The Times and other outlets have been running a spate of stories about executive pay. CEOs who walked away with $100,000 a day paychecks, CEOs making millions of dollars at companies in trouble, CEOs with jets and houses and limos… It’s like being a king, instead of having a job.
Marketing used to be like that (and for a few lucky brands, it still is). The folks at the Apple iTunes store are like kings, deigning to receive a long line of supplicants who want to do business with them. I would imagine that the producers at Oprah feel the same way… People in the lobby, their backs bowed from carrying a sack from a land far away, traveling miles by donkey…
Kings receive payments all out of proportion to their incremental contributions. Mass markets pay their leaders handsomely. So marketers often set out to be kings, and often act that way from the start.
The thing is, if you market like a king, you’re no longer likely to see results. Kings like to bark orders, wear crowns, eat at banquets and behead their critics.
The thing is, marketers are now peasants.
If you market like a peasant, always a supplicant, always aware of your low station in life, you’re more likely to earn attention. Yes, you need the confidence and perhaps the bearing of a king. But the best marketers today appear to be those that accept the fact that they have no birthright, they weren’t awarded the right to attention. And, who knows, over time, they might earn their way up the ladder–to king.
April 17, 2006
Performance statistics as measured by the department of transportation. (DOT):
America’s Most On-Time Airline 27 Consecutive Months Running
America’s Fewest Cancellations in 2005
America’s Best Baggage Handling in 2005
America’s Third Fewest Oversales in 2005
Other remarkable facts
Free, hot and delicious food in coach on all trans-pacific flights. They even give you the whole can of soda.
Over 76 years of continuous operation without a fatal accident.
Some of the highest paid (and friendliest) in the industry
At least one more flight attendant per flight than some competitors
Average fleet age is about 5 years old, one of the youngest fleets in the nation.
Fares are usually the lowest in the market or at least a very close second.
And last but not least!… One of only three airlines in the nation to actually make a profit last year.
So how come we don’t talk about this airline the way we do about the other two profitable ones?
I have two and a half theories. The half theory is that Hawaii is really far away from most of us. Also:
You’re on vacation when you fly Hawaii Airlines, so your expectations are greater.
A lot of people who fly with them rarely do it again, because Hawaii is a rare trip, so it’s harder to incubate the word of mouth.
I hope they start flying NY to Orlando! With free leis and everything.
April 15, 2006
Blogs that toot their own horns can get a little tiresome. But this article in American Way was so flattering (and you might be flying on the wrong airline this week) that I thought you’d want a pointer. Sorry. Thanks. Whatever.
Ford’s North American marketing chief, Cisco Codina, quoted in today’s Times, "There will always be early adapters…"
Actually, Cisco, the folks you mean to be talking about are "early adopters." And the distinction is critical and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what’s happening. An adapter is someone who is able to deal with changing conditions. This sort of person isn’t ruffled by a new policy or an environmental change. Let’s hope that penguins are good adapters.
Adopters, on the other hand, seek out change, want the new stuff. They like it. Big companies with power are used to a person adapting when they exercise their will. Small, nimble companies look for adopters.
On to BMW. Helmut Panke, CEO of BMW, said this week, "We should not try to educate or teach the customer about what he or she wants." Oh.
That was the phrase that got my attention.
I was talking to an exec at a 1999 new media company… one of those anchor tenants on the web, a big content website. She said something that, in retrospect was obvious, but so shocking it made me sit up straight.
"Google doesn’t help us at all. It would be great if they went away."
It’s so easy to count on search, depend on search and assume for search that most people don’t realize how the dynamic has changed. If you’ve got a portal or a big store of content, Google is, probably, not built into your DNA.
If there’s no search engine and you need a recipe or a pot, you visit cooking.com and they find you the best match on their site. And it goes beyond web companies. If there’s no search engine and you need to buy coffee, you go to Starbucks.com, right? Leaders in every field had no reason to invent for search… it’s not good for them.
In fact, most market leaders still have web sites, not web pages. A website is a place, a sticky collection/connection of web pages with a search field. A website is a place you want people to "check back often and see what’s new" and where people are either in or out.
I’ve gotten a bunch of invitations to feature my RSS feed on other people’s sites lately. At first, it feels a little weird… my content on your site. But then, once I get past issues re endorsement etc., it makes perfect sense. Because search and RSS have exploded the web. (Tip to David Weinberger, twice in one day).
It’s no longer an organic web filled with organisms or even a molecular one. It’s atomic. Each page on its own, each RSS drip its own entity.
The punchline is that you can wish all you want, it’s not going to make search go away.
Wishing is not much of a business strategy, and the realists among us will probably focus on three things:
- turn your website inside out as fast as you can. That means RSS everywhere–in and out. And it means encouraging your readers to flip the funnel.
- continue integrating your pages into your site, but prepared to do a better job of integrating your pages into the web.
- remember that every single page is now a landing page. "First time here?" is going to be answered yes more often than not in an atomic world.
What hasn’t changed is an imperative to get active, explicit permission from one-time visitors to have an ongoing dialogue. A dialogue that is anticipated, personal and relevant, and that leads to turning those strangers into friends… so that one day, they become customers.
April 14, 2006
John Dodds has been sending me interesting emails forever. Now he’s got a blog, here’s a post: Make Marketing History: Who needs storecards?. John points out to me that eye tracking is nothing new and that Jacob Nielsen and others have been talking about it for a while. Duly noted. My post below was more of a poke for those that have missed out than an aha!
Paco Underhill, who is the world’s greatest expert on shopping, made millions for Macy’s and other stores by videotaping how people shop. Reviewing the tapes, he discovered, for example, that women will stop shopping for ties if the racks are too close to the aisle and people bump into them. Moving the racks made sales skyrocket.
Now, Etre is doing the same thing with websites. Watch the video here: Eye Tracking – Etre.
April 13, 2006
Even if Springwise hadn’t volunteered to run Big Moo ads as a public service, I’d be telling you about how many neat ideas are sprinkled around this site. Almost too good to share: Springwise: Fresh, fast, food.
Two things marketers do:
1. Do the work necessary to be sure that your perception of the world is similar to the world as it is.
2. Create the stories (and the experiences to back them up) that change the world as it is.
Most marketers fail at #1. By focusing on what they want, or by having a selfish view of things, they miss the reality of what the world believes.
And that can cause us to miss #2. Your story has to be grounded in the worldview of your intended audience.
April 12, 2006
Here’s one from: How To Be A Successful Evil Overlord.
I will not fly into a rage and kill a messenger who brings me bad news just to illustrate how evil I really am. Good messengers are hard to come by.
April 11, 2006
