Now with the festive season slowly coming to a close and 2010 fast approaching, I’m sure everyone is sitting down to think about the year ahead – I know I am. 

As I recollected in my blog last week, 2009 was a year of change and I’m sure 2010 will bring us more surprises, challenges and opportunities to sink our teeth into.  This week I’ve been thinking of what I’m hoping to achieve in 2010 and also sketching out some new years resolutions of my own.

So in light of the upcoming new years eve festivities, I thought I’d dedicate this weeks blog to new years resolutions and show you all how it can be related back to our favourite profession – marketing. 

In an attempt to prepare, I thought I’d do a bit of research - I surfed some lifestyle sites and spoke to a few people. 

From this, I’ve pulled together the AppleCrisp Top 5 New Years Resolution Countdown:

#5: Quit smoking – I would love to see the sales tracker for Nicoderm in January
#4: Get a new job – Well, it is a new year and a new human resource budget
#3: Enjoy life more – Sounds good to me - kick back and live it up
#2: Lose weight – Replace those sausage rolls and beer for salad and OJ

And...

#1: Spend more time with family and friends – Agreed - life’s too short not to

As you can see, all of these actions have something to do with self improvement.  Whether it be to improve your health, career or relationships they involve bettering yourself.  So...how does this relate to our lives in the marketing world?

The best way to relate these 5 resolutions to marketing life is to bring it back to basics.  As these 5 resolutions show, we all have areas of ourselves that we want to improve on.  The same can most certainly be said about what we do day-to-day.  In all that we do as marketing professionals, there are always ways we can improve our results and what we deliver.

In our marketing roles, we need to look at what we do well and identify those things we wish were different - whether it’s that promotion we want, the campaign we want to launch or the increase in marketing budget we are after.  Designing resolutions/goals to get us closer to achieving these wishes gives us control over our marketing destiny.

As I take stock of 2009 and start focusing on the year ahead, I’ve got my personal and professional resolutions ready to go.  Similarly to how I sketched out what I’ve learned from 2009 in my blog last week, my new years resolutions for 2010 are just as, if not more, important.

I won’t bore you with the details of these resolutions but I’ll give you a glimpse into a common thread which runs throughout all of them.  They all centre on following my passion.  Passion for me has kept me going this year as a marketer but in a general sense too.  I believe passion is my secret to success and will help me get what I want in my personal and professional life.  Following my passion is the goal and the resolutions are actions I’m going to take to get there. 

For everyone reading this blog, I hope you all take the time before the clock strikes 12 to sketch out your own new years resolutions that will help you achieve your goals.

Now...before all you cynics pipe up, I do realise that new years resolutions are partly made to be broken.  So the question is – why bother?

If nothing else, it can be a bit of fun at this time of year but, on a serious note, I think there is a more important reason. 

Making these resolutions, whether personal, professional or both, gives us time to think about our wishes and dreams, how we can get them and most importantly gives us hope that they will be achieved.  It allows us to centre ourselves and focus on the year ahead.  For these reasons alone, this investment in time makes them worthwhile.  At least I believe so. 

As marketers, planning is in our blood – so...before you pop open another bottle of champagne, take the time to dream a little and set out some resolutions for good old 2010!

Happy New Year to everyone...have a year full of good health, love and happiness.  Have fun wherever you are and whatever you do.

See you next year :)

Miriam
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

First of all, happy holidays to all my readers!  I hope you give yourself some down time so you can enjoy the festive season.

In just over a week, another year will be coming to an end – it’s a time to reflect on the year that has just past and look towards the year ahead.  Drink some champers or bubbly, watch the ball drop and make some new year’s resolutions we all know you won’t keep.

I’ll sum up my reflection on 2009 with one simple acronym (WaY - What a Year)! 

On a personal level I’ve had the most challenging, exciting and fulfilling year of my life.  As I reflect on the year that has just past, I am coming to the end of it as a much fuller person than the one I started with.  I mean that - I’ve had some amazing experiences, great times and realised and valued so much over the course of this one year.  I look at 2009 as gem in disguise.

