What your children can teach you about marketing
Written by Shirley Lichti, for The Record, May 21, 2003
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You can learn a lot about marketing from your children.
For starters, children teach us the value of long-term planning. From the time they are born, we plan for our children, from arranging childcare to determining how to fund their university education.
Planning
Parents with small children wouldn't dream of setting out on a major trip without a detailed plan.
Yet many organizations approach marketing with only vague notions of goals and objectives. Written plans are imperative. Ideas that exist only in your head are not plans. Written plans provide a road map to help you and your organization more effectively reach the final destination.
Patience
Children teach you patience. It takes children weeks and months to learn how to walk. Some children learn faster than others but all of them have to go through a process to get there. Even though they fall repeatedly, they never give up. They simply get back up again and give it another shot.
While most of us accept that it takes time for children to learn how to do even the simplest tasks, we are impatient with our marketing efforts.
Marketing, too, is a process and unfortunately you can't skip steps. Be patient. Good marketing doesn't happen overnight. You are unlikely to see immediate results so don't abandon your marketing campaign before it has a chance to take effect.
It took decades, for example, for consumers to embrace microwaves but they are ubiquitous today.
Focus
Our children teach us to focus. When you take your children to a shopping mall they inevitably want to go in a different direction than you do. If you want to get your tasks accomplished, you need to get your children focused, not continually changing course every time something new and interesting catches their eye.
Use the same focus in your marketing efforts. Set out to develop a year's worth of activities in your plan. They don't have to be set in concrete. But you'll feel more organized and less stressed once you focus on your planned activities. Focus helps you more easily dismiss distractions to your marketing efforts.
Curiosity
Children have a natural curiosity. Most of them are not yet set in their ways. They are generally pretty flexible and willing to try new things. I don't think I've ever heard a child say, "We don't do it that way here."
So even though you may have discovered marketing techniques that work for you, don't close your mind to new ideas. Try to stimulate childlike curiosity in your organization.
The 3M Corporation encourages innovation by setting a goal that 30 per cent of the company's annual revenues must come from products that did not exist four years ago.
Consistency
Every parent knows how important it is to be consistent with children. They learn by watching and listening carefully and are extremely quick to pick up on any inconsistencies in the way we treat them. They are especially skilled at reminding you when mom says one thing and dad says another.
In the marketing world, consistency is just as important. Consumers are bombarded with advertising messages, making it increasingly difficult to break through and reach them.
By designing integrated communications, you reinforce a consistent message across campaigns. Nike did this so well that many of their ads had no copy, only the swoosh, which became synonymous with the Just Do It message.
Relationship-Building
Time and effort invested in your children eventually reflect back on you in a positive light.
But ask yourself, do you manage your children or develop them? You might manage your bottom line at work but hopefully you put a lot of heart and soul into your relationship with your children.
It takes more than just financial acumen to develop a strong product or service with a brand promise people trust. Some of the most successful companies are those that connect with consumers on an emotional level.
After all, you don't pay $4-5 for coffee at Starbucks just to get a caffeine fix. People buy with both their hearts and minds so don't neglect the importance of building relationships when designing your marketing campaigns.
Imperfect
As parents we are only human. Children teach us we are not perfect. All of us make mistakes. Some are more serious than others. But like children, it's important for us to learn from our mistakes and carry on.
So go back to your marketing plan. Revisit your objectives. Measure the results. And if your plan didn't work the way you hoped, analyse what went wrong, determine what worked, what didn't, and how to change future campaigns.
And spend some time thinking about what you can learn about marketing from your children.
For starters, children teach us the value of long-term planning. From the time they are born, we plan for our children, from arranging childcare to determining how to fund their university education.
Planning
Parents with small children wouldn't dream of setting out on a major trip without a detailed plan.
Yet many organizations approach marketing with only vague notions of goals and objectives. Written plans are imperative. Ideas that exist only in your head are not plans. Written plans provide a road map to help you and your organization more effectively reach the final destination.
Patience
Children teach you patience. It takes children weeks and months to learn how to walk. Some children learn faster than others but all of them have to go through a process to get there. Even though they fall repeatedly, they never give up. They simply get back up again and give it another shot.
While most of us accept that it takes time for children to learn how to do even the simplest tasks, we are impatient with our marketing efforts.
Marketing, too, is a process and unfortunately you can't skip steps. Be patient. Good marketing doesn't happen overnight. You are unlikely to see immediate results so don't abandon your marketing campaign before it has a chance to take effect.
It took decades, for example, for consumers to embrace microwaves but they are ubiquitous today.
Focus
Our children teach us to focus. When you take your children to a shopping mall they inevitably want to go in a different direction than you do. If you want to get your tasks accomplished, you need to get your children focused, not continually changing course every time something new and interesting catches their eye.
Use the same focus in your marketing efforts. Set out to develop a year's worth of activities in your plan. They don't have to be set in concrete. But you'll feel more organized and less stressed once you focus on your planned activities. Focus helps you more easily dismiss distractions to your marketing efforts.
Curiosity
Children have a natural curiosity. Most of them are not yet set in their ways. They are generally pretty flexible and willing to try new things. I don't think I've ever heard a child say, "We don't do it that way here."
So even though you may have discovered marketing techniques that work for you, don't close your mind to new ideas. Try to stimulate childlike curiosity in your organization.
The 3M Corporation encourages innovation by setting a goal that 30 per cent of the company's annual revenues must come from products that did not exist four years ago.
Consistency
Every parent knows how important it is to be consistent with children. They learn by watching and listening carefully and are extremely quick to pick up on any inconsistencies in the way we treat them. They are especially skilled at reminding you when mom says one thing and dad says another.
In the marketing world, consistency is just as important. Consumers are bombarded with advertising messages, making it increasingly difficult to break through and reach them.
By designing integrated communications, you reinforce a consistent message across campaigns. Nike did this so well that many of their ads had no copy, only the swoosh, which became synonymous with the Just Do It message.
Relationship-Building
Time and effort invested in your children eventually reflect back on you in a positive light.
But ask yourself, do you manage your children or develop them? You might manage your bottom line at work but hopefully you put a lot of heart and soul into your relationship with your children.
It takes more than just financial acumen to develop a strong product or service with a brand promise people trust. Some of the most successful companies are those that connect with consumers on an emotional level.
After all, you don't pay $4-5 for coffee at Starbucks just to get a caffeine fix. People buy with both their hearts and minds so don't neglect the importance of building relationships when designing your marketing campaigns.
Imperfect
As parents we are only human. Children teach us we are not perfect. All of us make mistakes. Some are more serious than others. But like children, it's important for us to learn from our mistakes and carry on.
So go back to your marketing plan. Revisit your objectives. Measure the results. And if your plan didn't work the way you hoped, analyse what went wrong, determine what worked, what didn't, and how to change future campaigns.
And spend some time thinking about what you can learn about marketing from your children.
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