Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Recently Al Ries and Jack Trout have been getting slammed for being out of it. The “old guys” just don’t get it, according to some, when it comes to the so-called new marketing (viral, WOM and so on.) Well, both of them have certainly made a few missteps lately (I won’t bore you with them here) but they’re also human and have been doing some great thinking for longer than many in the blogosphere have been out of diapers.

I pulled their Bottom-up Marketing from my shelf (They co-authored way back in 1989. Yes, Virginia we rode to school on dinosaurs back then.) And, it is still full of good common sense stuff (And easy to read, you don’t have to bend your brain around new acronyms and complicated formulas.)
Here’s just a couple of quotes from the book:

“A refusal to accept failure is often combined with a reluctance to exploit success.” I see this as a frequent blind spot in strategic planning. People get so focused on following a plan as if it’s written in stone - they often miss the accidental successes. And, they get so wrapped up in analyzing the failures, they forget to look for the positives.

“When you reverse the process, you can sometimes make important discoveries.” They use the example of Vicks Nyquil. The problem: it made people sleepy. The solution: Market as the first night-time cold medicine! This reminds me of other problems that were turned around - sticky notes by 3M and the hole in Lifesaver candy.

They also note that “small companies have an advantage.” This before the Internet explosion that enables micro-micro niche industries. (feather boas for dogs, anyone?)

So, let’s not count the old guys out yet! And, us “new guys” out here in blogville shouldn’t mistake snark and snide for wit and wisdom when critiquing ideas or each other.

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting