Blog Posts - Avergon Marketing Group

Spoken and Unspoken Requests in Business

7/19/2022

This topic is a bit more esoteric, but I think worthy of discussion. In our careers we encounter various requests from customers, business partners, and corporate colleagues - all asking of us something. I like to group these requests into two categories:

Spoken Requests:
Accomplish task A and B and deliver them on-time and on-budget. Do the job as requested and everyone is happy.

Unspoken Requests:
Behind the requested task is often something deeper. It could be organizational, a lack of project clarity, constraints on manpower and budgeting, even reluctance on the part of the person asking for the project to move forward.

Your ability to first realize and then attempt to address this unspoken request can prove invaluable to your customers and partners and can build an order from a single task to a larger project if you are able to effectively communicate a solution that addresses both their immediate and deeper concerns.

In my own career, I have encountered many situations in which, after first acknowledging the immediate need, I was able to get more information on what I suspected was the unspoken request and then was able to formulate a fuller solution for the customer that not only increased the breadth of the project, but also demonstrated greater value to them and strengthened our relationship.

In terms of colleagues and business partners, anticipating and understanding their unspoken requests can head-off problems and project delays before they happen. Opening up that dialogue gets you out in front of what could be an issue before it effects your deliverables.

As marketers I think sometimes we get too focused on filling the order versus looking at the client and the situation and determining what they really need and what will give them the greatest value in the long-term.

When have you realized and addresses a customer's or colleague’s unspoken request?
Please join the conversation.

Why You Need a Chief Marketing Officer

7/12/2022

When I look at businesses quite often the skill set I find missing in the executive management team is marketing. Most organizations are well staffed with seasoned employees who understand Finance and Accounting, Engineering, and Operations, but when it comes to the discipline of marketing they are lacking. In the past, when I have asked about this knowledge gap at the management level, the usual response I get is “Oh, we have so-and-so who handles creating brochures.” That is not marketing. And that missing skill set could be the difference between success and failure in your business.

So what is marketing and why does a company need a high-level marketing asset at the executive level? In a nutshell, marketing is strategy. It is looking at the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization and the marketplace as a whole and plotting a course for the company that will lead to financial reward. A good Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has his/her attention focused on making sure every aspect of the organization is in alignment and focused on meeting the needs of the company’s target audience – that includes everything from the product itself to the customer service experience to the promotional campaigns. The CMO is also responsible for researching and discovering new markets for existing products as well as working with engineering and product management on product line extensions and new product development to keep the organization thriving. A good CMO understands market research, product and campaign development, and is an expert in strategic development and execution.
When clients ask me what to look for in a CMO, I recommend the following:

Ask them about their approach to planning and development. Are they inclusive and work with other departments as well as talk with customers or do they tend to develop their plans and strategies on their own? I find the best marketing executives spend a lot of time in the field working with sales, talking to customers, and keeping abreast of market developments and customer perceptions. I recommend avoiding “Ivory Tower” marketing types. That works for analysts who are sifting through data to create reports, but you want a CMO who is actively engaged with your staff and customers.
Look for someone who has worked on a number of campaigns and has taken them from initial concept through execution. You are going to want someone who has been through the full process - versus just understanding some components. Moreover, no campaign is perfect and it is always interesting see how he/she has handled campaigns that were off the mark (or the market shifted) and how they addressed it.
While your CMO does not need to be a “Tech Guru” a good marketing executive has an understanding of current and new technology and how they work or don’t work with your company’s go-to-market strategy (which they should have written). In general, good marketing people are constant learners who are out there seeing what is new and determining if it is relevant for their business.
Sales is not marketing. There are a lot of talented sales people who understand strategic campaigns and market planning, but the two are separate disciplines and you want a skilled, disciplined marketing executive. Sales is responsible for immediate, short-term revenue while marketing is focused on the long game. The two work together, they need each other, but they are different. Don’t put your marketing strategy in the hands of sales management, I have seen this fail more times than I care to mention.

While a chief marketing officer can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful business, they are not inexpensive and finding a good one may take time. In lieu of bringing on a full-time CMO, I have recommended to clients that they add a marketing executive to their board of directors. While it may not offer the same level of interaction as a full-time employee, it does give the company the benefit of having a disciplined marketing perspective on their business and can keep the organization from making a costly mistake. If your company does not have a board of directors you can accomplish much the same thing by forming an advisory committee that can fill in these missing skill sets and provide the organization with C-Level expertise at a lower cost than trying to hire full-time employees.

As the saying goes “You don’t know what you don’t know” but as you look around your company if you find you are missing a skill set from your executive team, such as marketing, take steps to fill in that missing knowledge. Rest assured, what you are lacking is mission-critical to your business success.

Marketing for Manufacturing: The Three Things You Need To Ask Yourself

7/12/2022

You’re a manufacturer - you make things. Good things. While that should be enough to bring new customers to your door, unfortunately it is not. You see, all of your competitors are claiming they make a product that is just as good as yours. Perhaps they boast different features, higher outputs, or a lower price that makes their product more appealing - the possibilities are endless. The point is this; whether you operate in a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) or Business-to-Business (B2B) environment, your competitors are shouting just as loudly as you, if not louder, to get the attention of your target audience. If you think just being a good manufacturer is enough, you need to think again.

