By Dr. Burt Smith August 27th, 2008
By letting someone else do the heavy lifting!
One of the things I admire about the Rolling Stones is how they have managed to keep on rockin’ after all these years! They’re a worthy study for that reason and for how they have managed to maintain a brand over 4 decades. A strategy they employ is to delegate all the promotional activities to the promoters. The promoters get a whopping 60% of the gross in some cases. This at first probably sounds HUGE, and it is, but it’s actually of great benefit to the Stones because essentially, all they have to do is show up. The promoter works hard because his or her success is tied directly to the success of the show.
As Mick Jagger might ask, “How cool is that, baby?”
As I discuss in my book, these kinds of relationships can be a little tricky, so you have to be careful, but the benefits far outweigh the downsides in most cases. I encourage you to give serious thought to not only how can you get business from your network, but how to turn those in your network into brand evangelists for you.
By Dr. Burt Smith August 26th, 2008
Ted Turner’s media empire started with his acquisition of a run-down cable station in the days before cable was cool. He put on programming that was older (and cheaper!) like Gilligan’s Island and The Andy Griffith Show. He sold advertising based on the simple fact that since most of the programming was in black-and-white, advertisers’ color commercials would leap off the screen. And it worked!
Great entrepreneurs often share a trait that makes all the difference: The ability to see an opportunity disguised as a threat.
Next time you’re faced with what looks like “bad news,” say to yourself, “That’s good!” Then get busy looking for what exactly is good about it and how you can profit.
By Dr. Burt Smith August 19th, 2008
Simple Answer: Efficiency!
By improving your operations, you get more efficient, which means you better utilize your existing investments and assets. Because there is no additional investment, and because you’re getting higher performance out of what you’ve already got, you automatically widen your profit margins. You can do this without raising prices.
How do you get started? Simply start by looking at anything and everything that deals with how you deliver what you deliver to your customer. Then, look for any and every way to make it better, little by little. Or as we say in ECHO Marketingtm, Optimize, Optimize, Optimize!
You’ll find this little approach is applicable whether you are in manufacturing or service, selling a tangible or intangible, whether you’re a for-profit or not-for-profit, whether you are a large organization or a small business, and whether you own the business or manage a territory, a department, or a single project.
Make little improvements and the big picture results will surprise you.
By Dr. Burt Smith August 5th, 2008
Constantly.
I said earlier that you should CHANGE a strategy or campaign only when it STOPS performing. That is, when it stops performing at an optimal level on a consistent basis.
Exactly how you measure “optimal” is up to you. You may find that even if the strategy isn’t working at as high a level as it once was, it’s still generating revenue and since you’re not having to throw additional capital at it, the returns you’re getting are really, really good. Like maybe several hundred percent good, because the strategy paid for itself some time ago and now you’re experiencing what our accounting friends call ROA or Return on Assets. I strongly advocate NOT getting sucked into changing strategies unless you have a very compelling reason just so you can maximize the returns on your assets.
On the other hand, because the world is, quite literally, changing right out from under us, we need to be THINKING about new strategies all the time. We need to constantly be asking “What if?”
What if a new market opens up that we could capitalize on? What if we want to add a product line, division, or acquire another business? What if some new legislation gets passed and drains the profit right out of our current business? What if new technology makes what we’re currently doing obsolete or will require a ton of new investment so we can stay in the business? What if a lower-priced competitor enters the market? What if an unethical competitor does something that taints the brand of our whole industry?
What if? What would we do?
By training ourselves to think in terms of the next threat or opportunity, we’ll be more proactive and won’t be caught scrambling. We can then create the future rather than try to cope with it.
So milk the cash cow that is your current strategy as long as you can, but be thinking about how to replenish the herd, too!
When you’re green you grow…when you’re ripe, you rot!
- Ray Kroc, McDonald’s
By Dr. Burt Smith July 31st, 2008
When it stops working.
Not when YOU get tired of it, not when you think the market wants something new, not when some expert tells you it’s time for a change, and not just because you’ve had it a long time.
You change a campaign or strategy when the results you sought stop appearing on a regular basis.
You change it when it stops working. Period.
By Dr. Burt Smith July 25th, 2008
“Word of mouth has become word of keyboard,” stated an article in Futurist magazine last spring. Instead of seeking so-called “experts”, consumers today let their fingers do their talking and interact with other consumers to decide what, when, how and why to buy. You probably shop this way, too. So welcome to the revolution!
Not since the dissemination of the printing press have so many had access to so much in terms of information! We today live in the ultimate democracy, the ultimate testament to the free market economy and to freedom itself! You’re only a few keystrokes away from knowing, and, potentially, even having anything you want!
