I am often surprised by the low levels of 'consumer consciousness' among marketing people. IE. The ability to step into the consumer's shoes and take them for a walk through a piece of communication or a sales proposition or a buying environment. I guess when you spend most of your time down among the details of product specifications and entangled in corporate politics it's hard to step outside and assume someone else's persona and point of view. It's not a skill we are born with - the Dalai Lama says that empathy is something we should aspire to. I believe it is the essence of the marketing mindset - Theodore Levitt called it the Marketing Imagination. The ease with which you can slip into your customer's hushpuppies is a key indicator of your marketing skills. Why? Because if every aspect of a marketing organisation and its operations are planned from the consumer's point of view, you can't fail. The distance between your reality and theirs is the gap that your organisation must bridge if it is to achieve its goals.
The accuracy of your imagination - how well you know the internal reality of that other person - will determine how close to success you can come.
Cheers!
Michael Kiely
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That must be why I love watching people, especially children play with toys - and parents scolding "no dont touch that!"- trying to teach them you cant just do what you like with other peoples property. But interacting and playing is human nature, and so is our sense of novelty.
www.whatif.co.uk
They would definately be using cleaning products- not some glamourous showpony going to the races every month with a feather hat and diamond encrusted mobile phone... sorry- got a little carried away....
Jo
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