When We Hear Marketing Bullshit (Internal View)

When we refer to "marketing bullshit" within our own organizations, it's usually because there are one of two problems at play (sometimes both).

The first, as I discussed in my last post, is that our sales and marketing communications are off. We aren't being honest, we aren't being forthright. We aren't speaking with integrity.

Clearly, this is a problem and we have to have the guts to fix this. 

But the other reason that we say this is because we don't understand. We don't understand the true value of what good marketing and sales endeavors can bring. Or, we are aware and simply won't believe it. Instead, we lump marketing and sales into that bucket of commercial activity that is dishonest, not genuine, that is centered on the swindle.

Not as honest as what we do in R&D. Not as real as what we deliver in operations. Not as useful as our work in just about anything else.

Which is also, of course, bullshit.

What it suggests is that we don't understand the value of what true marketing can do. That we think it's about colors and logos and glossy brochures. That sales just sort of happens in spite of marketing and sales folks, and not because of them.

This is a product-centric view. It's myopic. And it's our fault.

Organizations are built by teams. Across departments. Across functions. Everyone plays a role. Everyone gets trust. Everyone gets the benefit of the doubt. That is how we grow.

And if we don't believe that, then maybe we're the problem. Certainly, if our leaders are using that sort of language, then they most certainly are the problem.

Yes, we really should know better.  So let's rethink our language.