Successful Marketing is like having a great hand of cards.
Each card has a value by itself, but in isolation, that is very limited. The value of a hand is in the combination of cards you have, particularly the combination you have compared to the combination of your opponent, and how you leverage that combination. Sometimes as in Bridge, the combination of your hand with that of your partner is crucial.
Marketing is gambling, you are betting on the shape of the future, and your place in that future.
Just like gambling, professionals are better able to manage and manipulate the factors ‘at the edge,’ that compounded mean the amateur will never beat the professional.
Following are 6 factors professionals use to beat the amateurs. The analogy to marketing may be a bit ‘hairy’, but for me it works!
Incumbency.
A casino, the church of gambling, has an institutional advantage over the gambler. They only have to equal the gambler to win, the gambler has to beat the house, and do it on a consistent basis to win. ‘One-off’ wins happen all the time, but over time, the institutional advantage unless mitigated in some way, will always win out.
Know the numbers, understand the odds.
‘Counting cards’ in a game of 21 for those few who can do it, will get you thrown out of a casino, as it is one of the means by which the odds can be altered against the house. When you can remember the cards that have been discarded, you are theoretically able to calculate the odds of a given card coming up next, and alter your bets accordingly.
Poker is a game of odds. The odds are dictated by the chance of a specific combination of cards being held, and when being dealt, of a specific card arriving. Playing ‘show poker’ assists those who can count, as they are better able to calculate and recalculate the odds based on the cards shown than the amateur.
As it is with marketing, the more you know that may have an influence on the outcome, the better able you are to calculate the odds.
Know the opposition.
Serious card players are very sensitive to unconscious signals from their opposition, the presence of a ‘tell’. In the movies, the protagonist scratches his forehead when an Ace arrives in his hand, a giveaway to the professional.
‘Body language’ is a huge component of face to face communication, a professional sees and understands the meaning of all sorts of subtle, unconscious signals coming from their opposition, and is able to use them to their advantage.
Know the rules.
Every game has rules, knowing them is a foundation skill necessary to play. Understanding how the rules can be ‘managed,’ how the usual responses can be massaged to deliver a changed outcome is the sign of a professional.
Remember the stakes, and the balance of odds.
Playing the game, any game, requires investment, and for someone to win, it requires that someone loses. Very few amateurs accurately calculate the costs of losing, in the emotion of a potential win, something the professionals rely on. They win when amateurs lose, which is most of the time!
Opportunism pays.
Sometimes, even when the odds are stacked against you, luck plays a role. When the lady does show up, you have to be able to recognise her in order to take the advantage on offer. Always remember the old dictum of Louis Pasteur: “Fortune favours the prepared mind’ and as the scouts say, Be prepared!
When you need the experience and advice of a professional on your side, give me a call.