Three Things You Need To Ask Yourself:

Am I an Engineering/Manufacturing or Sales/Marketing Driven Company? If the answer is engineering/manufacturing then you need to think about making some changes (and this list is that much more important). Engineering/manufacturing excellence are critical in the creation of high-quality products that customers will rave about and keep coming back for more, but without a sales/marketing focus your business is running blind and betting on whether your perfectly engineered product is a good fit for the market you are going after.
Do I have the Right People? Marketing is not Sales and Sales it not Marketing. You need strong, talented people in both roles. Sales is responsible for immediate, short-term revenue and helping provide feet-on-the street information on your customers. Marketing is responsible for developing medium and long term strategies to get your product in front of the right people and making sure your messaging represents your company properly and gives you a competitive advantage. A good marketing team should work in cooperation with Sales and have enough time in the field to understand the customer and market needs and incorporate that street information into their strategy development. I have never been a fan of “Ivory Tower” marketing and you shouldn’t either. Marketing people need field time and first-hand customer interaction to be effective. Think that kind of insight doesn’t matter in manufacturing?

A Quick Story: Earlier in my career, I was working for a manufacturing company that had run out of a specific product. Suddenly, we couldn’t keep that product on the shelves. The factory immediately made plans to source more materials, add a third-shift, and ramp up manufacturing to make sure we were swimming in that product in the next 60-90 days. I asked for a few days to look into the matter before we committed to essentially doubling our forecasted inventory for that product. A few discreet calls yielded that a key competitor had run out of a component to manufacture their product that competed with ours. We were getting their orders because they couldn’t fill them. They were making moves to correct the problem and were planning to be back on their production schedule in 60 days. Clearly, we had a short-term opportunity to realize sales and potentially to move some customers over to our product, but it was not the long term win that the plant thought we had. We adjusted the orders properly to make sure we could cover the short-term need without leaving us too deep in inventory and focused our sales efforts on getting to know more about some of these new customers and how we could win them over long-term.

Marketing insight and Sales contacts were able to stop the factory from over-producing and leaving us in an undesirable inventory position.
Are you Budgeting Properly for Marketing? I am sometimes amazed at how many companies do not have a set budget for their marketing department. No budget demonstrates a lack of forethought and planning on what marketing activities are crucial for the coming year. No plan is perfect and no budget is perfect, but it is a place to start. If you are not sure what your crucial activities are, start with a task list.

What do you want to accomplish by the end of year? What activities will help yield that result? Again, this is a job for a seasoned marketing professional who understands how to look at short and long-term objectives and turn them into tactical deliverables with associated dollar values. If, by year end, you find the budget was greatly under-utilized then go back to your task list and determine if you accomplished everything you set out to do. If so, job well done and start planning for the next year. If not, find out what you need to do to tackle those objectives. If you go over budget before the year is out, then go back to that same task list and prioritize it - cut items, if needed. You also should do a review to find out where you under-estimated costs. As a percentage of sales, marketing budgets are anywhere between 1-20%. That is a lot of variance. 1-3% are your large corporations with revenues significant enough that 1-3% is still a lot of money. 15-20% are small independent companies with no sales force, such as a medical professional or a skilled craftsman where the only sales and customer acquisition related activities are accomplished via marketing. Depending on your size, your company is probably somewhere in the 4-14% range. That is still a lot of variance. Your head of marketing should be able to make a recommendation on the budget and support it. That is why you hired them.

“If You Build It, They Will Come.” was a wonderful sentiment from the movie Field of Dreams. Unfortunately, in manufacturing it is probably closer to “If you Build It, Build It Well, Market it Well, Follow-Up Promptly on Customer Requests, Provide First Rate Customer Service, Excellent Sales Support, and Make Sure You are Properly Differentiated in the Market and In-Front of Your Target Audience, They Will Come.” Not as romantic, I know.

Are you a manufacturer challenged by how to market your products or with some good advice to share with others? Join the conversation.

"The One Thing" With Hassan Archer

7/7/2022

Glad to talk with Hassan Archer about "the one thing" he thinks clients really need to address first - even if it's uncomfortable.

Watch the full conversation

We are Afraid to Unplug

6/29/2022

We are worried about what we will miss. What decisions will be made without us…and maybe, just maybe, that we are not as indispensable as we like to think we are.

What if you could completely unplug and take the time you need to rest and recuperate? No emails, no text, and no Zoom conference calls. Just time to recharge your batteries so you come back fresh and ready to take on the world.
You can. Prior to the Internet and smart phones, the very nature of days off and vacations was to be unplugged from your everyday.

The decision starts with setting boundaries. Letting those you work with, from direct reports to supervisors and clients, know that you will not be reachable. That they will have the ball in your well-earned absence. True, you will have to trust those you work with to competently handle the tasks left to them – as they will have to do with you when they take a time off.

Imagine working with a group of people that offers that level of trust and support to each other. Some pre-planning and tasks lists may be required initially, but this is kind the culture you want, and for many of us, need.

Have a great 4th of July weekend.

The First Fatal Flaw of Marketing: Lack of Planning

6/22/2022

Business Assessment Tool

6/14/2022

This short assessment will give you a quick snapshot of where your company stands in the areas of marketing, strategy, and finance compared to other organizations.

take the short assessment

Marni Hale on "The One Thing"

6/14/2022

Seth Avergon and Marni Hale discuss "the one thing" she thinks really makes a difference with her clients in marketing - both in how they operate and their bottom line.

Avergon Marketing Group at Empower Lab

5/17/2022

I had a chance to speak at Empower Lab this week on Marketing for Top Talent.

An Unexpected Surprise...

12/23/2020

Sometimes we run into unexpected surprises. I was doing some research for a client who wanted to see a list of publications I had been cited in when I ran into a listing from April of this year that noted one of my podcasts on marketing as one of the Top Eight Marketing Podcasts to listen to in 2020. Needless to say, I was both excited and surprised. I had no idea. A nice holiday surprise.

Happy Holidays everyone. :)

directiveconsulting.com/institute/blog/top-digital-marketing-podcasts/