Embrace, don't avoid, negative feedback

So about a month or so ago, I started a new blog to write about my growing interest in food.  It's a fun blog, something for me to do outside of work, and cultivate a hobby.  Overall it is a combination of writing about my cooking experiences, and providing restaurant reviews when I go out to eat.  I don't have a lot of readers yet, but there are a few that have checked it out. 

Anyway, the point of this post isn't to promote my other blog, but to respond to something I found a little disheartening.  A couple weeks ago, I posted about an experience that really wasn't that good.  I was disappointed in the food and the service.  I didn't write a scathing review and say that it was the worst place ever, but just offered my opinion saying that it wasn't one of my favorite places, and I wouldn't recommend it.  It's your typical detractor response; every company has them.  After posting, I included my review on Urbanspoon and Yelp to try and get some more readers and reach a broader audience (this is what bloggers do).  Within the next 24 hours, I received 4 comments to my post, which excited me until I read them.  The first 3 were profanity laced attacks on my review, one of which was signed by the restaurant itself.  Comments like "who gave me the right to give a negative review" and "we don't need a customer like you" shocked me. 

Here's the thing.  I don't expect everyone to agree with me, I'm offering an opinion.  And, I offered my opinion as respectfully and critically as I could.  For someone from the restaurant to respond that way is not only inappropriate, but incredibly poor marketing, and sadly something we see all too much.  No one likes hearing that they didn't do a good job, or receiving negative feedback in general.  But it's this negative feedback that helps you get better and make improvements.  Running and hiding unless you are getting a pat on the back encourages you to simply maintain the status quo and avoid the change that is inevitable. 

I've run into that problem in my work life as well.  I've been trying to encourage social media as one avenue to provide information to our customers.  On many different occasions, I would be stonewalled because "we don't want people to say negative things".  So rather than providing information to potential customers, they would rather hide from customer feedback.  Rather than take the feedback that could help us get better, we are hiding from it and maintaining the status quo.  Rather than listening to people that really care (because if they didn't care they wouldn't take the time to write), we avoid them completely.

I wasn't expecting anything from the restaurant when I wrote that review.  I didn't expect them to read it and say, "We're sorry you had a bad meal, come in again and it's on the house because we want to prove ourselves" (though let's be honest, that's what they should have done, and what I would have done to try and turn a detractor into a promoter).  But, they are wrong if they think they don't need a customer that will tell them when something wasn't good.  Everyone needs customers that care enough to offer their opinion, even if it is just on a blog. 

A little thank you goes a long way.

Today I got home, and like I do every day, I grabbed the mail on my way in.  But today was a little different.  There was a big white letter package, kind of like a FedEx document package, but just in the regular mail.  The return address said BMW, so I was definitely intrigued.

About a year ago, I bought my first BMW.  The BMW was my dream car for this point in my life.  It was a way to say, I've arrived, I've made it to where I want to be, and I'm successful.  Says something about what the brand means, doesn't it?  Anyway, I opened the package to see what was in it by pulling the strip on the back of the envelope (interesting side note...want a sure fire way to get someone to open something?  Send it in a FedEx envelope or similar type of packaging...).  Inside the package was a thick piece of cardboard to keep it from bending, and what looked like a white folder in a clear plastic wrapper.  On the outside was a wrapper wishing me a Happy Anniversary from BMW.  The message was simple, thank you for being a customer.  Inside the little folder is a sketch of my car.

I thought this whole thing was brilliant.  First, it was packaged in a way that was pretty much guaranteed to get me to open it, something that would immediately catch my eye.  Second, it is a fantastic customer loyalty/customer relationship approach.  They aren't asking me to buy anything, but simply thanking me, and providing me a gift.  Third, and most important, they are building a promoter and a brand steward.  I mean, I'm sitting here writing a blog about how much I like BMW (and I have yet to mention how much I enjoy driving my car).  I'll probably put the sketch in my cubicle so anyone that stops by will see it, and could strike up a discussion.

