Can you imagine if Apple had decided not to include the features of an iPod on the iPhone, for fear that it might cause them to sell fewer iPods?
Companies does nutty things like that all the time. Does yours?
Today’s newsletter, Cannibalize Yourself (Before Someone Else Does), takes a lesson from Steve Jobs, from a story in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs.
Go ahead, compete with yourself.
How do I answer the question, “So Steve, what is marketing?”
Read today’s newsletter, “Definition of Marketing,” to find out … and then please share your comments here.
Why is there such a wide gap between what people say they believe about marketing, and the actual marketing they do?
Why do companies allocate their marketing dollars in ways that they know are counterproductive?
Why do I sometimes feel like much of marketing is stuck in 1973, looking at direct marketing and the online world through an advertising-based lens?
Have a look at today’s newsletter, Do as you say, not as you do, and then please come back here to leave a comment.
And … if you see your competitors marketing in the way I’ve described above, smile. And then go after their customers.
Interrupting people and shouting at them is a very unnatural form of human communication. So why is this still the main operating principle of marketing?
Please read and comment on today’s newsletter, Advertising is the worst kind of marketing.
I’m organizing my day with my normal tools: laptop, notes from yesterday, a bowl of cereal, and the news on the TV. Suddenly, a commercial for a bipolar depression medication comes on. Since I have a friend with this disease, I start to listen to the ad, which, in the first 15 seconds, seemed compelling. However, the last 45 seconds was overpowered by a voiceover delivering a long list of medical warnings. If you’re a teen, you may commit suicide. If you’re elderly, it may increase your dementia. If you play golf left-handed, it may increase your slice on dogleg par 5′s.
Compulsory medical warnings on TV commercials are stupid. They are unnecessary. These warnings are based on the fallacy that advertising is the deciding factor in creating purchase decisions. It isn’t, especially for these kinds of products. The purpose of pharmaceutical television advertising is to get you to ask your doctor, or to encourage you to tell a loved one to ask his doctor, about the medication. The doctor is responsible for diagnosis and prescription. MSNBC and ABC aren’t. If we can’t trust the doctor to deliver the warnings, then he shouldn’t be prescribing.
And, these warnings are a pain in the you-know-what for the 99% of the people watching the commercial who don’t have Restless Leg Syndrome, or whatever illness is being advertised. We have to listen to a litany of unappetizing side effects and, let’s not kid ourselves, we’re all paying for it. The ad I saw this morning was a :60, and it could have easily been a :30 if it didn’t include warnings about orthostatic hypertention and hallucinations. CNN made some cash, but the rest of us lost out – I’m sure AstraZeneca’s pricing model includes amortization of these premium advertising costs. (Here’s an idea for reducing the cost of health care … maybe Harry, Nancy and Rahm are factoring this into the calculations they are working on right now …)
Advertising is an ever-smaller part of the input to purchase decisions. Come on FDA, get with the times.
The disciplines of marketing and sales need to unlearn their most fundamental principle: That marketing and sales are about disseminating information.
The accepted views of marketing and sales look something like this: Marketing is a rain cloud, showering information down on the marketplace. And sales is a water hose, spraying information at specific customers.
Marketing is not a rain cloud, and sales is not a water hose. If you get people wet, they will duck. They will not listen.
Marketing and sales are not about spraying your stories at customers. They are about creating engaging stories in your customers’ mind, stories in which you figure as an important character.
Stop showering your customers with information. Start engaging them in conversations
Sales and marketing are not about telling stories. Sales and marketing are about helping your customer create a story, in his mind, in which you figure as a prominent, clear, vibrant character. If your customer tells himself a meaningful, motivating story that includes you, he will be much more likely to get more involved with you, and take actions that improve your business results.
Stop telling stories about yourself. Instead, figure out how to make yourself part of your customer’s story.
Today’s newsletter is the sixth article in my series on determining how effective your company’s marketing is. We’ve looked at results, customer actions, customer beliefs, the customer experience, internal branding and senior managment’s meddling in the marketing process.
Today’s issue is titled Does your marketing department get it done? Does it?
Whether you work in a marketing department or with a marketing department, you know what a busy profession marketing is. Everyone is always working hard, juggling multiple priorities, trying get everything done. So what’s the key variable, how hard you work? No …
In today’s entertaining newsletter, Steve challenges companies to evaluate how effective they allow their marketing department to be. He describes common ways that companies get in the way of their marketing department, with such titles as the “Yellow Hubcap Syndrome” and the “Halt! Who Goes There! Defense.”
Chances are, every reader will see that his company sometimes falls prey to at least one of these problems. We’d love to hear of your experiences and advice in the comments.
Read the newsletter: Does management allow its marketing professionals to succeed?
Today’s newsletter, Most Companies Stop Marketing, is Part 3 of my series about how to tell if your company is doing good marketing.
Marketing is about encouraging your customers to act in ways that improve your business results. Since it’s often hard to track marekting results directly, the seven questions I address in this series can help you evaluate your company’s marketing efforts. Today we are focusing on this question: Are your marketing efforts integrated over the entire lifecycle of a customer’s relationship with your company?
Companies that practice great marketing don’t stop marketing once they acquire a customer. Great marketing builds long-term relationships with customers.
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In addition to writing, I spend most of my work time helping companies unleash their potential by creating better connections with their customers. This happens through my speaking events and through Yastrow & Company consulting engagements, where my team and I help companies figure out who they intend to be in the future, and then engage the entire company in creating that future through strong "We" customer relationships.
Before starting Yastrow & Company in the mid-90s I was vice-president of resort marketing for Hyatt Hotels. My experiences in the hotel business showed me clearly that most marketing doesn’t happen in the marketing department. Customers are paying attention to all interactions with a company, not just the promises made in traditional "marketing communications."
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