Flexible Duct
Lean Marketing Applied With Duct Tape Marketing
Lean marketing is a whole-systems approach that creates a culture of continuously improving processes. It is a system focused on and driven by customers, both internal and external. Lean marketing isn’t just an industry buzzword or quick-fix alternative. Increasing competition demands a continuous focus on minimal costs, maximum customer options, fast delivery, and high-quality products and services.
Today’s companies must be innovative while focusing on waste reduction, improved lead-time, maximized flexibility, and upgraded quality. Remember the old adage about marketing – only 50 percent of your marketing works, you just did not know which 50 percent. Lean marketing principles will allow you to implement proven strategies. The components of Lean Marketing include Value Stream, Lean Metrics, Current State, Future State, and Kaizan Plan, and these components fit nicely with both the Marketing Plan Pro and the Six Sigma.
Value Stream
Value Stream can be matched up with the first step in building a Lean Six Sigma marketing process of defining and Duct Tape Marketing planning system’s marketing vision and ideal customer. The Value Stream is defined solely by the customer. Your product must meet the customer’s needs at both a specific time and delivered with the required message. The thousands of mundane and sophisticated things that marketers do to deliver a message are generally of little interest to customers. To view value from the eyes of the customer requires needless messages to be reduced. Having identified your ideal customer is to understand all the activities required to explain the benefits of a specific product and, as a result, optimize the whole marketing process from the view of the customer.
Sound like a perfect world and impossible to do? Maybe, Maybe not. Many marketers need to critically evaluate their processes to determine their effectiveness in bringing maximum value to customers. Today’s techniques are creating more efficient methods to deliver targeted messages in the particular manner that customers wish to receive it. It must be remembered that it is our job as marketers to deliver the message in a manner a customer wishes to receive. As an example, one customer wishes to receive less frequent information in written form while another may prefer daily bits of information delivered in a blog. As stated earlier, lean marketing is a system focused on and driven by customers. Optimizing the value stream from their eyes and in an efficient process takes marketing to a level not experienced before. Review your past sales to your ideal customers. Determine when and what was of value to them. That is your value stream and your vision.
Metrics
As stated in the first article, measuring the process and gathering the data associated with the problem is the second step in building a Lean Six Sigma marketing process. Duct Tape Marketing planning system’s critical numbers coincides with this as well. The Lean Marketing uses metrics
The measurements you use determine your success. Having good measurements are the key. Six Sigma is typically seen as a problem solving tool and therefore difficult to relate to marketing. This is where the theory of Lean Marketing will benefit you the most. Measuring simply by results is just not enough in today’s world. Using Lean Metrics measured by drivers are at the heart of making your marketing plan effective.
Remember, the purpose of Lean Marketing is to reduce waste and provide to the customer’s needs. Marketing should be effective, efficient, and innovating, while focusing on understanding the customer’s needs. If we keep these thoughts in mind, we will only produce materials of value to a customer and only give the material to the customer when he needs it versus a constant barrage of information.
What about using measurements determined by shorter sales cycles and based on starting when the customer need has developed? What about measuring the amount of downloads on a whitepaper and the resulting request for information? What about workshops centered around improving metrics of your customer versus your sales volume?
Below are a few guidelines for good metrics:
· You must be able to establish a number to it.
· Are structured so the number is easily obtainable and updated.
· Do not measure everything and have key measures that are monitored closely and often
· Used to make you aware of a problem, nothing more.
Map Current State
Exploring the data to identify a cause and effect relationship between variables is the third step in building a Lean Six Sigma marketing process, and this coincides with Duct Tape Marketing planning system’s Remarkable Story and Product or Service Innovation. Applying Lean Marketing’s Map Current State is saying you cannot determine how to get somewhere without knowing where you are.
Knowing your current state is one of the most powerful tools but is the least understood. Establishing a baseline or as it is so well put in Michael Kennedy’s book, Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: “The root issues must be understood from two perspectives: what is causing them and what stands between how things should be and what they are. Failure to understand will result in widespread wishful thinking and superficial solutions.”
There is a true art to mapping and takes quite a bit of work to become proficient. However, utilizing such marketing planning systems as Marketing Plan Pro will allow you to build that current state of your organization and your product or service. It is important to precisely know where you are and be able to define that to your customer.
Map Future State
The fourth step for Lean Six Sigma marketing is to develop a new process so the problem is eliminated and the new results meet the new requirements, and this coincides with Duct Tape Marketing planning system’s Lead Generation. When you then add the Lean Marketing component, Map Future State, we start seeing it all come together.
This is the step everyone typically wants to jump to immediately. It is much like project management and thinking that it is just about scheduling. As a result, it is the most abused and where most of the process waste occurs. We make plans and instead of having a sound basis, we use instincts and tools that are not directed and often based on what I call “The Deal of the Week.”
An example is the practice of placing advertising to reach a mass audience. The thought process is that not only do I reach my core constituency but also others. Forget it! That simply is not going to happen. Do the math! Take your core constituency and divide that by the ad dollars spent. Now, are those ad dollars well spent? Can you do it more effectively through another media?
Using your current state map, ask yourself where would you like to be and realistically what time frame can you accomplish this? Map the needed tactics to fulfill the metrics you developed. Take one of the metrics you have mapped in your current state and create a future state map on what is needed to be accomplished through both the Lead Generation process and the Lead Conversion stage. Take it all the way to the finished product, if possible, and then go back and remove any waste in the process. I challenge you to just try this on one metric and see how it would look ideally. Now set your timeline on what is achievable. Use this exercise and you can start understanding value stream mapping much better. Are your processes getting leaner?
Kaizan Plan
The fifth step in building a Lean Six Sigma marketing process in implementing the new process under a control plan, and Duct Tape Marketing planning system’s service experience coincides with this step. We will now add the Lean component of creating a Kaizan Plan, but first we need to know what is Kaizan.
Kaizan is the Japanese word for continuous improvement. It is all about idea submission, not acceptance. Kaizan has three steps. First, create a standard. Second, follow it. Third, find a better way. Now that we’ve mapped our current and future states, we must start implementing. We’ve created the plans, therefore creating a standard. Standards will make life easier because they will create real and lasting value. But for any standard to work, it must be clearly identified and people must be trained in this method. Once the standard is in place, we will then continuously look for better ways to do the work because to be truly of lean fashion, we must realize the work is never done, it is continuously improving.
Without understanding this step in the process, people become confused with what planning and standards are meant to be. Standards are not control mechanisms. Having a process does not stunt creativity. A true standard is actually the direct opposite as it allows time to focus on the creative aspect as it is part of the plan. Standards and plans are dynamic. They let you know where the problem is quicker, where to begin a search for solutions, and prevent you from making the same mistake twice. Continuous improvement cannot happen without a standard. Continuous improvement in any part of the organization is the only true advantage that you have as a company.
So you tell me, is your marketing giving you a sustainable advantage over your competition?
About the Author
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as target marketing and organized referral marketing. He provides practical, information-rich, immediately applicable direction that profoundly impacts the success of small and mid-sized businesses.
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