Monday
Aug072006
Marketing is often counterintuitive... That's why we have experts!
Monday, August 7, 2006 at 5:39PM
I only do marketing consultancy as an aside to my primary work as an employee in the Marketing department. That said, I'm extremely passionate about excellent marketing and I study, read and think deeply about it.
So I find it really frustrating when people I consult with (who claim to desparately need my services) complain when I suggest anything that differs from their own ideas of what marketing is about.
For example, "Everyone in Cape Town" isn't really an acceptable niche for most small businesses - yet this is about as far as many clients go... Anything more tightly defined than that seems limiting to them - like I'm suggesting that they throw away 80% of their business!
This is one of the many challenges we face as marketers - people acknowledge that they need us, but then when we start doing our job they suddenly know more than us about the subject that we have been mastering for years.
So I find it really frustrating when people I consult with (who claim to desparately need my services) complain when I suggest anything that differs from their own ideas of what marketing is about.
For example, "Everyone in Cape Town" isn't really an acceptable niche for most small businesses - yet this is about as far as many clients go... Anything more tightly defined than that seems limiting to them - like I'm suggesting that they throw away 80% of their business!
This is one of the many challenges we face as marketers - people acknowledge that they need us, but then when we start doing our job they suddenly know more than us about the subject that we have been mastering for years.
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