The C’s on marketing: CEOs, CFOs, CSOs. Robert Rosenthal has a piece today on marketing and what non-marketing execs can do to help ignite the fire. He suggests that smart marketers are making more decisions than ever based on facts – rather than on speculation, opinions, and biases.
Pointers below from his post:
DON’T COMMAND – COLLABORATE. In some cases, the biggest barriers to marketing success are internal rather than external. Organizational and cultural hurdles are one reason many businesses never see breakthrough marketing outcomes. Choose collaboration over command and control. Discourage unhealthy competition between functional teams. Keep everyone focused on doing what’s right.
MAKE IT SAFE TO EXPERIMENT. The best marketers are the best testers. Testing is to marketing what R&D is to manufacturing. The value of successful tests tends to far exceed the cost of failures. Joe Sugarman, who sold millions of BluBlocker sunglasses said, “I have failed more times than anybody I have ever known.” Encourage your team to dare to be great.
TAKE MEDIOCRITY OFF THE TABLE. Some executives outside marketing pressure the marketing group to run what’s comfortable. Familiar. And perfectly ordinary. A few are even quite adept at locking out innovation. There’s never a good excuse to run undifferentiated advertising in any media. Marketing is, more than anything, a business of ideas. Big, bold ideas. Don’t stand in the way of innovation. Support it.
THINK ENGAGEMENT. Three words sum up the 20th century marketing model: Sell, sell, sell. (With a veiled sales pitch disguised as education in some cases.) Now, thanks to social media, marketers have an exciting new way to make new friends. Try putting the pitch aside from time to time, and bring together people with a shared interest or passion. Start fascinating conversations. Bring the power of television into the mix with Web video. Do something extraordinary.
PUT ROI AHEAD OF COST MINIMIZATION. Marketing isn’t simply about keeping costs as low as possible. It’s about maximizing lifetime customer value. Building major revenue streams. Optimizing profits. Many marketing skeptics never budget for innovation, and find themselves perpetually disappointed in the results. Avoid self-fulfilling prophecies. Budget to do the job right the first time.
DON’T DO IT ALL YOURSELF. Marketing is more complicated than ever. Those who do everything internally generally do few things very well. Monopolies stifle innovation. Outside teams bring diverse experiences to the table that often prove invaluable. Since they serve multiple clients, it’s often easier for external teams to introduce unconventional ideas and raise everyone’s level of play. Get the help you need to do great stuff. Let in outside experts like w3 solved, and give them what they need to succeed — and make you as successful as possible.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
