Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Order A Whopper And Create Your Next Breakout Strategy

Over the last few months I have spent the majority of my time focused on developing 2012 strategic plans for our nonprofit clients and my new favorite theme has become "What's our breakout strategy"?

I have dedicated several posts on this blog talking about ways to think using the 80/20 rule.  And, for me, thinking in terms of "breakout strategies" has helped me separate the true opportunities from the tactics. I believe it is very possible that 80% of your growth in 2012 can come from 20% of our ideas...putting more attention and focus on ONLY the 20% may actually improve your success rate.

Maybe I am suffering from the Tetris Effect but now I am looking for breakout strategy motivation and found one among the fast food giants to share to get you motivated...Burger King's push into delivery service.

To be truthful, I have not studied the timeline of innovation among the top fast food giants but would summarize past efforts as follows:
  1. Cheaper prices
  2. New french fries
  3. Super Size
  4. The McRib (a category unto itself)
  5. New french fries (again)
  6. Healthy alternatives
None of the above qualify as breakout strategies but instead tactical changes to gain incremental revenue, market share, etc. like testing a new OE teaser on an envelope.

To be clear, nothing is wrong with incremental as long as you spend less time here and more time on areas where you can truly breakout. 

So for your next brainstorm meeting, order some BK for delivery and take the extra time answer this question "What can we be doing differently to TRULY create separation from our competitors?"

Saturday, January 14, 2012

More About the 80/20 Rule for Creative...

I am starting to sense an emerging obsession with identifying ways in which the 80/20 rule can be applied in marketing considering I have covered this topic in an earlier post.

With that disclaimer aside, I came across a great blog post by Michel Fortin on
Copywriting the 80/20 Way and this part really resonated with me:

Less Effort, Better Results

Writing copy the 80/20 way is about getting maximum results with minimum effort. It’s about doing more with less.

Don’t waste hours trying to create the “perfect” sales letter. Rather, write a letter that’s good enough. Then split-test it to success. Let the software do all the heavy lifting for you.

How do you see the 80/20 rule applying in your marketing approach to your creative planning, analytics, etc?