atkinson advisor

It’s vacation time. Good books are a staple of any trip to the beach, lake, or mountains. Here are a few books we’re planning to read this summer.

• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki — Entrepreneur. Advisor. Investor. Kawasaki has done it all. The Art of the Start is his take on creating an entrepreneurial environment inside any company. 
• Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava — Bhargava argues that brands must become dynamic personalities to connect fully and meaningfully with their customers. 
• Mastering the Hype Cycle by Jackie Fenn and Mark Raskino — Gartner invented its hype cycle several years ago to explain the rise, fall, and ultimately sustainability of innovation. Fenn and Raskino explain how companies can avoid the typical problems and return more from their investment in innovative products and services.
• The Big Short by Michael Lewis — Lewis has a stellar track record of fascinating stories, from Moneyball to The Blind Side to Liar’s Poker. In his latest book, he takes on the financial crisis in 2007-08 that led to the current recession.

What’s on your summer reading list?

We often hear from prospects that they want to “get our name out there.” They believe that being “out there” will translate into new business.

This is possible if their service or product costs less than $100, because the consequences of a bad decision are minimal. For everything above $100, getting the business’ name out there is important, but it’s only step one in the process of landing a new client.

The better question is, “How do I get people to choose my company?”

It’s also a bigger question.

Prospects make decisions to spend their hard-earned money after they have cleared several other hurdles.  They include:

1. Awareness
2. Introduction
3. Attention
4. Understanding
5. Preference
6. Choice

We will tackle each one of these hurdles — and certain combinations of them — in future issues of the Atkinson Advisor.

Businesses often tout the strength of its team and exult, “Our greatest competitive advantage is our people.” Some experts estimate talent can account for as much as half of a company’s market value.

Yet rarely do you see the people unless you engage with the company.

The equation has flipped thanks to social media. It’s now affordable, practical, and srategic for employees to build a dynamic online presence that connects them with potential customers and existing clients. It’s powerful stuff.

The new equation also raises some interesting marketing challenges that businesses will have to tackle.

• Who controls the content? Right now, marketing departments have complete control of their marketing message. Social media requires giving up some of that control and trusting employees to do the right thing. Social media guidelines are a must for any business.
• What’s the balance of professional insights to personal information? Social media is predicated on personality. Too much business information = pushy sales. Too much personal information = TMI.
• Why invest in employee branding when they could leave? This is a valid concern. Pioneers in the area of employee branding will be able to point to their investment in an employee’s brand as a reason point for staying. Eventually we believe employee branding will be a necessity for attracting and retaining any top talent.

ESPN used to be known as a great sports brand. In the last few years, it has transcended the sports label to become one of the best brands anywhere.

The company’s lineup now includes its flagship cable station, numerous specialty cable stations, a top-rated website, a successful magazine, and destination restaurants. The company recently launched its own mobile service for sports junkies.

CEO George Bodenheimer has received much of the credit for ESPN’s brand growth. In a recent Business Week profile of the company, Bodenheimer explained his own philosophy toward brand building:

1. Define your mission – “We serve the fans.”
2. Know what your brand is – “We view ourselves as the world’s biggest sports fan.”
3. Cultivate relationships with your customers – “Talk to fans, not at them.”
4. Develop an inclusive culture – “I came up from the mailroom, so I had managers who were listening to me.”
5. Continually enhance your product – “We have launched three new channels in the past two years, a broadband service, and a cell-phone service.”

Last month, Girl Scout cookies made their annual appearance in the office. It was a joyous time. There is a great branding lesson here:

• Don’t mess with a good thing. Girl Scout cookies have changed very little over time. Sure the packaging and some ingredients have changed, but the cookies themselves have remained largely consistent – one of the values of an outstanding brand.
• Fondness makes the heart grow stronger. No doubt the Girl Scouts have had numerous offers to license, franchise, and globalize their cookies. Seeing them on the grocery store shelf every week would likely kill the brand and the entrepreneurial lessons learned in the sales process.
• Revenue supports the values, not vice-versa. The organization is first and foremost about building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. The annual sale is a tangible extension of and means to achieve those values rather than an effort to fill the coffers.

Now, if you will excuse us, we have to go find the person who raided our stash of Thin Mints.

Simply Better by Patrick Barwise and Séan Meehan

In Simply Better, Barwise and Meehan present a compelling case that the best strategy for companies to retain and add customers is to excel at the basics of their business category – not by creating a unique selling proposition.

The foundation of the authors’ theory is that customers meet their needs by making a category purchase rather than by buying a particular brand. For example, people choose fine dining and then select from the available brands. They do not say, “I’m going to Ruth’s Chris. Now, am I going to have a burger and fries or the surf and turf?” The same applies for cars, televisions, clothing, etc.

Simply Better provides numerous examples of companies that have an intimate knowledge of the category benefits and have parlayed it into the best overall combination for customers.

The authors recommend that companies improve their category prominence by creating a “pure air” culture based on two principles. The first principle is seeing debate and challenge based upon facts and objective observation as a force of good. The second principle is that no one expects an easy yes for new ideas, meaning that only the best ideas ultimately make the cut.