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This may not apply to everyone, but I continue to be amazed at how many businesses look at marketing communications as a distant cousin to anything they deem “real business.”
And that may just be the fault of too many of the marketing and PR “experts” out there.
Yes, there are many talented, articulate and savvy marketing communications professionals in this industry. But, far too often, I hear from prospects, clients or colleagues about agencies or consultants who enter the board room armed with fantastic PowerPoint presentations and grand ideas about blogs, social media, and Web sites that would make professional sports teams blush.
However, these same marketing professionals, I am told, begin to blanch when asked why the client hasn’t made it into, say, Mortgage Banking or National Mortgage News. “What are those? Let’s circle back, regroup and have a meeting to discuss!” All too often, it turns out that it falls to the client to educate the marketing “experts” on the market and the most appropriate and effective outlets to reach and impact that market. And it’s expected to happen after the contract is signed.
So let me get this straight. Businesses are paying good, hard-earned money to bring in marketing experts who don’t understand the client’s market or how to reach it. And then they want to charge said client to bring said “expert” up to speed?
Jeez. No wonder folks start edging away from me at trade conferences when I tell them I’m in marketing. They assume I’m a charlatan!
I used to peruse quite a few of the public relations and marketing trade publications out there. Not having been reared by the marketing/PR industry, I was always struck by the hefty amount of whining in those publications. “Nobody takes us seriously! When will being a CMO be an accepted path to becoming a CEO? Why aren’t the PR/marketing/branding/communications people ever at the board table when the real decisions are made?”
The answer, quite often, was “we need to educate them as to our value.” Well, folks, I have a better solution. Educate YOURSELVES. Educate yourselves as to the market you serve. Educate yourselves as to the business culture you serve. Become familiar with the target market your client wants to reach. Know the product you purport to market before you start talking about blogs, widgets, e-mails and Tweets. And if you’re already doing this, help someone in your agency who isn’t.
Just calling something “strategic” doesn’t make it strategy. Just having a blog doesn’t make it effective, even if “everyone else is doing it.” (If everyone else jumped off a bridge….oh, never mind.). And just saying you’re a branding expert doesn’t make you one—not if you don’t get results for your client. Here’s a good rule of thumb. If your agency or consultant spends a lot of time “managing client expectations,” consider managing your expenses and cutting your losses. Because the only thing worse than no marketing is bad marketing.