Your CEO may be reading the best-selling book I wrote about you right now. It’s called “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing; The book every marketer should read before their boss does.” It tells CEOs that their marketing teams know a lot less about marketing than they let on. I’ve given them access to use what I call “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing Challenge” as a way of testing their marketing department’s knowledge. The challenge has six parts and part one is a quiz I ask them to give to everyone on their marketing team. How would you do if your CEO challenged you to take my quiz tomorrow? Would you pass the test or would you fail?
Here it is. Take the quiz and find out for yourself.
“The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” Challenge — part 1
Challenge everyone on your marketing team to take this simple quiz. In the same way you expect everyone in your accounting department to know basic accounting, you should expect everyone in your marketing department to know basic marketing. Tell them they are not allowed to look up the answers and to leave them blank if they are not sure of the answer. Give them 6 minutes to complete the test. The questions are basic and everyone on your marketing team (managers, strategists, content specialists, graphic designers, website developers, etc.) should score 100%. Also, if asked, they should be able to explain why all of the incorrect answers are wrong.
How did you do? If you honestly got all ten questions right without looking them up or guessing, good for you. You are amazing and whoever you do work for is lucky to have you! But if you didn’t do so well, and I’m confident most of you didn’t, what should you do? It’s obvious, isn’t it? You need to get up to speed.
Note the subtitle of my book: “The book every marketer should read before their boss does.” “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” is actually a step-by-step guide CEOs can use to teach their teams about marketing. But you don’t really want to wait for that, do you? Doesn’t it seem smarter to get a copy of the book before your CEO runs across it and comes to check on you? I believe “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” is the most practical and easy to understand marketing book ever written. And I’m not kidding when I say it will make you the smartest marketer in any room.
In “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing”, I show CEOs a 6-step process I call Strategically Aimed Marketing, or SAM 6® for short. Step one is basic marketing competence. That means understanding what marketing is and the basic concepts that underpin it. That’s what the quiz is about. Steps 2-6 are about effective campaign execution. So, here’s a question for you: If you consider yourself part of a professional marketing team, shouldn’t you be able to pass a simple marketing quiz?
It sounds terribly cliche, but I wish I would have had my book when I started out. I began my career as a graphic designer with no formal marketing training. Through hard work I ended up in charge of a seven-person marketing department. Then 30 years ago, I opened my own agency which I still own today. I have also taught marketing in my spare time for fun. My life would have been so much easier if I would have had access to the information in my book early on.
The SAM 6® process I outline in “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” is like turning on the windshield defogger. You’ll see marketing more clearly than you ever have before. Most people post nice reviews about my book, however I’ve gotten a couple complaints that it’s too simple. That should put you at ease. The truth is, “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” is not simple at all. It’s clear and to the point. It’s a basic yet comprehensive explanation of marketing that will give you confidence and make you look smart in front of your CEO and team members.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your CEO came to quiz you and you could say, “I read that book. We already follow the SAM 6® process.”
