Before I began working in marketing, I was a bartender. When I suddenly made the transition from making drinks to inbound marketing, many people were surprised since it was such a jump between fields. But what I quickly discovered was that there are actually a lot of similarities between bartending and marketing.
1. Always be aware of your surroundings
As a bartender, it is imperative that you stay on top of your surroundings, especially on a busy night. You need to know where your glassware is and where all of your mixing equipment is. You need to be aware of where all ingredients are at all times, and notice when another bartender or server moves something, even slightly, out of place. You also need to keep your eye on incoming orders so that you can get to them and make them as fast as possible. There are also a lot of people coming in and out of a busy bar, and so you need to keep track of who hasn't been served yet, and also of people trying to run away without paying their bills.
Marketing isn't so different though. Although the surroundings for marketers can be defined differently, it's still important to understand your online surroundings. Marketers constantly need to be managing multiple projects and campaigns at the same time, and so it becomes crucial to keep each of those environments organized within their own ecosystems. Keeping track of emails, social media and new and relevant content about your business is crucial. You need to be in constant communication with everyone as a marketer, and so you need to know when a new article or a new product comes out and how it could potentially help promote and enhance your business.
2. Every client is your friend
Any bartender who wants to make a living needs to ensure that their guests keep drinking. In order to do this, you need to make sure they feel comfortable and looked-after, so convincing them that you are their friend is crucial. The more a client trusts you, the more willing they are to keep doing business with you and as a result, the more consistently they will pay you.
If you want to hold onto customers as a marketer, or make stronger and better connections, you need people to advocate for you and your brand. Networking and co-marketing are fundamental for inbound marketing, and so you need to come off as warm and friendly. Just like with bartending, the more someone likes you as a person, the more likely they will want to do business with you, so don't be afraid to let your personality shine!
3. Speed and quality are everything
If you've ever been to a busy nightclub, the first place you head over to is probably the bar and chances are you have no intention of waiting very long for a drink. It's crucial for a bartender to not only make a drink quickly for people waiting at the bar, but it's also necessary to ensure that the quality is at it's best. On top of that, you also need to keep pointers 1. and 2. in check simultaneously, otherwise you can kiss that tip goodbye!
As a marketer, especially if you have an agency that needs to deliver content to your clients by a deadline, you have to make sure you are not forsaking quality for speed. You have to give them what they are paying for, and you need to do it quickly. If you don't, they will lose faith and trust in you and will likely not reach out to you again in the future.
4. The answer is always "Yes"
Many times, bartenders will receive ridiculous drink requests that are not on the menu (or on any menus in that case), but you can't just deny your guest what they want. So a good bartender will always go out of their way to look up, or ask you how to make your beverage of choice. Why? Because you're the customer and if you're paying for a product, well you deserve exactly what you're paying for.
A good marketer will not deny a client a service if it is possible to deliver on it. If a client requests a change to be made, or an addition, it's a good idea to try and accommodate their request. The reason being, you give yourself an image of dependability and efficiency. As a result, your clients may be more likely to recommend your product and your services to other people as well.
5. Over deliver if you want better tips (or better results)
As a bartender, your hourly wage is very insignificant. Your income depends primarily on the tips you make, and so you will do whatever it takes in order to make more of them. A good bartender will always over deliver on presentation, quality, taste and personality. This means if a guest orders a pint, you don't simply pour a pint and hand it to them. Rather, you make an effort to pour it with class, you ensure that the glass is clean and chilled, and you place it down on a cocktail napkin while delivering your best smile.
A marketer who wants better results also needs to over deliver. If you have an online product with a lot of users, your job as a marketer is not simply to get word about the product out, but also to answer questions your users might have, and ensure their satisfaction. If a user or client emails you with a seemingly insignificant answer, don't ignore it. Instead you should make it one of your main priorities to keep existing users happy by constantly being available to them when they need you. If you have an agency that provides a service, try to always go one step further with what you deliver. By doing so, you ensure that your client remains happy and continues to stick with you, thus reducing your churn rate.
6. Keep checking in
Finally, if you've ever been to a restaurant or a bar in your life, you'll probably have noticed that your bartender or server will keep checking in with you to make sure that your experience is going smoothly. Often, just before you are finished your drink, your bartender will return asking if you need a refill. This is to ensure your comfort, but also to keep you and your wallet in the bar.
If you work for a digital company that sells software or some kind of tool, you probably provide a free or trial version, as well as a premium version with upgraded features. Sometime you have such a great product that people will organically upgrade, but most of the time the likely people are already prepared to upgrade on their own. A marketer on the other hand, has to try to convince those less likely of upgrading, to try out the better quality features. If a marketer only asked to upgrade one time, it's highly unlikely that a person will say, "Hey, you know what? Maybe I will upgrade!" A marketer needs to keep checking in and trying various tactics to "upsell" their product. Eventually, one of those tactics might just grab the user's attention and convert them to a paid user.
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