offer? Are the benefits bigger than the costs (incl. financial, time, energy) in their perspective? Can they afford it?
Make an offer that they can’t refuse.
And if it doesn’t work, change it.

Great message
Good message can work in some areas with less competitors but in general the message has to be great. The message is the way you communicate your offer.
Most “product people” screw up here big time. They think great products sell by themselves. That would be true only in a monopolistic markets where the monopolist sells the product.
The way you present your offer to the audience must not be overlooked.
Great marketing messages touch on consumers’ triggers to take the desired action.

As a formula… Out of the 3 marketing pillars at least 1 has to be great and the other 2 must be good in other to work.

I plan to use this article as a reference for my work in the future.
To keep me on track so to speak. You can use it too.