A Better Brand Execution = Better Marketing
by Sid Raisch
Part 6 of a Series with the Theme “A Better _______ = Better Marketing”
Marketing is an important part of the job of everyone in a company. It’s everything a company and everyone in it does within, outside, around, and beyond. In this series of articles, we’ll be discussing how different views of marketing make a huge difference in choosing, taking, and owning our position now and in the future.
This is the end cap of the series on Better Marketing.
Retail is Detail. Getting the details right is not as important as getting the message right, but those details can erase the best messaging you can create or afford to buy.
Our industry is predisposed to DIY, doing all sorts of things to avoid paying someone else to do what they can do better than we can, individually or collectively in-house. When the end result is less than it could have been DIY often costs more, whether in the actual cost of doing or the opportunity cost of not doing them or not doing them as well as we could have and should have done.
One thing we tend to do is to see our business the way we see it, not the way the customer sees it, or the way Sid sees it. There are the big picture things to see, as well as many tiny and impactful details that we may walk past every day and still not see them.
The past couple of weeks a couple of clients clarified something for me that I should have seen more clearly myself. We talked about the economy, THEIR economy, their mindset and strategy for their company, why certain things are very important now, and how to take action on those. They both also clarified that they appreciate the punch list, or marching orders of details to DIY and check off. Done and Done. I gave them detailed things to do lists, which also included some items on the list that I gave them the last time I was there, in both cases, as in every other client's case, and that I would give you if you were a client. (That’s okay though, it’s part of my job security.) Go “Beyond the Boundaries” of DIY, and ensure our brands are executed well in all of the retail details. When we miss them we discredit all that effort.
It has been said that “You’re not in the business you think you’re in, you’re in the business of marketing the business you are in”. Getting our marketing right requires being a professional master of our marketing first, and a horticultural professional as a way to measure your progress, not the other way around. Going to where the MAGIC of retail is means going beyond media, beyond advertising, beyond brand, beyond messaging means getting every one of those right, and that means carrying them out completely and boldly enough that we’re not milk-toast wandering generalities of garden centers and actually become the “Celebrated Source” for consumers and community. This can happen only with Specific Intent to know what it is and to execute all the details. Raise your bar all the way to that point of Purposeful Distinction.
One of those never to be forgotten moments happens for me when we were on the Fall Event tour in Greensboro, NC area and on one of those unique tour stops that leaves horticulturists wondering, “why are we here?”. We were at the Bob Timberlake Studio in Lexington, NC, and witnessed Bob himself address a brand slip-up with his store manager. The gentleman arrived to work wearing a Nike polo shirt instead of a Bob Timberlake shirt, and Bob gently but very specifically tapped the Swoosh located where the Bob Timberlake feather should have been three or four times with his index finger. The point was well made in a way not many people might have noticed, indicating his keen eye on protecting his brand from erosion and a death by those tiny cuts we should also fear.
Likewise, I’m going to give you a free sample of this by mentioning two very small retail details that are probably missing in most Group stores at this very moment.
- Door windows with decals, stickers, and pieces of tape from signs long gone, and probably not clean.
- Bathrooms that were once nice, but have fallen into disrepair with stains on the ceiling tile or other forms of deterioration that most people might not notice, except when they are sitting there with the time to see what people see when they aren’t looking at their phones like you may be right now as you read this. (Click to see the first article in this series.)
While you’re relaxing over the next week or two, take a walk back through the articles in this series and give them real thought and consideration, especially the one in the November 25 GroupTalk. You were probably too busy with Christmas trees and the like to actually read it. Here’s the last paragraph in it: “There is hope for a great spring and resiliency during a possible recession and continued inflation that is greater than our price increases, and it lies within our resources. We’re going to have to get focused on the right actions and act fast to make sure Spring is all it could have become if we had.”
A Better Merchandise Selection
A Better Recession Effort
A Better Brand Execution
Can you afford to DIY as much as you’ve been? The cost of doing better mostly lies in capturing opportunity instead of leaving it behind. Investing to build the inner health of your company and expressing it in Better Marketing costs less, and also earns more. Be a bold investor in your own company, not just a DIY’er because you can do it, but not well enough to prosper.
Yes, it is time we talked. Send a text or call 937-302-0423.
Before procrastination or other busyness steals another year from you Text or Call 937-302-0423 or send an email to [email protected] .
Sid Raisch is an advocate for family business leading growth, change, and results throughout US horticulture. Redefining the business future for consumer horticulture by understanding how the end-to-end supply chain needs to be redirected is a skill Sid has honed into an art. He has understanding and insight through inquisitive observations and extensive experience and has served as a trusted advisor helping transform both national and local businesses into more profitable and sustainable businesses. Developing national and international educational programs that create change in culture, community and company provides Sid venues with a front row seat creating effective and innovative business models.
Sid is a Certified Value Builder System Advisor, and currently serves as Chief Strategist and the Swiss Army Knife of Consultants to The Garden Center Group clients. Contact Sid at [email protected] or call or text 937-302-0423.
REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Sid Raisch, Tim Quebedeaux, Jean Seawright, John Kennedy, and of course Danny Summers are included in your retainer!
