Marketing strategies mean so many things to so many different people, that there is no standard code - or is there? While I have been using the same marketing strategy format for the past 20 years, I am always alarmed when I see a sales person write up a marketing 'to do list' and proclaim that this is in fact their marketing strategy. Likewise, when an entrepreneur hires a college graduate who writes up a marketing strategy based on the format that they learnt at college, which is out-dated, lacking in relevance and most likely not something that the student has had the ability to actually learn in-depth.

Imagine your sales team sitting in your office discussing the reasons why they didn't make the sales projections for the last quarter. They talk about how hard they have worked, and that they think it is either bad time of year, or something has changed in the market. Furthermore, they say to you that they think your marketing is either not effective or worse, non-existent.

It doesn't take long to realise that some marketing professionals are more competent and successful than others because they inherently have skills that other's don't. You can get by as a marketer with sound writing skills, a firm understanding of marketing with continuous training and development. Most employers would be happy with this, and I have to say that I find employees that have this background to be more than ok. However, if you truly want to be successful, and out-shine the rest of the pack, you need this skill:

It happens. You have all the best intentions and for some reason your marketing strategy isn't working. Believe it or not, it has happened to some of the biggest businesses on the planet; think Kodak and Microsoft. 

The last quarter in Australia is always a tricky one. With public holidays, grand finals, racing carnivals, school holidays and the festive season parties, many sales and marketing professionals put their foot off the accelerator.

Who has fallen in love with the 'new shiny toy' and forgotten about their old one's?

I have definitely done this so many times. My mentor always says to me "The new girl is always prettier than the girl you took to the dance". So true. I can attest to that.

Startups are hard work, require a lot of resilience and often are flawed with the fact that many are not adequately funded to a) hire the right people b) to marketing the business c) to have the infrastructure in place for growth.

One of the biggest misconceptions that business owners have it is that if they have a marketing strategy developed, all of a sudden, overnight, an influx of leads will come through the door.

It's hard running a business, and even harder to manage the fact that many entrepreneurs and CEO's want everything 'yesterday' and are impatient by nature. That same impatience often makes them very success, as does their attention to detail, but when it comes marketing, unless you have an unlimited budget, it is impossible to be an overnight success.

As an owner of an agency, I know this thought process too well.

It takes a good 20 to 40 hours minimum to write a marketing strategy, and that is after research and a 4-hour workshop. To expect that to be finished overnight in itself is impossible and would be only at the determent of the client. No-one is that good, that innovative and creative to put their knowledge into a strategy that is campaign driven to drive leads. No-one. We could put 20 people on the one strategy and it still would not be right after a week - and that is fact.

I come up with my best ideas away from the office. Not sitting at my desk under pressure.

It's not in your imagination, but marketing your business is getting a whole lot harder. What was once an easy to achieve goal, is now polluted by too many choices for both your customer and yourself, in the marketing mix.

As a customer, it is confusing and very few companies have fine-tuned the art of simple. We all learn at University to "Keep It Simple Stupid" - the KISS principal, but too many of us have forgotten that and perhaps we no longer believe it to be relevant. I do. Confusing the client, and our clients confusing their customers is a huge mistake and only when a customer identifies this do they start the breakthrough to achieving their next step towards achieving their ultimate marketing goal.

Marketing Eye has for years focused on the small to medium sized business market. We have done incredibly well specialising in providing businesses that are looking to catapult their business growth by providing them with a qualified outsourced marketing department.