Recognition Marketing - Marketing Is Not For Amateurs

Amateurs Spend Money On Marketing, Professionals Invest Money In Marketing

By David Miranda

"I'm not a marketer, but I play one at the office."

For some inexplicable reason, many firms (both large and small) make an major error in judgment regarding marketing. The mistake? Assigning marketing responsibilities to amateurs. Not amateurs in business, but amateurs in marketing.

How and why does this occur?

Simply put, competent individuals in one field of expertise, i.e. operations, finance, sales, general management, etc., are assumed to be competent in other fields, like marketing. This is like sayin that a good nurse will make a good surgeon. Yet this happens in business every day.

There are some things that some of us think we are good at - decorating, singing, personal relationships, telling jokes, driving, Trivial Pursuit, and, yes, marketing.

Unlike the other things we think we are good at, marketing has serious consequences if we don't know what we're doing. It is not a place for amateurs. Amateur marketers SPEND money ON marketing. Professional marketers INVEST resources IN marketing.

Knowing the difference is critical for a firm's or brand's success.

Amateur marketers are like amatuer gamblers. They do not know how to play the odds - when to hold 'em, when to fold'em. They count on luck. Professional marketers are more like scientists - they research, learn and are driven to continually improve on results. For professional marketers, they know and play the odds of success. They know that success is less about luck and more about strategy.

Firms like P&G and Coca-Cola create PHD's in marketing. They would never allow amateurs to manage their consumer brands. Each trains and nurtures its marketing people as a med school trains and nurtures physicians.

Recruit, train and nurture marketing professionals (or seek professional marketing counsel) to be successful.

There is no substitute for marketing professionalism.