Team Orrin Woodward

The New Rules of Business Marketing!

The below excerpts come from an article Seth Godin wrote for Forbes Magazine. His piece entitled Your Product, Your Customer was published in the May 7, 2007 edition of Forbes on page 90. His words echo what Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady have been talking about for years. Business is built on relationships and trust. In the new economy those who can build networks of customers loyal to a certain product or service will win over the mass marketers trying the old and tired methods of the 60’s and 70’s.

"Great brands and great companies have been built on the back of mass media. You fill your funnel with attention and slowly turn the attention into cash. Traditionally that’s how marketers convert strangers into customers. Whoever has the biggest funnel wins…..Bad news for control freaks everywhere: Your funnel is broken and you’re not in charge anymore.”

We witnessed this phenomenon at the beginning of the internet explosion where marketing companies tried to use the rules for the old game in this new economy. Remember those super bowl commercials where the new hot dot com companies spent millions to try to fill their funnels with mass market attention but ultimately most of them failed? New game, new rules, and those who change the quickest and adapt are the only ones who will survive. Companies who continue to play by the rule book created for the 1960’s and 1970’s are destined for failure.

Seth goes on to explain what is happening. “What’s a marketer to do? You can try to fill the funnel by running innovative ads. You can patch the leaks in your funnel by hiring a cooler agency…..Or you can try something new. First flip the funnel; turn it into a megaphone. But not as a device to yell at people who don’t want to hear from you. Instead, hand the megaphone to your best customers, who can help turn their friends and colleagues into your new best customers.”

Seth writes about this in his book the Idea Virus. Word of mouth is so much more powerful than anything a marketing company can do to promote a product. Think about the people in your life who you consider credible and trustworthy. Chances are if they have something great to say about a product or service you are going to try it for yourself. The exact opposite is also true. If they have had a poor experience you will most likely never try that product or service based on their recommendations.

“The network was always there, but the internet makes it powerful. It amplifies the happy user and spreads the word. But beware: it also boosts the volume of unhappy users…..Thanks to the network, it’s easier than ever to find your best customers and to broadcast their views. Amazon is filled with page after page of positive reviews by delighted (and uncompensated) customers.”

I have written many past articles on capitalism and the free enterprise market economies. These can probably be found in the archives of this site. A major theme that runs through many of the writings from people like Ayn Rand, Adam Smith, and even Rich Karlgard is that in a free market economy you don’t need much government intervention, regulation, and extensive laws to police the economy because the customer will do that for you. The internet has made this much easier. Businesses must operate with the best interest of their customers in mind and all business owners understand this. Just as good publicity can spread about a great product or service which will bring more customers to the business, poor service will spread just as fast and will affect the bottom line. Once you have lost a customer you have generally lost them for life.

Look how quickly the market turned on JetBlue Airlines after their debacle of leaving thousands of passengers held hostage in airplanes for hours during a snow storm. The outrage was so visceral and spread so quickly that JetBlue ended up having to testify before Congress about the event! Before that we all saw the public outcry against Firestone tires as they gained national attention after their product was found to be faulty which led to multiple horrific crashes which resulted in the loss of life. You could not give away a set of Firestone tires during that time and the CEO had to make numerous national announcements letting the public know about their commitment to safety. It has taken years for them to once again regain the trust of the public!

“The biggest mistake marketers make when they see the power of the consumer network is that they try to control, own, or manipulate it. This always fails because the network doesn’t care about you and can’t be bought. The smartest marketers aim to inspire, not to control…..great companies don’t push the lead!”

Seth Godin highlights very eloquently that companies can not play by the rule book that led to success decades ago. The rules have changed and mass marketing is less valuable now than ever before. Our world is full of marketing noise that we have learned to tune out. The people who we have not tuned out however are the credible and trustworthy friends and family members who share with us their good or bad experiences. This dialogue has more influence on us as consumers than any commercial ever will.

Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady have been far ahead of the curve in this new economy than many of their counterparts. When you read the above excerpts from Seth Godin, what does it all boil down to? Trust! The truth is going to come out about any product or service. If it is great or if it is bad, either way it will be known. Orrin Woodward has said to our board countless times, “We need to do everything so it can pass the New York Times test. No matter what we do we need to ensure that if it made the front page of the New York Times we would be proud. We are going to be honest in everything we do and we are going to be transparent with all our customers.” That is a mandate from our Chairman and that goes right to the heart of the issue Seth talks about. If you operate with those principles as your guiding light then you are going to be very successful in this new economy where word of mouth promotion travels further and quicker than ever before!

Internet Marketing Soars!

While flying home from Florida today, I saw this note in the Money Section of USAToday newspaper (Friday, May 25, 2007). I know this will be a point of interest for many of the readers here and so the full text is included below.

"Internet advertising sales soared 35% to $16.9 billion in the USA last year as marketers accelerated their pursuit of website audiences. Fourth quarter Internet ad spending reached a record $4.8 billion, also a 35% gain, the interactive Advertising Bureau said on Thursday, citing a survey conducted with accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers."

Internet retailing sales show no sign of slowing down in the near future. Companies that have relied on brick and mortar sales in the past continue to move and rely on internet sales for future business viability. Companies that are able to build and deliver a community of loyal buyers to those stores will become more and more valuable in this e-commerce dependent economy! Our Team is right in the middle of the sweet spot of this new economy!

Orrin Woodward and his Team have perfected the art of building online communities since 1999 when he heard Michael Dell talk at the Detroit Economics Club about the "Three C's of E-Commerce." As the industry leader who has built his business Team around a fast moving, agile, react to the market mindset, you can be sure there is much more to come.

Orrin Woodward: Critical Thinking

“Decision-making in today’s business environment is decentralized. Decisions are made at the local level, or at a functional or operating level. You can’t grow a business around two or three good thinkers anymore, because your success depends on quality decisions from people at every level – salespeople, marketing people, strategy people, and so on. Everyone has to be able to think smart.

If you don’t have the right amount of quality thinking in a complex growth company like ours, it is going to manifest itself in terms of marginalized discussions that rely upon wrong inputs and unskilled questions. And that’s what drags down businesses. That is why companies that don’t have good minds throughout their ranks get stuck…”

Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon

One thing that I have found with top level leaders is their appreciation for critical thinking throughout their organizations. This however does not happen by chance. The top leaders will always be the ones leading the charge reading everything they can get their hands on to stay on top of current issues and to hone their skills. This appetite for knowledge which produces critical thinking is then passed down throughout the ranks of the company and before you know it you have a learning based culture.

Orrin Woodward is an apex learner with a voracious appetite for knowledge in a variety of subjects. From history, to politics, to economics he is always recommending books for his leadership team to read. His intense drive to get better in all aspects of his business has permeated throughout our entire culture. As Peter Senge says in his book The Fifth Discipline, “In the long run the only sustainable competitive advantage is your organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition.”

If you want to be competitive in the market place as an employee or as a leader of an organization the true test of how well you are doing is first how well you are developing yourself to stay ahead of your competition. Second, how well are you developing those around you to help your organization reach the top and stay on top?

Walmart.com crashes during holiday rush!

“Walmart.com crashed for at least two hours after it released online-only specials at 5a.m. ET Friday. Wal-Mart said traffic increased sevenfold while the company only expected it to double.”

Jayne O’Donnell and Jon Swartz, USAToday, November 28, 2006

The rest of this article with its full content will be posted below for you to read. I thought this was very interesting and that our blog followers would want to read this. Orrin Woodward started an internet company back before it was fashionable and all along has been predicting the change in the marketplace which will drive more and more consumers to online retailers. Quite frankly we have been experiencing this type of growth now for years. It is just starting to hit mainstream media outlets how much holiday shopping has moved to online shopping and price comparisons.

