Marketing with heart

So many times we are so caught up in the uses and benefits of a product and fail to discover how our product reaches the heart of the customer. Does it save them time? Make their lives better? Does it improve their relationships with their customers, vendors and co-workers? Does it reach their heart?

There have been many great books lately explaining this heartfelt perspective. Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" teaches us the importance of being "remarkable." Joe Calloway demonstrated the importance of "Becoming a Category of One" by knowing your customer better than anyone else and by reaching them emotionally. Kevin Roberts' "Love Marks" gets a little mushier by using "love."

Marketing without heart is just another slick sales pitch.

Just pushing paper is not a way to a customers heart. If we dig deeper we can help our customers make their printing more relevant with document management systems, with a focus on consulting we can show them how they can save time and money, and with a true partnership of sharing and communicating we can demonstrate the action behind our heart.

Art is Survival, Part Two

[READ PART ONE HERE]

Today's business world demands us to think more artistically. In the business world, art is called “innovation.” In Part One, I described how people like Carlos Santana innovated by learning to mix musical styles and eras in a way far outside of his mental "box." Business is no different, requiring us to intertwine disciplines such as marketing, art, sociology, psychology and theatrics.

I think much of this new artistic zeal is for noble reasons, but I get the sense that much of it has to do with survival. I’ve noticed the people trying to get us out of boxes always follow up with some sort of scary consequence for inaction. Bankruptcy. Extinction. Layoffs. No raises. Divorce. Career suicide. Printing is going away. I guess that’s part of what motivated Santana.

Innovation /definition/
The art of inventing something new or merging ideas in a new way.

In the business world innovation has become a science. Companies that don’t innovate often don’t survive. Conversely, companies that innovate too fast don’t survive either— a sort of creative paradox. Business writers like Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, and Ken Roberts fascinate me with their observations of how creativity, business, and psychology merge. Social thinkers like Peter Senge, Ken Wilber, and Clayton Christensen explore cultural trends and how innovative learning can lead to personal and business success.

I’m fascinated by the marketplace's artistic explosion. Businessmen, poets, scientists, marketers, researchers, artists, architects, and other disciplines mixing experience and perspective to create dynamic new partnerships and products. We must do the same in our efforts to market and sell to our customers.

to be continued...

[PART THREE : Imagination vs Knowledge]

I.T. and the Reprographer

Monday we discussed the new IBM Power Chip 6 being released next month. I think recognizing the power of new technology is vital in our strategic planning. Here are some observations I've had in my travels. NONE of these are personal criticism's but merely an illustration on how fast innovation has changed our businesses (and lives).

1. Most reprographic executives know little about information technology. (I.T.)
2. We assume our I.T. personnel are up to speed and on the latest technology.
3. We assume we have the same time to adapt to technology as before.
4. We fail to see the future of technology and aim too near in the future.

As John Cronin states in his blog Planning Horizon, research proves change is not slowing its accelerating. The time when we could know everything about our business is over. We must make peace with that fact and lead accordingly.

The time when we could know everything about our business is over.

Technology forces us to find the right people we can TRUST (solves 1 above), keep them trained (2), recognize and accept the reality of a new information world (3), lead our people and ourselves toward becoming students of trends (3), and plan deeper into the future than we did before. (4)

Power6 microprocessor

[WARNING: I.T. TESTOSTERONE ALERT]

IBM finally came through with the much anticipated Power6 microprocessor that goes on sale next month. With twice the speed of previous processors, the chip processes at 4.7 gigahertz— or 25 million times faster than a hummingbirds wings.

At a bandwidth of 300 gigabytes per second, IBM says the chip can download the complete iTunes music catalog (5 million songs) in around one minute. That's smokin'! (I can download my Kelly Clarkson and Celion Dion songs much faster.)

Why is this important to Reprographers? I reflect on a quote by Wayne Gretzky that John Cronin has beat into my head. When asked what the secret of his success Gretzky said, "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

I think often we are aiming too near in the future on our I.T. infrastructure and strategic planning. Because our customers are generally behind technologically we have been granted mercy with the technology gods, but I believe a "tipping point" is coming. As older construction executives retire in the next few years a generation technologically-thinking men and women are waiting to unleash advanced business technology and theory into their companies. For the last few years, many of these technically-progressives have been frustrated by the lack of urgency of their older bosses and can't wait to push through technological initiatives. We must be ready as these companies tip.

