Leaders Are Marketers

A tough challenge faced by every executive, manager or supervisor, is how to maintain employee motivation? Christine Corelli’s concise answer is you must be leader rather than a manager. She goes on to provide a wealth of differences between being a boss versus a leader. Looking these over I noticed alot of similarities to what I deem good marketing practices. This has led me to the conclusion that the best leaders are marketers.

• A leader depends on goodwill not authority. A marketer strives to build positive brand equity. In other words, it’s a sustained effort of creating consistent experiences that lead to postive associations, and a clear position for the brand.

• A leader pulls (not push) you by acting as a role model. I don’t completely agree with Corelli on this point. A combination of pull and push marketing is the right strategy. Yes, a leader will convert people to loyal followers by acting as a role model but he will also use push tactics. For instance, a monthly incentive that rewards exemplar conduct is an effective method of instilling employee motivation. A marketer might pull people to subscribe to an educational e-newsletter with interesting content, but will occasionally pitch a product to the list to make an immediate sale.

• It’s not about where you are, but what you could and should be. Brands make a promise on a functional level (save time, a closer shave) and on an emotional plane (be happier, heightened social appeal).  A leader has a vision that she intends employees to fulfill for themselves and the company. You could increase your pay by increasing productivity X % (functional) and take pride (emotional) in beating the competition.

• It’s not about me, lets focus on empowering “you.” Good marketers eschew using the words “we” and “our.” The best marketers think of their customers as communities, while providing reasons for people to begin conversations about the brand.

• Leaders focus less on achieving immediate results, more about working hard to achieve ultimate objectives. Discounts and hard sells are appropriate in some situations but detrimental to long term profits if abused. The best marketers strike a balance in using these tactics. They also realize how their actions impact the organization as a whole. Therefore they make an effort to align their activities with sales, finance and HR.

How about you name one or two similarities between leadership and marketing?

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Tags: leadership, Marketing