Marketing is not sales support. If proposal writing and RFP responses are in “marketing”, you aren’t doing “marketing”.
Selling is one-to-one. Selling is finding out what that individual’s views, perspectives, challenges, biases, needs, opinions, fears and desires are. It is NOT “selling”, rather it is finding out what problem that person has and what she wants to buy, then packaging your offering so it addresses that individual’s needs and situation.
Marketing is one-to-many. It is doing the research to identify market segments, and those segments’ needs, wants, fears, and buying processes. It is developing and modifying products and services so they specifically address general and specific needs. It is promoting those products and services so potential buyers are aware of them and see the applicability to their situation.
Marketing can be squishy; it can be hard to assess the ROI on a marketing campaign or investment.
Work comp services execs often think marketing is easy, simple, and they are good at it. Hey, they can write an article, press release or “white paper” or give a speech or design a booth.
While a few execs understand Marketing, most do not.
And that is precisely why work comp services is a highly commoditized industry where price is critical.
What does this mean for you?
Marketing’s budget should be 2 percent of your revenues, and led by someone who really knows the subject.
Okay, so in the last few weeks you’ve explained how the sellers are selling wrong and how the buyers are buying wrong. I would suggest for your next target you focus on how the legislators are legislating wrong, but that’s way too expansive a burden to lay on anyone. With regards to the marketing of comp services, you’re not wrong.
Marko – always good to hear from you. There’s a lot that could be improved upon, but there’s also a lot of good – opioid controls, fee schedules, EBM are three.
Thank you. This is so true.
Great perspective on Marketing and reinforcing the value and investment.