Appreciating marketing processes and how to find your balance

When I’ve approached organizations and asked questions about how they prepare their marketing strategy, I’m typically met with an abundance of spreadsheets, PDFs and “playbooks” for how their teams strategize and implement marketing efforts. Or, on the other side of things, many have the “wing-it” mentality and make gut decisions with little to no strategy — or what I call the “slinging spaghetti approach” — if it sticks, it works, or it’s supposed to.

Now these documents are typically never updated, if you’re in the playbook crowd, and usually represent data and research from months ago when your original ideation began. Many team members that you work with have drifted into their own procedures, as the primary marketing lead doesn’t really have the time to “babysit” marketing process and is usually more interested in campaign results than how results were actually attained. As long as the magic is happening, why interrupt the show? Or, if you find yourself to be more aligned with the spaghetti crowd, you most likely can’t attribute your success to a key measurement because you’re not a fan of process or don’t really stick to one.

Marketing process is a tricky thing. In fact, it’s the most common oversight I evaluate as a consultant. More often than not, companies have little strategic initiative that can be…