Too often companies focus all of their attention on recruiting new customers or trying to get current customers to spend more, and forget to do the little things like thanking their existing customers just for their business.  This little gesture will definitely go a long way in solidifying me as a BMW customer for longer than just the life of my current car.

Why keep wasting money on traditional marketing?

Earlier today I was having a discussion with one of my colleagues at work about how you reach customers in today's market.  We got on the discussion as a tangent from my previously life at Comcast, one of the most set-in-stone, traditional "marketing" companies out there.  When I worked there, it was the same.  Each month send 2 direct mail pieces, run weekly newspaper ads, make radio spot, repeat next month.  The idea of a creative change was going from yellow to purple.  Or doing a letter instead of a postcard.  He thought there must be some information somewhere that indicates that this cycle must drive responses, or they wouldn't do it.  I contended that they did it because they didn't know any better and had money to burn.

I get that feeling with a lot of companies.  They have to do "marketing" so they just do what they've always done.  I remember times sitting in a room looking at the call results (direct mail had a different phone number than the general 800-number for tracking purposes), and having people be excited when the response rate neared 1%.  When 99% of pieces were discarded with no response, that was considered a success (as opposed to the failure when 99.7% are discarded).  Millions of dollars get thrown out, and wasted.  What's the point?  Today when I came home there was a mailbox full of mail.  How many pieces did I open? Zero.  Straight to the recycle bin.

The way consumers respond to information from companies and about products changes very rapidly, so companies need to be able to respond in a similar fashion.  Why does it make sense to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on newspaper advertising when most of the consumers have moved online (especially if you are a technology company that provides the access to go online!)?  Traditional "marketing" has been passed by (I keep putting marketing in quotes because in this case, it really is more advertising and less marketing).  Yes, there is still a place for television and radio spots, but they have to be different to keep me from skipping them with Tivo or changing the station.  Yes, there is still a place for direct mail, but it has to absolutely standout and be relevant to me.

Make sure that you consider how your customers learn about your products, and get ahead of the game.  Don't do the same old thing because you have the money and you don't know any other way.  Heck, if you can't think of a better way to spend your money than to have 99% of your direct mail pieces wind up in the garbage (and I can tell you that's tens of millions of dollars), why don't you start by giving some of it back to your customers?

The problem with promotions

I find promotions in marketing to be a very fine line that marketers have to walk.  They have the opportunity to drive incremental sales, and really help you grow and accomplish your sales goals by adding an additional incentive to push the deal in your direction.  They also run the risk of becoming the norm and expected, and if you don't have a promotion, then you risk losing the deal.

Personally I think promotions are used in the wrong way too often.  In Seattle, Sleep Country USA is always running a promotion, it just changes over each week.  But, it means all they are selling on is price and "deal".  When I went in there to buy a mattress, it wasn't the promotion that led us to make the purchase.  It was really the service and the quality product.  Unfortunately their marketing is so based on promotions that they aren't able to market on these other items (which could probably help them get slightly higher prices).  We see this same thing with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.  When was the last time you paid full price for a 12-pack of Coke?

In order for a promotion to really be successful, it has to be used properly.  If it is used to get to a price, then it's not a promo, it's just artificially lowering the price to the market price.  If it is used to take a customer that is on the fence, and put them firmly in your corner (all other things being equal), then it is an effective promotion.  But before that can happen, you have to sell the customer on things that are not price.  It needs to be getting the customer to lean your way based on unique technology, a certain competitive advantage, a quality perception, things along that line.  Then, adding a promotion (be it a special discount or a $0 item) can finalize the deal.

If you are designing promotions that your sales team is using early in the deal, or at a point where they are not really down to the final negotiations, then you have a problem.  The promotion is not being used to win the deal.  It's being used to compensate for something else that they see as lacking, and really sets it up for failure.

Would you buy you?

No matter what industry you work in, and no matter what your job function or description is, there is one thing that everyone markets every single day; his or her self. That being said, would you buy you?


I started thinking about this as I was attending a leadership development kick-off meeting this past week. I was excited to be selected to participate in this program as it would be a way to build up my personal brand and make myself more marketable. This happens in three parts. First is to understand what my skill sets are. The second is how to refine them. Finally, I can segment the positions I want (and that are a fit with my skills and abilities) and target those positions.

