Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Marketing With Passion
PASSION! That's what people want! People are attracted to people who know where they are going and are passionate and focused about it. That's the secret that makes good marketing into Great Marketing! Marketing with Passion.
Our job as marketers is to get the word out about our company with passion. To show customers how our products fulfill their needs better than ANYONE ELSES. Do it with passion because it shows that you are real.
Think about it. Don't you love to have passion? Isn't it exciting when somebody comes to you and tells you about a great new restaurant they tried? "If it lit them up this much, maybe it will light me up too!" We can all use a little more passionin our lives!
And isn't it contagious when someone gets excited about something new that's coming? Isn't it a great feeling when your team is ranked number "one" and you know they're going all the way! The moment is all filled with excitement and imagination. It's a state of creativity and thrill that we all love. And we love it so much that we gave it a name, "Passion"!
To be a great marketer you've got to have Passion about your product, your company, your marketing campaign, your marketing team, and yourself! Just try it! Passion is Contageous!
Phil
Our job as marketers is to get the word out about our company with passion. To show customers how our products fulfill their needs better than ANYONE ELSES. Do it with passion because it shows that you are real.
Think about it. Don't you love to have passion? Isn't it exciting when somebody comes to you and tells you about a great new restaurant they tried? "If it lit them up this much, maybe it will light me up too!" We can all use a little more passionin our lives!
And isn't it contagious when someone gets excited about something new that's coming? Isn't it a great feeling when your team is ranked number "one" and you know they're going all the way! The moment is all filled with excitement and imagination. It's a state of creativity and thrill that we all love. And we love it so much that we gave it a name, "Passion"!
To be a great marketer you've got to have Passion about your product, your company, your marketing campaign, your marketing team, and yourself! Just try it! Passion is Contageous!
Phil
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Ideas to Go
I've said it before, I like ideas. I like having ideas, sharing ideas, hearing about ideas, and getting others excited about ideas; even other people's ideas. There's something intrinsically fun to me about ideas. So what does it take to get an idea to go? What does it take to get others excited about them and sharing your ideas?
I recently had an idea about setting up a Creative Team at my company. Our company is a full service markting research company, so a Creative Team is not what anyone would necessarily expect. But life is about balance and imbalance to me and I thought it was time for a counterweight to all the glorious statistical modeling we do in the research world.
My idea was to build a team of folks who will help our clients become better idea generators. To help them create ideas by bringing together customers or employees or suppliers or experts. And to focus those ideas on resolving a business need; like coming up with new uses for a product, or a new way of looking at a market, or a name for a new product. You get the idea, right?
The fact is that traditional research is really lousy at generating ideas. And ideas are the stuff great products and services are made of. Why not? We'll build idea factories for our clients, and they can hire our researchers to test the ideas and help them turn them into real products. Make sense?
I thought this idea was a long-shot, but I liked it and I went with it. And today I heard from the president of our company that there's a tremendous interest in my Creative Team approach and a conference call will be set up to discuss it next week.
So what does it take to get an idea to go? I'm still not sure. But maybe part of the answer is to take the chance and tell people about your idea when you have it. And just assume they agree with you and move on. Seems to be working so far. Give it a try. An idea is a terrible thing to keep to yourself.
Phil
I recently had an idea about setting up a Creative Team at my company. Our company is a full service markting research company, so a Creative Team is not what anyone would necessarily expect. But life is about balance and imbalance to me and I thought it was time for a counterweight to all the glorious statistical modeling we do in the research world.
My idea was to build a team of folks who will help our clients become better idea generators. To help them create ideas by bringing together customers or employees or suppliers or experts. And to focus those ideas on resolving a business need; like coming up with new uses for a product, or a new way of looking at a market, or a name for a new product. You get the idea, right?
The fact is that traditional research is really lousy at generating ideas. And ideas are the stuff great products and services are made of. Why not? We'll build idea factories for our clients, and they can hire our researchers to test the ideas and help them turn them into real products. Make sense?
I thought this idea was a long-shot, but I liked it and I went with it. And today I heard from the president of our company that there's a tremendous interest in my Creative Team approach and a conference call will be set up to discuss it next week.
So what does it take to get an idea to go? I'm still not sure. But maybe part of the answer is to take the chance and tell people about your idea when you have it. And just assume they agree with you and move on. Seems to be working so far. Give it a try. An idea is a terrible thing to keep to yourself.
Phil
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Idea Spot
I think the most valuable and delicate thing in the world is an idea! That's what makes us really unique, isn't it? The ability to contemplate our protoplasm and to walk away with something new? An idea is really a little miracle.
Just think of how many little miracles you have during your lifetime. Why, I'll bet from the time we're born until we're gone that a person has millions of them. Most ideas never get noticed, even when it's your idea. It's just a "notion" or a "thought".
Well I think its time we start taking up for ideas. They're what great things are made of! Start noticing your ideas and writing them down. I track mine on GoogleDocuments. I just keep a Word file in GoogleDocuments, so whenever I have an idea I open it up and place it in.
And don't forget to take credit for your ideas. Review the ideas you've already had. I'll bet you'll be surprised how fast they mount up. And tell others about them. That's how ideas become real. When people talk about ideas, the idea gets recreated in the minds of others. Soon the idea is a thought and, then, it's a prototype. Next thing you know its on a store shelf.
