On our Episode this afternoon we were joined by Chris Ciavarra of Scotch Game to ponder the question of why marketing doesn't always make the impact that it could. The simple answer, it is not simple. There is a complex confluence of factors including unreasonable expectations by non-marketing stakeholders, the need to chase the 'shiny object' (aka new tech), incongruent tactics for the size and geographical reach of the companies.
In my mind, and with only 'rogue marketing' under my belt for a few of my friends and family (Jeff), it is an iterative try a lot of approaches, fail fast and cheap, don't give up on the first try, and believe in the long game. For smaller companies, define what marketing can do for them is important, but it needs to be aligned with the goal: if that is 'we need sales yesterday', marketing is going to miss the mark if you are using influencers and brand-awareness tactics. For larger companies, technology might not always be the strongest channel--in Chris's words, there aren't 'good' or 'bad' channels--it depends on your audience demographics and honing the message: billboards might be better than google ads.
To my question--what is the low-hanging fruit that a company can try, the response from my marketing co-podcasters today was the laughing eye-roll. There isn't an easy fix. But Chris did humor me saying that one thing he often sees is small companies not bring enough emotional content to their advertising campaigns and approaches. Another point, not defining the target market and product clearly enough--in restaurants and food, what occasion are you marketing toward, for consulting agencies it might be getting focused on a particular space.
As always, a learning experience for me as the non-marketing outsider! Check it out on youtube apple podcasts, audible, or spotify.