But leadership programs are not the only way to build your personal brand. Reading books, taking classes, getting involved in projects all help you become more marketable. It’s all about making you a better you, and selling yourself to your customers (i.e. future employees and employers.

So, remember, we are all marketing ourselves everyday through our words and actions. And always ask yourself, if I am in the market for someone, would I buy me?

It doesn't always have to be grand.

For the past hour I've been sitting around trying to come up with the next big marketing idea for my blog.  I feel like I need to get something up because it's been awhile since I've written.  But, these two thoughts have been creating a mental block.  Where do I go?  Where am I inspired?  How do I come up with something grand that is going to make my readers say ah ha!?  Why is it easier for me to write my food blog (shameless plug for http://www.deckonfood.blogspot.com/) than this one right now? 

That's when it hit me.  By always trying to come up with the next big thing, and huge idea as opposed to just the ideas that come to my mind I'm missing out on opportunities to share any thoughts.  And that's why my food blog has been easier lately.  I'm not looking for the grand idea.  I'm just sharing what's going on.  I eat and/or cook everyday so I should tell someone about it.  Well, I engage in some sort of marketing activity every day.  Why not just write about what it is for what it is, not try and come up with some grand, professorial type post?

The marketing takeaway from this is simple.  Always trying to come up with the big grand ideas can hurt you in the long run.  While I am sitting here trying to come up with these grand ideas, my readers are going elsewhere for their information.  The same thing happens with customers.  If you spend all your time trying to come up with the big great marketing campaign or plan, you are missing opportunities to get in front of your customers, opportunities that your competition is probably taking advantage of. 

So, basically, for those of you that have stuck with me, thank you, and expect more posts.  Maybe the big grand idea comes out.  But, at the least, you will get a better feel for my thoughts.  And, if you have a little spare time, check out my other blog (http://www.deckonfood.blogspot.com/).  Not only is this a great creative outlet for me, but it is also an opportunity for me to work on my more grassroots marketing efforts, which will hopefully feed this blog as well.

Self-perception and identification

For any of you that have been traveling recently, have you noticed the signs that are popping up at airport security lines?  They are the green, blue, black "ski slope" type signs indicating lines for families, intermediates, and experts.  Seems like a great idea, right?  Finally, people that travel frequently can skip some of the roadblocks that arise due to those that don't, or need a little help.  The TSA did something great!

Ah, but the reality does not match the expectation.  Rather than zipping through security, what happens?  Inevitably you get in line behind someone that gets to the TSA agent and can't find their ID, so they dig through their purse, wallet, etc. trying to find it.  Then they finally get to the conveyor belt where they grab 6 different tubs and proceed to fill them up.  Finally they walk through the metal detector only to be stopped because they are still wearing a watch, have their shoes on, and their bag is being brought back because of that bottle of water still in there.  Meanwhile you, the expert business traveler who shows up about 52 minutes before your flight (the exact time it takes to get through security, stop at Starbucks, and get to any gate in the airport), begin to get agitated and nervous.

So, why does this happen?  Why does this seemingly good idea seem to flop so poorly so many times?  Disregarding the general TSA and airport processes (this could be 16 articles on it's own), the problem owes to one simple fact; customer self-identification.  As a traveler, when I walk up to this line, I have to identify myself as one of three levels.  Unless I'm traveling with children, what's the likelihood that I'm going to identify myself as anything but an expert?  I am obviously better at this process than most people, and therefore I am going in the expert line. 

Most people have a strong view of self, and there is nothing wrong with this.  Just remember that when you have customers self-identify.  It needs to be something that does not have a negative connotation for the customer.  The airport could classify you by number of bins needed.  If I have a few things, I could say, you know, I'm going to need 3 bins, and select the appropriate line.  I don't feel like I'm less of an expert in doing this. 

