Marketers need to build dexterity. They need to deeply understand the financial and strategic goals of the company. In addition, marketers need to relentlessly pursue capabilities in order to deliver certainty regarding achieving those goals. Be sure you know how you are going to measure marketing’s contribution. Be careful not to confuse vanity metrics with material ones.
If you’re going to talk about opens, clicks or a percentage mix, connect those numbers to a strategic outcome. If you can’t, then it’s an “elevator music” metric, and you should possibly remove it. Focus on focus: Be very intentional about selecting the three to four “make-or-breaks” for achieving the company’s goals.
At the same time, identify the inconsequential things that fall outside of the make-or-breaks and stop doing them. You’ll likely find more success by smartly identifying the things you shouldn’t be doing than by identifying all the things you are capable of — or perhaps way too comfortable — doing.
Always Weigh Up Your Customers’ Perspective
The art of creating added value with marketing starts with the ability to see your company through the eyes of your customers.
Consider what’s important to your target market in addition to how your product or service will benefit them:
- What challenge does it solve?
- How will it assist them with overcoming obstacles or doing their jobs better?
Many companies miss the boat by focusing on features instead of benefits in their marketing campaigns. By shifting your focus to providing content which focuses on your customers’ needs you can start helping and stop selling.
Creating customer personas is useful in order to provide insights about your current and future customers, what’s meaningful to them, and gives you a roadmap of the type of content you can create and share in order to provide added value.
