The entrepreneur and the marketing mindset

Q: I am still an entrepreneur who wears multiple hats including that of chief marketer/marketing director. I always tell my people that everyone should have a marketing mindset but teaching this mindset or attitude is hard to do.
What are the marketing mindsets that you recommend an entrepreneur possess?

A: Thanks for writing to us. This is a subject that is close to our hearts since both MarketingRx writers are also entrepreneurs. The marketing mindset and attitudes are crucial to an entrepreneur. Perhaps this acronym can serve as a reminder for you and your people. Based on our experience, here’s an overview of the marketing mindset that an entrepreneur like you needs to have.

M - Market-driven. The marketer-entrepreneur is always obsessed with what the market or consumer thinks about his brand (his product, service, company). He’s always observing and listening to what the market is doing --and not doing. What are consumers buying and not buying? (Why?) Good politicians or public servants, who are really social entrepreneurs, are keen to know what issues are important to their constituents or customers. (That’s what we citizens are – customers of the public servants.)

The marketer makes sure that his brand is thought about very often. He knows that what follows “share of mind” is market share.

Marketers are market-driven. They listen to the consumers and act to please and delight them. It’s worth repeating what we said a couple of weeks ago about the right marketing attitude:
Never start planning or deciding on any marketing campaign or program from where you are as a marketer. Instead, always start from where your consumers are.

I – Influential. Author, John Maxwell, says that “leadership is influence.” The marketer needs to be a 360 degree leader. In other words, a person who can influence not only those below him (i.e. his staff or team) but also those “beside” him (those in the organization’s different departments—finance, production, sales) and above him (top management, board, mancom) to be able to execute his marketing plan and strategy.

No wonder, crops of good CEOs are coming from the ranks of marketing who have learned the art of influence.

A leadership mind-set is needed by the marketer even if he doesn’t have the title or position. Before a marketing plan can succeed there needs to be internal marketing or buy-in from the different leaders in a company. Marketers are influencers.

N – Nimble. “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick...” To be able to hurdle the proverbial candle stick, the marketer must have a nimble mindset. Nimbleness connotes flexibility. If the only constant thing we can count on is change, then that means our best marketing plans will go through the fires of change. A nimble mindset will help you guard against frustration. A willingness to accept change and compromise (to a degree that doesn’t compromise integrity and quality) will guarantee quicker than usual execution of your strategy as well. Marketers have a nimble mindset.

D – Discipline. A mentor once told us that the “difference between successful people and failures, are that successful people are those who are willing to do the things that failures often refuse to do.” Many times that difference involves hard work, going the extra mile (so they don’t take shortcuts), being conscientious or meticulous and taking time to study and improve oneself.
Marketing is a discipline. Marketers have discipline—they are not in a rush to do things wrong.

S-Selective. Marketers are singular in focus. Many times opportunities can abound to the marketer, but at the end of the day they must focus. Expanding and going into too many brand extensions, for example, is always a temptation.

Same thing with positioning your brand. You want to be so many things to so many people. But in the end you must choose and sacrifice. Own a “word” or concept in the prospect’s mind and focus on that. That’s what Al Ries and Jack Trout call the law of focus. If your airline’s focus is on “budget” then you must focus on that and sacrifice “upscale.”

The marketing mindset is focused.

E – Enthusiastic. That’s the “E” factor. Marketers are high on enthusiasm. For the true-blue marketer, Marketing is not just a job—it’s a calling. It’s an advocacy. It’s a ministry. It’s an act of service. At one recent conference, the JrMRxer was so amazed at how one marketing director could be so excited about marketing deodorant. He saw himself and the products that he was selling as something that was adding value to society. Without him and his products, the world would be a stinking place to live in. Teenage love and marriages would probably break up because of underarm odor. That was his mindset. He was on a mission and that spurred him to great success.

Success scientists say that nothing of great importance was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Imagine Martin Luther King delivering his famous “I have a dream” speech without the enthusiasm and passion that accompanied it. Would that dream have sold and caught on?
Check yourselves. How excited are you about your product or service? If the “E” factor is absent, perhaps it’s time to move on--or to go and do some soul searching to rediscover the beauty, value and purpose of your brand.

The marketers’ mindset is always enthusiastic.

T –Trust. Marketers have a “trust above all” mindset. Let’s face it. Consumers are growing wary and distrustful of marketers. Read the book, All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin or the classic, Meaningful Marketing by Doug Hall (of American Inventor reality show fame). They basically say that the winner in the marketing game is the one who is able to tell the truth in the best way possible.

We all want to hear a story that is true and that is worth passing on. Word of mouth marketing works best when the “gossip” about the product or service is true. Or else it dies a quick death.

Recently we were at a sales rally organized by a top developer for a group of real estate brokers. The developer showed a promotional video of their latest development in the south. The AVP said: “The project is just minutes away from schools like…and just a few minutes away from hospitals like Asian Hospital.” The project is in Sta. Rosa and the Asian Hospital is not a “few minutes away.” Nor is it just “15 minutes away from Makati” when everyone but a fool knows that it is only true when travelling at 2am in a Porsche.

You want to build a trust. And that’s not the way to do it.

Marketers are trustworthy. They undersell and over deliver on their promises.

So there you have it. The M.I.N.D.S.E.T. of a marketer-entrepreneur.

Have a blessed weekend!Send your questions or comments to MarketingRx@pldtdsl.net

published in the Inquirer - May 24-08