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Q. What is your perspective on marketing?
A. Short answer? Market plus ‘ing’!...
It’s all about the markets, customers, consumers, channels to market, communicating and connecting with your markets. And markets contain competitors so you can never market in a vacuum, you have to out-think and out-fox the competitors if you want a decent slice of the market potential.
Q. Is marketing a science?
A. Marketing is a science in the same way that psychology is a science or random probability mathematics is a science. It’s observable. You can map the connections and explain the changes. Is it a predictable science? That really depends on how well you understand the forces that drive the dynamics in your market place. Unpredictability is a fairly consistent feature of most markets. It is possible to be scientific ‘about’ marketing ie approach it in a rational, logical manner, to understand the market opportunities and plan accordingly. Given the unpredictability of the marketplace, not planning is like going sailing without having checked the weather report. I think great marketers are like great craftsmen or sportsmen, they have brilliant instincts and ‘feel’ for their business built on a solid foundation of learning, experience, discipline, commitment and passion for their craft or sport.
Q. Isn’t marketing just a ‘glam’ euphemism for selling?
A. Sure, good marketing sells products. But great marketing builds strong connections or relationships between the brand and its markets. Great marketing facilitates willing buyers as much as willing sellers ie people continue to buy even when they’re not being sold to. Great marketers understand that people want to live happy, fulfilled lives and they understand the small part that their brand plays in that. Take the iPod. No one really sells an iPod, it just fits beautifully with a certain lifestyle and the enjoyment of music and enabling technology.
Q. What if someone’s already built a successful business selling products. Do we need to be marketing brands?
A. Do what you love. It doesn’t really matter. But in ten years time will you still be successful selling products or will someone else have cottoned on to the power of the brand before you? Brands promise longevity, they live on. Brands deliver long after products have been completely swamped by competitor offerings. When was the last time you went into a shop and ordered a no-name cola? When did you last walk onto a yard to purchase a no-name car? We purchase brands because they promise a consistent experience every time. As long as they keep delivering consistently, there is a greater chance we’ll remain loyal to them. We market brands because it’s one of the most effective and cost-efficient forms of building and evolving our businesses. Great products come and go but great brands live on as long as they stay connected to the desires and aspirations of their markets. Every name, label or product sticker is in effect a potential brand; but some have meaning, make sense to us, help us to make sense and make choices. Some are just labels so we can use names or words rather than just pointing and grunting.
Q. The world is changing so fast. Is the concept of marketing or branding on the way out?
A. Human beings are creatures of habit and as such we find security in the familiar, fascination in the strange and fear in the unknown. With the right management, brands can be among the touchstones we hold onto as we navigate through life. As exciting as change is, adults today are typically nervous about the future. Family structures, job security, housing security, personal safety, we are bombarded with messages telling us that we’re in danger, at risk, not keeping up with what it takes to survive and prosper in an increasingly challenging environment. Brands that help us to feel good about ourselves, feel good about our situation and our outlook will continue. Fashions will pass. They always do. But many brands can endure in the face of change if they really understand their place in our lives and continue to meet that need.
Q. Aren’t Marketers hucksters and shysters who want to sell us stuff we don’t really need? Just glorified snake-oil salesmen? Isn’t it all just smoke and mirrors?
A. Sometimes. It can be like that. And typically those guys get one shot at you. Once you’ve seen that the product or service doesn’t deliver and the seller isn’t there to be accountable for it, make it right for you, you’re going to avoid going back to it. Real marketers respect and treasure their consumers. They want their consumers to be satisfied with their purchase. They get a genuine kick out of seeing their brand being used and enjoyed. You see, ‘branding’ is a total consumer experience; it’s not just a sale. It’s everything that happens before and after the sale to ensure that the customer is satisfied and so becomes loyal to the brand. Even better when they become advocates for it.
Q. So what are you, Rob Bree, marketing guy, trying to do or be for a business?
A. First I’m going to encourage and help you to think differently and more creatively about your market, your business, your products, your customers and competitors. Then we’re going to map out the opportunities and challenges in your markets and identify which ones are worth going for, the break-through strategy. Then we’re going to make a powerful plan that delivers connectivity to the marketplace and ultimately stronger performance. It’ll be smart, incisive, thorough and visionary. And finally, if you need me to, I’ll guide you as you action it and help you to count the cash when it starts rolling in the door.
Q. Typically we businesspeople have dealt with consultants before. To be honest, it’s not something we like to think about too much. How are you any different Rob?
A. Good question. Typically consultants are specialists. They have their particular view or thing that they apply to your business. And sometimes that thing is just what you need, sometimes it isn’t. Problem is that’s the thing that they bring. I don’t have one of those. I start with a blank sheet of paper or a whiteboard and a pen. We’re going to spend our time together asking some tough questions, considering the relevant facts, swapping stories and honing our thinking until we have crystal clarity about the challenge at hand. Then we’re going to use whatever we need to meet that challenge. And what I promise you is that we will meet it and we will achieve a break-through so that you are inspired to liberate the potential in your team and your brand and take your business to a whole new level of market connectivity and performance.
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