Why you need to stop thinking about yourself

That’s a strong statement isn’t it? I don’t make any apologies for it, but let me give you some context.

Marketing isn’t about you. It isn’t about what you like, what you want, or what you think is best. I don’t care whether you’re a few years into your career with a top-class degree in marketing, or a time-served marketing director with decades of industry experience under your belt. Your marketing isn’t about what you want or like. It’s about the target segments you’re trying to reach.

As print management specialists we sit in the marketing tactical delivery sphere. Every day we’re tasked with creating the best product, printing the best collateral, producing the best promotional items.

But who defines “the best”?

Marketers really at the top of their game know that they are not their audience (even if they could argue they fit into one of the segments, by virtue of the fact they work for the company they are not representative of the actual people in that group).

You don’t need to take my word for it. Renowned marketing professor and Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson says as much. He goes further, saying: “All your thoughts, feelings and immediate responses to things like advertising, price and packaging are not just incorrect – they are dangerous.”

So you need to stop thinking about yourself. You need to stop judging your next collateral project based on what you like, and what you think will work. You need to change your parameters.

Don’t ask yourself whether you like it – ask whether your potential customers will. Will it get the emotional response you’re looking for from the group of people you’re sending it to? Will it resonate with the potential customers you’re trying to reach? Because if the answer is no, it doesn’t matter whether you think it’s the best campaign you’ve ever put together, it’s not going to be effective.

That’s why we spend a lot of time with clients understanding what’s behind the brief. We don’t deal in the transactional. We want to build relationships where we can add value to the process of print. Having a deep understanding of what you’re trying to achieve helps us recommend the right print solutions. It makes us part of the team trying to get the best out of the campaign. We’re don’t want to be order takers.

And that’s why I’m not sorry for telling you to stop thinking about yourself.