From a marketing and business perspective, a shift in focus has begun. Perhaps a product of necessity, evolution, or even both, brands are moving from building communities toward identifying users who are relevant to their brand.

Amazon: Intelligent Data Analysis

To understand relevance, it’s first important to understand the value and importance of data.

In 2006, Amazon reported that 35 percent of product sales resulted from recommendations on their site, putting it second only to search in regards to revenue generated. While the end result was showing relevant items to consumers, the process of knowing exactly what to show a user started from the first time a user arrived on the site. Recording everything from what a consumer purchased to what items were viewed, Amazon’s recommendation engine analyzes massive amounts of data to intelligently suggest items to consumers. As a result of these targeted actions, Amazon is able to direct users to items with a high conversion opportunity, leading to higher net revenue.

From a marketing standpoint, brands should consider approaching social networks and the digital space in the same manner that Amazon approaches consumers who visit their site. Rather than viewing a Facebook fan or Twitter follower as just a faceless number (1 out of 1MM fans), brands should consider each individual as an opportunity to learn and cultivate an understanding of the user. By constantly learning and gathering more data about a consumer/fan, brands can learn to become smarter in the way that they market and approach them. From what type of content a user is engaging with to the frequency in which they engage with the brand, data such as these can be used to build stronger ties with users long-term.

While not every brand may operate like a retailer like Amazon, the basic principles of serving relevant content to lead users to a conversion point spans across most if not all industries. How efficient and adept a brand is in applying this principle will correlate to how they not only collect data, but how they analyze it.

Relevance and ROI

Findings from a study conducted in January and February of this year by the Columbia Business School Center on Global Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association found the following:

A survey of 243 CMOs and other marketing executives found that 57% don’t establish their budgets according to ROI measures. 68% of respondents said they base their budget decisions on historical spending levels, while 28% said they go with gut instinct. And 7% said most of or all their spending decisions aren’t based on any metrics at all.

In what could be described as a sort of laissez-faire environment, marketing teams have become overly comfortable to the model of measuring the success of their campaigns through ‘brand awareness’ and public sentiment. While important, they have no standard measurement by which to compare against nor is standardized across industries. Until we get to that point, marketers and brands need to consider what they can measure and how they can use that in their favor.

By understanding what categories ($ spent in 12 month period, visits per month, etc.) by which individuals should be segmented, brands can shift through and find those that help move the needle forward. Additionally, by establishing benchmarks for metrics and milestones, brands will be accurately appropriate resources and budgets toward attaining them.

The Many Degrees of Relevancy

Once an individual has been identified as being relevant to ones brand, the next step will be to answer the question of to what degree. The varying degrees of relevancy is what helps marketers determine who to give the most attention to.

In relation to degree of relevancy, a word that we hear most often in the business industry is brand evangelist or influencer. As the name suggests, these individuals are those that promote and stay ‘loyal’ to the brand. These are the individuals who will buy a product or watch a movie just because it is associated with your brand. While these individuals may account for a small percentage of ones target market, they are ones that help a brand succeed and grow. Because of this, brand should consider these individuals on the high-end of the value chart when it comes to relevant users. O

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Just how you wouldn’t play a carnival game without knowing the rules or how to win, nor should you pour resources into a community you know little about. Through data collection and analysis, as well as strategic planning, brands can shift from a mass communication approach to intelligent, micro-level marketing.

Some may answer that the advertisement doesn’t favor one side more than the other, but athletes for the most part have been the centerpiece of sports marketing campaigns and continue to be the centerpiece for global sports brands.

Nike Versus Everyone Else

When you think of athletic shoes, one of the first brands that’s always thought of is Nike. Although Nike makes great shoes, there are plenty of shoes out there that are just as good, if not better. So what is it about Nike that makes us jump when we think of athletic shoes? Branding. Simply put, Nike knew that not matter how great of a shoe they could make, it wouldn’t matter unless they could get people to believe in the Nike brand and the culture it represented. If you ask the average person about what brands like Reebok, New Balance, Adidas, or Puma represent, you’d probably get many different answers. Ask someone about Nike though and they’d probably have a good understanding of what the Nike brand represents.

