It’s possible that sometimes there’s too much focus on the tactical. When we have a company that comes to us talking first about the tactical, we have to sit down and slow down and understand who they are and what behavior change they are trying to guide with their marketing.
If you’re trying to build sales and you’re looking for a company to partner with on marketing – first take a look at who you are. Think about these questions:
Once you know some of these answers, it becomes easier to build a marketing plan based on strategy instead of falling victim to trying the next cool thing.
It’s important for a potential marketing partner to be able to have the experience to make a strategic recommendation and then help with or handle implementation, rather than just say “we do X” and be unable to make that “X” really tie in with the rest of the strategy.
A potential partner should ask enough questions to know why you need them, where they add value, and they should feel comfortable talking about the return on investment that you should expect, based on their experience.