Mental Floss - Maintaining Marketing Mental Hygiene

Old Thinking Is the "Plaque" That Causes Business Decay

By David Miranda

In today's highly competitive marketplace, old thinking can build-up and cause decay in revenue and market share. For this reason, it is vitally important that marketers practice "good mental hygiene" in order to keep their brain cells open to new ideas and methods of doing business.

This requires that marketers "mental floss" on a regular basis to remove that accumulation of dated thinking assuring fresh perspectives and open minds.

Signs that you need to "mentally floss"?

• "I'm the boss and I know better."


• "We're doing just fine, thank you very much."


• "We have no room for that in our budget this year."


• "We'll form a committee to investigate and get back to us."


• "I don't know anyone who [texts, blogs, podcasts, etc.], so why are we discussing this?"


• "Not now, but keep me posted."


• "It's not us. It's our agency."


• "It's not us. It's our client."


• "It's not us. It's the market."

This type of thinking needs to be "mentally flossed" before the decay sets in. When it does, the only cure is "personnel extraction" and new "fillings" in the corporate org chart.

This is painful for the ones extracted and the organization.

Get out the "mental floss".

Recognition Marketing - The 4 "R's" Of Marketing Success

Tips For Marketing Yourself, Your Firm, Or Your Brand

By David Miranda

The basic principles of marketing, 4 P's (product, price, place, promotion) have been taught to aspiring marketers for almost 50 years with gratitude to academics Professors Neil Borden and James McCarthy. The world, however, has changed dramatically in those five decades in ways that would mandate that Professors Borden and McCarthy revise their college textbooks.

There are a confluence of powerful forces that make marketing more challenging that ever before. These include:

• the perishability of preference
  
• time poverty


• uber-choice


• societal A.D.D.


• a wired (and wireless) world

The four P's are less relevant today in the big scheme of things. Product, price, place (channels of distribution), and promotion (advertising, promotion, etc.) are all under siege in ways and means never imagined. Who could have foreseen the impact of email, Amazon, Google, YouTube, iTunes, blogs, social networking, PDAs, cell phones, Tivo, spam filters, Do-Not-Call List, satellite broadcasting, podcasts and so on and so on?

Bottom line? Despite the proliferation of communication channels and choices, people are harder to reach than ever, hence, new thinking is warranted.

The new thinking? The 4 "R's of Marketing.

First, Recognition. "Recognize me as an individual not a statistic."

Second, Relevance. "Don't bother me with things that aren't relevant."

Third, Reward. "I know what's in it for you, but what's in it for me?"

Lastly, Relationship. " Treat me like I'm important and I'll reciprocate".

Note no mention of price, product, place, or promotion.

Why? Do the 4P's well and you have done things right. Do the 4R's well, however, and you have done the right things - those things that matter to the people who matter most - your customers.

Update those marketing text books.

Pavlovian Marketing - Good Business Or Creating Bad Behavior

The Dark Side Of Relentless Sales, Discounts, Rebates, Coupons, And Incentives

By David Miranda

In his 1992 comedy, Mr. Saturday Night, Billy Crystal's character, Buddy Young Jr., was humorously comparing his family to a Jewish version of the 1990 Academy Award winning Dances With Wolves that had Native American roles like "Stands With A Fist", "Wind In His Hair", and "Kicking Bird" to name a few. His character, Buddy, referred to one of his relatives as "Never Buys Retail".

It is an appropriate term that can be used for all consumers today.

With few exceptions, the retail price of anything today has little meaning with few consumers paying the full price for products and services. Marketers have taught consumers that the retail price is merely the starting point to discount from. Consumers are trained to wait for the inevitable sale, discount, coupon, rebate, or incentive before they purchase and marketers continually reinforce this behavior - the incentive "du jour".

Ask yourself (and your friends and family), when was the last time you paid retail for anything? The automotive industry has institutionalized rebates and discounts. The travel industry has long employed yield management techniques, that creates tiers of discounts for airline seats, hotel rooms, car rentals, cruises, and travel packages. Retailers and brands conduct relentless sales, distribute millions of coupons and promote countless mail-in rebate programs. The examples are endless.

These techniques were intended to create business during periods of soft demand. They are now utilized year round. The brutal truth is that when these incentives stop, so does the business they generated.

It is the dark side of this Pavlovian marketing - it's called "rented demand". This is high cost/low margin business.

It is important for marketers to conduct a comprehensive cost/benefit analysis of these techniques. How much of a company's revenue is rented demand? What are the true costs of this business coming from consumers who have loyalty only to the incentive du jour? And what are you doing for your loyal customers - the ones that support your business regardless of the incentives?

Pavlovian marketing can be good business if used wisely. An old dog can learn new tricks.

The Great Compete Against Themselves, Others Compete Against Them

You Should Find Your Fiercest Competitor In The Mirror

By David Miranda

Tiger Woods is the Number One Golfer in the world. Toyota is the most profitable car maker in the world. Google is the most successful search engine in the world. Competitors try and try but Tiger, Toyota, and Google still excel.

The question is why?

The simple answer is that their fiercest competition is themselves, not "the other guy." While their competition is investing time trying to analyze and copy them, they are investing their time on making themselves better than they were yesterday. Interesting approach.

Tiger Woods, even after achieving great success, decided to change his golf coach and his swing. Both his competitors and golf pundits alike were befuddled. Why tamper with success? When asked to explain, Tiger said he needed to improve. Tiger Woods improve? But improve he did! His fiercest competitor is himself.

