Marketing by Method Versus Vision

By Jerry Bader

The companies that make a real impact in the marketplace are
not the ones that produce what people think they want, but
rather the ones that produce what people will want but don’t
know it.

The ability to know what people will want before they know it
exists is not a result of intensive market research, focus
groups, or telemarketing surveys. Knowing what people want is
based on understanding the human condition: the motivating
factors that move people from disinterest to action. Steve Jobs
was unrelenting in this philosophy and it resulted in changing
the computer, music, movie, and telecommunication industries and
more significantly how people live, work, communicate, relax,
and in some ways, think.

‘Make A Dent In The Universe’ – Steve Jobs

This is not an approach taught in business schools or self-help
marketing courses designed for business neophytes. An entire
industry of self-help consultants has exploded on the Internet,
all designed to produce mediocrity, all based on rational
analysis of what was, rather than what will be. Not many will
buy into this alternate approach but that is what makes those
who do, so special.

Conventional Wisdom Breeds Mediocrity

Inventing the next big thing in and of itself is not good
enough for you to make that dent in the universe. Those who
ultimately profit from innovation are not necessarily those who
invent it. History is littered with sad stories of entrepreneurs
who lacked the ability to implement and communicate their vision
to the masses. You have to know how to execute, communicate,
convince, and brand your vision in the minds of your audience.

Xerox may have developed the original concept of a graphical
user interface and mouse, and they may have had the resources to
dominate the future computer market; but they myopically saw
themselves as a copier company, and instead chose to turn over
the keys to the kingdom to Apple for a relatively small
investment stake; much to the chagrin of the Xerox researchers
who created the original technology.

The Xerox strategy was textbook business school think – stick
to what you do. It’s not so much that the concept is wrong, it’s
that the concept must be reinterpreted for a business
environment where traditional corporate culture and methodology
doesn’t understand, and can’t keep up with the pace of new
technologies, and the new forms of competition they breed.

History Repeats But Some Never Learn

When Xerox realized their miscalculation they tried to
capitalize on their original research by creating their own
computer, but they failed because they lacked the vision needed
to implement something that would spark the public’s
imagination. Kodak, Polaroid, and the movie and music industries
have all succumbed to the same lack of vision.

Where Xerox was run by professional managers who relied on
conventional wisdom and traditional methods of operation and
decision-making, the Macintosh division of Apple was run by a
virtual cult leader who did whatever it took to bring his vision
to market.

It’s not that Apple didn’t have the same corporate managers and
engineers within the organization, they did, but their efforts
resulted in the failed Lisa computer, leaving Jobs to lead his
band of Silicon Valley pirates to something truly innovative.
But the genius of Macintosh would never have made an impact
without Jobs’ steadfast focus on excellence, and his
Rasputin-like communicative powers.

The Board of Directors, all experienced corporate executives,
even tried to kill the famous 1984 Super Bowl commercial that
introduced the Macintosh. The commercial is not only regarded as
one of the most influential commercials ever made, but just as
importantly, it established the metaphorical language and
positioning grammar of a revolutionary brand.

The Grammar of Communication

In order to make an impact and create an identity for your NBT
(next big thing) you need to develop a written, oral, and visual
language that expresses, explains, and describes the fundamental
emotional value proposition your brand delivers.

Every aspect of your business from product, packaging, and logo
design, to website layout, iconography, and copy, to
photographic and video presentation must all speak with the same
voice, the same style, and with the same enthusiastic visionary
assurance. You need to develop a brand patois that says: this is
who we are, this is what we can do to fulfill your desires, and
this is why you need us.

Finding Your Brand Communication Mojo

Tom Derresteijn, partner in Studio Dunbar writes on his website
visual-communication dot com about a variety of concepts that
help focus marketing attention: inside-out thinking, paradox,
and fragmentation.

Inside-out versus Outside-in Thinking

What we have been describing thus far is what Derresteijn
refers to as inside-out thinking as opposed to conventional
corporate outside-in thinking.

Most business professionals have been educated and trained in
the pseudo-science of business management, always looking for
rationality in how people behave, when in fact people most
frequently respond to emotional triggers of psychological
desires. As a result most corporate managers do not understand
the impact of imaginative design and creative marketing
communication.

Corporate executives worry more about next quarter’s stock
market results than they do about the products or services they
provide. As a result they play it safe and give people what they
say they want by relying on market research.

Ad agencies are quick to adopt the approach because (a)
rationalizing decisions on research was an easy sell compared to
explaining clever creative, (b) agencies could charge big bucks
for the research, and (c) if things went wrong they had a
built-in scapegoat, the research.

The underlying problem is simple, people don’t know what they
really want until they see it, so you can play it safe and wait
for the competition to bury you with something bigger, better,
and cheaper, or you can follow your instincts and work to make a
dent in the universe. It’s business, there are no guarantees no
matter what approach you take, so you can aim for something
special, or you can aim for mediocrity.

Paradox

The ‘Think Different’ slogan used by Apple in the 1990s for the
Macintosh was brilliant in its duality. Not only did it position
Apple against IBM’s “Think” slogan, it conveyed the complex,
conceptual conflict found in human nature: the desire to be
different and the same simultaneously. The Macintosh was
convivial, an easy-to-use machine for the masses, while at the
same time it was an alternative to the establishment Big Blue
for those who thought of themselves as different or special.

The “Think Different” mantra in its simplicity of presentation,
and complexity of meaning, helped create the most loyal customer
base of any mass-market company. The Apple world-view is one of
alternative solutions available to everyone.

Fragmentation

Websites, social media, print, broadcast, and guerilla
marketing efforts must all speak with the same voice and the
same point-of-view. They must all present a unified front.
Spreading the responsibility for each and every marketing venue
destroys the brand message by creating multiple personalities
and brand confusion. Entrepreneurial SMEs (small medium
enterprises) cannot afford to jump on every fad venue like
Facebook and Twitter, without knowing if their brand sensibility
is conducive to those venues.

On paper, the sheer volume of users would seem to make these
venues perfect for communicating a marketing message, and for
some this is in fact the case, however for most SMEs,
fragmenting their marketing voice over multiple venues, each
with their own character and culture can be a major waste of
resources with little to show for it. Smaller companies already
have the perfect focused venue for marketing communication, it’s
called your website.

The Last Word

Playing it safe may be the right strategy for someone
interested in clawing their way up to middle management in a
bureaucratic environment, but for those entrepreneurs who truly
want to make a dent in the universe, the path is more intuitive.
Success in business has always been a risk-reward scenario.

About the Author: Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia,
a website design and marketing firm that specializes in
Web-video Marketing Campaigns and Video Websites. Visit
http://www.mrpwebmedia.com, http://www.136words.com, and
http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com
or telephone (905) 7

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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