“But surely you would have heard it hit the street if this was where you lost it,” the neighbor replies. “Is there anywhere else we should look?”
“No, this is where the best light is,” the man answers impatiently, and continues his search.
Market pressures, strained internal resources and processes, and accelerated decision-making sometimes cause fast-growth companies to act a bit like that man. Looking for the key to unlock new opportunities or sustain growth or respond to competitive challenges, they become so intent on searching a “best light” place that they miss the best solutions which may reside elsewhere.
In terms of marketing and sales, there are two “best light” mindsets that can lead companies astray. One occurs when a company or its leaders become overly compartmentalized—when sales, marketing, production, and other departments approach everything as if they were separate (or even competing) domains with rigid boundaries rather than interdependent parts of a larger entity.
After all, a company is a single entity—and its health often depends on how well its different parts inform and support each other in pursuit of common business objectives. Yes, sometimes a sales issue is just a sales issue. But looking for better sales only in the sales department can cause companies to miss valuable insights and opportunities that require outside information and perspectives. Similarly, marketing and branding cannot be effective if created in a vacuum— the best marketers will always seek a deep understanding of how a company's sales process works and dialogue regularly with salespeople about their experiences in the field.
Indeed, while the link between marketing and sales is critical, effective marketing really requires a solid knowledge of the entire company—as well as its industry, competitors, customers and prospects. This “big picture” approach is the basis for Kolbrener's Brand Evolution Process.™ But whether marketers are internal or external, one of their most valuable roles is to promote integrated, strategic thinking throughout the company—to encourage everyone to look for the best solutions for the entire business, not just the solutions that reside in, or serve, their particular department. In our experience, an integrated approach not only benefits a company's bottom line, it also helps to ensure a dynamic corporate culture and to strengthen customer relationships.
A second “best light” mindset to guard against involves accepting “easy” or “conventional” solutions rather than striving for those that truly deliver. Unfortunately, marketing is a common problem area. Some business leaders settle for a lack of structure and quality in marketing that they would find unacceptable in other areas of their business. True, some fast-growth companies achieve initial success with scant attention to marketing, or even to strategic sales, fueled instead by the natural appeal of a product, technological savvy, the charisma and contacts of founders, a core of whatever-it-takes employees, and so on. But a single area of excellence can only take a company so far. Eventually, leaders must push for the same high standards in all business functions or even their area of excellence will be negatively impacted.
In some cases, outside marketing and branding firms are part of the problem. Many are caught in “best light” traps themselves, making little effort to see solutions that aren't part of their standard repertoire. To be sure, such firms’ standard offerings may suffice for some clients. However, fast-growth companies tend to be too unique, with marketing and sales situations that are too dynamic, to be well-served by a one-size-fits-all approach. Other “best light” firms pitch solutions that appeal to a client because they are easy to implement or inexpensive, and appeal to the firm because they can be done quickly and have high margins—but, in the end, do not effectively achieve the client's goals. Finally, few firms have followed Kolbrener's lead in marrying marketing strategies and tactics directly to sales workstyle. In our opinion, a firm that limits its scope in this way inevitably misses some of the most valuable solutions it could deliver.
Even ROI measurements can devolve into “best light” thinking. At Kolbrener, we are strong proponents of ROI measures for marketing—but those measures must be carefully conceived and meaningful. Numbers can be misleading—and some agencies are so focused on delivering easy-to-measure tactics that they lose sight of whether the tactics are the best fit for a specific situation. And of course not all, nor always the most desirable, results of marketing and branding can be plugged into a simple formula.
Sustaining fast growth is hard work for everyone associated with a company, including a strategic marketing and branding partner. There is often a chorus of voices—internal and external—tempting you with “easier” marketing approaches. But the best value comes from those who will roll up their sleeves and do the necessary work with you—those who will help you find the “key” you're looking for rather than leaving you to search a well-lit but ultimately empty place.
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