Author Archive for Dr. Burt Smith
By Dr. Burt Smith November 3rd, 2008
Jim Cramer recently had an insightful interview with the CEO of Panera Bread.
Click here for the video.
Great lessons here that we’ve talked about in previous blogs:
Don’t cut the price, build the brand!
Give yourself a raise by improving operations!
Plus a fine example of how a well run organization can actually prosper in a downturn! Because Panera Bread is in a good cash position, they’ll be in a better spot to acquire the locations they want at good prices and grow at a deliberate pace. They’ll have an eager labor pool to draw from, too, so they can add the best quality team members to take care of their customers as they expand.
Nobody likes a downturn, but they are going to happen, they’re beyond our control, so our best action is to have strategies available in advance that let us capitalize on them.
By Dr. Burt Smith October 26th, 2008
Let’s hope not!
Actually, there is a lesson here for us, though, and it deals with environmental forces.
The best laid strategies and the highest hopes can often be dashed by a change in one or more of the forces that constantly impact what we plan to do as strategic planners. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, but instead in a very dynamic environment. What makes the environment dynamic is the Different authors label them differently, but my favorite has always been the acronym, PEST.
Political/Legal Forces
Economic Forces
Sociographic Forces
Technological forces.
These are largely beyond our control, but they are exactly what we need to constantly monitor and plan around.
By Dr. Burt Smith October 23rd, 2008
One of my good friends and favorite bloggers, Chris Wilson, is on the verge of making history! Chris has done some remarkable work in the areas of advertising and branding, both on the creative/design and overall strategy sides, and he has collaborated with some of the best and brightest marketing minds in the world.
He believes such collaboration will be the norm in the future, and he’s built a site to help facilitate such interaction. You can check it out at
http://www.rapidchangeindesign.com
I encourage you to let Chris know what you think and get involved if you like. You wouldn’t want to miss the revolution!
Design is the #1 determinant of whether a product-service-experience stands out - or does not. - Tom Peters, Re-Imagine
By Dr. Burt Smith October 19th, 2008
How did Monty Python’s Flying Circus get its name?
According to a documentary I saw some time ago, and partially confirmed by Wikipedia, the ground-breaking comedy team was sitting around a table just before putting the final touches on their show. One of the cast members threw out the name, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, that made them all laugh, and history was made.
As much as I love, value, and advocate research, I’m also a huge fan of going with your instincts! Sometimes when you have an idea that works, you just know it! You just feel it! And when you feel it strongly enough, your customers will feel it too, and maybe you’ll end up making history!
And in case you’d like to argue… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMlv3ripSM
By Dr. Burt Smith October 12th, 2008
60 Minutes had a good segment on what’s happening in the financial markets. Frankly, one of the things I appreciate about this piece is how Steve Kroft doesn’t reign in his angry dismay as he delivers the story. You can click here for their October 6th, 2008 broadcast and see for yourself.
I sure don’t understand what’s going on or know what’s going to happen, and it seems like none of the experts interviewed on this video or on CNBC, or anywhere else know either! What I am reminded of is a quote one of my old real estate instructors used to say: “Every generation has to make its own mistakes!” The majority of people don’t seem to learn from history and are thus doomed to repeat it. This one may turn out to be so big that it can’t be repeated!
Every indicator is that it’s gonna be a rough one, and it could be that way for some time. That is NOT to say, though, that well-run organizations can’t survive or even gain significant ground in the coming months and years. If yours is an organization that has practiced healthy growth rather than hyper-growth like we discuss in ECHO Marketing, there may in fact be some opportunities on the horizon for you.
By Dr. Burt Smith October 6th, 2008
If we had to pick a category and “label” this campaign, indeed, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support the conclusion that the Ford Edsel was a failure. But I am not that crazy about putting things into boxes or assigning definite labels. I think there’s more profit to be derived from looking at everything as a learning opportunity.
The Edsel was a bust from the start as far as how the public turned up its nose at it, so yes, from a marketing standpoint it was a complete and utter flop. The customer IS the answer, and if the customer says “No,” then you can’t get much more straightforward than that.
