It seems obvious doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t opt for success?
Well in this instance I’m not meaning “opt” as in choose, I’m using OPT as one of those dreaded three letter acronyms (TLAs).
In what is rapidly approaching 10 years in this business, working with organisations of all sizes and across a vast range of industries, we have of course regularly reviewed the work we do and the results we have generated for our clients.
Across all our client engagements from tiny projects to long-term retained relationships there are three key factors that are consistently present when we do our best work and our clients get outstanding results.
The first key ingredient is OPPORTUNITY – we and our client need to agree that there is real scope for us to improve their marketing in a way that will make a material difference to the performance of their business.
Next, we have to consider PRIORITIES. Where does the marketing opportunity fit in the overall priorities of the business? Just because there is scope for improvement doesn’t mean it will get the focus and resources required when faced with competing opportunities and challenges in the day to day reality of running the business.
Finally, we need mutual TRUST. We trust our clients to provide information and to do what we jointly agree. For us to make a significant difference we usually require our clients to trust us to lead them into new, unchartered marketing territory and take them out of their ‘comfort zone’. We appreciate this isn’t easy, but as the saying goes “if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.”
Our first, small step with every new client is our Marketing MOT, which in addition to assessing the Opportunities, often gives an early indication of wider business Priorities and willingness to Trust. On completion of the MOT, we have a pretty good idea whether or not these three ingredients are likely to come together and the level of success we can look forward to.
Chris.