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WORD FROM THE WISE
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approach to marketing, and so little time caring about how they’re
going to make the customer feel better,” he points out. “There are
Punk Marketing manifesto
many companies that are so anxious to get customers but don’t
really care once they get them.”
1. AVOID RISK AND DIE
He recommends companies try to grow horizontally rather than
In times of change the greatest risk is to take none at all.
vertically: “In other words, stop looking for new customers and be
the most amazing customer service advocate to the point where
2. WHY NOT ASK ‘WHY NOT?’
people say: ‘You actually do care, I can’t wait to tell my friends.’
An assumption is usually a half-truth or a generalisation.
That’s how you acquire customers!”
The worst thing any company can do, he says, is ask customers
3. TAKE A STRONG STAND
what they want. “How does the customer know what they want?
Don’t try to be all things to everyone on the planet.
When Ted Turner started CNN, people told him he was an idiot and
everybody had all the news they wanted. Think about companies
4. DON’T PANDER
like Google — they didn’t get started through focus groups. The
Customers are important but they are not necessarily right.
best ideas are the ones that get laughed at. If you tell a consumer
what you’re doing, they like you for it. If you ask the consumer what
5. GIVE UP CONTROL
they want, they think you’re an idiot.
Recognise that consumers now control brands.
“Marketers are going to have to get much more creative about
the way they reach their customer. They have to be resolute about
6. EXPOSE YOURSELF
how they bring their ideas to market. They can’t just put something
A relationship of trust is built upon honesty.
out because someone else is doing it.”
7. MAKE ENEMIES
The progress of PR
All brands need to position themselves against an alternative.
Laermer remains fascinated by PR, which he says is 1,000pc dif-
ferent to what it was even three years ago. “We’re becoming the
8. LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE
source, we’re becoming the influencer and I like the fact that we
Avoid the temptation to reveal all of your assets at once.
can go online, work with bloggers, tell them what we’re doing and
become part of the story in a good way as opposed to an obnox-
9. OUTTHINK THE COMPETITION
ious way,” he explains.
Think smarter than the other guy.
He sees PR moving away from press releases, which he does
not believe work anyway. Instead, he says it will be about “blog-
10. DON’T BE SEDUCED BY TECHNOLOGY
ging, making statements and having fun, getting the consumer
The media is not the message any more. The message is.
involved in your PR, having evangelists who are journalists who
believe in what you do, and a lot of access. If you have a self-
11. KNOW WHO YOU ARE
important CEO, make him do as many interviews as you possibly
Don’t be tempted to try to be something you are not.
can. People want access.”
Taking a final look into his crystal ball, Laermer says there will
12. NO MORE MARKETING BULL
a lot of weeding out in marketing over the next few years. “There
Get to the point. Express it clearly and simply.
are people who got into marketing or PR because they thought
it would be easy and they were a ‘people person’,” he says.
13. DON’T LET OTHERS SET YOUR STANDARDS
“They will be working in Starbucks pretty soon! Only the really
Sorry to tell you this, but good no longer means anything.
wise, hardworking, savvy, creative and aggressive people are
going to make it through this, because it’s going to be a tough
14. USE THE TOOLS OF THE REVOLUTION
time. You’re not going to be able to pull the same tricks you
Go write your own manifesto.
pulled in the old days. And metrics are going to be more impor-
tant than ever.”
Adapted from Punk Marketing by Richard Laermer/Mark Simmons.
Full manifesto available at
www.punkmarketing.com
May/June ‘08 Marketing Age 19
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