Cory Gordon’s Flexible and Strategic Marketing Focus for SMBs
The world is constantly evolving, so businesses need to pivot their marketing approach – verbatim. The actuality of doing this is lost on many small-to-medium business owners – something Senior Marketing Consultant and Director of our Roger Roger Marketing team, Cory Gordon, is intent on changing. A forced shift in his own career trajectory – or burnout – prompted a step back for Cory and opened up new opportunities to fill a burgeoning gap in the New Zealand marketing and performance consultancy scene: improve the quality of support and services for small-to-medium sized businesses.
“Having worked with large corporates for over 20 years; as Strategist and change agent for companies such as Fashion Biz Group which trades out of 12 countries with 500+ staff, and Hyundai New Zealand as the Head of Marketing – I’m well-versed leading big teams, big budgets, with world class training and development at their fingertips.
So, it was shocking to acknowledge the real lack of quality support for our SMBs,” says Cory.
“Stepping away from the corporate world and prioritising a better work/family balance, meant I could really engage with what was happening – or not happening – in our SMB marketing world. And, it’s not pretty.”
A call for an overhaul in the ways SMBs specifically digitally market and strategize, was spurred by need to restore faith in the industry, Cory explains.
When I meet with new clients their biggest complaint is that they’ve been previously let down by other marketing and/or digital businesses – which is always disappointing to hear. So, I feel obligated to deliver great results not just for clients, or Roger Roger Marketing, but for the industry as a whole.
Armed with an innate ability to communicate openly in sales, and strategic expertise at growing and supporting businesses, Cory set himself the task of delivering what businesses really needed: performance-focused solutions that are specific to each individual client – not a marketing menu that is skewed towards the greater benefits of an agency.
Thus, he prompted a ‘Cory Gordon’ sea change across the marketing board.
Creating more flexible pathways forward – business and marketing provider partner together – minus the agency mentality;
hands on strategic and digital marketing, and performance consultancy with SMBs to spur a higher level of thinking – lose the ‘she’ll be right’ Kiwi mentality which tends to hinder business advancement;
and, strengthening those customer relationships via digital platforms and performance focused solutions, to create sustainable business models that customers feel something for – marketing to match customer values.
SMBs require sound strategic, digital and performance support that delivers on client expectations, so our marketing deliverables are dependent on the client’s needs – not ours. We partner with them to be that one point of contact for everything – graphic, copy, training a business’ service leaders, strategy planning etc.
Injecting real reason into marketing and performance measures, and encouraging clients to consider not just what they are marketing but how they are marketing to their customers, is a key focus for Cory – and COVID-19 curveballs strengthened that importance.
“What last year taught us all was the value of network marketing. Marketing measures overlap, so it’s important to shift your strategies and pivot them to the conditions, so you have different systems collaborating: face-to-face, webinar events, online channels.”
Looking forward, extending the level of support for our clients – “to be better, add value and think beyond the current silos of New Zealand’s marketing space” – remains a constant.
“My philosophy has always been to over deliver on client requirements. Do a good job – no ifs and buts. So, it’s super critical for me to have the right team onboard to provide that level of strategic support, management, media, copy and design – and I have that with our team of people, we just work,” says Cory.
My advice to any SMB re-evaluating their marketing approach is to question who are their customers? Who comes first? Are you marketing from their perspective or yours?
Written by: Cory Gordon
Cory is not one to shy away from connecting with new people, businesses, teams and all those in-between. Reach out to link in with him, pick his brains or simply say hi. Drop him a line at cory@rogerroger.marketing
With 20 years of marketing experience in businesses of all sizes, industries and segments (we’re talking SME, large global organisations, B2C, B2B, retail, education, automotive, and fashion), he has the ability to add real value across all levels of an organisation.
More than just a senior marketer, Cory is your general nice guy, he is a father and a husband, and a lover of all things Star Wars.
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