Back in the saddle, to appreciate the science and art of marketing

I recently had a fantastic opportunity to develop and recommend a brand strategy. It was a completely new category to me and not the typical audience that I have previously worked with, so initially it was a little daunting.

To those who do not know me or are familiar with what I do, over the past few years I have typically supported Marketing Directors coaching and mentoring them to unpick the challenges of their brands, business, and people. With this project I was given a simple brief and asked for my thoughts and ideas on how best to launch and market the product.

Getting stuck in

I cannot tell you how enthused I was to set out my brand plan template, to get stuck into researching the situational analysis factors and then stepping back, reflecting what the brand challenges and opportunities were.

I loved estimating the market size, calculating potential penetration rates and how that might translate into brand profitability, weighing up different scenarios before landing on a business objective which I felt was both realistic and challenging.

That then flowed into marketing and tactics and before you know it, I had produced a succinct plan in just 3 days.

What did this show me?

- How much I love the process of marketing, the mix of science and art, analysing the numbers and facts and choosing the right ideas.

- That following the tried and tested principles taught by the marketing greats Kotler and Keller if you nail your brand issue and focus on how to solve that (and only that) you will have a first-rate plan.

- How useful and refreshing it is to ‘jump back in the saddle’. Nearly all Marketing Directors I know ‘pine’ for the work their brand managers do (I know I used to). Good Marketing Directors’ mentor and ensure the roadblocks are clear in the business to allow the macro strategy to run so the brands can perform.

So here is an idea for all you ‘pining’ Marketing Directors, allocate a few days a year and allow yourself the luxury of developing a marketing plan for a sub-brand or new product idea. It might help your motivation, and your appreciation of the process your team go through, but most importantly be a reminder of why you fell in love with science and art of Marketing in the first place.

For those that do, have fun jumping back in the saddle.