Journal

In this episode, I’ll share what I learned from a bottle of bourbon, and from watching a 2018 documentary on Kentucky’s signature beverage.

I’d say marketers need to always keep their eyes peeled and ears attuned to the world to be able to learn marketing lessons from unlikely places. When you’re on vacation and outside of your normal routine and surroundings you might just learn how businesses and brands market, communicate, and position themselves in the marketplace. In other countries and regions, people communicate differently and use different words and the like. One such experience for me wasn’t overseas. Rather, it was on my couch watching the 2018 documentary NEAT: The Story of Bourbon.

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In this episode of Marketing Distilled I interview Tim Hines.

Tim Hines, a.k.a. “The Marketing Starter,” is a marketing evangelist, keynote speaker, podcast show host, and author  specializing in developing omni-channel programs for disruptive brands  and cutting-edge technology. With over seventeen years of experience, Tim has  developed strategic marketing initiatives with a multitude of  industry-leading companies.

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June 30, 2022 is World Social Media Day. In this special Marketing Distilled “Bonusode” I take a walk down memory lane about how I got started in social media and where I’m headed. Tune in!

What’s your favorite social media channel?

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Marketing Distilled sits down to interview Christine Gritmon. Christine is the Senior Editor of Social Media Pulse, as well as Brand Strategist for Christine Gritmon, Inc. We learn about her background and career, her experience at a recent social media conference, Social Media Week Lima, and learn more about her new gig as Senior Editor of Social Media Pulse.

Christine’s Links:

• LinkedIn
• Christine Gritmon, Inc.
• Social Media Pulse Community
• Christine on Twitter

When we think of all the ways we market to our customers and how we grow sales and our customer base, we have almost too many options. We have the traditional means, like Radio, Television, Newspapers, Magazines, Mailers, and Billboards to marketing and advertising. Yet still now we have newer ways to market through digital means. Digital is an ever increasing and expanding medium, but let’s say that for this episode we’re talking about website content, social media, blogs, search like Google and Bing, and social media (too many things to list). Of all the possible tools and apps to use there’s one that consistently is the go-to for marketing your business that every business, entrepreneur, and cause should use. 

In this episode of Marketing Distilled I wanted to talk to those busy and hardworking business owners about using Email Marketing to grow their business. Lots of people think that email marketing is passé and no longer relevant, but in this episode I want to get you excited about using email marketing to grow your business. Email marketing isn’t dead. On the contrary, it’s still alive and it’s still bringing business to those who use it well. In this episode you’ll learn how to do email marketing well and get right on using it for your business.

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Welcome to the next episode of Marketing Distilled, where we take the complex marketing concepts and distill it into easily understood and actionable insights. Im your Master Distiller, Jonathan Gaby. With over ten years of experience I’m here to help you become a better marketer and business person.

Introduction

Today in this solo episode of Marketing Distilled, I want to give the talk that I would have given had I been approved for a speaking gig for a major midwest social media conference. But first, a word from our sponsors.

How many of you hear people in your network or industry decry the role of the marketer? Sure, we hear this old trope almost daily, that “Marketers ruin everything”.  It’s probably true to some extent, that marketers have made a mess of some things along history’s timeline. We have in some ways made everything unbearable. You drive down the road, there’s an ad or billboard advertising the latest gizmo, attorney who wants to sue for you, something that’s not healthy for you. Your radio station is interrupted by ads and messages for the same. All these things detract and diminish the beauty of the drive.

In our social media saturated lives the same holds true. Our timelines are testing grounds for ads for things we don’t need when all we want to do is see Aunt Sue’s pictures of Fido, the famous family pet. We are now the product and we keep feeding the algorithm more and more and more.

But, before I go full on invective on all things internet and social, I want to reverse course and remind my listeners of all the great things marketers do for us. The easiest and most abundant example is the fact that nearly everything we have is the result of being told about it. And nearly every improvement or innovation has come from within the field of and work from marketers. Because of this, Marketing is a High Calling. I have four reasons why in this episode.

