Marketing By Standing Around.

The glorious Improv Everywhere have carried out some fabulous flashmob-style events over the year, but in January they surpassed themselves at Grand Central Station. In contrast to their other events, this is all about standing out by not doing something, standing out via a cohesive action and standing out by being overtly but not aggressively different. It has an impact that is deeper and, I would suggest, longer-lasting than that of the gimmicky stunt that tends to generate a laugh but no great memory.



In contrast, the version it inspired on Law and Order some months later is insipid.

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Someone Always Notices.

At an innovation conference last week, there was much discussion by the likes of Tim Berners-Lee and Sam Pitodra about the need to acknowledge that trying and failing was an essential part of progress and one that needed to be imbued in the culture.

But then on the break, the PA started blasting out the inspirational sounds of some old rock-band. It was intended to maintain the mood, but unfortunately there were lyrics.

We are the champions
No time for losers
cause we are the champions

The lessons. Don't leave any detail to chance, cliches tend to rebound on you and one single inconsistency will always be noticed. Then again, maybe they were commenting on the upcoming speaker pictured above.

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An Industry-Proven Framework for Managing Marketing's Investment

Given the economic backdrop of 2008, there are more good reasons than ever for sales and marketing executives to engage in a deep scrutiny of their costs. Many organizations have made good progress on cost control, but there is much to be done; and our IDC CMO Advisory research continues to identify big pockets of wasteful spending in these functions. To help technology marketers better manage their investments, we have just completed our second edition of the sales, marketing, and market intelligence (MI) taxonomy. (email me at mgerard@idc.com for a free copy of this extensive marketing investment framework) This expanded taxonomy includes several new line items that need greater "illumination" of spending and staffing, so that executives can make decisions about their investments. These areas include:

• Digital Marketing. Growth in this area continues to outpace other marketing areas, and in many cases takes funds from these other areas. (e.g., more traditional advertising) Most importantly here, the digital marketing strategy must be a component of the broader marketing and sales strategy and not a standalone effort.
• Campaign Management. Marketers need to do a better job of integrating the traditional elements of the marketing mix with the newer elements, so as to achieve a unified campaign approach versus "silos" of program execution. (more to come on this topic since we just finished a Marketing Operations Board meeting on campaign management best practices)
• Industry and Solutions Marketing. These staff areas have received further definition and clarification of roles.
• Market Intelligence; Customer Intelligence; and Business Intelligence. These areas are under active re-assessment at many organizations as the importance of the functions continues to rise.
• Sales Enablement. This is a key leverage point for increased sales productivity. Marketing and sales are increasing their sales enablement effectiveness through a combination of people, process, and technology.
• Tele-sales and Inside Sales. These growth areas of the sales department receive further detail in this year’s study.

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Customers Want Otherness.

Seth Godin wrote a terrific little post the other day about revenues increasing as you get closer to the "pain' of the consumer. What he's reframing, of course, is scarcity. In the absence of choice (or supply), price will rise. But there are many forms that scarcity can take.

The customer who has a scarcity of time will value convenience.

The customer who has a scarcity of expertise will value competence.

The customer who has a scarcity of style will value design flair.

The customer who has a scarcity of contacts will value network effects.

There are many ways to be different. It's all about otherness.

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How To Generate Word Of Mouth.

A trip to the plumbing supplies outlet. Yes, they can identify the fault. Yes, they can order the seals that need to be replaced. No there will be no charge even though it's no longer under guarantee and a number of other plumbers had suggested three figure bills.

Why so helpful?

"Because we only supply products that we can back up."

It wasn't a clever advertisement. It wasn't a scripted customer service pitch. It was just a retail worker enunciating what is clearly a deeply-engrained company philosophy. And that's why it's authentic. And that's why it's memorable. And that's why every customer who experiences it will re-tell it. Just like I am now.

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Treat Customers As Lovers?

A friend bought a table at a local charity dinner only to discover, as the day arrived, that only seven of the ten seats would be occupied. The reason? One of the husbands was having an affair with one of the wives.

The repercussions in the small tight-knit community are huge of course but the thing that stuck with me was how the affair was discovered. The betrayed wife saw her husband welcome the other woman in a social setting and explained that "he greeted her in the way you greet a lover".

The marketing parallel is obvious. Businesses woo new customers as they would potential lovers, but all too often fail to keep the romance alive. Yet another reason to remind yourself that your customers are people.

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Racing In A Skirt Makes You Feel Fast?

Everybody talks about Nike ID as the key innovation in blending running products and runners' enthusiasms, but apparently that's not true. Watch and learn about "putting a sexy spin on a running classic by mixing fitness, flirting and fun in an innovative new race series."

I have seen the future of athletics and I'm very confused.

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