#1: Marketing has to start with the customer<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cMarketing is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is from the customer’s point of view.\u201d – Peter Drucker<\/em><\/p>\n Marketers often proclaim to understand their customers, but the reality is that very few actually do. Mark points out that as marketers we are surrounded by our brand and our company values every day. But this simply isn\u2019t true for consumers. Any brand, even one they repeatedly buy from, is only a small blip on their consciousness. Once you realise this, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.<\/p>\n The other lesson from this is that you\u2019re probably thinking about \u201ccompetitors\u201d in the wrong way. Your competition isn\u2019t just other providers in the same category; it\u2019s anything<\/em> else that your target audience could spend their budget on. Taking Spotler as an example, we\u2019re competing with expos, a new CRM, or even a new marketing employee!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n #2: The Long and The Short Of It<\/u><\/p>\n Les Binet and Peter Field are leading advertising experts who studied hundreds of marketing case studies, and produced this graph:<\/p>\n What the graph shows is that marketing comes in 2 distinct flavours; Activation and Brand Building. Activation means short-term promotions, ads that drive an immediate action. Brand Building is more about making sure the brand is known. Activation is rational, Brand Building is emotional.<\/p>\n The wrong lesson to take from this research is that it\u2019s an either\/or scenario. Effective marketing combines both, building up the brand to the wider audience while hitting particular segments (e.g. lapsed customers) with highly targeted Activations. Binet & Field\u2019s research even provides the way to divide your resources: 50-50 for B2B, 60-40 in favour of Brand Building for B2C.<\/p>\n What Mark has found is that most companies are not getting the split right, and the reason is short-term thinking. Most marketers need to plan their activity on a yearly basis. Over a 6 to 12-month timeframe, Activation produces vastly better results. However, Mark says \u201cYou have to produce results in the short term. But you also have to produce results in the long term. And the long term is not simply the adding up of short terms.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n #3 Most marketers suck at creating briefs, but they aren\u2019t aware of it<\/u><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/spotler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/the-long-and-the-short-graph.png\")
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