Is Marketing Stuck in a Rut in Your Company?

"We've always had that ad."

"It's a special placement, and they always ask us first."

"Our customers find us in that magazine."

"When we're at the trade show, we must have that ad in the newspaper; that's how customers find us."

"We need that ad because he once helped me with an article."

… The explanations are many. I don't call them excuses, but that's what they are.

Marketing is Expensive When Driven by Habit

An optimistic view of the above sentences is that this behavior is a scenario of habitual thinking; more often than not, it's laziness and ignorance.

However, it is entirely normal and seen everywhere. I have observed it in many places and companies, especially when people who do not work professionally in marketing have taken over the function because they have a jack-of-all-trades role, as manager or owner. Sometimes, because it seems natural to "save on the marketing function" by letting other departments handle marketing.

…But it is often an expensive and inefficient solution.

I have experience in the marketing function of international companies. The companies can be technologically competent, medium-sized, and hectic, with solid industrial brands and products known for quality in the global market.

When I got an overview of the marketing activities, it was primarily good collaborations with industry-related media and printed magazines that characterized the marketing function.

Magazines that often lie with customers and dealers. It seems reasonable to stay on good terms with the journalists and be present in narrowly oriented trade magazines.

Of course, there were also several initiatives such as Google SEO, SEM, and SoMe (often LinkedIn), which in some cases were driven okay, but this article is about the common mistake many make regarding general advertising.

Create a Marketing Plan and Ensure the Organization Supports it

I prefer to start with a few meetings to determine why the company allocates significant amounts to printed ads.

The answers are at the top of the article. My counter-question is always – What do we get out of printed advertising? Can you document what we get regarding traffic to our website, leads, and revenue?

It's difficult, almost impossible, to answer. It doesn't mean printed advertising is dead, but one must ask whether we want branding or measurable results for our marketing budget.

Both are sensible, but I want the marketing function's results to be primarily measurable. I want to fight against the attitude often encountered that marketing is an expense. It is not; marketing is an investment.

Just as with many investments, there is no guarantee of success. Therefore, I have made the rule that I do not promise that leads will come directly, or immediately, from the marketing budget, but I promise that we can figure out if the campaign failed and thereby learn and improve.

Following the reader's path and traffic from potential leads is much more difficult with a printed ad in a trade magazine.

Can Habitual Marketing Thinking Be Changed?

I prefer to take several meetings before a plan is in place. Why? Because habitual thinking is natural and because we are all insecure about changes.

The advantage of starting with data-driven marketing is that you constantly follow the results and thus ensure that you and the managers (or the owner) can see that the number of leads at least stays the same despite you stopping a regular half-page in a magazine. Hopefully, website traffic and leads will increase, making everyone happy…

Ultimately, the new marketing plan usually results in a mix of Social Media, a few printed ads, sponsored articles, sponsored newsletters, and banners.

Together with printed ads, banners are what many publishers prefer to sell. It's good money (for them) and serves as branding for the publisher.

I often only accept this type of advertising if it is part of a package that includes sponsored articles or newsletters. Why? Because in the industries I work with, knowledge sells!

Customers seek high-quality and technical insight. Of course, they will always strive for the best price, but they do not go for the absolute cheapest solution; they go for a reliable solution with a reasonable ROI over time and a fair purchase price.

Therefore, technological knowledge, customer cases, and insights into products and installations are more likely to catch attention and generate traffic to the website, where the reader MUST find more relevant material without having to search for it.

What Does the Marketing Function Do for the Industrial Company?

As a marketing manager, I design communication so it works for the various decision-makers. I create the path from "a random contact" (often not entirely random…), such as a SoMe post, a SoMe Campaign, or an article about a successful installation where a product increases efficiency, safety, or similar areas of interest.

I am also responsible for ensuring that the website the reader lands on offers what the reader seeks. The reader should effortlessly find more cases, specifications, datasheets, videos, etc.

This entire coherence in the communication flow is very complex for a sales- or product manager or a business owner to handle at a professional level alongside their primary occupation.

THEREFORE, the marketing function often ends with habitual thinking; in principle, there is nothing wrong with that as long as it works. But it's like saying the car runs fine in 3rd gear, but why not accelerate and use 4th and 5th gear?

Data-driven marketing is not new. That's why it's surprising how many still cling to habitual thinking and doing things as they've always been.

Therefore, my first task in an industrial company, at least the most essential one, is to get the organization to understand that marketing can deliver better results than before by daring to take new paths.