Here’s to another Follow Friday and another shout-out to people worth following online.
Why I follow . . . . James Dickey: I think I found James via a local Dallas Twitter search. His tweets are always pretty informative and resourceful. He’s great at keeping a dialogue going on Twitter, rather than just mass forwarding tons of links. And he’s definitely not afraid to speak his mind (just check out his take on the whole Iran election mess from a few days ago).
Why I follow . . . . Greg Atkinson: Greg and I actually played in the same worship band (i55) for about a year a few years ago. I knew at the time he presented quite a bit on church media and communication, but I had no idea how much of an authority he is on the topic until I started following him on Twitter a few months ago. Our paths don’t really cross professionally, but I always enjoy his Tweets. He seems to really have his hand on the pulse of technology and the church.
Why I listen to . . . . the Digital Marketer: A podcast I listen to regularly is Aliza Sherman’s Digital Marketer on QuickAndDirtyTips.com. What I like about her show is that it’s always quick (less than 10 minutes) and to the point on a single topic. She has some practical ideas on social media and internet marketing.
Rebranding Doesn’t Work
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The idea of branding is to make identification of an idea and position simple and quick. Ranchers would brand their cattle’s backsides so everyone knew who they belonged to. Stop signs have been the same shape and color for, well, forever. The Yankees wear pinstripes, regardless of the latest fashions.
These brands work because they are consistent. They’ve been around long enough to give us a chance to give them meaning way beyond their literal makeup.
A stop sign is more than a red octagon. Just a quick glance at it automatically makes us hit the brakes, take a little caution. It stands for something.
Yankee pinstripes are a lot more than a uniform. It’s Ruth and Dimaggio and Mantle and Mattingly and Jeter.
When you rebrand (whatever that means), you throw away your investment in your brand. You buy just before the brand is going to start making its impression. You change the color of your stop sign. You wear something other than the pinstripes.
And the result is you now have something that means nothing.
Rebranding is almost never the answer. Brand amplification and clarification is normally what companies should be doing.
Beat It
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I’m in Atlanta today, and made a point of having lunch at Ted’s Montana Grill. If you’ve never had one of their Bison burgers, then you still haven’t tasted the true potential of a burger. I love ‘em.
In addition, if you’re lucky, you can sit at the bar right in front of the kitchen. Those guys don’t hold back, and it’s great.
Today, I witnessed true leadership. The guy working the bar for lunch came into the kitchen area (they’re connected) and started complaining about something, dishing out ways things should be done better around there. On and on. The guy I assume was the head chef let him go on for a little while, then finally just looked up and said “Beat it.”
It was as if someone had pushed the mute button. It was dead silent, and the bartender simply turned around and went back to work.
When you can make things happen with just two words, you’re doing something right.
John Sculley on Marketing Data
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“No great marketing decisions have ever been made on qualitative data.”
John Sculley , former President of Pepsi and CEO of Apple, currently part of Scully Bros. LLC.
My take: Somewhere between an extremely educated guess and a gut feeling is where innovation greatness most often occurs. However, those great guesses and gut feelings are nurtured only by knowing your customer inside and out so that you know what it is they actually want and need.
This post is part of the weekly series Marketing Quotes by Marketing Greats, posted every Thursday at MarketingInProgress.com (beginning January 1, 2009). Read every marketing quote by a marketing great entry here.
When Why Trumps What
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A handyman is coming to our house today to seal up our leaky shower. In preparation, he asked that I shower early and wipe down the shower so it’s dry, which will help with the sealing process. This morning, I told my wife to shower in our guest shower because the handyman was coming to work on the shower this morning.
Around 7:30, I heard her turning on the faucet for the shower I’d told her not to use. Frustrated, I asked her what she thought she was doing. She looked at me confused and said “The handyman’s not here yet.”
My wife thought the reason for showering in the guest shower was because the handyman would already be working on the main shower. I hadn’t told her we actually needed to keep the shower dry.
I had told her what to do without telling her why. That was the central issue at hand.
Since we humans aren’t mindless robots, we normally like to know why we’re doing something. I need to know why my muscles need to be sore for them to grow. I need to know why I’m supposed to tithe 10% of my income to the church. I need to know why narrowing my target audience is smarter than widening it.
Granted, there are groups that work just fine only communicating what they want done. The military comes to mind. Its whole system relies on everyone following the chain of command, doing what they are told.
For the rest of us, we usually need a reason. When we know why, then we usually buy in. When you get buy-in from a customer, it makes a huge difference.
What examples and experiences do you have with communicating why and what?
I can’t stand it. You can’t stand it. Everyone hates it.
“No great marketing decisions have ever been made on qualitative data.”
