Hi, I’m Ros Conkie and my first job in marketing was in a small robotics company in Bristol. I was employee number 5 and neither my boss, the MD, or I had any experience or training in marketing.
So I read loads of books and went to a few training courses, but I didn’t have anyone to mentor and guide me, and after a while I started feeling quite frustrated that a lot of the work I was doing seemed to be pretty ineffective at getting sales, but I had no idea what else I should be doing. And if I had an idea for something I thought could make an impact, I often struggled to explain why I thought it’d work - so often I was told, “no we’re not going to do that.”
I felt alone and at the time I wished I had someone that could help me and support me in the journey that I was on. And eventually I left the company because I just felt too frustrated and I felt like my job wasn’t going anywhere.
If you're a CEO that's appointed a marketing person, you don’t want that to happen because my boss had invested so much time and money in me and then they had to start again with a new person, so you’re going to want to make sure the investment you’re making in your marketing person pays off.
So you have two choices really. Option one is you can leave them alone, you think they're a marketing person that should be able to magic things up, and in six months time that person leaves for a better opportunity and you go through the whole recruitment cycle again.
Or option two is you can provide support for them. You can help them. You can train them or work with people like us to train them, you can provide feedback on their work and help them create a strategy and a plan to work from and make sure they’re supported and motivated and that they’re clear on exactly what they’re doing and why.
If you’re thinking that option two sounds great but completely unachievable for you because you’re not a marketer, then I’ve got good news because we can help. This is what we do.
We will be part of your team, working alongside you and your marketing employees to create structure, a clear strategy and a prioritised plan that your marketing person can implement confidently. We’ll be there to keep them focused on your strategy and on track with your plan, providing feedback, training and advice whenever it’s needed. And the result is you end up with a marketing superstar who’s measurably delivering ROI for your business.
Of course if you want to go down the route of option two then good luck. I recommend you read our free resources and train yourself in marketing so you can step in to take over when you find yourself between marketers.
If you want to talk to me about the best way forward and what it could be like to have us on your team, book a call with me here: https://rosconkie.com/clarity
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What's the most enjoyable thing about your work?
One of my core values is learning and enabling others to learn, so the things I love most about my business are around that.
I love showing people how marketing actually works so they can make confident marketing decisions for themselves.
I also love learning from all my clients: they're all different and I learn something new from every single one of them, no matter how big or small.
If you could give one single piece of advice to a new start up business, what would it be?
Don't try to do this alone. No one has all the skills and expertise a business owner needs so surround yourself with a team of people who can help, advise, encourage and support you through all the challenges that are coming your way.
Which one phrase or quote sums up your attitude to business life?
Slow down to speed up
If you were stranded on a desert island, what 2 luxury items would you take?
A comfy bed and a piano
What book(s) would you recommend?
Watertight Marketing - I have a license to use this powerful, award-winning methodology with my clients and it's simply brilliant. I recommend it to every business owner I meet because it explains how the fundamentals of marketing actually work. If you only read one book on marketing, read this one.
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