Avoid Marketing Graft

I’m not talking about the graft and vice definition of graft. The graft I’m talking about is the broad definition used to describe the process of joining one thing to another. Like a skin graft.

I use this term in marketing because often times it seems that marketing is grafted onto a product or service that just appears for marketers to make Shinola out of. Sound familiar?

Marketers: Change starts with you. Close up your product development feedback loops. Don’t let yourself be defined in the process as merely the next one to get the hand-off in the development cycle. Involve yourself. If there’s no process in place for marketing involvement — create one.

The only way to reach product nirvana, with an eventual result of achieving maximum marketing velocity, is for all parties to come together (including potential customers) and be involved in development collaboratively. Marketers proximity to product development serves more than just the product, though. It also creates more effective, product-centric marketing.

The quote below says it best.

“The advertising man is a liaison between the products of business and the mind of the nation. He must know both before he can serve either.” – Glenn Frank