I love this photo because it reminds me about marketing. If you take a close look at the photo, the ship is stuck in the direction it is going. However, you will also see that behind the ship is an open space and the ship can break free and head in another direction. In the article titled Is The Arctic The Next Emerging Market? The photo appearing here is stuck in the Arctic ice.
In my opinion, marketing can be a lot like this photo. If our marketing plan and our execution is tunnel visioned and only headed in one direction, we may be blind to the opportunities that are nearby. In this case, the Arctic waters behind the ship could be the next emerging market or just an opportunity that we currently don’t see.
Sometimes us marketer’s head in a direction that we think is correct and we end up staying on that course too long and we get stuck in a rut. We also tend to stick with what we know because we are good at it and it’s comfortable. We forget to look around for emerging markets, new ideas and innovative approaches to how we can communicate with our customers.
Three Tips That May Help You
- Look around your local market and be open to new ideas that you see and may think are working for other companies. Sometimes a little research can develop fresh ideas.
- If you’re in a rut, there just may be a simple way out and the solution could be closer than you think. Your team’s ability to be able to fix it could be simpler than expected.
- Sometimes the solution to getting out of your marketing rut can be applying a new way of thinking. Your marketing plan and mix should always be tweaked so that you are adjusting to the market trends. Technology is one way that you can implement new ways of doing things. Marketing automation software is on the rise right now and marketers are looking at it to help them streamline workflow and also provide metrics.
In this photo, the ship is facing in one direction. If your marketing is facing one direction you will be unable to see the opportunities around you. You may even be off-track. Start thinking about new and different ways to accomplish the same goal. Look at new technologies, new social media tools, the competition, and new ways to get the word out. You will be surprised at how easy it is to plot a new course.
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