Lochhead on Marketing
019 Power of a Point of View: Play Bigger Unplugged
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:27 — 14.2MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
Christopher Lochhead shares an excerpt today from his first book, Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets about the importance and the power of a point of view. He shares to us why legendary marketers opt to sell a POV, rather than sell a product or service.
Market the POV, not the product!
Legendary creators and designers, market the point of view or POV, not their product and services. When companies show consumers the idea or the problem that they envision to solve, consumers will most likely become interested in the products and services around that idea.
“Its counter-intuitive for most marketers, innovators and CEOs. We think what we’re doing in marketing, is marketing a product with features and maybe, benefits. When in reality, category creators and designers market the POV, because once people subscribe to your way of looking at things, they are going to be interested in what you have to market.” – Christopher Lochhead
POVs are timeless
POV is the company’s true North. It doesn’t change over time, unlike messaging. Companies such as Salesforce or American Airlines have consistently focused on their POV. These are companies who have anchored their business to a point of view, about what they stand for in the world.
Messaging is Tailored POV for an Audience
Christopher cites examples on how messages are tailored POVs for an audience, idea or a trend. He shares how they train an entire company on how to deliver their POV. Employees watch a 10-min presentation on thePOV of the company. The ultimate goal is for the employees to be able to deliver the POV.
Play Bigger Chapter 5
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of the book Play Bigger:
“Stories have always been an industrial-strength force in human progress, from the epic poems of Homer to the tales of Marco Polo, Shakespeare’s historical plays, the novels of Ayn Rand, and biographies of Steve Jobs.
Stories alter perspectives and exert influence.
When traders on Wall Street consider a stock, they often ask, “What’s the story?”
When pitching a venture capitalist, entrepreneurs get funding when they craft a great story, and now a cottage industry offers pitch training.
Raw information reaches us on an intellectual level, but stories reach into our hearts and our pants.
Decades of brain research have demonstrated that stories have a more lasting impact than facts.
One 1969 Stanford study, “Narrative Stories as Mediators for Serial Learning,” showed that students remembered six to seven times more words embedded in a story compared to random words. [i]
In the 2010s, Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University found that character-driven, attention-grabbing stories actually increase oxytocin in the brain.
Oxytocin is an empathy chemical, and it motivates cooperation and understanding—quite important when trying to convince someone to, as Apple used to say, think different.
“My experiments show that character-driven stories with emotional content result in a better understanding of the key points a speaker wishes to make and enable better recall of these points weeks later,” Zack wrote.
He added a swipe at the way too much business has been conducted for far too long:
“In terms of making an impact, [storytelling] blows the standard PowerPoint presentation to bits.”[ii]
That’s why category designers tell a story. We call that story a point of view, or POV.
After you come up with an aha of an initial market or technology insight, and after you discover and define the right category, you have to craft the story about the category that you’ll tell. You need a powerful POV.
A POV tells the world you’re a company on a mission, not a missionary company looking to make money any way it can.
It frames the new problem that your category identifies and sets you up as the answer. When someone can articulate your problem, you believe that person must have the solution.
It’s why Bill Clinton won two presidential elections by claiming, “I feel your pain,” and why Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter by simply asking, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Politicians are masters at this.
A great POV separates the companies, products, and categories that people love from the ones they, at best, tolerate.
When you start to think about it, you can easily see the difference between a company that has a strong POV and one that has a POV black hole.
In grocery stores, you can sense that Whole Foods has a clear POV, built around healthy gourmet products, while Safeway seems to have no POV at all other than selling groceries.
Southwest Airlines has a palpable POV; United Airlines does not.
Apple has a POV; Microsoft does not.[iii]
A POV conditions the market to accept and embrace the company’s vision and have the same aha the founders experienced.
The story leads potential customers on their from/to journey, so they understand both what is missing and why your company can fix that problem.
A POV has to shift people’s minds so they reject an old way of thinking and come to believe in something new.
It has to reach people on an emotional level.
No one remembers what you say—but they remember how you made them feel.
