Marketing is the art of communicating business benefits in a way that attracts customers and increases sales.
The traditional marketer is often an intelligent individual that studied marketing or has grown to become an educated marketer. He or she develops this skill by reading a lot of marketing books and following old and experienced trends. Using “safe” and traditional methods allows these artists to get by and make do.
It is safe to be average, but nobody remembers average.
Being a safe professional in marketing allows one to conduct Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analyses, build and understand brand image and consistency, use fancy acronyms like B2B, B2C, SEM, otherwise impress naive interns. One can even write business plans and create nice presentations quickly and efficiently. These are great foundations that get better, cleaner, and sharper with time. Verified, familiar methods become safe, and safe is good when new products and services are released. We can even find ways to create small successes in a market we know where to apply these marketing tricks, and Voila, we meet our yearly goals. This is a comfortable work week. Then there is the weekend, and then we start again.
Markets move and change every day, and moving markets are innovative.
Every day, in the U.S. during 2014, 1,685 patents were being filed (Source: USPTO). Out of these patents, only 1% had a potential to make money in real life (Source: Robert D. MacDonald, Entrepreneur Consultant, Lake Oswego, Oregon, “Oregon Ranks No. 8 In Nation In Inventors,” The Columbian, January 9, 1998). We are naturally inclined to take controlled risks that minimize the risk of pitfalls, by learning methods and proven strategies from other professionals. Going to school is a best practice, in many cases. Learning from others might allows your patent to end up in the 169 patents (1%) that will make at least $1. Being in the ending average doesn’t make your patent a success, though. This is the same in marketing. Once you learn all the techniques and strategies to be among the 1% (thanks to your education), you close your books! Then you remain patient, maybe even work outside regular business hours to ensure success – because minimum effort is never enough! Challenging yourself is highly rewarding, and it sets up the stage for even more success, personally and professionally.
The love for challenge is key to success and even if it is not for everyone, to me it is the only way we can truly open doors, opportunities, markets, and to be where no one expected us to be. Otherwise, we just follow breadcrumbs. Marketing is bold, involves taking risks, trying new things, and creating trends.
Do that with customer satisfaction in mind and believe that we are changing the world for the better.
The average customer sees 3000+ advertisements per day driving, watching TV, receiving emails, reading newspapers, browsing internet… This is why, even if it is comfortable to use traditional marketing efforts, going outside the usual process is the smartest way to gain personal and professional accomplishments. There are 3000+ competitors. Break the norm!
The average person makes an emotional decision and justifies it afterward. The average person makes an emotional decision and justifies it afterward. (I wrote it twice on purpose.) What happens when sales contacts an account they have already won? Innovative marketing and superb customer service. This style of marketing allows sales to sell without friction, without friction. The effective marketer must be ambitious, create trends, and effectively drive the great products or services being offered.