Is Your Marketing Purposeful?

Are you happy with your marketing?

?I ask this of CEO’s, executive teams, small business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs.

?The answer I hear isn’t just no, but NO!?

?A common CEO sentiment: “Dave, I keep putting more and more money into marketing and I’m not seeing the impact.

?The better question - ?Is your marketing purposeful?

?Sometimes the business model is fundamentally flawed and no amount of marketing can solve it (Kmart, ToysRUs, Peapod, Blockbuster, Lehman Bros., Beatrice, Al Jazeera America, Yahoo, Quiznos, RadioShack).

?Sometimes the marketing strategy isn’t in alignment with the business strategy (JC Penny adding appliances, Burger King launching low fat fries, MillerLite selling beer cans with easy pour holes, MTV without music, New Coke, Playboy without photos, Dove for Men, Walmart going upscale with clothing, Weight Watchers hiring celeb’s that gain weight, Wells Fargo enrolling customers in fraudulent accounts).

?Most often the company is doing activity in lieu of “purposeful marketing.”? Lots and lots of activity that might look like marketing, but is really just miscellaneous stuff, annualized year after year without any ROI analysis, each with a staff and budget that continues to grow.

?When my MBA students write business plans, the marketing sections (first draft) are full of many clever ideas, but unrelated to a larger strategy.? Un-purposeful marketing in real companies consists of many ideas, activities, events, promotions, deals, and ads, many clever - but unconnected to really driving the business model.

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Purposeful marketing connects your company’s Reason for Being, Reason for Need, Reason for Profit and Reason for Belief into a larger strategic thesis, vision, strategy, and plan.

You can tell if your marketing is purposeful, it…

-????? Leverages knowledge gained from your customers

-????? Communicates your brand promise

-????? Answers the question: Why should I buy from you?

-????? Goes beyond the item and sells the idea

-????? Is relevant, compelling, believable, persuasive

-????? Causes action

-????? Creates real demand

-????? Drives your company’s business model

-????? Delivers measurable results

-????? Generates more business than your marketing budget

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As your reassess the second half of 2024, go beyond the conversation of “let’s keep what’s working, and kill what isn’t.”

?Instead, ask what will get us to purposeful marketing that creates customers, value, demand, revenue, traffic, growth, and profit.

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This article is an early chapter in Dave's upcoming book: "High Performance Marketing"

Dave works with senior executives on sales, business development, marketing, and growth strategy. During strategy season, he's leading client work sessions as the CEO and Co-founder of High Performance Marketing Boot Camps. These are customized to help senior executives get smarter and more effective with their marketing and business: https://highperformancemarketingbootcamps.com

Dave is also a partner at WizeWebz, a business growth consultancy that helps clients get to their next stage of growth through smarter business, marketing, and technology strategies. https://www.wizewebz.com

In his spare time, Dave teaches advanced brand strategy, marketing, competitive strategies, and entrepreneurship in the MBA programs at the University of Missouri and The University of Kansas.

“David Patrick is legendary for two things: deep marketing expertise and extraordinary teaching skills.?My experiences as his student and collaborator have educated and inspired me.” Jack Mackey,?Former Chief Evangelist, VP Customer Engagement, Service Management Group

“David Patrick is masterful at understanding the strategies that unlock growth. He’s able to apply those learnings to a variety of industries and help executive teams approach marketing in a new way to achieve greater results.” Laura Scobie, SVP Strategy, Barkley

"David Patrick's knowledge and experience in marketing is deep. I find he has wisdom and case studies for almost every conceivable situation. Always a pleasure to spend time with David and listen to his insights and perspective on business and marketing challenges. If you are considering David and his team to help with your marketing strategy you should do so with confidence." Grant Gooding, CEO & Founder of Proof Positioning