What Does People-Focused Marketing Mean for Pohl Strategic?
By Jason Pohl, Founder & President
It means we value people, and we make it a priority to show people that we respect them and care about them by serving them well.
When we think about our marketing agency in this way, we think about three core relationships: our teammates, our clients, and our audiences.
Teammates
We care about our teammates.
So, we look each other in the eye when we talk. We turn on our cameras when we meet online. We ask about how our weekends went. We know about each other’s families and special relationships. On Monday mornings, we make time for a weekly check-in to review our past week and preview our next. We add our two bits to the weekly question on the white board. Even if we work remotely. In the summer, we make it out to the boss’ house for a team barbecue. In the winter, we might go look at Christmas lights together. Even our teammate in Colombia showed up in Canada for an extended visit.
For team success, when it comes to people-focused marketing, we work well together, and we care about our lives beyond work.
If we’re a pain in the ass to work with, we’ve failed as a people-focused marketing agency. If we show up to the office grumpy, we better have a reason and be ready for an honest conversation with a teammate. Because we care about each other. If we’re being difficult to work with, we should hear about it. Everyone has bad days, but everyone notices too. We are accountable to each other.
Success for us means caring for our teammates.
Clients
We serve our clients well.
We show care and respect for our clients by providing value. Our goal is to deliver our best for you, and, in fact, we’ve taken you on as a client because we sincerely believe we can achieve that goal.
When you become our client, you become our priority. We work hard to understand not just what you do, but who you are.
Getting to know you becomes an essential requirement, because that relationship forms the basis for providing you with the best services.
So, we prioritize meeting with you face to face, at least initially. We take you out for lunch. We keep in touch. We stay available. We let our team know your team. We take the time to sit with you (and your clients) for interviews. We tell your story. We tell other companies about how great you are.
Our marketing services are focused on helping you be your best self, helping you be truly authentic, and helping you find your voice through web, video, socials, and email. Yet, behind all our services is a simple goal to help you find your people. We help you build relationships of trust with your customers, clients, and co-workers, which happens through helping you connect with more qualified leads.
That’s why, as a people-focused marketing agency, we love working with people-focused companies. Our aim is to work with businesses and organizations that are committed to seeing people thrive, both within and beyond their walls.
People-focused marketing means that we care deeply about our clients, and we help them care deeply for others. If we lose sight of that, we lose our identity and purpose. We show we care by offering our clients a great return on their marketing investment. If not, we fail as a people-focused marketing agency.
Success for us means serving our clients well.
Audiences
We respect our audiences.
Yes, we promote products and services, and we love it when a website works well, or a social media post makes a splash, or a case study sings our client’s praises. We love excellence, and we have the technical skill to deliver it again and again. We have a proven track record for getting the job done. But ultimately, it’s for the people, for our audiences and our clients’ audiences that we’re trying to reach. Our bottom line is the wellbeing of people.
And people… even includes our competitors. Because one part of our audience is other marketing agencies. Are we humble enough to work well with them? Are we good at collaborating with other professionals in our field? That is often the true test of our generosity and kindness. Sometimes our best constructive criticism and feedback comes from our peers in marketing. We want to be great collaborators.
That’s why we love values like honesty, integrity, authenticity, and accountability. We always want our work to be tested and evaluated by these values. People-focused marketing invites that kind of open assessment.
If we disrespect or deceive audiences, we fail to measure up to people-focused marketing.
So, we listen to our audiences. We ask for their feedback. We adjust when we’ve strayed. We apologize when we’ve offended. We care about their opinion of us, as far as being trustworthy, fair, and ethical.
Success for us means respecting our audiences.
So, as a valued client or audience member, what’s your contribution?
- What does people-focused marketing mean to you?
- Does human-centric marketing make for better business outcomes?
- What would you add to the discussion?
