When I was young, about six or seven years old, I was in a school play (we called them concerts for some reason). I was an elf; I still remember the green pointed hat. Gaz was also an elf, and so was this other boy, Adrian. Now, Adrian was very law-abiding, very well-behaved. Gaz and I, not so much.
The idea was for this forest full of elves working along in the bright sunshine and singing 'Happy Days are here again..." Adrian was up in the tree picking apples, while Gaz and I stood below holding the basket for him to toss the apples into.
During what should have been an 'ah, isn't that cute' moment for the audience (the school hall was packed out), some in the crowd started to snigger, giggle and then laugh. I remember being dimly aware of the teacher trying to get my attention from backstage, but Gaz and I were too absorbed.
As it turns out, Gaz and I had gotten bored holding the basket and decided it would be a good idea to chop the tree down, with Adrian still at it. Adrian had noticed and was yelling at us to stop. Of course, the audience saw this, and the rest is history.
There is probably a marketing lesson in there somewhere, although I don't think it is that bored people will eventually start chopping down trees.
The problem was that Gaz and I had stopped following the script. Adrian was still doing what he was supposed to be doing, and the other elves were doing what they were supposed to be doing. The music was still playing and the production was marching along, oblivious.
Gaz and I were just telling a different story
I see versions of this surprisingly often in businesses. There is plenty of marketing activity going on, but not necessarily a clear marketing direction holding it together.
Someone is posting on LinkedIn. Sales has developed its own way of describing the business.
The website was written two years ago and says something slightly different. An email campaign focuses on another message. Someone has decided the company needs to be on Instagram. Meanwhile, the owner has a quite different idea about why customers actually choose them.
Individually, none of these things may be wrong. Collectively, however, they can leave the market with a confused picture of who the business is, what it does and why anybody should choose it.
That is why one of the questions I ask businesses is: Is everyone telling the same story?
They don't have to use the same words (in fact, they probably shouldn't). A salesperson talking to a prospect will naturally communicate differently from a LinkedIn post or the homepage of a website.
But underneath those differences should be the same positioning, the same understanding of the customer, the same reasons to choose the business and the same commercial priorities.
Three ways to check
There are three fairly simple ways to find out whether that is happening.
- Ask the owner, salesperson, marketing person and whoever looks after the website what the three main marketing priorities are for the next six months. If you get four substantially different answers, there is probably a problem.
- Then look at your website homepage, latest sales proposal, LinkedIn page and most recent email campaign. What story does each tell about the business? Do they reinforce each other, or could they have been produced by four different companies?
- Finally, take some of the marketing activity currently under way and ask: What is this for?
It's not about whether they like it or it sounds good, or whether competitors are doing it; nor if somebody thinks you should be posting three times a week.
What is it supposed to achieve?
It might be building awareness among a particular market, generating enquiries, nurturing prospects, retaining existing customers or supporting the sales team. Whatever the answer, there should be one.
Where fractional marketing leadership fits
This is also where I see a role for fractional marketing leadership.
Many businesses don't need another person producing marketing. They already have people who can write the email, update the website, create the graphic, post on LinkedIn or talk to customers.
What they may not have is somebody taking responsibility for the direction: deciding what the business needs marketing to achieve, establishing the positioning and key messages, setting priorities and making sure the various parts support each other.
In other words, somebody needs to make sure everyone is telling the same story.
Because when they aren't, you can have plenty of people working very hard while somebody, somewhere, is chopping down the apple tree.
