Manizesto

It’s nice to talk about all the great things one has accomplished during the year and it’s easy to highlight the blunders of others, but I think it’s much more useful and tangible to look at your own marketing mistakes.

Here are the biggest mistakes I made in marketing this year:

* I neglected my best customers. Not completely, of course, but your best customers should truly receive the most pampering, the best support, the best offers and a truly outstanding experience. I didn’t give them that.

* I settled for sub-par technology. There are some amazing marketing tools out there that can make innovation very intuitive and simple to do. They allow you to market to your existing and potential customers in incredible ways. But this year, I plugged along with the same adequate but not robust technology.

* I didn’t emphasize Life Time Value (LTV) enough. I spent a lot of time focusing on acquisition costs and measuring the performance of each marketing channel based on how many dollars it took to get that initial purchase. But how much did that customer bring in after 3 months? One year? Five years? Understanding LTV and how to increase it will help you know how to spend your money more wisely and see where your best customers are coming from (billboards, radio, banner ads, email etc).

* I didn’t have enough fun. You can’t avoid the tactical work of marketing: setting up campaigns, running tests, analyzing results, compiling data and so forth, which is, you know, exhilarating and everything, but does leave me wanting. I had too many days where I went to meetings, executing campaigns and tracked them instead of finding ways to make the work more engaging and fun for me (and for my customers).

I’ll save the endless list of small embarrassments and mistakes for another post (teaser: I emailed a vendor saying “Hell Amy” rather than “Hello Amy”. Luckily she laughed it off).

Before you go jumping into making resolutions for next year, take some time and look at the biggest mistakes you made. Your goals should probably address those first.

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In marketing, we’re all hunting for something. But it’s interesting to me how some people put so much time and effort into things that often yield so little.

Millions have been spent looking for Sasquatch, but we still have no solid evidence he exists.

Many more millions have gone to looking for extra-terrestrials, with still nothing to show for it.

The Discovery Channel is running a show called Storm Chasers about people trying to capture tornadoes on tape and collect data about the storms. I’ve watch the show several times, and they’ve yet to get what they’re looking for.

Millions of acres have been mined in search of gold, but in thousands of years, man has only found enough to build 1/3 of the Washington Monument (Platinum is actually much more rare).

It seems like such a waste, but even though the efforts often fail and there’s always disappointment, the payouts (you hit a vein of gold or you find a promising footprint) are enough to keep you moving forward.

Two things you can take from this.

First, the hardcore hunters are much fewer than the number of Softcores. Softcores are people with a casual interest who like to watch shows about tornado chasing but who would never drive straight into an F5 storm. They’re people who shop for headphones, not Skull Candy Hesh headphones with 50 MM speakers, OFC cables and 32 OMS in Black and White Camo. If you want your organization to be revolutionary and big, target the more significant group, then lead them to appreciate the narrowness of your product.

Second, if you’re putting in a lot of effort for very little in return, take a step back. Maybe the payouts are too far and few between to warrant the work you put in. Consider marketing your business in a different, more dependable way, or market yourself to a different group. Better yet, consider going after that innovative marketing tactic that might help you discover something better than gold.

[Photo by kurtz]

A few hints:
She was an orphan.
She was black.
She was a self-made millionaire.
She’s not Oprah.

Born on a plantation to former slaves, this remarkable woman from Louisiana became an orphan at seven and a widow at 22 years old with a 2 year old baby under her arm. And despite living in a very racist and very sexist United States, she started a business and became the country’s first female millionaire ever, of any race.

“There is no royal, flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it for if I have accomplished anything in life, it is because I have been willing to work hard,” she said.

Any guesses who it is?

Madam C.J. Walker. She started a cosmetics business targeting African American women which quickly became one of the fastest growing companies at the time.

“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations…I have built my own factory on my own ground.”

Now, do you have the same tenacity, the same grit, the same audacity and the same sticktoitiveness to succeed despite what the outside world says you can do? Or do you find yourself blaming a slow economy, lack of resources or a demand for more conservative marketing efforts for your lack of innovation and success?

Don’t play the victim card. Your results are your own. Find a way to make it happen.

[Photo by Janneke Hikspoors.]

It’s going to be a tough year for many businesses next year. Sales will be down, clients will leave and budgets will come under scrutiny. Which begs the question: Is innovative marketing going to die next year?

That depends on what type of marketer you are. The Scrutinizers will cut marketing budgets. The Dreamers will keep dreaming. The Worry Warts will do the same old thing and develop ulcers. But what about the Innovators? How can you innovate with resources under perusal and people less willing to take risks?

First, let’s define innovation. It’s not risk taking. It’s not unmeasurable. It’s not audacious. It can be all these things, but doesn’t need to be. Innovation is doing something new or doing something old in a new way. If you’re not innovating, you should be fired.

Innovative marketing will not die next year. In fact, the innovation field is ready to harvest next year. All you need are the skills to harvest it and to be better at it than others.

I plan to innovate next year by:

1. Always asking “Why?” When we develop systems and processes that work, we tend to never step back and question if they’re the best way to do things. This year, I’m on a quest to find better ways to message people, better ways to fulfill on promises and better way to improve customer relationships.

2. Always asking “What if?” Development resources, budget constraints, time and headcount are all limitations we’ve used to box ourselves in and restrain our thinking. Don’t do it. Dreaming is one of the best ways to come up with better, more innovative ways of doing things. In 2009, I’m going to make time to ask “What if?” often.

3. Always asking “Why not?” It’s a healthy question. When (not “if”) you get told “We can’t do that”, ask “Why not?” Ask it regularly, then let your mind explore ways you can still make things happen that would normally get shot down.

I guess what I’m saying is look for ways to challenge the status quo and innovation will follow.

[Photo by Sarah1rene]