Marketers, the world needs you! Only you have the innate sense and uncanny relationship-building skillset to bring your organization into the future. But, you may be stuck in a sales-motivated mentality.
From analytics to the strategic development process, a marketer’s skills span way beyond selling stuff on social media. But are marketers learning what’s needed to connect dots that lead to marketing success?
To marketers who know they’re made for more than just selling, this book is for you! Learn about your roots in a changing industry to better understand where the next marketing evolution is heading.
To Employers who want to better understand marketing roles and their part in the growth process, this book is for you! Learn more about the mind, mission, and training behind what a marketer can truly do to make your organization stand out.
Spoiler alert – marketers are not built for sales. They are built to manage and develop forward-thinking, competitive message positioning to solidify and execute a brand’s corporate identity. In fact, the magic of marketing is its ability to execute savvy storytelling and digital communications that result in increased leads for your sales team.
It’s time to expect more from marketing, and uphold its ability to transform the business landscape. Here, you’ll get an inside look at the technical skills producing “Made to Market” ready results!
In the introduction section of Made To Market, readers will learn the setup behind revealed steps & technical skills that I acquired to become a leveled-up marketer. Here, I share how my marketing profession was emerging as early as middle school. Before I knew what I was going to be, my life propelled me in that direction. I’ve had a unique professional progression that led me to become a respected voice in the marketing space and in the intro, I share how what you can expect in the newest marketing book – Made to Market.
The time is now! It’s time we encourage a new generation of marketers to embrace the power of the only profession responsible for elevating success of every business on the planet, has!
What is marketing? Really?!?!
Spoiler alert, it’s NOT sales!
I know that will be a tough pill for many to swallow, but the record has got to be set straight if we are to make any headway on improving the broken parts within the Marketing Industry.
In Chapter 1 of Made to Market, I take a deep dive into what marketing is and why it’s desperately needed in the business landscape. Here, I cut through the confusion + chaos preventing you from fostering continuous organic growth within the organization you are marketing for.
These days, it seems “everyone” is a marketer!
If that’s the case, then why are 91% of marketers seeking out rudimentary guidance questions like “how do I best engage my audience?”
This is a basic question that marketers should be able to fully answer with less than three years’ experience. In Chapter 2, I lay out basic marketing roles and how they relate to the hierarchy of the marketing department. If you are an employer, here you’ll better understand how marketers operate, what they are trained to accomplish and how to staff these vital roles within your organization.
Unfortunately, today’s sales-focused business landscape fosters a culture of confusion over what makes a good marketer and what each role in their department plays.
Why? Because, at some point marketers lost their ability to be master connectors, storytellers, communicators and analyzers. Therefor, a craft that should be allowing every business in any market to thrive, is not always producing the necessary results to thrive!
In Chapter 3 of Made To Market, I reveal the delicate balance of experience and education that is needed to develop marketers into master-level performers.
Meet Maggie Markets!
She is the robust target customer avatar I created in order to better understand my audience!
Without understanding an accurately defined target audience, how on earth do you know who you are marketing to? Additionally, how do you know who to invest in, who to write for, non-profits to align with, podcasts to approach, how to time email marketing campaigns or what kind of content to create?
Without understanding the “Maggie” in your market, who are you even speaking to? In chapter 4 of Made to Market, you will learn how to property identify your target market – setting the stage for all future content creation projects.
The greatest marketing lessons are often found in the most unlikely places!
In chapter 5 of Made to Market, I define seven ways I’ve learned to become a better marketing.
Using a 2015 article I wrote titled – 7 Shocking ways The Piano Guys will make you a better Marketer – I use this popular group of performing fathers to share a powerful lesson in marketing. Want a sneak peek? Read the foundational article on my blog to get a taste of the full lesson you will learn in the book.
It’s true! You can market anything.
Although marketing does not always = selling, increased sales through marketing is inevitable. Even when marketing bad products. In chapter 6 of Made to Market, readers will get into the weeks regarding the disconnect between marketing and sales.
Consumers are beyond tired of being sold to and want access to real solutions to real problems and expect that to be part of a transparent marketing process. If you haven’t already begun reframing your thoughts on what’s happening in the marketing industry, this chapter will show you how to do that.
In Chapter 7 of Made to Market, readers will learn how to take advantage of the communication options across your audience’s preferred marketing platforms.
Where do you start?
The easiest and most cost-effective way to make that happen is through stellar content creation! A way to determine whether you truly have stellar content is to monitor your organic engagement rate. Here, I’ll share the process I use to maintain 20% – 60% organic engagement as well as how I’ve monitored these rates for clients I’ve worked with over the past ten years.
When does marketing cross the lines of ethics?
