We have all been told that if we would only collect more data about our business or our
customers or our industry, we would be so much smarter, our marketing would
magically become more successful and we would see instant results in revenue
growth and satisfied customers. If you
believe that, then you and I need to talk about a bridge I’m selling.
Jake
Sorofman, in a recent HBR.org Blog, states that “Data, alone, isn’t what makes
marketing move the needle for business.”
But he does believe that while “data can play a leading role in
developing strategy and bringing precision to execution, it does nothing,
absolutely nothing – to stir motivation and create the desire that makes cash
registers ring. Data is important, but
it is content that makes an emotional connection (with a customer.) Marketing leaders must remember that true
brand intelligence lives at the intersection of head and heart, where the
emotional self meets the analytical self.”
Sorofman
lists “four strategic leverage points that allow marketers to deliver the right
offers and experiences to the right customer at the right time while optimizing
engagement and conversion rates.” The
first leverage point is “observing customer behavior to gain new insights.” The second is “engagement, where you make
impersonal brand messages more humanized, resulting in greater customer acceptance.” The third leverage point is “inspiration,
where moments of human insight and perception are captured, indexed, and
harvested for strategic advantage.” And
the fourth is “automation, where speed and precision are used to target offers
and experiences across channels for continuous optimization based on measured
effectiveness.”
If
you are so focused on your data that you misjudge or overlook the emotional
connection you must make with your customers with your content and message, your
marketing efforts will never be fully successful.
We’ve
all heard the description used sometimes to describe a person that states, “He
or She is a class act!” Harvey Mackay
says that “Class is hard to define, but easy to recognize. Similarly, the absence of class is easy to
detect – and a serious flaw for anyone who aspires to be successful.”
Mackay
continues by saying “class is not an ‘act.’
It’s a deep-seated way of life for those who possess it. Having class involves good manners,
politeness, and pride without showboating, empathy, humility, and an abundance
of self-control. The actions of
class-act people speak louder than their words.
You can see it in their body language and the way they carry
themselves. Class always shows without
being announced.”
“People
can tell if you have class by the way you interact with others. If you have class, you don’t need much of
anything else to be a winner. If you
don’t have it, no matter what you do, it won’t make up the difference. Money, notoriety or success by themselves
won’t give you class. Class comes from
within, not from external sources.”
Jack
Canfield, in his book The Success
Principles, lists some reasons why being a class act helps you
succeed. He writes, “People want to do
business with you or become involved in your sphere of influence. They perceive you as successful and someone
who can expand their possibilities. They
trust you to act with responsibility, integrity and aplomb. Class acts tend to attract people who are at
the top of their game.”
So
look closely at your network of friends, co-workers, customers and so on. Are they class acts? Whether you realize it or not, they are a
reflection of you.
Harvey
Mackay says “the good news is that if you don’t like what you see, you can
change. Make a decision to recreate
yourself as a class act and see what kind of people you start attracting. Do fewer things, but do them better. Change your behavior for the better. Raise the quality of your attitude. When you have a higher level of personal
standards, you get better treatment from everyone around you. Once you’re a class act, you can say a lot
without ever uttering a word.”
