Doing the right thing isn’t always the easy thing to do. In fact, it rarely is.

The majority of American businesses today only show a passing interest in understanding and pursuing ethnic marketing opportunities. In a recent survey conducted by Brand Central Station, 59% of the business executives we interviewed said they would rate their own company’s efforts in this area between “Poor” and “Okay.” Hardly a ringing endorsement.

“We simply do not target ethnic/minority clients,” explained one account manager for an advertising agency in the Midwest. “That is not typically a factor in seeking new business. However, if we would, we would be at a perceived disadvantage since we are a white, male-owned business, with no ethnic/minority employees …” (more…)

Why are solutions to problems called “Silver Bullets”?

I suspect it has something to do with the old, traditional legends that demons, giants and (after 1941’s The Wolf Man) werewolves could be killed by the shot of a single, silver bullet. In the 1930’s and 40’s, The Lone Ranger shot silver bullets at the bad guys and did good deeds for everyone else. (more…)

Market research isn’t all about identifying customers. In fact, the better and more rounded the market research available to managers, the better the decisions that wind up being made in the C-Suite. (more…)

There are some significant challenges facing management if the desire is to create a more open and collaborative work environment. In short, managers have to learn to listen more, talk less, follow through and step back. Not necessarily in that order.

But first, before actively “managing” co-workers in a way that fosters collaboration, managers have to come to terms with the basic necessity of collaboration in the first place. It’s a significant change in orientation for older managers who still recall the days of “command and control.” The top-down management styles of the 20th century were often patterned after traditional, military control structures – which made sense, actually. So many men of the 1940’s and 50’s had served in the military which was orderly and organized enough to beat facism, the same management premises were bound to work at home, too.

Well, not exactly. (more…)

On our other blogs, we’ve been touching on the importance of having a corporate or brand “vision”, the process for developing it and realizing the successes that can come from internalizing it. But the most critical factor in making a “vision” valuable for a company is the way corporate leadership understands, supports and manifests it on a day-to-day basis.

The first thing a corporate leader needs to understand is that charisma alone won’t cut it when it comes to crafting a vision for the company. Your job is to lead, yes, but a vision must be shared to be understood. If your vision is “to be the largest widget maker in the United States” your team needs to understand what that means for them. (more…)

Do you know what your company’s mission statement says? Chances are, even if you do, many of your employees and most of your customers and vendors don’t … and don’t want to!

Why is this?

Because if your company is like most, your corporate mission statement isn’t all that different from anyone else’s. White out the product-specific stuff and the name of your company and your mission statement probably says something about commitments to quality, profitability and innovation. About half of the mission statements I read say something about “our people are our most important asset.” And another forty percent are sure to through in jargon that doesn’t really mean anything to people (e.g. synergies, strategies, paradigms, et al).

There isn’t anything wrong with having a stated commitment to quality, etc. That’s commendable. But why is it, after a management group has spent a while (sometimes days or weeks) squeezing a multi-paragraph statement down to a few sentences, that employees are under-whelmed and customers and vendors don’t really seem to care?

Why aren’t people excited?

The answer is relatively simple – most mission statements sound like a lot of hard work that will result in relatively little in terms of personal or professional gain. As my 14-year old is fond of saying when I give him a mission (like cleaning his room): “So what?”

As rude and self-serving as that may sound, there is a point to the question. People (whether they’re customers, employees or vendors) need a reason to commit to a mission. They need to know their agreement to do whatever it is you want them to do will result in something they want to have happen to them. In short, they need to “see” their own success first in order to be motivated to make the success a reality.

We call this process “visioning” – while not a particularly clever term, it does describe the process we use. When put into practice, clients are able to clearly and succinctly explain what they are trying to do with their business in three to five years. This answers the “So what?” question for most people and gives them an opportunity to create their own, personal vision of their success in the future.

Making sure the vision of the company is shared is the responsibility of the CEO and senior management team. But internalization of that vision is everybody’s job. In fact, the visioning process makes the development of a mission statement much easier:

“Live up to the promises we make and turn our vision of the future into a reality.”

Plentiful communications inside the enterprise helps reinforce the fundamental changes required to realize the future. As more and more people start to see the role they play in the company’s future, though, something remarkable happens. So remarkable, in fact, it’s actually measurable.