Considering poor mattering practices, you certainly don’t want to be part of the problem. So, understanding the ethical boundaries of marketing that consumers have come to expect – is paramount. It’s our responsibility as marketers to know what is right and wrong. Then, it’s up to us to be responsible for acting according to a set of guidelines based on the best interests of our customers.
In Chapter 8 of Made to Market, learn to maintain a highs standard of ethics within the marketing field. Here I draw the line while still leaving plenty of room for creative & compelling messaging.
This is where things get REAL interesting!
In Chapter 9 of Made to Market, I reveal how I discovered the most illusive question in my Marketing career. “What’s the Return on Investment (ROI) of Social Media Marketing?
After four years of seeking the answer, I was finally able to get to the bottom of it with the help of Agorapulse and The University of Florida – Go Gators! Here, I give readers the ability to accurately prove your work as a marketer by showing how to use analytics to leverage and improve marketing tactics to build a community that markets for you!
Your brand is more than a logo & a new logo is NOT the solution to your branding problems!
Statistically, the more emotion a brand conjures, the more consumers spend.
In the search to better articulate your brand do not ask “what’s our brand”, ask “what’s our story!” Delivering on your story’s promise is what builds trust and increased market share, over time.
In chapter 10 of Made to Market, I use several example on how to better build your brand. Take Nike for example. Their logo, the “swoosh” isn’t what made them into the brand they are today. It was the deep emotion the brand consistently elicited over decades.
Chapter 11 of Made to Market was written by my late best friend and business partner.
Personally, and professionally I am not what I once was without Merrilee Hale. Over the course of ten years, we built two business and a deep friendship. With her help, we built Avant Creative, which resulted in building over 30 brands. For that reason, it was important to use her words to break down the depths of long-lasting brand development.
For more brand development training, readers can download her Brand Development Guide – FREE.
A marketer’s job is to bridge the gap between follower awareness and fan engagement.
In Chapter 12 of Made to Market, readers will learn the power of consistent communication over time. The hard fact is audience engagement doesn’t happen immediately. Although capturing exposing growth is a tempting goal, its not a strategy and if you plan to grow well there are no cheat codes behind doing it right.
Gaining fan engagement is a gradual process – gaining momentum over time – with the right process in place. Here, I share the tools, tactics and best practices to build a highly engaged audience.
Businesses are so busy trying to catch up with what a marketing strategy even looks like, they’re missing the next significant shift: relationship marketing.
This phenomenon involves sharing the process, not merely shifting the narrative around. That means full integration of business process documentation and its effect on consumers by considering who we are and what we bring to the relationship at all levels.
In Chapter 13 of Made to Market, readers will learn how to shape a content creation strategy to build the right relationships that result in trackable growth.
In Chapter 14 of Made to Market we say “Goodbye” to the four P’s (Product, Price, Place Promotion) of Marketing.
In a post-pandemic world specifically, the four P’s have all but lost their footing in a digital focused marketplace. This antiquated marketing practice focused on everything but the customer, and this system is beyond ready for an upgrade. This sales only focus funnel is out and the customer life-cycle is in. Here, the reader will understand the shift and how to apply its replacement – The Five A’s.
Talk about a pivot!
Let’s face it, this life is full of trials, trauma and tribulation. But why, especially as women, do we have to let that break us down or silence our voice? I believe that is a choice we make and I refuse to play the victim. Since it’s part of life, I choose to embrace it.
The irony of this book is in the fact that I’ve only been told once that I qualify for a traditional marketing position and ended up losing that position in the midst of telling you how I got there! I mean, I know I’m supposed to feel like a defeated failure who can’t get it together. But I DO NOT! Instead, I feel liberated over the idea that I can achieve independence in this life and be a success at doing so!
Chapter 15 of Made to Market was re-written – this week – to share the brutal reality of how we have to be ready to pivot quick in order to continue our assent to success.
As business growth managers, where do we go from here?
To Marketers – Now that I’ve addressed the changing industry and how to better understand its roots, I encourage you to stay ahead of the evolution process no matter what that looks like in your organization. By the time you get to Chapter 16, you will have what they need to build an interconnected and measurable content stacking process that aligns with your organization’s growth.
To Employers – Your days of blindly hiring marketers, is over! I’ve exposed technical insights by explaining the hierarchy of marketing, who plays what roles, and the knowledge and expertise required in each role. Armed with this knowledge, you’re now better situated to make your current marketing staff more effective! Just as important, you now understand the marketer’s heart and mind, how they should be functioning, and their relational ties to other organizational departments, including your sales team. Finally, you’ve got the wherewithal to organize your current marketing staff better and hire true marketers that you fully entrust to use their professional skills to build and grow your organization.
Together, we will become “Made to Market” ready!