That feeling can be excitement about something that’s coming, or fear of missing out.
Some of the best POVs make people think: “Oh fuck, I don’t have one of those! I have to get one of those!”
To reach people’s emotions, a POV has to sound the way people talk.
It has to be simple, direct, visceral. Language matters! (check out episode Don’t Take My Word For It, inspired by Lee Hartley Carter)
Nobody in the history of the human race has ever been moved to joy or tears by a train wreck of lazy business babble.
The story about your business is more important than the facts about your business.
Sound outrageous? Maybe, but the brain research proves it’s true.
People relate to and remember stories—even people who make a living analyzing facts.
A POV tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
It tells the world why this category and the company creating it are different.
Different sticks.
Different forces a choice between what was and what can be.
A POV built around better is about comparing your offering to the thing customers already know.
Better reinforces the power of the category king you’re trying to beat (who by definition is not you).
If customers think two companies are tied in the better wars, they just choose the category king—or the lowest price if there’s no clear king.
A great POV takes you outside the better wars and sets you in a different space all your own.
A well-executed POV gives the company identity and culture.
It becomes the invisible hand that guides your priorities.
It results in the right kinds of employees joining the company, the right kinds of investors funding it, and the right ecosystem building out around it—and, by the way, repels those you don’t want hanging around.
Ultimately, the POV steers the company’s strategy.
A powerful POV guides every decision the leadership team makes and every initiative it pursues.
The POV helps employees intuitively feel how they should perform their jobs so they align with the company’s strategy.
Most great, enduring companies have a POV imprinted on their DNA.
To hear more about the power of a point of view and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Links:
Follow Your Different – Lee Hartley Carter
Lochhead on Marketing: Don’t Take My Word For It
Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets
[ii] Paul J. Zack, “Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling,” Harvard Business Review, October 28, 2014,
[iii] At least it does not in the 2000s. In the 1980s and 1990s, under Bill Gates, Microsoft certainly had a POV. Roughly translated, it was: “A computer on every desk, all of them running Windows, and we’ll bulldoze the fuck out of anyone who gets in our way.” In the 2010s, under a new CEO, Microsoft is again trying to find its voice.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
018 Personal Branding is Bullshit
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:03 — 9.3MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In this episode, Christopher Lochhead talks about a giant topic in business today, personal branding. He further shares the difference between a brand and a person. Moreover, he discusses why legendary executives and marketers don’t give weigh to personal branding much.
Personal Beef with Personal Branding
Personal branding has become a giant issue in business today. It seems like people cannot fire up their social media, such as Linkedin and even Amazon, without personal branding. The idea started around the late 80s or early 90s and has become effed up overtime.
Christopher lays out his argument on the difference between a brand and a person. People have a mental connection with a brand while with a person, people develop relationships.
“I have a very different relationship with my friend Sue Barsamian. She’s the most effective exec I know. Guess how much time she spent thinking about and working on her personal brand? Zero!” – Christopher Lochhead
Developing A Reputation
Sue Barsamian was the guest on Follow Your Different Episode 083. She has a solid 36-years in Silicon Valley, working with Startups and multinationals such as HP. Christopher shares that she has zero efforts in maintaining a personal brand, instead, she aims to develop a reputation.
Silicon Valley respects Sue for producing legendary results and creating massive value. Moreover, she dominated her own niche: “Legendary Enterprise Tech Executive, who scales.” In developing a reputation, Christopher poses the following questions:
“What’s your personal Niche Down? Where are you going to focus your talent? What results are you going to produce? Who are the kinds of people you want to surround yourself with?” – Christopher Lochhead
Rethink this Personal Branding Bullshit
Christopher encourages everyone to re-think this idea of personal branding because he believes that what people prefer is a reputation.
“Reputations come from producing legendary results. Personal branding, by definition, is contrived and inauthentic.” – Christopher Lochhead
People would best be deemed as a person of character, who produces results and is doing legendary work. In conclusion, Christopher advises everyone to spend zero time on personal branding and focus, instead, on the following:
1) Your personal Niche Down – what niche do you want to be known for owning
2) Producing legendary results – people who produce legendary results are highly sought after in business. They are unique by definition and they hang out with people who also do legendary things.
