This is the first post in a series of posts that are intended to help marketers better understand how to build an effective local marketing program. I am calling the series Local Marketing Mondays. Today I am going to cover the topic of marketing education.

Picture this, a young adult, lets say 18 years old, walks into a state of the art operating room with every imaginable instrument and resource available to her. There are assistants, nurses, manuals, computer screens, medical devices, and a single patient lying on the table. The young adult is highly intelligent and very physically capable of performing surgery, but she has no medical training whatsoever. Would you want this individual to operate on you, or a loved one? I doubt it. Yet, this is what we see day in and day out when it comes to local marketing. We see brands focusing on the tools that are available to their affiliates rather than teaching them when, and how to use those tools to achieve the results that are desired locally.

This cart-before-the-horse approach is extremely common in the local marketing space for the following reasons:

1. Having the systems in place allows the marketing department of the national brand to check the box and say that they have fulfilled their obligation to provide the tools necessary to run a local marketing campaign.
2. There is generally a great deal of pressure to get the tools in place first and then worry about execution. This pressure comes from both above (the CMO or CEO), and from below (the dealer, distributor, or franchisee).
3. The pressure exists primarily because very few people recognize the need for education before execution. Most people do not recognize marketing as a discipline or a science. They think of marketing as that simple business function that young kids out of college who did not work particularly hard perform, because they can't get any other job. While there may have been a grain of truth to that sentiment 10 or 15 years ago, it is very far from the truth today.

Today's reality is that marketing is much more science than it has ever been and achieving marketing success at either a national or local level requires specific fundamental skills that can only be acquired through a combination of education and practical experience.

Therefore, the first principle of a strong local marketing program is to educate. You must provide training and ongoing education in the discipline of marketing, if you expect your affiliates to become successful local marketers. There are several approaches to developing a comprehensive education program for your affiliates:

1. Develop the program and the content in house using your own expertise. This can be very time consuming and if you are not competent in developing educational curriculum you could end up doing more harm than good.
2. Bring in a specialist that will help you to develop an education program for your affiliates. This approach will probably result in the best overall experience, but can be costly.
3. Create a relationship with an existing local marketing education program to make the training available to your affiliates. In this approach, you are getting a more generic curriculum that may not apply directly to your circumstances, but it will probably be the least expensive option.

No matter what your approach is, I would highly recommend making an investment into marketing education. It will pay off more than any other single aspect of your local marketing program.