Say “no” to Groundhog Day marketing
“Michelle, I need you to fire Dan.
“We haven’t hit our numbers for three straight periods and several board members informed me that they don’t like the current marketing campaign. And let’s please get a new VP of Marketing on board as quickly as possible.”
Out with the old
Conversations like this happen every day. According to research from LinkedIn, marketing is the professional function that suffers the highest turnover in business. In fact, three of the top six functions are marketing-related. This is astonishing.
Even worse is what typically happens during the ensuing candidate screening process. Hiring committee members are tacitly encouraged to presume that the outgoing marketing VP’s work was “the problem.” Think about that…non-marketing experts are tasked with finding their organization’s next savior while the predecessor’s work is put up for target practice.
In with “next year’s old”
“What would you change about the current campaign?”
“Why do you think the current website isn’t working?”
“How would you fix the problems we’ve been experiencing with lead conversion?”
Hungry candidates are openly invited, encouraged even, to disparage their predecessor’s work in order to impress the interview committee and hopefully secure the position. The successful candidate then continues the negativity after beginning in their new role.
After another year or three, the cycle repeats. A star hire is ushered out and the search begins for next year’s superstar. The way I see it, hiring committees are merely looking for their next former marketing leader.
I call this process “groundhog day marketing” as it reminds me of the cycle of absurd repetition depicted in the film, “Groundhog Day.” While there are many obvious financial downsides to groundhog day marketing (offboarding, onboarding, agency reviews, etc.), the real tragedy is that your customers end up experiencing your brand as something inconsistent or even incomprehensible. Winning in the marketplace, therefore, remains perpetually out of reach.
How to break the cycle
There is only one person in your organization that can break the groundhog day loop. A CEO, armed with a solidly grounded and clear Marketing Focus Statement, can begin to ensure that a new marketing leader forges a path that builds and improves upon, rather than trashes, the work of their predecessor.
With the marketplace in such upheaval, there is no better time than right now to build a Marketing Focus Statement that you can own and pass from today’s marketing team to your next team.
How can I help you?
If you’d like to learn more about how to break the Groundhog Day cycle, Iceberg can help. See my pages on coaching or on internal marketing evangelism. Or contact me directly. I’m always happy to help.