Far too often businesses of all sizes leave the official job of marketing to, well, the marketing department, which can also be known as the owner of the business or top sales person turned into the marketing person. But, here’s a little flash – anyone associated with your business that comes into contact with a prospect or customer is performing a marketing function. So the question is – are they prepared to carry out that function well? Something I have learned with Duct Tape Marketing and working with John Jantsch, he writes: I believe that one of the smartest things any business can do is create and perform official marketing training for everyone in the business. This goes for Installers, carpenters, administrative people, sales people and entire staff. Here’s an example of a marketing training program: Once a quarter at a minimum (and with every new hire) conduct an all hands brand meeting. This internal seminar can and should include training and examples on things like:

• Why we named our company what we did – attach this to your personal story
• What colors, images, fonts are official and why – create a simple style manual of standards
• Your core marketing message – and why – help everyone connect their position to the message
• The way you want the brand to be thought of in the market – your goal, your one word of association
• Benefits of your products and services (should be done consistently) – demo them and present them just like you would to a customer
• Description of your ideal customer – use photos and success stories of real customers
• Your current lead generation activities – show off ads, run radio spots – sell them on the campaign
• Your lead conversion process – everyone should know the next step when a prospect calls
• Key marketing metrics – sales generated, leads generated, referrals generated, PR generated
• Your marketing calendar – show everyone you have a plan for the future

In addition, I would help everyone write or rewrite some aspect of their position to include a direct relationship to the marketing function they perform. An administrative person who primarily answers the phone might have the directive to answer the phone and route calls to the proper person, but in a marketing world that person’s directive is to answer the phone and act as the very first impression and representation of the brand. Now, could that change that person’s role in a powerful way, I’ve seen it happen. Then take it up a notch and create marketing scorecards for everyone. Simply list all the marketing related ways that every position in your organization can score marketing points throughout the day and turn it into a game. ie – asking for and getting a referral, turning a customer complaint into a win, writing a blog post, participating in a social network, sending a hand-written thank you note, giving a referral, making a contact at a Chamber event. Challenge everyone to score X amount of marketing points each week and create an award program as part of your marketing workshops. Getting marketing understanding and buy in from your entire team makes them feel more empowered to act on behalf of the brand and better ambassadors wherever they encounter prospects and customers.