New Rules

Happy New Year. We hope you are celebrating the close of a successful year and have your plans written in pencil for 2012. Why pencil? We are not confident that this will be the breakout year some economists and hopeful politicians are predicting; there are too many uncertain variables lingering around the marketplace and too many marketing changes to build confidence. That said, how we view and build marketing campaigns in 2012 will be more critical than ever before, so we should be prepared to erase and re-write as conditions change.

This week’s AH-ha! moment suggests that we debate the root drivers of marketing and develop new rules in terms of how we attack the marketing landscape. This quest begins with how we view our customers and potential customers; to accomplish this we have to better define what drives business.

Throughout 2012, we will explore old and new rules and ferret out the true business drivers that grow your business. The young new MBAs are quick to look to the future before mastering the past. In many cases, they are writing new rules for marketing strategy and MARCOM before they fully grasp the dynamics of the current marketplace. At the same time, more seasoned teams are slow to grasp the need for change and are reluctant to consider new rules.

This is the new age of exploration. From exploration, we will create new rules. Some of the new rules will come from common sense, an art form many marketers have forgotton. More new rules will be the result of rethinking old rules, habits and beliefs.

We are not immune to the churn in marketing thinking. In fact, we want to be considered more than “Thought Leaders.” We want to be leaders in the way we go to market because marketing needs to reinvent itself in 2012.

We enter our 24th year full of excitement. The early days of our business were focused on soul searching because we were filled with ideas but didn’t have a “product.” Our product became “Loyalty Marketing” programs because loyalty was the hot topic and in many quarters and it still is. We believe the subject of loyalty continues to be popular because it’s easy to understand. Millions of American consumers carry multiple loyalty cards and are quick to sign up because they believe they will get special benefits, deals and perks. With so many programs in the marketplace driven by old rules, some of which we pioneered, is it any wonder that consumers have lost interest in them?

The Marketing Implications

Our first new rule is to break the rules about the whole concept of loyalty and redefine the strategy of loyalty marketing. Until we do this, our programs will not bring home the desired result of influencing the next sale.

We plan to break other marketing rules and hopefully open new dialogs about established best marketing practices. This ties closely to our Sixth Star Marketing strategy. We know the Sixth Star puts the customer at the heart of your business, but before the star can shine, the rest of the organization must get its act together. That’s the five star customer service that organizations and brands promote with pride but often miss the mark.

We have observed and written about key business drivers that shape consumer buying patterns and habits. The three key drivers that surround the Sixth Star have NOTHING to do with loyalty. These are:

1. The desire by consumers to understand their needs. Missing this key driver may cause significant dissatisfaction. Getting it right may be a key enhancer.

2. The request by so many customers to make it easy for them to do business with you. We continually lobby for this business driver. Not a week that goes by that we cannot find rude examples of companies that implement barriers to making it easy to do business with them.

3. The need to make customers feel comfortable when they do business with you. This is a new mindset and perhaps the nucleus of a new marketing rule for 2012. New issues regarding safety, reliability and guidance are becoming new drivers. This leads to trust. This is a fundamental change and is at the center of new thinking and new rules. It also encompasses how we communicate with customers and the stories we build.

This week, gather your team and make a commitment to begin a new dialog about how your company does business. Challenge the old rules that guided your marketing plans. Evaluate the balance between doing the same stuff and just overlaying new stuff on top of it. There’s a new balance in the marketplace. Our job in 2012 is to help you find it for your brands.

May the wind be at your back and may double digit growth be in your future.

Have a fantastic week.

Bart Foreman and the Group 3 Marketing Team.