In all businesses is important to segment and target your customers to make sure that you get the appropriate offer to them, offer the appropriate level of service, etc.  But, you must at all times remain mindful of how your customers see themselves, and cater to that self-perception.  Otherwise, you end up bogged down in a process, and actually turnaway the customers that really should be there in the first place.

Be more of who you are

A couple weeks ago, I found out that I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in a leadership development program. And by lucky, I mean it sincerely. It's a program that I think will give me the opportunity to develop my skills, and help me advance in the organization. But, that's not what this post is about.

As part of the program, we were sent a book to read prior to the first class called StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. There is a line in the book that really stuck with me, and caused me to take a moment and think. In it he says "You cannot be anything you want to be - but you can be a whole lot more of who you already are."

The premise behind the book, and epitomized in this statement, is that we spend an awful lot of time working on things that we are not good at, and not enough time perfecting the things that we are. This can lead us to actually be more miserable when it comes to doing our jobs and going to work. We enjoy the things that we are naturally good at, and therefore want to do more of them.

I think that this idea is very relevant, especially in marketing. Marketing covers a very broad spectrum of tasks, requiring a broad skill set. Everything from marcom to pricing to strategy and even to logistics. Each of these requires a different skill set. Though too often, as marketing teams, and marketers, we organize around the whole, and not the skills of the individuals. I like using widget examples, and apparently my sister likes reading about widgets, and since she makes up more than 15% of my follower base, here we go.

Assume that your company manufacturers 3 widgets, the Tiny Widget, the Middle Widget, and the Big Ol' Widget. You have a 3 person marketing team to market your widgets. There are two different ways to organize around this. The first is to assign each marketer a widget. This is the easiest, and from my small bit of experience, a pretty common way to do it. But here's the problem. Not all of your marketers are going to have talent and skills in each area of marketing. Say the Tiny Widget Marketer has great marcom skills. She knows how to develop amazing collateral pieces. However, she doesn't like pricing, and struggles with numbers. So she either develops great marcom, but the pricing is off, or she feels frustrated about doing the pricing, and her marcom slips.

The second way to organize around skill set. You have marketer 1 focus on marcom needs for all 3 widgets. Marketer 2 is then responsible for the pricing and promotional strategy. Marketer 3 is responsible for figuring out distribution, or segmentation and targeting. Which of these methods is going to lead to the best results?

I know this post is getting a little long, but the idea really got me thinking. If teams are structured around talent, they are bound to be more effective. You have fewer people coming in and dreading working on a particular portion of a project. As a marketer, it is important to recognize where your strengths/talents truly lie, and develop those to become more of who you are. Then you can help organize yourself around those and deliver truly excellent marketing for you and your organization.

Healthcare Reform, My Take

Everyone has an opinion on the now completed health care reform bill, so I thought I would lend mine as well. But my take isn't on the bill itself, it's the process. What bothers me the most is that the entire thing was destructive, and honestly, it has been since the beginning. Maybe it's just because of the news that I tune into, or the bits and pieces I'm able to catch, but why are members of our own government actively trying to work against each other? Why is there a blatant disregard for any attempt to actually try and compromise, listen to someone else's opinion, and work toward an ultimately better solution?

Think about this within your own company. How would you move forward and be successful if you were constantly trying to destroy, or go against what your colleagues want to do? How often do you have to compromise on a daily basis? How often do things get better because you work together?

One of the biggest things that bothered me in reading the WSJ recap of the article is that congressmen are already looking for ways to try and repeal the bill, find it unconstitutional, file lawsuits, etc. How is this productive? How does this help me, the American citizen? Why can't we say, the decision has been made, now how do we take this and make things better?

This happens every day in business. Decisions get made by leadership, and it is up to the rest of us to make them work. Yes we provide our feedback, but ultimately someone decides on a direction and we go. We may not always agree, but we figure out how to work to make things as best we can.

Or maybe that's just me...

The Southwest Experience

I'm hardly the first, and probably won't be the last, person to blog about my experience with Southwest Airlines. The thing is, I'm continually amazed at how they deliver on their brand promise and provide the utmost customer satisfaction.