Think about how you buy just about anything today, from a movie ticket to a big-screen TV, and see how these statistics grab you: Over 50% of all consumers who purchased electronics online said they read the reviews written by other consumers. Of those, 30% said their purchases were based on consumer reviews they found at various places on the web. It’s a safe bet those numbers will go way up in a short time because, according to the article, 90% of people say they trust suggestions of the word-of-mouth, or “word of keyboard” variety.
Can anybody argue that the customer is NOT in charge these days? Does a business that even tries to debate that really deserve YOUR business?
By Dr. Burt Smith July 14th, 2008
I published my first book in 2007, the same year as the birth of our son. That was all done very much by design. I wanted him to be able to say that his dad was an author who wrote his first book the year he was born! He’s 17 months old now, and though I’ve told him every day that his dad is an author, and have even attempted to read him the book that is dedicated to him, he remains unimpressed from all I can tell.
The thing that really captivates him is when the garbage man comes in his big white truck with the hydraulic claw and the rythmic “beep…beep…beep” sound it makes when it backs up. My wife and I must admit, when you watch it as intently as he does, it is rather impressive. Whether or not I should try to get my money back on all the education I’ve invested in over the years and try to get a job as the guy who drives the trash truck so I can be my son’s hero is still something I’m debating.
What is NOT in debate, however, is that what is important is determined by, defined by, and described by THE CUSTOMER! Rather than just assume we know what our customer wants, and certainly before we take any action, we should study them to a point just short of obsession in an effort to find out exactly what is most important to them. Our strategic plan then simply becomes finding a profitable way to give them what they want.
By Dr. Burt Smith July 8th, 2008
One would assume that a SWOT analysis of the Heart Attack Grill would lead to the conclusion that the increased focus on health and wellness would be a “societal factor” that makes this concept unattractive. If one were to reach that conclusion, one would be wrong, and one would be advised not to tell the folks over there that their strategy is flawed. They’re way too busy, between serving customers and going to the bank to make deposits, to argue!
Granted, in the big-picture scheme of things, the overall market is seeking healthier dining, so a restaurant seeking its fortune in this sector would at first seem like not such a good idea. On the other hand, that’s how everyone else is thinking! Everyone else is making the mistake of chasing the biggest market segment, which may indeed be profitable, but that will undoubtedly result in some segments being under served.
The real question is, are there enough of us who are willing to “risk it all” and have a greasy burger once in a while to support a business? In this case the answer was a resounding “Yes”.
It’s far better, and often more profitable, to own a small piece of a big pie or a big piece of a small pie that our competitors are deliberately overlooking or avoiding altogether. Being just a little contrarian is a big way to, well, stand out from the herd!
Good marketing connects with the customers. Good marketing gets results. Good marketing is good marketing if it makes money.
Where and how to make that money are answers only your customers have.
By Dr. Burt Smith June 16th, 2008
If for no other reason than the fact that it’s an election year, and the airwaves will soon be filled with attack ads, I like these commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhmpsUMdTH8
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6n_-wB154
They’re products of www.wecansolveit.org.
You may think these alliances are all phony-baloney, and some of the viewer comments that accompany these videos on YouTube suggest you’re not alone. Regardless of how much credence you give the global warming thing, that business has gone decidedly green is no longer in debate, and smart organizations are hard at work trying to show what good corporate citizens they are and how they are embracing this trend. It’s just kind of refreshing to see that there are causes that can unite those with different values, backgrounds, and beliefs.
By Dr. Burt Smith June 10th, 2008
Hardly!
Their genius has spanned three centuries now, and they still get it! Check out:
http://www.bounceeverywhere.com/index.jsp
You’ll see how a great “old” company, Procter and Gamble, really makes great use of the World Wide Web! Using a website to help customers get the most from their dryer sheet experience! Superb!
You may be too young to remember this, but I sure recall how the Internet burst onto the landscape in 1995 and quickly took off! Upstarts like Amazon and Yahoo quickly took the high ground. Meanwhile, entrenched, established, respected, maybe even a little stoic, blue-chip companies like General Electric and Procter and Gamble just shrugged and said, “That’s interesting…but it doesn’t really fit our business model.” Then you youngsters came along! You who grew up with the Internet had all kinds of ideas for how the Internet simply HAD to be a part of the business model, and you went about demonstrating, or developing from scratch, ways to make this powerful media work in the promotional mix of the organization.
We’re still learning how to best utilize the Internet, and all its derivatives, as part of our marketing mix, but the question about whether or not the Internet needs to be a part of our marketing mix is no longer valid! It HAS to be part of our marketing mix, because our customer expects it! The question isn’t “Should we have a bricks-and-mortar, traditional, storefront business model or should we be entirely virtual?” The question is, “How can we best use technology to accomplish our purpose?”
And your customer has the answer!
EMI Research Solutions, LLC.