Why There's More To Marketing Than Slick Brochures And Websites

Yes, it's important to have good marketing collateral. But how your business is perceived by customers and prospects goes much deeper than that...

You’re off on an overseas business trip, how exciting! But you need to take your laptop and a camera or two and a whole heap of other things in your hand luggage.

Which means something safe to put it in. And the small, flimsy case that came with the laptop won’t do. Gosh, there’s hardly room for the cables, let alone your wallet and phone and tickets and passport and toothbrush!

But you’ve heard of these really cool laptop cases, that don’t look too geeky. You track them down on the internet and aha! There’s a shop in town that stocks them.

The uber-cool computer shop

Now you’ve heard of this shop – they’re quite well known. They seem quite swanky, especially if their minimal but informative website is anything to go by. And you’ve also seen their uber-cool ads in some trendy magazines.

So you zap across town in your car to find this store.

In you go. You’ve not been there before, so you glance around. You’re the only customer in there – phew, hopefully that’ll mean someone will come and help you.

But uh-oh, the two uber-cool sales girls are behind the uber-cool sales counter recounting tales of their dates last night. Those two chicks are far more interested in their gossip than they are in you.

Never mind, you’ve spotted the display of laptop bags. They’re right inside the door, on one of those wire swivel stands. But there’s so much stuff on it, the wire stand doesn’t swivel. And the big bags you’re looking for are right insight the door.

Bing-bong

In fact, they are right in the doorway, so to look at the bags you have no option but to stand on the entry door mat. The one that has an in-built bing-bong noise to tell the uber-cool sales girls that someone has set foot in the store.

Ah well, you came all this way to look at laptop bags, so that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Bing-bong. Bing-bong. Bing-bong. Bing-bong.

Move round a bit to look at the red bags. Bing-bong. Bing-bong. Bing-bong.

Hmmm, not sure if you want a red one or a blue one, so you shuffle round a bit to look at those. Bing-bong. Bing-bong.

Eventually one of the sales girls calls to you: “hey that noise is really annoying. Can you move off that matt?”

So you have two choices. Move into the store (where the sales girls are enjoying the bing-bong-free conversation)… or walk back out.

You choose the latter, and return to the safety of your car and drive home in a fowl mood.

So, what is marketing?

Let’s see. The shop had a great logo and branding, a cool website, and some trendy brochures and well-designed magazine ads.

But will you judge the store on those things? Is that what you’ll tell your friends?

No, your opinion of the place has been shaped by the uber-cool sales girls, that were too cool to help you. Or even acknowledge you in a friendly way.

Yet all too often we place so much emphasis on the marketing collateral, we think that that’s what marketing is about.

But it goes far, far deeper than that. Marketing encompasses every single aspect and interaction your business has with a prospect or customer.

That includes everything from face-to-face meetings; phone calls; emails; voicemail; the whole kit and caboodle.

And it’s those things that your business will be judged by. How friendly are the staff? How clean are the premises? Was it a good experience or a negative experience?

Yes, by all means invest in good branding and design work. That has an important role too. But don’t be like the computer store that thinks that that’s where it ends.

Marketing - and sales - is implemented by people

Whilst your marketing collateral may lure people to visit your store, it's people who then interact with your customers - and make the sale.

Therefore it's important that your team has the skills, motivation and incentive to do well. That means providing them with:

• Job descriptions: so they know what's expected of them.

• Regular training: few people are "natural" sales people - but it is a skill that can be learnt. Provide regular training for your team - no-one can ever be "too good" at sales, and refresher courses are an excellent idea.

• Incentives: consider incentivising your team to do well. Some companies even link pay-rise percentages directly to performance. Do make sure that any targets are the right balance between being achievable and being a stretch.

• Performance reviews: you're the leader of your team, and that involves giving them feedback - good or constructive. I'm a big believer that there shouldn't be any nasty surprises in formal appraisals, it's far better to give feedback and guidance on a continual basis. This also helps to keep your team motivated and focused.

• Measurement systems: to measure how your team is performing, you'll need to have systems in place to see who's making the sales, and how many they're making.

• Leadership: as well as the day-to-day stuff mentioned here, your team also needs to be aware of your vision for the business. Rather than just turning up to do their job, they'll be far more motivated if they're aware of the bigger picture; your goals, dreams and aspirations for the business. Especially if they're made to feel part of that.

With these things in place, your marketing has the best possible chances of succeeding.