For me, I was catching a flight from Little Rock to St. Louis, and the plane was a little late in arriving. It's not a long flight, and it was in the early evening so I wasn't worried about getting in a little late if it happened. Though I'm sure there were some people that wanted to get home. Anyway, when the plane got in, the crew got to work. Passengers disembarked while the others lined up. The crew had everyone ready go, and not 15 minutes after it landed, the door to the plane closed. I have never been on a plane that taxied so fast down the runway. When we landed, a plane that was 20 minutes late to Little Rock landed right on schedule.

The thing that I really like and I really respect as a marketer is the way not only all of the employees buy in, but how the customers buy in. That plane only gets off the ground if passengers get on and off the plane quickly. The passengers have to line up, move quickly, and help out. But they do it because they know if they do their part, Southwest will continue to do theirs.

Southwest is one of those companies that just gets it. The TSA on the other hand is a different discussion for a different time...

Let the marketers market!

It's important to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, programs, etc. But when the measurements themselves and the process of acquiring the measurements start to supercede the programs, a problem is born. Especially if your marketing people are also your analysis people.

Successful marketers in a nutshell are able to take information from various sources, boil it down, discover a way to do something, approach a customer, and generate sales/leads/positive outcomes, look at the data and do it again. It's sort of a rinse, lather, repeat approach. Unsuccessful marketers never get to do this. Often this unsuccessfulness is born out of the marketer also being the one to collect, manipulate, sort and present the data. This is what I call the "Proof I'm Doing My Job Approach".

Rather than actually marketing, developing programs, and driving the business forward, marketers get caught up in a whirlwind of demands to know what is being done, how it is being done and when it is being done. Instead of talking about the upcoming program, the marketer talks about the past program to the minute deal. Words like "I'm going to" or "Next month we will" are replaced with "I'd like to" and "I would" and "I wish".

Let the results speak for themselves. Let the marketers develop programs and leverage analysts to pull together the results to share with management and marketing for evaluation to move forward. Don't dwell on the losses and failures, they are inevitable. Focus on the next steps, and how to improve. But above all, you hired marketing people to be marketing people. Let them do their job. If more than 25% of my time is dedicated to proving that I'm working, I'm probably not going to be doing as good a job as I'd like. And if you are pulling your marketing people out of their job more than 25% of the time for this, consider highering an analyst.

Tweets from my Trip

So, for the last two weeks I've been out on the road for a meeting and tradeshow, and had a few "tweets" pop in to my head. But, for some reason I never posted them. I don't have a good excuse, I have a Twitter application on my phone. Anyway, I thought that it would make a good blog post to start the week (not including # and @ because let's face it, I don't feel like looking them up), so:

The 12-year-old kid behind me just asked if we were flying over the ocean from Seattle to Orlando...should I be worried about the school systems?

Tom Peters just told me presentation skills are important as he is running around, going off on tangents, has unreadable slides, and keeps saying he forgot his glasses.

I have no idea what the takeaway from the presentation was...something about excellence which this was far from.

Very impressed with the new regime, and their strategy and approach. Hopefully it continues to trickle down.

Orlando has to be the minivan capital of the world...I hope that's not me some day.

Finally left Orlando for Cocoa Beach. I don't get why people want to go to a Florida city where the nearest beach is nearly 2 hours away.

Some big names at the SGR/SUR ARC 2010. This show is definitely one worth attending. Lots of great ideas being exchanged.

It's becoming apparent that as a vendor, you need people on the podium at the ARC.

Two weeks in Orlando are finally done. Just had lunch at a Chick-fil-A...kinda wish there was one in Seattle.

Trying to figure out why people waiting for the shuttle buses think it's a great idea to huddle around the crosswalk. The buses can't stop there, and your huddling makes it so they can't drive by.

I think that is a good flavor. Overall, I must say that Orlando has very successfully marketed itself as a convention destination even if it lacks one of the most appealing features of Florida (a beach). As a young businessperson without children, it definitely did not appeal to me, but ask me again in 5 years, who knows.

