Can you please advertise on TV?

Every day for some years my day to day job has been to convince people that advertising does work. However most of this time is spent convincing the sales department that advertising is not TVCs. The sales department in many companies I've worked with would love nothing more than to create TVCs and run them 12 months of the year in prime time. Sales to marketing, "yes we agree the target market is x, but can you explain again why TV isn't part of the campaign?" As we know TV is not always an option for smaller communication budgets and targeted communications campaigns. In fact not using TV means the agencies and marketing guys are working harder for their pound of flesh. Pause while eyes glaze over, or roll around. At this point going into the rest of the planning rationale is pointless; the only way to save the meeting from here is to put forward a discount deal or something quick and easy. At least give the sales guys something to work with! Thank you Tom Fishburne http://tomfishburne.com/2011/06/holy-groupon.html for your timely blog and accompanying cartoon this week about groupons, which is essentially the same as a blanket discount deal that I'm talking about here.

Marketing has evolved and changed with better tools for planning, measuring and communicating and the best way forward is work together with sales. This requires BOTH departments putting forward things they can do and own too, then together look at every angle until we can all see the best way forward to achieving all the key objectives. And that's not just this year's sales target either. Mr Fishburne finishes his blog with: Instead of rushing to “mark down”, think about how to “market up”. Create value rather than devalue. Instead of investing in a race to the bottom, invest in your brand’s experience.

So wouldn't it be lovely occasionally to hear a sales team put forward some options that they could own and that supports the brand position, “we could get the merchandisers to this or that, or the sales team will be taking every opportunity to reinforce a high service standard throughout their training process and reflect the brand values.” Or we could just sit around and debate the merits of TVCs again!

Do you have a personal filter to live by?

Ask most of the colleagues you've ever worked with, what kind of personality they think you have and would you agree or disagree with their answers? What if the questions were more specifically about your management, leadership, or team principles and how you behaviour? Personally I have known for eons that being more tactful would deliver amazing benefits to my interactions with people, both at work and personally. It has however taken the last 15 years of concerted effort to truly understand these benefits and only the last 12 months of implementing some more solid strategies to do it.

If you are still reading by now, you're thinking "what the?" The ultimate answer came from a very savvy colleague of mine and is all about creating your own personal filter. Once you have decided what your true values in life are (what you would live and die by) use them as your filter to guide the way you act and behaviour in every single circumstance everyday. Be true to your filter. It's a bit like creating your own personal religion, that only you can hold yourself accountable for.

To give an example around this, taking responsibility for my own destiny is one value I want to live by. Being a chronic victim is not a desirable trait. Therefore when I'm in a meeting and someone makes a comment or remark blaming my department for for an issue or mistake, I can chose to sulk around like a victim, complaining that no one understands and that I'm getting singled out. Or I could choose to accept the circumstance, or determine whether I can control, change or improve the circumstance.

Unfortunately like all good theory it took way, WAY, more to get it in to practice, and a lot of time now is still spent contemplating what should come out the other end of the filter. Thankfully I can refer back to my savvy colleague, who amazingly has the best answer every time - thank you. But I still live in hope that if I practice this technique enough it will eventually become part of me, an organic part of my personality. So I am now practicing to rise above my old petty ways by regularly asking myself "what else can I do to rise above my circumstances and achieve the results I desire?"

Do you have a guiding filter?