Welcome back to Marketing Mondays!  Before I get into the topic of the week, I want to apologize for missing a week of my blog but I was really suffering from a nasty bug.  Now I’m back and I hope this was worth the wait…

While I was lying in bed, sick as a dog, I was actually practicing what I’m about to preach.  So I guess we can say I was kind of working.

When it comes to keeping your skills up, it is essential to surround yourself with the most up-to-date information, highlighting different views on the marketing world we know and love.

Learning doesn’t have to be overly complicated.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to devote time doing a secondary diploma, postgraduate degree or even a doctorate but, in my opinion, these ways of learning aren’t the be all and end all for the professional marketer.

It all goes back to one small four letter word – K-I-S-S: Keeping It Simple Sweetheart (remember from my blog in December 2009).  The more we make learning simple, the more likely we are to fit it in around our already busy schedules.

What I want you to get out of this blog is that as marketers we need to keep our knowledge current.  If the best way to do that is by reading marketing books, articles, information on the web or any other way – DO IT!!

There is so much information out there on marketing – it’s unreal. Just doing a Google search on marketing articles, I came back with 147 MILLION results!  Granted this isn’t a scientific way of finding quality information but it does demonstrate how much information is available to us.

There is no way to possibly know what will be of good use to your day-to-day work or even your future marketing career but I’m hoping that this blog can act as a forum for my readers to share those marketing books, articles and websites they just can’t live without.

So...drum roll please...Here’s my Top 5 reads in the K-I-S-S strategy to marketing learning:

# 5 – Interbrand Branding studies (http://www.interbrand.com/studies_list.aspx?langid=1000): not everyone will agree with me but I find Interbrand’s approach an interesting one.  At a basic level, it is a current analysis on some of the top brands across the globe with an overview of general trends affecting our world.  A one-stop shop for the marketing mind – why not? 

# 4 – www.thewisemarketer.com : I stumbled on this website while doing a search not so long ago. Personally, I think it has a lot of interesting information – including daily news updates, articles and a research centre with archived information.  One article in particular I liked was on the importance of a positive customer experience – check it out: (http://www.thewisemarketer.com/features/read.asp?id=87).  Highly recommend!

# 3 – Smarter Pricing (Tony Cram): being the nerd I am, I’m all about the numbers.   I spent a significant amount of time developing pricing early in my career and it is one of my favourite areas of marketing.  Unfortunately, pricing is one of the loneliest P’s of the marketing mix.  So I recommend reading this book as it is cleverly written, a joy to read and will help beef up your knowledge on pricing. 

# 2 – http://www.themarketer.co.uk/ : The magazine published by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).  CIM, an international association based out of the UK, offers an online version of its members’ magazine.  It highlights marketing trends, interviews with marketers across various industries and also lists jobs.  Personally, I see this as a valuable resource to keep a pulse on some hot topics and to learn some best practices.

# 1 – Crush It: Why now is the time to cash in on your passion (Gary Vaynerchuk): this is one of the most recent marketing books I’ve read.  It is very short and sweet with its focus entirely devoted to how we can use social networking to make a successful business out of our passions – whatever they may be.  Not only is Gary’s story truly inspiring, it also gave me hope and energy that, with the right attitude and tools, my passion can turn into my livelihood.

So that is my Top 5 – now it’s your turn.

Tell me about some books, articles or websites you’ve encountered lately that have made you stop and think.  It’s not just for me, I want this to be for all of marketers who want to keep our skills up and read interesting materials about our field. 

I’m hoping that, from your input on this blog, I can pull together a list that I’ll post on my website so it can act as a reference for marketers everywhere!

So…comment away!!!

Have a great marketing week and more importantly…
…Go CANADA Go! (it is Olympic season, isn’t it?)

Take care,
Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

As I start to settle into 2010, I sit back and look at those resolutions I put together a month or so ago.

Professionally, one of the things I do every year, whether I’m working for a big company or am doing it solo, is try and understand what skills I need to develop over the course of the year.

After I graduated, I thought that was it – I got the overpriced piece of paper, put in my time and now I could practice what I spent so much time studying.  Not until a year or two into working, did I realise how fast the world of marketing moved and that it actually wasn’t over – it was just beginning. 

Most people in most careers will say how important it is to invest time in continuous professional development and I agree completely.  With technology moving at such a rapid pace and with it influencing almost every aspect of our lives, I think we all need to spend more and more time learning. 

It is crucial in marketing to be on top of the game. We need to invest time in honing our skills, learning something different or refreshing our memory about something we learned back in that classroom years ago.

After I hopped over to the other side of the pond, I was presented with the opportunity to do a professional postgraduate diploma.  Since I’m a bit of a geek at heart, I jumped on the opportunity.  Even though at face value this diploma covered a lot of aspects of marketing I’d already done in university, the content was very different.  It dug deep into something that has a great influence on our world today – marketing in the digital world.

