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Go-To-Market Cultural Alignment: The Invisible Variable in U.S. Expansion
Many companies that find success outside the United States have one thing in common: the need to succeed in the U.S. market.
That is not complicated or surprising. The United States is the largest economy in the world and, in many categories, the single biggest available market. World Bank data clearly shows the scale of the U.S. economy relative to most global markets. For companies in high-tech, scientific, medical, industrial, and systems integration sectors, the U.S. is not just attractive. It is strategic.
Company leaders want to grow. The U.S. is where they look. They are not wrong.
Position Your Brand: Three Questions to Power Growth & Profit
Wed, May 11, 2016 — In Step 1, we began paving our road to a winning brand strategy with the basics. We determined that in order to win in a competitive consumer marketplace, we must first establish an emotional connection with our target audience. We also decided that remaining focused on emotional motivators is the key to the development of that critical connection. It’s time, now, to make sure we are winning with our “head,” as well as our “heart.” For the second step in our quest, we’ll don our lab coats and, utilizing the data from our emotional motivators and target audience surveys, we’ll now engage our sales and marketing teams to develop our company’s positioning statement and brand promise. If we can nail this critical “statement of purpose,” we’ll effectively stand out from our rivals and drive our company forward in the process.
The Marketing Power of Three
Tue, May 10, 2016 — Variety may be the spice of life, but having too many choices turns people away. Our brains have evolved so that we perceive three main things about options presented to us, and the rest gets chucked aside. Give us only two choices, we feel torn. Give us four, we’re confused. Give us three, we pick one easily. Curious, isn't it? When we write about things, talk about things, look at things, we instinctively seek out three options. It's pleasant, this power of three. We don't feel forced to choose between two things and it doesn't feel overwhelming. It feels just right.
News Break: Lencioni’s “The Ideal Team Player” is Bigger Than Expected
Mon, May 2, 2016 — The beauty of Patrick Lencioni’s writings has always been how well they resonate with real business experiences. I suppose that’s a direct result of the real-life “fables” he creates for his books (the exception being The Advantage) that tease out a model for excellence that he shares in the later sections. In The Ideal Team Player – How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues, Pat parlays perhaps his most simple and compelling framework yet; by showing how 1) humility, 2) hunger and 3) (people) smarts are the key virtues employees need to maximize their value for their team and company.
Positioning Your Brand to Make an Emotional Connection
Fri, Apr 29, 2016 — According to an old adage, it is implored that we of the human species should “help yourself before you help others.” While this strategy is particularly important in oxygen-depleted aircraft cabin emergencies and personal matters (but was not great for people like Bernie Madoff), it also represents the foundation of modern marketing strategy.
Conducting Your Orchestra: How to Achieve Opera-Sized Marketing Impact on a Sonnet-Sized Budget
Mon, Apr 18, 2016 — A funny thing happened on the way to the Orpheum: Today's flip-flop-wearing, short-attention-spanned public simply isn't looking for symphonic-sized entertainment like they used to. Ask any community orchestra conductor what brings out the most throngs these days, and they'll tell you it was the "Pops" performance of Star Wars music that far outplayed Beethoven.
Branding Like A Boss: How to Leave Your Mark
Wed, Apr 13, 2016 — Pity the CEO who has the misfortune of trying to build a corporate brand in the modern era. You see, way back in ancient times, when slow connection speeds had more to do with your supply ship being robbed by pirates; and broadcast advertisements were limited by the decibel levels of the hawker’s voice, branding was quite simple. A couple of strokes with a paintbrush or the sizzle of a hot iron was all that was needed to denote the origin of the goods.
New Challenger Brand Tees Off with Hilarious Video
Thu, Apr 7, 2016 — As they say, “Dumb as a fox.” Attitudinally provocative “Challenger” brands have long been around for decades using contrarian positioning (The UNCOLA!) to separate them from the more normative incumbent brands in a given category. But in recent years with disruption strategy almost becoming the expected method of launching every new product, we seem to see more brands becoming the champions for disaffected consumer segments by promising a substantially better product or deal and by attacking the category leader with advertising featuring a loud, irreverent or downright outrageous brand persona. More or less censorship free online media have also opened the door to the use of profanity and lowbrow bathroom humor by some Challenger brands to create even greater juxtaposition between the new upstarts and the brands they mean to steal share from.
Creating a Logo 101
Tue, Apr 5, 2016 — Branding began with cattle during the Industrial Revolution. The more goods people produced, the more they needed a simple way to identify ownership. If you knew that John Smith had the best cows in the village, how could you find his cuts at the city butcher? How to know which cow was which, who it belonged to, how it was raised? People started branding cows with paint or pine tar or, yikes, hot iron. Perhaps not a cheery picture, but the most memorable logos of today could be easily converted to a traditional cow brand. Nike. Target. NBC. McDonalds. Playboy. What do all of them have in common? They are very simple and they use primary colors.
What Nemo Knows About Organizational Success: Six Steps to Mastering the Power of Team Alignment
Mon, Apr 4, 2016 — I keep thinking about the pivotal scene in Finding Nemo when the school of fish is caught in a big, menacing net. Nemo takes the helm, shouts “Swim down!” and the combined downward force of the school detaches the net from the ship. Because of Nemo’s quick thinking, and the school’s trust in his plan, they’re able to escape out of the net to fish freedom. If just a few of his schoolmates had traveled upward or sideways – they’d be fish sticks.