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Is marketing really changing?
From my perspective, marketing is becoming a smaller piece of the discussion. Today, I am looking at marketing much differently. In fact, marketing is diminishing before our eyes. Marketing used to be a differential. Today, companies do not own the market. Clients own the market. In the past, a lot of time and energy went into marketing plans. Often the success of these plans was measured in opened emails or website impressions. What is the value of an open email or an impression count?
Where should companies focus their marketing resources?
Today, I am using different terminology. The message needs to encompass service, value and attract interest. All of these components need to come together and be much closer than ever before. I think people will be the difference-maker here. I know I am changing my views on these topics and I keep looking at things through many different eyes. Today, the answers cannot naturally be found in reading someone’s book or listing to a podcast. When it comes down to it, the next part of this process is getting much more involved. More attention needs to occur in understanding where the market is headed.
How much time should it take to get these ideas in place?
Time is the critical factor here. Right now I feel like I am behind the time and I am trying to catch up. The whole planning and implementation process need to quickly be streamlined and put into place at a much faster rate to achieve success. I have seen this process work quite well when it comes together quickly and fail miserably when the process does not come together quickly. The key here is having a team that can recognize these relationships and look at things in a more connected world where service, support, and value come together and are actually communicated to the parties involved promptly.
Why do companies have separate marketing, sales, support and service departments?
This has been the model. As companies have grown, these areas tend to add more people, and ultimately they operate as individual units. Today, I am in the process of bringing these areas together in a much simpler model. I am not there yet, but I am getting closer. This is my goal for 2017. I share this with you the readers of this article because I believe if you can get this process implemented you will see significant results in 2017. I think it will take some innovative thinking and a new approach to looking at marketing and client relations. Good Luck!
