This marketing planning review work over the last 6 months I also do in a much more haphazard way in my dreams (I do really and really do which is sad really and really sad.)
This morning I awoke to an imagine meeting with my MD about numbers for the next 12 months - only for the numbers and the vision to disappear in the 3 seconds it took me to awaken. Damn it all I will now have to do the real work too.
So this article from my hero Seth Godin nicely puts it all into simple perspective - something sometimes lost in the spreadsheets and analysis of modern online marketing...
Who is this marketing for?
Before you spend a minute or a dollar on marketing, perhaps you could answer some questions:
- Who, precisely, are you trying to reach?
- What change are you trying to make?
- How will you know if it's working?
- How long before you will lose patience?
- How long before someone on your team gets to change the mission?
- How much time and money are you prepared to spend?
- Who gets to approve this work?
- Who are you trying to please or impress?
It's cheaper to answer these questions than it is to spend time and money on marketing, but, alas, it usually doesn't happen that way.
I don't know if we can answer all of the questions above at The Apprentice Academy - but we can certainly try to answer the following in our next meeting.
- Who, precisely, are you trying to reach?
- What change are you trying to make?
- How will you know if it's working?
- How much time and money are you prepared to spend?
- Who gets to approve this work?
The rest I fear are too political for me to dare to ask - what about for your organisation? Would people really answer....
- How long before WE / SOMEONE / you will lose patience?
- How long before someone on your team gets to change the mission?
- Who are you trying to please or impress?
The companies that can truly answer those types of questions honestly, are honestly, going to do rather well this next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment