There are a great many marketers out there. That's because everyone is a marketer in one form or another. The training starts young. Very young -- at birth actually when you learn to get attention by crying. It continues as you "sell yourself' to your teachers, friends and mates. You've learned what to say and what happens when you say it. This
is a primary function of marketing.
To start with, successful marketers have different sense organs than other people in an organization. Marketers listen, keep people excited and generate ideas. Successful marketers have the ability to sniff out an opportunity that could be half a world away. They do this by being be part of everyone's world -- even when they're not particularly wanted. They know the pulse of their market and the heartbeat of the company the work for.
Marketing Starts with the Inner Self
Marketing is a way of thinking -- not about yourself --but about the potential of the product you are marketing. If successful marketers have one thing in common, it is the ability to become missionaries for their product. They extoll the virtues of a product or strategy to anyone who might be interested. You're in the enthusiasm business. It's your job to create and generate excitement. Now, you may say "I'm marketing toilet paper, who is going to be interested in that?" Ask a person who needs toilet paper in a hurry, if he's interested. Successful marketers know that there is no stronger interest as self interest. Successful marketer think
of their product in terms of their customer's self interest.
It's winning the inner game that can make a marketer stand out. Sine I've worked with hundreds of marketers, here are the traits of the best ones.
Successful marketers...
1. Never see themselves as victims. It's an easy mindset to get into, for we are a nation of blamers. When something doesn't work, we look for someone to blame. A product may not be ideal, the competition is too strong. Your salary is lousy. These are all temporary conditions. Moses had hundreds of thousands of followers hanging on to his every word. But many people don't know that Moses had a speech defect. There always will be negatives but smart marketers overcome almost any negative with solid marketing that puts a spin on the product and turns a negative into a
selling point.
2. Think proactively 100% of the time. They locate problems before they occur, along with potential solutions. There are always going to be problems that you didn't think of when you started a strategy. Smart marketers preempt disasters by finding remedies for potential dysfunctional situations before they occur.
3. Solve problems. They think in terms of benefits rather than features. Successful marketing propositions don't start with a product, but with the answer to a customer problem. Smart marketers know what customers want to buy and WHY they're buying them. If they don't know the driving forces, they learn them. That way there are no misdirections and expensive false starts.
4. Manage chaos and manage in chaos. Things don't happen in order, even though management types often crave linear time and work flows. The successful marketer manages chaos -- in the corporate world -- and in buying patterns. He finds sales patterns where none seem to exist on the surface and builds on them.
5. Think about building relationships as well as sales. Most people can sell a good product once. But it's the relationship that spurs future sales.
6. Know that consumers buy on emotion first and physical benefits next. How one sells to the consumer is just
as important as how it is sold.
7. Borrow ideas from the competition freely and without remorse. Okay, they steal them. Smart marketers know how the competition will react to a product and the plusses and minuses about competitive products. They become their competitor's best friend and customer until they know almost as much about competitive products as they do.
8. Listen. Listening is an underrated art form. Customers will give you as much information as you need if your probe correctly. Successful marketers ask -- and then listen! The second part is where most people go wrong. It's physically impossible to talk and listen at the same time and the weak marketer spends more time babbling than listening. Customers will tell you everything you need to know about how to make them buy your product when you ask the right way.
Successful marketers ask questions and shut up.
9. Constantly evolve their products and their strategic thinking. They continuously think of ways to make their product better. They avoid tunnel vision by always looking for peripheral strategies and markets. The ideal product and target market has never been invented. Smart marketers improve their product and look for new target markets -- even
before the product or strategy hits the market.
10. Fill their head with minutia about anything. It doesn't have to be related to the task at hand. Mind chatter feeds on those little scraps of information you keeps in your head. The answer to questions rest in your subconscious waiting to be set free at the proper moment.
Comments