It was also a great awakening at the SGR/SUR Abdominal Radiology Course. This was word-of-mouth marketing at its finest. The attendees would drop by to check out some of the images we were showing, but when it really got down to it, they were there to see what their colleagues were doing. Having speakers that were talking about their research, and the equipment that allowed them to do it, was a huge indirect endorsement. All the great marketing in the world pales in comparison to the value that a highly respected luminary can deliver. I think I will have to have a follow up discussion here.

All in all, the two weeks on the road was not the worst thing ever. Customer exposure and in person meetings with colleagues are always beneficial. But, I'm glad to be home.

Please, fight the urge!

This message is for any senior management members reading my blog. When things have been tough, and you feel like you need to get involved in the day-to-day operations and details of every deal, please don't.

The reason you are in a senior leadership position is because you are expected to guide the ship. You are supposed to set the course, and rely on the team that you put around you to execute on that. One of the most difficult things for sales and marketing teams is when you want to be involved more than ever before. Micromanaging does not work.

The whole thing is counterintuitive actually. When in a good time, you leave the salespeople to do what they need to do. But when things get tough (read: the economy collapses), you suddenly step in and ride to the rescue. But since you haven't been around, you now need to be updated. This basically takes salespeople who are already stretched thin and working incredibly hard out of the field, further limiting their time in front of customers. Every minute they are talking to you, they are not talking to a customer.

Instead of trying to get in on each and every deal, make yourself available when needed, but work to empower your employees. Let them reach out to customers in new ways. Develop tools to help them win more. Set a strategy and direction, and communicate this to the team.

Remember, you put a team of doers around you. These doers are relying on you to be a thinker, and let's be honest, that's what got you to where you are in the first place. I'm not saying sit around and just think about things. But spend your time working on big picture, enabler top projects, not deal to deal minutiae. It just makes things more difficult for all.

Getting Together

Marketing doesn't just take place when you are trying to sell
something to a customers. It happens all the time in a company. You
have to market your ideas to colleagues to get things done. You have
to market yourself to be seen as someone worth listening to. And as
the management team you have to market your strategy to your
employees. To help with this management often engages in the event
known as the "sales meeting".

The sales meeting offers the opportunity to rally the troops, provide
inspiration and guidance, and set the stage for the upcoming future.
Too often though the sales meeting misses on these goals. Why?
Because too often the ideas and thoughts are too grandiose and not
down to the level of the average employee. The ideas and strategies
are not believable because many employees can't relate or are sitting
in the audience feeling cynical that what you say and what you do are
two different things.

If you want to make it believable, make it real. Show how the strategy
has been implemented or how it will affect the average employee.
Understand the needs of this customer and how to satisfy the needs.

A sales meeting takes your sales and marketing teams out of the field
and away from customers. Whatever is covered in this time needs to be
worthwhile and believable. If you are leading the meeting, remember
these needs of your customers.

And to wrap this up, this quote could not have just popped up at a
more timely moment..."treat your employees like customers". It was the
secret to Herb Kelleher's success at Southwest.

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Is Your Marketing "Stop Tivo" good?

One of the greatest things about Tivo is the ability to skip through commercials, to avoid being exposed to advertisements that I don't seek out. The ability to watch only what I want when I want has become so ingrained that about half the time I'm watching a live show, I still pick up the remote and try to fast forward through the ads only to be disappointed, and I bet there are other TiVo users who have done the same thing.

However, I have to admit that right now there are two companies that have me so hooked that I will actually stop the Tivo to watch the commercials; Nike and Apple. Anytime there is a new Mac/PC ad, I stop and watch. And lately, I've gotten caught up in the Kobe/LeBron puppets. The Kobe shoe catching fire made me actually laugh out loud.

Tonight as I was watching TV and fast forwarding through the commercials, I started thinking about how this idea could spread beyond just television advertising and into the broader scope of marketing. It's basically about getting your customers to stop and take notice of what you are doing, to stand out above the crowd (Seth Godin refers to this as the Purple Cow).

