(Not So) Simple Choices

As a marketer, I’m allowed to choose from only one of these operating paradigms:

Option One: I’ll be persuasive, methodical and diligent in convincing you to buy from me, or:

Option Two: What I’m offering will be so coveted and compelling that you’d seek me out and/or even become my advocate to others.

The first option gets you up and running quickly, but demands a long term dedication to the tangential task of finding and keeping customers.

Option two may require a protracted startup, though once up and running will be self perpetuating in that it will keep you focused on your most enjoyable tasks and will magnetically align you with your chosen mission.

New Business Model: The Rule

Scarcity creates demand.

There’s no shortage of takers in the world of commerce. They rarely take the time and energy to give something, anything beyond the minimum. Frequently their gain is the customer’s loss. Their perspective is limited to next quarter’s earnings report.

The taker’s business plan has a short shelf life. Takers come and go quickly. Rarely will a taker’s customer willingly make a second purchase, let alone make a referral. When a new profit opportunity presents itself, they quickly drop everything. Their job means little beyond a paycheck.

Enter The Rule. Some people know it as the Golden Rule.

The Rule marketer knows that great business relationships are long term propositions. He’s willing to feel the customer’s pain by absorbing some of the cost of that relationship. She upgrades her skills and stays up to date. It’s more than a job; it’s almost a religion. He’d never offer the customer a deal he wouldn’t take himself.

“Rulers” rule the marketplace, because they’re comparatively scarce. Their services and advice are widely sought after and hence more valuable to the customer.

Yes, there’s more to a successful business model than the Rule. Still, it’s rare to find any long term success if you don’t take The Rule to heart. Slogans, PR buzz and mission statements ring hollow these days. But follow The Rule and people take notice.

Tomorrow’s winning business model seems quite contrarian these days. Offer more depth, if not breadth. Take better care of your customers, no matter how much it hurts.

The Rule be with you.

Organic Marketing, Part One: Mail Call

I personally check the mail every day. Today, along with the usual assortment of bill and checks were:

Three identical postcards from an accounting firm. None have my name.

Three indentical jumbo postcards from a courier company. Again none have my name.

A folded sheet full of flyers. Too much time to sort though all of that, me thinks. File 9 to all of the above.

A beautiful catalog from a large mailing list source. Part of their offering actually competes with my business. An uphill battle, to compete with your customers…

Coupons from an office supply store. Hmmm, some of these look good, but I generally shop at another store that’s closer.

And oh yes, the mailer from a well known bank that sounds like a fish taco place. This mailer was done perfectly, personalized with a great incentive. But… as a former customer, they repeatedly broke my trust. No mailer, however well designed, no offer, no spin could bring me back.

We spend a lot of time on how to spin our pitch. How to convince others to make a decision. But that’s only one cell of our marketing organism. The cells either work together, or they go out of control. It’s called cancer.

Something Spectacular

My son is pretty dialed in to the Hollywood scene. So when the TV commercial featuring Steve Wynn sitting on the roof of his new Las Vegas Encore resort appeared, I asked him about it. “Brandon, is it real? Is he really on the roof?”

“Of course not Dad, it’s CGI,” came the immediate response. But I wasn’t so sure. Wynn’s a man who knows something about marketing, namely the vital need to be spectacular in the marketplace. And spectacular he was, precariously perched on a tiny corner, almost 700 feet above the pavement. He put everything the line. Not just money, his life.

The business world is full of boring, look alike players scrambling toward dead ends and dwindling market share. Only the few have the courage and resources to create something that’s best in class, and really carry it through. Like Steve Wynn.

What is it about your company that’s best in class? What separates you from the biggest threat of all: a marketplace that snores out loud in the face of your offering(s)?

The shakeout of ‘09 will certainly be a test for all of us. What’s the best way out of the woods? Charge a path through the thickest and darkest patch at full speed ahead! Like Steve Wynn.

Yelling Louder

How can you find new customers?

For more than the last 100 years its been about yelling the loudest to the largest number of people. Making them notice you. Pushing a business card in their face. Building a restaurant on a street that they pass frequently. Bombarding them with “me-too” direct mail. Making “cheaper” your big selling point. Buying a giant billboard or airtime on a radio station to do any of the above. Guess what: these approaches don’t work nearly as well as they did 20 years ago. Unless you’ve got deep pockets, try something different.

Where to start?

I’ve heard so many folks talk about becoming a complete “solution,” a “relationship” seller and such. All of your real competition claims the the same. It pretty much falls on deaf ears any more. A waste of time and money.

“We’ll do anything to earn your business” doesn’t count. Does top quality mean anything to anyone any more? Great service? Low prices?

To all of the above I say: Big deal! (expletive deleted). Even a recession won’t make low prices the salvation of your brand. So what then?

The answer is uniquely yours, it can’t be something you’ve repackaged. It’s got to come from the inside out.

Get to work. Figure it out. Nobody else can do it for you!