Marketing definitions from the Masters

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Herewith are some of my favorites (from a blog I posted several years ago):

Phil Kotler:  "Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others."

George Day: "Understanding, attracting, and keeping valuable customers."

Sergio Zyman: "Selling more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently." 

Peter Drucker: "The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him [or her! - DH] and sells itself."

Theodore Levitt: "Marketing is a stepchild in most corporations because of an overemphasis on creating and selling products. But selling is not marketing. [Selling] is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs."

What are your favorites? Leave a comment.

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Brand premium: the difference between a $15 haircut and a $160 haircut

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Ahh, brand premium. The holy grail of branders. We all seek it, yet few find it.

I've always been mildly intrigued by the difference in pricing between a woman's stylist and a men's barber. But today as I was getting my $15 haircut at the local barbershop, I decided to do some research. What I found, though, was that prices for men's haircuts - in Manhattan anyway - can approach those for women.

What's the difference between a $15 haircut and a $160 haircut? Turns, out, a lot. Stylist Antonio Gonzales writes that for $160,

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Branding overload

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Last week I wrote about the brander's paradise that is South Beach. This week, I spent some time in Manhattan, which most would think of as a brander's paradise.

But right now I only feel fatigue. And I'm not just talking about Times Square.

Manhattan, everywhere, overloads the senses.

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

What experience are you delivering?

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

South Beach, where I live, is a brander’s paradise.

No, I’m not just talking about the ubiquitous retailers, including Sunglass Hut which opens its largest store in the nation tomorrow or the always-packed Apple store.

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Even my wife goes to Home Depot now

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Been to Home Depot lately? If not, go and see how a good HR strategy equals a good marketing strategy!  And no, they're not paying me for this.

In the midst of this record heat wave, I got up early to replace a hose so my lawn doesn't burn out, and some weed killer, and Home Depot is conveniently close by. Several years ago, I would drive elsewhere because, IF I could find a clerk, they might have known where these were, IF I could get their attention.

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

How not to write sales letters

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Occasionally I get a sales letter that is so bad I can only scratch my head. Here are extracts from two that inspired me to write this post, in the hopes that none of you will similarly ever waste your resources.

The first was accompanied by a slick (expensive) brochure:

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

When the tough get going, the going gets tough...

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Regardless of which side you are on, the US is clearly in one of the most fundamental debates on the role of government in a long, long time. Passions are high. Rhetoric is flying. Fears abound. Yet neither side wants to budge - 'tough' rules the day.

Which may be the only salvation.

There are no simple solutions left. And the realization is starting to sink in. Lou Gerstner once said, "No institution will go through fundamental change unless it believes it is in deep trouble and needs to do something different to survive." Andy Grove said it differently: "only the paranoid survive."

Survival ruled the day at IBM. It did in Greece. And it will in the US.

The question is, does survival rule the day at your organization?

If not, get tough.

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest