Valuable insights and inspiration from Jerry White (Survivor Corps)

Start your day off right with this excellent Q&A on Guy Kawasaki’s blog titled “The Art of Survival: an Interview with Jerry White“. My favorite snippets, laid bare:

“We humans have an uncanny ability to reframe our thoughts and choose to find meaning in our scars. Thousands of survivors we have interviewed talk about growing stronger after a catastrophe. But they made healthy choices along the way; it was no accident that they rediscovered joy after debilitating loss.

…. It takes a village to survive emergencies, with help from the private sector, social sector and public sector. No single government agency or sector can do it all. We need our neighbors and civil society to come through for us. It is always a mistake to wait passively for bureaucracies and government agencies to “save” us.

OK, let’s take a breather… my copy/paste function is getting a work-out this morning!

Eliminating the “blame-bombs” in your company

I came across this post today on Srmamana Mitra’s blog. It reminded me of how challenging - and important - it is to align marketing and sales efforts (in fact, all functional efforts) in a small company:

“From a strategic perspective the “Best-in-Class” companies … have done one thing exceedingly more effectively than industry average and laggard companies: they have aligned their marketing goals to sales goals. While this sounds simple, think for a moment about your own sales and marketing organizations. Are these two groups living in perfect symbiotic harmony? Or, like most places I’ve been, do they tend to live in opposing camps, lobbing “blame-bombs” at each other whenever goals are not met. I’ve heard sales managers say, when asked why business has not come in despite a healthy pipeline - “The leads are no good…”. And of course, marketing’s retort, when confronted with questions about why recent activity has not yielded any sales, is typically - “the salespeople don’t know how to deliver the message effectively…”.

One of the main advantages small companies have over large, dispersed ones is the ability to get all the heads in one room to have a good conversation - that’s where it all starts (or, at least, that’s where it all should start).

But it’s remarkable how many small companies insist on silo’ing business functions - sometimes even having one-person “departments” - which inevitably leads to mis-alignment and inefficiency.

Cutting through the clutter with good brand alignment

I’ve seen this brand on the shelves at Whole Foods for a while and finally bought some (granola) last week, except Fresh Direct got the sale because I was feeling lazy.

The stuff tastes good, although it’s not quite as good as my mother’s hearty mix (I had to say that).

Anyway, it’s worth visiting their web site if you’re a marketer interested in good brand alignment.

The site is a natural extension of their clean, fun packaging and does a good job communicating the essence of the Bear Naked brand community:

Give your brand strong roots

Not so long ago, locating your company in a small town with a high quality of life was a no-no for VCs and angel investors. This is how the thinking went: “Jake has chosen to live in Vermont, so why would we want to invest in his snowboard company? How serious can he really be about his business?”. Many people still hold this view (they’re probably jealous of Jake).

Funk-free distribution

I’m always intrigued when I see a brand cut distribution. It’s often a sign that someone’s trying to claw back some brand integrity and improve a brand’s financial health.

Serge Lutens, a niche beauty brand owned by Shiseido, has been on a growth tear in recent years, doing about $20 million at retail in 2006 (up 45% over 2005), according to WWD.

I’ve never met the brand’s director, Hassan Saad, but he seems to understand the importance of maintaining scarcity of distribution. Here’s a recent quote (WWD):

“We have some cleaning up to do; we will certainly close some points of sale. We are going to concentrate our efforts on the sales force, quality merchandising and animations at points of sale.”

Stronger launches, with less risk

Small, innovative companies gaining share of a market are by definition providing more value to their customers than their competitors are.

This growth is usually powered by a powerful creative vision (and persona) and risk-taking. That’s the explosive life force that indies thrive on.

But too much of it can mess things up. Many small companies fall victim to a creative process that runs too far ahead of other key functions (marketing, operations, etc).

This can cause companies to take on too many initiatives, or pursue the wrong ones, or fail to put enough muscle behind the ones that matter.