My Best Marketing Tips #10: General Mills / Mark Brown / Marketing Director, Northern Europe
My Best Marketing Tips #10: General Mills / Mark Brown / Marketing Director, Northern Europe
Responsible for the marketing activation of 15 food brands in the UK, Germany andIreland, Mark Brown has built his career in food marketing as a “food guy through and through.” He even picks his favourite marketing book with a foodie title: David Taylor’s “Where’s the Sausage?”
Focusing on the “substance behind the sizzle,” the actual commercial backing of any creative work, is one of Mark’s best marketing tips learnt from David Taylor’s book. He sees his role as ultimately selling more products, so the commercial drive behind any great campaign is essential and needs to come through in his work and that of his team.
What would be your best marketing tip?
Great marketing is built on three pillars: building your brand with strategy and vision, running your business, and leading and engaging your stakeholders.
It sounds complex, but it’s not a question of doing hours every day on each aspect. Just have a think of these constantly. Some days it will be very small steps, some days it will be big steps.
How have you put this marketing tip to good use?
I try to remind myself of these three aspects in everything I do. If you hit all three consistently, you won’t go far wrong. This doesn’t mean I do everything every day! But, even moments like questioning if what I’m doing is aligned with my vision, or reflecting about day-to-day activity while I’m the shower, or trying to listen in on customer feedback…they all count.
What marketing tips does the industry need most right now?
We’ve unlocked the potential of virtual working throughout the past year because of lockdown restrictions. We need to keep this momentum going and help more minds come together in boundary-less collaboration through virtual meetings.
We also need to rethink office life. Does all the team need to commute into the office to sit behind a screen all day? How are they best off spending their time?
I think if we hit the right balance of remote working and in-person interaction, we’ll become more productive and more creative. Meetings will be sharper and more relevant, too.
What is the marketing tip you give most often?
Go back to the three pillars: have a strategy and vision for your brand, run the business in line with that, and engage with stakeholders internally and externally.
Also, remember to put the substance behind the sizzle. Creativity (sizzle) is important, but don’t lose track of what the ultimate aim of your campaign is.
Listen to Mark talk about boundary-less collaboration, how he is fostering an environment for doing great work in his team, and his views on the future of office life, on the latest episode of our Shiny New Object podcast.
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