AMiable Solution #133: Are You an Aggressive Marketer?

The word “aggressive” tends to carry a negative connotation.  Parents scold their children for playing too aggressively with one another.  Sports fans call players who put scoring or winning above good sportsmanship aggressive.  Doctors call diseases that spread through the body quickly aggressive. 

But not all “aggressive” things are bad.  Sometimes “aggressive” is just another word for “driven,” and when executed in thoughtful ways can have positive consequences.

Consider how your marketing department operates.  You probably have specific goals and plans for the year, but do you have them for each quarter?  Each month?  How much of your strategy is in writing, and how much is constructed--and left--in a meeting?  Do you ask for specific responses in every marketing campaign?  Do you provide easy opportunities or tools for prospects and customers to do so?  Do you make decisions on whims or on stacks of research?

“Good” aggressive marketing gives a department, and its organization, a plan for moving forward.  For making new customers and retaining existing ones.  For becoming a better organization.  For recognizing the things that work and the changes that need to be made.

Aggressive marketing makes the department active, not reactive.  It invests the marketer in both the company and the client.  It drives decisions about the department and the organization’s future.  It seeks to connect problems with solutions and clients with products or services. 

“Good” aggressive marketing departments don’t wait for customers to find them.  They seek new ones with while employing a healthy regard for customer privacy, customer satisfaction, and customer preferences.

 Are you being aggressive in your organization’s mission?  Becoming passionate about helping your organization and the people it serves succeed doesn’t just make you an aggressive marketer; it also makes you an effective one.