Marketers, Find a Better Way
So you want to be in Marketing? First, you must have thick skin; everything you do is public-facing and open to critique and criticism. Sometimes you have to resort to the statement, “thank you for your input.”
Have you ever had this conversation?
Marketing Director - Here is our updated product sheet for the upcoming trade show.
Sales Manager - I don’t like the color
Marketing Director - What color would you prefer?
Sales Manager - I don’t; you’re the marketing director.
Marketing Director - I will get you a few more options to consider
And the cycle continues. Let me suggest a better way. Here’s how the conversation should go.
Marketing Director - Here is your requested updated product sheet for the upcoming trade show.
Sales Manager - I don’t like the color.
Marketing Director - The color, fonts, and graphics elements are taken directly from the company's brand standards.
Sales Manager - Oh, I forgot about those; this looks great; please order 500 copies
Marketing Director - Great, I will have these delivered one week before the sales team heads for the trade show.
You see, we often need to spend more time upfront creating the guardrails and standards for our brand. We do this because the next project needs to get done; the sales sheets have to get to the sales team before the end of the week. We often need to realize that spending this brand development time on the front end saves us tons of time designing specific marketing items. Just like our homes, the foundation of our brand must be rock solid for the pieces created on top of it to work. We are guaranteed to have a less effective program marketing without a solid branding foundation.
Spend the time developing your brand standards and guidelines, get everyone to agree to them, and then only deviate from them once the organization undergoes a rebranding process, if and when that makes sense.
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About the Author
McCurry has over 20 years of marketing and communications experience and has served in executive roles at leading trade associations for over a decade as CEO and Chief Development Officer. Greg is a creative visionary leader whose strengths include outstanding communication skills, an imperative to include and promote the work of others, and never stops working to achieve company and client objectives. Greg has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Marketing from Minnesota State University, Mankato.