The Best Thing I Ever
Learned (About Marketing)
By Robin Sagara
It was a marketing symposium, at the Ritz Carlton Pasadena,
about 20 years ago. Who knew they had a dress code just to check in (sheeshhh).
Anyway, lots of heavy hitters in the marketing world, one was the VP of
Marketing for Disneyland. She was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. She spoke little, and said a
lot.
In response to a very good question - "How do you know
what will work, how do you decide?" - she gave some advice that I've
carried with me for years and years. She's right. And although it seems
obvious, I watch my clients break this rule over, and over, and over again.
She told us that we'll never know what's going to work until
we try it. Then she told us what they do at Disney: They put their heads
together and take their best educated guess. They set rules for results, what
will mean that it's working, what will mean that it's not. They go with it. If
it doesn't meet their criteria for success, they STOP. Even if they've poured
tons of money into it. If it does work, they milk the heck out of it. Period.
That's it.
Example of something that didn't work and they stopped: They
tried a promotion where, oh what was it? Californians got a discount. Just show
your drive's license and... They set their rules for success, how many months
they'd give it, how many Californians, etc. The results were not what they
wanted, they stopped. They did NOT keep trying to convince Californians to come
to Disneyland, they did not offer more, they did not lower the price. They just
stopped.
Example of something that DID work and they milked the heck
out of it: Y`all have heard of the Electric Light Parade? It started out as a
temp gig to replace a parade that just wasn't ready for prime time. They
figured it would be a short run, just to fill the gap. They gave it a couple of
weeks. But people went WILD for it. I think it was ten years worth of wild,
then they sold off the lighbulbs for $10 each when it finally wound down. If
memory serves, they even resurected the parade years later.
She emphasized, "Don't keep putting money into
something that isn't working. It won't help."
Reeealllyyyy good advice. And yet I see people doing exactly
that, over and over. And just like she said, it doesn't work.
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