When business expectations fall short, it’s easy for owners and entrepreneurs to point an angry finger at their in-house team or marketing firm. You’ve seen it before, for one reason or another: the boss storms in, red-faced with veins popping, tearing into the marketing director because their so-called “big idea” wasn’t disruptive enough, and sales are down. Or market share is declining. Or the new solve-all-our-problems-product-du-jour failed to get picked up by retailers. 

To all the Creative/Marketing Directors out there, does this sound familiar? 

Creative execution can be subjective and is often experimental. Sometimes the chosen idea is simply not a winner. And some campaigns result in learning what doesn’t work instead of what does. No excuses—targets are hard to hit and audience behaviors can be fickle. That’s the nature of the business we’re in. However, there are cases when business objectives aren’t met for entirely different reasons. 

We must first understand the codependent relationship between marketing and business operations to know the difference, and be willing to take a hard, uncompromising look at the customer experience.  

What’s Really Holding You Back?

That’s not to say, “If the marketing campaign fails, it’s your problem, not ours.” One certainly impacts the other. Operational shortcomings can determine just how effective any marketing strategy can be. 

One common mistake is to silo marketing strategy based solely on physical competition. How can we steal customers from that firm? How can we outsell that tech retailer? How can we out recruit our rivals for fall enrollment? These are all legit questions and worthy goals. 

Mad Genius defines competition differently. We believe competition is anything holding you back and preventing you from being successful. As hard as this is to admit, sometimes that something… is simply being blind to the truth. 

It’s not fun to acknowledge your operational weaknesses and your customers’ pain points. But that understanding may be just the key to unlocking your goals. Ask yourself, do you want continued break-even success? Or do you want real growth? If the latter, you must be willing to push yourself out of your comfort zone and do the hard work.

Be a Truth-Teller

So, being reactive and stubborn isn’t the best approach. Fair enough.

Let’s try something different. First, let’s be honest with one another. How often has your marketing firm challenged stakeholders to take a hard look at operations? It’s crucial to ask demanding questions. Does your sales staff have a morale issue? Has executive leadership failed to chart a vision for the company? Are your business apps antiquated and frustrating for customers? Is your product obsolete or inferior? Are you understaffed or underfunded to accomplish your goals?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then your answer to why you’re not hitting goals should be obvious. And it has nothing to do with either your marketing firm or the competition down the street.

Make a Promise and Keep It

Today’s shoppers see through the noise quickly. A marketing campaign may be effective enough to induce trial, but to keep customers coming back, the overall experience must be valuable, relevant, and shareable. Marketing drives interest, but the customer experience drives success. 

The idiom, “Don’t let your mouth write a check your butt can’t cash,” is popular in the south (it’s not always “butt”). It’s good advice for businesses today. Don’t suggest an experience in your brand messaging that you operationally can’t support. Mad Genius frequently sees this: Promises of speed, convenience, reliability, quality, and superior service. These attributes often ring hollow in consumers’ ears because people have been let down many times before. False advertisers’ frivolous use of these words has jaded consumers’ trust irrevocably.

So, what’s the answer? 

Live the Brand

Listen to your customers. Learn the things they like, and do them. Discover what frustrates them, and stop doing that. Enhance or expand your business operations to find new, unexpected ways to surprise and delight your core audience. Then let your marketing team tell that story. Operationally, this is something Mad Genius calls living the brand. We get you there through a process we call Brand Fusion. 

When the experience created by operations matches the promise made by marketing, it’s the sweet spot. That’s where you want to be. Where goals are met. Where happy customers tell others. And when the brick and mortar stores down the street start reacting to you. 

You’re missing half the target if you only focus on external marketing and ignore the internal customer experience. That is, if we’re being honest.