Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Words are powerful. Words can change the world. But they have to have meaning (and commitment) behind them. Otherwise, they’re like the - ahem - “stuff” that comes out of the other end of that horse. A frequent blind spot with which I help clients is that marketing isn’t just something you “do” externally - it’s also critical for internal communications - up, down, and sideways.

For example, it doesn’t do much good for the CEO to have a vision if:

A. Nobody knows what it is.
B. It’s boring blah-blah.
C It’s empty, insincere blah-blah.
D. Nobody can repeat it to a customer (and doesn’t want to anyway).
E. Any combination of a, b, c, and d.

Which of the following would fire you up?

1. “I have a dream!” or “Our strategic initiative is designed to produce innovative products for leading-edge Fortune 500 companies.”

2. “I have not yet begun to fight.” or “We will form a task force to evaluate our options in order to better compete in the ever-evolving global marketplace.”

3. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” or “I’m confident that we’re in turnaround mode and will see profitability in the 3rd quarter. As part of this turnaround, we will be cutting 20,000 jobs.” (This coming from a CEO who gets a gazillion dollars performance bonus the same year those jobs are cut. Just makes ya want to leap to your feet and salute when he or she swans by, doesn’t it?)

4. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!” or “We strive to be the management system partner for global enterprises.” (Oracle/Hyperion)

The addiction to boring, empty, blah-blah vision speak isn’t limited to business. Here’s just a wee bit of one university’s “Vision Statement.” (The whole thing is over a page of dense text):

The university will develop a culture of innovation in its overall conceptual design and organization, and will utilize new and varied pedagogical and instructional approaches including distance learning. Institutional programs will value and cultivate creative and productive talents of students, faculty, and staff, and seek ways to contribute to the economy of the state, the wellbeing of our communities, and the quality of life and development of its students, faculty, and service areas.

[…zzzzzzzz…..huh? what? Sorry, I dozed off there…was I drooling on your shoulder? Soooo sorry!]

Do you know of any great corporate (or nonprofit or education) vision statements? If so, please share! We could all use the inspiration.

Related Posts:
Why I’m A Corporate Refugee
The Magical, Mystical Mission Statement
They Don’t Care What Your CEO Says.

Read More: The Top Three Marketing Mistakes (two-page PDF) The top three are: Vision, Mission and Strategy. Yes, you need all three but there are some “gotchas” which I discuss in this article.

(Above image by ElisaHH from Flickr)

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Tags: communications, marketing, marketing troubleshooting, vision, vision statement