Marketing

A fundamental aspect of modern marketing

First, here's something that is fast becoming the most fundamental aspects of marketing to get right, especially if you want to build a truly sustainable high quality organisation (of any size) in the modern age:

Ensure the ethics and philosophy of your organisation are good and sound. This might seem a bit tangential to marketing and business, and rather difficult to measure, nevertheless...

Price is no longer the king, if it ever was. Value no longer rules, if ever it did. Quality of service and product is not the deciding factor.

Today what truly matters is ethical and philosophical quality - from the bottom to the top - in every respect - across every dimension of the organisation.

Modern consumers, business buyers, staff and suppliers too, are today more interested than ever before in corporate integrity, which is defined by the organisation's ethics and philosophy.

Good sound ethics and philosophy enable and encourage people to make 'right and good' decisions, and to do right and good things. It's about humanity and morality; care and compassion; being good and fair.

Profit is okay, but not greed; reward is fine, but not avarice; trade is obviously essential, but exploitation is not.

Psychological Contract theory is helpful towards understanding and developing fair balanced philosophy, especially in meeting the complex needs of staff, customers and the organization.

People naturally identify and align with these philosophical values. The best staff, suppliers, and customers naturally gravitate towards organisations with strong philosophical qualities.

Putting a good clear ethical philosophy in place, and communicating it wide and far lets people know that your organisation always strives to do the right thing. It's powerful because it appeals to people's deepest feelings. Corporate integrity, based on right and good ethical philosophy, transcends all else.

And so, strong ethics and good philosophy are the fundamentals on which all good organisations and businesses are now built.

People might not ask or talk about this much: the terminology is after all not fashionable 'marketing-speak', nor does it correlate obviously to financial performance, but be assured; everyone is becoming more aware of the deeper responsibilities of corporations and businesses in relation to humanity, and morality, the natural world, the weak and the poor, and the future of the planet.

Witness the antagonism growing towards certain multi-nationals. People don't rail against successful corporations - they rail against corporations which put profit ahead of people; growth ahead of of society and communities; technology and production ahead of the natural world; market domination ahead of compassion for humankind. None of this is right and good, and these organisations are on borrowed time.

People increasingly prefer to buy from, deal with, and work for, ethical, right-minded organisations. And whether an organisation is ethical and right-minded is becoming increasingly transparent for all to see.

So be one.

Aside from which - when you get your philosophy right, everything else naturally anchors to it. Strategies, processes, attitudes, relationships, trading arrangements, all sorts of difficult decisions - even directors salaries and share options dare we suggest.

And it need not be complicated. The ultimate corporate reference point is: "Is it right and good?... How does this (idea, initiative, decision, etc) stack up against our ethical philosophy?"

Organisations are complex things, and they become more and more complicated every day. A good ethical philosophy provides everyone with a natural, reliable reference point, for the tiniest detail up to the biggest strategic decision.

So as you start to write your marketing plan, be it for a new start-up, a huge corporation, or a little department within one, make sure you put a 'right and good' ethical philosophy in place before you do anything else, and watch everything grow from there.

Strategy Realisation

How effective is your Strategy Realisation?

There are simple ways to judge whether your strategy realisation process is working:

Obviously look for business results and progress on the delivery of targets and KPI's (Key Performance Indicators).

You need also to look for signs that your people have really got the corporate message and have taken it to heart.

A well known story illustrates the point:

A group of US Senators were visiting NASA at the time when funding was under threat. One Senator asked a man cleaning the floor "So what are you doing here?" The man answered, "I'm here putting a man on the Moon!"

How closely do your people identify and associate their own roles with your organizational purpose?

Do your people really know what your corporate aims are, and if so do they see and agree with how they fit into the scheme?

Sadly in many organizations the vast majority of staff do not understand the corporate aims, let alone see themselves as an integral part of the effort.

Strategy realisation will not happen without the people being an enthusiastic part of the effort. All to easy to say; another thing entirely to make happen.

The 'Man on the Moon' statement is a real benchmark of the process quality for turning any strategy into action - whether for a team, a department or a corporation.

Every single person must know what they are doing, why they are doing it, and above all, must be fully committed to doing what they are doing.

If your methods enable every single person to know what they are doing, and why, and to be emotionally committed to it, then the process of turning strategy into action is probably working.

Ask yourself some of these questions and you will begin to see how to make your own strategies happen.

Context.........it changes everything!

The outdoors tea-break exercise (different perspectives, context, relativity, perception vs 'reality', and how most things change according to situation)

The nature of anything - especially feelings, relationships and communications - changes according to situation and context.

This is vitally important in understanding ourselves, others, and the way that human systems operate, in which subjective views are commonly more dominant than objective facts, figures and evidence.

Perceptions among people, especially given group effects, has a huge effect on systemic and organizational behaviour.

Here is a simple and pleasing demonstration of how something can change when experienced in a new context, particularly when the warmer spring season approaches

When next facilitating or teaching a group, take your tea/coffee break outside, and ask people if their tea/coffee tastes different, compared to how it normally tastes indoors.

The demonstration is clearest if first people pour the drink and take a few sips indoors, and then walk outside, so as to compare the indoor and outdoor taste.

Strangely the taste is quite different, sometimes remarkably different. This is probably due to the fresh air being smelled and tasted along with the drink. I am open to better explanations. The effect also works with cold drinks. And picnic lunches, if you've time.

In some situations the exercise will work better by not warning people of the reason for going outside, other than to get some fresh air and a leg-stretch, both of which are good for groups anyway.

Taste is not the only characteristic altered, for example, in cold weather the drink cools far quicker. Small and insignificant though it is, the drink experience and memory is altered by the different outside environment. The indoor cup of tea or coffee is perceived to be different because of the outdoor context and situation.

Everything in life - especially concerning human attitude - alters according to context.