OttoBlog

I had a really great conversation today with a superb marketeer about what a classic marketeer needs to make it in the online world. Quite topical, given I am in exactly that situation.
So here it is: Speed is more important. I hear you groan: we heard that before. True, but what does it actually mean?

The consumer is only boss if you make them one. Making the consumer boss slows things down a bit, it always does in the short term. In classic markets, there is no question about the value of research and intimate knowledge of the consumer. But if Speed is more important, that value is left on the table. A massive gap - speed might be more important, but it's not better.

You make marketing decisions based on your gut, not based on the process. First time today I heard the term 'process marketeer'. And it is utterly logical. Big volume and value brandns in highly saturated markets have to have strong processes worked out to grind out the next 5%. And it's not easy, I have been there. The risk of failure is too big, and decisions aren't very reversible. There is a huge downside to this, clearly, as the near the money option never let's you reap huge awards.

90% Right is Good enough, but the bar is raised all the time. 10 years ago apparently 80% was good enough, and in 5 years it will be 95%, still that's far off the 100% mark that is needed to make any gains in saturated markets.

Classic marketing Skills are a massive asset if you have to move fast. Knowing your marketing 101 is a huge advantage, when you don't have much time. Being able to think through brand, proposition, execution, creative evaluation etc. at speed is a real advantage. I count myself lucky to have received this training, and value it hugely in this new environnment of internet start ups.
As an observation, I do think too many people working in new/digital media dismiss the classical skills outright. Looking for the right mix between new and old is where the sweet spot will be in my mind. but that's for another time.
Enjoy,
Ottokar

Apparently, common wisdom has it that only 50% of agency accont people manage the transition to the client side. Why is that, given on both sides there are committed and smart people at work? What is the difference between a marketing manager and an account manager? My newest team member is coming from an agency, why would I bother given the odds? Simple: it is hard to find smart marketing people, so if I find one, I won't stop to get them, never mind where they come from. But you have to be conscious of the transition period and make it platantly clear what is going to be different. First on my list of differences is bottomline ownership, a business marketeer shouldn't be able to hide anywhere in terms of delivering results. I also may add that using poor agency work as an excuse never counts in my books, since we are responsible for the end result, so if the agency doesn't deliver, we need to fix that.  The second biggest difference to me is that as we own 360 degrees of the marketing mix, we are responsible for the input as well as the output. So there is no such thing as a poor brief, a badly defined target market, lack of brand differentiation, since we as owners ought to be enabled to change all that. Not the case with agencies, who sometimes work with poor input, and all the push back in the world might not fix that. The third difference is operational: We need to balance strategy and action and accept that the world isn't perfect, given time is pressure. A lesson learnt early in my days at P&G, first to market is always better than perfect to market. Making those trade offs and tough calls that still deliver outstanding marketing whilst ensuring we get there in style and on time is a skill that truly marks out a great business marketeer. We will always need great agencies to deliver that.

Brilliant, here we are, it's London, it's Spring and it is my first day at Rated People. Officially, unofficially, it's day 60 because that's when I signed up to this job. In reality I am  thinking about marketing since ever.
Why am I telling you? Because in my mind, if your first day as marketeer is ever your first day thinking about your job, then you chose the wrong job or profession or both. Go away and plant trees, or raise sheep (or throw them on facebook if that turns you on).
It is one of the key primary qualities of a great marketeer - your mind needs to be turned on 24/7. Some will nod and understand, you got it then, but if you think I am crazy or a workaholic, then take the word marketeer out of your job title.
"Marketing is part science and part art - and the art part is very subjective. The artistic end of marketing is not limited to words and pictures, it involves timing and media selection and ad size". (Jay Conrnad Levinson - Guerilla Marketing)
Hand to heart - when we talk about the art, we tend to defer to great creative, maybe at best media firsts, But how often do we cite an example of great media selection, brilliant timing, or holistic marketing? In our powerpoints we might, in our pubs we don't. However, I think we need to devote much more mindspace to our go to market plans, - so the where, how, when rather than the what - and there are three reasons why:
- You will spend most of your money on go to market plans than on anything else in your marketing budget, so being creative has a direct impact on the bottom line. Be it PR tours, Media money, affiliates, PPC, whatever - it is more expensive to diseminate than to produce. Never mind in my new start up business, where it is an imperative to be creative, this is also true for big brands with multimillion pound budgets, since effectiveness is a key driver of who wins the coveted prize of market leader.
- What you are looking for is undivided attention, search for a media space that is not used yet, because 100% of undivided attention even on a small piece of paper in a Chinese fortune cookie is better than 30" on the radio whilst everybody is driving and shouting haggling with their kids in the morning.
- The Medium determines the message is more true than ever. Being creative with your media choices will set creatives free. If you give them the time to develop great ideas and not just have them knock it up in 24 hours.

What are the key barriers that disallow us to act on this
- Budget pressure kills test and learn. I never understood this. How can we not allow ourselver to spend 100k to understand how to spend the next 10 millions? But time and again we have seen it and done it - killed the testing plan first, as we ar elooking to maximise today's ROI sacrifcing tomorrow's exponential growth. Simply don't do it if you care just a little bit about your legacy.
- Let's do what we know works. Playing in the comfort zone is a sure fire way to stagnation. Unfortunately, the bigger the bosses the more they want to stay in the comfort zone, so it really is up to us to convince them that yesterday's gameplan works tomorrow, because it won't. today's 30 second add might be tomorrow's you tube mesh up, and become a relic of the past.
- Time pressure leads to the dumming down of our plans. So many brilliant ideas went down the tube, because we had no time to do them. However, we are paid for thinking through the marketing problem and not for emailing our agencies with requests for crash timing plans. 

Which leads me back to the top - you gotta be 24/7 to see, feel and understand the world around you, take and develop opportunities, expand your horizons and look at your marketing problem with different eyes. These are the only eyes that will help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Keep it up! Let me know if you got examples.
Ottokar

Next week I start a new job - Sales&Marketing Director for ratedpeople.com, a new and small company intervening in an imperfect market providing tradesmen recommendations. You could call it managing repudations.

Now in my new job, I want to have a debate with you, - with my colleagues, with my friends, with users of this site, and anybody who cares,

The debate will be
about     challenger brands & innovative marketing,
about     ratedpeople.com & the company
about     members, consumers, evangelists
about     suppliers (tradesmen) and their challenges
about     bad adds and good ideas
about     online and offline
about     the medium and the message

Let's get started.
Ottokar

ratedpeople.com