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INTRODUCTION

Learning is not compulsory … neither is survival.

W. Edwards Deming

Wake up, Marketers!

It’s time for a revolution.

Most marketing programs are WORTHLESS!

AND if something doesn’t change, most marketing people will soon become cost-savings opportunities!

By most marketing programs, I mean 75 to 95 percent. That’s the numeric estimate of the failure rate of marketing initiatives according to academic researchers, it’s the forecast based on interviews with CEOs, and it’s the conclusion of my own independent research on more than 10,000 ideas.

It’s time for a revolution in marketing. It’s time for marketing managers and senior managers at companies small and large to change their approach.

The world of sales and marketing faces a crisis of confidence. Senior management of large corporations, as well as many who finance small and medium-sized businesses, has lost faith in the abilities of sales and marketing to grow top-line sales. Instead, management is turning to the more disciplined purchasing, production, and manufacturing groups as they are reliably delivering lower costs and finding new ways to improve bottom-line profits.

The only way we are going to change this negative momentum—and yes, I’m a ZEALOT for the HONORABLE CRAFTS of SALES & MARKETING—is by changing our THINKING SYSTEMS. It’s through changing our systems of thinking that we can achieve meaningful, measurable top-line growth and rightfully restore the confidence of senior management and those who finance small and mediumsized enterprises.

Even the biggest of the big need to change their approach. A study by Emergence in 2003 found that of twenty-two advertisers in the “$100 million advertising spending club,” only six had marketing slogans recognized by more than 10 percent of the adult population! And I thought that “stupid” marketing ended with the thankful death of the “dot-con” marketers at the turn of the century. Apparently not.

Since this book was first published, thousands of executives from Singapore to New York to London have taken the Marketing Brain IQ Test on the previous pages. The results have been EMBARRASSING!

When given the multiple-choice test, marketing HOT SHOTS get an average of 30 percent correct. Heck, given that there are only two options for most of the questions, flipping a coin should get them a 50 percent success rate. Marketing Managers laugh when they get basic questions wrong. I cry.

Tom Peters is a kindred spirit. He was kind enough to write the foreword to the first book in the Jump Start series, Jump Start Your BUSINESS Brain. An e-mail from him, written from his New Delhi hotel room in the fall of 2004, gave me a wake-up call. Here’s an excerpt:

Tom Peters’s Re-Imagine Manifesto

They say I’m extreme.

I say I’m a realist.

They say “We need an Initiative.”

I say “We need a Dream, and Dreamers.

They say “We can’t handle this much change.”

I say “Your job and career are in jeopardy; what other options do you have?”

They say “Take a deep breath. Be calm.”

I say “Tell it to Wal-Mart. Tell it to China. Tell it to India.

Tell it to Dell. Tell it to Microsoft.”

They say, “Sure we need ‘Change.’”

I say we need “REVOLUTION NOW.”

They say “Conglomerate & Imitate!”

I say “Create & Innovate!”

They say “Market share.”

I say “Market CREATION.”

They say “Globalization is a bumpy road.”

I say India and China and Asia in general are within two decades of running the show: Get ready or get trounced.

They say “It’s a fright.”

I say “It’s a Helluva Ride.”

They say it’s “daunting.”

I say it’s “a hoot.”

They say “Install cost controls with teeth.”

I say “Grow the Top Line.”

They say “Wait your turn, honor those who have marched these corridors before you.”

I say Get Off Your Butt & Go for the Gold … TODAY … or sign the transfer papers

willing your job in perpetuity to a Chinese or Indian who

Gives a Shit and Gets Up

(VERY) Early and works Saturdays & Sundays.

They say I “overplay” the “women’s thing.”

I say the share of Women in Senior Leadership Positions is a Waste and a Disgrace and a

Strategic Marketing Error.

They say we need a “project” to exploit the women-boomergeezer market.

I say we need Total Strategic Realignment to exploit the

Women-Boomer-Geezer

Opportunity.

They say “We can’t all be Revolutionaries.”

I say “Why not?”

They say this is just a Rant.

I say this is just Reality.

They say “The man is not nice.”

I say “The times are not forgiving.”

HELPING TO STOP THE MADNESS

Jump Start Your MARKETING Brain is my small contribution to stopping the marketing madness. It’s 50,000 volts of ideas and advice designed to guide business owners and managers toward smarter systems of marketing thinking.

This book was originally published as Meaningful Marketing. It was a proper book. An adult book. A mature book. The result was impressive reviews from such lofty publications as Marketing Research Magazine, Midwest Book Review, and Soundview Executive Book Summaries and from the longtime “sage” of business book reviews himself, Jack Covert, founder of 800-CEO-READ.

