Apply the “crawl, walk, run” approach

Apply the “crawl, walk, run” approach

The essence of an enlightened Marketing By Objectives approach is to maintain a clear focus on the company’s goals, and measure the effectiveness of all your programs against these goals.

You need not be intimidated by the apparent complexity of Six Sigma as outlined in these blogs. It is simply a tool that has already been shaped and sharpened to serve you.

Remember that the first time we tried to ride a bike it seemed a daunting task.  But once the basic skills were mastered, a whole new world of mobility opened up! 

Once you climb on Six Sigma, keep pedaling and remember that the key improvements to Marketing management that this process provides are very real.

First, significant gains are made with the adoption of the DMAIC process.  This can be executed in an extremely aggressive manner with intense and in-depth application – OR, it can be executed as simplistically as starting with the commitment to Defining what is to be accomplished and then broadly applying the rest of the MAIC process. 

Successful application does not require roll-out to every individual initiative. In fact, we recommend a judicious and measured application within an existing Marketing framework.

We have many clients that have taken this crawl-walk-run attitude:

·      Start easy, with a few of the company’s programs or with one division, and generate a few success stories. This is the crawl phase. 

    

    When moving on to the walking stage, often it is decided to apply this methodology to one full segment of the business. This could be complete application through DOEs in one division or for one segment of Marketing such as sponsorship or celebrity endorsement.

·     

    The running phase begins when, through many small and intermediate successes, the management feels confident in rolling it out as a complete program for their company.

Second, you will enter upon a path of continual improvement – an unending “do-loop,” in computer parlance.  You will establish a new foundation or baseline of performance measurement – and as important – a new expectation for results.