Often in life, we face hard times – during these times we have an important choice.  We can look back and refuse to deal with the challenges life throws at us OR we can take a different approach.  First, we can acknowledge the positive things we have (in my case fantastic friends, family and a love for my career).  We can then deal with the cards we’ve been dealt by investing the time to face those challenges head-on.  For me, in my own little way, I’ve done this.  The biggest thing to realise is that when a challenge is thrown your way, you can’t pretend things are business as usual anymore.  We need to figure out a new way forward and realign ourselves to existing in this new universe.

From a marketing perspective, 2009 has been a year of change in our industry.  In the midst of one of the worst global economic crises our generation has ever seen, marketers have been hit hard.  Similar to how this year has affected me personally, I think the same can be said for our profession.

The challenges of having marketing budgets cut, downsizing of staff and the increased pressure for understanding changing customer needs, has forced an evolution for the marketer.  First we’ve had to recognise the positive things we have, in the case for marketing professionals – the understanding of the key revenue stream of a company (the customer), our understanding of various communication channels and our ability to react to change quickly.  Only the strongest and astute marketer will survive in an environment like this one – and that is the truth.

In the midst of this mayhem, we’ve also had to realign how we work.  Gone are the days where we will have a plethora of resources at our fingertips.  We now have to plan quicker, with less financial or human assistance and with more competition in our midst.  2009 has really shown us that this isn’t a blip in the system but this attitude towards our profession is here to stay.

Like the challenges you or I face in our personal lives, it is essential we embrace our new realities in the marketing world so we can move forward for the good of our profession.  2010, 2050 and all the other years in between will have their fair share of ups and downs – all elements of life do – but we have the power to step up to the challenge and make them a success.

2010 will continue to test our ability to adapt and grab hold of this changing environment.  Let’s not hide under the covers pretending all this will go away – it won’t.  Let’s continue to embrace the change and face it head-on to make marketing more important to our companies than it ever was before.

As a way to synthesise my thoughts on 2009 from a personal and professional perspective, I took some time to write down 5 things I’ve learnt from this year. They are:

1)      The customer is king - take what the customer says to heart so this can drive change in the organisation
2)      Keep it simple - no one reads anything these days so the message needs to be short and sweet
3)     Look on the bright side - for every negative we are dealt with, try to identify two positives
4)      Face the music – deal with challenges head-on so you can realign yourself to this new world
5)      Find your passion – realise what you love to do and do it (even if you weren’t getting paid for it)

As we bring 2009 to a close, I urge all marketers out there to take a moment to reflect on how 2009 has impacted them personally and professionally.  You can share this on my blog below as a comment or you can do it just for you.  Honestly that’s up to you.  It is just a good way for us all to realise how this year of change has made an impact on us and what we’ve taken away from it.

So that’s about it from this week.  I wish you all a happy holiday season!  I’ll be back next week to talk more about the year ahead.

Have a great marketing week,

Miriam - AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

Happy Monday morning everyone! 

It’s week 3 now of my blog so I hope you are enjoying it.  There has been some commentary but I want more...come on, you know you want to speak your mind!!  Please take the time to share your thoughts.

This weeks’ blog topic covers one of the most important elements of marketing – and one of my personal faves as its the focus of my freelance outfit AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions – Understanding the customer!!

I’m currently living in Israel – a vibrant and dynamic place – so a playground for marketing minds and insight.  I had an experience as a customer the other day that really synthesises my thought on the subject.  It is a good way to discuss the point I’m trying to communicate here.

To take in some local culture, I went to the “shuk” (market).  I was after some flip flops – nothing special just fit for purpose.  I went to 2 stalls – the first one had a vendor selling women\s dress shoes and the guy at the shop was mystically waving them in front of my face – not sure why, but he was.  They were fairly nice and really cheap but he wasn’t looking at me to understand that I wasn’t interested in them and he didn’t ask me what I was looking for.  His agenda was to sell me these dress shoes whether I wanted them or not.  Needless to say, I left and he didn’t get the sale.  Plus, I was a bit flustered.

The second stall I went to had a man just as persistent but did something the other didn't - he took notice of my body language.  He could see me hovering over the flip flops and sensed I was in need of them.  After I took interest, he asked me how many I needed as they had a special if I bought 2 pairs.  I told them they were just for me but he asked me a couple other things – where I was going, how long I was planning on wearing them, etc.  He told me that since they were “shuk” shoes it would make sense to buy 2 and offered to sell the second pair to me for a marginal amount.  He got that I wasn’t looking for quality but I was also practical.  He understood and I gave in and bought both pairs.

