March 28, 2022

And the circus came to town

circus big top lit up against night sky

I was talking with someone last week about the need for marketing within L&D to get the various stakeholders engaged with L&D initiatives. They had a rather narrow view of what marketing is. So I related an old story that has been circulating in marketing circles for decades…

If you find out what people want to see at the circus, that’s market research.

If your circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying, “Circus coming to the Fairground on Saturday”, that’s advertising.

If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.

If you deliberately lead the elephant past schools and through residential neighbourhoods, that’s market segmentation.

If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity.

And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.

If you create an offer that combines a circus ticket, an elephant ride, and an elephant photo, that’s packaging.

If the town’s citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and, ultimately, they spend a lot of money at the circus, that’s sales.

If you ask everyone who took an elephant ride to participate in a survey, that’s customer research.

It’s all marketing. All of it.

Which bits of marketing do you get involved with?

Even if it is keeping the elephant fed and watered, what you do still has an indirect impact from a marketing perspective. Would the public want to see a skinny elephant?

And if you are in a public sector organisation and think that marketing is not relevant to you… think again.

My best wishes, Paul

Paul Matthews

CEO and Founder of People Alchemy

share this article:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

related posts

Your guide to adopting a learning transfer mindset

Like many terms, the phrase ‘learning transfer’ seems to mean different things to different people. Paul says “Every definition I ...
Read More
L&D Free Spirits podcast cover

How do you build a freelance business that runs itself?!

In this new podcast episode Paul chats with Mark Gilroy from L&D Free Spirits about his journey from IT sales ...
Read More
Somebody working on a laptop

Measuring the Right Metrics for Your Stakeholders

New article from Paul Matthews on Training Industry offers a strategic approach to measurement that goes beyond compliance and focuses on ...
Read More
Survival kit laid out on frosty ground

The ultimate management survival tip

I saw a blog which asked, “What is your ultimate management survival tip?” What would you say if asked that ...
Read More

search blog

Get your free weekly tip

You agree that we can keep a record of your details, and send you other occasional offers. See our Privacy Policy