How is Triathlon Like Marketing? Part III - the Transition

As part of an ongoing series of posts likening marketing to triathlon, I've been reviewing some key similarities and how this analogy can help your marketing team perform like an Ironman.

In triathlon, transitions are those parts of the race where the athlete moves from one discipline to another - from swim to bike or bike to run (or the all-important from run to ambulance to beer truck!).  Races can be won or lost during these changeovers, with precious seconds ticking by as helmets get donned or swim goggles doffed.  In marketing, transitions are those phases where we implement significant changes to a key element of the marketing mix - perhaps a product introduction/deletion, a new distribution channel added, or an old sponsorship dropped in favor of a new one.  As with the sport, transitions are where you're most likely to see costly bobbles that change the leader board in significant ways.

The key to a successful transition is focus.  As we look forward to the next activity, it's easy to shift our attention to what comes next.  After all, if we've done well so far, we want to press home our advantage.  If we're behind, we want to make up ground and show that we can win.  But this desire to "get on with it" leaves us vulnerable to failing to close loops that are critical for moving ahead. This could be a simple failure to talk with an existing customer about how their future purchases might be impacted by the launch of a new product designed to replace the item they currently use.  Where a proactive call or visit might smooth the way for adoption of the new, playing catch up just means lots of unnecessary angst and an opportunity to competitors to move in.

How do you ensure that the transition goes smoothly, then?  First, take the time to plan in in/out phases.  Practice the plan (set up your bike and stuff on the ground and pretend to transition from swim to bike, for example) or virtually (get the critical staff together and have a walk through on who does what, when, who communicates updates, etc.).  Second, look for opportunities to reduce the complexity of the changeover. That is, remove unnecessary steps. Avoid scheduling other priority activities at the same time, and be sure everyone with a role to play will be available.  And lastly, design the change to take as little time as possible.  A condensed timeline means less opportunity for distraction.  Don't accelerate faster than the market allows, of course, just don't dilly-dally around.

A well-executed transition means you can add significant competitive pressure and increase the duration and effectiveness of your advantage.  As with all things, go in with a well-considered plan, execute according to your rehearsal, and keep your attention firmly focused on the here and now, even as you look around to make sure no one is getting away while you put on your socks.

Transitions - not glamorous or sexy, but absolutely important in maintaining and building competitive advantage. 

How is Triathlon like Marketing? Part II

With all the prep and planning that underlie success in both marketing or triathlon, the rubber really meets the road once the gun goes off.  The first portion of a triathlon is a swim.  The frenzy of arms and legs thrashing about is not too dissimilar to those first moments of a new product hitting the market.  There's confusion, relief at getting started, some blows to the head, and an understanding the critical mistakes made at this point will have a lasting impact, but may not be ultimately fatal - if you keep your wits about you.

Practically, there are some other similarities.  For instance, many times the swim takes place in a river or lake and involves a couple of changes in direction.  This requires that the athlete actually break form and look up once in a while to make sure they're on course.  In marketing, sometimes we're so busy executing our plans that we fail to look around and see what's happening - and by this I mean check the data that can provide real-time feedback so that we can, like the swimmer, alter our course if needed.  I've noticed that many companies have "swum" themselves into a giant pickle by not planning to look around and check the data periodically. They are simply committed to executing the plan, one step at a time, so they can check action items off the to-do list.  Bad idea.

For the triathlete, the data is simple - look up and see if the big orange buoy is directly ahead of you. For marketers, it isn't usually quite so easy.  Examples might include sales (duh), the number and quality of prospects at certain gateway points, conversion rates, press/review mentions, etc.  All in all, a combination of several data elements is typically the best idea.  The best part is that, unlike the swimmer, who when she checks her position she'll become less mechanically efficient for a short moment, marketers shouldn't see a measurable loss of momentum if they lift their heads up to look around - at least not if they've begun the process of execution with the thought of periodic position checks in mind.

The triathlon swim also presents another interesting similarity.  The muscles used in swimming are not, by and large, the same as those required for the bike and run.  Driving especially hard during the swim will require some amount of our energy reserves, sure, but tired arms and shoulders shouldn't keep you from running or biking fast.  Different muscles, different disciplines.  Marketing, especially for new product introductions, is similar in that the critical early efforts to build buzz, engage the thought leaders within the community, etc. require a different emphasis early than they will later on, once the product is fully established. 

The best marketers, then, are those that know a transition is coming as well as what the upcoming key activities will be and will prepare for them.  Transitions - the topic for next time.  Till then, keep the pedals turning and attack every hill like it wants to hurt your mama!

Five Places Marketers Fail

When analyzing marketing catastrophes of all different kinds, for companies competing in wildly different industries, some fairly consistent underlying reasons for the failures begin to emerge. And surprisingly, the notion that marketing fails because the marketers in charge were morons is not one of the five. Though there are head-scratchingly bad decisions behind most campaign failures, more insidious reasons are the true propellant behind the epic failures we see in each day's newspaper (if there were still any being published, that is. But that's a marketing failure for another day).

Number Five: The Wrong Market. Sometimes the pressure to eke out just a bit more revenue from an existing but tapped out market drives marketing leaders to try to extend the product line just a bit further or to bring a marginally better solution to the game. All too often, the wrong market is the one in which we currently compete and draw the bulk of our revenue and profits. But in moving forward, a successful and winning leader will know when to make the jump.

Number Four: Bad Timing. Sometimes, however, a marketer's timing is off. Maybe by a little, maybe by a lot. But jumping into a new market too soon can mean years of frustrated "market building" activity while other technologies and approaches take their turns at being the "right solution at the right time". Jump too late and you'll face a nigh impenetrably entrenched set of competitors with too little firepower to shift the playing field.

Number Three: The Wrong Strategy. I often say that there is usually more than one way to get to the goal. However, not every path leads there. Some lead straight into the buzz saw. The number of ways in which a strategy might go wrong are legion. Wrong distribution channel for your product? You're dead. Run ads on billboards when a strong internet route is better? Toast. Doesn't necessarily mean the marketer in charge is a moron, but make enough egregious choices and it'll be tough to dodge the nickname.

Number Two: Disconnect Between Promise and Delivery. Imagine you've spec'd the perfect product for your customer's needs. You've built a demand generation strategy second to none. You've got leads pouring in from around the globe. You're a certifiable genius. But then the factory in China burns down. The contract coders from Russia stop returning your emails. Or perhaps operations disregarded your demand forecast because her bonus gets paid on a metric that has nothing to do with satisfying your customers. In any case, this scenario can lead to the very worst outcome for a company - jilted customers. Those whose passions were stirred and then left bitterly unfulfilled.

Number One: Serving the Wrong Master. This one, more than the others, will be likeliest to cause people on the outside to consider the folks at the wheel a bunch of morons. But chances are that the marketers were simply working to please someone other than the actual customer. Perhaps the CEO had a creative idea he loved and wanted to see executed or the senior management council thought they knew better.

The common element among these failures is a loss of focus and mastery of the customer's condition and needs. The ability to translate this knowledge into effecive action is quite common, but the knowledge itself, now that is an all-too-rare commodity. So while marketing groups quibble over effective SEO strategies and approaches to pricing, too few marketing pros are spending quality time with their customers. And that is why they will fail.