Getting it right first time

It is now 20 years since the advent of the World Wide Web but like most inventions ideas had been mooted, tested developed and improved as far back as WW2 for a network to share knowledge. It was coincidentally also 20 years ago when we started to map out the rationale for marketing in the world of engineering, technology and b-2-b in general. Many of the emerging technologies were indeed to prove vital to what we later termed technical marketing but it was a further 10 years before we publicly promoted the philosophy. 

The technologies enabled by the world wide web and Internet although important are merely useful tools, but without an under pinning purpose cannot be effectively used for marketing. Although people have enthusiastically embraced the hardware and software of personal computing and mobile communication what few have grasped is that to be effective they must control these devices and not be ruled by them. In short to have a clear plan designed to achieve objectives. In the absence of a marketing rationale, a formal plan and clear business objectives the tendency is to simply be 'busy fools' rushing about, attending meetings, forwarding e-mails, making calls without purpose while creating the impression of being very busy.

In the early days of building web sites it rapidly became apparent that gathering the content material was actually the most difficult task often because few clients fully 

understood all aspects of their business. This lack of clarity was brutally exposed by the 

engineering reality of building a web site without a valid business model and relevant content 

that would lead to building, rebuilding and modifying the site as missing content dribbled in 

and existing content changed. Despite counseling clients to plan first, collate content, then 

build and do it just once,it usually proved impossible to achieve in practice.  Take another example - display advertising. Doing it once by negotiating and booking an annual plan avoids being 

dragged into a piecemeal plan reacting to incoming advertising space sales offers, rushing to 

meet deadlines and generally spending more with less effect than from a planned approach. 

The same is true of other marketing tools and techniques. Don't react to people selling 

exhibition space, direct marketing, advertising and the rest, have a formal marketing plan that determines which marketing tools will be most effective to you, then negotiate with suppliers instead of having them sell to you. In short have clear objectives, a marketing strategy that details how the objectives will be delivered and how the appropriate marketing tools will be deployed and integrated to optimum effect. 

Working with a marketing company that understands the importance of a technical marketing approach can not only help companies clarify their own aims, but bring in new ideas, wisdom and experience to change the culture to one of being in control of marketing.