COMMITING TO MARKET EXCELLENCE

The New Year is less than one month away. How quickly 2009 year has gone bye. Many of us will be making resolutions for 2010. Undoubtedly, if we do, our resolutions will include what we hope to achieve in our work life. Afterall, we are all marketing professionals. One of the resolutions we hope you will make is to commit to achieving marketing excellence for yourself and your organization.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for December 6, 2009 can be found here:

COMMITING TO MARKETING EXCELLENCE

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COMMITING TO MARKETING EXCELLENCE

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CommittingToMktExcellence.pdf (PDF File)

THE BIGGEST EXCUSE IN MARKETING: "MY BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT."

Making the transition from a product to a brand is a challenge for many brand-builders. It's a challenge sometimes because their companies say they want brands (for added shareholder value) but don't always support their marketers in actually developing brands. But it's also a challenge because some marketers - especially those in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries - get into a bad habit of making excuses for things they cannot do because "their category is different." This week we take a harder look at this notion of "my category is different" - a notion we don't buy.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for November 29, 2009 can be found here:

THE BIGGEST EXCUSE IN MARKETING:

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THE BIGGEST EXCUSE IN MARKETING:

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TheBiggestExcuseInMarketing.pdf (PDF File)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The DISPATCHES^TM for November 22, 2009 can be found here:

Happy Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving

It is also available in PDF here:

Thanksgiving2009.pdf (PDF File)

ARE YOU TURNING OFF YOUR CUSTOMERS? IT'S THE EXPERIENCE STUPID.

We've written a few DISPATCHES articles dealing with the importance of the customer's experience with your products and services. We dramatized these articles by exhorting "it's the experience stupid." No, let us reassure you in this article that we are not calling you stupid. Instead, this is drawing, for dramatic effect, from the Bill Clinton versus senior George Bush 1992 presidential campaign where the economy was the critical and deciding issue. Today, people still will confirm the rather obvious learning, "It's the economy stupid."

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The DISPATCHES^TM for November 15, 2009 can be found here:

ARE YOU TURNING OFF YOUR CUSTOMERS? IT\'S THE EXPERIENCE STUPID

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ARE YOU TURNING OFF YOUR CUSTOMERS? IT\'S THE EXPERIENCE STUPID

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AreYouTurningOffCustomers.pdf (PDF File)

WHY STRATEGIC TARGETING IS SO HARD

We have been writing a great deal lately about targeting for a brand's positioning because doing it well is so challenging ? and so important. The positioning target sets up the entire positioning, after all. And one of the themes we have been pushing is that it's time to think about the target as not merely the set-up of the positioning, but also as a prime opportunity to differentiate the brand from competition - as in identifying and selecting a strategic target segment (or may be two) that competitive brands have not identified and could not satisfy as well even if they did. This week we reprise this theme and share some of the principal reasons why strategic targeting is so hard to do.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for November 8, 2009 can be found here:

WHY STRATEGIC TARGETING IS SO HARD

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WHY STRATEGIC TARGETING IS SO HARD

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WhyStrategicTargetingIsSoHard.pdf (PDF File)

GIVE YOUR PROMISE A REASON-WHY TO SUCCEED

This week we are re-publishing an oldie for your reading enjoyment. This was first published in 2006 and still holds true.

The reason-why is a critically important strategic element of both the brand's positioning and communication strategies. It's also important to ensuring compelling communications. Too often marketers confuse "reason-why" with the rationale ...

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The DISPATCHES^TM for November 1, 2009 can be found here:

GIVE YOUR PROMISE A REASON-WHY TO SUCCEED

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GIVE YOUR PROMISE A REASON-WHY TO SUCCEED

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GiveYour PromiseRev.pdf (PDF File)

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BEST PRACTICES FOR MARKETING TRAINING

Business managers today face a conundrum. As one manager put it "a Gordian knot" ? a problem for which it is difficult to find a solution. The problem is that marketing managers are expected to grow sales, market share and profits and yet at the same time resources for marketing support are being slashed. This is truly our conundrum.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for October 25, 2009 can be found here:

BEST PRACTICES FOR MARKETING TRAINING

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BEST PRACTICES FOR MARKETING TRAINING

It is also available in PDF here:

BestPracticesForMktTraining.pdf (PDF File)

MULTIPLE MESSAGING IS NOT POSITIONING (LET US BE HONEST)

We are privileged to have worked in many, many pharmaceutical drug classes. Even more, we are fortunate to have been involved in teaching pharmaceutical marketers how to better build their brands - sometimes within their company's "Marketing Excellence" curriculum. There are many fundamentals that drug-brand marketers can learn and adapt from fast-moving consumer goods marketers. One of them is that Positioning ≠ Advertising (or "Messaging" as many pharma folks call their communication efforts). This week we take a harder look at the challenge of building differentiated, leadership brands within pharmaceuticals. And, as part of that, the necessity of being totally honest about those efforts that implement a brand positioning and those that run counter to implementing a brand positioning.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for October 18, 2009 can be found here:

MULTIPLE MESSAGING IS NOT POSITIONING (LET US BE HONEST)

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MULTIPLE MESSAGING IS NOT POSITIONING (LET US BE HONEST)

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MultipleMessagingIsNotPositioning.pdf (PDF File)

CONVERSION

Marketing Objectives are the specific target-customer behaviors we expect and need to achieve in order to deliver against the Business Objectives of sales, market share and profits. We do not generate sales unless we first stimulate behaviors. And...

