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What role does marketing play in your company culture? Generally speaking, marketing is important for two reasons.
- First, companies need to make people aware of their brand.
- Second, businesses must identify prospective customers and engage them in ways that encourage sales.
In other words, marketing is the driving force behind the success of your business. Although having a dedicated marketing team can help you connect with your target market, you can go to a higher level by making marketing part of your company culture.
Why Should Marketing be Part of Company Culture?
Simply put, by intertwining your marketing strategy with every other operation you and your employees do, you will be able to provide a seamless experience to your customers every time.
Identifying and satisfying your customers’ needs will become part of your business’ DNA.
But how is a marketing-driven culture created in the first place? The following information will help.
A Marketing Driven Company Culture Doesn’t Just Happen: It’s Carefully Cultivated
Your company’s culture determines how you do things. Every day, it influences the engagement levels your employees have, how they treat each other, and how you treat your customers. Your primary focus is to create a positive atmosphere that emphasizes the relevance of customer experience.
Such an environment is NOT characterized by micromanagement and strict adherence to job descriptions. Instead, it’s a pleasant place to work where employees will openly share ideas and contribute whenever they see an opening.
As a business owner or manager, creating company culture is one of your roles. You must set priorities and define the mission and goals of your organization, but that is not where your responsibilities stop – you need to lead by example.
If you want your employees to be driven by marketing, you need to allow marketing to drive you. Start by clarifying the role of your marketing department in relation to your sales team and the rest of the firm. Ensure that your employees, no matter the department, understand how their performance affects customer satisfaction and retention.
When every decision made and completed task focuses on the customer, marketing becomes easy. Your team naturally wants to know customers on an intimate level and meet their needs and desires.
A Clear Marketing Strategy is What Drives Sales in the First Place
Your sales team executes the strategy that your marketing team creates. In other words, marketing drives sales. For a strategy to be successful, your salespeople should provide your marketers with the feedback they receive from customers.
You will further strengthen your marketing-driven approach by supplying your product development with marketing insights. Do NOT expect your customers to adapt to the products that you create. Instead, offer products and services that meet the real-world needs of your customers and solve their problems.
A customer-centric business culture will have your marketing strategy drive your product line.
When you know the people in your target market and understand exactly what they want, you can create products and services that will cover those needs.
Getting Everyone on Board is Just the First Step
Let’s say you have succeeded in getting your whole team on board. Congrats, you’ve done it! The first step, that is. You still have work to do.
Your company culture is alive – it’s dynamic and should evolve with your company, changing customer preferences and market conditions. You can direct that evolution – always monitor it and steer it in the right direction.
Like a person, your business has a personality. It determines how prospects and customers feel about you and therefore affects the quality of your success. Marketing should be intertwined with every other department/team to ensure a streamlined experience.
Your personality, management style, and priorities directly affect the environment in which your team works. Your employees will naturally mimic this in how they handle work and customers. As an example, if you value people before profits, your team will also do so: they will develop a customer-centric attitude where they put the customer’s needs before anything else.
How Customers Should Feel About You
Your business should offer value to customers, inspire trust, and exude humanity. They should always know that you want the best for them and that you’re on their side.
Customers should be able to depend on you like a friend or family member.
Being so marketing-driven will help you achieve a stellar reputation among your industry peers and your customers. Making marketing part of the company culture will ensure that your every decision is aligned with customer experience.
How Employees Can Understand Customers Better
When your employees can identify with the customer experience, they will understand how to align themselves with it. Your team members should try navigating your website and shopping in your online store. They should also see what it’s like to contact your customer service and technical support departments.
Walk them through every step of the customer journey and explain how every task affects the customer experience. Encourage them to optimize every touch point and process to ensure that customers can quickly, easily, and pleasantly interact with your firm.
In summary, by building a marketing-driven company culture, you can improve the quality of the customer experience you provide. In the process, you will also create a positive work environment where employees feel fulfilled and enjoy their work.
What is your experience using marketing to drive your company’s culture?
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Article by guest blogger Jen McKenzie
Author Bio
Jen McKenzie is an independent business consultant from New York. She writes extensively on business, education and human resource topics. When Jennifer is not at her desk working, you can usually find her hiking or taking a road trip with her two dogs. You can reach Jennifer @jenmcknzie