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Everything I needed to Know about Marketing I Learned from Dr Seuss
By chris | August 14, 2007
Nedra Weinreich posted today on a presentation by Steven Dann called “Green Eggs and Market Plans” that is more than a little interesting. Learning from how Dr Seuss packaged and promoted his dynamic books is a lesson in marketing in itself, but Dann draws a few lessons found in the stories in the books too.
The presentation takes marketing insights from the Seuss classics “Green Eggs and Ham,” (promotion) the “Cat in the Hat,” (services) and “Sneeches” (branding).
The presentation is more in line with Social Marketing, but I think there are good lessons in there for ministry marketing as well. After all, don’t we have what some consider “green eggs?” I have met more than my fair share of “Star-Belly Sneetches” in my days in ministry! And we have far “Too Many Daves” in my opinion:
Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?Well, she did. And that wasn’t a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out “Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!” she doesn’t get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves’
As you can imagine, with so many Daves…
You’ll have to see it your self and draw your own conclusions. I came up with a few thoughts after seeing the presentation.
Questions that lead to lessons learned:
- Are you trying to do so many things that you do nothing well?
- Do you ever leave any people in a bigger mess than when you found them?
- Do you really know how to fix what is broken in your organization?
- Do you over-complicate your message?
- Is there any way you can give people a “free trial” or sample?
- How do you use personal testimonies of people and word-of-mouth?
- Do you have a way to get and learn from feedback?
- Can you learn from feedback and adapt?
- Is your branding deeper than your Photoshop skills and stock images?
- You will have more I am sure…
Topics: Doing the Ministry, Tips Right Now, Nonprofit Marketing |
August 15th, 2007 at 3:14 am
[…] Nedra Weinreich linking to my Seuss paper has been a decidedly happy moment at the end of a long day. Following the track backs, I also would like to thank Chris at Ministrymarketingcoach.com for the link (Although, since you haven’t read the paper, I was amused to see you call it more social marketing than I really thought it was - in the paper, I riff on the need for industry irrelevance a lot more than I considered it a social marketing question). Now, to explain the madness of the paper. In my marketing career, I have been responsible for a few moments of sheer madness mixed with a touch of irreverance for my beloved discipline. None come close to the sheer joy of the Marketing Lessons of Dr Seuss (two papers, the original and a remix). […]
August 15th, 2007 at 7:54 am
Dann,
Thanks for the comment! You are right I have not read the paper. I would love to see it! The reason I said it leans toward SM, is perhaps more my bias. The principles are so clear, I can see how it has a broad application in all kinds of marketing. Thanks!