Building a website is useless until people learn about it. That’s where marketing begins, right? You tell people about it using TV, radio, email marketing, PPC marketing, mailers, or maybe just word of mouth.

Or does marketing begin at an earlier stage? The destination is the website, and the goal is not just to reach the website, but “convert” in some way. Conversions could be purchasing a product, or simply contacting the company.

If the scope of marketing is restricted only to the driving of traffic to a website, but all that traffic leaves before making a conversion, then the marketing is, at the very least, flawed… possibly worthless.

Marketing should encompass the entire path of guiding consumers to purchase your product or service. Driving traffic to a website is only half the battle… you must also help them to make a conversion.

That’s where marketing & design, and marketing & development merge. Great design will engage customers and encourage the interaction that’s necessary to convert. Great development will assure that no errors or problems prevent that same customer from doing so. Marketing relies on the design and development to complete its goal, and the design and development departments need to understand how they can help the marketing campaign succeed. To disregard any one of these facets greatly affects the others, and can ultimately result in failure.

So where does marketing begin? When does it enter the process?

At the very beginning.