If you are about to splash out on a big marketing campaign you should know some of the fundamental rules.

Imagine you were taking a cow to the market to be sold.
Then advertising the fact.
Now a little publicity, noise and PR perhaps?
Maybe the cow even gets interviewed?
And to finish, some beautifully shot cow posters.

Wouldn’t it be fair to assume the cow was for sale and available?

Big brands can get little things very wrong.

I was captivated by the wonderful dreamy advertising that made me beat a path to the running gear haven.
The new range was exciting, the colours colourful and the lines just perfect.
The chewing gum girl leant very un-running like on her bending hand.
The ultimate expression of a fitness brand was yawning.

I trawled the store.
I could find XXXL
I could find XS
But as an ordinary guy I couldn’t find an ordinary piece called ‘medium’

Chewing gum girl flipped her phone and I interrupted her intermittent texts.
I raised some shorts and asked – “Have you these in medium”
She raised lead like eyelashes slowly and mumbled – “Sold out”

I wish I could have found an eager receiver for my hole burning bundle.
I left as I went in – empty handed.
I wish they would follow their own advice and – just do it.

Great marketing is attractive and seductive.
Lazy stores are not.

The next time you want to sell something ask yourself this question
“Would you buy what you are selling?”
If the answer is ‘Yes’ you believe.
If the answer is ‘No’ you don’t.

People don’t always buy product, they buy passion.
Passion fuels trust and trust faith.

If you don’t believe in what you are selling.
Don’t expect me to either.

It’s a year since the first thunder storms rolled in.
Roofs were lifted and walls knocked down.
There have been tragedies and revelations, ups and downs.
One year on we have all lived and we have all learnt.

Worth asking yourself how have you used the last 12 months?
Did you reinvent?
Reimagine?
Resist?
Renew?

Like extracting a bad tooth a recession is good for you.
It forces new paths, new ways and new thinking.
It creates new markets, new alliances and new horizons.
That just might make you feel good, feel better

But, if you are still indulging in paralysis
Still waiting for the tide to return
Still trying the old way
Still waiting
Be prepared to fail.

You are still alive, fully fed and not yet homeless.
Use the time wisely.
Use it to connect with your customers.
Use it to be humble and offer help.
Use it to empathize
Use it to reinvent, reimagine and restore
Use it to understand what’s needed
Use it to fill the gap

You never know, but the refreshing thing about doing all that is that the new way may just be far more fun than the old way
……. And that will inevitably be more profitable too.

As the saying goes;

“When the horse is dead – get off”

It took more than a day to build it and we all know the phrase.
Our businesses’ are just the same, careers too.
Where we started is not where we finish and the journey is full of surprises, challenges, peaks and valleys.

A huge storm means a firm hand on a wrestling rudder.
A change of direction too.
The storm means the original voyage is over, a new course must be set.

Our past defines our future and more so in business.
Where we are going need not be more of where we have come from, otherwise we would stall.

A company (just like experience) drips slowly into forming a fine shiny thing.
The past adventures define our learning and teach us what not to do.

Our past can be frightening and our mistakes scary.
But, used well, they can help us navigate a better path and avoid falling overboard.

How have you used your past (and your path) to reset your future?
You can move a compass and preplan your future.

Make sure it learns from your past.

Restaurants use them and critics rely on them.
Same with the entire film industry.
It’s a tug of love and war, an interdependent and often eggshell like relationship.
The market has made them a narrow but integral part of their public relations and their marketing.

If you are in a narrow tunnel you have a greater chance of hitting a wall.
Narrow lines mean narrow measures.
Critics have a view, a role and a voice but it’s still opinion, all be it informed opinion.

Industries that rely on critics run several risks.
First they focus on critics rather than the market.
Second, they can’t please all the people all the time so failure is inevitable.
Third, they waste precious time, fuel and resources persuading, cajoling and lap dogging the critics.

It is a convenient, uncomfortable and false smiling kind of accord.
It’s not real.
Both know it.
Both use it.

It’s not true that a critic can pan your business.
It is true that you can.

A critic may articulate a bad experience, that’s their job.
It’s you who screwed up.

In the end, the critic is a messenger. Some sincere, some to an agenda.
In the end, it’s you who makes the choices and the product.
In the end, the market – not the critic – determine your future.

Woo the critics but woo your market even more.
After all, they actually put their money – their own money – where their mouth is

I sat in the lobby of a big building housing a bigger organisation.
It’s one of those back river businesses that quietly works at creating a lot of hope.
Not flash, brash nor arrogant, it’s a regular office with wonderful people.

I arrived 10 minutes early.
Terry was my cheerful security and receptionist all rolled in to one.
Terry didn’t do ‘easy’.
Instead, Terry did his job and then more.

