Bedrock marketing insights from the author of Trump University Marketing 101

When I was growing up, my family had a business installing water systems for country clubs, farms and housing developments. Whenever I went and worked alongside my father at those places, I could see how much people respected him for his honesty and integrity. He delivered what he promised. If a system failed at any time of the day or night, his customers knew they could call him and he would arrive promptly to fix the problem.

At that time, I had no idea what marketing was. I certainly had no idea that my father, through his honesty and integrity, was actually marketing on a very high level. But he was - and as effectively as any Fortune 500 company.

Today, I teach state-of-the-art marketing techniques at Columbia University and Trump University. But even the most advanced marketing approaches are closely tied to what my father was doing. Through his actions, he told the world that he had something special to offer.

Stop for a moment and think about the businesses in your area. There are dry cleaners, hardware stores and the rest. But are some of them known for doing something special? Is a certain dry cleaner known for its ability to get a spot out of any kind of fabric? Is a certain hardware store known for having experts on staff who patiently answer questions from do-it-yourselfers? Local merchants who differentiate themselves in that way are miles ahead of other businesses that just open their doors and wait for customers to arrive.

That ability to be special, which I learned from my father, is actually the bedrock of good marketing. Effective marketing does not live or die on clever ads or databases. It hinges on your ability to tell customers that you have something to sell that makes you different. It is a way of telling the world what you have to offer, and who you really are.

Don Sexton, PhD, is Trump University's faculty member in marketing and sales. He is also Professor of Business at Columbia University and President of The Arrow Group, a leading marketing consulting group. This blog entry is drawn from Dr. Sexton's book Trump University Marketing 101, published by John Wiley & Sons. Trump University Marketing 101 is available at bookstores nationwide and through online booksellers.