Marketing in one of its simplest forms is about recognizing opportunities and being prepared to take advantage of them. Who handles the marketing in your company? Sales Manager? Owner? If it is internet related do you send it to your computer guy? Get some help and stop letting the opportunities pass you by.
Too many companies behave as though someone calling with marketing opportunities is just wasting their time, and they might be – but you’ll never know if you don’t pay attention. If you don’t have someone specifically tasked with handling the marketing it will always play second fiddle to whatever the first job is.
You will always miss the shots you don’t take!
A good marketer wants to hear from everyone because he is looking for opportunities and advantages and he’ll never uncover any if he doesn’t open his mind and hear as many ideas as he can. I love talking with phone solicitors and take every call. I may be hard on sales reps but I’m doing my job while allowing them the opportunity to be heard – I’m looking for an advantage. Over the years, I’ve heard thousands of sales pitches and many of them were very good, done by those that were highly trained and skilled telephone solicitors or salespeople. Other calls were weak and waste of time for whoever was paying their wage.
A good marketer gains an understanding of how to do things and how not to. He learns that you can do things right and wrong, that the effort can fall short in 100 different ways and that everything within the company affects the marketing effort. He’s heard and seen the best and the worst and recognizes what sets them apart. It all comes with experience.
Good marketing is about taking the time to seek out the advantages and finding the opportunities, not just buying advertising or developing a brochure. Those companies who don’t dedicate someone to the task of marketing will never be as good as they can be because they’ll be missing opportunities to win. It doesn’t mean that you have to hire someone full-time, lots of marketers will take on the task part-time for several companies and be the main point of contact for everything under the marketing umbrella – you gain the advantage of being able to say “Robert Bain handles all of our marketing” and then Robert brings you everything he can find as good choices to consider. Without a Robert Bain handling your marketing, you end up passing by opportunities every day.
- Too busy
- Going on holidays
- It’s the end of the month
- Really busy right now
- Not interested
- We’re busy enough already
- We don’t buy advertising
- Budget is all used up
- I’m in a meeting right now
- Send me an email
- Call me back next month
All just pathetic excuses for those that are not paying attention to their business. Pay attention or somebody else will!
Get yourself the Support of an Experienced Director of Marketing
