Marketing success is a journey not a destination

Syed was the former British table tennis champion and is now a well-respected journalist. Much of his work outside of news journalism now centres on subjects to do with success and how people achieve this in a variety of fields, not just sport. In a recent podcast, Syed talked about his thoughts on young people today and how, through the likes of reality TV, many believe that success is something that simply happens and is literally arrived at with little or no effort. He’s a big believer in the 10,000-hour theory and that to master anything of note, this is how long one will have to invest in it to achieve success. It’s been quoted by everyone from Arthur Ashe to Bruce Lee, that success should be seen as a journey and not a destination.

Listening to this podcast and having read Syed’s book, Black Box Thinking, there are great parallels with what my team and I at Asgard see in the attitudes of many organisations in the IT and Tech sector and their approach to marketing. It is my long-held belief that despite IT being all about technology and innovation, many of the people steering these businesses are themselves sometimes very reluctant in their approach to innovating, particularly when it comes to marketing. IT, and especially the channel, has been entrenched in a very sales-oriented culture for as long as I can remember and as a result marketing is often not treated with the seriousness it deserves.

Gradually, channel organisations are beginning to wake up to the potential of marketing and recognising that with the world of sales changing dramatically it is something they must invest in. However, just because you’ve decided to do some marketing it doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful at it. Too often marketing is simply dabbled with and becomes a one-time event, instead of something that is committed to over a sustained period. It will take trial and error, and certainly in the early days, huge faith, while you figure out what works and what is right for your business and your customers.  It’s part of the journey to success!

For this reason, marketing in the channel is just the same as in every other walk of life. It takes time, dedication, and an acceptance that trial and error is part of the game. That said, there are ways to stack the odds in your favour. Working with experienced people and third parties active in the sector will increase your chances of success as you’ll draw on their experience and knowledge of what’s working. Indeed, that’s a big part of why our customers choose to engage with us!

If you’re ready to embark on your marketing journey, perhaps you should get in touch to see how we can help.