When Nike first signed Romanian tennis player, Ilie Năstase and distance runner, Steve Prefontaine in the early 70′s, Nike set the precedent of using athletes as evangelists for their brand. Although many brands today have an athlete as their brands focal point, Nike transcends those brands in that they don’t focus on just one individual, but have built a family of athletes that embody the Nike brand. From Kobe Bryant to Derek Jeter, Nike has profited off a network of athletes that as a group make up the Nike brand.

The Image

Although we may not realize it, we don’t choose brands just because we like the quality of their products, but rather because we like what they represent. For example, when someone puts on a pair of Jordan’s, not only are they buying a pair of basketball shoes, but they are buying the experience that comes with it. A majority of us may never hit the game winning shot in a basketball game, but owning a pair of Jordan’s allows ‘fans’ to be part of the moments that defined Michael Jordan. Similarly, the same can be applied to when someone buys a pair of Kobe Bryant shoes or a Lance Armstrong “Live Strong” shirt. We like our products, but we love our athletes. No one knows that better than sports brands.

The Marketing Value of an Athlete

While it may be bold to say that an athlete can transcend a brand entirely, with each new ‘investment’ by brands into an athlete, the notion that athletes are replaceable is slowly fading. Brands like Adidas, Nike and Reebok for example have been in a frenzy trying to lure NBA stars to sign contracts, much of which resembles a bidding war. Back in 2009, Dwayne Wade announced that he would be leaving the Converse brand to join Nike’s Jordan brand. In a conversation with the AP, Wade made it clear why he was leaving them:

“I didn’t want to be in the Converse brand anymore because it seemed like they didn’t know what to do with me. I want to go global. It’s something I feel like I have to do. I want to continue to build my brand.”

Although Converse had plans to make Dwayne Wade the focal point of their athletic shoe line, they were unable to fully utilize his marketing potential. Wade realized this and jumped ship. An important point to understand about the relationship between the athlete and the brand is that an athlete can only take you so far before they need help, which in most cases means the ability to expand their reach globally through strategy and brand influence. Converse gave Wade a shoe and hoped that it would catch on domestically. The problem here is that Dwayne Wade is one of the most recognizable basketball players in the world. While other NBA players are being marketed both domestically and internationally, Wade’s reach had a ceiling. Although the dollars and cents matter when it comes to an athlete representing a brand, a brands ability to propel an athlete and increase their relevance and influence plays a big part in the decision as well.

Earlier this year, McDonald’s came to a multiyear agreement with NBA star LeBron James and also renewed a multiyear contract with Dwight Howard. Investing millions of dollars, brands and organizations like McDonald’s understand the impact value that athletes can have. Before the Tiger Woods debacle, Tiger was one of the top earning athletes when it came to endorsement deals. In fact, Forbes announced that in 2009, Tiger had become the first athlete ever to earn over 1 billion dollars over his career before taxes, with a large percentage coming from endorsement deals. Regardless of what has transpired over the last 6 months with Tiger Woods, the fact remains that athletes are one of the highest paid marketing ‘tools’ for brands because of their ability to compel ‘fans’ to become part of what they are representing.

So what is the cause? What is causing brands like Disney and Harley Davidson (Former agency: Carmichael Lynch) to reconsider the future of their advertising, marketing, and entire branding? The answer is specialization.

Specialization

Specialization is defined as “the act of making something suitable for a special purpose.” In the case of the “do it all” agencies, specialization is a word that can be hard to come by. Because of the growth and speed of information and content in the digital space, there is an accelerated market adoption rate when it comes to new products, messages and brands. This has led to the the need for agencies with quick turnaround times without the sacrifice of quality.

From Facebook campaigns that need specific applications built for Fan Pages, to social monitoring tools that help a brand listen in on the conversation, finding a one stop destination that is able to do ‘everything,’ is becoming more and more difficult. Due to the rapidly growing number of opportunities that the digital space presents and the lack of specialized individuals, the need for agencies to recruit individuals with an expertise and background in the digital space is at its’ highest.

It what can be best described as a supply and demand problem, ‘do it all’ agencies need to begin addressing their needs for specialists in different areas of the digital space before it’s too late.

The Orange Versus Fruit Problem

One reason why smaller, ‘one-stop shop’ agencies succeed is because they are able to focus on one specific area which makes finding talent easier. In comparison with larger, multifaceted agencies, these ‘one-stop’ agencies don’t need to go out and recruit talent in multiple areas. Just how it’s easier to go to the market and pick out 15 oranges rather than 1 of each fruit, this is the same reality that agencies will go through.

So how can multifaceted agencies compete? In the end it will come down to the overall commitment and recruitment strategy of these agencies. In order to compete with specialized agencies, ‘one-size-fits-all’ agencies need to have a holistic approach to the digital space that encompasses all areas of the digital space. A common mistake that some may make is to hire a Digital Manager to handle all of their clients digital work. While this is a good start, it shouldn’t stop there. Rather, every area of the digital space needs to have some responsibility. By clearly outlining all the possible areas that the brands they represent may need, the agency can then hire groups of specialists to help address them. From individuals who specialize in digital promotions and sponsorships to those who have a background in digital copywriting, by building a team that can manage high-quality campaigns and strategies from start to finish, client retention rate will increase as well as lead to new ones.

The Digital Space Moves Faster

Former First Lady of Argentina, Eva Perón, once said that “time is my greatest enemy.” Along the same lines, time is an enemy for ‘do-it all’ agencies. While common sense says that given enough time, you can do anything, the problem is that the digital space may be the exception to that rule. With every new day, a new area of the digital space finds itself in demand. Coupled by the advent of new technology and the fast paced nature of the digital space, agencies that are trying to play catch-up can be at a disadvantage.

Ultimately, brands that decide to move towards smaller, specialized agencies will do so because of cost and quality. Although it may be difficult for larger, do-it all agencies to compete with these specialized agencies, in the long-run they may be able to win if they are able to make changes now before it’s too late.

Ideas are much the same. Everyone can have think up an idea, but executing it and producing positive results is difficult. There plenty of books out there that talk about ideas, but just how there are many recipes on how to make the ‘perfect’ egg, its less about the steps and more on the detail of the execution.

Paying Attention To Detail

English mathematician and philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead once said that “we think in generalities, but we live in detail.” His words not only resonate in our daily lives, but they also paint a clear picture of how ideas are formed and evolve. Too often do we assume that having the ‘right idea’ is all it takes that we forget that it’s the details that make an idea relevant and impactful. To fully understand this, we re-visit the egg comparison.

As mentioned, eggs are one of the first things that someone whose just starting out will learn how to cook because of they are quick and simple. If you were to tell someone how to make a fried egg for example, you would tell them to heat a frying pan, add oil, crack an egg and add it to the frying pan. From a purely basic process outline, those steps are correct. While correct, what’s missing is the details on how to make it ‘perfect.’ Depending on the degree of detail that is put into the instructions, as well as execution, the outcome will be directly related to it. More details will produce better results while less will yield poor ones.

The Facebook Comparison

With Facebook investors looking for an exit and expected to IPO sometime next year, everyone is looking to be the next Facebook. Trying to be the next ‘lighting in a bottle,’ those looking to replicate and surpass Facebook must not only understand their current state, but also how they got there in the first place.

Although there are many reasons for their success, Facebook succeeded in part because of their close attention to detail which thus improved the quality of their product. Where social networks like Friendster and MySpace failed, Facebook’s diligence toward detail ensured that the same mistakes wouldn’t be made. In perspective, anyone can create a social network, but not everyone can make the ‘perfect’ one.

Facebook’s business has been well documented leaving little unknown, yet their have been hundreds of attempts at creating the next social network with little success.

Facebook reaffirms the notion that it’s less about the steps and more on the detail of the execution.

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Thomas Edison said it best when he stated that “the value of an idea lies in the using of it.” We all have ideas, but the quality of it and the impact that it will have ultimately lies in the execution and details.

Remember, everyone can prepare an egg. They are simple and easy.

Few can prepare the ‘perfect egg.’

Regret

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, described the problem with opportunities and looking back on the ‘one’ that got away best when he said:

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

So often do we think about the ‘one’ that got away that we forget the opportunities that opened for us. Perhaps it is the sheer crushing defeat of the ‘one’ that fogs ones optimism, but as Bell said, when one door closes, another opens. It isn’t to say that one shouldn’t feel some sense of loss or disappointment. It is only human nature to feel that way and it can even be said that this sort of reaction is expected.  Still, one must remember that as the saying goes, “don’t cry over spilled milk.” Breaking it down, the two biggest factors that determine the extent of regret that one may experience are the magnitude of the opportunity and the risk involved in it. As mentioned earlier, relationships are commonly referenced as the ‘one’ that got away because they almost always at the center of a great opportunity. In some cases, an opportunity can benefit a relationships, and in others, it can break it. An example of this is when couples decide to go to different schools.

The [Business] ‘One’

Aside from relationships, missed opportunities and regret are common place when it comes to the business world. Startup companies for example encounter opportunities everyday that could make or break a company. A missed connection that one might have passed up or deciding to move the company down one direction instead of another all add up. The biggest difference between relationships and business in the regards to the ‘one’ that got away, is that in the business world you have far less a time to mull over it. From a business standpoint, if you try and hold on to something to long when it has already passed, you are setting yourself up for failure.

The Lesson To Learn

Most often we think about the person we let go or the business opportunity we passed up because we believe that a part of us made the wrong choice. Regardless if it’s big or small, part of us feels like things would have turned out better had we gone a different direction. Unfortunately, we don’t get a chance to take back choices we make and have no choice but to move forward. Again, this article isn’t about relationships and heartache nor is about how you could have made millions of dollars had you bought the right stock at the right time. Instead it is about how we must learn that although we may still think about the ‘one,’ we need to learn lessons from those decisions and situations. Remember that to win, you have to risk loss. You can’t win 100% time, but we can learn how to get there.

The Internet makes today’s business markets even more accessible. Blogging is a tool that allows businesses to cater to their potential clients on an online platform. Maintaining a blog can help a company website climb the ranks of global search engines while simultaneously providing a narrow focus to local consumers. Two key approaches allow business owners to establish a successful blog.

1. Provide new content frequently

Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, but a few points tend to be consistent. Among them is a desire to see new content on a website. The logic behind this is that if a site is updated regularly then it’s an “active” website. A site that’s never updated could potentially be seen as old and irrelevant, which can adversely affect search engine optimization (SEO) rankings. Updating a company blog frequently as an extension of the site allows business owners keep their websites current.

Though keyword rankings are crucial for a company to maintain a solid online presence, blogs should not used for SEO purposes alone. A person visiting a site feels the same way about new content. New content is not only an indicator of how active a website is, but also how active and informed a company is.

2. Hone your writing focus.

To keep a consistent audience, you’ll need to fine tune the exact content you plan to provide. The goal of blogging for a specific audience isn’t about hard selling. No one wants to read a blog that’s simply a filler for advertisement. By making your blog a place to educate your customers, your enterprise will gain recognition as being an industry authority.

Let’s go back to the auto dealer example:

You observe an increased need for used cars in your local market. You’ve already listed “used cars” as your company’s specialty on your website, but you want to make that information more accessible to potential customers. Your blog is a great way to highlight additional content about both the global auto industry and your local market. You might start by writing an entry on a new industry trend. A few days later you can write a post what it takes to be a licensed auto dealer in your state, making sure to include in keywords like “licensed,” “auto dealer bond” and “work history.” Another entry could describe the different kinds of warranties you provide when people buy a used car from your dealership.