3) and making a difference.
“Because in my experience, people who do that, get the most valuable thing in business: a reputation.” -Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about why personal branding is bullshit and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Links:
Follow Your Different Episode 083: Sue Barsamian
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.
017 Frame the Problem and Win
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:52 — 10.0MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In this episode, Christopher Lochhead talks about why the company that frames and markets the problem, the most effectively, wins. To illustrate, he cites a music company, m, and ho they recently pulled something off in the marketing and PR point of view.
Frame the Problem, Not the Solution
Wise marketers and category creators have a strategic way of creating legendary marketing. One of these is framing the problem. This strategy is a sure-fire way to win a category.
“When the world agrees with you about the problem that you solved, and thinks about the problem, exactly the way you want them to, then they sort of have an ‘a-ha!’” – Christopher Lochhead.
Case In Point: Kobalt
One illustration of this point is a recent article about Kobalt. Kobalt is a music technology company, which recently raised $200 million in VC funding.
TechCrunch featured Kobalt in a two-part series. Christopher highlights a part of the article stating “changing the way the music industry does business and putting more money into musicians’ pockets in the process.”
What blew Christopher’s mind off is the title of the article: “How Kobalt is simplifying the killer complexities of the music industry.”
Why is this headline, mind-blowing?
Christopher believes that Kobalt’s PR team presented their company in a very effective way since TechCrunch featured them. The reporter Eric Peckam, needs to believe that there are “killer complexities” in the music business and that these need to be “simplified.”
“They [Kobalt] are evangelizing their problem and in this case, their getting the media to write a headline at the top of the homepage, with the exact framing of the problem that they want.” – Christopher Lochhead
As Christopher describes it, this is a legendary category design PR. Once people think that you get their problem, they connect the dots and infer that you have the solution.
“If you want to be moving your company forward, evangelize the problem. Spend a lot more time marketing, talking about the problem than the solution.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about how to Frame the Problem and Win and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Links:
TechCrunch: How Kobalt is simplifying the killer complexities of the music industry
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
016 Category Creation Courage
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:20 — 7.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In today’s episode, Christopher Lochhead talks about why courage is a critical ingredient for legendary marketing and category design. He poses the question: “What does it take to make legendary marketing happen?” and he shares some except his book Niche Down to answer this.
Break From The Pack
What does it take to break from the pack? The pack, which usually means the general public, the people who think and does the same kind of marketing. What do we need to enable us to design a category and from then, execute to dominate that category?
On Christopher’s second book, Niche Down, co-writer Heather Clancy wrote some very important pointers in creating a category
“I hope you find it informative and inspiring as it relates to summoning the courage to actually do something legendary, design and dominate a category.” – Christopher Lochhead
Excerpts from Niche Down
Heather Clancy wrote in the book:
Category design actually requires going against that pack mentality. Humans have a primordial need to feel safe in numbers. We get a lot of positive feedback from being the same as others. Our challenge to you is to break from the pack. Free the creative part, the innovative part,the legendary part of you — and let that part be different.
Our dream is that you harness the exponential power of what makes you different versus the incrementalism of just being better. Because it is being different that makes a difference. And we know how tough that can be.
“Kermit The Frog” famously sang: “It’s not easy being green.”
Bill Walton, the NBA legend commiserates: “In life, things go wrong. In life, things collapse….People try to drag you down and people try to say ‘No’ to you.”
He goes on to posit, “I want to live in a world of ‘Yes’.” Of course, there will be a lot of “losery” along the way. To be legendary is to be ready for setbacks, disappointments and failures.
Because shit happens. Sometimes, life can be crushing. We’ve both been crushed more times than we can count. It’s okay to be a loser.
We all are. Failure is our teacher. Failure is our friend. Failure is our coach. Failure gives us humility. Failure gives us grit. Failure gives us a foundation. Losing is an essential ingredient for being legendary. Every time we lose we have a choice.
