Working in marketing is a wonderful thing. I get to create something exciting every day and know that my ideas will reach hundreds (ok, in some cases 10 or 20) of people.
But what happens when your client won't let you create?*
A lot of people think they are good at marketing, particularly social media. Now, this isn't to say that it's rocket science - I spend half of my day figuring out how tweet a company's tagline in under 140 characters. But it is a skill, one that I (and the many members of my agency) have spent years honing.
One of the greatest hurdles to advancement in the credit union world is stagnancy and complacency - we're afraid to rock the boat until the CU down the street does, and then when we're ready to leap, it takes three months of meetings and red tape to make it happen.
I write all this to say - you've hired your marketing person or agency for a reason. Let them do their job.
At some point they may drop the ball. Deal with it then, but allow them the freedom to step outside the box occasionally. If your accountant came to you and announced that he or she had discovered a way for you to save money over the course of the next 5 years (in a legal and non-shady way, of course) would you say "Nawww...we should go in a different direction?" Of course not!
Let us be great. Give us the oppurtunity to do the work that you've hired us to do, and more often than not, we'll rock your world!
DeAndre
*Disclaimer: this article isn't aimed at any of my current employers, I swear!