With the advent of high speed internet access and proliferation of technology into the households not just in America but around the world the internet age is the new gold rush. Our site has experienced the same growth patterns over the last few years and continues to be upgraded to handle demand.

One aspect that I found compelling was that many people using online retailer websites were doing so for comparison shopping purposes. Price conscious consumers are engaged in online shopping looking for the best deal. With all the prices readily available a soccer mom can now save time by shopping online while obtaining the best prices in town without ever having to leave her home. As these market trends continue to expand stay tuned for updates and perspectives from Orrin Woodward.

For price conscious consumers the internet is not only offering the ease of shopping online but allowing price comparisons to take place over wide regional and national areas in the comfort of your home with the click of a mouse.

Online traffic surge downed some retailers websites
By: Jayne O’Donnell and Jon Swartz, USAToday, November 28, 2006

“Deal hungry shoppers flocked to the Internet on Monday, beating last year’s psot-thanksgiving pace and over-whelming a retail industry website offering hundreds of special offers. North American retail website traffic reached 2,145,558 visitors per minute at 2 p.m. ET Monday, says Internet service provider Akamai Technologies. That is up 19% from peak on Cyber Monday last year. Although traffic dipped around 5 p.m. ET, it was still over the 2 million visitors per minute at 9 p.m.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, when workers are back at their desks with their employers fast Internet connection, is considered the start of the online holiday shopping season. It was the second-busiest Internet shopping day in 2005, surpassed only by Dec, 12, that last day many online retailers offered free shipping for Christmas.

Most online retailers has “smooth sailing” says Ben Rushlo of Internet measurement firm Keynote. “But for those few with problems, they were among the most significant performance issues we have seen this year.”

Among them: Many shoppers couldn’t get onto the nation retail Federation’s Cyber-Monday.com, which has promotions from 400 retailers, late Monday morning and early afternoon.

Kimathi Marangu of MallNetworks, which operates the Cyber-Monday website, says the site was tweaked and servers added to keep up with the crush. “Its like opening up a few more checkout counters so more people could flow through,” he says. The site will remain active through Jan1.

Walmart.com crashed for at least two hours after it released online-only specials at 5 a.m. ET Friday. Wal-Mart said traffic increased sevenfold while the company only expected it to double.

Amazon.com had a 15-minute slowdown Thursday after it began offering Xboxes for $100, down from about $300. All 1,000 Xboxes available at that price were sold in 29 seconds! Three other specials, including a membership card of free two-day shipping and $100 toy gift certificate, sold out with 17 minutes.

“We just has dramatically more traffic than what we anticipated having for those deals,” says Amazon spokesman Craig Berman.

Macys.com was unavailable for an hour Friday, but it was a faulty server, not an overwhelmed one, that caused the problem, says spokesman Jim Sluzewski. Despite the problems, most of the 32 top online retailers “did very well,” says Rushlo. “It’s analogous to opening your doors to handle the long line outside.”

There is evidence that much of the online traffic was window shopping. Research by ThinkPartnership, and Internet marketing and Technology Company, showed more that 82% of those created online shopping carts by 3:30 p.m. Monday abandoned them before making a purchase. The average values of the abandoned carts: $42.18.”

Jon Miller, CEO of AOL said, "You can not change people's understanding of reality overnight. You can't simply walk into a situation where a company has had a single focus for its entire life, and then instantly make it something else altogether." Orrin Woodward has been actively discussing around the country the changing face of the American economic marketplace. Those who have listened or knew of this as well are primed to take advantage of this proliferation. Those who have not listened and will not change business practices from the 1970's are faced with marginalized markets, shrinking presence, and extinction.

Capitalism Under Seige

America was founded on and developed over the course of her existence the capitalistic enterprise which fueled her meteoric rise to the top of world power and dominance. Under no other economic system has any other country in any other period of human existence risen to such lofty heights in such a short period of time. The results speak for themselves.