Give up.
Or, take the loss head on, learn from it and execute like a badass legend.
It Takes Courage to be Legendary
What Heather and Christopher are trying to communicate is the “emotional or psychological” barrier in doing legendary marketing. To put it simply, it takes a lot of courage to be legendary. Courage is moving forward in pursuing your plans, even though a lot of evidence states it won’t work.
Christopher cited his other podcast, Follow Your Different as an example. Regardless of what the experts in the podcasting industry were telling him — that business people will not listen to a long-form, unedited conversation podcast — FYD has become a top 200 overall charting podcast in the United States.
“If you believe in the problem you’re solving and you believe in your vision, then go with it. Be different, stick to it and have the courage to be legendary and execute like a badass legend.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about Category Creation Courage and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Links:
Niche Down: Become Legendary Different
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
015 Product-Market Fit Is A Dangerous Idea
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:51 — 20.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In most industries, product-market fit is an unquestioned gospel, even in Silicon Valley. On the contrary, Christopher believes that product-market fit is a dangerous idea. Why? Because legendary marketers create and design their own category, as opposed to competing in an existing category.
Product-Market Fit
In the tech startup world, achieving product-market fit is often considered a major milestone. However, Christopher argues that product-market fit is one of the most dangerous ideas in business today.
“The problem with product-market fit is that language can trick marketers into thinking that what you’re doing is building a product and you’re trying to fit it in a market.” – Christopher Lochhead
Legendary creators are not looking to “fit” into a market, instead, they want to stand out. Standing out means to design their own market category.
Category King and Queens
Christopher cites some of the category kings and queens of today. Think about Jeff Bezos, he is equated with the term eCommerce, just as we equate Pablo Picasso with Cubism. We also have Sara Blakely of Spanx, who created her own category of Shapeware, not just trying to fit into the girdle category.
“Think about the most respected entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators. a huge part of why we all respect them is because they broke or took new ground.” – Christopher Lochhead
Some other great examples are AirBNB, which presented a new idea and experience for tourists and travelers. Another one is Evian, who deviated from the idea that water is free. Red Bull also dominated their energy drink category, as opposed to hydration drinks, where Gatorade was category king.
“The greatest innovators teach the world to think differently. With a fresh idea, a new take on an old problem or by solving a problem we didn’t even know we had.” – Christopher Lochhead
Where the Challenge Lies
The challenge of product-market fit is, it can trap inventors and creators into thinking that they can test their product and service to people and f they consume it, they equate it to the future success of the product. If these people do not consume the product intuitively, then they can just go back and work on the product.
This is in opposition to Henry Ford’s mindset who said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Moreover, even Steve Jobs has the same ideas on product-market fit, saying “customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.”
“The big ah-ha here is that there is a massive distinction between fitting into an existing market category and competing versus creating your own new market category.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about why Product-Market Fit Is A Dangerous Idea and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Links:
Quora: How do you define Product-Market Fit?
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
014 Don’t Take My Word For It
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:34 — 23.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In this episode, Christopher Lochhead talks about how marketers strategically use language. Legendary marketers create a new language that educates the world on how they want their product or service perceived. Customer’s adaptation to that language is also a great tool to measure success.
How People Perceive Us
Christopher recently had Lee Hartley Carter on Follow Your Different Episode 099. Lee and her firm specialize in language strategy. We can infer that marketers pay very close attention to the use of words.
Christopher reminds us that the usage of some phrases undermines a person’s credibility. Some examples include phrases such as “don’t take my word for it” or “let me be honest with you.”
“Legendary Marketers and Category Designers know that a demarcation point in language creates a demarcation point in thinking, which creates a demarcation in action, usage, and consumption.” – Christopher Lochhead
Create New, Powerful Language
Christopher discusses how legendary marketers use language to create new thinking that educates the world. This language teaches customers what they do, why it matters and how to value it.
