May 22, 2013 | Uncategorized
Marketing used to be about brands, customers, channels, pricing, advertising and the other stuff we came to terms with up to about 2004.
Then it changed, and became really confusing.
We progressively discovered digital devices, social media, Apps, an exploding range of communication channels, and the pace of change is still accelerating.
In this digitally driven environment, where does the art and craft of marketing fit in, and how does the person directing the application of marketing funds make the trade-offs required to be both accountable for the expenditure, and taking the creative risks that have always been the “secret sauce” of success.?
The role of the head of marketing is now far more complex than just a decade ago, requiring an ambidexterity rarely found, a clear understanding of the technical tools and platforms, as well as the more traditional right brain skills. There is also now a political dimension to the marketing role, at least in larger companies not faced before. On one hand, you have a “bring your own device” environment that requires sensitive handling, from a personnel perspective as well as the obvious security and compatibility challenges, then you have the product platforms, everything from Salesforce to facebook requiring attention and understanding, while the C-Suite and board is being sold on enterprise solutions by IBM, SAP and Oracle.
What a mess.
Then you have Social touching everything, but nobody is really controlling it, partly because nobody knows how, and partly because in reality you can’t. Adequately calculating the ROI across the spectrum of influence that social is having is a huge challenge not seen before.
It is data driven marketing with a human face.
In the past, I have raved about the richness of the data derived by UK research firm Dunhumby using Tesco loyalty card data, and predicted that they will be making an impact in Australia before long. In the US, they have just hosted a “Hackathon” in Boston, effectively crowdsourcing ideas for analysis of consumer data.
This is the future people, and the only way to prevent being killed in the tsunami of change is to be in there kicking!
May 14, 2013 | Governance, Management, Operations, Uncategorized
I found myself in a heated debate last week with a headhunter about the value, and challenges of SME’s outsourcing the hiring of employees, particularly salespeople.
Her view: SME owners are so time constrained that anything not “core” to success should be outsourced, and left to professionals.
My view: If sales, or as I like to call it, Revenue generation, is not core to every SME, I do not know what is. Whilst it may be the product offering, that delivers the value, it is sales that delivers the opportunity to deliver that value, and therefore is the key role, and should warrant substantial attention. Picking those who will represent you with current and potential customers is much too important to be outsourced to “professionals” who get paid by delivering a body to a seat.
While there are exceptions at either end of the employee scale, casual factory workers are perhaps best outsourced, and it is probably sensible to have a headhunter exercise their skills and networks to find a group of people who fill demanding profile when seeking a new CEO, from which a board can make a choice.
However, this is not how it usually evolves. The usual is a harried, busy executive whose KPI’s have little to do with the quality of the team, and the individuals who make it up does not give adequate thought to the personal dynamics and capability requirements of the role, they just want a warm body that appears able to do the job in the seat ASAP.
Good salespeople make or break a business, the challenges in finding, keeping, and maximising their productivity are substantial, but are central to the success of the enterprise.
May 3, 2013 | Small business, Strategy, Uncategorized
Yesterday I did a presentation to a group of owners of small businesses, people who seemingly compete against the odds from a point of weakness, as almost everybody is bigger, better resourced, has better technology, and are more connected, than them.
As a basis for the presentation I used Simon Sineks great TED talk, that articulated the ” Why How What” model, one I have been able to use quite often as a means to assist SME’s sort out what is really important, and what just seems to be important, as they try to navigate the competitive challenges they face.
Just after I had delivered my thoughts, a great post from Seth Godin popped into my feed, and it added a further perspective to the challenges. For these small business people, working as hard as they can, trying to be “picked” by their potential customers, from amongst the baying crowd of potential suppliers is confronting and often disillusioning. How do they stand out from the crowd?
Seth’s point is do not be a part of the crowd of supplicants, do not wait for others to pick you, pick yourself by being different, useful, and interesting.
This is as true for the SME around the corner as it is to the huge multinational, but when you think about it a bit, the elephant is pretty hard to persuade to change direction, to be sufficiently agile to respond quickly, whilst the little bloke is far more able to turn on a sixpence.
It just takes the will, vision and balls to be different.
Apr 29, 2013 | Uncategorized
The speed at which things can happen is halving, and halving again, the wider implications of Moore’s Law at work. In such an environment, where is the value in static annual planning cycles, bi-annual sales meetings, 3 and 5 year plans when we cannot forecast what will hit us next week?
The premium on flexibility, and agility is continuing to increase, and to survive and prosper, it seems to me that there are three strategies that need to be implemented:
- Work cross boundary, function, geography, technology type, customers profile, all of the above, and all at the same time. The tools to do this are now readily available, what we lack is the understanding and leadership required to implement and leverage their capabilities.
- Redesign processes, to automate, outsource, or crowdsource, the regular and definable actions, the ones that have become “commoditised” and focus attention on the things that add value, the unusual, and difficult. It is usually the case that the ideas that lead to those insights are between the ears of your stakeholders employees, customers, suppliers, leaders in other industries, so ask them
- Do both of the above quickly: very, very quickly, your time just halved again.
Dec 3, 2012 | Management, Uncategorized
A really good explanation of the Kickstarter process.
Crowdfunding is not the new panacea for new ventures to raise money, you still need a robust business plan, the right people, and a value proposition that really works, but it is an option not available just 2 years ago.
Astonishing evolution of a funding option.
Jul 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
How far can you stretch a brand without diluting the power of the core?
The answer it seems is “it depends”. The stronger and more defined the brand, the more it stands for something specific, the less adaptable it is, and the converse is also true, the less defined a brand, the more able it is to be stretched, but on the other hand, why would you bother?
Should Coke launch a lemon variety?
Should Harley Davidson build a scooter?
Should Louis Vuiton sell a 69.99 suitcase?
Extending a brand is a sport of choice amongst marketers, the arguments are strong, mostly around leveraging the brand building investment that has already gone in, but it fails to understand that consumers build brands, not marketers.
