Dear Ary: You’re right, except…

Recently ERISA attorney Ary Rosenbaum wrote a great post, Marketing For Plan Providers: What It Can Do And What It Can’t. In the article he mentions a variety of not-marketing tasks and tactics that every business must consider before marketing. These include ideas such as finding a target market, creating a company culture, providing an exceptional client experience and more.

And! I agree wholeheartedly with the ideas he outlines with one exception: EVERYTHING is marketing. Well, let me explain.

Recently, I presented a two-day Deconstructing Digital workshop for a group of advisors at Cetera. Yes, two full days of helping them get their arms around the world of digital marketing and social media. And, I’m certain they were expecting we’d start the first day with a predictable PowerPoint presentation about Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn. Nope! In fact, the first full day was discussing everything that Ary points out in his article (as not marketing). And, you know what? He’s right. It isn’t marketing; it is branding. But they are two peas in the same pod.

On the first day:
• We discussed the necessity of a heart-centered message.
• We dove into the courage it takes to serve a niche.
• We explored the experiential economy and how customer service links to client experience.

If brand clarity does not exist at the outset, marketing will not succeed. It will simply be noise—and noise gets you nowhere.

[Tweet “If brand clarity does not exist at the outset, marketing will not succeed.”]

I say this to many advisors and organizations who seek my help: Branding must begin with asking yourself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Deciding this, and having the courage to see it through is a deeply introspective and soul-searching experience.

Great branding starts with your customer’s story—not your own. It appeals to their heart rather than their head. It makes people feel like they belong. It gives them something to believe in.

Out of this work comes creating your marketing strategy and tactics to find the right people; creating and delivering the right message; and developing solutions that serve them in the right way.

Marketing’s role is to help an organization connect to people in an emotional way to build influence, elicit trust and serve sales.

Marketing is pretty much everything.

____________________________________________________________

If you’d like to get a list of the homework I give folks to help them think through their brand and marketing strategies, simply text the word SHOEFITTS to 33444. I’ll send along some treats and inspiration from my presentation Your Brand, Your Business, Your Bottom Line.

One other tip: How did I know Ary mentioned me in his story? Google Alerts, of course. I have one set for my name and my firm name, in addition to other hot topics. Need help on creating your own “listening channel”? Here’s a helpful article I wrote for NAPA-net.