Don’t get me wrong, there were computers when I went to university – I’m not that old.  But the internet was not what it is today - that’s for sure.  I think most of my graduating class knew how important the internet would be to our chosen profession but, to be fair, we didn’t have many good examples to drawn upon. 

Doing the postgrad, gave me some renewed understanding of the power of the online world and its impact on my work.

Since graduating with my postgraduate diploma – just a couple of months ago – I bet marketers who are just starting this same program now will be seeing even newer content than I did just over a year ago. 

So... why is it essential to invest time in learning as a marketer?

The only answer I can give to this is a personal one.  I am passionate and when I complete a project, investigate a new industry or prepare a communication I want to deliver a superior product – for my clients or for the company I’m working for.  By refreshing what I already know, finding out new things I don’t know and learning from best practices out in various industries, I’m able to be the best I can be. 

Someone once told me that knowledge was the key to success.  Success means different things to different people.  By empowering myself with knowledge, I know that when I sit down to do my “day” job I’m doing it to the best of my abilities.  That is part of the secret to my success – that’s for sure!

So...how do you feel?  Why is it essential for us to invest time and energy in keeping our skills up-to-date?  Tell me your thoughts...I want to hear your views.

Have a great marketing week,

Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

For the final edition of this months blog topic, mass marketing, I thought it would be interesting to add some psychology to the mix.

In the past few decades, there have been a lot of articles written on the effect marketing has on consumers to buy or influence our behaviours.

Due to this publicity, many people have started to have a negative view of mass marketing and its purpose. 

As I’ve mentioned before in earlier blogs this month, we are bombarded with messages – often the ones that are well researched are the ones that are remembered by the consumer. 

As we all know, the most memorable messages are the ones that stick out from the crowd – often “different” in some way, shape or form and possibly even controversial in nature.  Ones that make the masses speak.

But do these controversial, memorable messages influence our behaviours?  If you look at studies, you will find that many would say that they do have a strong impact on our thoughts and actions.

However, I beg to differ – personally, I don’t think a marketing message has the power to technically alter our behaviours.  But...it may have the power to slightly influence what we think and/or what we do. 

In my opinion, just because we see one billboard ad with a model on it doesn’t mean it will make us believe this body shape is normal or influence us to buy what he/she is selling. 

Part of the problem with mass marketing is that we may not just see one ad like that but several and it is being sent via the mass media to people of all age ranges/cultures who will digest the message differently.  This is where the marketing (not just ads) can tend to influence us more. 

Also, this creates an unfortunate scenario where (possibly) negative messages can evolve from simple and (possibly) innocent intentions. 

This fact is what has led to such negativity around mass marketing and its influence on us. 

From my perspective, mass marketing on its own does not really have the power to influence but by multiplying it again and again it can.

What do you think?  Tell me your views and how you feel personally and professionally about marketing and its influence on consumer behaviour.  Enquiring minds want to know :). 

Have a great marketing week,

Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

This weeks blog is going to be very short and sweet...as I’m more interested in hearing your views on this subject than shouting about my own opinion.

So...the subject of my blog this week asks a very interesting and important question. In order to prepare my answer for this blog I did a bit of research – both online and through informal interviews.

Both channels came back with mixed answers.  Most people felt that mass marketing had its place but it was totally overrated.  There were still some die-hard opinions that mass marketing was the most important channel for investing those marketing dollars and also some extreme views that mass marketing was completely dead.

Here’s my take on the situation...

Now more than ever, I think mass marketing will be here to stay. 

As my kick-off blog of the year demonstrated, we are bombarded with messages in every place we can think of.  Now, we walk through life and mass marketing is a part of that experience – whether we like it or not.  The difference we have with mass marketing in this day and age is that its not the only channel we need to put attention to. 

Consumers have higher expectations and this takes a more personal approach – so mass marketing just isn’t enough.  Customisation is key and there are so many ways to get that message across outside of traditional media – especially through the digital channel.

So...is mass marketing going to be on the same path as a dinosaur?  I say no.  We just need to look at it as a piece of the puzzle not the absolute answer to our marketing plans anymore.

Now it’s your turn to tell me what you think.  Is mass marketing on a path to extinction?

I hope you enjoyed this weeks Marketing Mondays blog. 

Have a great marketing week,
Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

As I discussed in my blog last week, marketing messages are everywhere.  So...as marketers how do we break through the clutter?

In order to truly create meaningful and memorable messages, we need to understand our target customer base.  Why not start with doing the research to reap the reward? 

Since I’m a marketing professional, I guess I’ve got a heightened awareness to ads and marketing in general.  But, I must admit, I’m also a fairly oblivious person – there is no point in denying it.  That being said, a marketing message has to be pretty darn good to leave a lasting impression on me.  For these reasons, I’ve always said that I’m a fantastic test for any marketing campaign.

So, if there are so many messages and so little time, how do we know how to leave a lasting impression?  It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3...research, test and repeat!

There are many examples of successful campaigns based on clever pieces of research – the re-branding of Norwich Union to Aviva just this past year, the Your Point of View campaign by HSBC and Pepsi’s Taste Challenge just to name three that come to mind.

What all of these campaigns did, was get closer to the customer.  They not only did the research to gain insight into the customer, they also used this insight as part in the actual campaign execution. 

One of my favourite examples of a smart and daring campaign is the Pepsi Taste Challenge launched in the ’80s. 

Smart because it acted as a fully integrated marketing campaign at a time when this wasn’t even the norm.  Pepsi was able to gain real-time results of customer preferences as well as inspire customers to realise which brand they preferred.  The proof was in the pudding and Pepsi ended up coming out on top in sales over their cola rival. 

This campaign was also daring – in my opinion - because it could have easily gone the other way.  Since it was a blind taste test, the tasters could have chosen the primary competitor, Coca Cola.  The gutsiness of Pepsi showed that they believed in their brand in a big way.  That act spoke louder than any billboard advertisement they could have posted on the motorway.

The moral of this story is that Pepsi broke the mould in reaching out to the masses, interacting with their customers and learning a thing or two in the process. 

From the blogs I’ve written and the focus of my freelancing outfit, you can tell how passionate I am about customer research in driving strategy.  I can’t overemphasise its importance for mass marketing campaigns.  Many may think that it’s too challenging to get insightful findings when you are targeting a large group of individuals.  It is true that this does make the research parameters harder to determine BUT it can make the reward much more significant. 
Bottom line: it’s worth it!

By investing the budget and time into understanding what drives customers for your various target segments, we can influence behaviour to get a customer to buy any product or adopt any service we have to offer. 
Trust me - understand their needs and increase the impact your campaign has on those customers.

In this weeks blog, I’ve mentioned three examples of strong mass marketing campaigns based on customer insight – Can you think of more??

My challenge for you all this week is to share your insights with me and my readers.  Be as creative as you can be!

Have a great marketing week and I hope 2010 is treating you well so far,
Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

Welcome to the 1st edition of Marketing Mondays for 2010 - its going to be a great year, I can feel it!

Living, working and travelling across the world has given me exposure to all sorts of marketing.  To put it simply, marketing is everywhere!

They say that the average American takes in over 3000 marketing messages in a day (Source: Superprofile)!  The enormity of this number amazes me but the scariest thing of all is that it is not that much of a surprise either

Yesterday, I was in Jerusalem and my experience there made me realise how true this figure actually is.  As I boarded the bus I saw advertisements spread across the walls and on the bus itself.  As I entered the ladies toilets there were ads on the bathroom doors and on the stall walls.  Even when I visited one of the most holiest sites in the world – the Western Wall – I saw billboards and ads en route to the Old City.

This experience prompted me to write this blog as it demonstrates how mass marketing has evolved to become a part of our culture in the 21st century.

Most of us walk past these images without really realising the significance that they have – we, essentially, have been desensitised to them.  I know I have been.  I’m sure if our forefathers saw ads in places like this they would, at minimum, think it was strange.  The point I’m trying to make is not to criticise the existence of these images in this particular place – it’s to use this as an example of the times we live in as consumers and marketers.  I’m sure those who read this now can think of other special places in the world that demonstrate something similar. 

So what does this tell us?

For me, it says how much mass marketing has become a part of our world.  But...if there are so many messages out there, as marketers, are we really able to communicate effectively?  Or are we in the situation of risking quality for quantity?

The enormity of messages out there presents a plethora of challenges for the marketing world – lack of differentiation, communication confusion, poor brand awareness – to name a few. 

However it also offers us opportunities.

Yes, we do need to mass market our brands in order to be a player in the ever growing competitive landscape.  But we also can start to be more creative with joining up our mass marketing tactics with other integrated marketing activities that will differentiate us.

Not only are our customers bombarded with too many messages, they also have less time to digest them.  In this new decade, I can only see the messages increasing and the time becoming scarcer. 

As marketers, we need to realise that an advertisement seen en route to the Western Wall for that juicy hamburger will unlikely make the sale.  We need to focus our efforts on taking the awareness we’ve raised in that ad and team it with other marketing tactics (loyalty schemes, developing brand value through social networking, etc) to sell that meal deal.

In my view, this is the key to breaking through the explosion of messages that are out there – creating brand value and loyalty.

I hope you enjoyed the 1st Marketing Mondays of 2010!  Please feel free to share stories of your interactions – I’m sure the holiday season brought its fair share to you all!

Happy Marketing,

Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

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