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The DISPATCHES^TM for October 11, 2009 can be found here:

CONVERSION

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CONVERSION

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Conversion.pdf (PDF File)

WHEN YOUR COMMUNICATIONS DON'T HAVE AN IDEA

If you are a longtime reader of DISPATCHES, you already know how strongly we feel about developing Communication Campaign Ideas. Over time, we have offered a good many reasons why an idea can make a big difference-- and backed these up with a number of brand examples. This week we once again urge brand-builders to insist upon having an idea in their communications, whatever media form they may take. But, instead of adding to the advantages of having an idea, this time we suggest some of the real downsides to not having an idea.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for October 4, 2009 can be found here:

WHEN YOUR COMMUNICATIONS DON\'T HAVE AN IDEA...

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WHEN YOUR COMMUNICATIONS DON\'T HAVE AN IDEA...

It is also available in PDF here:

WhenYourCommDontHaveAnIdea.pdf (PDF File)

CREATIVE BRIEF - THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS

Both Richard Czerniawski and Mike Maloney are traveling abroad this week so we are bringing you a DISPATCHES first published two years ago that still carries a pretty valid message.

All the functional disciplines establish, pursue and attempt to follow quality processes.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for September 27, 2009 can be found here:

CREATIVE BRIEF DEVELOPMENT - THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS

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CREATIVE BRIEF DEVELOPMENT - THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS

It is also available in PDF here:

CBDev-TheImportanceOfProcess.pdf (PDF File)

IN DEFENSE OF MARKETING

Ever feel the need to defend your role as a marketer? Or even the need for marketing at all? Read on...

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The DISPATCHES^TM for September 20, 2009 can be found here:

IN DEFENSE OF MARKETING

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IN DEFENSE OF MARKETING

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InDefenseOfMarketing.pdf (PDF File)

THE (POSITIONING) MATRIX RELOADED

We are always on the lookout for helpful ways to think (about brand-building) better. And in our training workshops, we often refer to various tools and formats that are an aid to better thinking - what we sometimes call "how think" tools. From time to time we share some of these tools in the Dispatches. It surprised us to discover that we have never really featured our most versatile (and one of our very favorite) formats in these weekly e-letters. So, this week we offer the highlights of that format: The Positioning Matrix. We hope you find it as useful as we always do.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for September 13, 2009 can be found here:

THE (POSITIONING) MATRIX RELOADED

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THE (POSITIONING) MATRIX RELOADED

It is also available in PDF here:

TheMatrixReloaded.pdf (PDF File)

TWEAKING YOUR COACHING

Far too often client managers use mitigated speech when providing direction on agency creative submissions. We tend to sugarcoat (i.e., to make something unpleasant seem much less so) our comments thereby giving the wrong impression regarding our true feelings about the work and what is needed to make it more productive.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for August 31, 2009 can be found here:

TWEAKING YOUR COACHING

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TWEAKING YOUR COACHING

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TweakingYourCoaching.pdf (PDF File)

MARKETING TRAINING IN THE AGE OF SAMENESS

For nearly the past twenty years, we have been in the Professional Marketing Training business. And that means we have not only had the privilege of teaching practical, best practices processes and "thinking formats," but we have also had the chance to observe many, many marketing organizations as they try to build their own marketing development curriculum. One thing stands out from these many observations: virtually every marketing organization thinks it is creating a unique curriculum; but because virtually all of them also insist upon the same requirements, their programs end up looking alike. We think it's time for organizations really seeking "marketing excellence" to get beyond the "age of sameness" in their thinking. Read on.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for August 23, 2009 can be found here:

MARKETING TRAINING IN THE AGE OF SAMENESS

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MARKETING TRAINING IN THE AGE OF SAMENESS

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MktTrainingInTheAgeOf Sameness.pdf (PDF File)

GETTING CHARACTER REFERENCES FOR YOUR BRAND -- AN UPDATE

This week's DISPATCHES is an update of an earlier publication. We hope you enjoy it.

Why is it that, whenever we think about differentiating our brand positioning, we automatically think only about the brand's Benefits and Reasons Why? Why do we not just as automatically think about making our Brand Character differentiated - from other brands in our company's portfolio and, even more critical, from competitive brands? We think the answer, more times than not, has to do with the ineffective "languages" we typically use to express our brand's character. We need other modes of expression to get this all-important job done right. This week we offer an updated version of Dispatches we first issued in 2002. We hope you find it helpful for your brand.

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The DISPATCHES^TM for August 16, 2009 can be found here:

GETTING CHARACTER REFERENCES FOR YOUR BRAND - AN UPDATE

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GETTING CHARACTER REFERENCES FOR YOUR BRAND - AN UPDATE

It is also available in PDF here:

GettingCharacterReferencesForYourBrand2007.pdf (PDF File)