There’s a two edged sword to being a ‘marketing’ consultant.  The up-side is that it makes you very likely to be engaged in a conversation about (what else?) ‘Marketing’.  The down-side is the same thing.

Here’s my challenge with this –– to truly address a marketing symptom — e.g. “insufficient sales”, you usually need to go beyond the obvious.  Far too many small business owners believe that a ‘Magic Bullet’ (i.e. a tactic) will cure their symptoms.  It won’t.

First, file ‘Magic Bullets’ with ‘Santa Claus’ and the ‘Tooth Fairy’ — they don’t exist in reality.  Second, accept that most marketing ‘issues’ have their roots in bad management.  Why?  Because inept management does encourage and support bad marketing practices.

But the basis of the consequential damages . . . ‘insufficient sales’ is often not cured by making a better call on some marketing tactic.  It’s more likely to be fixed when the management team begins to manage the business more effectively.

KEY POINT:
To fix bad marketing . . . fix the way you’re managing — it’s more likely to work!