The Right Type of Specialization

I have spoken to dozens of businesses these past several months and I am amazed at how many of them believe that their industry is so unique that they need marketing people who are specialists, experienced marketers solely focused on their particular industry.

Software companies firmly believe that anyone involved in their marketing, has to have experience in marketing software.  A bank told me that they believed that the learning curve for banking is too steep for a marketer who has not been in banking.  The healthcare field is virtually a closed society.  If your career has not been firmly placed in healthcare, from a college internship on, forget it.  I have heard this from many, many companies.  They think they are that unique.




I don't buy it.

I worked many years in television station marketing.  I hired many writer/producers in several different markets.  I firmly believe that the best came to me from ad agencies.  I actually had supervisors and managers from other departments question these hires.  "But they don't know new promotion!"  I would answer:  "Ah... but they know marketing."

Actually the fact that they didn't know news promotion give us a much better chance at breaking away from the same-old, same-old.  They didn't know that some things "were always done this way" so they did them a different way.  Thus... we stood out.

Specialized marketing for an industry or product will almost always lead to a whole lot of the "same old, same old."  The rules are known, accepted and rarely challenged.  There is a great understanding of industry detail, but creativity, and I would argue marketing effectiveness, suffer.

I read an interesting article the other day about a well-known ad agency in Richmond, VA, The Martin Agency.  They made headlines by creating a unit that specializes, not in a specific industry or product, but in a specific target market.  They created The Mom Complex, a 10-employee unit devoted solely to effectively communicating with Moms about goods and services.

 

Brilliant!

This unit is specializing in moms not banking, people not product.  If you want to sell your banking services to Mom's, you better understand moms and what makes them tick. Yes, you need to know something about the bank, but how much?  When I used to write news promos.  I often told the reporter to only give me the basics, the crux of the story and why people should care.  I knew the audience.  I knew how to talk to them.  I took it from there.  I didn't need the detail.  I just needed to know the hook. 

I think the point here is clear.  If you want to break through in your marketing, generate some attention and excitement about your company, create some growth, you may be better off with marketing people who are experts in marketing to people... than you are with expert industry people who experienced in marketing.

There was a local Lasik center that was recently looking for a marketing director.  They wanted someone with extensive experience in ophthalmology.  Really?