During a recent interview Ford's new CEO stated that Ford was examining how Toyota was able to make better cars, be profitable, and continue to gain market share. His time might be better spent making better cars. By the time Ford is as good as Toyota is today, Toyota will be better than they are tomorrow. Toyota's fiercest competitor is Toyota.

Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft are all trying to compete with Google and Google continues to gain market share despite their individual and collective efforts. Google competes with itself.

Winners compete against themselves.

The lesson is this - if you want to be great, relentlessly great, compete with yourself.

Be your own fiercest competition. Be a Tiger!

Recognition Marketing - Calling Marketing "Audibles"

Marketers Can Learn A Lot From Tom Brady

By David Miranda

There is a great deal of time, effort, and resources invested in developing a marketing campaign. Budgets are allocated. Timing is determined. Research is conducted. Target audiences are identified. Creative is produced. Media plans are developed. The campaign is launched - but then things don't go according to plan. The playing conditions change. The competition throws up a few surprises. What to do?

Whether you are a football fan or not, marketers could learn a great deal from All-Pro quarterback Tom Brady. Many times after calling a play in the huddle, you notice him walk to line of scrimmage and immediately scan the defensive scheme. If he determines that the defensive setup will neutralize the called play, he'll immediately start calling audibles at the line of scrimmage making his teammates aware that a new play is necessary. You will even see him move key players around to counter the defense. This is all done in less than 30 seconds. This happens throughout the game.

Marketers need to do the same.

During the marketing campaign, when playing conditions change and the competition throws up a few surprises, marketers need to call "audibles", i.e. tweak the plan on the run, to be successful. After the campaign is over, it is too late and a post mortem of what went right or wrong is meaningless in impacting results for that fiscal period. The time to have taken action was during the "game".

Too often, marketers become spectators of their plans rather than active participants in the "game" while it is being "played."

Have a game plan, but be ready to call "marketing audibles". It's the mark of an "All-Pro" marketing QB.

Recognition Marketing - Missionary vs. Mercenary Marketing

The Difference Between Having True Believers vs. Hired Guns On Your Team

By David Miranda

mis·sion·ar·y [mish-uh-ner-ee] 1. a person strongly in favor of a program, set of principles, etc., who attempts to persuade or convert others.

mer·ce·nar·y [mur-suh-ner-ee] 1. a person working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal.

There is an intangible that too often either gets neglected, overlooked, or assumed in marketing. It's called passion and it has a powerful influence on even the most cynical among us. Passion is the societal adrenaline that, for those that have it, do great things primarily for the sheer joy of it. For those that love what they do, the monetary compensation is gravy.

Such is the case with marketing. Think for a moment about brands or pursuits that have a passionate following - Apple, Starbucks, professional and collegiate sports, and hobbies (golf, fishing, collecting, leisure travel, etc.). These are things that customers (fans and enthusiasts) are passionate about and they spend their hard-earned dollars in pursuit of these passions.

Unfortunately in the marketing arena, an environment which should exude passion, real passion is a scarce commodity. Often companies (and/or their agencies) are dominated by mercenaries, i.e. people in it "acting merely or only for the rewards" rather than missionaries, i.e. people who are honestly passionate about the brand.

A company that cannot hire and retain passionate marketers or who thinks they can "outsource" passion to mercenaries will suffer the dire consequences. Great companies source, hire, and retain passionate marketers. They understand the power of this intangible.

Look within yourself and your organization. Where is the passion?

Find and nurture the missionaries. Identify and expel the mercenaries.

Be a passionate brand.

Where Are These Airlines We See In The Advertising?

Smiling Faces? Roomy Seats? Great Food? New Planes? Friendly Service?

By David Miranda

Last week, I was watching CNBC first thing in the morning and the big news was the upcoming merger between Delta and Northwest, forming the largest airline in the United States. There, on the screen, were the two CEO's of the two airlines co-touting how good this would be for everyone - shareholders, employees, consumers, and the airline industry. Any downside? Nope, according to these two men whose personal bank accounts will greatly benefit from the transaction. Surprising marriage? Seems like the current CEO was formerly the CEO of Northwest.

But let's get to the bigger issue.

The major airlines in the U.S. suck. Customer service staff are surly. The majority of planes in the fleet are dirty and old - the latter issue requiring hundreds of planes to be grounded leaving tens of thousands travelers stranded. Travel delays are systemic as is the problem with lost bags. Interior seating, save business and first class, is less comfortable than a Greyhound bus. If that is not enough, consumers get nickeled and dimed for everything and anything including pillows, headphones, extra luggage charges, change fees, etc. etc. New ticketing kiosks have reduced the number of warm bodies to take care of problems when things don't go according to schedule - which, by the way, is all the time.

Now we hear that two airlines who rank in the bottom tier of all categories will be better when they merge. It's like saying "I have these two stones that don't float, but if we glue them together - Voila! they float."

Allow me to address the title of this article. Who are these airlines in the advertising? Where are these well-groomed, friendly helpful employees? Where are the new, clean, roomy planes? Where is that great food I see those actors in the ads being served? Do the airline executives who sign off on these ads ever say "We can't run these ads. It's false advertising. We need to show frustrated travelers in cramped seats waiting for the 8AM flight to depart at 9AM. Those arrival and departure screens in the ads should not say "On Time" listed for every flight. They should say "Delayed" or "Cancelled"."?

My advice to the CEO and other airline executives - fly coach!