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Hello,
Today's
newsletter is about your employees and their contribution to
the firm's marketing success. I hope this offers some food for
thought as you wrap up what I hope has been a successful and
fulfilling year.
Happy holidays, and I'll look forward
to checking in with you again in 2008.
All the
best,
Chris Joy
Principal
Chris Joy
Marketing Communications
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Huddle Up
for Success
I watch too much television. Both my
husband and I suffer a borderline addiction to the Discovery
Channel. His is to the survival shows, Man vs. Wild,
Everest: Beyond the Limit; mine is to the Planet
Earth and the animal and nature programs. You've probably
seen one of the documentaries I can't seem to get enough of
lately- the March of the Penguins, the film, a
cinematic masterpiece narrated by Morgan Freeman, that depicts
the annual journey of the Emporer penguins of
Antarctica.
Here's the scoop. In the fall, all the
penguins of breeding age leave their ocean habitat and trek
inland, something close to 80 miles or so to their ancestral
breeding ground. There, the penguins mate and an egg is born a
few months later. By the time the female lays the egg, she has
not eaten in months, and so soon after the birth, she must
make the long journey back to the sea to find food or
die.
Before she leaves, she carefully transfers the egg
to her male partner, who incubates it in on top of his feet in
the warmth of his skin, as father and soon-to-be-chick head
into the brutal Antarctic winter. Daylight lasts a brief 4
hours a day, and the temperature falls a low as -58 Farenheit.
The female will not return until summer, so the male sits,
without food or shelter or relief, month after treacherous
winter month.
The whole thing is simply fascinating.
But a particularly cool lesson, and one that we humans
perhaps can learn something from, is not just about parental
dedication, but rather a survival tactic the male penguin
exhibits during these months that goes completely against his
natural instinct.
See, the male Emporer penguin
is extremely territorial by nature, and will not approach
another bird, under any circumstance. But when the
temperature drops, the male penguins huddle together to
conserve energy, each for their own survival and for the
sake of their respective young. On the most severe of days,
the huddled mass engages in this sort of dance, where the
birds take turns repositioning themselves from the outside to
the inside, to conserve the maximum amount of energy as a
group. All of this cooperation is completely out of
character for the penguins.
You really have to see
this magnificent film if you haven't yet, but here's the point
I think we can take from our feathered friends.
Even the most maverick of individuals would do well
to recognize that when times are really tough, his survival
depends on the survival of his group.
Do your
employees realize that, when push comes to shove, their
individual success - the advancement of their own careers,
the care and feeding of their own families - is largely
dependent on the success of your company?
If they do
realize this, have you educated them on how, beyond their own
individual job description, to help you succeed? Do they
know, in effect, how to "huddle together in a storm?"
There are probably hundreds of ways an individual
can support the unified success of your company, but I'm just
going to stick to what I know - marketing.
For a lot
of smaller businesses, it is not all that unlikely not to have
a marketing manager, let alone a marketing department. So
admittedly, having a full staff of people who even think about
marketing from week to week is, well, extremely rare.
But the truth is, the success of your company, and
by extension your employees' livelihoods, are dependent upon
your ability to attract future business, which is why everyone
should at least care about the success of your marketing
effort.
When approached at a cocktail party and
asked what your company does, will they describe your mission
in the same way you would? Can they articulate how your firm
is different and in what ways you are better than your
competition? Are they familiar with your target market, and
would they know how to recognize a good prospect if they met
one?
In down times, companies in which everyone
shares in some responsibility for marketing are better able to
weather the storm.
It's no secret that the forecast
for 2008 is a bit on the cold side. If you haven't discussed
your strategy with your employees lately, maybe it's time to
huddle up. |
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Quick Tip
Making Time
We
all have the best of intentions when it comes to following up
with contacts in the industry. But things happen. Your client
calls with an emergency, a last-minute RPF arrives on your
desk, it's Jane's birthday in accounting, and there's cake to
be eaten. I know, it's always something.
Here's the
thing though. As we head into the holidays, there will be slow
days in the office. Use that time to make your calls. You may
not reach everyone on your list, but those you do will likely
be less distracted than usual -- a great time to
chat.
So pick an afternoon or two next week, and
earmark that time for phone calling. I'll bet you connect with
at least one person who you'll end up working with.
As
Woody Allen put it, 80 percent of success in life is just
showing up. There's no time like the present to make the
call!
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Does This Message Pop or Flop?
I'm
not even sure where to start on what I like about this
campaign. It's fresh, it's unexpected, it's emotional -- it's
great.
I think we probably all agree that anyone
who sells something for the kitchen faces a tough job in
standing out. Most kitchen design ads, while beautiful, are
pretty homogenous.
But then cames Clarke. Clarke has
brought it's concept to life in a new way, positioning its
interactive showrooms as "Playgrounds for Grown-ups."
So, dear readers, I'm curious, does this ad campaign
make you want to join me in doing cartwheels across the
kitchen?
What do you think? Does Clarke's message pop
or flop? |
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I've Got (Back) Issues
You can access
the last 3 issues of the Brand Guardian e-Newsletter by
clicking below.
Vol. 1, Issue 9: Live
Free or Die (Trying)
Vol. 1, Issue 8: To
Be a Fly on the Wall
Vol. 1, Issue 7: Getting
to Know You, Getting to Know All About You
Subscribers, click here
to request prior issues:
Vol. 1, Issue 6: Seeing
the World through a Marketer's Prism
Vol. 1, Issue 5: The
Magic of Because
Vol. 1, Issue 4: Sweet Cherry or Burnt
Fudge?
Vol. 1, Issue 3: Dramatic Messages Fly
Farther
Vol. 1, Issue 2: It's All in the Delivery
Vol.
1, Issue 1: We Are the Company We Keep
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