Do you see where I am going with this one?  A simple interaction tells a lot for the marketer – well, at least I think so.

In a “shuk”, neither vendor had much time to do research on me but the second one still took time to understand me and my needs.  Not only did he get a sale, unload his inventory (which is the prime objective of these vendors) but he also demonstrated to me that he was interested in understanding me.  If I visit the “shuk” again and am in need of something he sells, I’ll most likely go back to him again.

So here’s the lesson from this tale -
1)      Do the research and reap the rewards – in the moment (getting the sale through purchasing your product / adopting your service) and for the future (building loyalty through customer satisfaction)

2)      It doesn’t take much to get to know a customer – take notice of the small things and ask a couple of simple questions 

3)      Actions can often speak louder than words – observe your customers body language, analyse their behaviours (whether physically or through tracking mechanisms)

And most importantly...

4)      Understanding a small set of customers can help you fine tune the way you approach your market and help you successfully grow your business to reach its full potential.

Market research doesn’t have to be complicated but it has to happen – if you get one message out of this blog that’s the one I want to leave you with.

Now...I’m placing a challenge out there for all you marketers: tell me your thoughts on this subject and have your say on how understanding your customer can impact marketing and business generally.  Here are some thoughts to get you started.

In your experience as a marketer, have companies truly valued the voice of the customer or is it just lip service???

Have the marketing tactics you’ve designed and implemented reflected what customers have said or the actions they’ve taken???

Have a great week and happy commenting,

Miriam

Hello everyone & welcome back to the 2nd installment of Marketing Mondays brought to you by me, Miriam!
 
This weeks blog involves one of my favourite things to do: KISS-ing.
 
As I'm sure you can gather, I'm playing a bit with acronyms here.  When I refer to KISS I'm not mentioning it in the true sense of the word.  The KISS I'm talking about is the age old way of saying we need to Keep It Simple Sweetheart.
 
This topic felt like a good one this week as I've been a busy bee lately and realize most of us in the marketing world are too - so, in light of that reality, I'll keep this fairly short & sweet and be true to the topic of the week.
 
Keeping it simple means a lot more than just making our messages easy to understand by being clear and concise - it also has relevance generally in the business world today.
 
Through my experience in large organizations, marketers often join a company with a remit that is to revolutionize the organization in some way, shape or form.  Exciting right?  Well, often this can be short lived and we soon realize that the company may not even be getting the basics right. 

If this sounds familiar, implement the K-I-S-S philosophy now!
 
Keeping it simple - like understanding what our customer needs/wants, who our competitors truly are and what our organization can offer a customer - are things that sound obvious but are often the things that are unknown.  This was a shocker for me when I left the university life for the reality of a full-time marketer. 
 
How can these 3 elements - so key to what we are supposed to be doing as marketers - be unknown to others like us, sales people and even senior management!?!?  So...in order to K-I-S-S, I beg all of you out there who relate to what I've just said above to put forth a "back to basics" campaign.  It actually is very simple -
 
1) Understand your customer in every way you can - research, shadow your sales teams and whatever else tickles your fancy & then make sure the organization knows about what you find - shout to them if you have to as this is a marketers primary responsibility.
2) Figure out what we have to offer and if this is what our customers (who we now know so well) want/need - if not, go back to the drawing board.
3) Get to the bottom of who else is out there & if they are a real threat to what we have - now I'm not just talking about a google search - I'm talking about going out there in your space and finding out who people are buying from and why, attending industry events like trade shows & networking as much as you can because people want to do business with people they like. 
 
Again it's basic, it's simple.
 
 I truly believe by keeping it simple (sweetheart) marketers get about 80% of the way of achieving what we are here for.  If the basics aren't in play, the other stuff has no chance!
 
Thanks again for taking the time out (with your morning cup of coffee on your fave day of the week) to read my blog...appreciate the support. 
 
Enjoy your week and don't forget to have your say!!!
(You know you want to comment, so do it!)  

Cheers,
Miriam Berger