Archive for May, 2011

How Google’s Mission Statement & Philosophy Can Help Your Business

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Google is both a noun and a verb.  The name equals information and answers.  If you need information, just Google it.  It’s that simple.

Google’s mission statement is also a great example for small businesses to follow when drafting their own mission statement.  Below is Google’s mission statement:

“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

This mission is stated simply, clearly, directly, and in an action-oriented fashion.  There is no confusion.  You understand exactly what Google does and is.

Google also has a great philosophy statement.  It’s what they think about what they do.  Below is the Google Philosophy:

“Never settle for the best.

1.  Focus on the user and all else will follow.

2.  It’s best to do one thing really, really well.

3.  Fast is better than slow.

4.  Democracy on the Web works.

5.  You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.

6.  You can make money without doing evil.

7.  There is always more information out there.

8.  The need for information crosses all borders.

9.  You can be serious without a suit.

10.  Great just isn’t good enough.”*

I could write a book on each of the above 10 points.  They are the core of the information/search age of marketing.  For both billion dollar and small business companies, Google’s philosophy and approach applies.  If you grab just a few of the above points, your business model will improve, and thus your execution.  Ponder the above and apply.

Think like Google and learn.  You won’t be sorry…

Your comments are welcome.

* The Economist: Business Miscellany (London: Profile Books Ltd, 2005), pp. 32-33, as cited in Phillip Kotler’s Marketing Managment, 14th Edition 2012, p. 38.

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The Secret of Marketing Communications

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

 

“Brevity Is The Soul of Wit.”

 

Shakespeare

Need I say more?

Stuart Atkins

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Rapture Marketing: C.S. Lewis On The End of The World

Saturday, May 21st, 2011

May 21st was THE DAY.  At least, that’s what another “prophet” has told us. I am typing and still here, so be patient. It may be worth a good read on your part.  However, read quickly, just in case.

Those who claim omniscience in business, economics, and theological matters concern me. The more I know, the more I realize just how much I don’t know. Thus, the best approach is to error on the side of wisdom, common sense, and logic.

I’m a BIG C.S. Lewis fan. His writings have had a profound impact on my life and faith. His mind is a steel machine that few could debate and win. Allow me to quote him on his essay, entitled, “Predictions of the Second Coming.”

“Many people find it difficult to believe in this great event without trying to guess its date, or even without accepting as a certainty the date that any quack or hysteric offers them.  To write a history of all these exploded predictions would need a book, and a sad, sordid, tragi-comical book it would be…Clearly no one wishes to say anything that will awaken such mass hysteria.  We must never speak to simple, excitable people about ‘the Day’ without emphasizing again and again the utter impossibility of prediction.  We must try to show them that impossibility is an essential part of the doctrine.  If you do not believe Our Lords’s words, why do you believe in His return at all?  And if you do believe them must you not put away from, utterly and forever, any hope of dating that return?  His teaching on the subject quite clearly consisted of three propositions: (1) That He will certainly return; (2) That we cannot possible find out when; (3) And that therefore we must always be ready for Him.”

So in both eschatology and economics, beware of “recovery” and doom.  Balance.  Common sense.  Patience.  Reality.  Make your action-oriented marketing work today.  Sufficient unto the day is the marketing thereof.

And, if you can write copy as clear as Lewis, you are well ahead of the game.  Note his style.  Few can match his manner of words.

Your comments are welcome.

Stuart Atkins

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Successful Marketing Involves Choice, Not Chance

Friday, May 20th, 2011

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
Winston S. Churchill

I love Mr. Churchill’s statement. Good marketing is a process, a choice, a verb, and thus involves action.  Marketing is all about making choices. Now, choose and act. Don’t wait for economic recovery. Choose to make your marketing happen.

Now.

Your comments?

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Philip Kotler and The Ten Commandments of Marketing

Monday, May 16th, 2011

As I have written before, Philip Kotler has forgotten more about marketing than most of us will ever know.  The “Ten Commandment” metaphor provides a marketing compass from which a small business can make decisions and plan its marketing strategy. As you read Kotler’s commandments below, just insert the word “small business” in place of the word “company.”  It works.  Whether it’s big or small business, Dr. Philip Kotler hits home with best practice strategies that work and are time tested.

 

1. “The company segments the market, chooses the best segments, and develops a strong position in each chosen segment.

2. The company maps its customers’ needs, perceptions, preferences, and behavior and motivates its stakeholders to obsess about servicing and satisfying the customers.

3. The company knows its major competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.

4. The company builds partners out of its stakeholders and generously rewards them.

5. The company develops systems for identifying opportunities, ranking them, and choosing the best ones.

6. The company manages a marketing planning system that leads to insightful long-term and short-term plans.

7. The company exercises strong control over its product and service mix.

8. The company builds strong brands by using the most cost-effective communication and promotion tools.

9. The company builds marketing leadership and a team spirit among its various departments.

10. The company constantly adds technology that gives it a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”*

 

* Adapted from Philip Kotler, Ten Deadly Marketing Sins (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004) pp. 10, 145-148.

 

Your comments are welcome.

 

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