Over the past seven years, I’ve analysed many businesses and find that the most successful ones have an amazing marketing team they empower to achieve great results. The struggling businesses are the ones that do not give marketing the strategic role and place it needs to change the fortune of the company.
Here are the 10 most common mistakes that ailing businesses do with their Marketing team and how to revert it:
#1. Not understanding the strategic importance of marketing. Some people think that marketing is this pretty or fluffy stuff you do rather than a key function to seriously grow the business.
Invite Marketing at the decision table and get them involved in crafting the future.
#2. No alignment with sales and marketing strategies.
Both departments should work hand in hand to define goals, how to achieve them and provide feedback to each other
#3. No clear vision of the company. Sometimes the founders or directors of company don’t have a clear vision and objectives for the next few years but want marketing to communicate inspiring and fresh message.
Have a shared vision by involving everyone in the company to design it and get people excited to move towards it. There will be many opportunities for your marketing team to find great messages and stories to communicate.
#4. Not having exceptional products or services but relying on marketing to perform miracles!
Get back to the drawing board to define what makes your product or service unique or design a new one that people want to talk about and promote.
#5. Not having a no brainer promotion that incentivise clients or prospects to take action.
When doing a promotion, make a compelling offer that get people excited to get on board. No lip service.
#6. Not listening to clients’ feedback and adapting the product or service to suit their needs. They collect feedback but do nothing with them.
Be serious about clients’ feedback and take the necessary measures to ensure all is done to include them to improve your offering.
#7. Not having an integrated system for marketing to work with other departments to get a full view of the customer’s journey.
Have some kind of customer relationship management (CRM) system where the information on your clients and prospects are documented to get insights and take better decisions.
#8. Not understanding the power of partnership to leverage their products or services
The most successful organisations make powerful partnership to grow exponentially. Relying solely on your own efforts is a very slow pathway indeed. Collaborate with companies that offer complementary solutions to yours. Partner up with your suppliers and down with your clients.
#9. Not giving permission to experiment and test new tools, ideas or products.
Give your marketing team some room to make mistakes and fail (fast). Experimenting and taking risks create new breakthroughs and keep the creatives motivated.
#10. Don’t deliver on the promise!
Do not promise what you can’t deliver. Sounds basic but how many companies are guilty of this? Promise less and over deliver to delight your clients.
Got other examples that prevent marketing department to fulfil its potential? Like the post and share your comments below. I would love to hear from you.
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