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Moving communication campaigns into action |
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Are you missing out on hidden marketing knowledge in your organisation? Here is a back issue of Marketing Booster, the email newsletter that Richard Groom writes and sends free every fortnight to subscribers. You can subscribe here or read over 60 back issues using the back issues index page. Over the last few years as a freelancer I have seen how many different organisations carry out their marketing. For some, it's all done by one or two individuals. For others, they are lucky enough to operate a big marketing department. What I find time and time again when working with clients is that the talent and knowledge needed to put together the best possible marketing campaigns is found in many different places. Even when the professional marketers in a company are superb at what they do, there are others who could play a much bigger part in marketing than many people realise. Those people could be in the sales department. In many organisations, the sales people really know their stuff. They know all about the product. They know what pain their customers are experiencing. And they know how to express what the product does in a way that shows customers how their pain can be healed. Other 'lost marketers' could be on the shop floor. They might be the people actually making the product, who know more about its capabilities than anyone else. Or they might be working in customer services and have the highest levels of expert knowledge - after all, they are helping customers every day. My point? I just think that we marketers - whether we work in a marketing department or just happen to be the one person in our company who 'does the marketing' - should do everything we can to tap into all that knowledge. Here are some practical examples: * If you use the 'value' approach to marketing (eg giving useful advice to demonstrate your company knows its stuff), can you get the real experts to contribute? What about interviewing the people who know how to get the best from the product and offering that information to customers or potential customers? * If you produce a customer newsletter, why not invite members of the sales force onto the editorial team? I recently asked someone in a marketing department who produces a customer magazine what their salespeople think of it. His reply: 'Oh they hate it. One of them even refuses to have copies in his car.' Does this sound like your company? * If you have a customer services team, start a dialogue with them. Perhaps they take 20 calls a day from customers asking for the same information. So why not send that information to all customers as part of a 'keep in touch' marketing strategy? Is it possible to break down any barriers between marketers and other departments? Surely if marketing is something that everyone can contribute to, it will stand a better chance of success. Copyright 2003 Richard Groom |