Thinking about doing some marketing?

Here are some absolute basics:

1) Meet a need - Make sure that what you’re marketing really meets a genuine need. If you don’t have a product or service that meets a need, you shouldn’t be marketing.  You should be finding out why you’re doing what you’re doing.

2) Find the people who’s need you meet - If you meet a genuine need, find the people who’s need you meet.  Once you meet a few people’s needs, ask them where you can find more people with the same need.  Where can you reach them with your message?

3) Make sure the people with the need you meet know that you meet their need - Tell them how you meet their need. Show them how you meet their need. Better yet, have the other people who’s needs you’ve met tell them and show them how you’ve met their needs.

That’s it.  Simple huh?

Bottom line is - If you don’t meet a need, don’t bother.

Make sure you meet a need, and then make sure that everyone that has that need knows that YOU meet it.

Inspired by this phenomenal post by Marc Andreessen, for the month of May I’m planning on doing a post every Monday highlighting some of my favorite bits of wisdom from Charles Munger.

After reading Marc’s post, I ordered Poor Charlie’s Almanac a few days later and I’m loving it.

I’ve started using the timeboxing method for managing my seemingly never ending to-do list. I have to say it’s a great way to get things done if you have a perfectionist streak in you.

I estimate the amount of time it should take me to complete something (it can be a small part of a larger task), start the timer and work on it and ONLY it until the time is up.

Two great tools that I use are this countdown timer that runs in a browser tab:

http://www.theinsomniacsociety.com/timer.html

and this distraction free writing environment (if applicable):

http://they.misled.us/dark-room

Next up to try is RescueTime. I’ve known about it for a while now, but I’ve just not gotten around to checking it out. If you are using it, I’d love to hear what you think.

Only so many hours in a day…

Henry Ford was once quoted to have asked the question: “Why is it that whenever I ask for a pair of hands, a brain comes attached?”

Too many companies ask this same question everyday. They may not verbalize it, but they ask it day in and day out by NOT asking the people that comprise their organizations questions like: “What do you think? Do you agree? How could we do this better?”

Ask is the second step in the SANE approach to innovation. Once you’ve set expectations that you want everyone to be involved in innovation, you have to start asking. Ask your team members to think outside the box. Ask them for their opinions. Ask them if they argee with you, rather than just telling them what YOU think.

Ask, Ask, Ask. “You have not, because you ask not.”

There are far to many mediocre “me too” companies out there playing catch up, with nothing innovative to show for themselves.

If you want innovation to become part of your organization’s culture, it has to start with YOU (the CEO, manager, team leader, etc). It starts with management innovation. It starts with humbleness, and waking up to the fact that you aren’t better than anyone else. By hiring other people, you’ve already admitted you can’t do everything by yourself, so why shoot yourself in the foot by insisting that you always know best?

Ford was an innovative man in his time, but the kind of thinking reflected in his quote above will only get you where Ford Motor Company is today - struggling and chasing a competitor that “gets it” (Toyota), because their competitor believes in the value of every individual employee.

Yes, your employees have brains! Why not encourage them to use them, rather than stifle innovation by reducing them to a role or a cog? Treat your team members/employees with the respect they deserve, ask them for their opinions and ideas, and start creating a culture of innovation today.