Today I saw two articles about that mentioned negotiating and made me think how important it is for marketers to be good negotiators.

In an interview with Larry King reported on CNN.com, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said about North Korea:

“They are some of the best, toughest negotiators I’ve ever dealt with,” Powell said. “And you can read the whole history of our negotiations with North Korea, going back to the Korean armistice discussion, and you’ll find they know what their negotiating positions are, and they will drive you crazy, and they will use your impatience against you.”

No wonder we can’t get anywhere with them.

Then I came across “Four Rules for Effective Negotiations” by Anthony Tjan in Harvard Business Publishing. All marketers should pay attention to these four rules because all marketers must negotiate.

For example, you negotiate with your IT department for the new Web site functionality you need built, with media companies for advertising space, with colleagues about how to divide up a group project, with your boss on salary and bonuses, and with your agencies (and yes, consultants) over scope of work and price. That’s just a few examples.

The other thing I like about Tjan’s article is the nifty headline that starts with “Four Rules . . .” If you want to get your audience’s attention, the “Five Tips”, “Top Ten”, “Six Reasons”, etc. approach is a classic. It works because it promises practical advice in short, usable format. That’s marketing content.