10 Good Habits of the Modern Marketer
Marketing today is a big opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is we have more tools at our fingertips than we've ever had in history. It has never been easier to connect with our customers, to tell stories and create meaningful customer experiences. Despite this opportunity, it takes hard work--and working differently than we have in the recent past. Like any habit, good marketing comes down to the day to day practices of the modern marketer. I find the practice of marketing fascinating today because it's not just about sending out messages, it's about listening, understanding and engaging. There is more room to build relationships in thoughtful ways. We send out messages and consumers actually respond! In the past this wasn't possible with an ad on a billboard, in a magazine or even on TV. Now in marketing you know more about your audience than you ever did. It's an exciting time to be a marketer, and it's time to approach marketing differently.
I have come up with a list of the 10 good habits of the highly effective modern marketer. What would you add? Please share in the comments section below.
1. Doesn’t auto-add emails to their database.
I still can’t believe that in 2015 every time I sign up for a product or provide my email in any capacity, I am automatically added to a database. There are even companies that-in the past when I applied for a job-added me to their marketing email list. If we have our historical marketer cap on, then this makes sense. The most important thing for a marketer in the past was their email list. I even worked at companies that would do anything just to get an email. Our lists were gold. But at the same time we had a reputation for spamming people. We never thought, “gosh I wonder how it would feel to get an email day after day, especially if they never signed up for the email in the first place?”
Common sense tells us that if the person actually wants to engage with you, your newsletters will perform better. But many marketers just can’t help themselves. Some marketers still operate in the mindset of “more.” More is better! More emails, more newsletters, more more more! There are very few newsletters I subscribe to, let alone newsletters I get every day. One blog I get daily to my inbox daily is Seth Godin's. I look forward to what ideas he’ll come up with next. He has a welcome spot in my email inbox because he earned it. This isn’t easy. I know because I myself am a content creator and most of what I do content-wise I do for free. But there’s a reason I’m personally doing this. It’s to build a name, a brand and an audience. Isn’t that why we’re all doing it? I’m doing it the hard way—by earning my way into your screen because in the long run I know the importance of an earned spot somewhere on your screen. I want a seat at your table, but I’m not going to force my way in.
2. Only makes ads that they themselves would want to see about products they themselves would want to use.
You’ve heard of the shoe-less cobbler right? A cobbler is the person who fixes your shoes, but what about a cobbler who doesn’t even wear shoes himself? All too often we forget to think about what it feels like to be the person on the opposite side of the phone, screen or counter. We’re hired to do a job, and we don’t put our heart into it. But what happens when there is no heart in a product? It’s forgettable. When it comes to any part of the customer journey, whether that’s the advertising, email marketing, the actual product or the post-purchase process employees must think about that interaction and how they would feel.
3. Is very careful about about using social media marketing.
Here’s the thing about social media marketing—much of the time consumers hate it. They don’t want to be interrupted by images, videos or content while they’re in their personal sphere on social media. However many consumers understand that the price they pay for these free tools is with their eyeballs. That doesn't mean marketers should hold consumers hostage by inserting themselves into conversations they are not welcome in. The way to engage with consumers on social media is by earning your keep. Just because the social networks will accept your money and invite you to take a place in the consumer’s view doesn’t mean you should always do that without being very thoughtful beforehand. You can earn influence by providing relevant, timely, engaging content. The content should entertain, inspire, educate and inform. The content should make consumers think, laugh or even cry. A good way to do this is to spend time talking to your customers. They have opinions and they would love to share them with you.
4. Talks to customer support, constantly!
All too often marketing has no idea what customer support actually does. But marketing should know what customer support actually does! Customer support is on the frontlines. They are literally running the contact center; the place where the company makes contact with the customer. So why is it that marketing glazes over when considering customer support? Customer support has a wealth of knowledge and experience. They can give you all the insight and data you could ever dream of—the keys to the kingdom. But marketing has to show an interest, spend time learning about what customer support does—and understand how marketing plays a role in the customer journey.
5. Understands that everything that happens after the customer buys the product is equally important to what came before the customer bought the product.
Why is it that once the customer leaves the store we think our work is over? It’s not! The role of marketing is to get people interested in the product, but don’t you think after the product is purchased the customer will tell others to be interested or not. This is an important mind-shift. It’s not about tricking the customer into buying. Marketing is not about putting customers under a spell to fall in love with your product, only to throw the relationship out after the card is swiped. Customer service is just as valuable as marketing. Many companies are not set up that way today, with most of the budget put into marketing and sales, but slowly some companies are starting to shift their mindset from a focus on quarterly sales goals to long-term relationship building.
6. Is involved in the training of contact center agents to help them stay on-brand and on-culture.
Think about the last time you had a problem with a product or service. How did the customer service agent treat you? This probably had a huge impact on your experience with the brand. A strong culture and a customer experienced focused company is not an accident. There is extensive thought about the brand strategy. A big part of that is the training you give the people who interact with the customers before, during and after the customer buys the product. It doesn’t matter if you have contact centers all over the world and these are full time employed agents or not. Marketers should have some involvement in that training, and have a knowledge about what tone and style those agents are using. It should be a coordinated effort.
7. Spends time thinking about how to make it easier for customers to engage with the brand when the customer wants to.
Today we use a variety of tools in our personal lives to interact with each other. It has never been easier. While the employees use these tools at home, they often don't use them at work. Many employees have a much tougher time navigating the technology at work than they do at home. Something we know about the employee experience is it generally matches the customer experience. Think about text messaging and how convenient it is. How many companies easily enable you to text them when you have a problem with their product and you immediately get a response? Marketers it’s your job to also think about the products and services of the company, and how you can make it easier for the customer when they need to get in touch with you. Better to engage early before things blow up and become bigger issues as a result of ignoring them for too long.
8. Spends as much time reading as they spend creating content.
There is something I’ve learned about great writers. They are first and foremost great readers. You cannot come up with brilliant content without being well-read yourself. Reading the work of others will ignite light bulbs in your own brain. Whenever I set out to write something I spend a few days researching beforehand, gathering facts, and reading other opinions on it first. It inspires me to write my own opinion while educating me on the many angles taken by others.
9. The modern marketer keeps themselves aware of global issues.
You must read the news. You must know what is going on in the world. Your customers are affected by major world events. Every marketer should take it upon themselves to know the news as much as any c-level executive would. They should not only get a google alert on their company, and follow their stock (if it’s a public company) but they should make it a habit of reading the global news every day. I personally set aside at least an hour every morning to read content. I avoid early morning meetings. You might want to think about scheduling time into your day just to read and absorb world events. It’s worth it to be educated and informed.
10. Spends time with product engineers to understand the product in and out.
You can’t sell something you don’t understand. By spending time with the people who build the products you will get far more knowledge than you ever would by staying in the safety of your department's walls. Companies should create more events that bring together engineering and other departments so the other departments can understand the brain behind the product. It’s good for the engineers too to meet other people in the company and get feedback funneled back to them from marketing and customer support.
So marketers does this describe you? Tell me what makes you tick in the comments section of this article.