I was in no rush but Terry immediately owned me, my appointment and my host.
I sat in the lazy comfy chair and I watched the world go by.
Terry was already in his stride. My appointment was en route.
His phone was busy tracking everything. A call here, a call there.

The best bit was the parallel commentary that kept me up to speed.

11:00am loomed, still no answer from my host’s office.
Terry upped a gear and smiled with delight.
Bang on 10:55am Terry spotted my man on his bank of cameras.
The update was cheerful and Terry was almost able to pass me on, just not yet.

A flick of a switch and Terry opened my appointments lift door.
He called his office and made them stand by.

At 11:00am, precisely, on time, to the minute, my host greeted me.
Only then did Terry let go.

I smiled on at least 5 occasions and I marveled at this very happy man who loved his job, his guests and his responsibility.
He could teach us all how to own our job.

On my way out I stopped to thank Terry.
I noticed a collection box for the homeless and I noticed how everyone gave to Terry unsolicited.

I asked Terry if the collection box was his initiative.
Reluctantly he agreed it was.
But I already knew.

I added to his collection and smiled on my way out.
In a strong voice Terry had the last word.
Guess what he said?

“Thank You.”

Next time you meet your Terry, make sure it is you who gets the last word in.
There are not enough Terry’s in the world.
Be grateful when you meet them.
They are rare and they are precious.

Marketing does (and must come) before Sales.
Obvious in many ways.
Not so obvious to some.

Marketing determines what it is and how you are going to take whatever it is – to the market.
Sales (and selling) is what happens once you get there.

Marketing is a strategic plan, sales a tactical execution.

It’s not complicated, it’s simple.
Let me explain (and here is the origin).

A farmer needs money to pay his bills.
He decides to sell a cow.
The cow has to be sold in a place where there are lots of people – who buy cows.
He finds out the Mart location, the date and the time.
He gets his cow ready.
Loads her onto the trailer.
Drives to town.
And arrives – at the market.

If he has done a good job (marketing)
He may just make a sale (selling)

Next time your meeting is getting tangled.
Next time the line between sales and marketing blurs.

Think of the farmer.

Are you the kind of person that has everything neat and tidy and in straight lines?
I can confess to a certain amount of structured order!

Over coffee a friend was telling me about his once a week cleaning help.
She was about 75% reliable and none to cheerful.
She had been with him 9 years and it was a slightly dull marriage.

One day he came home to a note that announced her departure.
No notice, just that she had gone.
9 years, no goodbye, no chance to say thank you.
Hey Ho he said, fair enough.

By coincidence a cheerful girl knocked on his door the very next day.
She was lively, funny, cheerful and turbo charged.
He liked her already.
They negotiated and did a deal.
I’m told she is super, brilliant, fun and just like fresh air.
Her work fabulous too.

His brow darkened as a thought occurred.
His departed cleaner was excellent at leaving everything in neat straight rows.
His New Found quite the opposite.

Difference is good, he explored more.

Departed had cleaned ‘around’ everything and straight lines were easy.
New Found cleaned ‘through’ everything, not easy, much harder, much cleaner.

At first glance Departed looked good and New Found chaotic.
On second look, New Found looked very good.

Next time you see immaculate straight lines, lift and check.
Straight lines look pretty but chaos can be cleaner.

After a bust there is a boom …. Right?
Hmmm, says who?
Perhaps not?

We assume that a bust is a predictable cycle. Let me explain.

We assume a dip means an inevitable slide into a deep dark canyon.
We assume a boom is the inevitable big bounce out of the valley up on to the high grazing rich plains.

It may not be so.
It may be that we stay bumbling happily along the bottom and realise it’s not such a bad place after all.
What do I mean?

Well, in a recession we discover (after a little foraging) that there are wonderful alternatives.
A little like Lidl.

Why then, in a boom would we dispense with our new found better value discoveries?

Some may.
I certainly won’t.
Value has a new meaning.
Over priced does too.

Many people have new found free or extra time.
Some to get depressed.
Some to wait for the tide to turn and some to freeze in an icy panic.

Some day the storm will pass.
For now, we have to live in its midst and do the best we can.

It’s a little like camping.
When we planned it we dreamt of clear blue skies and babbling brooks.
When we went, it rained all day.
When it rained we had 2 choices;

(1) Sit in the tent moaning
(2) Sit in the tent having fun or doing something useful

Number 2 is worth thinking about.
Number 2 is preparation for when the storm clouds passes.
Number 1 has no useful legacy.

When times are tough, when you are stuck in a rainy tent …. Teach.
Gather up your followers, make them feel cozy snug and warm and …. Teach.

When we are busy we forget to teach.
When it’s quiet …. Teach

After all, it’s still one of the most rewarding things we can ever do.
It’s not just teaching, it’s legacy.