The Internet puts the global marketplace at our fingertips, which makes it even more important for a business to find its niche. Through regular blogging with a focused narrative you can build a strong roster of regular customers.

This article was provided by Kristen Bradley of Surety Bonds.com, a nationwide surety bond producer. Surety Bonds.com works with a number of marketing firms that develop comprehensive online marketing strategies. The agency promotes effective online approaches to entrepreneurs and business owners to help them succeed with their professional ventures.

In a recent article entitled, “China, India Offer Marketers Opportunities for Scalable Ideas,” AdAge touched upon the scalability of ideas and how in certain situations, ideas that scale should come first, followed by creativity. Using China and India as examples of areas where scalability are keys to a successful marketing strategy, the article points out that in markets like Western Europe and North America, “digital technology is often ahead of other regions, and the consumer engages with the online medium at a deeper level.” Further, the article goes on to say that “ideas that ‘wow’ you and break through the clutter in a big way are more successful” in those regions. Conversely, AdAge notes that marketing campaigns focused in areas like China and India need to be focused more on the scalability side and not necessarily on the creativity.  While the ‘wow’ factor is great to have, in regions where population growth continues to climb, being able to develop ideas and strategies that scale means that you have the potential to reach every single person, which in these regions means millions of people.

You Aren’t Sacrificing Creativity

When you tell a marketer that they need to create an idea that is scalable, one of the mistakes that some will make is to assume that they have to sacrifice creativity in exchange for scalability. While there are obvious arguments that will lend themselves to agree that creativity is being sacrificed, we can take this in another direction and say that creativity is in fact essential in making an idea scalable.

For example, Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel is a widely considered to be a testament to his creativity. Along the same lines, Henry Ford is considered to have been creative because of how he changed the way that cars were produced. While the two focused on completely different things, Michelangelo creating masterpieces and Ford on making things more efficient, creativity was an essential part to their success.

How To Create Scalable Ideas

1. Understand your target market

One of the most fundamental rules in any project is to understand the target market. Creating a product or providing a service to a market that doesn’t want or need it is a waste of time. Taking the time to understand everything about your target market will and should dictate how you develop ideas and strategies. For example, AdAge mentions how the New Zealand Tourism group was successful with marketing in China because they understood that a majority of their target market used media platforms and video sharing sites thus leading them to develop a short video campaign.

2. Distribution strategy

When we refer to ideas being scalable, we refer to the ability of an idea to be shared and spread. It’s important that when developing an idea whose sole purpose is to spread, as was the case with the New Zealand Tourism group, that you analyze the current distribution strategies for your target market. For example, if your goal is to reach 18-24 year old college students, developing an idea that focuses on brick and mortar promotions is likely to yield poor results as compared to a campaign that has been developed around the Facebook platform as its main distribution network.

3. Want vs. Need

If you look at the way that a consumer makes a decision, one of the biggest factors that determine whether or not they will buy something is if they need it versus if they want it. For example: you need food and you want a new shirt. Of the two, you are more likely to buy food before you buy a new shirt. With that in mind, when it comes an idea, focusing on why someone needs it or needs to believe the message rather than why they should want it increases the likelihood that they will connect with it.

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Ultimately, the success of an idea involves the right amount creativity along with the ability to scale and connect with its target. Just how certain ideas were able to spread in areas like China and India because they were creative enough to interest the population, yet easy enough to spread, ideas that work in one part of the world, may not necessarily work in another.

Mary Kay Cosmetics founder, Mary Kay said it best when she said:

A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one

While a marketing student who is reading this may jump at this and say that they aren’t one of those people who don’t know what marketing is, the reality is that if what you know about marketing is from the definition you read in textbooks, you really don’t marketing is. 

Marketing is Storytelling

According to many textbooks, the definition of marketing falls along the lines of:

“the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.”

