As I mentioned last week, I am in the middle of reading "Your Marketing Sucks." by Mark Stevens. I'm only on Chapter two, but one of his terms struck me - "... a classic example of a marketing program designed at forty thousand feet", meaning that someone who is way too far from the actual situation (at an altitude of forty thousand feet, to be exact) made the decision without thinking of the end-user. He goes on to say that, "... a seemingly terrific idea turns out to be another form of marketing that sucks, because people don't think it all the way through to the implementation level."
I really like the image that conjures up and it prompts me to think about what I create from forty thousand feet, without knowing it. I have made a lot of adjustments to the product line in the past seven years because I would find things out from my customers. Store owners would tell me that people kept asking what to put the soap rolls in, so I started selling our little soap dishes to stand them up in. It hadn't occurred to me before that, that people would ask for something specifically... I was operating at forty thousand feet.
It's always imperative to think about the end-user. Since it's likely that you won't have direct contact with them, and will therefore miss out on crucial feedback, you have to approach your product (or whatever your creation happens to be) with brand new critical eyes.
What altitude are you at? How do you bring yourself back down to earth?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Well, when it comes to writing my book, I think I tend to be at 40,000 feet also. I get so involved in the plot and story, trying to get the plot across, that I tend to forget to add details or specifics that readers would need to know in order to understand the character better. What grounds me? I have my best friend (who is also working with me on this book) read what I have written. She knows the plot and story and the end result, but she is also looking at it from the reader's perspective. Makes me see what I still need to add or change. It helps a great deal.
That's great, Brenda. I can imagine that it's really helpful to have someone else reading it - especially someone that knows what you want it to be.
Disconnection appears to be a common theme with more and more people in our society today. We have become a me first culture that forgets too often about the person/car/etc. in front of you. I'm as guilty of this as the next guy and believe if we could all just consider how our small actions effect those around us, we'd all be better. They say a fish rots from the head and in my opinion we have been led down a very poor path in our country by a man that is so "high" above it, that outer space may not correctly illustrate just how far removed he is from the end users his decisions effect.
I know this is a rant but it still illustrates your point of being connected and thinking the equation or marketing plan or legislation all the way through. You make a great point and my goal is to try to think the idea or solution all the way through from now on.
Post a Comment