Marketing Success with a New Map and a New Motive

Theodore Levitt stoked the Marketing Imagination by asking, “What business are you in?” He classicly kept the fire going by suggesting companies had “marketing myopia”—a too narrow vision on who they were. Peter Drucker came first, though, by asking in his 1946 blockbuster The Effective Executive, “what business are you in and what business ought you be in?” Both modern American grandfathers of business insight felt the telos of business (the end toward which all things are directed) would inform and direct every other decision.

Seems that Tom Asacker would agree. The telos Asacker envisions will no doubt be unsettling to many:

Your organization must be structured, and your people educated and inspired, to provide customers with happiness through its unique creation and execution of value (p. 56).

This determined “end in mind” plops a solid, bold marker at one end of your marketing map. Now you know where you’re going. (Hang in there. One of the other things I’m studying this year are classical conceptions of “happiness.” I’m still struggling through Immanual Kant’s view, which is probably a worthy exercise for CMOs.)

With the end in mind of “customer happiness through the [co]-creation of value,” you’ll begin to see the fog lift on the rest of the map—the map of the marketplace.

Today’s modern marketplace is about subjective well being, as opposed to material gain, and therefore customers are constantly on the lookout for better ‘value.’ They not only want the brand they choose to be reliable and fair, they also want them to look good, be good, and do good. Yes, they want to save time and money, but they also want to be uniquely acknowledged, involved and engaged (p. 57).

That’s fantastic news for independents and professional service firms! You’re in a position to do what the big companies can’t do very well. Asacker suggests all that’s needed to leverage this opportunity is “vision, belief in collaborative innovation, empathy for the customer, and a passion for experimentation” (p. 57).

Not seeing the good news yet? It leverages the New Motive: total immersion in your customers’ lives. See, that’s all.

Scary? Maybe, but, it’s something YOU CAN DO; the big boys…not so much.

Creating and delivering value is about figuring our how to ‘go deep’ into your relationships with customers and their relationship with you, each other, and your brand. It’s about new processes, new business models, new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing (p. 61).

What does that mean for marketers? First, it means the times are so ripe for small businesses to succeed. You have the best opportunity to “go deep.” You also have the tools readily and economically available to actually go deep, too. Second, this is encouragement for all of you who WANT to spend time getting to know your customers, but feel guilty taking the time required to do so. Asacker’s implicit prediction is, you’ll be rewarded with still being in business in the long term because you’re “deep” with your fans. Third, it also gives you a FREE PARKING pass to go crazy experimenting with social media, your blog, getting your customers involved in your store, inviting them to give sounds bites as you record with your Flip MinoHD and then spend an hour or so playing around with the latest version of iMovie.

It also seems that Asacker’s clearing the deck so you can enjoy running you business by doing something worthwhile for your customers. It’s not about the money.

Are you happy yet?

Tom Asacker on Twitter

My radio interview with Tom Asacker for the Social Media Professor program.

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