This idea definitely ties into my previous post about go big or go home. It is the measuring stick of how good your marketing message is. And the nice thing about the "Stop Tivo" good ideal is that it can be adapted for your audience. For me, Apple's Mac/PC ads are "Stop Tivo Good", but this definitely doesn't apply to everyone. Additionally, it is relevant whether you are talking about B2C or B2B, whether you run large advertising campaigns or not.

When developing campaigns, programs, or the like, ask yourself, "If this was on TV would my target audience stop Tivo to take notice?"

Go Big or Go Home

I've been thinking about how to write this post, and the right phrasing is escaping me, so hopefully the idea comes out and it is not too muddled.

Basically, conservative marketing is no way to advance your position. You can't grow, and you can't change the game if you aren't willing to throw something out there. If you are Microsoft and you want Bing to be huge it has to be bold and different from what Google is doing.

As marketers, we have to realize that our customers are bombarded on a daily basis with messages and camapaigns and the like. They (and you as well) have become very good at filtering these messages. It takes something way outside the norm to get them to notice.

Maybe an example is a better way to look at this. Let's say that you manufacture widgets. And in your widget industry/market, it is standard for all of your customers to offer a 1 year warranty on these widgets. After that, customers can buy a service agreement or have someone else take care of their widget, but for the first year, they are covered. Now, if you were to decide that you would offer a two-year warranty, but only on Widget A and only for a few special customers, does this change the game? Maybe for the lucky few, but is the industry going to now turn to you for your Widgets? And what if you aren't the market leader in widgets? Is this enough to pull people to your side?

Now, what if you decide that every widget now gets this two year warranty? You tell everyone, if you buy my widget, you get this additional warranty! Does that change the game? Or what if suddenly your Widget is upgradeable to a Whatsit?

My point is, what is the point in developing a program if you aren't going to be bold about it, to do something that is going to get noticed and change the game? How can you expect to continue to grow and evolve if you aren't willing to step out and take chances?

As a marketer I try and ask myself if what I'm doing is going to help my company grow, if it is going to change the game, open new markets, help us be successful. If the answer is no, then why am I doing it?

It's time to fear the rack

Change is inevitable in today's work environment, especially for marketers. Information is disseminated at an incredible speed. Feedback is almost instantaneous. Consumer preferences and needs change rapidly. The only constant in today's marketing environment is change. Yet, in business, especially large businesses, we fight change. We exhaust ourselves trying to maintain the status quo. It's known, it's comfortable, it keeps most people employed.

But maintaining the status quo doesn't lead to long term growth. It leads to long-term erosion. Maintaining the status quo allows for other companies to move quickly, and take advantage of the ever changing marketplace.

So, why are so many people in businesses afraid of change? In his book, Survival is Not Enough, Seth Godin posits that those that fight to maintain the status quo face two different ways to "die", death by guillotine and death by rack. Death by guillotine is swift, painful. It's the idea that one big failure, and everything is gone. Fear of death this way looms large, and people avoid it. The thing is, no one fears death by the rack, a long slow death that is often more painful.

This idea really stuck with me. Not because of its morbidity, but because it really opened my eyes. In marketing, how often do we use the term "thinking outside the box"? It's the idea of breaking from the norm, but how many people are still grasping the box? Rather than going big they step outside the norm, but no so much as anything appears to be radical. But to a greater extent, how many managers drive this behavior? It's the fear of the guillotine, the idea that if I try or propose something radical, and it fails, my livelihood is on the line.

In order to be a successful marketer, not only do you need to overcome the fear of the guillotine, you need a support structure that encourages you to take those chances and those risks. In his book, Godin sites an example at FedEx. A failed idea ended up costing the company nearly $300 million. This was an opportunity for FedEx to drive the fear of the guillotine so deep into the culture that no one would ever dream of taking big risks again. Instead, they used it is a positive example. It galvanized the employees. It told them that if you are passionate about an idea or an approach, we will back you up. It encouraged them to take risks, and in the long run has lead to many rewards.

As marketers, in order to be successful, and to help drive our business, we need to not only step outside the box, but we need to get off the table, out of the room, and down on the street. We need to look for opportunities to embrace the change that we see around us and take advantage of the opportunities it presents. And, we need a support structure that allows us to do this.