I let a couple of my closest friends share my ideas file. They can look in and comment, and even add an idea. Because in the world of ideas, two heads are always better than one!
Just think of how many little miracles you have during your lifetime. Why, I'll bet from the time we're born until we're gone that a person has millions of them. Most ideas never get noticed, even when it's your idea. It's just a "notion" or a "thought".
Well I think its time we start taking up for ideas. They're what great things are made of! Start noticing your ideas and writing them down. I track mine on GoogleDocuments. I just keep a Word file in GoogleDocuments, so whenever I have an idea I open it up and place it in.
And don't forget to take credit for your ideas. Review the ideas you've already had. I'll bet you'll be surprised how fast they mount up. And tell others about them. That's how ideas become real. When people talk about ideas, the idea gets recreated in the minds of others. Soon the idea is a thought and, then, it's a prototype. Next thing you know its on a store shelf.
I let a couple of my closest friends share my ideas file. They can look in and comment, and even add an idea. Because in the world of ideas, two heads are always better than one!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Being There
Ever been told "You just had to be there"? If you're like me, when you're doing business, it's on the phone, via email, or Blackberry. And that's done with a backdrop of the constant influx of online subscriptions, corporate emails and announcements, internal emails, RSS feeds, and all the distractions of meetings, drop-ins and other interruptions. I maintain that sometimes you've just got to meet with your clients in-person.
Yesterday I met with a client I've worked with for years. I rarely see him, and every time we talk he or I are in the midst of numerous distractions. But during our in-person meeting, it was easier. We brainstormed, answered each other's sentences, and arranged a joint-venture that will benefit us both.
Even though both of us had to travel, it was worth the trouble for the success our meeting generated. So I maintain that sometimes you've got to try to meet in person.
Let me know what you think. Social networking is a tremendous step in the same direction. How can it become even more like an in-person meeting?
Yesterday I met with a client I've worked with for years. I rarely see him, and every time we talk he or I are in the midst of numerous distractions. But during our in-person meeting, it was easier. We brainstormed, answered each other's sentences, and arranged a joint-venture that will benefit us both.
Even though both of us had to travel, it was worth the trouble for the success our meeting generated. So I maintain that sometimes you've got to try to meet in person.
Let me know what you think. Social networking is a tremendous step in the same direction. How can it become even more like an in-person meeting?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Moving Ahead with Social Networking
Today was a benchmark day because my Social Networking centered marketing plan is approved and moving forward. I consider this a marketing experiment, designed to prove that Social Networking in its most pristine form will successfully leverage a business into new markets and clientelle. There will be no ads on this blog, no blatant requests for business, and no sales efforts. Instead this will merely be my account of the journey. And I'll stop here and there and make comments on other blogs according to my own expertise.
I've said it before, but its a rare company that will entrust its marketing success to such a new channel of communication. So check in regularly and monitor my progress. And please feel free to make recommendations. I'd love to hear from you.
I've said it before, but its a rare company that will entrust its marketing success to such a new channel of communication. So check in regularly and monitor my progress. And please feel free to make recommendations. I'd love to hear from you.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
My Social Networking Marketing Strategy
I just started my job at CME (http://www.cmeinet.com/) two weeks ago as chief marketer. Most of you know how uncertain things are in a new company; you feel like the egg shells under your feet are going to shatter into a crashing crescendo of "Oops! We hired the wrong guy!" That's not been the case in this instance, gladly.
My job right now is to get the word out about my company. That's okay with me, because to me, chief marketer means chief storyteller. And I'll love that.
I've been in marketing long enough to know that the model is broken in some places. My customers in the past have turned to mass communications and advertising to get the word out on their businesses. I don't know about you, but I hear everywhere that people are tired of being told by ads and corporate spokespeople what to buy, what they should want, how they should look, where they should go if they're sick, and so on. People feel that business don't know them and don't care.
Social networking allows business to know its customers directly again. Real two-way. unfiltered conversation. Not with everyone, but with lots and lots of people. And its a way for the customers to understand and know the companies that provide the products and services they want. Social networking builds trust because it is based on people talking to people.
I want my marketing plan to be based, centered, focused on using social networking to build its business. I'm looking forward to the experience. I believe it is a rare company that can go all-out and do this. I'm taking the plunge!
My job right now is to get the word out about my company. That's okay with me, because to me, chief marketer means chief storyteller. And I'll love that.
I've been in marketing long enough to know that the model is broken in some places. My customers in the past have turned to mass communications and advertising to get the word out on their businesses. I don't know about you, but I hear everywhere that people are tired of being told by ads and corporate spokespeople what to buy, what they should want, how they should look, where they should go if they're sick, and so on. People feel that business don't know them and don't care.
Social networking allows business to know its customers directly again. Real two-way. unfiltered conversation. Not with everyone, but with lots and lots of people. And its a way for the customers to understand and know the companies that provide the products and services they want. Social networking builds trust because it is based on people talking to people.
I want my marketing plan to be based, centered, focused on using social networking to build its business. I'm looking forward to the experience. I believe it is a rare company that can go all-out and do this. I'm taking the plunge!
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