Jul 7, 2009 | Management, Marketing, Operations, Strategy
Much has been written about the value of giving people as much information as possible about the organisation, including any unwelcome news. In the absence of certaint, rumor will fill the gap, and it is usually worse than the actual.
I was reminded of this recently having a yarn over a meal with a bunch or people I worked with some time ago, who were facing the reorgansation of the business subsequent to a takeover, and the probable redundancy of many of them.
As GM of a division of this business, I had closed a number of operational sites to increase the returns of the business. In the first, I followed the corporate policy exactly, turned up on the morning with a letter for each employee, a redundancy calculation, and the HR manager and security. Suffice to say it was not pleasant, and there were repercussions.
Some time later, I had to close a second plant, same reason, it simply was underperforming drastically, and had become surplus to the need. This time, I called a meeting, and told the personnel of the decision 6 months in advance of the planned closure, explained the reasons, and the steps that would be taken to ensure they all had as much of an opportunity as possible to move to other sites, or find other jobs. To my surprise, they were pleased that finally they knew their fate rather than being forced to speculate on it, and the timetable. In the following 6 months as operations wound down, productivity went up, attendance went up, product losses went down, and the financials improved markedly.
The lesson, once people know what will happen, and when, why, and how it will impact them with some certainty, they were able to get on with the job without the corrosive impact of uncertainty.
Jul 5, 2009 | Marketing, Sales, Strategy
It used to be word of mouth, it still is in its essence, but the need for face to face contact has been removed by the emergence of the web tools now in front of everyone.
Ideas spread on the web like a virus, even quicker than “pig-flu,” a good idea spreads logarithmically, gathering momentum as it goes, or conversely, just disappearing without trace if it does not attract an audience prepared to be an advocate by passing it on.
This simple notion of brand advocates, rather than simply demographic and psychographic profiles of people to whom, your advertising is directed radically changes the dynamics of brand building, from a mass advertising effort, to an effort turned 180 degrees towards engaging customers in the value the brand delivers to them on a very personal level.
Jul 5, 2009 | Marketing
The strongest brands are more like “movements” of like minded, usually passionate individuals, people to whom a brand has an emotional connection for some reason, it is much more personal than a demographic and socio-economic expression of “sameness” of the individuals.
I cannot think of a successful brand built without passion, and there is nothing as contagious as a dose of passion, so successful marketing becomes an exercise in spreading the passion.
Jun 23, 2009 | Management, Marketing, Strategy
When considering an important move, the range of possible reactions to the move by competitors often receives too little attention.
Predicting competitive response to a move is of critical importance, and clear analysis should be done prior to committing resources.
A simple test, often missed, is to put yourself in the position of your competitors, and allowing for the management style and culture of the competitor ask yourself a couple of questions :
- Will I see the move, and consider it relevant?
- What is my likely response?
When you have answered those questions to yourself, you are in a position to consider the wisdom of the initial move, and counter measures that may be required.
Jun 22, 2009 | Marketing, Strategy
Across the board cost cutting is an attractive option as times get tougher, just make sure you are not cutting the costs that create the value customers pay for.
The first thing that usually gets cut in a period of tight money is the so called discretionary spending that makes up the bulk of the marketing budget.
Fortunes are made by being different, not following the crowd, so why follow this one?
Use the downturn to market aggressively to your customers, communicate your value proposition, innovate across the board in every way you interact with your market, and reap the reward when the recovery starts.
Jun 21, 2009 | Management, Marketing, Strategy
Brands are often the greatest asset a business has, in the case of service businesses, brands make up most of the assets.
Why then are the brand sensitive decisions so often made by young, inexperienced so-called “marketers” whose agenda is driven by many things, but not usually the health of the brand beyond their expected short tenure.
It does not matter if the CEO is by training an accountant, or engineer, or anything else, it remains that his/her biggest job is to nurture the long term returns to shareholders, and to do they must become the Senior Brand Manager.
