Enterprise Magazine: 10 Years!

Enterprise Magazine celebrates 10 years of publication.

Congratulations to publisher, Hayden Bradshaw. The magazine business is a tough business. You have probably seen many magazines come and go. It's one of those businesses that look easy to outsiders. And a magazine aimed at entrepreneurs and business owners has got to be even tougher.

And yes that's me, George Torok on the cover of this aniversary issue. The cover text reads "Marketing Wizard George Torok: "What a Difference a Decade Makes!"

This feature article examines the trends, and changes in marketing over the last decade.

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What a Difference a Decade Makes in Marketing

Imagine that you could continue to market successfully the same way for ten years. Do you like that thought? Well delete that daydream because it just isn’t so. Welcome to marketing 2008. It’s more threatening, more promising and more exciting. Buckle your seatbelt, take your motion sickness pill and be prepared to be amazing. Because that is what you need to compete today.


Still the Same
Of course some things remained the same. Let’s establish our foundation before we venture into the swirl of the Time Tunnel.

The fundamentals are the same. That’s what makes them fundamentals. Marketing is still closely intertwined with selling and the purpose of marketing is to help you sell more. Marketing and selling are both strategies to help you make a profit. In fact marketing was and is a fundamental responsibility running through every function of your business.

“Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of it final result, that is, from the client’s point of view.”
Peter Drucker

Strange that even though management guru, Peter Drucker, offered that advice more than a decade ago – many organizations ignored his wisdom. That’s why we still see marketing departments and sales departments with little cohesion and cooperation. Why? Perhaps too many marketers see themselves as artists or statisticians while they see sales representatives as slimy. And the sales department labels marketing as a bunch of flakes who don’t know about the real world.

The purpose of marketing is to do one or more of the following three things:
Grab Attention
Demonstrate value
Build relationships

The world is still round – or is it now flat? How is the “How” of those fundamentals changing?

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Enterprise is Canada's magazine for small and medium enterprises.


George Torok

Marketing Wizard, George Torok in the media

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