Do you find marketing enjoyable or is it a necessary evil?
Most business owners I know do not enjoy marketing that much. Which is not to say they dislike doing it, they just don't derive much pleasure from the activities. Is it because we aren't trained and are therefore not confident, or is it because we're afraid of making mistakes?
Interested in how you approach marketing – as a task or a game? What would make it more enjoyable?
To me, marketing is highly enjoyable. Marketing involves playing with psychology - and the baseline of marketing is manipulating people's behaviour.
I find it really fun because it makes me think a lot about how I think and view the world, and in a sense makes me understand myself better. I don't really see it as a game, but more as a social experiment. There is no one correct way to do things, and no guaranteed results. Most of the time, you just have to do it and see what happens.
That being said, it can be so incredibly frustrating when you set high expectations and get minimal results. Getting your wallet sucked dry and seeing minimal results probably is the reason why not many people like it.
What many people don't realise about marketing is that its not a all about making ads. Its about analysis, budgeting, and requires a high level of discipline. Therefore, marketing isn't just a 'necessary evil', its a integral part of running any sort of business.
Some...actually a lot...of marketing I love. Networking, conducting seminars and generally speaking on topics I love to speak on, content marketing, that sort of stuff is exciting for me. However, my dark, dark recruitment days had me doing cold calling - the unsolicited phone calls to businesses without any reference or relationship. This was a horrid way to sell and put me off marketing in general for a long time. It wasn't until I realised that cold calling was a poor method of marketing and frankly best done away with, that the methods mentioned above became much more prominent.
Bottom line I realised that do what you love doing - marketing wise. All this hoo-haa about stepping out of your comfort zone is crazy. If you show your excitement while you market, you will come across as far more engaging, genuine and believable. And that, above all else, will get you the wins.
I think Marketing is great, I enjoy speaking to different businesses at different levels. Its an ongoing improvement process where one engagement teaches, prepares and creates your next opportunity. It is a wonderful feeling knowing that you have provided a solution to a client that has solved their business problems. I am getting to a stage where I firmly believe that you are in the market space to create products/services for your customers. Not find customers for your products or services. Marketing at ground level can be hard yakka and quite frustrating at times, I spend hours on the phone canvassing business and being rejected all the time. But when I do find that one client that has a need that I can provide a solution to. Its game on to find the best possible solution for that new client. Its always an exciting time to meet new business opportunities. Most of all what I have learnt is sell your products to people who 1. Need it 2 want it 3 should use it 4 and will tell their friends about it. And most importantly benefit more from it than the investment they put it.
