NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

Hello this is Richard Czerniawski of Brand Development Network International, Inc. On behalf of Mike Maloney, and myself, I’m bringing you a special podcast issue of DISPATCHES – Insights From the Marketing Front. We, at BDNI are dedicated to sharing our learning and experiences, gleaned from working with leadership companies and brands throughout the world, to “making marketing matter.” This issue offers some potential “New Year’s Resolutions for Marketers” for your consideration.

New Year’s resolutions typically are about personal development and success. They’re about doing better or just doing different. “I resolve to:

• lose 25-pounds;

• learn a new language;

• stay in closer contact with friends;

• find a new job;

• finish writing that novel I started seven years ago;

• watch less television or play fewer video games;

• work longer and harder to get promoted;

• complete a triathlon;”

and on, and on, and on. We make them but don’t always keep them. That’s because we require constant reminding, discipline and, probably, a modicum of success to keep us on track and motivated. They also require that we make the time, energy and commitment to turn our resolutions into reality. This is particularly difficult given the demands and busyness of life.

One of the areas high achievers make resolutions is in their work life. But, if you are like us then, perhaps, you have become enmeshed in the New Year before you had the opportunity to reflect on, and even make, your resolutions regarding your role as a marketer. If you haven’t made your resolutions, and even if you already have, here’s something for you to consider for 2012:

Be, above all else, customer centric;

Resist attempts to reach out to all the customers in the category

but, instead, to carefully choose, marshal and focus available

resources against a select segment of customers;

Get beyond defining and engaging these customers based upon

superficial demographics, classifications and stereotypes.  Instead,

I resolve to really get to know and better appreciate my

customers so that I can better understand their needs and serve

them better than my competition;

To create a competitive brand positioning strategy that

disrupts the category and use it: a) as the blueprint for directing

the organization; and b) to steward brand development by

ensuring it is reflected in everything we decide and do, in order

to firmly establish itin the marketplace;

at a fair value that balance price with benefits, and exercising

the highest code of ethics in all decisions and actions;

 our brand can better fulfill versus competition;

To transcend product features and attributes and focus

on the experience we provide customers;

To think different,

in where, how and with what we engage our customers;

To encourage, seek and settle for nothing less than

BIG juicy Ideas that animate the brand and its positioning

To coach versus evaluate the work of resource groups,

To make marketing matter!

While the aforementioned suggestions may appear to be too many resolutions than anyone of us can possibly handle, they really focus around several areas and are interrelated. Specifically they deal with:

1.    Being customer centric;

2.    Becoming a Marketect;

3.    Building and marketing healthy brands;

4.    Championing BIG Ideas;

5.    Marketing responsibly;

6.    Enhancing your personal capabilities; and

7.    Making marketing matter.

Come to think about it, this actually is more than a set of resolutions. It could be viewed as an operational code of conduct for brand marketers, serving to marry aspirational intentions in serving customers with imaginative and thoughtful strategies, and actions.

It might be a good idea to select the three you believe are most important that you are currently not addressing, and to adopt them as your resolutions for this New Year. Share this with your team and gain their input. Importantly, commit to achieving them on both a personal and organizational level.

Hey, here’s our pitch. If you haven’t ordered our new book, COMPETITIVE POSITIONING – Best Practices for Creating Brand Loyalty, don’t wait. Do it now and start your year off right. It can be found at amazon.com, and is available in eBook form at amazon.com for Kindle, Barnes & Noble for Nook, and Apple’s iTunes for the iPad.

Finally, if we can be of any service to you in brand related marketing matters such as: conducting training for your team; or assisting you in developing a Competitive Positioning; Discovering Legitimate and Productive Customer Insights; generating BIG juicy ideas and transforming them to winning concepts; or maybe you could use assistance in producing a strategically appropriate, single-minded Creative Brief; or creating a world class marketing plan driven and linked by objectives, or other important areas to make your marketing matter, please don’t hesitate to contact me, Richard Czerniawski, at 800 255-9831 or simply reply to this DISPATCHES email.

On behalf of Mike Maloney and myself, Richard Czerniawski, thanks for your attention and best wishes to each of you in making marketing matter more in this New Year.

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