Marketing Services - the Myth, the Reality and the Truth

Some will specialize. Some will get a bigger piece of the smaller pie by acquiring their competitors or by being the last man standing as others decide to fold tents. Some are close enough to retirement to simply ride it out and eventually sell the remaining assets.

Could some or even all of these companies be even more successful if they at least partially adopted the marketing services concepts? I think the answer is clearly, Yes!

Why Should We Care?

What gave me the most trouble writing this piece (notice I did not say keyboarding, texting or tweeting) was deciding what title to give each scenario. Which is myth, which is reality and which is truth? We all must decide this for our own companies irrespective of what we see happening in the industry.

So, change the headings to suit your own view of where you are in the adoption cycle. Remember, the laggard often gets eaten by the lion, the one in the middle of the road can get run over, and the innovator can get so many arrows in the back that he never gets to the finish line alive. You can succeed or fail in any of those positions.

At Allegra Network, we are continuing to encourage our members to move, and move quickly, in this direction because we think the opportunities are great. We have recruited high-level agency personnel with a cadre of designers, copywriters and marketing planners to staff our Marketing Resource Center. We have established a Marketing Central certification program for our franchise members. And, we are running as fast as we can to help members dodge the arrows, stand in the safe zone of the road and run faster than their competition.

At the same time, we do recognize that for a host of reasons, some of our members may not move quickly in this direction—or not move at all—and that is OK, too. We will continue to support them with their chosen strategy. Whether our members move quickly, slowly or not at all in this direction, we have checks and balances in place to remind ourselves that we must “stick to the core” while we “go for more.”