Marketing's Big Lie

When executed properly, marketing looks easy. After all, everyone today seems to be a self-proclaimed expert at Photoshop, social media, and building websites. However, as a Marketing Strategist, my best clients are the experienced and well-trained marketing professionals who know that to be effective, marketing requires a lot more than pretty pictures, clever tweets, and a slick website. Not convinced? Ask anyone who built a website hoping qualified prospects would just show up and engage.

M=(S+A)T

Effective marketing is found at the intersection of strategy, art, and technology. It marries an effective strategy (S) with the art of design and storytelling (A) and multiplies its effect with innovative technology (T). Without all three, it fails. Appealing pretty pictures without compelling messaging may provide entertainment but likely not results, and compelling messaging without appeal will likely never be seen. And, it’s virtually impossible for even impressive looking websites and social media campaigns to be effective without first planning, at a minimum, who to communicate with, what to say and for what purpose.

Here are six steps our clients follow to make the development of compelling and appealing marketing look easy using strategy, the art of design and storytelling and innovative technology.

1. Let the Market Tell You Where Opportunities Exist

Begin with a thorough understanding of your marketplace and existing customers. Marketing Analytics (Big Data) doesn’t have to be “big” or expensive, but there is great value in translating raw sales and marketing clues into actionable information. It allows for a data-informed start and often helps identify new opportunities. “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion”(1) and guessing wrong can be very costly.

2. Think Before Speaking

Sadly, 50 percent of companies cannot clearly communicate their value proposition to a prospect.(2) Developing a proper Marketing Essentials Guide helps organize and optimize your marketing fundamentals and identify gaps. Focus on the 13 key elements every organization needs to nail down before going to market such as value proposition, key differentiators, company descriptors etc. It’ll save your sales and marketing folks tremendous amounts of time while enabling them to literally work from the same page and consistently put your best foot forward.

Not convinced? Ask your team what value and differentiators your organization offers. If they don’t have this ready to go now, how can they communicate it effectively to prospects?

 3. Have a Plan

After identifying a segmented target audience, learn what their needs are and determine the value you offer and your key differentiators. When asked what their number one marketing issue is, 35 percent of technology leaders specifically identified not having a proper lead gen strategy.(3) It’s critical to document a comprehensive go-to-market strategy to effectively engage prospects and drive leads – but don’t confuse tools with strategies. How you use tools like a website or social media is only a component of an integrated marketing action plan.

4. The Art of Design and Storytelling

Develop an elegant custom message that is both appealing and compelling. Use the science of marketing to enhance your strategy, messaging, design and content and increase your marketing’s probability of success.

In today’s noisy world, even the most compelling message will fail if it doesn’t appeal enough to warrant your intended audience’s consideration. It’s the art of design and storytelling that adds the appeal to the messaging. Intelligent marketing cloaked in beautiful design is highly effective.

5. Leverage Technology

Amplifying your efforts with an innovative use of technology enables you to deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time, with greater frequency. A consistent core message, modified to each platform and media, makes your message memorable and makes it easier to connect with your intended recipient. It delivers the message the way they prefer to communicate and opens up a dialogue, engaging them instead of talking at them.

6. Measure and Course Correct

Measurement is required, but complicated. Too many red herrings exist so it’s easy to find yourself “playing office” tracking “likes” and “hits.” Proper measurement, however, helps you stay connected with your ever-shifting marketplace and zero in on what’s working.

Many years of collaborating with top marketing professionals have made it clear that effective marketing may look easy, but it’s anything but. One way top brands manage the complexities of delivering effective marketing is to “rent” an experienced marketing team from outside marketing solutions firms that are equipped to bring unbiased, fresh ideas as well as added resources and skill-sets. Their job is to make it look easy while making you look good.

So what are you doing to overcome your biggest barriers to delivering effective marketing?

 If you wish to learn more, please feel free to contact me via LinkedIn, email ([email protected]) or phone (613) 899-0309. I’d be pleased to have a friendly conversation.    

Mike Marks is an award-winning Marketing Strategist and provider of intelligent marketing solutions to those who believe that just looking good, isn’t good enough. Our team understands that effective marketing requires a proper data-informed marketing strategy, combined with the art of design and content, as well as innovative technology. We are uniquely positioned to deliver all of these elements, creating marketing that both impresses and drives the results you require.

Other recent posts from Mike Marks:

• NEXT5: Five Ways to Market for Effect
• Why Are Even Small Budget Corporate Events So Successful?
• How Xerox Produces Such Effective Client Events
• 7 Ways Top Brands Appeal to Today's Narcissistic Consumer
• Marketing’s Big Lie
• NEXT5: 5 Ways to Re-Energize Your Sales Team
• NEXT5: 5 Ways Top Brands Appeal To Today’s Consumer
• 4 Marketers Walk Into A Party …

Credits: (1) Edward Deming, (2) BDC Study 2014, (3) Marketing Advocate Lead Gen Study 2015,
Article edited by Pierre Hamel