A FLYWHEEL is about as old as the industrial revolution. Wikipedia defines a flywheel as a rotating disc used as a storage device for kinetic energy. Once it gathers momentum, it can power a machine after the force that started it is diminished; a small motor can accelerate the flywheel between the pulses, according to Wikipedia.

The flywheel should become a symbol for marketing because it represents long-term sustainable energy and motion and that’s what marketing is all about. You might be concerned that I am suggesting that flywheel marketing is the same as promoting straight-line marketing energy where you set a marketing strategy and go. Marketing is anything but a straight line. It’s full of twists and turns as external and internal forces press on every strategy. But through all the shifts, building and sustaining momentum, energy and acceleration is critical. Every brand strategy needs continual pushes.

The Marketing Implications

Marketing cannot operate in a vacuum. There cannot be a Sixth Star strategy unless everyone in the company helps propel the marketing flywheel. How everyone in your organization defines and supports marketing will determine how long the flywheel will generate the EXTRA ENERGY needed to sustain your brand’s forward motion.

Within your organization, you will have some team members who will push the flywheel and it will continue to spin and generate marketing energy. Others will do nothing, act neutral, and draw energy away from the flywheel. And the worst scenario finds team members who actually try to push back on the flywheel, killing it and, in the process, killing the brand.

“THEY” or “Those guys in marketing” are two phrases that can put a damper on any initiative driven by the marketing flywheel. A barrier is immediately created. It’s usually the sales team that is quick to push back on the flywheel. Manufacturing is equally quick to push back when a major promotion will disrupt traditional manufacturing scheduling.

The biggest challenge marketing faces comes from senior management. CFOs have convinced their C-Level colleagues that marketing has to prove its ROI – that short-term results indicate the campaign is working. Unfortunately, unless marketing has implemented a Sixth Star, customer-centric focus, they will not have the tools to deliver short-term results. And management wants results NOW.

I would suggest that if management wants short-term ROI, just cut marketing spending and stop the flywheel. Costs go down immediately, profits rise – in the short-term. But once the flywheel stops, and there’s no push on the flywheel, sales will decline – not immediately, but sooner than the CEO will like.

This week’s AH-ha! suggests that to keep sales momentum going requires an active marketing flywheel. To keep it moving and to build momentum, consider the following:

• Focus on the customer. That’s where the revenue is.
  
  
• Maintain a clean, dynamic database of customers – their demographics and sales activity.
  
  
• Practice Creative Analytics – use the database to drive momentum.
  
  
• Don’t let IT and finance dictate marketing strategy because their goals are different.
  
  
• Embrace sales, manufacturing and distribution. These teams are vital to keeping the flywheel moving and have a vested interest in positive momentum.
  
  

Some will argue that we should circle the wagons and ride out the current economy. I say that’s a sure way to kill the flywheel momentum of your brands. As Emeril on the Food Network says, “Turn it up a notch.” I agree.

I hope you will ask your team to push your marketing flywheel a little more this week. Every push counts. And when one of your team members begins to push against the flywheel, it’s okay to simply say, “Remember the flywheel.” It should be in interesting week.