Maverick Marketing: Part 1

I know, it’s been awhile, but I’ve been busy, people. Don’t believe me? I had my cable TV turned off last month because I don’t have time to watch TV. That‘s busy.

So what the hell have I been doing? Besides walking Oscar the Terror, I mean, terrier? Reading. A lot of books about marketing. Not the MBA-approved ones. The ones written by mavericks like Seth Godin, and Malcolm Gladwell. Plus a pile of anti-marketing books like No Logo, Your Call is Important To Us: the Truth about B*llshit, and Adbusters magazine.

Why the heavy summer reading list, and why the odd mix?

I’m fascinated by the sea change in advertising that we’re living through. All the out-with-the-old, in-with-the… well actually, no-one’s really sure what’s next. Everyone’s in a bit of a lather over that, particularly anyone over 30, which includes most of my clients. All of them are smart young entrepreneurs who know their businesses and industry better than any outside marketing consultant. I’ve given them gorgeous branding (modesty is overrated) in the form of logos, brochures, websites, etc , all targeted to their desired audience. But most of them are stuck treading water because they lack the conviction to move forward with marketing. And who can blame them?

Frankly, the average marketing consultant simply isn’t interested in businesses with an annual marketing budget of less than 20K. Even if they were, they wouldn’t know what to do with them because most MBA programs focus exclusively on teaching strategies based on Fortune 500 companies or “scalable” start-ups (read: software).

Unfortunately, the vast majority of small businesses, and I might add, 90+% of US businesses, do not remotely resemble these business models. They are not manufacturing millions of identical widgets. They are service-oriented businesses focused on delivering quality. Generally, they are not looking to build a global corporate empire. Rather, they want a manageable, self-sustaining business that allows time for a healthy, balanced home life. Suggest that to the average marketer and they will tell you that this is what’s known (condescendingly) in the financial world as a “lifestyle business” : a venture unlikely to generate economic returns robust enough to interest outside investors, and therefore no potential for real wealth. But that rather depends on your definition of wealth, now doesn’t it?

Let’s assume that you don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to be happy, but that you do need marketing.

Marketing has always been a gamble, but in a crowded global marketplace, the odds of your message being heard are getting worse every day. Not just because big brands can afford to saturate the marketplace, but because people are tuning out. You do it yourself. You switch radio stations to avoid an ad, fast-forward through TV ads, delete spam and toss out anything slick that arrives in the mail. Right? We all do. So what do people pay attention to?

Stay tuned …