The Marketing Assessment: Measuring Business Performance

Measuring progress on the consistent implementation of marketing and communication strategies is important to the life of any organization or business. Many make the mistake of allowing sales and/or revenue streams to crest and trough, coinciding with changing market forces. Allowing your revue streams to gradually ebb as a result of inactivity or inattentiveness can harm your business dramatically. It can create a scenario where you are ill prepared to take on unforeseen sudden changes in the marketplace, or it can make you unable to effectively fund growth and marketing opportunities properly during a trough in sales.

Most companies or organizations (note I am making a distinction between not for profit “organizations” and for profit “businesses”) take a hap hazard approach to marketing.  They often utilize, what I call the “shinny object” syndrome by marketing based on, whatever initiative catches their attention and falls within generally accepted marketing principles. They tend to support sponsorships, traditional media, inconsistent online strategies, direct mail, events and on occasion some limited public relations.  The problem with all this is, it is generally not well co-ordinated, defined and consistently applied. No one has actually crafted a marketing message that responds to current audience needs and demands; and the results are usually viewed on an individual project-by-project basis with little means of evaluating performance as a group or over time.

The problem is compounded by the fact that most managers, directors, owners, presidents and CEOs all believe they know more than just a little about marketing.  They know their product or service inside out and they understand their business proposition, so they feel qualified to be able to make marketing decisions for their organization or business. In turn, these decision makers empower middle managers, graphic artists, social network specialists and web programmers, often without supporting customer data and product analysis, to institute marketing initiatives.

While all these and many other marketing, advertising, sales and public relations functions can contribute to a marketing program. They can only be successful when implemented under a carefully thought out marketing strategy that has incorporated the tools and means of evaluating performance. That strategy overlays the products and services, features and benefits, customer service strategy, unique selling features and nature of an organization over customer demographics to establish goals and objectives that can be measured or modified as the performance dictates.

The reason that companies and organizations do not enter into such a process readily, is that - more than cost, the process demands the attention of the senior management team. It demands that they participate in a very focused process; evaluating their performance in detail. In a senior decision maker’s world, this is their most valuable resource, time and effort. Diverting management’s attention to conduct a marketing review and put in place a process for evaluating the organization’s performance doesn't seem to measure up to more perceived important company issues, such as new products, ongoing products and services, sales, customer service, etc.

There are marketing strategies that can be employed to help protect companies from troughs in the business cycle or to help grow your organization to the next level. How you answer the questions in our marketing survey will help you understand how prepared your company or organization is.

Learning From Failure

One of the most underrated strategies for changing the prospects on a product, company, organization or process, is learning from failure and applying what you have learned. Most organizations, and of course the people in them, believe that failure is bad. They also believe that learning from it is pretty straightforward: Ask people to reflect on what they did wrong, perhaps write a report about it and encourage them to avoid similar mistakes in the future. Failure is not always bad. In organizations and companies sometimes failure can be bad, but sometimes it’s inevitable, and sometimes even good. Second, learning from organizational failures is anything but straightforward since most lessons are superficial and they allow us to cling to existing ideas of success.

Failure and fault are virtually inseparable in most organizations. We all learn early that admitting failure means taking the blame. That is why so few organizations reward learning from failure. Failure can come from many sources ranging from inattention, willfully violating a process, lack of ability and process complexity, to uncertainty and exploratory testing. As we go through this range we begin to see that some of these may make it difficult to identify the exact nature of the failure. A sophisticated understanding of failure’s causes and contexts will help institute an effective strategy for learning from failure. Although an infinite number of things can go wrong in organizations, mistakes fall into three broad categories: preventable, complexity-related and intelligent.

Preventable failures in predictable operations: Most failures in this category can indeed be considered “bad.” They usually involve deviations from spec in the closely defined processes of high-volume or routine operations in manufacturing and services. With proper training and support, employees can follow those processes consistently.

Unavoidable failures in complex systems: A large number of organizational failures are due to the inherent uncertainty of work. Although serious failures can be averted by following best practices small process failures are inevitable. To consider them bad is not just a misunderstanding of how complex systems work; it is counterproductive. Avoiding consequential failures means rapidly identifying and correcting small failures.

Intelligent failures at the frontier: Failures in this category can rightly be considered “good,” because they provide valuable new knowledge that can help an organization leap ahead of the competition and ensure its future growth. But failure is still inherently emotionally charged; getting an organization to accept it takes leadership. Insist that your organization develop a clear understanding of what happened, not of “who did it, when things go wrong.

Here are some tips to consistently help learn from failures:

• Frame the work accurately
• Embrace messengers
• Acknowledge limits, invite participation
• Set boundaries and hold people accountable.

