Desperation Marketing

Oct 25
2009
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Is your company long-term greedy, or short-sighted for sales?
A clue may lie in your  definition of  marketing.

Great marketing, according to best-selling author Joe Vitale, is inspired. Perhaps that’s why most marketing isn’t all that great.  For most companies, marketing tends to be out of desperation rather than inspiration.

It’s part of the problem American businesses face, in general, with short-term versus long-term thinking.  In the short-term, the business needs a sale – badly.  Hence, a CEO calls in a marketing team to help facilitate a sale  NOW!  It’s what causes confusion between marketing and sales promotion. I call it Desperation Marketing.

Better marketing is long-term based — building reputation, relationships and community over time.  Inspired marketing draws people to a product, service or business because they want to be affiliated with what that company has to offer.

I recently met with a business planning professor from a local college to discuss business planning. He used to work for Goldman Sachs on Wall Street. He told the story of one of his mentors — a great Goldman Sachs leader of his time– who decided to retire a few years ago when the company became, in his opinion, too short-sighted. By short- sighted, the retiring executive meant ‘in search of this year’s sales.”  Goldman Sachs had been known, he said, for being “long-term greedy,” a positive attribute that differentiated the company for greatness and fostered  building long-term wealth over short-term gain.

I have no way to test if the story is true, but it rings true because this week Goldman Sachs is all over the news in terms of its outrageous bonuses for 2009. The company claims that its executives deserve the bonuses due to outstanding performances during tough economic times.  Even if  true, it’s  insensitive to the marketplace – defined as the rest of us.  It also positions Goldman Sachs as self-centered and  greedy – short-term greedy.

I’m not here to bash Goldman Sachs.  It’s just a story that was told to me this week. But, I am here to say:

“Think about your marketing and positioning.”

Remind yourself that, unless you’re a venture capitalist or a real estate house flipper, you’re likely in business for the long haul.  Use your marketing dollars and efforts accordingly.

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Written by Rhona in: Economics, General Business, Guru Wisdom, Leadership, Marketing, Public Relations | Tags: , , , , ,

Ideas for Tough Times

Nov 10
2008
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Group management took a bit of back seat this month as I headed out to Chicago with other NAPL staff to attend GraphExpo. It was a great show, and as you are preparing 2009 budgets, try to put in dollars to attend the 2009 Print Show at McCormick in Chicago.  As great as GraphExpo was, and it was, Print is bigger and better and only comes around every four years.

It was at GraphExpo that our Group hit the 100 member mark.  I'm planning a new feature in celebration, but meanwhile LInkedIn  has created some new features including an ability to upload articles for sharing among the group. If you come across an interesting article, please feel free to post it and please engage with other members who have started a discussion topic.

Of course, it's nearing year-end and everyone is deep into budgeting for 2009. Since the news isn't all that rosey, most are anticipating cut-backs, but don't go into your planning assuming doom and gloom.  At GraphExpo, our chief economist Andy Paparozzi addressed the NAPL Board to give his take on the economic fronts ahead. Here's the bad news: the recession will be longer and stronger due to lots of bad decisions in the financial sectors.  Here's the good news: it won't be a depression and those who plan will come out of it stronger.

Andy presented a powerful graph that has now been shared with NAPL select tier members. It shows that industry leaders went into the last recession ahead of their peers, but more importantly came out of 2003 positioned for growth that left their peers in the dust.  From 2000-2008, industry leaders grew by 71.6% while the rest of the industry only grew by 8.2%.  The difference was in the planning and proactive strategizing that leader companies did during the last recession.  The lesson is to not hide during this storm.  Digging in won't help you dig out.  Instead, face the storm head on, take careful not stupid risks, wear a rain coat, and slosh threw it.

The bad weather analogies are mine, not Andy's. But, if you want to stay up with his teams prognostications go to www.NAPLBizTrends.org.

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Economics, Planning | Tags: , , , ,

Recession proofs

Sep 24
2008
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A Hearty Hello
First: Welcome to our newest members. The group has been growing consistently, and most recent members did not receive my welcome letter. It’s just been too busy. The group is now at 3/4 of a 100 so again, congratulations to everyone for being part of our first 100 pioneer group.

And, we’ve been declining folks as well. We’ve received lots of requests to join from outside consulting groups, media and others who we felt had the potential to be more predatory than participatory. I’m open to suggestions of who you feel should and should not be in the group.

If you’re new, I promised everyone an occasional newsletter, so here’s the latest edition.

Is it Hurricane Season?
This has been a week of amazing financial news. The impact will be felt in the coming months. It feels a bit like living in hurricane territory, and some companies are starting to board up the windows in anticipation of the impending storm. But NAPL’s economists suggest a different approach.

First, I have to praise the NAPL Economics Staff. I had the opportunity to hear Andy Paparozzi, Chief Economist, at NAPL’s Top Management Conference in March — six months ago. At that time, Andy said it was a recession. He noted that the federal government wasn’t ready to admit it, but all the classic signs of a recession were already evident. What would six months of advance knowledge do for you in your business?

Just this week, we put out a free pdf to the industry entitled “Choosing Not to Participate in the Recession.” It’s a bold idea, put forth by the same economics team that was also bold enough to call it a recession before anyone else. Here’s the premise — even in bad times, some companies grow. Companies grew during the Great Depression and some companies will grow through this recession. The question is how to make sure that you’re one of them. Within a few days, 700 companies had requested the report.

Here’s my tip: Take advantage of every bit of business intelligence you can get your hands on. That includes asking for this free report. To get it, all you have to do is register at www.napl.org/requestform. That’s it. Within less than a day, it will be in your inbox.

If you have other information to share that you think would benefit this group, please feel free to share news of it in comments on this site. Great groups and associations are built on shared knowledge. I hope you’ll choose to actively participate.

~ Rhona Bronson
rbronson@napl.org

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Economics | Tags: