Archive for Mirror Marketing

Mark Tamis @ marktamis.com recently presented at the Selfservice Company UG and below is a copy of his slidedeck via slideshare. A blog post of Mark’s, Go With The Customer Flow is an insightful read. Read the entire thread to include the comments And…watch the video at the end of the blog post- exhilarating for a Monday morning!

What did Mark capture in this presentation? I believe that Mark actually depicts the Social Media Landscape accurately. Mark says, ”99% of interaction take place outside of Social Media!.” Many Social Media pundits will emphasize its importance and  expand to be the focal point for delivering your message. The importance of Social Media has not been about delivering messages but how your “organization’s persona (brand)” has shifted to the hands of the public. This perspective is driving organizations to better understand customers through out the entire customer journey. An end to end value stream, where the focal point is the customer rather than internal operations that ends with a transaction.

Organizations can no longer feed products to customers, as I described in the blog post, Kill the Sales and Marketing Funnel. Customers have the ability to access resources and information comparable to their suppliers and choose suppliers by their own definition of value and how that value should be created. The new wave of marketing has seen an entire new set of tools being used. No longer do we trust print media, radio, television and other forms of traditional media. The tools have all become a commodity. To make effective marketing decisions, you need a clear understanding of what the customer values and what your company strategy is to support them.

Related Information:
It’s not your Grandmother’s Lean anymore!
Does Lean Marketing deliver what the customer wants?
When Efficiencies and Innovation no longer work, is Customer Centricity the answer?
Why bother with Value Networks?

Comments (0)

“Man, they said we better Accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In-Between No, do not mess with Mister In-Between Do you hear me, hmm? The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and it was published in 1944.

You wonder why it has taken organizations this long to start considering this approach.  My podcast guest, Sara Orem, co-author of Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) expanded on this in the podcast:Sara-Orem-17

Lions and tigers and bears. We lived in caves and there were wild animals and there were maybe not an ever present danger but there was an often present danger so we were wired to look for danger. The worrier in us will look for danger in the fact that we didn’t get a raise or we’ll look for danger in the fact that our significant other didn’t say good morning to us. We are negative beings and to some degree that’s also genetic.

Is that why problem solving is revered? And the feel good approach is not?

Download Podcast: Click and choose options: Download Here  or go to the Business901 iTunes Store.

Sara L.Orem, Ph.D. has twenty years of management experience and fifteen years management consulting in and to major financial services companies in the U. S., Britain and Australia. Her current focus is on the development and use of positive methods including Appreciative Inquiry in coaching and group processes. Appreciative Coaching describes in detail the method Sara has developed for her coaching practice which serves women and men looking at self-started transitions.

P.S. My favorite rendition of the song mentioned above is a Bette Midler & Bing Crosby rendition. Don’t miss this! This is my feel good strategy part of the post!

Appreciative Inquiry (sometimes shortened to "AI") is primarily an organizational development method which seeks to engage all levels of an organization by taking an "asset-based approach." It starts with the belief that every organization, and every person in that organization, has positive aspects that can be built upon. It asks questions like “What’s working well?”, “What’s good about what you are currently doing?” David Cooperrider is generally credited with coining the term ‘Appreciative Inquiry’.

Related Information:
Getting Resistance to Appreciative Inquiry?
The Strength of an Architect is in their Collaborative Abilities
Lean Engagement Team Book Released
Appreciative Inquiry instead of Problem Solving

Categories : Lean, Mirror Marketing
Comments (0)
Dec
04

The importance of PDCA in Marketing

Posted by: | Comments (0)

When I discuss PDCA as a knowledge building activity, many people struggle with that concept. They may even struggle more with the concept of using PDCA to close the knowledge gaps within a Customer Decision making process. This video with Joe Pine discussing, “The Importance of Design Tools for Mass Customization” makes a case for utilizing PDCA as the Design Tools. I may be putting words in Joe’s mouth but as you watch this video, what else would you use?

 

To me, this is the excitement of Lean. Lean Sales and Marketing when applied properly will give you this ideal that the customer is looking for. It’s that commitment to reaching that ideal. PDCA is that system aspect. The exercises you use to get there in your own way.

PDCA will take you step by step towards this ideal. The focus is very much on diagnosing the problem first before anything else. You won’t solve customers’ problems for them. You will work/collaborate with customers on how to solve the problems and expand on customization.

Review the blog post, Mass Customization is not Mass Customization

Related Information:
Scaling the Customer Decision Making Process
Lean needs Marketing, more than Marketing needs Lean!
Customer Experience more powerful than the Supply Chain?
Can the customer be front stage in your organization?

Categories : Mirror Marketing
Comments (0)