Marketing Lessons From An Ex-Marine December 20, 2008
Posted by Bruce Temkin in Branding, CMO advice, Customer experience.trackback
When Marines get rifle lessons, they learn the acronym BRASS: Breathe, Relax, Aim, Squeeze, Shoot. Casey Jones, who has been both a Marine and VP-global marketing at Dell, discusses how those military lesson make sense when it comes to marketing. No surprise: he thinks marketers do a lot of shooting without aiming. Jones offers a lot of good advice, including this:
Breathe: Set aside time every week to focus on what your brand is communicating. Relax: Remember that the brand will not fail if you pause for a moment to focus. It may fail, however, if you continue to waste marketing shots that are off-target.
He also recommends that all messaging briefs contain these four elements:
- A clear definition of the target audience
- A clear statement of the audience’s current mental and emotional perceptions of your brand.
- A short statement of the “desired” perceptual state — one that is reasonable given your budget.
- A clear list of the minimum points you must communicate in order to achieve your goal.
The bottom line: Don’t forget to breathe, relax, and aim.
[...] Marines get rifle lessons, they learn the acronym BRASS: Breathe, Relax, Aim, Squeeze, Shoot, and Bruce Temkin wrote about how these can apply to marketing: Breathe: Set aside time every week to focus on what your brand is [...]