October 26th, 2009 by Tom
The way that internet search and social media are evolving and intertwining, things look bad for slackers everywhere. Current trends encourage all business people to deliver their message on an ongoing basis.
For those with a marketing campaign mentality, they will have a hard time adjusting to a world without carefully crafted added-value messaging and the old set-it-and-forget-it periodic campaign methodology. For those who do not have the desire or inclination to take on a greater responsibility for their own marketing effort, things will be challenging in months and years to come.
Take Ownership of Your Message
To be successful, we must take ownership of our message, personalize it, become familiar with the tools to deliver it, and dedicate resources in-house to handle it. For SMB’s this usually means a greater commitment from management and key staff members. There is great reward to those who are prepared for the hard work associated with diligent marketing. Allocating the right amount of resources to fulfill your strategy is a critical step.
The lazy among us will find diligent marketing to be an incredibly challenging exercise. In reaction, they will look to cut corners in hopes of saving time and effort. We see many doing it now, based on the absurd belief that they have to be doing something in this space. Tweeting the same pitch of shameless self promotion over and over again, blogs with scanned national magazine articles from years ago, LinkedIn accounts that are clearly just a place where an Outlook address book was uploaded and a few previous positions entered.
The lack of effort is noticeable and a sad commentary on those involved. Doing something in this space is not a necessity. If you do not have the time and the commitment to do it well, don’t do it. Remember your failure will be public.
Marketing Expense Has Been Replaced, in Part, by Human Capital.
It takes more personal effort to market your business effectively than it did a decade ago. In this shift towards internal ownership, you should not abandon the same demand for success that exists with traditional marketing vendors. Don’t get caught in that trap. Demand more effort and effectiveness from yourself and your team and you will be rewarded.
Helge Tennø created this presentation: This is not the time for Big Lazy Brands. The slides not only have some nice photos but some really rich content as well.
