Step 1: Planning: Who will own marketing management?

While business owners are motivated periodically to address marketing, few are well-suited for what it takes to manage the marketing process long term.  Typically, the best person to sustain a marketing campaign is:

-Disciplined

-Organized

-Articulate

EXAMPLE:  SMALLBIZ had Mary acting as office administrator.  She had dedicated 3 years to the company and owner, BILL, was not sure how to promote her because they needed her to continue to "run" the office's daily tasks. 

Marketing was a perfect match for MARY to grow her career and she was excited about the opportunity.  BILL gave her the business objectives and pointed her to his preferred marketing guidance.  With a few priorities around what he wanted to make sure was included in their plan, he let MARY run with the plan and check with the team along the way to make sure they could support the campaign (answer phones using their tagline, respond to leads they received, ask for referrals, etc). 

BILL gave MARY a 2% allocation of their annual budget and asked her to set up a twice monthly check-in. 

PRACTICE: 

List 1-3 people in your office who might match this qualification list.  Decide what sort of career development or compensation is involved in asking them to take on the additional responsibility of managing the marketing for your company.