The problem was that while the academics and reviewers loved the book’s rich amount of data, the real-world folks weren’t getting it. Therefore, I decided to “blow up the book.” As Picasso once said, “Sometimes the first act of creation is one of destruction.”

This revised edition has greater urgency—higher energy—and more bluntness than the first because, as Tom Peters says, “These times are not forgiving.” I’ve torn the book apart, reworked, revised, and rewritten it. I’ve made changes to virtually every page. I’ve also reorganized the content into sections that better reflect the needs of readers—marketing strategy, marketing message, persuasion, selling, leadership, and teamwork.

Lastly, given the scope of the changes, I figured it was appropriate to give the book a new title and look. Given the disappointing results of the Marketing Brain IQ test, I almost named the book A First Course in Marketing Literacy, because frankly, most marketing managers are virtually ILLITERATE when it comes to understanding the fundamentals of marketing. But alas, cooler heads at my publisher prevailed.

THE OVERT BENEFIT OF THIS BOOK TO YOU

The ideas and advice in this book will help you IMMEDIATELY DOUBLE your Marketing Success Rate. Said another way, this book will show you How to Sell More with Less Effort. By following the advice, you will multiply the impact of every dollar you invest and every hour you spend on sales and marketing.

When I say IMMEDIATELY, I mean it. From Scotland to Canada to the United States, I have seen marketers from small, medium, and mega-sized companies realize a doubling of their success rate in just an eight-hour workshop. The following quotes from small businesses in Scotland, from people who attended a Jump Start Your Business workshop, give you a sense of the speed of results that are possible.

“We sent out a trial mail shot on our new product (developed at Jump Start) on Thursday to eighteen customers and received three orders this morning (Monday)—definitely the fastest response to any marketing we have ever done.”

Douglas Lamb, The Boxshop Ltd

“The materials we produced using the Jump Start principles are by far the most effective I have ever used. I’ve already sent out four quotes to new customers, with more on my desk to do.”

Martin Bowman, Q-Pulse Software

THE REAL REASON TO BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY DOUBLE YOUR SUCCESS RATE

Unlike the statements of opinion-preaching gurus, the advice and ideas in this book are grounded in HARD DATA. Quantitative data statistically analyzed ensures that the advice provided is RELIABLE & REPRODUCIBLE. The data behind this book range from a “mind-numbing” review of more than 2,000 academic articles to thousands of hours of original statistical research of data sets provided by Eureka! Ranch clients.

This Book Is Based on Research Involving:
2,700	Advertisements
12,693	Brands
4,349	Business-to-Business Customers
5,252	Industrial Customers
298,832	Retail Consumers
3,557	Sales Representatives

ONE STEP FURTHER THAN EVEN STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

After studying the academic research, it became clear to me that statistical significance or size of study would not be a sufficient standard. I found research on large base sizes that I just didn’t find convincing and studies using smaller samples that were convincing. To resolve this dilemma, I decided to review the data sources based on the more challenging legal standard of “truth beyond a reasonable doubt.” Specifically, I used the Web site www.lectlaw.com’s definition of it:

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT: The level of certainty a juror must have to find a defendant guilty of a crime. A real doubt, based upon reason and common sense after careful and impartial consideration of all the evidence, or lack of evidence, in a case.

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, is proof of such a convincing character that you would be willing to rely and act upon it without hesitation in the most important of your own affairs. However, it does not mean an absolute certainty.

For every piece of Scientific Advice offered in this book, I asked myself, “Is this advice of such a convincing character that I would be willing to rely and act upon it without hesitation in the most important of my own affairs?”

I realize that it’s always possible that new data may contradict what I’ve written. I look upon potential future contradictions with anticipation, not fear. I love to learn. I welcome the submission of additional data and/or arguments that contradict my findings.

WHAT YOU’LL ACTUALLY REALIZE FROM APPLYING THIS BOOK’S ADVICE

In truth, you will probably do better than double your odds of success, but I figured that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Studies of Eureka! Ranch clients (mega-brands and small businesses) indicate that through EXTREMELY DISCIPLINED application of the Scientific Advice on these pages, most clients move from 15 percent odds of success with their marketing message to 45 to 60 percent—in effect TRIPLING to QUADRUPLING their odds. How much improvement you realize depends on your DEDICATION to learning and your DISCIPLINE in applying the learning to your situation.

