It is said that a problem is a negatively colored task. They say that the problem is solved, and the problem is discussed. Indeed, if you look at the definition of the word "problem", you get: a problem is a complex theoretical or practical question that requires study, resolution. Let us discuss with you a little bit ... Lack of sales - is it a problem or a task? The task - the optimists will respond. And if I ask otherwise: the lack of sales with significant costs for advertising and marketing is a problem or a problem? Hard to say. It depends on how much money is required for promotion and advertising, and how much is really allocated, depending on what the marketing parameters of the marketing object are and how much they do not meet the requirements of the market. And so on ... Aha! So lack of sales is a problem? And yet, the problem is not so terrible. The problem, from the point of view of marketing, is a cool and motivationally excellent thing, since “it is not possible to make sales efforts unnecessary” only when the problem has been identified and exposed. The absence of identified problems is alarming and makes marketing unnecessary. But the fact that I’m actually de-motivating and the fact that most of my colleagues are crazy (judging by the posts on the forum and the questions "in person") are marketing paradoxes . Paradox, in contrast to the problem - complete crap, which is generated, evaporates, and then falls on the head of the poor marketers with the requirement "urgent to understand and solve"! A paradox is a situation (statement, statement, judgment or conclusion) that may exist in reality, but does not have a logical explanation and solution. Want to bring some marketing paradoxes, from which the hair on end? Examples of marketing paradoxes: Sale of marriage from the warehouse. Marriage must be destroyed (disposed of). If you have a sukaplanov marriage, then lay the cost of a marriage in the cost of goods and do not kill the brain to marketers and don’t powder consciousness to the market first by popularizing the brand and “building a strong brand” RedLEOs com and then selling a non-quality product under this brand; Hire a marketer for 30 thousand. R., and immediately allocate and entrust him with his budget a budget of 10 million. Owners, gentlemen, are you really against kickbacks, right? Are you sure? The owner draw a logo on a napkin, and invite the designer to do something with it, but do not change it; Assign a dealer discount of 1% and do not even count the dealer's economy in servicing transactions with your product and the cost of promoting it. And in-in ... Come to the dealer, who sits on the TOP brand and has bonuses and accumulative system from a competitor and offer him to replace this product with know-hiring, in exchange for a 2% discount (even for any discount figure). Hire 20 sales managers, pay them about 2 million per month, and have a marketing budget of 100 thousand. Tell me, if 100 people go on the field to dig 100 people, but you didn't plant it there, then what crop do you plan to harvest with hundreds of diggers? On the industry exhibition to spend up to half of the annual marketing budget of the company. Half at once, and the rest to give in portions, provided that there is a sale, the entire remaining year. Order a website, but save on its promotion. With the help of a "narrow circle of confidants," think up, produce and lay down a product in a warehouse, and only after that hire a marketer to try to sell it somehow. Strategic analytics on the industry to ask a manager for a girl is simply due to the fact that she has a marketing diploma, and the answer to the offer to buy a RBC study is “not expensive!” By reducing gross revenue, raise the selling price, thereby making an attempt to compensate for lost gross profit. In times of crisis, reduce the cost of office, travel and marketing proportionally. Well, you understand that I can do this for a long time ... : D And how long the listing will be if each of you adds at least one paradox from your marketing practice ... These are the marketing paradoxes! These situations in life are repeated pretty often. There is no solution to the paradox, an attempt to participate in resolving the paradox is detrimental to the marketer - the RFP, fame, experience does not increase, but it destroys consciousness, fades in faith in justice and the human mind. Colleagues, run away from the paradoxes and those who multiply them! Friends, nevertheless, an unexpected motivating ending: now you understand that your current marketing problems are just tasks ! Good luck.