Lewis Carroll Schools us on Correspondence

Lewis Caroll - Author of
Alice in Wonderland

In his short pamphlet, written in 1890, “Eight or Nine Words About Letter Writing"  Lewis Carroll (author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) lays down some basic strategies for writing that apply to modern day correspondence such  as e-mails, blogs, Facebook posts and tweets.

If the Letter is to be in answer to another, begin by getting out that other letter and reading it through, in order to refresh your memory, as to what it is you have to answer… A great deal of the bad writing in the world comes simply from writing too quickly.

When you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, put it aside till the next day. Then read it over again, and fancy it addressed to yourself.  This will often lead to your writing it all over again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper, and putting in honey instead, and thus making a much more palatable dish of it.

If your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe: and if he makes a friendly remark, tending towards “making up” the little difference that has arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly more friendly. If, in picking a quarrel, each party declined to go more than three-eighths of the way, and if, in making friends, each was ready to go five-eighths of the way — why, there would be more reconciliations than quarrels!

If doubtful whether to end with “yours faithfully,” or “yours truly,” or “yours most truly,” &c. (there are at least a dozen varieties, before you reach “yours affectionately”), refer to your correspondent’s last letter, and make your winding-up at least as friendly as his; in fact, even if a shade more friendly, it will do no harm!

Don’t try to have the last word! How many a controversy would be nipped in the bud, if each was anxious to let the other have the last word! Never mind how telling a rejoinder you leave unuttered: never mind your friend’s supposing that you are silent from lack of anything to say: let the thing drop, as soon as it is possible without discourtesy: remember “speech is silvern, but silence is golden”!

Don’t repeat yourself. When once you have said your say, fully and clearly, on a certain point, and have failed to convince your friend, drop that subject: to repeat your arguments, all over again, will simply lead to his doing the same; and so you will go on, like a Circulating Decimal. Did you ever know a Circulating Decimal come to an end?

If it should ever occur to you to write, jestingly, in dispraise of your friend, be sure you exaggerate enough to make the jesting obvious: a word spoken in jest, but taken as earnest, may lead to very serious consequences. I have known it to lead to the breaking-off of a friendship.

A Postscript is a very useful invention: but it is not meant… to contain the real gist of the letter: it serves rather to throw into the shade any little matter we do not wish to make a fuss about.

Sacrificing Comprehension On The Altar of Ephemera?

The average attention span in 2001 was 12 seconds; in 2013 it
was 8  seconds; a goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds.

So often we come across abbreviated lists of behaviours that are designed to “shortcut” the process of learning. We understand that learning is a process of transformation that demands we apply time and effort to modify behaviours, thoughts and actions. Why then do we deliver learning in facile lists distilled down to the simplest steps or in classrooms and workshops?

 Are we sacrificing comprehension on the altar of ephemera or are we boring a new generation tasked with learning to adopt to a technology based culture?  Do we truly understand the nature of learning as a society or have we been duped by a culture steeped in the glorification of youth and its ability to adapt to technology.   

We appear to be moving from a culture of thoughtful attention to one of distracted focus. For example, in the sixties, movies scenes held a viewer’s attention of about 20 seconds, today that has shrunk to about 2 – 3 seconds. The average attention span in 2001 was 12 seconds; in 2013 it was 8 seconds; a goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds. Today 51% of millennials prefer video to text.  In 2013 adults aged 50 to 64 upped their consumption of online video from 11 minutes a day to 19 minutes a day. This year it is predicted we will consume more than 15 hours a day of media.

I believe that there is a sweet spot in the learning process that responds to shorter attention spans while providing the information in a way; at a time, and in in a format that is easily consumed by a more media savvy younger generation of learners.

As developers and designers of learning programs particularly in the areas of eLearning and blended learning we are constantly faced with the challenge of addressing shortened attention spans and alternative learning scenarios as dictated by the largest group of learners, young people (which we would identify as 18 – 34). Although the case for shortened attention spans would dictate a change in learning strategies training decision makers, in their wisdom, continue to rely primarily on a traditional “bums in seats” strategy for learning.

Consider this; in the US business spend over 160 billion is spent annually on training, 80% is forgotten in 30 days and 90% within one year. The average time to create 1 hour of classroom learning is estimated at between 43 and 185 hours. The average time an employee trains in a year is 30 hours and fewer than 15% apply what they have learned.   The 90/20/8 rule tells us that in the first 8 minutes of learning we are at our peek energy level, after 20 minute our neurons experience a noticeable drop in activity and after 60 to 120 minutes our alertness completely collapses.