NO STATISTICAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED

I’ve translated all statistical terms into common English. The result is that even if you suffered from allergic reactions to high school math, you will easily grasp all advice on these pages.

The Technical Appendix provides specific details on my research sources. I realize that not everyone is as much of a data geek as I am. However, I strongly recommend that you read some of the technical references cited.

HINT: When you find yourself becoming DEFENSIVE—fighting or rejecting the advice I’ve articulated—you have a responsibility to yourself and your company to seek deeper understanding. With the Internet, accessing the academic articles is easy. If it’s a proprietary Eureka! Ranch study, e-mail me at Doug@DougHall.com, and I’ll provide more details.

THE ADVICE YOU REJECT OFFERS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY FOR HELPING YOU MEASURABLY IMPROVE YOUR MARKETING SUCCESS RATE!

IT’S SYSTEMS—THINKING SYSTEMS—THAT CAUSE MARKETING FAILURE

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is considered one of the “fathers” of modern management methods. His work on Total Quality has spawned 6-Sigma, Lean Engineering, and countless other variations. He was instrumental in helping Japan become a world economic power. If you’ve ever been in awe of the quality of a Japanese car, you’ve experienced Dr. Deming’s legacy.

I have a small personal connection to Dr. Deming that no doubt influences my opinions. The first company in the United States to work with Dr. Deming was Nashua Corporation, where my father was director of Central Engineering. At the time, I was a chemical engineering student at the University of Maine. I’ll never forget my father’s excitement as he spoke of Dr. Deming’s principles and processes. He spoke in wonder at the near-miraculous results he witnessed.

Eventually NBC did a story on what was happening at Nashua Corporation, leading to a team from the Ford Motor Company and others traveling to the company’s headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

My dad’s excitement infected me. Over the years I’ve sought to apply Deming’s Scientific Method to sales, marketing, and innovation. This book is my learning to date; however, there is much to be done.

Dr. Deming found that most failures were failures of the system. He estimated that 94 percent of a worker’s performance is determined by the system they work within, and the remaining 6 percent by their individual effort. The conclusion was clear: To measurably improve success rates, we must focus on improving the SYSTEM.

94 percent of failures are caused by the SYSTEM. 6 percent are due to worker error.

Most work on quality has been focused on the factory floor. It’s been focused on the reduction of mistakes. In the revised edition of his last book, The New Economics, Dr. Deming argued that this was just the start. He estimated that improvements in production quality were 3 percent of the potential for improvement. He felt that fully 97 percent of the big gains were waiting in areas such as business strategy, planning, personnel, marketing, sales, etc.

Deming reported that most energy spent on quality had been focused on the factory floor on eliminating defects. And, though this is important, he warned, “Absence of defects does not necessarily build business, does not keep the plant open. Something more is required.”

The “more” he then described is, in my opinion, the JOB OF MARKETING. It’s the job of marketing to lead the development process. It’s up to marketing to provide a vision for the engineers and scientists. Customers don’t invent new products or services. As Deming said,

The customer generates nothing. No customer asked for electric lights. There was gas and gas mantles, which gave good light. No customer asked for photography. No customer asked for the telegraph, nor for a telephone. No customer asked for an automobile. We have horses: What could be better? No customer asked for pneumatic tires. Tires are made of rubber. It is silly to think of riding on air.

It’s marketing’s responsibility to imagine the future. It’s marketing’s job to blend knowledge of customers, consumers, manufacturing, engineering, finance, and even legal, and to boldly, bravely invent BIG IDEAS for revolutionizing their industry.

Deming said that management and leaders must “govern their own future, not be merely victims of circumstance.” He went on to say that preparation for the future includes “constant scanning of the environment (technical, social, economic) to perceive need for innovation, new products, new service, or innovation of method. A company can to some extent govern its own future.”

In recent years, quality efforts, and in particular 6-Sigma efforts by Motorola, GE, and others, have become popular tools for improving competitiveness. Sadly, the sales and marketing departments have resisted involvement. I recall a visit with a senior vice president of marketing at one of the United States’ hundred biggest companies. As we stood near the elevator at their New York City headquarters, I commented on a sign advertising the company’s 6-Sigma program. In response to my question regarding how the quality program was going she replied, “It’s not a marketing thing—it’s for production and operations.”

Wrong! In today’s marketplace, everyone must improve quality. For sales and marketing, quality is measured by the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing and sales programs.

The primary “systems” that are relevant to sales and marketing quality are THINKING SYSTEMS. With continuous improvement in thinking systems, you realize continuous improvement in your marketing response rates, trial rates, and sales success.

