Awhile back I wrote about this, telling the story of my first job in marketing, setting up a program for five industrial divisions and two smaller companies, all part of a Fortune 100 corporation. It revolved around the president telling me, as I’m being hired, to always remember that marketing is an expense, while sales creates revenue. I didn’t agree then or now, and over my career have proven repeatedly that this “truism”… ain’t so.
The world of truisms and common sense is full of common nonsense and untruths.
Take the motivational, inspirational, “If it is to be, it is up to me!”
No, it’s never really all up to you! Your customers have a say in it, and so do a lot of other people! Conventional wisdom is based partly on facts, partly on passed-along experiences and a sprinkling of business lore and motivational self-starters.
We take a different approach. If conventional wisdom says a marketing strategy won’t work (or will work), we test. Figures don’t lie (but liars figure!)
It’s really that simple. Question, challenge and test everything.
Truth isn’t made up of convenient sayings and soundbytes. Truth becomes apparent in marketing through the way your market responds to your message. In other words, the market is the arbiter of what works in marketing and advertising, nobody else.
It’s up to us to let the market speak and to learn to listen!
