Marketing concepts are changing constantly. There’s always something to learn!

The sheer number of resources – marketing books, blogs, and podcasts – can quickly become overwhelming.

That is, of course, until you stumble across the podcast of my recent guest, Douglas Burdett.

Douglas hosts a podcast called The Marketing Book Podcast where he interviews authors of marketing books.

And he is very picky about who he has on his show. The authors’ books need to be well-edited, preferably from a big-time publishing company.

They also need to be brand new. This is really important since the marketing world is ever-changing.

Douglas has read hundreds of marketing books, and he shared seven of the most important insights that he’s gained from reading the latest and greatest books.

7 Marketing Concepts that All Marketing Teams Need to Implement

According to a study by the Fournaise Group, 80% of CEOs don’t trust marketers because they think marketers are disconnected from the financial realities of their company.

On the other hand, more and more CMOs (chief marketing operators) are being promoted to CEOs.

Marketers have a very important job to do, and to gain the trust of their CEO (and even rise in the ranks), marketers should embrace these seven concepts.

1. Be Aware of Their Image

Many CEOs and sales teams don’t always trust the marketing team to be anything more than party planners who work in the 'make it pretty' department.

To gain trust, show your CEO and sales co-workers how what you’re doing is helping to produce revenue.

2. Always Ask These Two Questions

When getting your marketing plan ready, there are two questions you always need to answer at the very beginning.

• What are your key target markets in order of priority?
• In your key target markets, what are your company’s sources of differential advantage?

If you don't have the answer to those questions, you're not going to have the foundation for a solid marketing plan.

3. Pay Attention to Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool

Did you know that most of your money won’t come from new customers? Most of your money will come from repeat customers.

Therefore, it’s vital to make the customer experience an exceptional one.

If you get a bad review – pay attention! This is valuable information that can help you adjust your product or the purchasing experience.

Making current customers happy will turn them into loyal repeat customers.

4. Remember That Buyers Are More Educated Than They Used to Be

Only a few decades ago, the salesperson was the one in control. They had all of the information, all of the answers. Customers had to go to them in order to find out about a product.

With so much information online, over half of your prospects won’t contact a salesperson until they’re ready to make a purchase.

They’ve done their research, found the answers to their questions, and in many cases are more educated about a product than the sales team.

What can you do about this?

Put information out there in the form of a blog and social media posts. Your content will not only prove to be helpful to people, it can bring in leads who didn’t even know that your company provided the products they needed.

And a bonus is that your content can make customers feel like they already know and trust you.

5. Think of a Mouse Trap When Writing Your Content

When it comes to content creation, it’s easy to want to talk about your products. The reality is, though, that customers aren’t that interested in your product until they know it can fix a problem for them.

As we’ve been told repeatedly over the years, customers want to know “what’s in it for me.”

Douglass pointed out that it’s important to think of a mouse trap when focusing on content creation. Why does the mouse go to the trap? Is it because it’s attracted to the trap? No – they go to the trap because of what’s been placed inside.

Content should appeal to your target audience. It should address their needs and wants. It should educate and build trust between you and the customer. The more helpful you are – the better!

6. Constantly Measure Your Improvement

How do you know if you’re getting a good ROI? You won’t know unless you measure whether you’re improving or not.

It can be tempting to immediately go into your social media platform and see how many clicks or likes you’re getting. But these measurements can actually be somewhat deceptive.

Instead, measure your pipeline, which is leads who have expressed interest and there’s an actual opportunity for a sale. This will give you a more accurate sense of what needs improvement and by how much.

7. Successful Marketers Have a Top Management Mindset

To be a well-rounded marketer, you shouldn’t just be focusing on marketing – you need to focus on the business as a whole.

Successful marketers have deep insights into their customers, the competition, how to pull the revenue lever, and how the company makes money.

This is why more marketers are entering the ranks of CEOs. This well-rounded knowledge gives them the insights they need to run a successful marketing campaign and a successful business.

Be Willing to Put Forth the Effort and You Will Succeed

The difference between a successful and unsuccessful company is five percent. It doesn’t take a lot to ensure your success.

The issue that many companies and their marketers have, though, is putting the work in. Marketing is a daunting job because everything is changing so frequently.

But it’s not rocket science either. Basically, all you have to do is educate yourself and be willing to do the work.

If you’re a marketer and you do this, you’ll soon fall into the 20% category of marketers that are trusted by their CEOs.

If you’re a business owner and your marketing team implements these seven concepts, you will soon see a big return on investment and continued business growth and success.

Would you like to read more marketing books but struggle to find the time? Check out Douglas’ podcast to find out which books are the best investments of your time. And don’t forget to follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

ABOUT DOUGLAS BURDETT

Douglas Burdett, is the principal and founder of Artillery, a business-to- business marketing agency in Norfolk, Virginia, established in 2001.

He is also the host of The Marketing Book Podcast which was listed as the number 2 business podcast on iTunes. This week, LinkedIn included The Marketing Book Podcast on its “10 Podcasts that Will Make You a Better Marketer in 2016” list.

Prior to starting his own firm, Douglas worked at a Virginia advertising agency for 4 years after working in New York City on Madison Avenue for 10 years at ad industry giants J. Walter Thompson and Grey Advertising.

Before starting his business career, Douglas graduated from VMI, served as a U.S. Army artillery officer in Germany for three years and then earned an MBA.