When thinking systems are faulty, then no matter how hard you work or how much money you invest, failure is a reproducible certainty. In my thirty years of experience, I’ve concluded that Deming’s observations on quality also apply to marketing:

94 percent of MARKETING Failures are caused by faulty THINKING SYSTEMS. 6 percent are due to worker error

The aim of the Eureka! Ranch is to translate the wisdom of Deming to the world of Sales, Marketing, and Innovation. It’s not easy. The first challenge is finding what metric to measure. With our Innovation efforts, it took us nearly a year to create and validate a system for measuring the quality of ideas on a real-time basis during group brainstorming. This measurement tool has allowed us to transform our system—resulting in a 10X STEP CHANGE IMPROVEMENT in the quantity and quality of ideas we invent. But that’s not the subject of this book—that’s the subject of the upcoming Jump Start Your CREATIVE Brain.

The measurement of marketing effectiveness is just as difficult. Short-term sales increases due to promotional gimmicks are often matched with equivalent declines in sales in the next time period.

Marketing managers commonly confuse coincidence with cause and effect. They get “lucky” once in their career with a strategy or tactic and seek to repeat it. The result is a career of frustration in not being able to relive the “lucky moment.”

The science of statistics provides methods for identifying whether what we are observing is a random event or a statistically reproducible finding. Through disciplined analysis, we can identify scientific principles to guide our everyday thinking and decision-making.

MEANINGFUL MARKETING VS. MINDLESS MARKETING

At the Eureka! Ranch, our “religion” is something we call Meaningful Marketing. Meaningful Marketing is about honest storytelling. It’s about telling with absolute accuracy how your offering will make a meaningful difference in customers’ lives.

Sadly, a quick review of modern advertising finds that Meaningfulness in communications is a rarity. Instead of respecting a customer’s intelligence through communicating real news, most advertising attempts to coerce customers using what we at the Eureka! Ranch call Mindless Marketing.

Mindless Marketing is about using persuasion trickery to sell your offering. It’s about encouraging customers to make a purchase without conscious thought or consideration.

When a celebrity is paid to use a product to persuade gullible youth to buy, that’s Mindless Marketing. When a credit card company offers no interest for 90 days, then raises its rates to loan shark-like levels, that’s Mindless Marketing. When a company pays to have its brand shown in a television show, that’s Mindless Marketing. When a company gives free gifts to consumers to get them to create “buzz” about their product, that’s Mindless Marketing.

The search for “Persuasion Tricks” is nothing new. In 1983 advertising legend David Ogilvy wrote in Ogilvy on Advertising of the never-ending desire of the media and the advertising community to find the latest “hot marketing trend.”

There have always been noisy lunatics on the fringes of the advertising business. Their stock-in-trade includes ethnic humor, eccentric art direction, contempt for research, and their self-proclaimed genius. They are seldom found out, because they gravitate to the kind of clients who, bamboozled by their rhetoric, do not hold them responsible for sales results. Their campaigns find favor at cocktail parties…. In the days when I specialized in posh campaigns for The New Yorker, I was the hero of this coterie, but when I graduated to advertising in mass media and wrote a book which extolled the value of research, I became its devil. I comfort myself with the reflection that I have sold more merchandise than all of them put together.

Both Meaningful Marketing and Mindless Marketing can be successful in the short term. The difference between the two lies in longer-term success rates and profitability. Research shows that Meaningful Marketing initiatives are twice as likely to succeed in the marketplace long term and five times less likely to be vulnerable to pricing pressures.

In short, Meaningful Marketing enables you to sell more with less investment of your time and money. Mindless Marketing requires that you sell your product at a lower price, spend more on promotion and advertising repetitions, and hope for a Pavlovian response from customers.

A comprehensive discussion of the differences between Meaningful Marketing and Mindless Marketing can be found in Chapter 6. I’ve placed it near the back of the book, as the discussion is somewhat theoretical, and I wanted the Scientific Advice and Practical Ideas to be up front. In today’s overstressed world, many marketers just don’t have the time to read theory. They want ANSWERS, and THEY WANT THEM NOW. Feel free to read this chapter out of order if you’re interested in having a deeper understanding of the theory before exploring the tactics.

HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED

Jump Start Your MARKETING Brain uses a unique two-page format. The left-hand page details a piece of Scientific Advice, its essence distilled into a single sentence at the top of the page. Dr. Deming said, “A goal without a method is nonsense.” So to reduce my chances of writing a book of nonsense, I’ve placed a collection of Practical Ideas on the right-hand page, specific ideas for applying the Scientific Advice to your sales and marketing challenges. I’ve purposely provided an overabundance of suggestions to guarantee that you’ll find ideas to help you no matter what your situation.

