Alphabet of Growth #1

This newest series of white papers takes a look at the fundamentals of growing a business or brand. In the last 30 years piles of impressive books, thousands of articles and even more high-priced seminars have employed a variety of creative devices to bring order to the complex process of creating a growing business or brand. The catchy themes range from warfare to making new friends to psychological manipulation to using all the tools in your tool box. Readers and attendees are inspired to approach growth creation (and its tools such as marketing) with renewed vigor and fresh ideas. But often this enthusiastic effort is short-lived as the corporate dogma of “that’s not how we do things around here” sucks the life out of energetic and newly enlightened evangelists. Sometimes the day-to-day chores of running a business de-rail the best intentions.

It struck us that a better approach might be to build a reference guide similar to a Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library version of a growth handbook instead of a 600 page opus. It would be more interesting to write and a whole heck of a lot easier to carry around.

So that brought us to the Alphabet of Growth – easy to refer to tips on how to keep focused on the customer, become a better benefit definer, market more efficiently, and stay sane while doing it. There are more than 26 cards in the library because most letters have lots of possibilities. P alone has more than 8. And yes, we do have entries for X and Z!

It is all grounded in the Three Mores Growth Principle. Simply stated there are only three ways to grow a business or a brand:

1. Find More (customers)
2. Sell More (to customers)
3. Make More (on what you sell them)

Everything else that a business does is just a way to make one or more of those three things happen. Keep that in mind and you will grow. It does not matter if it is a brand you are responsible for, a small business you own, a non-profit you manage or a professional practice you want to build. It applies to any industry and even government. For more on the latter, check out our blog post on Detroit’s financial woes.

A is for Audience.

The foundation of the Three Mores Growth Principle is the customer – finding more of them, selling more to them and making more on what you sell them so you have money to do more of the first two. Therefore understanding your customer audience is critical. Armed with a grasp of the who, why, how and where of your current customers you can find others like them. You might find more customers in new places by adding another store or taking your brand overseas or finding an additional audience. The latter is a challenge but the rewards can be significant. As an example think about the technology of absorption that made Huggies^® a reality. Re-configure. Re-name. Presto – Depend^® incontinence products for seniors. Double Presto – A whole new flock of customers. Now Kimberly Clark has them as they enter the world and again as they are preparing to depart.

Where can you find more customers? It would be a good idea to ask that question first thing every morning. Those who grow often do.

B is for Benefit.

Customers need a product or service because of the benefit it delivers. Be the best at providing that benefit and customers will stick around. Deliver it so-so and prepare for their departure. But sometimes their departure is not the fault or the business or the brand. The benefit delivered so well becomes less important to the customer. As a result, they abandon the brand and move on.

The beverage alcohol business offers great examples of this natural erosion. Some brands are forced to constantly replenish their customer base in order to survive. And by customers we don’t mean the distributors or wholesalers who buy the product from the manufacturer or importer. We mean the end users. We make that distinction because we define the customer as the one who writes the check. In this case the customer is the one who cuts the final check or slaps the $20 on the bar for the next round.

Jagermeister^® and Southern Comfort^® are very profitable brands in the hands of able stewards who have nurtured them year after year. But they are faced with a huge Three Mores Challenge: The customer base is constantly eroding.

As a result these brand owners are on a never ending quest to find replacement users. Think about it. The first time most of us encountered either or both of these brands we were probably somewhere shy of legal drinking age or a spirits-drinking newbie. High school, early college years, even a year or two beyond graduation. Shots and beers with friends. Jager Bombs all around. But then things changed. We got more serious about a career, a potential mate or life in general. Adios SoCo and Cola. Hello to a fresh chardonnay from Napa or a newly discovered microbrew from a guy in Vermont.

The benefit sought is still the same – fashion statement. Only the desired statement has changed.

As a result, thousands of previously loyal Jagermeister^® and Southern Comfort^® drinkers move on every year. The challenge for the brand owners is to replace them. And it is a hectic race for survival.

Your customers may not be departing as quickly but some are departing … today, tomorrow and next week. What did you do today to replace them? Can you replace them faster than they leave? If you can, you will grow. If not, you will perish.

C is for Consistency.

If you have been paying attention you probably thought C was for Customer. No way. Why? Because everything we do and say is about the customer not just one letter. That is the heart of the Three Mores Growth Principle.

Your hold on your customers is fragile. It has taken a great deal of effort to find them and convert them. Why turn them away? But that is just what happens when you confuse them with inconsistent communications or signals. Again examples abound. IZOD is an interesting one.

At one time IZOD Lacoste was the name in sport shirts. In the 1980’s it was designated as such in the Official Preppy Handbook. But what followed is a tragic tale of branding inconsistency and confusion. The brand was split in two. The IZOD apparel taken down-market in terms of price and distribution. Lacoste stayed up market. And while the alligator logo stayed with Lacoste it was indelibly linked to the name IZOD. So when consumers found IZOD apparel on discount retailer racks, the image was tarnished. What was cool, hip and fashionable suddenly wasn’t. The climb back has been long and expensive as Ralph Lauren quickly filled the style void.

The lesson: Confuse the customer and they will move on. Be consistent and faithful to a positioning based on a relevant benefit and you will grow. We’ll talk more about that when we get to P.

In our next issue we head off to D, E and F. Let your imagination run wild.

Finally the sobering thought for the day: Mosquitoes have teeth. They do. Honest. Enjoy the cookout. Don’t believe us? Check it out: http://www.ask.com/question/how-many-teeth-do-mosquitoes-have

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