Some important examples are Starbucks and their “Double Grande Latte” instead of medium coffee. Another one is selling “pre-owned vehicles” versus “used cars.” Moreover, cloud-based software benefitted greatly with the usage of “on-premise software”
Indication of Success
It’s far too common to hear at almost every other coffee shop other than Starbucks — customers are asking for Grande or Frappe. Customers adapting to a new language is a great indication of success.
“You know you’re winning when customers start using your language, parrot them back to you, and they use it in the competitor’s stores.” – Christopher Lochhead
Christopher stresses Lee’s point, marketers need a language strategy! Category creators and designers create a new language to create a demarcation point in thinking, action, usage, and consumption.
To hear more about don’t take my word for it and more relevant information about language strategy from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Link:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
013 Committees Kill Legendary Marketing
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:30 — 11.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In today’s episode, Christopher gives us a rundown on why he thinks committees kill legendary marketing.
Why is so much marketing, shitty?
Christopher Lochhead candidly shares his honest observation on the industry today: a lot of marketing efforts suck. Aside from bad creatives, much of this onslaught of marketing stems from their inability to make a difference in designing and dominating a market category. Who’s to blame? Christopher says its the committees.
“This is probably true for most major initiatives in business, but it’s especially true in marketing because, fundamentally, legendary marketing is about leadership.” – Christopher Lochhead
To become the leader in your space — the category queen — a company must define and dominate a market niche. This not only holds true in tech companies but for almost all industries today. To dominate a market, every company’s objective should focus on building the company that wins, with a clear point of view on problem-solving.
The problem with committees
A famous automotive engineer and businessman, Charles Kettering, once said: “If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.” Why does committees hinder legendary marketing?
“The problem with most committees is that they are focused on process, not results.” – Christopher Lochhead
Committees generally try to incorporate everyone’s “feedback,” spend time “socializing ideas” and analyzing data. In the end, they are trying too hard to make everyone happy. Committees strive to be collaborative and ensure that all constituents have a say.
More issues with committees
A structural problem with many committees is that a lot of people can say no, while at the same time, they are not clear about who can say yes. By definition, if everybody agrees, that’s not a legendary idea.
“As a result, committees produce a compromise. They settle on the ideas that everyone could agree on. Not legendary ideas.” – Christopher Lochhead
Additionally, people involved in committees are oftentimes not subject matter experts themselves, which further leads to mediocre marketing efforts.
“It’s not about what people like, it’s about what’s gonna work. Particularly what’s gonna work through the lens. Will these help us design and dominate a giant category that matters and take 2/3 of the economics?” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about committees kill legendary marketing and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a Top 25 podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founder/CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Link:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
012 Category Creation Economics 101
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:30 — 13.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In this episode, Christopher Lochhead talks about the powerful, surprising winner-take-all realities of categories and why you want to be the category queen/king in your market. Christopher layout facts and data on category creation economics that you’ll find beneficial for your business, whether you’re in the tech industry or not.
Winner Takes All
In Christopher’s first book Play Bigger, they wrote about a research project they conducted on thousands of tech start-ups from 2000 to 2015, determining the market cap or valuation. Specifically, they wanted to know the percentage of the total value goes to the leader or category queen. In reality, one company gets 2/3 for the entire market category.
“The study shows that category queens earned 76 percent of the market capitalization of their entire market categories.” – Christopher Lochhead
Christopher’s good friend, Bob Evans said: “every company is a software company.” Tech company dynamics are now applicable to non-tech companies.
VCs “Me Too Strategy”
Christopher quoted a portion from his book Play Bigger. VCs oftentimes fall for the Me Too strategy where every firm would invest in some company in an emerging category, thinking it will succeed just like the first one who did.
“In Silicon Valley, we’ve watched venture capitalists (VCs) increasingly adopt a category king investment philosophy. Paul Martino of Bullpen Capital notes that VCs used to have a “me-too” strategy. If a start-up hit it big and opened up a hot new category, the many VC firms in Silicon Valley assumed that there was room for a lot of winners in that category.” – Christopher Lochhead, Play Bigger
Furthermore, Paul Martino tells us “it’s now apparent that one company wins big and dominates a healthy c0ategory, and the rest struggle, get acquired or perish. That means that as soon as one company appears to be the category king, the smart money competes to invest in that company, bidding up its value.”
