Why don’t people trust marketers?

Anyone who’s ever run a business will tell you it’s all about the numbers.

Now, there are a couple of way to interpret that phrase. What springs most easily to mind is a capitalist caricature based on greed and exploitation. A client once told me a story of his boss who concluded a disagreement thus: “Look – it’s not about the clients. It’s not about the people. It’s about the fucking numbers.”

Funnily enough, that business didn’t end up doing too well.

Then there’s what you might think of as the more enlightened version: if the numbers don’t work, your business is stuffed and you’ll be looking for a job sharpish. But if you do good work and treat people well, with a fair wind and a sensible head then you should manage. The key distinction here is that, ultimately, it is about the numbers – but if that’s your only focus then, particularly in today’s world, you might find it hard to convince people to support you.

I spoke to a (VERY) successful entrepreneur once who reminded me of the well-worn phrase: “Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity… and cash is everything.” It might be helpful to add: “But if you treat people with contempt then you won’t have to worry about any of that.”

The summary might be then that you need to make sure there’s enough cash in the bank to allow you to pay people well and do good work. Simple enough. Obvious, even.

I’m not convinced enough marketers understand this simple reality, though. At least, there’s often a perception among business owners that marketing people don’t understand it. All those half-serious-but-a-bit-more-than-half comments about ‘the colouring-in department’. It drives marketers nuts, and no wonder.

It’s a curious phenomenon. Marketing is complex, multi-faceted, unpredictable, and – done well – it’s essential to business growth. Some of the smartest, hardest-working people you’ll meet in business are in marketing, and yet they often only receive proper recognition when they move into a commercial or C-suite leadership role.

I have some theories on why this might be:

1.      Marketing is often subjective, even though it isn’t really.

CEO: “I don’t like that idea.”

Marketing person: “What don’t you like about it?”

CEO: “I don’t know. I just don’t.”

Marketing person: “This is what the audience research shows will work.”

CEO: “Well it doesn’t say enough about us. Add something about our innovative solutions.”

Everyone has an opinion on marketing, and we should be sufficiently grown-up and secure to accept challenge, consider other perspectives and put our hands up to mistakes. But we should also be confident enough in our abilities and experience to push back on opinions which risk taking the project down the wrong path. While subjective opinions can be helpful, if those opinions come from inside the organisation they should be treated with caution. Your audience’s opinion is much, much more important because they do not give the faintest monkey’s about what you think, what you’re trying to achieve and definitely not about your shareholder value. They care about the problem they’re trying to solve, which is probably one of many, many problems they’re trying to solve. Your solution, service or product, impressive though it may be, is just one in a near-infinite universe of possibilities of how they choose to do that. And don’t rule out the possibility they may choose not to do anything at all because it's too hard / complicated / expensive / annoying or they’re about to go on holiday and simply can’t be bothered. Then they’ll have forgotten about it by the time they return.

2.      A lack of strategy.

Businesses typically spend a long time on product, services, processes, numbers, etc, and then proclaim something like: “We need to do some marketing.” Without proper intervention from someone who knows that they’re doing, what then follows is an unfocused melee of tactics which lack any strategic purpose. I’m going to cover this in a post of its own soon but rushing straight to tactics is a cast-iron guarantee of distinctly average results. Which brings me to…

3.      We’re natural people pleasers.

SO many meetings I’ve had with in-house marketers have involved veins popping out of faces and necks in frustration at constantly having their advice ignored by MDs / CEOs etc. Other than an obstinate few who’ll really roll the dice with their jobs and dig their heels in, too many marketers have to settle for a disappointing version of what they knew was the right thing to do. No-one wants to upset or disappoint the boss, so we can easily convince ourselves they’re right and maybe we DON’T need to do that piece of competitor research.

4.      The obsession with purpose.

The current zeitgeist of purpose is well-founded but badly interpreted. On the LinkedIn echo chamber of backslapping and positive affirmation, it’s easy to believe that being A Good Corporate Citizen is enough to bring home the bacon. Ah, but if it was only that easy. ‘Purpose’ in the marketing sense should mean the reason your business exists – it might be to make legal advice simpler; building projects more sustainable; cyber security easier to understand and implement. Whatever it is, you didn’t start a recruitment consultancy to stop the deforestation of the Amazon. No-one is going to pay you for that. Using your hard-won, privileged position to do some good in the world is absolutely to be encouraged and will help attract customers and staff. No doubt. I’m 100% in favour of businesses acting responsibly and promoting change. We need more businesses willing to do that. But we shouldn’t pretend it’s going to keep the lights on in and of itself. Get the basics right first then you can work out how you’ll go and save the world.

5.      It’s fun and exciting, so it can’t be all that serious.

Marketing is brilliant fun. Probably the most fun bit of most businesses. It’s challenging, it’s all about people and it involves intangible things that are really hard to get right but amazingly effective when you do, and it doesn’t easily fit into a spreadsheet or policy document. But when you start getting into top of funnel creative and brand vision, men with big hands who’ve worked in construction for 35 years can start zoning out. So there’s a sub-conscious idea that marketing is something you probably should have but it’s really just some plonkers buggering about in the ‘breakout area’ and wearing mustard rollnecks. Someone has to employ them, right?

6.      It can be hard to prove

Sell a widget? Cash in the bank. Sign a three-year contract? Ker-ching! Kick-ass brand campaign with outstanding creative ideas? Erm… that’s a bit harder to prove directly, and yes, digital has made it much easier to capture tangible short-term outcomes. But if you can’t draw a straight line between your new campaign and a stonking percentage profit increase, there might be some huffing and puffing. If you have a sensible strategy in place, there should be some clearly defined short- and longer-term objectives which keeps everyone on track and focused on the job.

7.      We think a bit differently

There’s a reason we end up in marketing and not finance. For one thing, my mathematics ability is embarrassing. But we see the world a bit differently. Maybe we’re more emotional, or more empathetic, or maybe the idea of creating and building a sustainable brand over time appeals more than smashing down doors and emptying out the clients’ pockets. Marketing is so often at odds with other parts of business because it requires looking at things through a different lens. Add to that the requirement for a bit of patience, upfront investment and some detailed thinking, and it’s a hard line to hold for a lot of people.

None of this is intended to suggest that marketing or marketers are better or worse in business than anyone else. We should, of course, be better at marketing, and better at demonstrating the value it can and does bring to growing businesses. Nor is it intended as a way to excuse poor marketing practice where the commercial imperative is secondary to the work itself. If marketing wants to be taken seriously, there’s a role for marketers in showing they bring value to an organisation – but that can only happen if business owners trust their marketing teams to do a good job, and give them the space to get on with it.