CEO Success Report -
February 2004
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CEO Success Report
- February 2004
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Increasing the Effectiveness and Enhancing the Lives of CEOs
and business owners.
Contents of this issue...
.. Welcome - A few words from the publisher, Gary Lockwood
.. Thought-Starter - "Invest in Yourself"
.. Guest article - "Leaping Into 2004"
.. CEO Resources
.. Quotes to use in your staff meeting this month
.. Humor to lighten up the executive suite
.. Contact the publisher
.. Subscribe and unsubscribe instructions
See past issues of the CEO Success Report at:
http://www.CEOSuccess.com/archives
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WELCOME to this issue of the CEO Success Report!
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Hello again. I'm Gary Lockwood, President of CEO Success.
Welcome back once again to the CEO Success. I know you have
no shortage of material to read and I thank you for choosing to
read our newsletter.
We work hard to provide practical ideas, thought-provoking concepts
and useful information for you.
You (and over 1000 of your CEO peers), have honored me by
being a loyal subscriber. For that, I appreciate you.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed or frustrated by your business, it
means that you've gone as far as you can with current capabilities.
Seize the opportunity to increase your ability to accomplish your
goals faster and easier. Invest in yourself. My "thought-starter"
for this issue discusses the importance of investing in your own
improvement. Enjoy!
May I ask a small favor? Please forward this issue to other CEOs
and company presidents who may be interested in receiving
these messages. Thank you.
And now for our guest article this month.
With corporate profits up 30 percent for the first time in 19 years,
marketers are waking up to smell the prospects, craving innovative
and efficient ways to build their brands. But unlike booms of the
past, traditional media approaches will be challenged with every
click of the TV remote.
Our guest author this month, master marketer Drew Neisser,
discusses new and innovative approaches to branding,
advertising, and integrated marketing. Drew will challenge your
thinking about online and offline strategies for connecting with
prospective buyers. Read more about Drew at the end of his article.
I hope you enjoy receiving these articles and ideas to
help you sharpen your thinking about being an effective CEO.
My wish is that you use the ideas in the CEO Success Report to
get the results you really want. If you want some help in putting
them into practice, or if you have questions, email or call.
As you know, our specialty is Increasing the Effectiveness
and Enhancing the Lives of CEOs and business owners.
Enjoy this issue with my compliments.
Sincerely,
Gary Lockwood
CEO Success
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This month's THOUGHT-STARTER
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Invest in Yourself
by Gary Lockwood
One of the best investments you can make is to invest in your
own professional development. Resolve to develop increased
capabilities that will propel you toward your goals faster and
easier than before.
A new capability is something that gives you increased ability to
accomplish your goals. Whenever you are feeling overwhelmed or
frustrated by your business, it means that you've gone as far as
you can go with current capabilities.
As you move relentlessly toward the vision of your "preferred
future", you will need to create new capabilities along the way.
Capabilities that will empower you to be the top performer you
intend to be. You must not wait till you arrive three years in the
future and then realize you should have learned to be a top-notch
communicator, an outstanding negotiator or a high producing
salesperson.
Learning in today's fast-paced and ever-changing environment
can't be left to chance. Make a conscious effort to develop, grow
and learn or be doomed to repeat your mistakes. Worse yet, you
may habitually keep doing those things that are working for you,
while your competition is actively seeking new ideas, innovation
and growth.
Competitive advantage in today's world is based less and less on
technology. All of us have access to faster computers, portable
communication devices and information sources. The competitive
advantage of the future is your learning speed. Learning faster
allows you to react more quickly and satisfy your customers'
needs before your competitor.
Some examples of useful business skills are:
selling, negotiating, planning, financial management, delegation.
Each of these areas requires real-world action coupled with
adequate working knowledge.
Personal skills such as listening, learning, decision making,
influencing, time management and problem solving are also
critical to success. Notice how many of these personal skills
support business skills. For example, if you are a good active
listener you will be a much more effective salesperson.
Improving your business or personal life requires asking,
"If I am to arrive successfully at this new destination (my vision)
within three years, what new skills will I need and which of my
existing skills need to be improved or upgraded?"
You surely invest money and time in your enterprise to enhance
your technology, develop your marketing, and even outfit your
office. Yet, how much do you invest in yourself. How often do
you enroll in a class, buy a book, or hire a business coach?
Investing money and time to develop your skills and knowledge
has big payoffs. After all, you ARE the brains of the outfit,
aren't you?
When you are proactive about learning and improving instead of
just letting-it-happen, you accelerate your capabilities, expand
insight and experience startling advances in your thinking.
Invest in yourself. You're worth it. (and it's good for business!)
