Comments on: The Value of a Marketer

By: lawrence

lawrence — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:57:15 +0000

Thanks for providing the very good and useful information.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:54:35 +0000

@MikeVolpe, yep, I left out a bunch of goodies in a rush to fire off a response! Thanks for expanding the conversation. Also, I am so glad you mentioned The Cluetrain Manifesto! If a marketer wants to learn how to add value–I highly suggest they read that book ASAP! As well, tools, like the one Hubspot offers, have a way of freeing up time for more important, strategic tasks–just one more way to add value (and, as you know, I know this first hand having used your service).
@AtulChatterjee, indeed marketers (wherever they fall in the marketing spectrum) need to be innovative, creative, thrifty and always affect the bottom line in a positive manner.
@LewisGreen, sounds to me like Hubspot expanded on the idea of what inbound marketing originally was–good for them for the sense to run with it as part of their marketing. With SEO, integrated marketing and social media shifting the marketing landscape, I think there’s more than enough to keep marketers busy. But they won’t add value unless they *DO* understand it all and become more marketing agnostic (versus silos). As always, thanks for the insights Lewis!
@Thanks Mack!
@Everyone, I was trying to keep my list fairly simple to spark a conversation, but a few people asked for more strategic ways for marketers to provide value, here are some additional thoughts on how marketers can add value:
Break down the silos and remove politics from the marketing organization, neither do anything to benefit the customer or enhance their experience with your brand.
Senior marketers need to understand that the ‘anyone can be a marketer’ doesn’t work (or accidental marketer as Alan Wolk points out). Just because someone was in sales doesn’t mean they get marketing (the healthcare/pharma world is infamous for this), etc.
Recognize that by not deeply understanding marketing tactics and what goes into delivering those tactics makes for a weak strategic planner and manager. (Lots of ‘pie in the sky’ strategies fall flat because the strategist didn’t understand the tactical challenges, especially time and cost.) Tap into your tactical marketers and listen to their recommendations.
Understand that as marketers you no longer control brand value or equity, it’s in the hands of your customers. Have a plan for harnessing this (i.e. social media).
Have an overall marketing plan as well as plans for individual campaigns also and be sure to share them with the marketing team so that they are aware of what their purpose is and what goals/objectives they are expected to meet (rifle vs. shotgun marketing). [I will say it again, a lot of marketers (executives through specialist) don't have plans nor do they understand how to write proper, measureable objectives.]
Set aside budget to research and benchmark your efforts to date. Without having a benchmarked starting point, there is no way to know if a marketing plan/campaign was successful.
Any other recommendations?

By: Mack Collier

Mack Collier — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:21:17 +0000

Great conversation here Beth, except for David’s ‘look at me!!!’ comment

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:43:20 +0000

Beth,
HubSpot did not coin Inbound Marketing. Its birth dates back to CRM and has little to do with SEO or the things HubSpot talks about. I find it more than a little annoying that HubSpot is limiting the conversation to what it offers. Inbound Marketing is about customers touching a business, usually in a store or a call center, not online, although in the future online tools can be useful for Inbound Marketing.

By: atul chatterjee

atul chatterjee — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:36:00 +0000

If you are in a job and in command and may lose your job
1. Cut back on the amount you have allocated for marketing
2. Deliver the same volume of sales.
3. Put in a couple of extra hours of work
4. Read up of examples of good marketing plans.
An example from many years ago. Two MBAs freshly appointed in a toothpaste manufacturing company were told to bring out a marketing plan to boost sales.
All their plans were shot down.
Finally they came up winners.
Their plan: Increase the diameter of the nozzle by a few millimeters.
Try and be creative. If in these times you come up with a creative plan which increases sales, you will be remembered for a long time.

