Marketing is everyone

Objective

How often do you feel infuriated by a service experience that does not match the fine (fancy) words of a corporate advertising campaign? By the hotel chain that promises a superior experience tailored to business needs, which turns out to be delivered by surly, ill-informed colleagues? By the frequent flyer service that offers the exclusivity of lounges, but in fact delivers to a singularly non-exclusive large number of travellers? By the plumbing service that offers rapid response, only to be executed by technicians too overworked to commit to an appointment time they can keep? By the call centres offering easy access to answers to all your questions that keep you on hold for periods long enough to hear their entire repertoire of recorded musical favourites?

I have to say that in the twenty-first-century business world my expectations are more frequently disappointed than they are met or exceeded. The sad outcome – and I very much doubt that I am alone – is that I have learned to manage them downwards to limit frustration. But I do not think this is the outcome of a massive confidence trick on the part of businesses in general – these days there are few monopolies that impose high switching costs, and it is easy for customers – be they consumer or corporate – to switch suppliers. In fact, it has probably never been easier to do so.

Your objective is to ensure that within your team everyone delivers what they promise in all their interactions with customers.

Context

The intriguing question, then, is why it is so often the case that the customer is let down? The problem rests substantially with the overall concept of ‘marketing’. Leave to one side debates as to whether marketing is a function (the team which does adverts and direct mail), or a strategic approach to product development and positioning (using some combination of Porter and BCG models). Really it is simple – marketing embraces every engagement, every point of contact, between an organisation and its stakeholders. It is your role as leader to ensure that your organisation understands this principle so well that it is in its corporate blood.

This is a tall order – it means that every e-mail, every letter, every phone call, every order, every package, every meeting, every greeting, every detail of every action must make a statement about the organisation – its beliefs, values and core proposition.

Challenge

Your role is to develop this understanding – to help your organisation to see itself through the customers’ eyes; to frame its behaviour at all times from the customers’ perspective; and to refine all aspects of engagement in a way that first and foremost meets the customers’ needs, and not the needs of internal convenience. There is no get-out for anyone in this approach – hence marketing is everyone; not a department, not a product plan, but a corporate way of life.

No leader can possibly see all areas of engagement or realistically monitor them. Above all else you lead by example, and challenge all issues from a customer’s perspective – you are the ultimate customer champion. You exhort beyond any level that seems natural on the basis – so critical to leadership in general – that leadership messages are rarely believed unless repeated. You also look and listen for signs that indicate the customer is not being put first, for example:

• statements that ‘we have always done things this way’ – indicating that the status quo is thoughtlessly embedded without reference to changing customer needs;
• high levels of customer complaints about repetitive issues;
• internal complaints, especially from staff dealing with customers, that issues affecting customer perceptions are repeatedly ignored despite promises of remediation;
• any statements or processes that clearly place the needs of internal bureaucracy ahead of customer requirements.

This has to be a relentless process – the effective leader can never let go, never let up on the dominance of the customer. You have to be tediously repetitive, constantly enforcing the view that everyone affects the positioning and reputation of the organisation.

Success

Your main tactic in reinforcing the dominance of the customer is to ensure that the concept of ‘marketing is everyone’ becomes an approach in everyone’s attitude to their work.

• First days – from your first day talk repeatedly about the customer, their importance as the life-blood of the organisation. Make it a way of life that issues are seen through the prism of customer experience.
• All colleagues – constantly emphasise the notion that all colleagues – all colleagues – have a direct or indirect bearing on customer interaction, and that all staff are key to the overall marketing proposition.
• Marketing for all – refuse to allow marketing to be the preserve of ‘marketing’ (in the same way that customer service is not the preserve of ‘customer service’) and idealise the notion that marketing should be on everyone’s job description.
• Marketing is everyone – introduce the concept as a formal programme, if needs be, to encourage departmental and interdepartmental analysis of how all staff affect your core propositions.
• Customer journey – reinforce this marketing concept with the notion of the ‘customer journey’ (see The customer journey 1: customer experience in Part 8), which is a further analytical tool to see the business through its customers’ eyes.
• Performance – refuse to tolerate poor performance in relation to customer experience. Say so, and be seen to say so.
• Surveys – all these actions should be supported by regular and detailed customer experience and satisfaction surveys.

This is a case where you will have to keep on making statements that may sound odd, and you will often be met with incomprehension or downright disagreement. Many will continue to feel and think that marketing is for the marketing department.

The chief marketing officer will have his or her own personalised sales and marketing campaign to prove them wrong.

Pitfalls

Much success in any organisation is driven by the effective implementation of careful plans. So also the reverse – plan, but fail to attend to the detail of putting the plan into effect, and the risk of failure rises exponentially. So with marketing is everyone:

• you start talking about ‘marketing is everyone’ but then stop – this inconsistency and lack of commitment makes ‘marketing’ another management shooting star, coming and leaving without trace;
• you refer to marketing as a department – this silo approach allows a wide range of staff to disclaim any responsibility for marketing impact on customers;
• customer-facing strategies in different teams are unrelated – in this scenario, where teams are customer-orientated but disconnected, ‘marketing is everyone’ becomes marketing by everyone for no one, fragmentation meaning there’s no common view of the customer;
• you fail to respond to continual lapses in an integrated marketing approach – commitment not supported by enforcement runs the risk of becoming no commitment at all, because words are not matched by deeds, and the ‘marketing is everyone’ philosophy becomes shallow;
• the organisation doesn’t listen to feedback – marketing is not a one-way process, it must incorporate feedback mechanisms. Any marketing commitment which is deaf to customer feedback is deluding itself about its effectiveness.

The message is follow through – only ruthless and determined commitment will make ‘marketing is everyone’ a reality.

Leaders’ checklist

• Be clear with yourself that marketing is everyone is a way of business life, not a slogan.
• Link marketing is everyone to the concepts around the customer journey.
• Talk about it, talk about it and talk about it – until you’re blue in the face, and even then it’s probably not enough!
• Think of yourself as your team’s chief marketing officer.
• Try never to refer to marketing as a department.
• Ensure that ‘marketing’ plans are understood and supported by all teams, not simply the one called ‘marketing’.
• Get detailed feedback about customer reactions to any part of your team’s business activities, review the feedback personally and be seen to act on it.
• Ensure that customer feedback is discussed openly in all your team meetings.
• Be clear about the measures of success for marketing – sales, profits and market share.