Marketing Is No Longer About Arts and Crafts

The marketplace has changed and has become more complex. Therefore, what is required of strategists and marketing folks has changed as well. It used to be that the marketing department and its marketing agency were charged to build the brand and push messages out the door. As social media became the communications tool of choice the more messages with higher frequency the better.

But today, the rules have changed. Strategists are charged with building the business, not just the brand, and doing it in a way that will produce both sustainability and scalability. That’s altogether different work than the traditional marketing path so many companies pursue.

So when was the last time you asked yourself what are the key ingredients to producing strategies that will build your business? If it’s been a while, here are a few suggestions:

Change how you see your company. Don’t look at your company first and everyone else second. Instead, analyze your best potential customers and find out who they are buying from now. Then ask yourself what can we offer these customers that they are not presently receiving? Using the same marketing roadmap you offered last year is probably not going to work because the leading providers in your market have recalibrated their offerings to stay steps ahead of all of their competition, and that includes you.

Change the solutions you are providing. As painful as it sounds, you need to be prepared to change everything you are doing at any given time. Relying on conventional wisdom and the same old services will probably lead you to less and less business because customers are looking for actively engaged and lively providers that are willing to think outside the box with them. If your company comes across as a conservative never-changing organization, that will not attract the growth-oriented customers you have been seeking.

Change your focus. Don’t try and be everything to everyone with an emphasis on activities. This is not a good formula for success. Instead, focus on the end result you would like to achieve and align all of your company’s activities to achieve that one result. This singular focus will always outperform one that has many different and divergent activities on a To Do List that lacks a specific unifying goal.

When you first start out on this new strategic path it can be a bit daunting but when you start to leverage new strategic insights and successes—meaning you are signing up more business—the clearer the new path will become and more effective your strategy will deliver the results you are looking for.

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Tom Marin, Managing Partner of MarketCues, wants to hear from you! Follow MarketCues on Twitter for branding and social media tips, as well as the latest trends. Tom also welcomes e-mails, new LinkedIn connections, calls to (407) 330-7708 or visit www.marketcues.com. How can he help solve your branding issues?

Note: If you are a printing company or product/services company serving the print-media market, and would like to be considered for a feature in this blog, please contact Tom Marin for an interview.