Competing against many other forms of economic and world views, none have been able to produce the wealth, achievements, innovations, freedoms, and lifestyle that capitalism has been able to produce. It has become the American way. Orrin Woodward has been a strong supporter and advocate for the free enterprise system and the protection of those founding principles. However, he has also warned that today there is an undermining of capitalism by forces which can not be seen.

To truly understand how the slow erosion of capitalism and personal freedom might occur, one needs to understand the very premise of the free society. I believe Ayn Rand in her essay Man’s Rights eloquently states this foundation when she states that, “If one wishes to advocate a free society – that is, capitalism- one must realize that it’s indispensable foundation is the principle of individual rights. If one wishes to uphold individual rights, one must realize that capitalism is the only system that can uphold and protect them.”

The foundation of individual rights may not seem radical but at the founding of this country, it was one of the most radical thoughts in the world at that time. Ayn goes on to state that “All previous systems had regarded man as a sacrificial means to the ends of others, and society as an end in itself. The United States regarded man as an end in himself and society as a means to the peaceful, orderly, voluntary co-existence of individuals.”

If individual rights are the foundation, then there is but one right out of which all other rights flow, which is the right to life. Ayn goes on to show how capitalism is the fertile ground out of which a society can grow where an individual can have rights by saying, “Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave.”

Although slavery is universally disavowed today, we see this in the socio-economic systems of totalitarian North Korea and communist Cuba. Total governmental control and ownership enslaves the common man who must rely on the manna of government for his own survival. They may appear on the surface to have rights but since the government at any time can change the law or the interpretation of the law, the people are slaves to the bureaucrats.

We clearly see how in such societies slavery is possible. However, is it plausible to have slavery in a capitalistic society? Ayn asks the poignant question, “Is man a sovereign individual who owns his person, his mind, his life, his work and its products – or is he the property of the (state, society, collective) that may dispose of him in any way it pleases, that may dictate his convictions, prescribe the course of his life, control his work and expropriate his products?” If you agree that man is sovereign with the rights to his mind, life, work, and products then you can not engage in the latter without stripping his rights and thus enslaving him.

Ayn further states that, “To violate man’s rights means to compel him to act against his own judgment, or to expropriate his values. Basically, there is only one way to do it: by the use of physical force.” Therefore, any individual, government, or other entity, which uses or threatens the use of force that in any way hinders a man’s right to property and the product of his labor is in violation of the very foundational right this country was built upon. One can easily see examples of economic systems and governments around the world from the above mentioned countries to the many examples on the continent of Africa and elsewhere that use force as a method of controlling the populace thus hindering true freedom and individual rights. However, America is not immune to this behavior so we must carefully guard against any attempts, foreign or domestic, which might try to steal those freedoms and rights.

Our governmental system was founded on checks and balances to ensure freedoms could not be taken away or subverted by a few in power. Ayn Rand states, “The Bill of Rights was not directed against private citizens, but against the government – as an explicit declaration that individual rights supersede any public or social power.” We have controls to ensure that corporations can not yield undo power or influence over the government or citizens, which in effect protects from the “stealing” of our rights and liberties this country states are our “unalienable rights.”

The use of force can be as brazen as someone entering a house in broad day light to steal the possessions of thirteen years of hard work a man toiled to earn, or it can be as subvert as the subtle governmental siphoning away of liberties. We have even seen corporations secretly plundering from their stockholders and affiliates as I have discussed regarding Enron, WorldCom, and other scandalized businesses. I have written in the past about Orrin Woodward’s passion to ensure that leaders in government follow the law but do not act above the law or subvert the law for their political or personal gain. I have also discussed Orrin Woodward’s pursuit for transparency and level playing field in the business community so future corporations can not take advantage of the freedoms and liberties that every American is afforded under constitutional law. With more and more instances of governmental leaders and corporations being exposed as subverting the political process and “unalienable rights” of the common citizen, it is time to elect leaders like Orrin Woodward who passionately espouse the protection of the rights we citizens enjoy and which this country was founded on.