Run with your idea

One of the most common conversations at the bar must be "I had an idea for that....". The story's inevitable ending being that the idea remained just that. An unfulfilled dream that could have changed the World!

The stone work above from 'The Devil's Den' near Marlborough was someones idea, and at the time they must have thought it was impossible, but there it is. 

So many of us have ideas. Indeed every business or organisation started as one, bar none. So it is safe to say that if you have an idea, there is every chance of it working if it is good and fulfils a need or requirement.

So run with it.

Use what resources you have available, be it time or money, and flesh out a plan of how said idea might become reality. A plan written by yourself or your partners is no contract, not a binding agreement, it is just a plan. 

Then go about making the plan work bit by bit, you may need help with that plan or the bit after (we can help there but that's another thing all-together) but there is a process you can follow at whatever speed you want.

Sure you will need some help and luck upon the way in terms of the breaks, but you don't need luck to follow a plan. So make the plan and run with the idea!

Spellbound by.... Plankton?

There is a lot of beautiful content out there at the moment. The future of marketing is apparently all things content. Which would seem to be obvious bearing in mind how often we are online.

Latest stats put mobile phone use at over 2 hours per day, and that ain't making telephone calls. But what it is at that makes great content? Sure,smart design, snappy facts etc will always be in demand. The first infographics proved that. More important than presentation and conciseness is the actual subject matter.

If a topic is confusing, boring or repetitive, no amount of smart layout work or well edited video is going to save it. If you can make the topic interesting, 50% of the battle is won. Just check out this captivating, relaxing and beautiful video on Plankton!

https://youtu.be/xFQ_fO2D7f0

Any colour, everyday

I guess everyone is aware of the marketing power of the Black Friday slogan, and what the day itself has come to mean. For sure there are chances to buy various items at lower prices than normal, shortly before facing the all out assault for your money that is the run-in to Christmas.

However we also know that most retailers use this day to abandon any sort of market based approach, and try and clear the shelves, a quick cash grab if you will. This day allows Sales departments to run the rule over well planned marketing campaigns, and try and flog as much gear as possible, whatever the margin trade off is.

This sales led approach essentially allows businesses to drop their interest in customer requirements for a day, and start telling them what they should be buying instead. This day was designed to grab people who were looking for a cheap laptop, and convince them to buy a new television instead. The convincing mechanism is a discount! Groundbreaking.

Long have discounts been looked upon with cynicism by today's brand savvy consumers. Rather than give us a discount on something for one day of the year, how about look at the price of things we want year round? Poundland anyone?

'Fitness' related businesses selling t-shirts, supplements and meal plans must be the biggest exponent of the discount strategy. There is never less than 10% off, or a buy one get one free, or even the famous 'Penny Sale' of a certain high street health related retailer.

We would prefer these retailers to actually find out what people want, and temper a long term strategy around that. Loyalty works both ways, if you decided to buy your regular group a friends a round of drinks just one day of the year, I'm not sure how popular you would be. 

Teamwork and Marketing Strategy

This is Dogtanian and his friends the Muskehounds, I can't remember what the mouse is called. It may seem like a fairly random image to show when discussing teamwork, but it reminded me that very often an organisation is made up of lots of different people and departments, who all have their own agendas and desire. 

Marketing giant Philip Kotler often talked about Marketing departments being involved in company strategy at an early stage in order to make sure that any defined strategy took on board all of these disparate and often conflicting ideas.

This is worth bearing in mind when starting up any new venture, before building targets and forecasts, get the marketing folk involved to help make sure you know who is wagging the dog (or the Muskehound).

The 1st Post

So this is the first post in what I hope is going to be a regular series of comments, images, thoughts and ideas. Some of which might interest you. Some of which won't. I won't be ashamed to upload pictures of beautiful objects, people and animals that I feel need sharing with the world.

I'll try and find something relevant to say with regards to marketing along the way as well.