In Marketing, listening is an admirable skill.

How many times have we been told “are you listening” by close family and friends? Most times, when we are asked this question, we usually put everything away, stop and really try to listen to what is being communicated to us. There is massive value in listening and actually at most times, understand what the issue being communicated is.

Take the above scenario, and think about our work lives and our reason for marketing existence which is the customer. First thing is are we listening to each other as a team in order to properly drive marketing objectives? We need to pay attention to each other’s ideas (this is because the person that has thought of ideas needs an environment that will allow and encourage idea sharing). The person that articulates a problem given enough time, will also present a solution.

Then there is listening to our customers which remains important. We are faced with a lot of social listening tools that promise us the ability to listen in on our customers in terms of what they are saying about our brand. Then there is internal listening, which is us listening to our customers interaction with us. All of this, if done correctly will make us do the best marketing work of our lives.