As a first post to this (hopefully regular!) marketing and consultancy blog, I’m hoping to start debate, or garner support…whilst hopefully avoiding outright hatred of my marketplace opinions! But whatever happens, it’ll be great to hear all your thoughts!
So…
Marketers, data managers and consultants sometimes fail to grasp why the medium (which they’ve worked in diligently for a number of years) seems to be so difficult for other people to understand.
However, it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and advise people to radically alter their business plans, even though they rely on the outcome for their livelihood. With the increased pressure to squeeze a profit within an agency or consultancy environment, I feel that an element of accountability is disappearing.
It’s important to want to try something new, because it seems so obvious to marketers and the like to do such, if a client isn’t already. But it’s necessary to work closely with the client to ensure relevancy and growth at the right pace. Perhaps sometimes the risk of passing on knowledge and losing immediate profit by teaching a client a new approach is worthwhile, if it generates an atmosphere of trust. The recession can instill a sense of need for immediacy of profit. But those businesses that can afford to plan for the future, or at least sew the seeds of customer development, will reap the rewards in the long term. We shouldn’t sacrifice service for the quick buck.