By: Mike Volpe

Mike Volpe — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:18:02 +0000

@Beth - Great article. As far as your comment about inbound marketing being just "SEO", I'm not sure where that comes from, I (and I think lots of others) have a different view. 1) If you look at Wikipedia, it doesn't really talk about SEO as a large part of inbound marketing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing 2) If you look at the Inbound Marketing Summit organized by Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin (not an SEO person among them), only about 10% of the agenda covers SEO. The rest is about social media, blogging, creating content, conversion, landing pages and analytics. http://www.InboundMarketingSummit.com 3) Maria writes the Inbound Marketer blog, and I think you'll find the content there much broader than SEO, and includes topics like lead management. http://blog.inboundmarketer.com/ there are lots of other small blogs talking about the topic too. None of the people who created this content above work at HubSpot (we do sponsor the Inbound marketing Summit, but so do 15+ other companies). In my opinion, inbound marketing represents the current and future trend to stop broadcasting your message through paid advertising and start attracting new customers to your company through content, blogging, social media, SEO and lanading pages and lead management. You are right that this is not a new concept. In my opinion, it dates back to 1999/2000 and "Permission Marketing and "The Cluetrain Manifesto", though I think it has taken us marketers a while to put the pieces together into a coherent strategy.

By: Maro

Maro — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:49:28 +0000

At times it can feel like all work and no pay.

By: Maria Reyes-McDavis

Maria Reyes-McDavis — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:02:13 +0000

I agree with David Kinard, this list (while most excellent) is just the start and it’s a time when marketers really need to show/prove their value with results. I often think, tough times like these separate the good from the not-so-good (as a natural course of things).
Thanks for yet, another timely and insightful post!

By: Gray

Gray — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:33:02 +0000

When the times are tough, the tough get going.
The people that rise to the top are the the ones with best content.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:55:06 +0000

@AlanWolk, I agree with what you are saying. Why is it that marketers, especially the good ones are so worried about self-promotion? Where did we learn that habit?
@MarilynKeyes, marketing plans do equate to accountability, something a lot of marketing professionals fear.
@DavidKinard, I suppose that devaluing another marketer publicly could be one way to show the value of oneself, but I don’t suggest it.
As for my list, as tactical and basic as it may seem, you might be surprised how many senior level marketers don’t do the things I suggested. Currently, many VPs of Marketing and CMOs are running away from social media (instead of strategically embracing customers). And many lack planning skills–or perhaps they just prefer not to be held accountable? One suggestion might be concentrating on getting the basics before moving onto the strategic.
Thanks for the suggestions and trying to add value to the conversation.
@StuartFoster, politics my friend, need I say more?
@MarkJuleen, thanks for sharing Eric’s post with us–I am a great fan of his!
@JarodHillerman, Indeed. And it would have been too much to cover all those areas in one blog post, that’s why I kept it basic.
Having done all types of marketing (what I meant by ‘Jack of all Trades’) has served me well. Experience with marketing research, product marketing, distribution, marketing communications etc. really gives marketers a well-rounded appreciation of all aspects of our trade. But the marketer needs to want to be involved in all aspects of marketing.
“Wal-Marketing.” Now that made me chuckle out loud– I think there’s a post there. Best of luck with the MBA! I loved grad. school–a whole different level than undergrad. that’s for sure.
@ScottSchablow, do you think clients are asking consultants/agencies to outline the value, because they are not sure what the value of social media (strategic/tactical) should be? How would you suggest a marketer wrap 10-20 years (or whatever the amount) of experience into a nutshell comment?
@LewisGreen, as I said to David–you’d be surprised how many senior-level marketing managers don’t do the things I listed–as simple as they are. The ability to be tactical helps when it comes to promoting the strategic aspects that marketers bring to the table. Ironically, I just reviewed a lot of award submissions from marketers (corporate and agency) and what they try to pass off as “objectives” on plans are a joke. I often wonder why marketers (all levels) find plan writing so difficult.
As for Inbound Marketing (a term I believe HubSpot coined) being the future–that’s just another name for SEO, which has been around for 10 years or more– If marketing executives haven’t embraced SEO/SEM by now, they have a lot of catching up to do.
@TrevorLong, great point, marketers who are flexible and not afraid to gear up & keep a positive outlook during a crisis are very valuable.