6 Steps for Keeping Your Marketing Creative Teams from Running Amok

Have you ever laughed at a funny commercial but had no clue what it was advertising? Or read a clever story about a product but you still weren’t clear about what it does? Creative ideas are great, but only if we remember why we’re marketing something. Unfortunately, too many companies allow the creative tail to wag the dog. They allow their marketing folks to go nuts without giving them clear direction. It’s unfortunate how much money is being wasted and sales missed over something that is relatively easy to solve.

Most companies brainstorm a few big ideas for the upcoming year, and then write a marketing plan to support them. A completely different approach—one that I outline in my book, The CEO’s Guide to Marketing—is to replace it with a results-driven process called Strategically Aimed Marketing (SAM 6). Following SAM 6 will assure that creative people stay focused, on track, and doing their best work. If you give creative people structure, they will produce amazing results.

After more than 30 years of product marketing leadership, I have seen the benefits of well-orchestrated, integrated campaigns. Marketing is about the shortest, fastest, least expensive, and most direct route to a lead, a sale, and a brand. But marketing has always been about being persuasive. You’ve got to tell people what they need and cause them to desire it more than their money. If you lose sight of that, you won’t see more leads and higher sales. What makes me feel good about the SAM 6 process is that it’s a good fit for everyone in business.

Hit “Pause” Long Enough to Learn and Begin Using the SAM 6 Process

The SAM 6 process can unify your marketing team, ultimately leading to a stronger brand. I’m pleased that feedback from those who are learning of this process has been overwhelmingly positive. Here are the six steps:

1. Gain competence in marketing concepts and principles. Dentists know how to fix and preserve teeth. Lawyers know affidavits from briefs. Architects know how to design strong, aesthetically pleasing structures. A competent marketer has a clear understanding of the broad concept of marketing as well as a working knowledge of specific marketing concepts and principles. 

2. Create code sheets about your company and its products. Code sheets are a means of documenting important information. Elements to include might be your product positioning, vision, mission, primary messaging themes, and value points. Having all of these compiled in one place helps direct and control your creative staff.

3. Select the appropriate channels for each project. The promotional mix of channels you choose to employ depend on many variables, including your message, the market, and your resources. The actual messaging and approach may differ by the channel you use.

4. Maintain a schedule calendar. Your marketing calendar is a trusted guide to ensure you cycle through each product and its primary value points. Its purpose is to assure that you are delivering a constant and maximum flow of on-point promotional messages. You need to figure out which products and messages should get the most attention. Scheduling will keep your promotions organized and help with budgeting.

5. Develop a control template. Your control template provides the guidelines for your writers, designers and other creative staff to follow. It allows these imaginative professionals to create attention-getting content without losing sight of the marketing necessities. Recommended elements of your template include the audience for the content, the channel, and the keywords. It’s also helpful to include AIDA (an acronym for the time-honored promotional format), which stands for attention, interest, desire, and action.

6. Engage your creative team. You need to assemble the right people for the job and then let these creative souls work their magic within the parameters you set. The composition of your creative team will depend on your calendar.

Following these steps brings a clarity and process to this tension-filled field. I’ve been CEO of Media Relations Agency for three decades. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients across the country. I get to see what’s behind the scenes. I can tell you that the companies that follow a logical process are the ones getting the most bang for their marketing dollars.

Here are the people who will benefit most from SAM 6:

• Marketing managers will discover how to get their whole team to work together efficiently. They’ll learn how to produce the most effective content, with the fewest rewrites and redesigns. They’ll also discover where to share it to get the best return on their investment. With SAM 6, marketing will be fun again. 
• CEOs will appreciate this academic-based process. When you understand SAM 6, you can quickly determine which types of marketing your company needs, and which types it doesn’t. You can also use SAM 6 to assess the competence of your marketing team. 
• Industry professionals such as graphic designers, writers and web designers will discover marketing secrets that will put them miles ahead of their peers. SAM 6 will help them use their talents to create content that gets results. It can add rocket fuel to their marketing careers.

Following the six steps above will bring order and clarity to your marketing. It will lead to more leads, higher sales, and a stronger brand.

Lonny Kocina is CEO of Media Relations Agency, which he founded in 1987 and which has served several hundred clients over the years. Media Relations Agency’s nationally trademarked Pay Per Interview Publicity^® business model, which enables clients to purchase publicity by the story, is well known throughout the industry. Kocina’s The CEO’s Guide to Marketing, the book every marketer should read before their boss does, is both an expose on the average marketer’s lack of knowledge as well as a step-by-step guide to becoming the smartest marketer in any room.