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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday, February 18, 2021: Baby, It’s Cold Inside
Extreme weather conditions resulted not only in unusual amounts of snowfall, but exceedingly cold temperatures–close to zero degrees Fahrenheit—which nearly brought down the entire state electrical grid. Pipes froze and burst, families were forced to burn furniture to stay warm or sleep in their cars, critical emergency equipment stopped working, and those that went to shelters risked exposure to COVID in group settings.
Other parts of the Midwest suffered through this weather front as well, but in places like Illinois or Minnesota, these conditions are somewhat expected and the local areas are better prepared. There was nearly a week’s notice that this storm would hit Texas–but that didn’t seem to make a difference in terms of preparation.
There will be plenty of blame to go around once the skies clear and the weather warms. But the more important question is whether there will be behavior change moving forward. The issue is not whether or not to believe in climate change–but how to deal with extreme weather situations as they occur.
On a similar subject, once COVID is controlled, will we take appropriate actions to prevent and prepare for the next global health crisis? What will it take for us to sit up and pay attention?
Those who think it isn’t necessary to prepare for these type of events face a cold, hard reality sooner rather than later. Ice cold, in fact.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday, February 4, 2021: Moving Beyond Amazon
This week, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, announced he will be stepping down as CEO of the world’s largest ecommerce firm.
Bezos, who started Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994, is the second richest person in the world, worth $182 billion.
Amazon has been one of the biggest winners of the pandemic, with $386 billion in revenue last year–a 38% yearly increase. More impressively, net profit increased by 84% in 2020, driven mainly by contributions from Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Very few people in the developed world have never dealt with Amazon. Over 140 million people have Amazon Prime accounts–which provide access to award-winning original streaming content, in addition to free shipping. AWS owns over 1/3 of the cloud computing market–more than the next three competitors combined.
So is there really a way any of us can move beyond Amazon? Look at what happened to Sears Roebuck–at one time the largest retailer in the world. Sears owned the direct-to-consumer business for decades. If you think Amazon offers a diverse set of products, consider that between 1908 and 1940, Sears sold over 70,000 mail order houses: the plans and all the pieces showed up at your door, to be assembled by the homeowner and friends.
Being the biggest and best at what you do makes it nearly impossible to have the foresight to invent what will replace your business. Sears couldn’t become Amazon, any more than the previous generation of retailers could have become Sears.
Somewhere out there, the next Jeff Bezos is lurking. We just don’t know who that is yet.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday, February 11, 2021: Cat Got Your Face?
Yesterday, the hottest thing on the Internet was a video of a lawyer appearing in a Zoom-based court hearing…as a cat.
Evidently, someone in his family had added a cat filter to his Zoom profile and the poor man couldn’t figure out how to get rid of it in real time. Zoom filters are designed to move with the image of the person, so whenever he moved his head, the cat head moved with him.
It was very funny, and brought a whole new meaning to the idea of online cat videos. The judge in the case appeared amused as well. But I suspect there’d be a different reaction if this turned into a regular occurrence.
We only have one chance to make a first impression. In today’s virtual environment, the tools available to us are limited to start. Video sessions are 2D. We’re limited as to what we see on the screen, and in many meetings like this one, there are multiple parties participating–making it even harder to project the right image.
That’s why it’s even more important to control everything you can. Dress appropriately. Have an uncluttered space behind you (or use a background that looks professional). Keep meetings as concise as possible. Use visual aids and screen sharing to help communicate your key points.
And make sure no one’s turned on any cat filters, doggone it.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday January 28, 2021: The Devil is in the Details
The good news is the vaccines to treat COVID-19 appear to be both safe and effective. The bad news is it can be nearly impossible to find a way to get one.
The federal government has purchased hundreds of millions of doses of both approved vaccines, but it’s not clear exactly where they all are. Distribution has been turned over to the states, which in some cases have pushed this to the county or city level.
The rules for who can be vaccinated when differ not just from state to state, but in some cases from county to county, or city to city. Some locales are prioritizing senior citizens. Others are focused on essential workers. In some cases, the required age is 75 and up. In others, it’s 65 and up. In some places, people on the fringe of the health care profession are vaccinated. In others, there are nurses or doctors who are still waiting for their shots.
Getting vaccinated requires navigating a complex system to find who has the vaccine, getting on their list, and sometimes traveling many miles to sit in line for hours before getting the first shot. (And this process will be repeated in a few weeks for dose #2). People are trying to cut to the front of the line by paying more money or lying about their eligibility.
Developing and producing a vaccine in such a short period of time was an incredible feat. But without an efficient process to get the vaccines into the arms of the population, much of that effort is wasted.
Getting 80% there may work in some instances. But in cases like this, good enough is not enough.
How many times have we seen major initiatives that were well planned and even fairly well executed…except for the fact no one counted on complications likely to occur before the product or service got to the final user? How many times have organizations counted on everything on the critical path going perfectly…until it didn’t?
The lesson for all of us is to not rely on others to take the handoff and deliver the winning play. With this much at stake, the devil is in the details.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com