C Copyright 2001-2004 BizSuccess All rights reserved. No duplication
About the Author...
Gary Lockwood is Increasing the Effectiveness and Enhancing the
Lives of CEOs, business owners and professionals.
Email: mailto:Gary@CEOSuccess.com
Web: http://www.CEOSuccess.com
==================================
Guest Article
==================================
Leaping Into 2004
by Drew Neisser
2004. It feels like there are two runners on, nobody out, the count
is 3 and 0 and the manager just gave me the "swing for the fences"
signal. Now I know baseball analogies may seem a little out of place
in the gloom of winter but bear with me as I make a case for a
jam-breaking, base-clearing, innovation-led 2004.
Let's start with the fundamentals. With corporate profits up 30
percent for the first time in 19 years, marketers are waking up to
smell the prospects, craving innovative and efficient ways to build
their brands. But unlike booms of the past, traditional media
approaches will be challenged with every click of the TV remote. And,
the seemingly sudden disappearance of young male couch potatoes bodes
well for innovators who have long considered Network TV a wasteland
of inefficiency and lost promise. Ad agencies will soon be asked for
a "Mini," the new euphemism for a media plan rich in unconventional
outdoor, print and guerrilla, hoping to duplicate the Network TV-less
success of the Mini Cooper launch.
Time for "Connecting" the Brand
2004 will belong to the connectors, those marketers who are prepared
to replace CPMs with TWB (time with brand) as a more accurate measure
of marketing impact. Cost-per-thousand is like a wooden baseball bat,
it is still used by the tradition-bound big boys, but any minor
leaguer will tell you a metal bat is a far more effective tool. Time
with Brand takes into account the duration a potential customer
spends with your brand over a range of marketing encounters. TWB
favors experiential marketing activities that allow for a depth of
sale and brand interaction far beyond the conventional 30-second TV
unit.
Under 30s, Get "Game"
Expect to see more marketers developing online games in 2004 in
pursuit of the ever-elusive under 30 crowd. These games will come in
all shapes and sizes, from simple one-button classics to multiplayer,
universe-conquering, mind-altering extravaganzas. The challenge for
marketers will be to find just the right moment to integrate their
message, either in a funny and entertaining way during the game or
through a clever offer at its end. Either way, if done correctly, the
consumer is likely to be willing to spend more time with the brand,
in an unspoken quid pro quo for the provided entertainment value.
Rich Brand Experience, On and Off-Line
Rich brand experiences, whether online or off, will reward marketers
and consumers alike, providing a fair exchange of time for
information. These experiences will start the buzz, not because they
are tragically hip but because they are built upon a genuine consumer
insight. These insights will be discovered through anthropological
observation and online customer panels, as focus groups finally lose
their place atop the research food chain. While I'm sure it is way
too early to ring the death knell for groups, one can only hope that
marketers will consider the many higher yield alternatives.
"Integrated" Still Promises
As in years past, marketers will continue to pursue the promise of
integrated marketing while few will actually be better off for their
effort. Most "integrated" campaigns will share a common vocabulary
and visual appearance but will lack the "big idea" that can unify the
messaging without limiting the power of any individual medium. It
seems certain that even fewer marketers will craft a multi-tiered
brand experience that builds from medium to medium and culminates in
a long-term dialogue. But those who do will seize the day and more
market share.
Though 2004 promises to be bountiful for most of the marketing world,
it won't be without its landmines and dead-ends. Online marketing is
going to explode and then implode as marketers try and then fail to
leverage emerging techniques like blogs, IM environments and viral
movies. The proliferation of blogs will create a density of blabber
that will ultimately collapse under the weight of its uselessness.
Blogs will become bogs, not because all serve up largely unreadable
tripe but because most do, especially those from over-zealous
marketers who want to tell their whole story without respecting the
"get real" conventions of this new media type.
IMing to Boom, Bust
IM environments like those Yahoo offers will also experience a rapid
boom-bust cycle as marketers climb aboard this clever bandwagon.
First the province of movie marketers, IM environments are now being
used effectively by brands as diverse as Panasonic, Adidas and Texas
Tourism. And it is no wonder. Yahoo's IMvironments alone can help
marketers reach upwards of 20 million young adults and teens with
their full permission in a matter of a few days. The more
entertaining the environment, the more likely someone will choose it
as a background for their instant messages and the faster their
friends will do the same. The only problem is that as more marketers
start to use them, the novelty will wear off. Remember when banner ad
response rates weren't measured in hundredths of percents? Well, it
won't be long before IM environments proliferate themselves to the
storage bin of overused great ideas.
Viral to Spread, Search to Score
Viral movies will continue to gain traction as more and more
marketers produce web-only commercials that are longer and more
colorful than their offline counterparts. These spots will try to
replicate the success of BMW films or the Honda "Cog" commercial but
few will do so. Those that produce off-color spots and then try to
pretend they weren't the ones behind the effort will be caught and
embarrassed by the overzealous PC police. Those who aim for "feature
film" quality will realize that producing a hit movie is just as hard
for marketers as it is for Hollywood. So brace yourself for more
online "Gigli's" than you can shake a cursor at.
The one grand slam for online marketing in 2004 will be Search, key
word and otherwise. Not just a dream instrument for direct marketers,
Search is a simple way of connecting with prospects that want to make
a very specific connection. Given the auction-style pricing structure,
marketers need only pay a rate that works for them. The math is
reasonably straightforward, starting with value-per-web visit and
ending with lifetime value-per-customer. If you are a marketer and
not yet buying Search, you will be doing so in 2004 or wishing you
had (sort of like the now unemployed Boston Red Sox manager who
fatefully decided against bringing in his reliever with the series on
the line!)
Experimentation in 2004 will not be limited to online activities.
Lots of eager marketers will explore relatively new territory like
WiFi and cellular technologies in an effort to reach a younger
demographic. From text messaging to photo swapping, marketers will be
hoping to persuade before they annoy. And they just might succeed
assuming helpful, relevant information arrives precisely at the
moment of need. Otherwise, you'll hear the inevitable refrain "keep
your damn messages off my cellphone" and calls for legislative
intervention a la SPAM.
With occasional skeptical thought aside, my crystal ball is brimming
with positivism about 2004. Armed with real budgets chasing
aggressive growth goals, marketers will be seeking innovation the way
George Steinbrenner stalks starting pitchers. Risk will re-enter many
marketers' vocabulary as they experiment offline and online to build
durable customer relationships, moving well beyond the confines of TV
ads. While traditional media metrics like CPM will not disappear, new
measures like TWB will gain credibility.
And finally, in a world haunted by corporate wrongdoing, honesty and
transparency will be the big hitters, driving campaigns home for all
who dare to use them. Conversely, stealth marketing will be abandoned
by all but the truly desperate, as enlightened marketers no longer
confuse deception with the noble art of building brands. Now that
would put the leap in this leap year, wouldn't it?
About the Author...
Drew Neisser is the President & CEO of Renegade Marketing Group. Like
a classic hand saw, Renegade Marketing has a distinctive knack for
cutting through the baloney that impedes success. Renegade is a
sanctuary for unconventional thinking, devoted to finding fresh
approaches to age-old marketing problems.
http://www.renegademarketing.com
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RESOURCES for CEOs
=============================================
The Executive Committee - Chief Executives Working Together
http://www.CEOSuccess.com
** Attention CEOs
Business leaders are choosing a new way to better their companies and
themselves - through membership in TEC, an international organization of
CEOs.
Imagine the benefits of meeting regularly with a small group
of company leaders in your area to share experiences, exchange ideas and
solve common problems.
Thousands of chief executives turn to TEC for a learning experience they
cannot get anywhere else. We are committed to connecting CEOs with the
people, ideas and information they need to help them improve their
businesses and enhance their lives.
Check it out at http://www.CEOSuccess.com
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QUOTES to use in your staff meeting this month
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"The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear
are truly brave."
James A. LaFond-Lewis
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
W. Edwards Deming
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a
habit."
Aristotle
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
Aldous Huxley
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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HUMOR to lighten up
the executive suite
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FIFTEEN THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 50 YEARS TO LEARN
by Dave Barry
1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative
on the same night.
2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race
has not achieved, and never will achieve, its
full potential, that
word
would be "meetings."
3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental
illness."
4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
5. You should not confuse your career with your life.
6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
7. Never lick a steak knife.
8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling
reason why we observe daylight savings time.
10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely
suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you
can see an
actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people
to make a big deal about your birthday. That time
is age eleven.
12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age,
gender, religion, economic status or ethnic
background, is that,
deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are
above average
drivers.
13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice
person. (This is very important. Pay attention.
It never fails.)
14. Your friends love you anyway.
15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur
built the Ark. A large group of professionals
built the Titanic.
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CONTACT CEO Success
=================================
Gary Lockwood is the publisher of the CEO Success Report.
Email: mailto:Gary@CEOSuccess.com
Office: (909) 739-7444 Fax: (909) 494-4314
Postal: 6837 Raspberry Court, Corona, CA 92880
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Your Comments, please?
========================================
I appreciate feedback, corrections, and comments about the
CEO Success Report. Please send your thoughts to:
Gary@CEOSuccess.com mailto:Gary@CEOSuccess.com
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