Leading by Example in the Marketing Business

When I started building this business and ultimately, this website, I decided that I wanted to be as open and supportive as I could be to my clients. I wanted to provide the best service possible, and do it in a way that could help people learn something about their own businesses.

Sure, I can be hired to come in and help straighten out your marketing efforts, and start executing campaigns to build buzz around your product, but in the end, what have you learned? Maybe a thing or two that you can replicate, but over all the ideas behind my actions would be a mystery.

Then again, what if I come into your organization and begin explaining why you need to do new things. I tell you how these new ideas will impact your customers experience, and how, gradually, this will increase sales and brand recognition. And how in turn, your customers will begin telling these stories to their friends and families, and your brand name becomes synonymous with quality. Soon, your thinking of new angles for your marketing efforts, ways to improve your customer interactions, and how to better position your website to gain increased market share on the search engines. You are empowered to lead your business in new directions, and you do so not blindly, but with the ideas that can make it successful.

Well, yeah, now I am out of a job, but I have provided you with something more valuable than a brand identity, or a viral campaign for your company. I have given you the knowledge to improve your business from the inside out and to build marketing into your every move. Suddenly, strategy is not just about sending out postcards to potential leads. It’s about leading by example and telling your story to the world through your businesses actions. It’s about taking accountability, and creating something remarkable.

So, to get back to the point, I decided to be open with my clients, and to prove that I am here to improve your businesses marketing efforts. My solution was to provide a direct line of communication with me to answer questions people might have, no strings attached.

Well, quicker than expected, the questions began rolling in. With each new question, I have invested time into researching each persons business. The more information I am given from the beginning, the more specific my feedback can be, but regardless, I try to provide quality ideas that can instantly be acted upon.

For the next few weeks, I will be posting my suggestions to those that have sent in questions. I will only be changing names and URI’s if I have been asked to, but otherwise I will be posting my complete responses.

Why would I do this? Well, because I think it’s useful to someone. I think people may find advice they can utilize in their own business. While these ideas may be directed at a specific website, or product, the overarching premise is the same. Maybe you will learn something about your own business, or maybe you be inspired to try something new.

So check back in the next day for the first answer, and let me know in the comments if you find it useful.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 3:14 pm and is filed under St. Louis Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.