Comments on: Your Marketing Rituals

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:50:00 +0000

yeah, i agree. looking at interaction with a brand as a ritual, certainly would seem to lead to a longer term loyalty to each other (the brand and the customer)…

By: Vicentetmb

Vicentetmb — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

I find this topic a very interesting one!
I also think you guys should try writing about how we can delivery to our brands the sense of ritualism… What i mean by that is to engage the customer in a ritual process in order to consume our brand, that way the customer will definitely feel part of the brand and that’s where the success of a brand management could lie.

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:31:03 +0000

Robyn, wow. Voice of the customer. How profound! And yet, so many small business people don’t do that bit of research. Thanks for sharing a perfect example of something that should be a very important ritual…

By: Robyn

Robyn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:16:32 +0000

Really enjoyed your post and agree that rituals are important. One of my marketer rituals is that I never assume, I always go to the customer, check the data and make sure I am in close touch with their needs. I worked at a large a company here in town. Mgmt assumed our largest segment was x and no research was required. After a tiny research project that cost us nothing and took little time the data confirmed our largest segment was indeed y. And that the business wasn’t growing because the messages didn’t resonate with y. Just one example I’m sure you have some as well. So I now always start with the facts and the voice of the customer.

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:51:12 +0000

Hey Chris, you will enjoy the manifesto. It had an impact on me. And thanks for swinging by!

By: Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:59:20 +0000

This is a great way to look at marketing, or business in general. Things become more effective when they becomes habit. We are also less reluctant when we do something according to a set routine. I’m also going to check out the Focus Manifesto!

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:51:11 +0000

Todd, yeah, you strike me as the kind of guy that thinks deeply about these kinds of things in a ritualistic way. Probably why you are who you are.

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:49:07 +0000

Hey James, thanks for coming by. And yes, there is something almost spiritual about our rituals, and it seems to me, looking at these important elements in that way are ways we can make them remarkable. Going about them in the usual way just isn’t working for most people. Leo B.’s writing have opened entire news ways for me to look at marketing…

By: Todd Youngblood

Todd Youngblood — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:35:29 +0000

Todd,

Hadn’t really thought of them as rituals before, but it’s actually a very apt description. Here are two things I’ve done for so long, I don’t even need to put them on my TODO list:

1) Last week of every month – update my 12 month rolling revenue forecast and review the specific action plans in place to make it happen

2) Every December – Revise and update my business plan. (It’s really quite instructive, and sometimes embarrassing, to look back a plans from 5+ years ago and see what has and has not been accomplished.

By: James Ball

James Ball — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:25:28 +0000

“One of the powerful things about rituals is that we often give them a special importance…” – I love it Todd! I am also a big Leo B. fan and I can certainly appreciate you pointing out his important work on this topic…I’m thinking I need to pay it some more mind today. Thanks for pointing your light at this today Todd.

I saw that Marna tweeted this article today so I headed right over; it’s something that I pay quite a bit of attention to each day. I don’t necessarily have a ritualistic approach to the things that I do, I am a slave to the lists that I make for myself though. To say that the social web is full of distractions is a bit of an understatement; one HAS to have a clear plan!

Defining, and making a (marketing) plan or practice look more like ritual is not a bad idea. We really do value and protect our rituals, though many of these are not for our good at all. Bad habits are hard to break because we adopt and lend ourselves to them and we make allowances for them…very ritualistic behavior!

I don’t know if it was your intent, but this topic and your treatment of it seems to come across as a unique approach that we could take to more clearly define our strategy and tactics. Making something holy, or setting it apart and being unwilling to deviate from it makes perfect sense to me!