Marketing – friend or foe…

Posted on | June 7, 2009 | No Comments

In the world of Social Media, who can you turn to that knows what is going on and “gets it?”  Marketing may NOT be your best solution – or is it?

Meet Kerri Lewis, Marketing Director for El Gaucho Restaurants (part of the Mackay Restaurant group).  When we first met Kerri, she was like most of the people we meet in marketing – knew something about Social Media but hadn’t spent enough time with it to know the best ways to use it.  This is very typical of what we see in both the audiences we speak to and our consulting clients.  McCann Erickson Bristol found that 65.6% of the marketing professional said they did not know how to use it for the purposes of marketing.

However, there is one big difference between Kerri and most of the other marketing professionals we meet – she knew what to do about it!  She realized this was powerful and that her organization could benefit from having a strategy and deploying it.  So rather than letting her ego get in the way, she jumped in with both feet and embraced some assistance rather than deflecting it.  Way to go Kerri!!

Do a self-evaluation of your own organization – is your marketing leadership friend or foe – do they get it or are they threatened by it?  You be the judge.  If they are like Kerri and Mackay Restaurants, you are part of the minority but fortunate companies and you will most likely reap the benefits.  If you are like the majority, your marketing people will do whatever they can to protect their ignorance and egos – not allowing you and your company to reap the many benefits Social Media has to offer.

You be the judge – is your marketing person or group your friend or your foe.  Let’s just hope their more like Kerri than the other 65.6% of the population.

Blaine

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