Archive for January, 2009
Lean Marketing = Understanding Target Market and Ideal Client
Posted by: | CommentsThe first step in any lean process , Woops the 2nd step(the 1st being 5S), is understanding or identifying your target market and ideal client. Many people fail to do this and in a recession it can lead to disaster rather quickly.
The Marketing Mavens by Noel Capon is a great book to assist you in this identification. They have slightly different take on it but the book brings out some points that may help you identify your market and client. He professes that the fundamental challenge of business today is to serve customer needs amid continuous change. Nothing earth shattering but he also states that the top companies do this based on these five core values:
- Pick markets that matter.
- Select segments to dominate
- Design the market offer to create customer value and secure differential advantage.
- Integrate to serve the customer.
- Measure what matters
If you really think through his process, you can see how apparent your target market may become. Also, it corresponds to the Product Market and Product launch processes that I adhere too.
Lean Marketing: After 5S start with the 7 service values
Posted by: | CommentsI created a simple mindmap demonstrating the 7 service values which are:
- Act extraordinary helpful & friendly by…
- Provide efficient & prompt service & always keep customers informed by
- Be responsive to individual customer needs by
- Behave & act professionally
- Earn customers trust
- I will take ownership when I deal with my customer by
- I will demonstrate pride in our business, my surroundings, & my appearance
Each step is explain in much greater detail with the linked mindmap.
The Makings Of A Perfect Lean Market
Posted by: | CommentsBeyond Lean: The Perfect Lean Market: While 80% of manufacturers have lean initiatives, less than 1% have lean practices in place. This article was written by Pamela Lopker, president and chairman of QAD Inc.
She went on to say, “The Makings Of A Perfect Lean Market - There are three primary attributes to a perfect lean market. Clarity is one: The second attribute of a perfect lean market is agility , responsiveness to changes in the marketplace. But lean practices won’t get information to the right place at the right time. That’s where technology can introduce agility, through systems that can receive and process information quickly, even instantly, through automation. Unity is the third attribute of a perfect lean market. Getting information to the right place at the right time can fuel that kind of unity.”
She was talking about the waste in supply change management practices. But when I read it, the correlation to Lean Marketing is very apparent.
1. Clarity: How many times have you looked at a marketing piece and questioned the meaning, the reason for it or maybe you just tossed it. We encourage marketing pieces to be educational or a call to action that ultimately has a benefit for the customer as a result of a response.
2. Agility: I do not mean responding to the marketing idea of the week but having a process in place that allows you to have active content. This can be easily done with a company blog and with joint participation the excuse of a time factor is completely removed. The only factor that matters now is the accountability factor.
3. Unity: This is the most neglected attribute. Your marketing to be effective is not a one-way street anymore. It is about communication. Building platforms that your organization can increase the communication with your customer is the actions we take by monitoring news about our customers, building social sites that allow our customers to post, blog and add videos on their own. Being transparent and mixing it up in front of your customers is maybe the largest selling feature you can have.
