Who Gives Your Company its Marketing Edge?
I must start this post with two quick marketing stories.
I recently interviewed with Company A for a marketing job. A ‘do everything in marketing’ kind of a job. Problem was that the company was small (~100 employees) and already had several people in its marketing unit. And they were looking for more. I wondered if the investors knew that the company was about to waste substantial money on marketing overhead that it genuinely didn’t need. An internal team of six or seven in marketing is unnecessary for a growing company of about 100. Wasteful, in fact.
I asked the recruiter and hiring manager why they were looking to add marketing staff.
I never got an answer.
However, I was notified — via a generic copy and paste email — that I didn’t get the job. And that was after I learned that the marketing hiring manager was working with an outside consultant on ‘messaging and positioning’.
At a 100-person company. Think about that.
As long as it’s your marketing money, and not mine.
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Not too long ago I worked for Company B. Company B was about to sponsor and exhibit at a major industry trade show. One of those shows where ‘everybody had to be there’ and the event had to be automatically added to the annual marketing calendar. No mention of cost, return, value… just do it — as the slogan goes.
Months before the event, show ideas started to get kicked around the office. But it turns out my ideas were too competitive. You see… I wanted to compete, on-site, at that event but was told ‘that simply is not done’ at that particular event. I was told it was an industry get together where everybody is just happy to see each other, spend a few days together, shoot the breeze and go home. My competitive ideas would not be welcome.
Nonsense. At least to me.
Why bother exhibiting? Sponsoring? Competing?
It still remains a mystery to me how some can approach an industry event as some sort of communal happening. When the pre- and post-show invoices come due, your friends in the industry won’t pay them. Nor will they cover your overhead, payroll, taxes or any sort of marketing explanation at the end of the next quarter as to where the leads, sales, and profits are hiding.
But hey, as long as it’s your marketing money, and not mine.
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So…May I, please, market, to you?
As far as I could tell, nobody at Company A or B is providing any sort of marketing edge. Personality. Drive. Competitiveness. Nobody is bringing the heat. That sales and marketing competitive edge.
Overloading with unnecessary staff, and expense. Too many chefs in the kitchen.
Or viewing it through another lens… To market, or God forbid, compete and sell something.
It’s become passive marketing… so regression is now the norm. Not in mathematical theory, but in the ‘good enough’ sense. So many pictures of smiling people in plain trade show booths clogging LinkedIn feeds.
It’s scared marketing… so there’s no competitiveness. No desire to take somebody else’s business. To put the other company out of business. To win, and declare victory.
Oblivious marketing… with zero realization that ‘marketing’ is so much more than heads-down playtime on your mobile device.
It’s leaderless marketing… of course it is.
It’s allegedly safe marketing. But there’s nothing safe about it.
Yet it’s expensive marketing.
As long as it’s not my marketing money.
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I still smile when I read the story about startups lining up to use New York City subways for advertising. And I smiled when I listened to the marketing podcast about how the startup advertising trend has spread to the metro areas of Austin, Chicago and San Francisco.
Somebody had the entrepreneurial backbone to give its company a marketing edge, and some attitude.
But I’ve heard from and about far too many who would likely argue, dismiss, and run and hide at the mere thought of advertising on the subway. (Or the radio.)
Then other day I noted the Wall Street Journal article about how some startups are now also using television to connect with customers.
Again, some have the business backbone to go in that direction and build on social media — instead of being constrained by its comfort zone.
But, again, I’ve seen and heard from far too many who continue to stand on the sales and marketing sidelines for fear of getting in the game.
It’s no wonder why the average tenure of the average CMO is the way it is.
It’s no wonder why frustration with marketing continues.
What’s puzzling is why far too many investors are accepting of marketing commoditization.
But as long as that average CMO is spending your marketing money, and not mine.
Just keep adding to that internal staff and keep paying those high priced consultants. Analysts, too… They’re pretty good about telling you what happened, yesterday.
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So who provides the marketing edge at your company?
Who gets on stage for that big presentation? Who gets on camera for that webinar or video — and crushes it? Who tells that great story to your audiences on your podcasts? Who beats the competition?
I could use a sports analogy such as who gets the marketing ball when the game’s on the line and time’s running out?
But I won’t.
Most of you will say it’s your CEO that has the marketing edge. But that’s somewhat of a cop out. I want to know who in marketing at your company is setting the marketing pace.
Without the CEO. Without the high-priced B-team of latte-drinking consultants. Without the martech crutches. And without the blank, generic, noncompetitive, cookie-cutter check.
Or didn’t you know your marketing was spending your money that way?
I know… it’s hard to tell when your marketing blends in with the rest of the field.
And as long as it’s your marketing money, and not mine, there’s aways plenty of room in the middle of the pack. Help yourself.
I just won’t expect to find anybody from your company in marketing’s winner circle.
Why would I?
Tony Compton holds two degrees from Loyola University Chicago: a 1987 B.A. in Communication and a 1995 MBA. He has held a number of marketing and business leadership positions over the past three decades.
