Tweet

Marketing Has Left the Building

Written by: Rebel Brown

Article Overview: Since when did Marketing become a corporate headquarters role that never leaves the building? Even in tough economic times - we have phones and web conferencing and a video camera in every laptop and the network bandwidth to drive it. Come on - We have Skype!

Marketing Has Left the Building

I was leading a whiteboard strategy meeting last week with a client in the system management space. We were drilling down to the core So Whats and frankly, I was getting frustrated. My head was aching from the continual deep dives into strings of 3 and 4 letter acronyms. The client could describe their customers' architectures to the deepest detail. But they kept missing the So What? - which sure as heck wasn't about feeds and speeds alone.

I got specific. "Who was the last customer you talked to and what did they say they liked about your product? Why did they need to buy it?"

"Well, there was a tradeshow last month and we talked to over 300 prospects and some of our biggest customers."

"That's great. But let's talk about the last actual user (and hopefully economic buyer) you spoke with about how your products impact their business."

"Well, the sales reps know that - so we call them."

"You don't talk to the customer?"

"Well, sometimes. But we're not supposed to travel with the economy and all."

"What about calling them? Setting up a webinar? "

"Oh, the reps talk to them - and so do the engineers and customer service. So we take our lead from them. We don't want to bother the customers with too many of us talking to them."

I wish that was the first time I'd had that conversation. But it's not. It's actually pretty common.

Rebel's Soapbox is out!

Since when did Marketing become a corporate headquarters role that never leaves the building? Even in tough economic times - we have phones and web conferencing and a video camera in every laptop and the network bandwidth to drive it. Come on - We have Skype!

It's time for marketers to become subject matter experts on our customers. All this hype around customer-centric marketing won't change your results if you don't go beyond talking the talk and start walking the walk.

Get out there and learn your customers, get inside their heads, their hearts, their businesses and learn to think and breathe their problems. Then apply your solutions to the walk you're walking - and bring your marketing into the realm of customer-compelling.

There are no excuses.

Related Articles
  There is a Home Based Business that's in your Budget
  What Does Leadership Mean
  Steps to creating your Need Statement
  Why do The Pillars of the Lean Marketing House™ crumble?
  5 Ways To Stretch Your Marketing Dollars

Article Tags: architectures, corporate headquarters, dives, economic times, feeds and speeds, hype, laptop, letter acronyms, marketers, network bandwidth, prospects, sales reps, skype, soapbox, strategy meeting, subject matter experts, system management, video camera, web conferencing, webinar



Related Forum Posts
Type of business with building - If you owned a building and Wal-Mart was opening its doors across the street in a previously unoccupied area (along with 12-14 small shops), what type of business would you start? Here are the considerations: 1. Money is a non-factor 2. Building is fairly large (10,000) square feet 3. Building is on the corner of a busy intersection (about to get much busier)
Re: MLM Marketing, youtube, and buzzirk mobile. - I have experience with MLM too. My initial reaction to the business was "snake-oil salesman" but once I got to understand the "overall business model" I am now an advocate to it. MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) is also known as Network Marketing. I realized an MLM business is no different than any other business. One needs to focus on both words "Network" and "Marketing" and give both equal respect. Some people focus heavily on the Networking part but forget "Marketing". I've started to use Building on a Budget and Magnetic Sponsoring concepts in my NM business and have found that people don't get involved so much because of the product but more because of what you bring to the table as far as marketing systems and support. I have both products listed in my signature. you don't have to buy it as the link to the free videos itself provides you a good understanding of what is required to position yourself as my above paragraph. If you do plan on purchasing it I can tell you that the measly $40 will open your eyes BUT your upline will not be too happy (atleast in the short term) beacuse the system is not duplicateable. I wrote this post as a polar post to Bulmer's reply as I have exhausted the friends and family networking and realized i never really focused on marketing. My leads now are more qualified and open to hearing about my opportunity than the other way around. my 2 cents if you plan on growing an MLM or Networking Marketing business.
Re: What is your Business? - We are running a Online Marketing Firm and we have some good clients to which we are offering a complete Digital Marketing strategy like Search, Mobile Marketing, Branding and Design. I think in Online Marketing company online presence can be a wining factor for the success of the company.
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Let’s talk about the ways of marketing your products, servic - I agree with some of the others who responded it depends on what your selling... but to answer your questions here are some of the methods I use. Forum Marketing Yahoo Answers (I need to use more of) SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Bum Marketing or Article marketing P-P-C (Pay Per Click) Marketing Online Directories Hope this helps.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ways to Improve Your Landing Page Conversions

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.