Change is inevitable, it's how we, and our organizations handle it that will make all the difference in the long term. It's time to fear the rack more than the guillotine.

Reset...Refocus

It's easy to get caught up in the internal processes and hurdles that we as marketers face everyday (I plan on doing a post on this at some point). The trick though, is to not let these become the object of our focus. We fight, we get frustrated, we go back and forth, and ultimately we lose focus on what is really important, on why we do what we do.

I know that for me, the reason I got into marketing was because of the customers. Yes, I know that sounds a little altruistic, but bear with me. When I think about what I love (not like, but truly love) about marketing, it's trying to figure out how to convince someone out there that has a need that my product is the best one to satisfy this need. It means understanding what makes that person tick, what is important to them, how they think. It's like trying to solve a puzzle, each and every time. And in marketing (moreso than sales), I have an opportunity to shape not only the message, who that message is targeted to, how that message is delivered, and all of the various components of the message. I get to figure out how to make people aware that there is a message, find people that want to hear the message, and empower the sales team to deliver the message. I hope that a lot of people in marketing feel this way too (I would say people reading this blog, but I know there are only about 5 of you).

Yes, I spend a lot of my day working on reports, arguing over pricing, responding to urgent requests, and dealing with internal obstacles. We all do. The problem is when these things take over, and take you away from your customer focus. Sometimes, you just need to stop, take a breath, hit the reset button, and refocus yourself on what is important.

Today was one of those days for me. But now, I'm refocused on solving the puzzle that is a customer.

The Best Kept Secret

"You may not have heard, but we have a great portfolio for this..."; "You probably aren't aware, but we've made great strides doing this..."; "You may not know, but we have the best..." The list goes on.

These comments are great when positioned to the customer. You can talk to your potential customers about all the things that you have done to make your product better for them. However, these comments are not good when you are telling them to your own team.

Something cannot be the best or the greatest or the most improved if no one knows about it, especially your internal audience. It drives me crazy when people tell me that I may not have heard, or I may not know. I work for the company, in the group, and I have no idea. How are my customers supposed to know? How am I supposed to market to them? Why are we keeping secrets from ourselves, and from our customers?

It's one thing to not tell customers about a project that is in the early stages of R&D, or to share proprietary information. It is a completely different thing to not tell customers that you've made strides in improving how you service equipment so that it is more reliable, or that you have a broad portfolio of products to help customers get more out of their current system. and it's a down right shame to not tell your own sales and service organization that you've been working on, or made these developments.

I've often heard the phrase "Best Kept Secret in the Industry". Why would anyone want this title? Basically it means you have a great product/service, but since you don't talk about it, no one knows about it, and thus no one buys it. This approach can really only go one of two ways. Either someone very vocal and influential finds out about your product/service and begins singing your praises, and you go from "Best Kept Secret" to "Best". Or, you remain a secret, languish, and struggle to survive.

It's not ok to simply talk to yourself about yourself; you probably are not the one buying your product (especially in my industry). Rather you need to talk to customers, and empower your marketers to do the same (this is a whole other discussion, but the basic premise is don't put obstacles up to prevent you from being able to talk to your customers).

Next time you catch yourself saying "We have the best widget", stop and think. Does everyone know you have the best widget? Or have you just been telling yourself? It's easy to be the best in your own mind. It's quite different to be the best to everyone else.

I'm back

Ok, I've been away from the blog for too long. I realized that I spent too much time trying to write the perfect blog post instead of just letting my ideas flow. It's time to correct that mistake, and use this as an outlet to comment on marketing good and bad, within and outside my own organization. Ultimately I don't want to be thought of as an employee of a certain customer, but a marketer first, industry specific second, and working for a particular company last. I hope that my ideas can spread beyond my day to day. And so, I'm going to try and return with a vengence, try to grow a little bit of a following, and see if I can't get my ideas to spread. Maybe then I can build my own tribe, develop my leadership skills, and expand my knowledge and understanding.