You may have heard the phrase recently “stay in your lane”.
Lavar Ball (famous basketball dad) used it during an interview with a female reporter last year when she was probing as to the number of Baller Brand sneakers they had sold, suggesting that she should keep to reporting on sports.
More recently, the NRA (National Rifle Association) used the phrase to suggest that doctors stay out of the gun control debate.
In both instances, “stay in your lane” was meant to suggest that certain individuals should narrow their focus (and refrain from scrutinizing certain matters).
From a marketing perspective, all too often Marketers stay in their lane and the entire organization suffers as a result. In order for a company to achieve its potential from a Marketing-ROI perspective, there needs to be close cohesion between senior managers along with Marketing and Sales departments to ensure everyone is on the same page with respect to objectives, quantifiable goals, actual results and feedback to improve performance.
Superior results from digital marketing efforts are a byproduct of a successful collaboration between all levels of an organization. Marketing that operates in a silo (in a lane) usually don’t achieve stellar results.
We see this all of the time. A few examples:
- Our Healthcare clients who are able to extrapolate quality content from their physicians (quotes, video interviews, etc.) gain valuable materials that they are able to repurpose to boost their SEO, social channels and patient engagement. Hospitals that have prioritized its cultivation are reaping significant dividends.
- Our manufacturing clients who are able to get their outside sales teams to appreciate the time savings that digital marketing can deliver and follow up with prospects in a proactive / timely manner continuously reap the benefits.
Time spent collaborating within organizations to strategize, educate, create content and measure / enhance performance is time well invested. Sometimes achieving buy-in to get these action steps to occur requires straying outside your lane.
