As a marketing consultant with over 35 years of experience, I often work with extremely stubborn clients who have seemingly lost their true calling in life, that of a marketing professional. While their credentials can be impressive (doctors, lawyers, executives), they generally have nothing to do with marketing. However, they approach the marketing task as one for which they have all the answers. Even I, after 35 years, don’t pretend to be so lucky. After all, marketing is a lot like investing. One can never really know what will happen. There are many variables and markets can be fickle, if not downright unpredictable. Strategies that worked for one product or service may not work for others. In my experience, diversification is one of the safest strategies of all. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
That might sound like cowardice, coming from a seasoned marketer. Where is my conviction? Where is my determination? Well when the economy crashed I put them both on the back burner where they are boiling until the bulls return. Until then, I advise all clients, humble and stubborn alike, that prudence is a virtue, however “spot on” the strategy may be.
So is it also cowardly to allow a customer to “bully” me into implementing their marketing strategy, often using their own unproven marketing concept, or worse yet, that of their offspring? For that I have some possible answers:
• 1. He is the customer and it is his money that we are spending.
• 2. I have informed you of my opinion and you have chosen to discard it.
• 3. If the effort fails, you can’t blame me.
• 4. The customer is always right.
Let’s take these points a bit further. What type of marketer allows a customer to spend their hard-earned money on something that may not work? Is this business practice ethical or even moral? First of all, none of us know for sure if your strategy and / or concept is useless as a marketing effort. In fact, I am aware of many home marketing efforts that have been quite successful, regardless of how amateur they may seem to professionals like me. Additionally, marketing is often based on creativity, drawing on fresh, new, and unprecedented ideas. And, in an industry running rampant with obnoxious and arrogant marketing “gurus,” I happen to consider myself unique in the sense that I rarely insist that my path is the only path. In all modesty, I don’t believe that and I never insist on anything.
Rather, I believe that he, as a successful business client, and I, as a successful marketing consultant, are approaching his marketing goal as equally competent and intelligent human beings – actually, business owners – with common results as our goal. We both want to come out of this experience with a positive result, a gain, hopefully, with a winning teamwork to thank for the effort.
But I am not naive. While that may be my opinion on the situation, with some clients the truth is quite different. Why such clients seek my services in the first place often escapes me. What I usually decide is that they need an accomplice to do the visual “dirty work” while they direct. In my experience, the “dirty work” usually consists of the graphic design or marketing “package” which for many clients is absolutely useless, possibly because they are inexperienced in the performance of this function. Ironically, for me, this is the most important piece of the puzzle. Without a professional and attractive presentation, all the effort should have stayed on the shelf.
It’s funny (quirky) that clients like this generally don’t seem to have the ability to distinguish a great presentation from one that’s flawed, so they rarely object to the part of the job that I’m most proud of. This is fortunate for me, because even if your concept or strategy may be less than ideal in my opinion, coupled with my strong, winning presentation, you have a very good chance of success.
However, as I’ve hinted earlier, this type of client is often one who enjoys dominance over others they are working with, which keeps them blind to the benefits of collaboration. Since I am not possessive of the work I do, it matters little to me if this client values my opinion. The bottom line is that I’m running a business where customers of all stripes are respected for their opinions, goals, and implementation ideas. I work very hard to guide them to a successful experience no matter the obstacles. While I prefer a client who respects my experience and advice, and I delight in those who give me free rein to handle work without their involvement, I am still willing to work with any client despite the possibility of personal humiliation or insult. What matters is that clients feel successful working with my company and compensate me accordingly. In business, that’s the true indicator of value.
Reiterating the question of the day: Who is best qualified to decide the marketing strategy, the marketer or the customer? From the point of view of experience, it would appear that the expert is more qualified. But, in light of the changes in the economy that have thrown precedents out the window, perhaps the client has the same validity as a marketing strategist, if he can accept that the expert has talents and knowledge that bring more value to the table than the client does so as a singular actor. The best answer is both. The client intimately knows his own business and the behavior of his client, while the marketing expert knows the marketing (which is his business) and the behavior of the markets. Together, the customer and the marketer create a formidable team. It is how well you play together that will determine your success.