Trust and Technology

The most difficult aspect of leadership today is leading technical employees in a world which you know little of their expertise. This puts a premium on finding people you can trust to provide accurate and relevant information needed to make vital organizational decisions.

Becoming a Category of One

In the world of Reprospeak these days, "branding" is a hot topic. Almost every conference I attend now has a session on how to rebrand your reprographic company. Ultimately, the push is to help reprographers reach more technical revenue streams. New name. New log. New attitude.

Becoming a Category of One is a book beyond the why's of rebranding and speaks to the how's. Calloway hits three sweet spots on the path toward customer loyalty.

1. Know more about the customer than anyone else does.
2. Get closer to the customer than anyone else.
3. Emotionally connect with the customer better than your competition.

I liked Calloway's passion in describing the power of being the "only one" in the marketplace that provides a service or product. By standing out in a category of "ONE," you create your own market where there is no competition. I think the business principles can easily be applied to each of us personally as well.

Calloway also stresses on the power of "doing the right thing" to accomplish social profit in the community each of us serve. Special thanks to Chuck Gremillion of A & E : The Graphics Complex in Houston for recommending this book and living out many of it's principles through his leadership and visible results.

A Universe of Stories

The universe is made of stories, not atoms.
— Muriel Rukeyser

Power of Giving

“When we refrain from giving, with a scarcity mentality, the little we have will become less. When we give generously, with an abundance mentally, what we give away will multiply.”
— Henri Nouwen

Dead Bodies and the Peaceful City

***** REBLOG FROM FEBRURARY 26 2007 *****

[SCARY WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR SOME BLOGGERS]

Once upon a time a man was reading the latest Repro Report by a river outside of a large peaceful city. As he was reading, he looked across the glistening water and saw a dead body floating downstream. He quickly jumped in the water and pulled the dead body out. As he stacked the body on the side, soon another body floated by.

About that time, a man walked by and asked the him what he was doing. “I’m pulling dead bodies out of the river because if I don’t they will float to the large peaceful city and contaminate the drinking water and make the people sick—and that would be a terrible thing,” the first man said. “I’m an Océ operator at a Repro Shop and have plenty of experience stacking large rolls. I could help you save the city,” the second man said.

As the two men stacked bodies, even more bodies floated down the river. A third man walked by. “What are you guys doing?” he said. The first man said, “Bodies are floating down the river and if they reach the large peaceful city it will contaminate the water and that would be a terrible thing.”“I’m a sales rep at a Repro Shop and can offer you a document management system that you can—” The two men quickly interrupted, “We don’t need a document management system, we need help stacking these bodies.” “Okay,” said the sales rep.

About that time, another man walked by. “What are you guys doing?” he asked. Again the first man repeated, “bodies are floating down the river and if they reach the large peaceful city it will contaminate the water and that would be a terrible thing.” The man said, “We’ll, I’m a driver for a local Repro Shop and I have one question for you.” “What’s that?” said the three men. “Why don’t you go up to the end of the river and find out why some guy is throwing dead bodies in the river.”

MORAL: Sometimes we’re so busy fixing symptoms, we never cure the disease.

CD Sales and the Long Tail, part 2

More reflections on the Breitbart article .

"The imperative is for studios to find as many frictionless transaction paths as possible for digital content," McGuire said. "An important component is embracing discovery tools on social networks."

"This is a tough business being a record label because they have to find new sources of revenue."

MY SPIN: We must have the courage to build momentum in the midst of hard times while the constuction industry transitions into the new marketplace.

CD Sales and the Long Tail

Check out the recent article on Breitbart about music sales and the future. This is a continuing conversation from my previous blog "The Long Tail, iTunes, & Reprographics."

Here are some of the interesting quotes.

Consumers are sending a message to artists that "while you may have put a lot of thought into the sequence of the album, I only like these three songs," said digital music industry analyst Michael McGuire of Gartner Research.

"It comes back to consumers being in complete control of their media experience, and that is not going backwards," Gartner told AFP while discussing the drop in album sales and the rise in single-song track purchases.

MY PREDICTION: Digital Album sales are going to go up as listers broaden the variety of their collections and build an affinity for artists.