So sang the Beatles years ago. And you can’t buy “good marketing,” either. So says Steve Yastrow in a post about Sprint/Nextel over at Tom Peters’s place…
You can’t buy great marketing, no matter how big you are. You have to do great marketing. You can’t say “Yes, you can” if your employees and customers think “No, we can’t.” Marketing can’t be a big game of fakeout, no matter how big your checkbook is.
This is one of the – if not THE – biggest obstacles most of us who are trying to lead/transition organizations face: The “doing” doesn’t always match the “saying.” There is a tension between where we want to go and where we’re stuck, hanging out. This usually leads us to over-promise and under-deliver, in marketing terms. Which means not only do we have a problem with what we can and can’t offer, but it also means we have a serious credibility gap. Which just seems to conspire to keep the vicious cycle spinning.