On the other hand, the Edsel featured several innovations in terms of driver safety, which would be used to improve the designs of later models. From that standpoint, Ford was able to derive significant value from the investment in the Edsel and reinvest that value in future offerings for the marketplace.
Marketers call this “relative product failure.” Relative to the original goal of starting a profitable new product line, it fell short. However, It was not an absolute failure because the investment in its development paid dividends later on for the company. It’s not a bad idea for us to constantly inventory all of our “failures” and see how we can, in, fact, cash in on them. My bet is that you and I could swap quite a few stories about things that we’ve been through either in business or in our personal lives that at first seemed like disasters, and in retrospect became things that we’re grateful for today because they’ve paid off in the long run. And we’re all in it for the long run!
Success is a journey, not a
destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. –
Arthur Ashe
By Dr. Burt Smith September 27th, 2008
S
everal years ago, Cessna decided they wanted to enter the lear jet market. They had a good solid brand in the single-engine, light aircraft category, and just knew they could leverage their core competencies into success in this premium market segment. But they had concerns that the market might not agree. They feared that even though customers had confidence in their single-engine products, they might have a tough time justifying a higher price for this kind of product and might see it as just a small propeller-driven plane inside a lear jet shell.
So what they did was develop a new product with a new story. The Citation was born! They came up with a campaign that addressed every benefit sought by their target market. They answered the possible objection of the unknown, new brand name by having the fact that the Citation was a division of the established Cessna corporation as part of the signature of the messages about the product. The Cessna logo was at first presented only discreetly but has become much more prominent in recent years as the Citation brand has established itself. In fact, the Citation has become a real flagship brand for Cessna.
Sometimes when we want to enter a new market, we will find ourselves answering way too many “yeah, but’s” if we’re trying to convince or change the attitude of the market. This can lengthen an already very long and expensive process. Often, we’re better off developing a new story to tell the market in the form of a new brand.
By Dr. Burt Smith September 21st, 2008
This is worth a look! MSN ran an article recently of products readers said they’d like to see resurrected. See for yourself!
Just fun and games, mostly, but there may also be a couple of marketing/business/strategy-type lessons here that may ignite a creativity fire for you. Or at least be some good water-cooler trivia.
By Dr. Burt Smith September 3rd, 2008
A colleague of mine relayed a story of a luncheon she was attending a while back. She and her group wound up seated at a table near the kitchen door, which usually wouldn’t have been significant, except that the door had a horrible squeak to it. Actually, she said it squeaked when it was opened, and squealed when it was closed. Someone at the table commented how distracting that was going to be once the meeting started!
To the great credit of the hosting facility, without having to be asked by an audience member, they immediately dispatched a staff member with a can of WD-40 to lubricate the hinges. No more squeak, no more squeal. Problem solved, and a table full of customers wound up being more than a little impressed with the prompt handling of the whole episode.
No wonder there’s a WD-40 fan club!
Things can, and do, go wrong in the process of serving our customers. Whether the problem is large or small, exactly how, and how promptly, we solve the problem, can make all the difference in customer satisfaction. In fact, what looks like a problem may be a great brand-building opportunity!
By Dr. Burt Smith August 27th, 2008
By letting someone else do the heavy lifting!
One of the things I admire about the Rolling Stones is how they have managed to keep on rockin’ after all these years! They’re a worthy study for that reason and for how they have managed to maintain a brand over 4 decades. A strategy they employ is to delegate all the promotional activities to the promoters. The promoters get a whopping 60% of the gross in some cases. This at first probably sounds HUGE, and it is, but it’s actually of great benefit to the Stones because essentially, all they have to do is show up. The promoter works hard because his or her success is tied directly to the success of the show.
As Mick Jagger might ask, “How cool is that, baby?”
As I discuss in my book, these kinds of relationships can be a little tricky, so you have to be careful, but the benefits far outweigh the downsides in most cases. I encourage you to give serious thought to not only how can you get business from your network, but how to turn those in your network into brand evangelists for you.
EMI Research Solutions, LLC.