ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – “I rarely expect anything great when I hear someone say `we have to do some marketing,' ” explained Teri Langhans, a 20-year veteran of the advertising industry who has founded her own marketing consulting firm, Blah Blah Blah.

“Marketing is not something we do,” Langhans stressed. “Marketing is a process, not merely a promotion.”

Speaking to a packed early morning breakout session, Langhans explained the need for card executives to expand their definition of marketing.

“Marketing is anything that helps or hinders the sale or use of your product or service,” she said. “That's the bottom line,” Langhans emphasized. “Anything. You might have a great promotion that lets many members and potential members know about this great modern branch you have just built or moved into, but if you haven't noticed that the traffic patterns don't let people make left turns into the new branch's parking lot, you have not done good marketing.”

The first three questions that every marketing effort needs to answer should be where are we now, where do we want to be and how are we going to get there, Langhans explained.

“If the goal is to attract 1,000 new members this year and that branch is going to be one way we do it, is marketing approaching the city council to see about getting a stop sign on the street outside so that people can get to your branch?” Langhans asked. “You bet it is.”