Author: Me

This is a very old saying and one I first heard in my early days in advertising. It was mentioned in regard to checking for typos and correct grammar. Because (and starting a sentence with ‘because’ is completely acceptable these days) the details make the difference between a good ad and a great ad. In actuality, it can make the difference between a potential customer buying and not buying.

I copped some stick during the week for comments I made about cafés spending more time selecting the right shade of paint colours than investing in tables that don’t wobble. That little detail, of sitting at a café table that doesn’t induce seasickness and coffee spillage, makes all the difference to my experience at that café. But here’s the rub; I wouldn’t notice if the table DIDN’T wobble.

The phenomenon occurring here is to do with expectations. In a civilised society, we expect certain things to occur. When things happen as they ought there is no fanfare, congratulations or tip. What has been provided is the bare minimum. Should our expectations be exceeded then another interesting set of phenomena spring into action which most resemble the psychological emotional condition known as ‘romantic love‘. To marketeers, this is also called brand loyalty. When the opposite happens and expectations are not met then an opportunity is lost and all marketing invested to date can be considered wasted.

Here endeth the lesson.

It is both amazingly simple and extraordinarily elusive. The bell curve, so named by its shape and not any other reason, graphically represents popularity. Perhaps of a cohort, perhaps of stock, you have on hand relative to sizes.

Until you have determined the criteria by which your target market sits within the middle of the bell curve you are chasing ghosts. Start-ups and SMEs do not require and cannot achieve an all-things-to-all-people marketing strategy.

One former Coca-Cola marketing VP was famously once asked, “Who is the ideal customer for Coca-Cola?”.

His reply, “Any c@#t with a mouth”. This quote has actually been attributed to many including the great Australian Adman Alan Morris of Mojo fame.

Coke, MacDonald’s, et al can afford that kind of strategy.

If you’re competing with a massive brand, or want to be, then accurately defining your target market is even more critical to success.

…is probably the most or one of the most offensive things anyone can say to a person of Asian ancestry. And the same can be true when the conversation goes the other way. The easiest way to piss off a Canadian is to ask what part of America they are from.  New Zealanders hate being called Australians and vice versa. I walked into a camera store in New York and was greeted by a salesman of Indian descent (the subcontinent, not indigenous American) who with a huge smile asked, “And how is my English friend today?” I did a u-turn and took my business across the road.

For many years Australians were well regarded in the US.  Actors, directors and musicians were making their presence felt in Hollywood. Business people were climbing their corporate ladders. Then bogan tourists started making fools of themselves and our national reputation went South. How quickly did Australia deny Russell Crowe was one of us after the mobile phone throwing incident; quicker than the Academy denied him an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind (one of my favourite films of all time),

Even though Australians and Americans speak the same language our cultures are about as different as Japan and Korea, India and Pakistan, China and Taiwan. The chasm becomes exceedingly obvious in the arena of marketing. Beyond mere language and units of measurement (the cost of the US converting to metric would add trillions to their National Debt), there is a fundamental difference in the psyche; Americans believe anyone can be a millionaire, while the Great Australian Dream is a home on a quarter acre block (or 0.101171 Ha). Typically with a mortgage which is a financial term which originally meant, until death.

And it’s this fundamental difference which makes American style marketing tactics fail to convert in markets down under. You see, dear reader, the first is an idea of hope and potential. The second is one of debt and despair.

Our love affair with owning property is killing us one by one.

Start-up and small business owners are typically very passionate people. Passionate about one thing. The thing in which they are expert. That passion is necessary, even mandatory for success. Can you imagine wanting to start a photography business if you weren’t interested, even slightly, in making people happy by delivering remarkable photography?

The reality for start-up and small business owners is for them to be expert in many fields. Which is impossible. Do you think the CEO of any organisation can do the job of the line worker, their middle managers or even of other members of his C-suite? It is rare to be sure. Take for example Daimler Benz who in the early 1990’s promoted their head engineer to CEO.  His first project was the new S-Class flagship model. The S-Class was the day car for billionaires who were far to busy to drive themselves. Dubbed the ‘land yacht’ because of its size across all three axes it was an impressive automobile. Which failed to sell.

Engineered to perfection it did not take into account what the market wanted. Plus it cost more than the BMW 7-series and allowed that marque into the luxury market at the ultra high end.

That’s what can happen when an ‘expert’ is put in charge of a business. The true challenge of a start-up or small business owner is to balance their skills between expert and business leader. Rarely does an expert get to spend more than 20% of their time doing what they love in their business (and I’m being very generous there). The rest of their time they are building the business; creating the framework and doing the do to make the business run.

So this week some of my time has been spent (invested) in helping my wife work through an issue with her Self Managed Super Fund. Remembering that I am not a financial planner but my work week affords me a greater opportunity to wait on hold with banks, fund managers and government departments.

For three years it has been ticking away with very little input apart from that required by law as the trustee of a SMSF.

There are three lessons we have been reminded of from this experience;

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
2. If it looks too good to be true it probably is
3. Go with your gut.