Category Creation is the Ultimate Strategy
Christopher’s friend and category guru to Fortune 500 companies Eddie Yoon wrote for Harvard Business Review on the financial impacts of category creation.
He reported that “top 20 firms in Fortune‘s 2010 list of fastest-growing companies received $3.40 in incremental market capitalization for every $1.00 of revenue growth. Half the top 20 companies grew via category creation. Wall Street exponentially rewards the category creation companies, giving them $5.60 in incremental market capitalization for $1.00 in revenue growth.”
“No matter how you want to look at it, the bottom line is category kings take the vast majority of economics and are massively rewarded for becoming the category queen of the space.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about the category creation economics 101 and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher advised over 50 venture-backed startups. He is a Venture Capital Limited Partner and a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO, entrepreneur. In addition, he co-authored two bestsellers: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
After he flunked school, with few other options, Christopher started his first company at the age of 18.
He was a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard, in 2006, acquired that company for $4.5 billion.
Further, he also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD. Christopher was the founder/CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient. He also served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Christopher loves his family and friends. He thinks the Ramones are legendary and loves riding the mountains and waves of Northern California.
Links:
Category Creation Is the Ultimate Growth Strategy
Fortune‘s 2010 list of fastest-growing companies
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
011 The Perception of Your Product is Your Product
Podcast (lochheadonmarketing): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:13 — 8.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
In this episode. Christopher Lochhead talks about what your real product or real service is. He discusses why product development and marketing should team because the perception of your product is your product.
Marketing Defined
One CEO, who is also a good friend of Christopher, once stated that “Marketing is what you do when you have a shitty product.” He was telling Christopher about their competitor who had a significantly inferior product but is, at that time, out-marketing them. Additionally, quite a lot of people in Silicon Valley also think this way.
Wikipedia defines marketing and product as such: “In marketing, a product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is everything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer.”
“I actually don’t want to disagree with Wikipedia, but I do want to propose a different perspective. Your real product, your real service, is people’s perception of your product and service.” – Christopher Lochhead
The People’s Perception of Your Products
Christopher asserts that your product and service is not your product, but what people say it is, think it is and feel about it. He thinks that what other people say about the product or the service, is the truth, regardless if we think of it as true or not.
He cites examples such as Harley Davidson and Jack Daniels. These brands may not be the most efficient in performance or the most premium whiskey available, but they have made a mark in the minds and the hearts of consumers. In fact, they are considered category kings.
However, Christopher also cited instances when people’s perceptions of product change, such as that of Facebook and Boeing 737 MAX. They can fix their products but the perceptions will take forever to change.
The “Perception Manufacturing Business”
Christopher believes that we are in the “perception manufacturing business.” Further, he mentions that not only does the perception of the product more important than the product itself, but it is also actually what the developer is building when he builds and market the products.
“You don’t make products, you make perceptions about products. That is why legendary marketing is equally important to building legendary products.” – Christopher Lochhead
In conclusion, Christopher says that product engineering, product development, and marketing need to come together. They must realize that they are in the “perception manufacturing business.”
“It is ludicrous to say marketing is what you do when you have a shitty product. Marketing is what you do when you have a legendary product and you want people to perceive it as such.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about the Perception of Your Product is Your Product and more relevant information from Christopher Lochhead, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christopher advised over 50 venture-backed startups. He is a venture capital limited partner and a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO, entrepreneur. In addition, he co-authored two bestsellers: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
After he flunked school, with few other options, Christopher started his first company at the age of 18.
He was a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard, in 2006, acquired that company for $4.5 billion.
Further, he also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD. Christopher was the founder/CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient. He also served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Christopher loves his family and friends. He thinks the Ramones are legendary and loves riding the mountains and waves of Northern California.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
