ChangeThis: Issue 56
800-CEO-READ
March 11, 2009
The 56th issue of ChangeThis has been published for your inspection and enjoyment. Excerpts and links below. ::::: Beware the Gender Trap: Marketing to the Twenty-First Century Gender Neutral Consumer by Andrea Learned "If marketers continue to create campaigns based on thinking that 'men always do this' or 'women always do that,' they are going to fall into a gender trap.
The 56th issue of ChangeThis has been published for your inspection and enjoyment. Excerpts and links below.
:::::
Beware the Gender Trap: Marketing to the Twenty-First Century Gender Neutral Consumer by Andrea Learned
"If marketers continue to create campaigns based on thinking that 'men always do this' or 'women always do that,' they are going to fall into a gender trap. In this era of the much more diligent shopper, we just can't make assumptions about how gender influences consumer behavior. Those marketers that do risk irrelevance in a very demanding marketplace. Those marketers who avoid the gender trap and instead serve the highest consumer standard represented by 'women's ways' but serving everyone, will reap immeasurable and lasting brand love."
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to download the PDF.
Do you Market like Led Zeppelin or The Grateful Dead? by David Meerman Scott
"...Measuring success by focusing only on the number of times the mainstream media write or broadcast about you misses the point. If a blogger is spreading your ideas, that's great. If ten people email a link to your information to their networks or post about you on their Facebook page, that's amazing. You're reaching people, which was the point of seeking media attention in the first place. But most PR people only measure traditional media like magazines, newspapers, radio, and TV, and this practice doesn't capture the value of sharing.
To create a World Wide Rave, forget about sales leads and ignore mainstream media. Instead, focus on spreading your ideas. Make your information totally free, with no registration required."
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to download the PDF.
Is Progress Possible? by Gerald Sindell
"I believe in progress.
I believe that our contribution to the progress of civilization is a good measure of how well we have used our lives.
Humankind has had writing for about 13,000 years. Books got pretty cheap around 600 years ago when Gutenberg created movable type. The Internet has made access to good ideas almost free for billions of people. So why aren't the vast majority of us happy and healthy by now? Where is progress?"
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to download the PDF.
Creating Widespread Empathy by Dev Patnaik
"This manifesto is dedicated to what ought be a mind-scorchingly obvious idea.
An idea that every successful company ought to know and understand in their bones.
An idea that the vast majority of companies nonetheless fail to get.
That idea?
That empathy equals growth."
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to download the PDF.
Catching Zebras: Tranforming Your Sales Force by Shifting Your Focus by Jeffrey Koser & Chad Koser
"The Zebra concept itself is simple. Create the profile of your perfect prospect and measure all other prospects against perfection. Zebra score every prospect, decide your tipping point and don't go over it. This is the hard part. Saying no for sales people is very hard. Yes is in their vernacular. No isn't even in their DNA. So when we tell you that part of the success of this process is to say 'no,' you'll understand this process will take some inspection to ensure it succeeds. Someone once said you can't expect what you don't inspect. Inspection is necessary for the Zebra way to succeed. You can drag a Zebra to water... you get the idea."
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to download the PDF.
On the Road from Dreams to Destiny: There's a Monster in There! by Ricky Minor
"We need to call attention to all the ways we can take control of our destiny, with special emphasis on becoming aware of our actions in situations that we commonly confront in our everyday lives. We face constant choices. Our decisions can move us forward towards our goals or shift us into reverse. So many of our negative choices and behaviors start in a mindless and almost automatic fashion. The trick is to create a strategy for taking positive action and eliminating the harmful patterns we commonly fall into that are preventable if we're tuned in."
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to download the PDF.