The non-marketers in your company are marketers.

One of our clients asked us to present to their internal leadership group about marketing. Our audience was people who do the day-to-day work of serving customers — not people who have the word “marketing” in their job title. It was a great conversation about marketing and brand experience. Here are some ideas we discussed that apply to any type of business or organization.

Everyone is in marketing. Every person. Across every touchpoint.

The responsibility for marketing doesn’t belong solely to your chief marketing officer and to her department. Everyone who interacts with customers or touches client work is in marketing. Because every member of the team, and every individual interaction they have with clients/customers day-to-day, creates the overall brand experience.

Does your team realize the impact they have? It’s not something to feel burdened by — it’s something to get excited about. Everyone has the power to elevate the brand experience and help move the business forward.

Marketing is about connecting and developing relationships. The non-marketing marketers in any organization (not only the B2B services business of this particular client) can add value through the one-to-one, consultative role each member of the team has with clients.

Every touchpoint is an opportunity to add value. Every interaction is an opportunity to manifest your brand values and characteristics.

A marketing and communications mindset is a growth mindset.

To grow your business, you always need to be growing yourself. To stretch your knowledge and ability, as well as your team’s and the client’s, requires a growth mindset. Sometimes growth isn’t easy. At those times, it helps to remind yourself and your team what you are striving for (your vision) and realize that growth is a process. As Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success says:

Why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

Cultivating a growth mindset can help you view challenges as opportunities. (And it’s a lot more enjoyable than feeling stuck when challenged.)

Three marketing tactics.

So, if everyone who is a non-marketer is really a marketer, what are some realistic things they can do to help contribute? We got copies of Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, one of my all-time favorite business books, for everyone in the leadership group and discussed three takeaways from the book that are relevant and actionable in their situation. These are good ways to create positive brand experiences that support marketing efforts:

1. Out teach your competition. Share knowledge. Help your clients or prospects do better by helping them better understand what you do, and how it can help them do better (achieve their business goals).

2. Emulate chefs. Inform and educate. Share your point of view and your tricks. Show, in addition to tell.

3. Sound like you. Be yourself, be conversational. Drop the business speak and enjoy sharing what you have to offer. Forget about what you learned in that 7th grade term paper unit. Drop the formality and the long words and the extra adjectives. Write a report or a blog post as if you are talking, from one professional human to another.

Bottom line:

It’s all about creating a great brand experience. Which will lead to great customer relationships and more repeat business. Email Joy if you’d like to learn more and energize your team.