The advice and ideas are clustered into chapters.

Chapter 1: Marketing Strategy: Marketing Strategy myths and misconceptions are exposed and NEW SYSTEMS of strategic thinking are detailed in this extensive review of what really drives marketing success.

Chapter 2: Marketing Message: The focus here is on how to create more Meaningful Marketing Messages—the kinds of marketing messages that generate significant, sustained success in the marketplace.

Chapter 3: Mindless Marketing: Here you will find a collection of Persuasion Tricks that are very effective at persuading customers to do that which they don’t consciously choose to do. Just understand that customers who come to you mindlessly will also leave just as mindlessly. In effect, you are basically renting customers. This chapter comes between the “Marketing Message” and “Selling” chapters as the advice and ideas apply to both disciplines.

Chapter 4: Selling: This chapter provides advice, ideas, and ammunition to help the front-line warriors increase their return on every hour they spend. In the case of small-and medium-sized businesses, the same person often does both marketing and sales. That said, I recommend that even when you do hold both roles, you think of them as distinct tasks. The thinking systems that drive success in marketing are separate from those that drive selling success.

Chapter 5: Leadership & Teamwork: Advice and ideas to inspire you and your team.

Chapter 6: Meaningful Marketing vs. Mindless

Marketing: The last chapter defines the differences between Meaningful Marketing Messages and Mindless Marketing Persuasion Tricks.

Technical Appendix: For those who get as excited as I do about data, here’s an overload of technical references, discussion, and documentation.

WARNING: This book could OVERWHELM YOU. It’s a DEEP DIVE into the complex world of sales and marketing. It’s for those with a genuine commitment to measurably improving their success rate.

If you’re not really passionate about marketing or are not truly committed, then you should stop here and take the book back to where you got it. The first book in this series, Jump Start Your BUSINESS Brain, provides a simpler, bigger-picture view of how to measurably improve your marketing and innovation success rates.

YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO WIN MORE THAN YOU LOSE

As Ben Franklin once said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” The truths detailed on these pages are proven probabilities. They are not black-and-white certainties. They have been proven statistically and, to me, beyond a reasonable doubt. However, while they are widely applicable, they are not universally applicable. There will be situations in which they are irrelevant or just don’t apply.

Then, too, even truths with high statistical odds are not certainties. For a weather forecast of 80 percent chance of rain to be statistically correct, it must not rain about 20 percent of the time, or one out of five times.

With any individual event, there is a chance that a truth may not apply. However, with repeated application, statistical forecasts become reality. Thus, if you apply the advice as articulated in this book, you will WIN MORE than you will lose.

My goal on these pages is to translate scientific findings into written advice. It’s advice; it’s not THE LAW. You are free to not follow the advice. You are free to bet on long shots. Just don’t complain when you lose more than you win.

EXTRA DOSES

If you are a true Marketing Revolutionary, SIGN UP for Eureka! Espresso at www.DougHall.com. Eureka! Espresso is my occasional e-newsletter and audio PodCast of intense ideas, musing, and rants on marketing and innovation.

The Espresso name is more than an alliteration. I’m such a coffee fanatic that at the Eureka! Ranch we have our own brand called Brain Brew. It’s an intense brew stoked with caffeine and the flavor of four of the world’s most prized coffee beans. A test found that after chugging three cups of Brain Brew, participants invented 40 percent more ideas than the decaffeinated control group.

I believe in following in the footsteps of such noted coffee lovers as Franklin, Twain, Voltaire, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. I believe that the power of one’s mind is directly proportional to the quantity and quality of coffee one drinks.

I understand that the impact of coffee on health is richly debated. Myself, I’m on the side of Voltaire, who reportedly drank some fifty cups of coffee a day. When told that drinking coffee was a “slow poison,” the philosopher replied that it must be very slow indeed, as he had been drinking that much coffee every day for more than eighty years!

THE WHITE SPACE IS YOUR SPACE

Throughout this book I’ve purposely left WHITE SPACE. This is your space for thinking. This is your space for “connecting the dots” between the scientific advice and your world. PLEASE BE BOLD—read and write with a PEN. Write, scribble, think, jot, create, and challenge yourself to find smarter and more creative ways to revolutionize your marketing success.

Doug Hall January 17, 2005 Cincinnati, Ohio