There’s a Special Place in Hell…

I just took a break from writing to walk along the beach. On my way there I passed a little flower stand with freshly picked daffodils in a variety of containers. There’s a metal box padlocked inside with a slit on top. That’s it. It’s totally on the honor system. I dropped 5 bucks in and selected a few flowers. Then I thought, “There’s a special place in hell for people that steal from this stand….”

Then I got to thinking, what a great coffee table book idea! Photos of all the wrongdoings in the world with the simple phrase…

“There’s a special place in hell for….

– people who tag (graffiti) historic places

– people who don’t turn their cell phones off in church

How would YOU finish that sentence…..

Day One Down: 2020 Vision of Marketing is Clearer

I’m up, I’ve been to Pop’s for my giant coffee and lemon curd scone – I’m serious, you have to have one of these if you ever come to the Oregon Coast – and ready to write another day.

I wrote for 7 hours straight yesterday, penning almost 3,000 words. And of those I’ll bet I keep 2800 of them. That’s progress. I’m excited. I ended the day with a walk on the beach, and a trip to the Warrenton fish monger where I discovered sea candy. Smoked scallops. Wow.

Writing can give you a kind of endorphin like running does. I experienced that yesterday – when I stopped thinking about it and just let it flow onto the page. I’ve felt that playing the piano when you can actually close your eyes and feel the music and stop thinking about your fingers connecting with the right keys. Thank you Sr. Annette for making me learn to type by touch.

That was the moment when I had complete clarity and could see what marketing will really look like in the year 2020. I know I’ve been steadily and regularly poo pooing traditional marketing like direct mail, newspaper ads and of course TV commercials. I also feel that social media is not a campaign and that having a Facebook page is akin to having a newsletter. Not that exciting – yet. And I’m amazed that no one has called me on it and said “So, Miss Smarty Pants, if all that is dying a grizzly death what will work?”

Spoiler alert.

My goal with this second book is to push CEOs and marketing professionals to systematically forget everything they know, before it destroys them. It’s not as simple as saying – you replace your direct mail campaigns with X and you’ll calculate the best ROI ever.  The 2020 vision of marketing is this: The CEO is the Pilot. The CMO has to be the co-pilot. There, I said it.

That means the CMO of 2020 needs to have the business savvy, strategic thinking and working knowledge of financials so they can take over if necessary. When in the history of credit unions has the CMO been anointed acting CEO? Never.

Before the CFOs get their panties in a wad, let me explain. You are air traffic control in this metaphor. You are monitoring changing conditions, to help guide the plane in. You are not on the plane. We need you on the ground.

Compliance, IT, audit, you are the mechanics. Constantly tinkering, checking, that we are stable enough to fly.

Operations would be the crew aboard the flight. They are responsible for the inflight experience. And they need to SEE the pilot every now and again so we know we’re good to go. I know after 9/11 we bolted down the door, but after each flight, let’s come out and say “Buh Bye” to our customers, okay?  Thank them for their business.

Before we fly we need a flight plan. This includes our target (audience) and our unique destination (differentiator). Both pilot and co-pilot have this knowledge at all times. They work together to complete it. This is a big chunk of the book.

So stay with me on this metaphoric journey. Using those visuals, where would you say marketing is today? Take a moment to really think about it.

They are certainly not in the cockpit. They’re in an office somewhere printing brochures about flying, highlighting the features and benefits of air travel.

We have but 10 years to get from there to the front of the plane. I am laying the groundwork with this book. Stay tuned……