e Chapter 19 e Maintaining a Marketing Mindset How to keep marketing top of mind, all the time Y ou know well by now that, to be a marketing machine, everyone in your business must be thinking, acting, and communicating like a marketer every day. That means you need everyone operating in the right, and same, frame of mind. I have a few final suggestions to help you maintain a marketing mindset throughout your company. Do not pick and choose. Do all of them. They will not only make you a better marketer, they'll make you a better business. Of course being a better business gives you a better story to market. A better story means customers love you more. More love means great word-of-mouth. That, in turn, drives in more customers. And around and around you go in your giant pot of fabulous marketing gumbo. 1. Get your entire team involved in developing your marketing plan. Everyone needs to be heard and everyone has ideas to be considered. Your marketing program may fall solely to you or a handful of others, but you need the value of all perspectives, especially those in the trenches and closest to the customer. Ask questions and get your team talking, brainstorm- ing, and masterminding. You'll obtain meaningful input to help your busi- ness and boost morale in the process. Even if you do conduct customer research, you still want to tap into the goldmine of information that's running about your company every moment. Your employees have information you need to know, but you'll have to ask to obtain it. 2. Share your marketing plan with your entire company. Once you have your official marketing plan pulled together, throw it to your team for feedback and buy-in. Everything you do in your marketing will come back around to your team one way or another. They'll have to answer e 205