Friday 22 November 2013

Marketing planning and the real question to ask - Who is this Marketing FOR?

This week and most of next week I will be reviewing the marketing (especially the online and social media marketing) for The Apprentice Academy who are moving into helping employers recruit digital apprentices. 

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. 

      Monday 11 November 2013

      The generous skeptic. A great post - simple stolen from Seth Godin and popped here for reference :)

      The generous skeptic


      If you've got a big idea, there's no doubt that you will run into skeptics along the way.

      Many skeptics are afraid for you, embrace the status quo, and in their twisted but well-intentioned way, will work to persuade you to give up your dream. This sort of skeptic should be ignored, certainly. It doesn't really pay to argue with them, because your impassioned restatement of your view of reality will do little to persuade them that you're not doing something crazy risky.

      The other kind of skeptic, though, should be treated totally differently.

      The generous skeptic has insight into your field, your strengths and weaknesses. She wants you to succeed, but maybe, just maybe, sees something you don't.

      When the generous skeptic speaks up, she's taking a risk. If you respond to her generosity by arguing, by shutting down, by avoiding eye contact or becoming defensive, you've blown it. You've taken a gift and wasted it, and disrespected the gift giver at the same time.

      The alternative is to emotionally stand up and sit down on her side of the table. Egg her on. Imagine the world the way she sees it. Take her tactical skepticism and amplify it, pushing it to its logical conclusion. Instead of defending the flickering flame of your idea as if it might soon be extinguished, dump as much of this sort of skepticism on the idea as you can.

      Not only are you honoring the generous skeptic when you do this, you're learning how to see the way she sees. Your job isn't to persuade her she's wrong, your job is to learn from this and buttress your project in a way that when it collides with the market, you're ready.

      "Tell me more about that," is the useful and productive response, not, "no, you're wrong, you don't understand."

      There's always time to ignore this feedback later. Right now, dive into it, with an eager, open mind.

      It's a gift you're not often offered.