“The Power of Leadership”
The #3 Most Powerful Lesson for the new Chief Marketing Officer
Most of my small enterprise operating friends are reporting fear and frustration from a lack of real momentum in their business and the resulting poor cash-flow. Most have already cut most everything that could be cut, so the only answer in my mind is to go on Offense. Offense in business means Sales and Marketing. But in the frame of this discussion we must also Market effectively because cash-flow does not support the grand brand building agendas of the Media Salespeople discussed last week. Here’s Lesson #3, and it’s a BIG ONE!
- The Biggest Reason that you are likely frustrated with your Marketing is Marketing Incest. What the heck is Marketing Incest? Well, what you and pretty much everybody else does in business is look around their industry or whatever market you’re in and see what everybody else is doing and you copy it. Sure you look at the ones you think are doing it the best and you copied them, but you’ve not done anything radically different than what everybody else is already doing and you’ve done nothing that stands out in any way.
This is why there is so much bad, ineffective, and unprofitable Marketing in the world!
Most business leaders do this, in fact, with nearly every aspect of their businesses. They attend industry trade shows, read their industry trade journals and blogs, seek advisement from industry experts and advisors, and generally attempt to copy and implement what they perceive to be the best practices of whomever they perceive to be the most successful in their industry.
Everyone in an industry hanging around together looking at each other intently and ignoring anything outside their circle as irrelevant to their business. It’s incestuous and everyone involved slowly gets less and less creative.
In order to generate results which are not just a little bit better, but results which are dramatically different for your business, you must look outside of your business. You must seek inspiration for those excelling in other markets. The Drive Thru Window, which now delivers 60%+ of the Revenue of the Fast Food Industry was invented by Banks. My Fitness business is enjoying tremendous success at the moment using a Marketing Campaign “stolen” from Southwest Airlines. Look far away from your niche and find new inspiration for great Marketing!
Yes, I never once said, “Think outside the box”!!! Have a great day…
Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Business and Human Capital Development
Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO
Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA
Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China
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To quote Don Shula former great coach of the Miami Dolphins: “The best defense is a good offense.” Many people believe that Chinese companies gained success by simply copying successful American and European companies. While there may be some truth to this belief, if you further explore these companies you will find that they discovered ways to do what others were doing “faster” and “better”. They went on offense and overcame the defenses of their now, competitors. It is difficult for a large and or multinational company to go on offense. The only thing stopping a small-to-middle size company from going on offense is our own fear of following a new path. … Have A Good Day … Russ!