Destined to Fail?
Why in-house marketing programs often fail before they get off the ground
By Cheryl Lohner
As published in the Traverse City Business News June 2007 Issue
Why do so many companies struggle with new in-house marketing programs? Year after year, companies sink enormous amounts of money into in-house marketing programs. Often, these programs work for awhile, and are even effective, but once the razzle-dazzle wears off employees fall back into old habits and routines, accountability tapers off, and before you know it the company is back to square one. Not only have they spent a great deal of money, but worse yet there’s a good possibility that the new program may have actually worked but appeared to be a failure because there were no measurements for success in place.
First of all, if you’re not going to take on a new in-house marketing program as a way to do business, you are already destined to fail. Obviously, a new marketing program is designed to help you attract more customers. However, regardless of the effectiveness of the program, if your employees aren’t buying into it, your customers and your bottom line will suffer. As business owners, we often hire a consultant, invest in their program, and then tweak it to fit more comfortably into our budget or operational structure. Unfortunately, we will never really be able to measure the success of the program until we fully embrace the concepts and processes provided to ensure success.
So how can you avoid another failed in-house marketing program and find effective programs that are suited for both the culture of our company as well as your budget? Quite simply, the more work you do before you start the process, the more successful your program will be. The following are a few key questions to ask yourself before implementing your next in-house marketing program:
What is your intention for this program and what will be your measurements for success? Specifically, what do you want to accomplish? Stay away from blanket statements such as "I want to attract more customers." How many customers? Per day/month/year? What do you want this program to accomplish from a revenue standpoint? 5% increase in revenue? 20% increase over last year’s earnings? The more detail you can flush out here the better. This is a crucial but often overlooked step.
What is the level of difficulty for implementing this new program? How well will this program be embraced by your employees? How much training will be involved? Be very honest with yourself here. Don’t be idealistic. This isn’t about how you would "like" your employees to respond to this program, but how the culture of your company fits with these new concepts. Not having a clear understanding of the dynamics of your company’s culture can often stop a new program dead in its tracks.
What accountability measures will be put in place and how will those be implemented and documented? Have you ever heard the saying, "You are only as good as the level of accountability you hold your employees and managers to"? Keep that in mind. This is a critical piece to the success of any marketing program. If there is no accountability you will never know if failure of the program was due to the process or the person.
Who will be in charge of overseeing this new program? And most importantly, will they have the authority to hold key team members accountable? All new in-house marketing programs are more effective when the person put in charge to oversee the program also has the authority to ensure proper implementation.
How will the program be rolled out and who will be the key players? Discuss any possible roadblocks or issues that could arise. It’s critical that employees in this group understand the success of the program will be a direct result of their involvement and ability to hold themselves and their employees accountable.
Stick with it! Give your program substantial time to prove its effectiveness. Commit yourself to follow the program (to the best of your ability) for several months, and review your measurements for success on a monthly basis with your key players.
So before you write off your last in-house marketing program as being a failure, look over the original contract. Make note where the program was altered or changed internally from the suggested, most effective, implementation. Take into account variables such as accountability standards, personalities of key players, or budget issues that prevented full implementation of the program. And most importantly, learn from your mistakes. Taking time on the front end to ask yourself a few key questions can save you time, money and ensure a much higher level of success.