Three Principles Everyone In Marketing Needs For Success

[Shahriar Tasjid]

Every aspect of effective marketing can be distilled down to one thing: relationships. Building a network, fostering positive relationships and learning how to properly manage relationships are essential skills that never go out of style. By using these principles, you set yourself up for success in the world of marketing.

Here are three time-tested points I learned from being a digital marketer since it came around.

1. Learn how to network like a pro.

I've been an entrepreneur since I was 16. When I started out -- selling car parts on eBay -- I didn't have much experience working for others. I felt awkward in meetings and conferences. Honestly, it was a lot of trial and error. To fill my gaps in knowledge, I sought out business partners and mentors.

One of my long-time partners has always been good at networking. After observing him interact with professionals in many different contexts, I realized something simple: He was always himself. It didn't matter if he was at a restaurant or in a business situation; he was unabashedly himself, the gargantuan guy with a loud, authoritative voice.

He helped me realize that one of the keys to networking is to be yourself at all times. For whatever reason, a lot of people change when they're in "business" mode. But as soon as you try to change yourself to appear more serious, conservative or whatever the case, people are going to sense the inauthenticity. They're going to feel uncomfortable around you, and it's going to prevent deals.

It sounds simple, but don't treat networking differently than other interactions. Once you've nailed this, the next step is maintaining those relationships.

2. Foster and strengthen the relationships you build.

Marketing is all about cross promotions and collaborations. But without solid relationships, it's difficult to get things done without feeling transactional. When done poorly, it feels like you're exploiting the other person and vice versa.

Be humble to build genuine relationships with people in your industry. A lot of entrepreneurs overhype themselves, which makes them seem unapproachable and, in the worst cases, arrogant.

But if you want to be a CMO, you need to be relatable to everyone, from the mailroom to the boardroom.

To connect on a human level, you need to be a good listener, ask a lot of questions and figure out what motivates people. When I'm trying to foster relationships with new people, I don't mentally separate them into categories like "business" or "personal." Instead, I consider myself as someone who likes to get to know many different people. Maybe we can collaborate on a marketing project or something personal, or maybe not. But being overly transactional will not make this happen if it's not meant to be.

It's also a big mistake to divide people into "friends" or "competitors." I always have to giggle when people refuse to form connections with perceived competitors. It's impossible to have everybody as a customer -- so many niches exist. For example, I don't really work with the food industry, but I know the best team that does. So, I've learned to be generous when it comes to connecting and recommending people for jobs. You never know when it may come back to you.

Besides having an open mind, you also need to possess the patience to let relationships breathe. In my time, I've noticed great stuff can happen when you don't put expectations or time limits on people. Maybe they can't help you today, but they might come to you with an interesting project months or years down the road.

3. Use your network and relationships the right way.

Once you have a strong relationship in place, you need to avoid a common mistake. Many people burn through their relationships in a churn-and-burn fashion just to get what they want. That's not a mutually beneficial relationship. Be the person you would want to be in a relationship with, and treat others the same.

I built my agency, which was included in the annual Inc. 500 list (25th in marketing and advertising), entirely from personal introductions from my network. I never leveraged my relationships.

I ran exactly zero dollars in ads, never promoted a lead funnel and wasn't obsessing over conversion ratios. If you're selling a completely digital product, you absolutely need that stuff. But for an agency, it's more personal. After all, you're interacting with -- and potentially representing -- a human or brand.

Most people don't believe you can build a multimillion-dollar company without running a single ad, but that's exactly what I did. By having great relationships, we got customers. It came together entirely through personal introductions from people we already knew, and I rarely asked for them.

Marketing is never a one-man show; it requires teamwork to get great things done. While marketing tactics are constantly changing, the principles of building strong relationships are always the same. To really succeed, you need to focus on networking, maintaining connections with people and being a person of value.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil