Workplace Calisthenics

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Do you remember these: Crystal Pepsi, Clear Beer by Miller Brewing, Tea Whiz by Nestea, Newton by Apple and WebTV by Sony?|ret||ret||tab|

If you don't, you win! The reason you cannot resurrect these products is that they were losers. They never saw the light of a capitalistic day because they suffered an agonizing death of marketing sickness. Some really smart person made a couple of dumb decisions (and it just takes a few) when it came time to pitch a new product.|ret||ret||tab|

Is your company or organization planning some extravagant marketing campaign? Do you have the next Cabbage Patch Doll or redesigned VW Bug? Well, here are 10 common errors in marketing which can add your company to the hundreds of products no one can remember today.|ret||ret||tab|

First error: Introducing a product without testing it for reliability. The Yugo was a great idea, but the reality was a pile of barely traveling junk. And please note, it does not take long in this economy for the word about "junk" to get around. Apple's Newton did not get market share because it was poorly designed and often did not work as promised.|ret||ret||tab|

Second error: Creating a product that does not meet a need. Marketing is easy when the product and the consumer's need overlap. Yahoo!, which now has as many subscribers as viewers of "Temptation Island," was and is a gateway to cruise around the Internet to the 1 billion people who daily log on. Yahoo! would have been a blip on the screen of technology's wannabes if Web cruisers did not need an "engine."|ret||ret||tab|

Third error: No attempt to identify a niche market. Who buys a Barbie doll? You may respond, "Girls age five to 10 years old." Sorry, try, "Women 35 to 50 years old." If you missed this niche market, you also missed the profit from boomer women who are reliving their childhood by collecting these dolls. Boomer Barbie is alive and well and doesn't need Ken.|ret||ret||tab|

Fourth error: Did not research the competition. If you haven't noticed, "product convergence" is everywhere. In other words, your product is probably being produced by another capitalistic enterprise. The question of the day is, "why would someone want to buy from you and not your competitor?" |ret||ret||tab|

Fifth error: Did not make the product easy to use. One of the secrets of the reappearance of Apple Computer was their, "take-it-out-of-the-box-and-plug-it-in" pitch. If I can use your product without acquiring a PhD to read your 52 pages of instructions or going through three menus of voice mail "help line" messages, you will have my business.|ret||ret||tab|

Sixth error: Choosing to use an inexpensive (cheap) print medium. The medium is the message. Full-color, quality stock presentations will always broadcast, "We are a class operation." On the other hand, one-color, toilet-tissue quality gives another message (and it does have something to do with toilet tissue).|ret||ret||tab|

Seventh error: The dehumanization of e-commerce. There has to be a balance between "richness" (personal contact with customers) and "reach" (the number of customers). If I order a product from you through the Internet, but I can never talk with a real person about a concern or question, you have failed to give a "face" to your company. More than one dot-com company has been ground into economic chopped liver because of this error.|ret||ret||tab|

Eighth error: All public relations are good public relations. If you believe that, what are the words which immediately come to mind when you read, Denny's Restaurants, Firestone and Kathy Lee Gifford. Tell me, did you list, "racial discrimination," "highway deaths" and "sweatshop"? |ret||ret||tab|

Ninth error: Marketing a has-been. Woolworths, Montgomery Ward and cloth diaper laundry companies are memories. They were out of economic breath trying to keep up with the twists and turns of a rapidly changing marketplace. Here is a question which should be scrawled on the wall of your office today: "What service/product is no longer adding value to our customers?" |ret||ret||tab|

10th error: Believing that marketing does not matter. Because you make a great product, do you believe the public will beat a path to your door? Listen. Do you hear any running feet today? BMW can make a great car, Lancome can have sitting on its shelves a cream to erase your wrinkles and McDonalds can tease your taste buds with award-winning fries but you will never know unless someone gets your attention (and money) through smart marketing.|ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|(Dr. Cal LeMon solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. His company, The Executive Edge, can be contacted via the Business Journal at sbj@sbj.net.)|ret||ret||tab|

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