 While short lists, tips, guidelines and tricks provide some easily digestible information, we almost always treat this information as disposable. It offers no means of truly comprehending the ideas and offers little in terms of depth of knowledge. On the other end of the spectrum, traditional learning doesn’t work either. We believe that shorter intervals of eLearning respond to the need for multiple streams of information, a preference for high stimulation and lower tolerance for boredom.

References: Hayles, University of California; USC Marshall School of Business, ScienceDaily; Levels Beyond, Direct Marketing News; National Center for Biotechnology Information, The Associated

Press; Cross-Platform Report, Nielsen Q2 2104; Harris Survey, Grovo 2014; Human Capital Trends Switzerland 2014, Deloitte; National Sleep Foundation, BusinessWeek; American

Dietetic Association; McKinsey, BusinessWeek; Skills Soft; The Association forTalent Development; Via Learning Solutions; Wall Street Journal; Pike, Creative Training;

Techniques Handbook; Goldstein, Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience; Bailey, Mindgym; Jimenez, “3 minute learning”; eLearning Infographics, Mobile Learning Generation

Blended Learning Strategy– Cost Effective Training

If you've not satisfied with continual staff turnover, escalating salary bidding wars and the quality of your current workforce skills you may want to consider a Blended Learning Strategy for your company. With the advent of eLearning, a cost-effective blended learning strategy for a small business employers can now be developed to train a workforce for both soft skills and practical skills. The formula might include a syllabus of off-the-shelf eLearning for soft skills, on-the-job training for practical skills, a process for filtering likely successful candidates, a means of testing milestone comprehension and a good benefits package to attract and retain the best possible candidates. 

It is an investment, for sure, but it can be very cost effective when you measure this against all the time and effort you dedicate to managing your workforce, the quality of work preformed, the cost of developing leadership and communications skills, the cost of retaining good performers and the effect that "churn" has on productivity, Developing a focused Blended Learning strategy pays long term dividends for businesses and organizations that are focused on growth. The changing economy and the rise of the too-skilled worker demographic has led to an unusual segmentation in the available labour force. This is borne out by the many discussions I have had with small to medium size employers who experience on ongoing shortage of talent. Many companies we work with could actually grow more rapidly if they could count on a skilled workforce to meet their demands.  

Pundits and experts point to the lack of training investment, economic uncertainty, poorly designed government programs and lack of employer vision in developing training programs - as the main culprits in this seeming shortage of qualified labour. Hard to lament a shortage in labour when the economy as a whole continues to sputter and unemployment continues to be an issue.

I believe, however, the employment shortage is real and not just imagined. In recognizing this shortage - I have identified three distinct groups of unemployed which can help us create solutions. The first group is the over –qualified university “Educated Worker” with eyes on a middle management position and little or no experience, the second is the “Employed” that has the skills and are actively being pursued by competing companies, while the third group, in this over simplified model, is the unemployed who may have little or no post-secondary education, not a lot of experience and are seeking opportunities with a future in a marketplace filled with service industry and part time positions.

A recent Labour Market Partnership (LMP) study (over 2,000 small businesses participated ) identified the following 10 learning requirements for small businesses, including: people skills/relationship-building, communication skills, problem solving skills, analytical abilities, leadership skills, industry-specific knowledge & experience, functional knowledge, technological literacy, project management skills and creative thinking.  

Accessing available online training for the bulk of the skills required and implementing a structured on-the job-training program can address the need for skilled labour in an organized and cost effective way. Adding a means of filtering recruits, testing for milestone comprehension and developing a strategy for ensuring they stay with the organization over the long term can make this training initiative a very cost effective means of acquiring and retaining a skilled workforce.

In today’s workplace it’s no longer good enough for employers, particularly in the manufacturing and industrial marketplace, to simply hope that there is a qualified talent pool, outbid competing companies or count on government initiatives that will address the need for unique skill sets. Employers need to invest in their own training program that leverages available low cost learning solutions for soft skills coupled with an on-the-job training program for practical skills. The magic additional ingredients in such a program are: the ability to benchmark test applicants, filter and select only the best potential applicants and develop a strategy for retaining these skills with a strong company vision and a good benefits package. Contact us to learn more.

Curating Conferences In The Digital Age

Curating content in the Digital Age and promoting its
 value is an important part of a conference, workshop,
or seminar digital strategy 

In talking to clients over the past year or so I have noticed a trend; many organizations are beginning to question the effectiveness of workshops, seminars and conferences in terms of costs and effectiveness. While these events are a good place to network they rarely have any tangible effect within an organization. These types of learning events have been commonplace in the corporate life cycle over the past several decades, but that is about to change.

