Not a one sided deal

The best way to write a marketing plan is to remember that you aren't explaining what will happen to someone else, but rather you are working out the details for yourself. A marketing plan isn't simply a form you fill out. Or a well sounding document that took a day to write. A marketing plan should stretch you brain. Make you think of all possibilities, from all angles, practically. Is it possible that everything you write down becomes a reality within 5 years? It should be. It's not just an unrealistic dream, it's a dream with the letters in bold how we will get there.

Think about each aspect of what you write down in practical terms, picture it happening, how will you get hold of the assets and equipment you need to make your dream come alive? If new buildings are going to be built, is that realistic, or just a dream? The temptation is to get carried away. By all means dream, write down big aspirations. But then make sure your intentions are to actually do what you say. That is why writing a marketing plan isn't a one man job, because the goals and dreams written down aren't going to be achieved by one man. You have to know that the people essential in achieving these goals are ready to tighten their belts and commit to getting there. One man can't tell an organization of people what they are going to do for the next five years if they have absolutely no aspirations of wanting to get there.

Writing a marketing plan without any buy-in is like driving past a beggar on the side of the road, giving him a peace of paper asking him to write down your life aspirations, before driving off. I can guarantee that his list and your path will never meet. He'll say you became an artist that retired on some tropical island in a hut, you'll become an accountant in the city, your not a creative person. This brings up the most important reason why this approach is flawed, his aspiration list will not be based on any knowledge of you, but rather on random thoughts, and so it is with a marketing plan. Your plan will say that new buildings must be built to cater for the new aggressive marketing of 5 million consumers, behind the scenes, the accountants will be preparing for a financial crisis.

Just a wash?

I’ve been fending off these feelings for years. No, my hair is not too short, too long, boring, or messy. And I’ve managed it. After years of tenderly providing loving care with lots and lots of conditioner and hair mask I feel ok about my hair.

After reaching this high point, I’ve actually realized that I use a product that uses the words: "For dull and lifeless hair" (in bold). So, by using this particular product, am I admitting that I have “dull and lifeless hair”? Does my face cream say for wrinkly faces? I better go check.

What are marketers trying to do with these statements? Well, is there a person, in the history of human kind that has ever been happy with their hair? If the bottle said:” For absolutely fabulous hair that cannot be improved on but simply needs a wash”, would people buy it? I think not. Think about it, is there a normal shampoo that just simply washes hair, no, they are the uncompromising cure for really bad hair. Give your hair body, a curl, moisturize dehydrated hair, treat colored hair, get rid of dandruff and split ends and then straighten it, that’s what you do with shampoo silly, you don’t just wash it!

They sell to our weak spots, our feelings about ourselves. If we all felt fine, we wouldn’t be wasting money on trying to get there. Believe it, we pay money for big companies to dis us.

Mirrow view

I learnt something about myself last night. In fact, I saw myself in someone else, and then learned. We were due to do our presentations and while nervously gazing at the spectators, a particular lady interested me. She had the usual intellectual look in her face and nodded with deep understanding at our every word as I spoke. I was only too happy to feel understood, that is, until question time. The criticism came, from this once so understanding candidate, and yes, we answered all questions with relative skill, but I felt attacked. I felt like our presentation had been pulled apart and that any meaning was lost.

Next to present, was this particularly intellectual lady. She had authority when she spoke, but I read it as pride. I immediately took out my check board to take note of the fundamental flaws in her presentation. And then it dawned on me, I was attacking her because I felt attacked. I smirked, only because I was insecure of the soundness of my presentation. I had in fact, stopped learning. My ears didn’t want to make any sense of what she was saying because that would surely mean that I was wrong.

The key to being good in business, is acting contrary to what is natural. To build people up, to compliment people, and yes, take a few punches if you are wrong. To move our pride out the way, and to be passionate about great business. You learn when you are willing to listen. You learn from your mistakes only if you recognize them as such.

Marketing is a team effort. Your ideas may be good, but they could be great when you allow others to fine tune it. Who knows, they may ask for your input the next time they are willing to be vulnerable.

I left the presentations having learnt something and very happy at the new discovery I made about myself, I want to change.

I'm not a hippo!

What is it with brands wanting to be everything they are not? Don't people realise that it costs a lot more money to convince customers that you are something you are not, instead of just selling what you have? Sure, glamorize things a bit but stay with your product offering.

The arise in health concern has perhaps lead to the biggest trend of ..... blatant lying. No, no matter how much they repeat it, take aways are not healthy. Yes, i know you really want to believe it so that you can make a change towards eating healthy, without making a change, but use some common sense.

In industry, take food for example, people think: "Food, hmmm whats important in food? Ah, yes, health, right, lets sell the fact that our food is healthy." Never mind the fact that they are selling fried pork fat. (hehe, the funny thing is that its supposed to be "fat free"). Time and time again I've seen people look at what the customer wants to hear without even looking at their product.
90% percent of the pork fat company's budget is going to go into convincing consumers that its not fattening. common!

Surely our sales appeals should be based on actual attributes of the product? That way, you can also win customers with half a brain cell instead of relying on only the gullible. Are these the types of innovators you want to attract for your product?