While this is an accurate description of what marketing is, it is a mouthful and one would be hard pressed to try and explain that to someone else. With that in mind, another way to think about marketing is that it is storytelling. From the Coca-cola commercials that make you wonder why you aren’t drinking one right now, to the Gatorade commercials that convince you that you can go further and play harder with the help of Gatorade, marketing takes a brand and weaves a story that compels others to want to be part of it.

The ‘Status Quo’

Another important concept that marketing students must be conscious of is the ‘status quo.’ By this, I am referring to being aware of what is considered ‘industry standards.’ Once you understand what the standard is when it comes to marketing, your job is then to find a way not to do what to do it. For many that just read that sentence, it may come as a shock. A shock, because most marketing students have been studying and learning about what’s worked and what doesn’t. Thus, it only makes sense to do what works and avoid those that don’t. Simple logic, but the truth of the matter is that playing it ‘safe’ will only get you so far. There are hundreds and thousands of marketing professionals that are just as creative as the next, but what separates the great from the good is one’s ability to push aside what people expect and create something that they don’t.

Marketing and Technology

As we continue to trend toward going ‘wireless,’ marketing students will be thrown in to a power struggle between technology and traditional marketing. What once worked 10 years ago, no longer works efficiently, and as technology continues to improve, brands and organizations are evaluating where they need to be allocating their resources. Marketing students need to be wary of this and need to find ways to bridge the gap between traditional forms of marketing like print, and newer forms of marketing such as Facebook advertising and geolocation marketing. As part of a marketing team, your job isn’t just to carry out and execute marketing campaigns, it goes further than that. As part of the marketing team, you need to be able to provide insight into what the best course of action is for a given brand or organization. With technology moving forward at rapid pace, it is every marketing professionals job to keep up with it. — David Ogilvy, “The Father of Advertising” and founder of Oglivy & Mather said it best when he said:

“I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”

It’s easy for us to want to do what we know works and to follow orders, but to be truly successful when it comes to marketing, you must take the theories and concepts you have been taught and use the knowledge you gain along the way to create and innovate.

While I may never be as popular and famous as Seth Godin, when I saw his action figure starting at me while browsing through a local shop on vacation, I knew that I had to have it. Seth Godin would be pleased to know that he was in good company. To the left of him was an action figure of Jesus and to the right of him, Albert Einstein himself. While I hadn’t purchased an action figure since I was 10 years old, Seth should feel rest assured that he will be joining an elite crowd. He will joining the likes of Wolverine, Batman, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Timeless

Now that I own Seth Godin, although I know he can’t fly or walk through walls, as an action figure, Seth Godin has reached a level that few can ever hope to attain: becoming timeless. Years from now, when cars fly and gas is a thing of the past, when people see action figure Seth Godin, people will be reminded of “permission marketing,” Tribes and Squidoo.

During one’s lifetime, people are constantly gauging one’s success. While many may judge one’s success based on how much money they make, others dig deeper.

Although money is important to a certain degree, the amount of money someone makes shouldn’t define them and how they lived their life. When we are long gone, money doesn’t stay, but what the legacy we leave behind does.

How To Keep Your Brand Alive

Staring at Seth, I come to the realization that what I hold in my hands is not just any action figure. It is part of the Seth Godin Brand. While many so called personal branding experts will point out the importance of leveraging one’s personal brand in making money, what many fail to say is how to build your brand into not only a monetizing tool, but into a brand that can live on even after ones death.

A great example of this Jim Valvano. While some may know him for running up and down the court during the 1983 NCAA Championship, many more remember him for the work he did toward the end of his life and the legacy he left behind. Stricken with bone cancer, Jim Valvano became a symbol for the fight against cancer. It didn’t matter how many games he won on the court, because to Jim, what he left behind was more important. At the 1993 ESPY awards, in one of the last speeches before his death, Jim Valvano talked about his cancer. In it he said one of the most memorable lines that I personally will remember:

Everyday you should think about where you started, where you are, and where you wanna be.

