I’m the kind of person who needs an earth-shatteringly good excuse not to do something. If the reason is compelling enough, I’m all over it, but you literally have to bang me over the head with it, or something physically debilitating must prevent me from doing it. Self-imposed psychological restrictions notwithstanding, I am a doer of the pathological variety.
Yesterday about 1 hour after I woke up, I hurt my back. I don’t recall twisting it, or wrenching it into some unnatural position that would make it act up, nor do I recall sleeping funny, but there I was with this monster back ache, not knowing exactly what to do. I recall reading about people with chronic/back pain, and I confess to fast tracking my pain to imagining what it must feel like to live with this 24/7 albatross with no reprieve until the next dose of drugs kicks in. I thought about taking a few Tylenol and then passing on the idea worrying about possible addiction, although I am a lousy medication-taker, so the thought of becoming a chronic pill popper is lost on me.
So I called my sister. She suggested I lay down with an ice pack. I did for about 10 minutes whilst barking orders at my husband to get our daughters in gear for the party we were off to downtown. “You should lay down and rest!” He hollered back. “And you probably shouldn’t go anywhere!” “Yes, you’re right!” I countered, “But I want to see our friends too!” I sensed an eyeball roll from him in the distance, and I knew that he was right, but this is my problem. Intrinsically, I “know” what I “should” do, but I just can’t stop to help myself long enough to achieve that state of not-doing. With this back thing, I think well, yes, ok, I hurt, but the floor needs vacuuming, and yes, I hurt, but who’s going to clean up the breakfast dishes, and yes, I hurt, but who is going to think about what we should have for dinner, and yes, I hurt, but who is going to plan the educationally stimulating programs for our daughter who has 2 weeks of March vacation, and so on. It’s a croc, but I know that I bring it upon myself. If I stopped the doing, I think I would be lost. And for this I am going to blame McDonald’s and my mother.
When I was sixteen or fifteen or seventeen, I don’t exactly recall, I got my first “real” job at McDonald’s. Back then, everyone either worked at McDonald’s or the mall, but chances are if you were 15, you held down a job in the food services industry, or maybe you pumped gas. All of us kids were keeners and socially well-groomed, [unlike the sloppy, grunting so and so’s today who schlep your food to you behind greasy, blank faces]. So the thing was in the protocol of McDonald’s customer service, you had to greet the customer with a well-rehearsed smile, always ask open-ended questions, thank the patron for patronizing McDonald’s and when you were finished with the customer, you had to find something constructive to do in the interim, like refill the condiment boxes, restack the cups, sweep the floors, or wipe down the counters until the next customer arrived. When you were 5 minutes to finishing your shift, you had to ask for a “last job.”
My mother it would seem, had a similar philosophy. We weren’t allowed to watch much TV, nor were we permitted to lay around the house doing nothing. She didn’t go as far as giving us little McJobs to perform, but she did say, “Satan Finds Things for Idle Hands to Do,” when she decided that we were not doing anything constructive. And it worked. Almost too well. When my younger sister got her nose pierced, she heard, “Satan Finds Things for Idle Hands to Do.” And years later, unbeknownst to my mother at the time, when my young niece pointed out that it was strange that I had a ring in my belly button, I heard the familiar tune again. My mother, a Single Mom extraordinaire, had us conditioned to the point that whenever she was at work and we heard the car in the driveway when she returned home, we would quickly switch off our 3 channel television and grab a book, or a craft.
What I’ve since come to recognize is that there is great value in relaxing, and there is certainly great value in putting off today things that you know won’t go away tomorrow. And that’s totally cool. I’m also a firm believer in physical signs that tell you to pause, reflect, and quite simply to STOP. [Perhaps my back ache has its roots in some kind of psychological red flag beckoning me to STOP CLEANING you dumbass!]. So today, I’m going to put the blinders on, and put the blinkers on, and come what may. That said, I have to remind myself to put my crank aside, and channel the must-do, into a smiling must-wait-and-see. Amen?
ithinkyoushould.Have a Marketing Plan that includes a Public Relations/Media Plan.
In business life, you are nothing without a marketing plan AND a public relations/media plan. Business & Marketing/PR go hand in hand like milk and cookies, pasta and sauce, wine and cheese, fries and salt. You get the picture. Unfortunately, so many small businesses fail because while you may have a great idea and a great product, few invest the necessary thought, time, energy and dollars on the smart tools that will help to bring your product to market.
In our over-media saturated world, the companies that gain the most air-time, are more often than not the companies who invest big dollars to ensure that their products are placed front and centre on the media landscape. If we are bombarded and pressured to buy “Concept A” over “Concept B,” or “Product A” over “Product B” it is because some clever body out there is making damn sure that we keep our eyes on their prize. Quite instantly the [subliminal] buzz words and phrases that they use to market their great ideas instantly become part of the culture and we incorporate them into our lingo without missing a beat:
Dr. Oz wants you to focus on You, Oprah wants you to Live your Best Life, Nike wants you to Just Do It, Adidas tells us that Impossible is Nothing, Coca-Cola wants you to Smile, and the list goes on. If we are not called to swift and immediate action by these slogans, then we are gently persuaded that we are Lovin’ It by McDonald’s, that I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea by Microsoft, that Banking can be This Comfortable by TD Canada Trust, that Ziploc was designed with you in mind [thanks for the refresher NYTimes], and so on.
It is these smart marketing strategies coupled with smart design and smart public relations/media initiatives that keep these brands in the forefront of our minds, at the forefront of the media cycle, all with a strategic hand in our pocketbooks. It doesn’t hurt that TD has been voted Best Customer Service, that Nike endorses [and drops as necessary—boohoo Tiger!] multi-million dollar gifted athletes or that Microsoft’s Bill Gates is a great philanthropist in addition to being a likeable and business-savvy geek.
Smart marketing, and clever planning make all the difference and the difference lays in not only what you market, but how and why and when you market your product. So here’s the thing: in addition to setting goals and benchmarks, one must aim high, and if you can’t aim high, then aim mid-market. That’s right people. I said, “MID-MARKET!”
The mid-market landscape is populated by wanna-be brands who might never reach the top tier level of products similar to theirs, but they don’t care. They are content to be B-Status players and as a result they are able to milk that status for all it’s worth. What’s clever about the B-Status players is that knowing that they will “never” become top level players, they are free to market the hell out of their B Status as a viable option to the A Level Brands . The bells and whistles aren’t as loud and/or shiny, and it may not cost as much, but no matter, the B Status/Listers have a calling and a following and they know what their demographic wants. The point is, they too have a marketable strategy—a failsafe Gameplan that keeps them on “back-up” status should the A-Lister lose public favour or fall from grace. Yes, the market is that fickle, because we the people are that fickle.
A good example of smart marketing is the comic/brand Kathy Griffin. Many years ago she made a name for herself by promoting her “D-List” status. Her program, My Life on the D-List skewers the Hollywooderati while making good fun of her life as what she terms a “D-List Celebrity.” What’s smart about Ms Griffin is that in promoting her “D-List” status she has made herself an “A-Lister” by default. She is also clever enough to know how not to alienate her fans or to isolate herself from the very category that she established to win a unique demographic all her own. She’s been smart enough to keep her brand loyal to what she set out to do, and she’s been strategic enough to leverage her “D-List” status to insinuate herself into the A-List category/environments where she would have been previously unwelcomed.
Griffin’s [media]strategy involved her creating a Reality Show long before Reality Shows were the norm, and she brought us into her “private” world of entertainment where few celebrities would “allow” such access. In fact, the sole reason the Tabloids exist is to deconstruct and annihilate the untouchable personas “A-Listers” create—by way of their own marketing strategies— to distance themselves from the grubby masses. So for example, Brad Pitt will do a Edwin 503’s jean commercial in Japan, but we won’t ever have a hope in hell of seeing him hawk jeans here much less smile for a celebrity Gap ad. And thus an industry was born.
So from this we can glean that strategy is everything, and that a good strategy underscores any marketing/public relations/media campaign that you will ever embark upon. You need insight, and foresight and forbearance. You need to invest and be confidant that what you have is indeed worth fighting for and you will stop at nothing to achieve your market share be it A Status or D Status. There is room at the top for everyone and no one. How badly you want it depends on your Value Add and the strategies you employ to get you there. I think you should get going. There is plenty of room at the bottom.
ithinkyoushould. Live your life as a popular cliché. And if this is the route you choose to take, make it a good one!
As in: I will endeavour to consume a strict diet of a McDonald’s Big Mac, Medium Fries, and a Large Coke, and I too will become an Olympic Medal Contender.
Here’s another one: I will drink ________ [insert your own beer of choice], and a bevy of lithe beauties will join my party.
I will call chatline: 555-212-1234, and the cosmetically-altered girlie in the television ads will be on line when I call.
And lastly, by watching The Hills, The City, Jersey Shore, and the Real Life, I too can expect to meet up with random ‘friends’ and frenemies alike to drink cocktails, shop, and gossip.
There. My life as lived through the lens of a popular cliché is complete! [Jumpy Claps!]
…I know. Bitchy, right? Well, today I’m in one of those “easily offended” moods. Go on, it’s ok, admit it, you know the type. I just can’t believe that after ALL these years, advertisers are still slinging the same pile of doo-doo. And gullible us, we keep on making room for their sh*t.
I’m the kind of person who needs an earth-shatteringly good excuse not to do something. If the reason is compelling enough, I’m all over it, but you literally have to bang me over the head with it, or something physically debilitating must prevent me from doing it. Self-imposed psychological restrictions notwithstanding, I am a doer of the pathological variety.
