The Reality of Marketing Today
The situation now is, that the economy is heating up, and for the first time in a long time many businesses have a genuine chance to pay down debt they may have encountered over the last 6 to 8 years, grow top and bottom lines and improve their overall business valuation. The future is looking brighter.
The problem is, successfully growing b2b revenue today involves meticulously managing and synchronizing a much longer list of marketing moving parts than it used to. This is essential if you want to be noticed and chosen in a fiercely competitive, Sea of Sameness, online world. (This collection of parts resembles the inside of a watch.)
What can be particularly frustrating for top executives is putting tremendous effort and investment in marketing to find that you have only done 99 out of 100 things completely and the result is your outcomes are below goal. Or worse, you do 99 out of 100 things correctly and do not know what the 100th thing was and why the results are below goal.
My observation is, b2b marketing today resembles the inside of a watch, just one cog out of place in an ocean of cogs and the watch won’t tell the time.
Why is this such a common problem? Well, from what I see day to day, a very large percent age of those people we encounter, who are charged with managing marketing for their companies, do not have the education, the experience or the resources to perform the task to goal.
I am not being critical.. I am more pointing out that the volume of specifically skilled people required today is 10 X what it used to be. And that many marketing departments are running under headcount. I am just stating it as I see it.
What is possible then? What is the right way to approach marketing?
How retainer based marketing can overcome marketing constraints
The theory of constraints as applied to marketing
We believe the correct way to do it is to take the time with the correct resources and processes to assess your current position. Then, march forward with a tightly managed marketing plan built on a theory of constraints methodology.
- Continuously identify your constraints and religiously fix them.
- Start looking at your marketing as a journey as a continuous improvement program with a plan for routine iteration.
- Stop thinking that any one tactic purchased at the lowest cost you can find will change your world. It won’t.
- Start working for integration precision of all tactics with single threaded well differentiated market position messaging that broad casts what value you bring to the market better than anyone else.
Why should you take the time to do this? Because smart marketing is all that works today. Take my word for it… nobody just gets lucky… Do this because there is significant risk that if you don’t you will end up with low or no results and no understanding of why and no knowledge of how to fix it. Which is no where…. THE MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE TO BE.
At Frantz Group, we begin programs with a Right Offer Workshop first, which intentionally identifies your starting marketing constraints and begins to fix them before we get in market… which is where you get the most bang for your buck. Aligning your marketing approach to your value discipline position is an essential part of establishing a strategy that will work for your business.
The result of this Right Offer approach is we drive pipeline that is accepted and worked by sales forces. Our leads are often getting our clients in to early sell cycles where they can set the buying criteria… not become column fodder. We see clients closing deals found by us.
The bottom line is: we see our mission as making your cash register ring… not just performing campaigns… or selling you content by the pound.
We are about helping you figure out what you are missing and getting it in place. We do that because our day to day experiences shows us that approach is the way the truth and the light.. to leads that close.
John