The Wealthy Business - by EnergizeGrowth

Find Your Inner Marketing Guru to Make Better Decisions

I do not believe that big data, customer-driven buying cycles, and a broader set of job expectations are the source of marketing leadership angst.

The real culprit is the impermanence of the marketing profession. And that impermanence, when ignored or under-estimated, leads to erratic decision-making, isolation, and irreparable stress. This can drain even the most accomplished marketers.

While many companies re-invest in their core strengths, they often don’t know when to walk away from the past, divest their cash cows, and re-invent themselves.

While many technology experts and consultants encourage marketers to do more, I encourage you to be more. This can be accomplished by pausing, observing, and re-gaining your balance.

The Missing Piece in the Four P’s of Marketing

Marketing planning is ostensibly simple, and everyone seems to have an opinion about how it should work. If that’s true, then why do so many growth initiatives fail?

I have worked with B2B companies and helped deploy dozens of growth initiatives over the past three decades. I’ve worked with very bright people. And yet, they wasted thousands, often millions, on projects that never achieve the returns they expected.

E.J. McCarthy, a marketing professor at Michigan State University, introduced the concept of the "Four Ps" of marketing in 1960. He promoted it as a way to guide the marketing mix. These Four Ps—Product, Place, Price, and Promotion--remain the blueprint for many marketing organizations.

This model is simply not adequate for today's growth-oriented companies and marketing organizations. Here’s why.

Delicious Marketing Lessons From Anthony Bourdain's Voracious Brand

I’m a voracious traveler. For the past 30 years, I’ve traversed nearly every state, trekked through Central American rainforests, swam the rough Pacific seas, and sampled Europe’s refined cultures.

Nothing, however, compares to Anthony Bourdain’s travel log. In case you do not subscribe to cable TV, Bourdain hosted a highly acclaimed show on The Travel Channel, No Reservations. He is a prolific food author and speaker with a penchant for food porn. He just landed a food-documentary series on CNN, Parts Unknown.

Bourdain doesn’t sample new cultures; he feasts on them. He lives in the moment with every episode. It’s a Zen experience to watch his shows. He is on a mission to help our society connect with and embrace other cultures through shared food experiences.

Why Traditional Marketing Models Need to Change

As a marketing leader, do you ever feel like the tree that fell in the forest—you just don’t know if anyone can really hear you? It’s challenging to win the hearts and minds of the C-suite. One reason may be that your company’s old perception of marketing prevents you from reaching your true potential.

What are you doing on May 16?

I’m pleased to invite you to my newest webinar, sponsored by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG). Join us May 16 from 12-1 pm ET for “All the Right Moves: The NEW Rules of the Marketing Dance.”

Here’s why this session could be important to your career and your team...

Just a few years ago, you could thrive as a marketing leader by demonstrating a clear understanding of Marketing’s Four P’s. And you were a star if you could create sexy ad campaigns which drew big crowds.

But those days are gone. The dance-off between creativity and information overload has reached a fever pitch. Today’s marketing leaders are expected to be tech-savvy, data-driven, and strategic. Boards and CEOs want their senior marketing leaders to know more, do more, and get more.

What The Next Generation Of Star CMOs Have In Common

 

In my previous post, I shared insights from my latest CMO Trends 2013 study. In today’s boardrooms, marketing leaders must prove they can be tech-savvy, data-driven, strategic, and creative.

Some of the 46 CMOs who responded to my survey clearly struggle with self-management, persistent cross-departmental conflict, budget and resource constraints, and low technology acumen. These challenges may sound insurmountable, but they are not. They are actually hiding the true enemy of today’s CMO: their lack of urgency around improving their condition.

Call it fear; call it comfort with the status quo. Over time, these marketing leaders will be replaced by risk takers, thought leaders, and technology-savvy decision makers. I am fortunate to have met several who fit that latter description. I also found several qualities these leaders share in common:

April Guest Blogger: What do Your Customers Really Want?

I’m pleased to introduce our April guest blogger, Urko Wood. He has some practical, yet powerful insights on discovering what your customers really want. Keep reading to find the three essential questions every marketing leader needs to incorporate in marketing research and customer feedback initiatives.

Today, every marketer talks about the term “buyer personas.” While personas can be powerful tools for guiding all kinds of value creation activities, such as messaging, positioning, and new product development, the critical information marketers need to discern is “What are people trying to accomplish with your offering?” While there may be a strong correlation between various customer characteristics and certain purchasing behavior, people don’t buy products and services because of their characteristics; they buy products and services to accomplish functional, emotional, and/or social ends.

Startups: How to Go Beyond the Honeymoon Phase

Cincom's Expert Access team recently interviewed me for their show. Here is a reprint of that program and a replay of the radio interview.

“A company is like a marriage,” says Lisa Nirell, author of EnergizeGrowth® NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company and recent guest on Expert Access Radio. “When you have a start-up mentality, things are great and it can be a lot of fun, like the honeymoon; but like all honeymoons, it has to come to an end.”

During the “honeymoon stages” of a business, you are constantly feeling like you are fighting fires and crises. It’s that love for the adrenaline rush of doing different things every day that leads you to a point where you have to move on. When you reach that crossroads in the life of your business, you are forced to make a decision on where you want your company to go.

In most cases, there are two choices:

Option 1 - Build an infrastructure, clearly defining the roles and responsibilities for the staff, so that they know how their jobs are tied directly to the vision of the company.

Option 2 - Continue to immerse yourself in the adrenaline rush. That chaos and frantic excitement is not always the wrong direction. Some people live off the adrenaline rush and need it constantly through their careers. When you choose to stay in the adrenaline rush stage, you have to come to terms with the fact that your ability to predict your growth will diminish greatly.

Are Marketers Their Own Worst Enemy?

When I graduated from college, my first job title sounded very glamorous: “International Marketing Manager.” I was thrilled to tell my parents that my expensive business school degree would soon pay off.

The reality was that my job required pretty basic skills. I learned how to use a telex machine, identify cryptic acronyms for electronics components, and call distributors for price quotes. In 1983, touch typing, dialing a phone, and operating a fax machine were the only skills I needed to thrive in that role.

My, how times have changed. Things are clearly much different now for marketing professionals. Modern marketers must hire for data scientists, social media experts, and content curators--roles that few, if any, universities currently teach. Furthermore, the days of thriving as a marketing leader who can only demonstrate a clear understanding of the Four P’s of marketing and draw big crowds at industry events are numbered. Today’s boards and CEOs expect marketing leaders to be tech-savvy, data-driven, strategic, and creative.

A special audio bonus for my community…

More and more marketing leaders are facing new demands on their time and roles. That’s why RainToday recently interviewed me. Editor Michelle Davidson wanted to know what challenges my CMO community is facing, and what they can do to rapidly address them.

Here is the link to the interview (18 minutes).

In this interview, you will learn:

• How marketing leaders can alleviate the dysfunction between their department, the sales team and the executive board
• The new competencies marketing leaders must adopt
• How organizations such as Infosys, MindJet, and Red Hat are overcoming challenges and thriving

What are your experiences and thoughts as a marketing leader or business owner? Please share them—I want to hear from you. The first three people who respond on my blog will receive a complimentary copy of my book.

And, if you are an active, VP level marketing executive located in the Washington, DC area, contact me to reserve your seat at my next CMO breakfast on June 26. (no agencies, please)

copyright 2013, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved