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O P I N I O N
What’s new?
A recent Zweig Group promotion asked, ‘Is your marketing fresh and clean?’ The email went on to list 15 different marketing focus areas – the first being the marketing plan.
H ow often have you thought about your firm’s marketing plan? If you don’t think about it too often, it might be comforting to know that history is on your side. In 1909, the AIA pretty much forbade it. This was one of the many messages shared at the Convention of the American Institute of Architects that same year: “Advertising tends to lower the standard of the profession, and is therefore condemned.”
Jane Lawler Smith
So now you may be saying, this is an odd way to start an article on marketing. Except that I will remind you that this was 1909, my friends! Not only is that more than 100 years ago, but think of all the innovation that has gone on in the world – and the field of marketing – in that time. For firms with a marketing plan and a person or team dedicated to moving that plan forward, the temptation is strong to be happy with that state of affairs. After all, if we are being honest, we know many peer firms who have not achieved this level of marketing success. And however comforting those thoughts are, that is not the mindset that will maintain your success. A solid foundation is great and a stable plan and consistent effort is wonderful. But that and only that, over time, is
actually a recipe for staleness, stagnation, and, potentially, failure. “For firms with a marketing plan and a person or team dedicated to moving that plan forward, the temptation is strong to be happy with that state of affairs.” The real challenge for us today is to ask ourselves, what’s new? As an example, only 15 years ago, white
See JANE LAWLER SMITH, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER May 27, 2019, ISSUE 1298
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