Howard Schultzrecently took the reigns back as the CEO of Starbucks. After admitting that the company has gotten off base in it’s values and customer care, Howard is slowing nationwide expansion and making some leadership changes.
If you’ve been in an SBux recently, you’ve probably noticed some little things that Howard has implemented right away to get the ball rolling. One of them is The Starbucks Promise that is posted in every store:
We Promise to make you a PERFECT beverage every time!
This isn’t a promotion, this isn’t “for a limited time only,” this isn’t “while supplies last.” This is every coffee, every day, forever.
And last week, I noticed they rolled out a new website called mystarbucksidea.com to promote feedback and develop new ideas/strategies.
I like what I’m seeing and I think this goes to show why Howard built it into such a great company to begin with.
The Columbus Half-Marathon was two weeks from this past Saturday. It’s coming up quick.
I got about 15 miles in this last week. A little less than I wanted. I just couldn’t do another 10 mile run. Legs hurt too bad.
In fact, I am really going to have to watch the soreness this week. I would like to get about 20 miles in and plan on running a 10 this Saturday. Then supplement that with lots of elliptical time.
After Saturday, that’s it. No running. For a whole week. Until race day. Just rest and lots of fettucine alfredo.
I’ve gotten an invite to speak this Sunday at my old church in Springfield. I’m putting a message together called “Nobody.”
I’m looking forward to seeing everybody again. So if you weren’t planning on being at church on Sunday or you were thinking about going to a different church… you should change your mind.
Or if you live in Columbus and want to take a short commute, I’d love to see ya there.
Last fall Radiohead released their new album InRainbows online. Not only did they completely bypass the middle man, but they allowed customers to name their own price.
A good idea?
Radiohead already knew who was listening. They left it up to them to determine the value of their new project and they left it up to them to tell their friends. Huge fan trust. Huge risk.
Did it work?
I had five different people tell me about the album in a matter of two weeks after the release.
Radiohead won’t release its sales numbers, but experts estimate the profit to be in the millions. It’s speculated that the online release brought in the same revenue for the band within the first two weeks.
Everything after that is just frosting…. that really good cream-cheese frosting.
Guinness Book of World Records lists Joe Girard as the world’s best salesman… undisputed.
Joe is a car salesman from Detroit.
His record is 18 single, retail cars in one day. 174 sales in one month and 1973 in one year. No one has ever come close to that.
How does he do it? What’s his secret?
Joe sends 12 greeting cards a year to all his customers.
Everyone will give a salesman permission to send greeting cards to their home. And the cards gently remind them 12 times a year about their business and their relationship.
He slowly turns them from strangers into friends.
Has a high referral rate because of the relationship created. People know Joe and they know he will give their friends the same loyalty.
Kevin Kelly releases an article online last week that I had a chance to read over the weekend. It’s about musicians/artists/film-makers/creatives in regards to the long-tail economic model.
I think it’s spot on.
I think it’s worth a read.
“But the point of this strategy is to say that you don’t need a hit to survive. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living. That mid-way haven is called 1,000 True Fans. It is an alternate destination for an artist to aim for.”
I think a great marketing question for this Web 2.0 world is, “How many True Fans do you have?”
I got out last night for a 10K run. I could tell in the first mile that it was going to be a “survival” run. That means I’m just going to try to survive the run. It was rough. 52:06 is not good for me.
I hadn’t run in about 8 days, but I worked out earlier that day, so I think I was just depleted.
The Columbus Distance Classic is a month away. I really need to get a 9 to 10 -miler worked in this week. The snow and cold weather has really limited me. And I also need to come up with the $70 to enter the race. Och!
One of my favorite pieces of marketing is Boise State’s Smurf Turf. It is the only non-green football field in the NCAA. It was originally installed in 1986, but really didn’t catch fame until recent years.
Boise State won the 2007 ESPY award for Game of the Year and Play of the Year for their unforgettable over time win against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
Another interesting fact is the Broncos are 58-2 at home since 1999. On blue turf.
Is it expensive? Sure. It costs $750,000 every 3 - 4 years to replace.
But it’s remarkable. No other football team in the country plays on blue turf. It’s immediately recognizable from any tv and it can even be seen from space.
What I think is funny…. imagine the first conversations that took place over this, “Okay guys, call me crazy, but what if we turned the football field blue?”
I give a lot of props to the university for taking such a huge risk.
On the phone with a client a few months back who was worried about including a fifth testimonial onto a direct mail postcard. There were already four testimonials on the card which was about three too many for me.
The concern was the testimonial had something really good to say about the practice and could be “the one” that makes people respond.
There’s two problems:
1. When most companies start to talk about marketing, it’s usually too late.
They only talk about it when they need it and at that point they are already behind. And then everything starts to have a desperation about it. Marketing is intentional. It takes time and thought and long-term strategy.
2. Marketing is not magical.
Just because you market, doesn’t mean your problems will be solved. And throwing money at a problem doesn’t usually find a solution.
The quick fixes just don’t work…and we should know that by now.
Marketing must be long-term, strategic and well thought out.
The fatal flaw of most technology companies is this:
They lead with the technology.
Honestly, nobody cares about the technology.
The genius of good tech companies is this:
They lead with ideas.
Example: (and please forgive the over-played Apple examples) Apple’s first iPod wasn’t about the new technology of an MP3 player. It was “5000 songs in your pocket.” The IDEA of taking your music anywhere is what got me to buy one.
Now the new nano is “A little video for everyone.” They lead with the idea of truly portable video. Not how great the technology is.
So… here’s the question: do you lead with the technology?
