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What are your personal 'marketing skills gaps'? 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. I read this brilliant quote the other day: "It is curious, but marketing people have a habit of being those annoying 'seen it all, done it all' types; generally extrovert and confident - but dig down a bit and there are technical gaps." (John Holmes, HLM Partners LLC) I was on a train when I read it and I squirmed in my seat a bit. Is John right? Are marketers all talk and no substance? Certainly, it IS possible to be a marketer without any particular in-depth knowledge of a specialist subject. So it got me thinking - as maybe it already has for you - what are the areas that I am shaky on? What gaps do I have? As marketers (and even if you don't work in a marketing department you are a marketer, including if you are a small business owner) we must all work hard to fill the gaps in our knowledge. I jotted down five areas where we might start: 1. The 'other Ps'. We know that 'promotion' (ie marketing communications) is one of the 'four Ps' or 'seven Ps' of marketing. But for many marketers, most or all of their time is spent on the 'promotion' bit. They never get involved in product development, or price-setting, or distribution ('place') decisions. If you work in one of those environments where all you seem to do is the communications stuff, can you get involved in the other marketing disciplines? 2. Measurement and evaluation. Dozens of articles have been written in recent years about the need for marketers to measure and evaluate what they do. We need to be able to show the impact (good or bad) of marketing on the bottom line. But most of us are perhaps still struggling to understand and apply relevant measurement techniques. Time is running out on this one: if marketing can't start showing the value of what it does in hard cash terms, the finance director and CEO will start to question more than ever why they are spending so much money on marketing. So can we take some time to update our knowledge of 'marketing metrics' and develop existing processes or put new ones into place to more effectively measure our effectiveness? 3. Know your product. Some marketers secretly admit they don't know as much as they should about the products or services their organisation offers. Spending more time 'out there' in the business will surely have a positive effect on the work we do. The more we understand the product, the better we will be at developing effective strategies and campaigns. Here's a good litmus test on whether you know as much about the product as you should: could you deliver a half-hour presentation on the product, and do it as well as the people who make or deliver the product? 4. Know your customers. Professor Malcolm McDonald made a good point when he said: "Companies talk about products, not markets. You hear publishers defining their market as books, for goodness sake. Or financial services companies defining their market as pensions. It's nonsense. There are a lot of products that can satisfy a need, but first, you need to understand what the needs are." And one way to do that is to know your customers and potential customers. So does your marketing department (or you as an individual) spend enough time listening to customers? And how is all that information captured and analysed to make sure the products are right and that they are promoted in the right way? 5. Understand technology. Unless we as marketers and business owners keep up-to-date with new technology we will miss opportunities to make use of it. So we need to be aware of blogging, online customer forums, search engine optimisation, interactive TV, RSS (Really Simple Syndication), online market research, personalised digital printing and so on, and assess whether they can benefit our organisations. In summary . . . Are there any 'marketing gaps' raised in this article that you could fill? In writing this article I have certainly realised where some of my own gaps are and I have drawn up an action plan to fill them and keep them filled. Keep the plan down to just three things to make it realistic and achievable, and even those three things will give you a lot more confidence that you have the knowledge you need to do your job. |