Most people intuitively understand marketing, customer service and distribution, but do they understand how the three work together?

Marketing is everyone’s job. Whether you’re a CPA or an IT person.

So often, we associate marketing with basic principles — the textbook P’s, timing, relevance and message. But where marketing plans often miss the mark is when they don’t integrate the principles with other organizational facets.

We all know we need to employ some form of marketing, even just word-of-mouth, to succeed in business, but brand and identity go deeper than a logo, a brochure, a YouTube video, or even just your basic marketing plan.

A good marketing plan tells you where you want to be and the way you will allocate resources to achieve that. The best marketing plan incorporates the operational aspects of your business and involves multiple levels and departments (if you’ve got multiple levels and departments) in brand distribution. Indeed, an excellent marketing plan involves the consumer/client in the process as well.

An example: a business that sells colostomy bags (see, I just wanted to know if you were paying attention) to hospitals sets up a Web site, to increase awareness of their product. They do all the right stuff with search engine optimization and they are the first link that pops up when you go looking for that product. Great. Step one, complete.

Next, they realize that their customers want to purchase online. They set up an online purchasing system. But sales never take off. Why? It turns out their customers are a little confused by the redirect to an online checking system outside of the original Web site. A little homework tells them that customers are closing the window when asked to sign in to Google Check Out or PayPal. They have never used it before.

Time to involve accounting in the system. Working with their certified public accountant, they purchase an easy shopping cart system that allows them to not only select multiple items, but also offers safe, easy on-site checkout. After a little communication, customers come back. Orders start flowing, but maybe not as much as they anticipated.

A quick survey tells the supplier that health care administrators are ordering the product, not health care providers and it turns out colostomy bags are varied and it’s a little confusing to someone who isn’t the person who works with them day in and day out (I’m guessing here, I don’t actually know much about colostomy bags). The survey also shows it’s sometimes easier for them to call in or call another vendor to order what they need.

The answer? A continually staffed contact number and an online chat function. Now we’ve got customer service involved. The online chat function helps buyers not only figure out what it is they need, but also gives the supplier a chance to sell other accompanying products (uh, like tubes or something?) and up the sale.

Ok, so a long explanation that boils down to a simple message. Marketing touches many aspects of the supply chain as well as the distribution. Determining what your customers need and how they want it, then answering that from within, is what will define your brand in their eyes. A pretty logo is just one aspect. Exceed their expectations and you stand a chance of making the sale — and possibly keeping the customer.

Jen Neumann is a partner with de Novo Alternative Marketing LLC in Cedar Rapids. She can be reached at (319) 573-2632 or jen@thinkdenovo.com