Want killer marketing advice? Just “take it easy.” – SCN Encourager

Or better said… MAKE it easy.

Chris Lema spoke at WordCamp-Grand Rapids last Saturday.

From his vantage point as a longtime San Diego based tech guru and business start-up specialist, he described several marketing and communication blunders he’s seen quality organizations make.

Had my superintendent been in the audience, he could’ve added a few of mine to Lema’s list.

But he wasn’t there… so I didn’t have to sweat it. (This time, anyway.)

Lema told us we should never take our customer base for granted or fail to connect with their hopes and dreams.

He chronicled his two decade’s worth of “behind the curtain” experiences with Adobe Flash and three other “we own the planet” software platforms.

While all four companies were rocking’ it and raking it in for a good bit of time, not one was able to reach its full potential once their customer bases began to decline.

Chris said there was one big reason for their self-inflicted peril.

They refused to innovate with their customers needs in mind.

Their software developers kept adding on layer upon layer of new features to their software platforms which only made them more complicated and frustrating.

They just couldn’t resist the temptation to show off their latest tech skills, and this pushed their customers away.

Their innovations were grounded in complexity  – not the simple – and this caused their software platforms to become more difficult to use after every new version was rolled out.

According to Lema, the companies didn’t have to follow this course.

They could’ve chosen to continuously listen to their customers and strive to exceed their expectations with steady product improvements that emphasized simple, convenient, and understandable.

Do you want more customers? (aka recruit them?)

Do you hope for more customer loyalty? (aka retain them?)

Then accept the fact that your customers’ needs are rarely all that complicated – so your organization’s solutions and products should be appropriately designed to match.

People are always drawn toward the simple.

They will always flee from the convoluted.

So, do you want to win in the competitive 21st century international marketplace?

Then seek to SIMPLIFY.

Luckily for me, when it comes to tech skills and such, I’m already at this level.

I might enjoy this weekend, after all.

I hope you do too!

Unless, of course, you’re a tech wiz –

Then you’ve got some work to do.

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