For Jim, he knew where he came from and understood the situation he was in. Still, looking forward and wanted to leave behind a legacy that people would remember. Long after his passing, we still remember him. The Jim Valvano ‘brand’ lives on through not only the Jimmy V Foundation, but through others who still remember his words.

What Kind Of Action Figure Will You Be?

Seth Godin comes with “The Little Book of Marketing Secrets” along with his trademark mismatched socks all dressed up in business casual attire. So the question now becomes, “What kind of action figure will you be?” Will you have muscles the size of tree trunks or cool catch phrases?

An action figure is supposed to resemble the ‘persona’ as closely as possible. While some of us may hope to be GI-Joe’s in the making, not all of us will. Some of us may be the next Seth Godin and some of us may be the next Albert Einstein. Either way, when the day comes, we must remember that while an action figure may seem like just a “toy,” it is much more than that. Long after we are gone, it will still be represent our brand.

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Photo by Zoomar

To understand the many dimensions and angles that marketing campaigns consist of, we would need chapters rather than articles to fully understand them. Still, understanding the art of balance in regards to marketing is a fairly simplistic concept.

Marketing Is Not Only Sales

Here we have an instance where balance is commonly overlooked, yet extremely important.

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about marketing is that it is sales. While to an extent this is true, marketing is not only sales. Marketing consists of multiple individual areas that each serve a unique role in the marketing landscape. Understanding this is key when promoting a brand or product. Without a clear understanding that you are part of a ‘chain,’ marketing efforts won’t reach their full potential. One of the biggest problems that companies face today when it comes to marketing are individuals on the team not understanding the importance of the role they play within the system.

Going back the example of a sales, there are times you may find that there is a disconnect between the sales team and the marketing strategist. Much of this is due to the fact that both are focused on different tasks. Separately, they both have different immediate goals at hand, but in the long-run they are still a support system for one another. Although the sales teams immediate goal is to sell the product or service of the company, they are on the front lines of client interaction and will get first hand knowledge of user experience, feedback and questions. With this knowledge it helps marketing strategists develop a better campaign which includes providing sales teams with a better product and experience to sell. Once all team members are on the same page, marketing runs efficiently and productively.

The Marketing Mix and Balance

In school, we are taught the importance of the marketing mix or what’s commonly been referred to as “the 4 P’s.” While many of us may not remember each and every one of those P’s (Product, Price, Place and Promotion), the fundamental concept of it is important.

Conceptually, the marketing mix says that if you can optimize each of the 4 P’s, you can improve your marketing results. While there have been many variations of what people like to consider the 4 P’s, the concept remains the same. A companies ability to balance different aspects of a campaign directly affects the outcome.

Balance and Storytelling

To some, marketing is perceived as the process by which a brand promotes themselves and their products. Still, it is much more than that. Marketing is storytelling. Whether it’s Nike’s brand or their shoes, marketers are telling a story, that when effective, compels a consumer to buy a brands products or services.

In our everyday life for example, we see this storytelling by the choices we make. From the car we decide to drive to the type of energy drink we buy, we make these choices because we were presented with a story that connected with us.

As a marketing professional, it is important to understand that you are a storyteller and that you can shape the way a consumer perceives ones brand or products. Again, balance plays its part in that by understanding ones role as storyteller, one needs to be able to understand the delicate balance between what the consumer wants to be told and what the brand wants to present. Too often do we see brands marketing their products in a way that a consumer can’t connect with. Remember that no one wants to hear a story that they’ve heard before or they can’t relate with.

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Although the meaning of the term ‘marketing’ has changed in many different ways over time, ‘balance’ remains a common denominator. Yes, the strategies we employ today are much different than those 5 or 10 years ago, but the ability to balance different elements continues to be important.

Going back to the example of an ice skating presentation, without balance, no one would want to watch it.  Similarly, a marketing campaign that doesn’t have a balanced plan of action and team focus will yield little success and value.