I have noticed a common problem with many brands who seek out my marketing consulting services. Their intention is sound, but they make the same mistakes over and over again. They think of marketing as if it is a noun, not a verb.

Marketing is an action that involves more listening on the front end before you jump into untethered tactics. It requires a deep understanding of a very well-defined targeted community that you will serve and how you will bring value to that community.

If your marketing looks and smells like stuff you might have done in the 1980’s, it is probably stale and ineffective. Trade shows, print ads, and boring glossy brochures just aren’t going to help you succeed.

You have to get up from your desk, and sit on the other side of the table and pretend you are a customer.

The Chief Listening Officer

Someone in the company needs to be assigned the responsibility of Chief Listening Officer. Their sole job is to listen and help the company understand where their community has a problem. Before working on solving a problem, the company needs to have first-hand knowledge of their communities pain points. Then the company can begin to create products that solve problems.

With this information, the CLO can bring back to their company important lessons for what the real pain points are for the industry.  When you help your customer with their needs, then you are in the marketing business.

Stop Marketing Your Brand and Listen

I’d argue that you should stop marketing your brand and start solving your customer’s problem. When you have a Chief Listening Officer, who job is to focus on hearing customer’s needs, then you are moving away from marketing as a noun and toward the action or verb form.

If you base your marketing on listening, then your marketing will be:

1. UNIQUE – Your marketing activity should be something your competitors isn’t doing. Whether B2B or B2C, you have to find a way to help your clients that distinguish you from all others. A good example is teaching and educating people on how to make coffee properly like Counter Culture Coffee. Unique means only you are providing this service to your customers.
2. ADDING VALUE– Can your marketing effort give something of value to customers that connect on an emotional level. Maybe it understands the charities they are passionate about, or it’s a way to bring something fun and unexpected. Adding value means you are putting marketing dollars closer to the customer and if possible, not through media. The customer determines if you are adding value. In a B2B situation, a supplier might be bringing value by helping his client sell their product with a strong brand differentiator that allows them to capture more margin. (Teflon, Microban, Intel Inside).
3. BRAND RELEVANT – The activities should always be relevant and distinctive, but they must also fit with your brand’s mission. If you are a hospital trying to help connect a community, maybe you offer a free app that teaches people how to connect a car seat for a newborn. Find a way to give something that links to your core mission. Listening should enlighten your organization to understand needs from the community you serve.

Listen

I haven’t met too many Chief Listening Officers at companies, but I bet they will start popping up across the corporate landscape. You may need to stop talking to find them. They are the quiet people doing the observing.

How is your organization structured to find value within the community you serve?

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Need someone to listen? Connect with me here.

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tripletsisters/ Flickr CC