Even marketing veterans have clichéd moments when the feel they have ‘been there done that’ on just about every marketing idea in their industry. When marketing professionals spend all day focusing on what they do, what their competitors do and what their customers want them to do, it is very easy to become micro manage marketing ideas and insular from the market place as a whole. Sometimes, a simple gear shift can land you a gold mine of ideas.

Looking at the business from outside in instead of from inside out can make the world of difference. I once met a very hardworking gentleman who produced a very respectable dive magazine. Issue after issue, he and his passionate team slaved to produce excellent articles. Issue after issue, it was always difficult to find long term advertising partners. It was a struggle to make ends meet. One day he told me it was so hard to get advertisers because whilst the readers have high spending power, Dive shops typically had very little margin to invest in advertising and as such, the magazine, despite its quality, had difficulties making ends meet. In the process of uncovering his business pain points to me, it suddenly seemed apparent to him that he had been targeting the wrong advertising clients. Perhaps it was in the larger brands that supplied underwater cameras, financial companies offering quality protection and other complementary services that would have the financial muscle to place long term advertisements in his magazine.

Armed with a few backdated issues of his magazine, he immediately went off and met with the marketing executives and eventually, his struggle paid off. The companies not only advertised, they eventually used the magazine as an avenue for reaching very target clients with customised products and events.

“Marketing always involves the end objective in mind,” says Hsien Naidu, founder and director of the business consulting firm, Astreem Corporation. “When our marketing consultants constantly set the end objectives in mind, they see what is outside of the box that eventually leads to their marketing achievements.”