I think this lesson is relatable in all aspects of your life and that is like the heading says, feedback is key!
Like any young, ambitious, eager to please 20 something year old I was full of ideas and knowledge and just bursting at the seams to have my say on all the things. Whether it was marketing, operations, other departments, politics, life etc etc you get the point of course in my early twenties I had an opinion on it all.
I have never been afraid to speak up and recommend changes as I see fit, but the flip side to this is, you need to be ready to accept your idea may not work, may not be the best idea and may provoke others to deliver feedback in ways you may not find comfortable.
Whether the feedback is good or bad, the important thing is to listen and take it on board. Even if it is not necessarily delivered constructively or you do not agree with it at all it is always beneficial and respectful to listen and try to understand another’s perspective.
My marketing career began at a very interesting time, many companies were very hesitant of spending money in the digital sphere, showing my age here, iPhones weren’t even a thing – that is right kids there was a time the iPhone did not exist.
What did this mean to marketing? Well… the internet WAS important, but traditional means of marketing, such as newspapers, direct mail and letters (yes, a letter with a stamp) were still very viable and did return great yields.
I honestly feel sorry for marketers who have never had the privilege of marketing prior to the digital era, they have missed many very important marketing fundamental lessons, because lets not forget the non-digital sphere is not dead… and can still when done correctly yield great results, but yes the costs involved are much higher and it is harder to track ROI (return on investment).
I digress, this blog is regarding feedback.
Whether it was my first marketing role in a boutique real estate agency or a marketing manager role in a 10MIL+ blue collar business I have always found the best development in your marketing strategy comes with feedback.
Whether that feedback be from management, customers, the board, fellow colleagues wherever it is coming from if you listen, take it onboard you will find your marketing strategy will come to life! If you are not receiving feedback go and seek it out.
So now you of course want a real-life example of how feedback has benefited me in my career, ok here you go.
I have been known to be a non-believer when it comes to EDM campaigns, I often feel like consumers receive so many emails a day (I personally receive on an average day anywhere from 10-35 promotional emails) that adding to that noise may not always be the most effective marketing strategy.
Still, this does not stop me trying, being an optimistic marketer and knowing EDM is a cheap and often affective channel I will set up nurture campaigns, monthly newsletters, and optimised emails for my employers and now clients. Ensuring of course that content does its absolute best to cut through the noise that is the average inbox.
The year was 2018 – yes back when COVID would have been the hit of a Hollywood film, not a real life scenario – and the scene was my boss of the times office, we were discussing all things marketing in the monthly (not so monthly) marketing meeting and he happened to mention to me that he had it mentioned to him in meeting with a potential customer that the meeting was only happening because of the “frequent, but interesting, damn emails” from the brand.
This is feedback in its simplest form. So yes, results may have told me my open rates, my click through rates, google might have given me even deeper data, but this simple feedback from a customer confirmed that even if we won just his work from this channel it would in fact result in a huge ROI from the nurture email marketing campaigns we were running.
So my point is that even with the best tracking available and the most optimised data, often verbal feedback from a customer, a peer, anyone who has access to your marketing activity is the most effective way to determine how your marketing campaigns and overall strategy are really going.
If you do not have feedback offered to you, be sure to ask for it, and often.