Point 1: Marketers  impact nearly every aspect of a business

It’s my view that the humble marketer is aware of nearly every aspect of a business and because of that, they have unique ability to speak into a business like no other role can. Operations can focus on making widgets and making them better. Finance can make sure that bills are paid, revenue projections are accurate, and other departments play their part, but because marketers can see customer reviews, analytics, and can learn logistics and more, they are uniquely poised to propose, and champion new ideas in your company.  Internally, you have the opportunity to help streamline operations based on customer feedback and reviews, through market research you can find out whether or not you need to adjust pricing. And, from an HR perspective, if your HR team is struggling to hire good folks for the company, marketers can be used to solve that problem by helping  Essentially, marketers are problem solvers, so if you have a good marketer on your team, be prepared for them to get into a lot and let them help solve your problems.

Point 2: Marketers can uniquely influence the world by extending your brand

Marketers also have a unique position to help their brand extend into new markets. Nike has a formula for getting into new sectors of the sports apparel industry. They start with their strength, in developing new footwear, then they branch out into clothing, and then other sport related gear. It’s predictable for them. Marketers can and should spot the patterns that exist within the business and the market and be able to replicate the pattern they see and get into new markets for their brand or business or cause. This power of influence is a unique component of the marketer who’s living out his or her high calling.

In essence, the aspect of creating new products or services is a unique super power. It has its roots in entrepreneurship, innovation, and influence for sure.  For a new product, two audiences are helped and impacted. The business, who will make more money, employ more people, and increase their market share, and help the business thrive. The consumer is helped immensely because the consumer gets something they didn’t even know they needed. The inventor and marketer Ron Popeil invented and marketed many products that changed the way people think about food and how to cook. Not only did he change the way people thought about food, he changed sales entirely. The present day folks include Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and others.

We’ll be back after these words from our sponsors

On my last show I answered a listener question about how to market her service based business. Perhaps you’d like to have a question answered on a future episode or have a show idea. Email me at contact@jonathangaby.com.

Bourbon Drinking – Four Roses Small Batch Select

Point 3:  Marketers have the unique responsibility to advocate for the customer.

I think this perhaps is the greatest calling for marketers. Marketers see it all, especially those who work in social media management and customer support. Customer complaints, feedback, messages, and more come right through the  marketer’s desk. It’s the job of the marketer to help people across the organization feel the pain that the customer has when something doesn’t go the way they thought. It’s called fulfilling the promise. Brands “promise” things to customers with every marketing message they send out, every ad placed, and every sales call made. The entire company is on the hook for fulfilling the brand promise.

When Marketers receive messages from customers, they have the responsibility to respond, act, and correct the error or right a wrong if it’s a complaint. It’s an issue of ethics. So the marketer must use his or her talents to make sure the company knows what went wrong, and urge them to correct it as soon as possible. Marketers can help the business by seeing these comments, addressing the issue, and being the spokesperson for the business to help resolve the issue.

Point 4: Marketers who work for agencies, might want to extend their services

All the points I’ve made and argued thus far are for marketers who presumably work for a brand or the organization proper. But what about marketers who work for agencies? Surely there’s nothing more the marketer can do? Well, I submit that agencies have a special calling to not only offer their services in ad campaigns, creative, design, and more, but that agencies need to strongly consider adding to their offerings services for business consulting, for leadership development, for more than just creating cool commercials or viral facebook posts, or wildly popular tik-tok dances.

Agencies will undoubtedly know of the product or the people that the business has on their team. They will come to know the processes they use and more. But there’s a duty also to know that if the campaign is successful, how will the business handle increased business? If you say that it isn’t the agency’s job I would just simply show you an agency that is not upholding their ethical duty. Never promote something that the business can’t fully support or manage the increase in business. Rather, figure out if your client can take on the additional business you’re going to funnel their way. If they won’t be able to, stop marketing, and start growing their capacity to handle larger orders, help them get a handle on their staffing, understand their process and procedures and help them do what they need to do to succeed in the face of a successful launch. That is the highest calling, and highest form of service for a marketing agency.

Conclusion

Thank you for listening to this episode of Marketing Distilled. In this episode I discussed four reasons why Marketing is a high calling.

• Marketers impact nearly every aspect of a business.
• Marketers uniquely influence the world by developing new services or products.
• Marketers have the unique task and responsibility to advocate for the customer.
• Marketers who work for agencies and the agencies themselves have a higher calling yet.

Well, that’s it for this episode of Marketing Distilled. We will be back in two weeks, give or take a day or so, with a new episode.

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