Don’t get me wrong, live events and their spill-out of social discourse and knowledge transfer continue to thrive – but in a more focused and scaled manner as organizations struggle to continue to create these kinds of learning opportunities. Over time costs for events such as workshops, seminars and conferences have steadily increased as food, hosting infrastructure, accommodations, transportation and support services spiral upwards. These factors coupled with an ineffective measurement of comprehension offers us an uncertain picture of the benefits of a live event. 

As a result, audience make up at such events is changing and the number of attendees is shrinking. Conferences, workshops and seminars were once attended by a broad spectrum of audiences, ranging from local and regional representation, including: organizational members, employees, interested stake holders and subject matter experts. Today the attendee demographic is fairly similar but we have seen a drop in the longer distance traveler – where accommodation and travel costs are influencing attendance decisions. 

This has created an opportunity for technology to step in and create a two-tiered conference strategy that employs a smaller, local or regional foot-print for attendees and a second larger provincial and regional attendance footprint through the use of curated digital content. In the past such content was treated in a very circumspect manner – digital videos, print and ancillary content was posted un-curated, in aggregate online, for a wider audience. These digital elements were not well attended since the content was generally long, boring, and did not reflect the social interaction and knowledge sharing of a conference or seminar.

Progressive organizations now are using a more forward thinking strategy by focusing their live events  towards the demographics of the attending audience -  and then curating the resulting assets which could include: eLearning, documentation, statistical data, PowerPoint presentations, video and /or audio in an organized forum for access by an expanded audience of learners.  Another important consideration is the promotion of curated assets. It is not good enough to just organize, distill and post – we have to let our audience know what information is available, ensure that there is a strategy for periodically reviewing and updating curated content and advise our potential audiences of the value of, and benefits for the information posted in an ongoing strategy.

A personal axiom I use to often describe this issue is “If you do not show respect for the content how can you expect your audience to value it?”  Having a curating strategy as we move deeper into the digital age will become increasingly important as new technology evolves and improves our access to digital information. I believe the live learning event has an important place in learning and the ephemeral nature of the information gained at such events will become increasingly important as we all learn to curate and create relevant archives of the valuable knowledge gained at conferences, workshops and seminars. 

Market Assessment - Navigating The Business Cycle

A Market Assessment can change the fortunes
 of your organization's future

Measuring progress on the consistent implementation of marketing and communication strategies allows organizations and companies to see beyond the numbers. Many make the mistake of allowing sales and/or revenue streams to crest and trough, coinciding with changing market forces. Allowing revue streams to ebb and margins to erode as a result of focusing on addressing current business issues and or the complex issues related to delivering jobs or projects can harm your business in the long term.

Gradual loss of focus on your marketing strategy will not be evident during an upswing in the market cycle but will have a dramatic impact on the fortunes of the company during a market cycle downturn or trough in sales. It can create a scenario where you are ill prepared to take on unforeseen or sudden changes in the marketplace; or it can make you unable to effectively fund investment in growth and/or product innovations properly when you need it most.

This issue has emerged over the past several years as one of the most telling - as companies strive to deal with the new reality; since the economic downturn across North America in 2008. The marketplace has changed and every company is being squeezed to offer more, do more and ….charge less of their products or services. As a result organizations and businesses are focused on the day to day issues in the life cycle of the business, such as human resources, project management, technology implementation, financial flexibility and more.

There are strategies that can be employed to help protect companies from troughs in the business cycle. We have developed a specialized process for conducting a “market assessment” to help reveal “opportunity gaps”. The assessment focuses on a bench-marked practice designed to better understand where you are in the business cycle and identify specific actions you can take to address those “opportunity gaps.” The market assessment reveals how your customers, employees, suppliers and key stakeholder perceive the company and its products or services and identifies gaps in your business development strategy.

The market Assessment is designed to be deployed relatively quickly and cost effectively – it provides you with a very clear snap shot of where your company currently sits in the business cycle and helps identify “opportunity gaps.” What is an “opportunity gap” ….well I am glad you asked? These are the potential growth opportunities that are currently being overlooked. A market assessment can reveal possible untapped markets, new partnerships, product development opportunities, unexplored customer loyalty programs, inconsistent value proposition, internal strife… and the list goes on. It’s different for each company depending on what the assessment reveals.

A marketing Assessment can also strengthen your company in preparation for its sale.  Most financial audits, in doing their due diligence will use these indicators to determine the longer term viability of your company. Most accounting practices who are informing the buy and sell process of a company understand that current sales and are not a strong predictor of future sales. Intangibles that give us insight into business issues beyond the numbers, such as new product pipeline, exploration of enhanced partnerships and future sales potential are a better indicators of long term viability.

In my next blog I will provide a specific list of intangibles to consider when conducting a market Assessment and offer readers an opportunity to test their Marketing IQ.