By Margaret Bradshaw, Red Button Marketing
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a tasty jacket potato with a nourishing topping and accompanying side salad, however, you and I both know, we are not talking about actual potatoes! So, what on earth has that got to do with marketing? Let’s explore.
The phrase “Drop Like a Hot Potato” emerged in the 1800s. However, as with most things, it evolved and over time, people shortened the idea to just a “hot potato” or “passing the hot potato,” representing a delicate, risky, or controversial topic that nobody wants to take responsibility for and everyone tries to hand off to someone else. Sound familiar?
I would not be surprised at all if right now your mind is moving to a song by Snoop Dogg!
Anyway, back to the hot topic of marketing and who needs to hold onto it.
I think we can agree that words like “risky” and “controversial” are used in the world of marketing on a daily basis. When it comes to the point about someone not taking responsibility for something and wanting to pass on to someone else, well, don’t get me started!
I mean, let’s go there, let’s ask that question… who does own marketing?
Is that really the first question though, should we not consider a more crucial one first, what is marketing anyway?
I could easily say I took ownership of a brand new, shiny, red Lamborghini however, I didn’t see it or touch it, so did I really take ownership?
The key thing here is visibility and clarity. If we can see it, touch it and understand it then we have something to take ownership of.
Let’s zoom back to marketing and the concept of the humble, hot potato. What is certain is that we can see the potato, feel the potato and register some emotions about it! If we can do that with marketing, we can then explore who owns it.
Metaphorically speaking, marketing is a hot potato in terms of the person in a business who has accountability. Imagine the scenario, a marketing coordinator reporting to one of the directors, which director has clear responsibility? Are marketing team members expected to deliver results? What results? How are they measured?
What if “marketing” is just seen as an outsourced set of activities?
Are activities the topping on the potato? I will leave you to consider that one?
After all, when we are faced with a tasty spud, we love having the power to choose what we add to give us the best experience.
Ultimately it is about “how” marketing as a process is joined at the hip with operations and sales. It should not be something that gets moved around, shifted and surrounded by myth and uncertainty.
Perhaps what is so similar is that the humble potato is part of our everyday lives, we do all kinds of things with it, and we just know it is there.
Imagine what would happen in businesses if we knew marketing was integral, everyone could see it, enjoy it, be a part of it, use it to help make choices and see it as a space to be creative, innovative and grow.
Marketing really is a magic ingredient that fuels people and activities when positioned as a business process not a single chip!
When we can see it as something nourishing for people and business then all of a sudden, we could find everyone wants a slice of the action.
So, in summary, let’s not toss marketing around like a hot potato, let’s embrace its capabilities and possibilities.
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