Marketing– in the real world

In an ideal world our priorities would never get shifted around. Our family would always come first. We would be healthy, happy & keep up to date on the latest trends. We would be uber productive so we could accomplish everything beyond our own expectations. But we live in the real world. It’s messy and something usually gets pushed to the back of the line. We are forced to juggle multiple efforts and never seem to catch up.

Does your marketing department fall into one of these categories?
1. Your small & it’s all on you
o You’re a small company or a start-up with limited funds
o You do don’t have the staff you need.
o You can’t or won’t let anyone else do it.

Real EXAMPLE: A local children’s theater has 2 full time staff members.

o One is the artistic director. He chooses the shows and helps the actors.
o The all-in-one office goddess. She has limited knowledge of the Internet and computer. All marketing material and press releases are created in word and either printed, email or faxed.
o The company relies on all outlets retyping their information for release.
o Web 2.0 is something they read about but can’t implement because they don’t understand it, don’t have the knowledge & can’t pay for it to be done for them.

2. You’re a small to medium sized company
o You have some staff but they wear multiple hats
o You may outsource but are limited by funds and/or resource

Real EXAMPLE: The local library has staff but they must multi-task.

o The library does not have a marketing person so staff members must share the responsibility
o The Library creates its own newsletter to advertise it’s events but distribution is limited. Some outlets reproduce the information but they have to reenter the information to distribute it.
o The Library does not have the staff or expertise to take advantage of web 2.0
o The library does not have the funds for outsourcing.

3. You are a larger company
o You have staff to get the word out or
o You outsource

Real EXAMPLE: A big name circus has a large marketing department. Tasks get shifted around when people go on FLA (Family Leave Act) etc…
o When people assumed someone’s roll they didn’t have the bandwidth to fully do the job
o When the person returned from FLA the backlog of work was overwhelming and they were digging out for months

How do we fix these situations? How do we find the time? What do you focus on? How do you expand to new markets? The market is ripe but we need to find a way to help people get the word out.

Starting today, I’m going to “pay it forward”. I will reach out to organizations to see how I can help move them forward. I will do this for FREE. By helping theses companies move forward I will be helping my community and our economy. I got the idea from twitter.com/Phatmommy. Want to pitch in and help? Here’s how you can pay it forward.

Here are the rules:
The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward. I am going to send something fun & nice to three blog owners who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and pick three people they want to send something to and so on. Unfortunately, due to postage costs, I can only pay it forward within the United States. If you are interested in participating, be one of the three randomly chosen blog owners to leave a comment! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found - just a gift that will make the person smile. There are no cost restraints, but don’t go crazy! You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link to me, and then send something to three people who sign up to play along through your blog.

I’m ready to Pay It Forward to three people. Leave a comment if you want to play.

Robert