For
want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of the horse, the rider was lost;
For want of the rider, the battle was lost;
For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a nail.
Swift and competent execution
is the most important part of any marketing program,
but poor execution is a common affliction in many marketing
company programs. Missed ad deadlines, slipped mailing
dates, important sales materials delayed at the printer
due to gratuitous type changes or other production glitches
are the enemies of good marketing execution.
“For want of a nail,”
poor execution leads to missed marketing opportunities.
A critical mailing that’s not ready to drop in
time to support a company’s peak selling season
or a new product launch, a new Web site endlessly delayed,
an important advertising placement missed in a key issue
of a trade publication, poor or late advance promotion
and slipshod production for a company’s most important
trade show appearance of the year. All are examples
of missed selling opportunities caused by poor marketing
execution, and are easily correctable by using the principles
detailed in this book.
A marketing manager’s
passivity, lack of knowledge of tradecraft, and of the
key steps required to execute marketing projects, are
the primary causes of poor marketing execution. Marketing
managers who treat the process of marketing execution
as a “black box” will exercise questionable
judgement and unrealistic expectations in their management
of marketing programs.
Marketing managers who have
a working knowledge of the day-to-day steps involved
in any marketing project gain credibility with, and
earn the respect of, their ad agencies, marketing consultants,
printers, outside vendors, and the other members of
their marketing team, as well as the sales managers
they support, and the executives they report to.
Developing the skill of fast
and effective marketing execution requires you to learn
the tradecraft of marketing, for all different types
of marketing projects. Learning how a thing is done,
even if this task will be performed by someone else,
helps you to better manage the process, and gives you
a more realistic expectation of how your project can
be executed, and how long it takes to get it done. Marketing
managers who learn the tradecraft of marketing develop
better marketing plans, and execute them well, because
they know the process of marketing execution.
Gaining the ability to execute
fast and well not only means you get your marketing
program under firm control, it also gives you the power
to attack any promising new marketing opportunity that
arises: Ad placements and mailings required for a push
into an exciting new market or product launch, a last-minute
booth space opening at a major trade show, a critical
change required in sales copy for existing ads, brochures,
or other deliverables in your marketing program. A marketing
manager and marketing team that execute well can exploit
any sales opportunity, anytime, anywhere.
............................................................................................
Any Good Marketing Project, Well-Executed, Beats
Any Great Marketing Project, Poorly Executed
A well-executed marketing
program that arrives in time to generate inquiries and
sales for your company is infinitely more valuable than
an even better one that is not there when needed, or
is hobbled by rushed, slipshod, or late execution.
Once an ad layout, direct mail
package, or any other marketing deliverable is produced
using the techniques described in this book, the marketing
manager must then shift his or her focus over to the
task of executing the marketing project where the deliverable
is to be used—i.e., the advertising schedule, the
direct mail program, trade show, Web site, or other
project.
“Don’t let the best
be the enemy of the good” is the battle cry for
marketing deliverables and projects that are threatened
by endless tweaking, reviewing, and other fiddling as
important deadlines approach. This often occurs whenever
layouts for ads or brochures are reviewed and corrected
by too many people inside a company, or when trivial
design changes are made to ad layouts and deliverables.
In addition to these problems,
“thinking too much” is another common cause
of poor marketing execution. Any marketing deliverable
can be revised or edited to make it even better. Moreover,
if time is unlimited, there is, theoretically, always
a better ad campaign, a better direct mail program,
or a better version of any other marketing deliverable
that can be produced.
A quest for a better advertising
concept or layout that becomes a neurotic, nagging doubt
in your marketing program is not only a threat to your
marketing execution, the doubt created by “thinking
too much” about your marketing projects threatens
your entire marketing program by undermining the confidence
of your marketing team.
Don’t be afraid to “fail
faster:” Sometimes, the only way to learn the
most effective way to sell your company’s product
is to suck it up and execute your plan: Place your ads,
send out your mailings, rent booth space at the trade
show, or execute any other activity that requires a
hard commitment of dollars, effort and time. Some of
these projects may yield good sales results, and some
may yield poor sales results.
While it’s good to be prudent,
and risk can be minimized through market testing, there
is always a risk of failure in any marketing project.
In many cases, factors other than the marketing deliverable
(such as product features or price) may be the cause
of failure, but you will only learn this by actual execution,
with the best plan and deliverables you have at hand.
However, if you execute quickly, you also “fail
faster,” and, in learning what went wrong, you
often have enough time to make the necessary corrections
to your marketing program based on this actual experience.
If nothing’s ever ventured, nothing good can be
gained.
If, by faster execution, you
can more quickly resolve the “unknowns” in
your marketing program—i.e., will the new mailing
work? Will these new ads pull?—you will have more
time to assess what went wrong, fix the problem, and
get your revised marketing projects back in the race.
If, instead, you had wasted time tweaking and fussing
over this marketing project, you probably would have
met the same end result, but now you would have no time
left to correct your marketing program.
Better to decide on a course
of action, develop the best marketing deliverable for
the time and effort allowed, and get it into action,
when your company needs it. An ad, mailing, or other
marketing deliverable that’s “good and there”
is always better than the ideal one which always seems
just beyond your grasp.
(excerpted
from The Marketing Manager's Handbook,
published by Internet Media, 2003)
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