Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Inconsistency in marketing…It is happening to me =)

Good day everyone!! It has been a while since the last time I put my latest sharing. Is it laziness, busyness, or sickness that has been keeping me away from writing? Well to be honest the answer is the combination of all three of those. It all started with busyness from my new commitment with the new company that I work with. However, I should have not broken my commitment as a marketer to keep sharing. Therefore the laziness also got into my brain and took over the whole body not to think and write. Just when I thought it could not get any worse, the sickness came along. Yes!! That is right…I had too much fun on the last long weekend and therefore I had to experience a very bad flu for the last two weeks.
I am actually still in the office with some spare time. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep my brain exercised with marketing concept or otherwise there will always be more reasons in the future that keep me away from sharing. Let us elaborate more the phenomenon that I just experienced. I would like to call it “Inconsistency”. I think this is a cancer in marketing.

Since my interest in marketing was triggered I noted that marketing requires consistency. The sustainable marketing does not depend on a single incident. Let us look at the obvious example. I am sure that all of you acknowledge the American Idol, Australian Idol, Indonesian Idol, and the other Idol series. Those series have managed to capture a lot of great talents from all around the world. Each and every season always manage to bring at least one person under the spotlight. However, where are they now? Only a few of them that managed to continue their popularity.

Consistency is a simplest and yet I consider it as the hardest marketing idea. Jay Conrad Levinson, the author of Guerrilla Marketing stated that “You should know that a mediocre marketing program with commitment will always prove more profitable than a brilliant marketing program without commitment. Commitment makes it happen”. I suppose nothing comes easy in life.

A couple of days ago I read an article that stated Wal-Mart has lost its consistency as the world’s strongest retailer. They could no longer provide the complete full range of products as they did years ago. Their competitors seem to be able to create deals with the producers and hence outweigh Wal-Mart. This seems like an unimportant measure however the marketing jungle see this as a huge drawback.

Only through consistency the level of your experience and credentials could be enhanced in a particular area. You will begin to gain some traction, to know people in the relevant area and to be known, and potentially to acquire a reputation as an expert. Each of these attributes requires a sustained effort.

Since I am also still learning to be a better marketer and a better person, I would like to hear suggestions from other members on how to keep our motivation in life.

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst