In case you’ve been asleep for the last year – markets and marketing has taken a big leap backwards.
We’ve reverted to a place where no longer can faceless corporations produce mediocre products and services and hide in their corporate towers.
A bad review from someone with a high Klout or Peerindex score in your niche can now clobber a brands reputation, and even stock price.
On the other side, rave reviews, fantastic customer service, and reaching the right brand advocates can launch a brand to stardom.
A quick scan of my twitter account and I know:
The Four Seasons Hotel rocks! – and Thomas Marzano vouches for them.
Consummate business traveller Gillian Muessig thinks Delta are great!
Yet her followers will be steering clear of Aer Lingus…
So – We’re back to the old market days, but with our mobile phones and web clout in hand. Days where businesses relied on a close network of customers, and good word of mouth.
Honest, good, service and a decent product is back to being king. Some would argue it never lost its throne. But the good news is, the masses have their voice back, and its recorded, ready for playback. And its not just for consumer goods or services.
B2C and B2B definitions are fading.
“We now live in a P2P world – People to People relationships are the new norm.”
And adapting your product or service to the ever changing marketplace and meeting peoples needs will be key.
But where am I with this title?
We all adapt, evolve and innovate, but something I struggle with is remembering the thorough retrospective. Looking back and examining success and failure. Recording it and learning from it.
I’m instituting today and for the rest of my marketing career a daily retrospective. Standing up with my colleagues, and listing out:
- What went wrong – all too easily we jump to examine the negative, so get it out of the way, but put it somewhere you wont forget it. If you had a big fail, give it a face, write it on a post-it and stick it beside your desk.
- What went right – if doing something different helped or if consistency prevailed – write it down! If you had a big win, give it a big smiley face, a persona on a post-it and stick that beside your desk. Be proud of it.
- How can we improve? – listing out some bullets for the next time and evolving.
The Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 in the following years will all be companies that fail fast and innovate fast — remembering what they’ve learnt and adapting to win.
The key for larger organisations will be –- how well do you share your learning and knowledge internally. Not just bragging about your wins, but getting the right people info on your wins, fails and improvements.
It’s an Agile world and its only getting faster.
Nick Allen - Marketing, Growth & Running 