Thankful For Everything!
As I shared last year, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for several reasons which I mentioned at that time. I do believe – strongly – that we should be thankful for all the blessings bestowed upon us every single day, and we should show gratitude to all and for all who are part of our journeys.
I noticed that we tend to be thankful mostly when things go well – we are appreciative of success, almost exclusively. I would like to propose that you consider being grateful for missteps as well. Our ‘failures’, both in our personal lives and business endeavors, can teach us very valuable lessons, and prepare us for greater and better things.
After a client marketing initiative is concluded – be it a campaign, a trade show, etcetera – I often conduct a review with all stakeholders and ask each to openly share the “good, the bad, and the ugly”. We discuss causes, ideas for improvement, and we take good notes. How else would we be able to improve?
Sometimes, what we perceive as a failed deed when it happens, has in fact saved us from much more consequential ramifications. Years ago, I was going to start a business that was heavily regulated, which made it very lucrative to those who were able to overcome those barriers to entry. For a variety of reasons, it did not come to fruition, and I perceived this as a failure on my part. A short year later, the federal government deregulated the industry and with the removal of most of the barriers to entry, scores of entities entered the sector, margins evaporated, and companies crashed and burned (figuratively, of course) everywhere. I am very thankful for ‘my failure’ to get that business going!
Whenever I think of a ‘lucky’ disappointment, I’m reminded of Garth Brooks’ “Unanswered Prayers” song from 1990, where he sings “Some of God’s greatest gifts are all too often unanswered… Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”.
So, let’s be thankful for all the good that surrounds us, and let’s appreciate the lessons learned from the things that didn’t work as well as we hoped, so we can do even better in the future!
Many thanks to all our amazing clients, and thank you to the many people and organizations that help us run our business.
Last, and certainly not least, special thanks to the incredible Fractional CMO & Marketing team for the amazing work you do each and every single day – I am blessed to have you by my side.
Duke Merhavy, MBA, Ph.D.
President & Chief Marketing Officer
Marketing Lingo: Content Marketing
Content marketing is a branch of inbound marketing (or initiatives that “pull” prospects in to generate engagement and interest, and, if successful, eventually sales). The content is used to educate potential customers and share the features and benefits of a company’s offerings. Content marketing utilizes resources such as social media posts, white papers, blog articles, webinars, eBooks, events, and search engine optimization (SEO) to drive brand awareness and attract new customers.
* ‘Marketing Lingo’ is a regular column in which we define, or otherwise explain, terms often used in marketing but not necessarily correctly or properly by some
The Most Famous Thanksgiving Promotion Fail
By Ginger Mace, Editor and Producer
The sitcom WKRP gave a look at the inner-workings of a Cincinnati radio station, from the disc jockeys to sales to management. Like many of the show’s crazy antics throughout the rest of the series run, season 1 gave us the zany “Turkeys Away” in 1978, and the infamous Turkey Drop.
General Manager Arthur Carlson believed he had come up with the greatest promotion in the history of radio – to drop live turkeys from a helicopter.
Believe it or not, the clearly not-a-very-good-or-smart idea did not originate in the writers’ room of this TV show. Legend has it that the origin, like many of the show’s storylines, were based on series creator Hugh Wilson’s interactions while in advertising with WQXI, an Atlanta radio station that was involved in tossing hundreds of live turkeys from an 18-wheeler in one of the area’s shopping centers.
Setting aside for a moment the impropriety of the act, both WQXI and WKRP made a fatal mistake. Apparently, the domesticated turkeys featured in both were expected to fly once released, but unfortunately, no one realized that… simply put, they don’t take flight. Les Nessman, WKRP’s intrepid news reporter, was on-scene with hundreds of spectators… and falling turkeys… doing a remote broadcast, seeing the events unfold, and relaying increasingly grim (yet hilarious to the TV audience) updates about the fate of the turkeys. When Les returns to the station, the staff tries to assess whether he is ok or not, and after he declares that the turkeys mounted an organized counter-attack, Mr Carlson deadpans “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!”
While this is a humorous take on a Thanksgiving publicity stunt gone terribly, horribly wrong, it teaches a valuable lesson in making sure your holiday promotions are well thought out, appropriate, and will result in positive associations with your company. So, remember – no turkey drops. Since that leaves a wide variety of options for your business, we’d be happy to discuss what choices would be fitting for you, as well as how to make 2022 a success! Just contact us today for a complimentary marketing needs assessment.
What Is Fractional CMO & Marketing?
Fractional CMO & Marketing is ‘Your Outsourced Marketing Department’ when you need expert marketing leadership and marketing services to accelerate growth and improve profitability, but you’re not quite ready to hire a full-time Chief Marketing Officer or your own marketing department.
Our unique arrangement is the most efficient, innovative, and cost-effective formula for you. Click on the image to the left to watch a short video.
We Help When You Need To:
- Generate more of the right kind of leads
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- Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty
- Develop lasting relationships with customers
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