Internally, people begin to take advantage of opportunities to make the corporate vision a reality whenever and wherever they present themselves. This “strategic opportunism” can lead to productivity gains in the most unexpected places. Vendors, armed with the relevant parts of the corporate vision, start presenting proposals that fit within that framework – not only is it easier to sell to a client when you know what they’re trying to do, you have a steak in their continued success and prosperity.

“Strategic opportunism” can be found on the sales and customer support side, as well. Sales leads become easier to evaluate and targeted leads worked faster once ideal customer types are identified and the brand’s USP is clarified. With existing customers, lifetime values can be maximized according to the company’s plans for the future.

All of these are examples of companies making their own reality – turning their “vision” into success.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Strategic Planning, Corporate Vision, Brand, Brand Equity, Branding

Isn’t it?

I’ll admit, owning and running my own agency sounded a lot more appealing than it turned out to be - but I think that’s because I had an exceptionally difficult run. In the time since closing down my ad agency, I’ve learned a ton and come to realize what I miss about running a marketing services business.

I hope to share that with you here.

I’ll be asking some of my friends and business partners to contribute their shards of wisdom, humor and sense of irony with us as well.

I hope you enjoy.

Martha Stewart was not the first one to do this - but she’s certainly been successful. Why not capitalize on the reputation of a well-known CEO to create a high-level communications channel with the people who matter most to your success?

PR Guru, Jack O’Dwyer has been doing it for years. The old newspaper men (Hearst, McCormick and the rest) became so synonymous with their publications that you couldn’t extract one from the other.

But what about when you get beyond people who “live” in the business in media and start to leverage a CEO’s reputation built in other industries like healthcare, technology, logistics, etc.? It may not be as natural, but it might work.

The thing to remember, of course, is that media CEO’s gravitate towards this decision because writing and communicating is what they do. They understand it and they’re not as intimidated by it. CEO’s from other disciplines may feel less at ease with the idea of putting themselves out there in a weekly column or on a masthead or cover.

All of this plays into a larger discussion of the role of the CEO in developing a clear sense of the brand in both the public sense (to customers, peers and other business partners) and the private sense (to employees, shareholders, etc.). In fact, the CEO plays a vital role in how a company’s brand is understood and valued.

In a study conducted in 2001 by Burson-Marsteller, it was shown that 48% of the reputation enjoyed by a company is the direct result of the CEO’s leadership and management of the enterprise. Maybe even more notable is the fact that nearly all investors look at the behaviors of the CEO as a determining factor in whether they invest in the opportunity or not.

But what does all this really mean to a small or mid-sized company that, in all likelihood, will never go public? Why should the CEO view his job as the key champion for the brand?

In a word: Leadership.

As reported in the Burson study, people expect certain things from their CEO. Most importantly, they want CEO’s who are extremely credible and operate at a high ethical level. These CEO’s, if they pass muster, are expected to operate and communicate a clear vision of their company.

Knowing where the company is going and the ethically correct path to get it there is essential when it comes to establishing brand credibility for the CEO, no matter the size or nature of the enterprise. For smaller businesses, that means the following:

1) Make sure the CEO understands what it means to be in the public spotlight. Surely not every B2B enterprise is going to immediately vault it’s CEO onto the front page of the industry trade media - but for many corporate CEO’s even getting their picture or name into the local paper on a regular basis takes some getting used to.

2) CEO’s need to find one or two trusted advisors who are anything but “yes men”. These should be folks who will provide honest, objective counsel when it comes to presenting a position to the public or dealing with difficult situations honestly and transparently. Sometimes this advice is NOT what the CEO wants to hear - but he (or she) needs to hear it, swallow the bitter pill and move on.

3) CEO’s have to have a clear idea of where they’re taking their company. Hey, if you’ve got the keys and you’re sitting in the driver’s seat, we expect you to know where we’re all going. Too many CEO’s have a “feeling” or a “hunch” but are unable to explain their vision for the future clearly and succinctly. It takes coaching and practice - but you’ve gotta do it.

4) No matter the size of the company, remember that the CEO’s job is to work on the business rather than in it. If your CEO was a great salesman, that’s terrific. But he can’t stay exclusively in sales any longer. As a CEO, you have to lead the whole company, not just the parts you feel comfortable leading.

Address these issues and you’ll go a long way to creating the CEO as a beacon for your brand and a vital part of what makes your brand special to customers, business partners and everyone else who matters to your success.

Good luck.

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