WHERE HAVE THE 18-TO-49-YEAR-OLDS GONE?

For years the 18-to-49-year-old audience has been the Holy Grail for TV networks. But the latest Nielsen rating data, as reported by the Wall St. Journal, reveals that major TV networks can’t seem to find these people any longer. 

The worst network is NBC. Leaving out National Football League games on Sunday, their 18-to-49-year-old audience is only 2.2 million—down 16% from a year earlier. The other major networks, although better, are following the same trend. ABC is down 5.8% and CBS is down 2.3%. Only Fox is up 11%, according to Nielsen. 

Tradition says you turn this around by creating TV shows that younger viewers like watching. This is one approach, since traditional hits are aging. But will this really help if your market has moved on to other entertainment delivery systems? 

Anyone in this targeted age group knows that they are spending less time with the tube and more time using smartphones, tablet computers (the iPad is king) and laptops to entertain themselves. Nielsen’s Three Screen Report clearly shows this migration. 

Even older people outside of this key demographic (like me) are finding that high-speed internet is more important than cable or over-the-air TV. This summer my wife and I were traveling in Alaska as official traveler bloggers. Our entertainment consisted of listening to NPR radio and watching the evening news and the Daily Show on our iPad.

Tip for TV networks: start testing your new shows where your key audience lives, online. Once a show gets a following or buzz move it to your older delivery system.

What is the lesson for small business? As I point out in my book, don’t let your customers get to the future before you do, or they will leave you behind. Make sure you are delivering your product in a way that makes it easy for your customer to access.

KEEP IT SIMPLE – A SUCCESS TEST

I recently received an email with the following Warren Buffet quote from a CNBC interview. “I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”

 Now this will never happen, but the quote made me reflect on how often difficult issues can be resolved with simple solutions.  In my coaching practice, I occasionally witness clients who get so immersed with the complexity of an issue, they fail to look for the simple solution.

The next time you’re in a meeting facing a difficult issue, take a minute to explore the obvious, or the simple solution. You might be surprised how often it works. This leads me to close with a short Steve Jobs video explaining the complexities of success. The video quality is marginal, but the message is not:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRoHtUjIkmY&feature=related

Passion for what you do and having a great team, success is pretty simple.  Does your passion and team meet the Steve Jobs success test?

SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS

To survive in this economy, everyone has to do more with less. We need to explore new ways to do business. These are realities for any small business today. However, business leaders often make things worse by their actions.

That’s why I found this Bloomberg article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-12/wasserstein-haunts-harry-david-in-buyout-doomed-to-bankruptcy.html

about the downfall of Harry and David fascinating. It’s by far the best review of what went wrong with a company that is the largest employer in Southern Oregon (my home base).

This article mirrors my experience in the airline industry. During a period where the airline I worked for was losing a million dollars a day during the 80s, I had six different bosses in 14 months. I often joked that I earned my MBA then (More Bosses Annually).

The pitch was the same for every new boss: “You are part of the problem. You don’t know what you are doing. I know better.” Then, after failing to understand the airline business, they would walk away with a fat severance check and the process would start over. The next boss would say the same things: “You are part of the problem. You don’t know what you are doing. I know better.”

This experience has shaped my coaching practice. In my book I point out that few businesses fail because they did one thing wrong. They did a series of things wrong over a period of time because they stopped listening to their customers and employees. As a marketing coach the first thing I do when invited into a company is to listen. I’ve found that most mid-level executives and front-line personnel know exactly why a business is failing, but no one at the top wants to listen to insiders. So, they pay consultants to tell them the same things.

To make your company grow, start really listening to your employees, especially the ones that have day-to-day contact with your customers. A good way to do this is daily, short, stand up meetings (no chairs). Focus daily on what everyone can do to make the customer experience better. Take 30 minutes a day to do this, then go out and win the game.

A MARKETING DO-OVER

In my September 15th blog I commented on Netflix’s decision to split their DVD and online business. Now, they have decided to reverse their decision.

CEO Hastings knows that Netflix needs to get rid of their DVD business long-term. Snail mailing DVDs to subscribers is expensive and with the Post Office cutting service, it’s a fading business model. It’s far more profitable streaming videos online. But Hastings has made a hasty retreat for now. 

“There is a difference between moving quickly—which Netflix has done very well for years—and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case,” Mr. Hastings said in a statement, as reported by the Wall St. Journal. This corporate double speak means that Hastings made the right corporate (money) decision in September; he just forgot that he had customers. 

Raising prices and creating two websites, for the same customer base, was a BIG hassle for customers. Because the two sites wouldn’t be linked, customers would have to check both to see if a movie was available on DVD or online, plus recommendations from one site wouldn’t be available on the other site.

Making it harder for customers to do business with you certainly requires a marketing do-over. Don’t be surprised if you see Bank of America reversing their decision on debit card monthly fees.

You would think that after Coca-Cola’s 1985 marketing debacle in getting rid of old Coke for new Coke, everyone would understand that satisfied customers drive your business. Unfortunately, everyone talks about being “customer driven,” but the new reality is that the bottom-line is often more important. This gives you a significant advantage if you are a company that really is focused on your customer.  Try it and you’ll see a difference.

THE PASSING OF A MARKETING GENIUS

The media world is filled with far more eloquent reflections of the life and contributions of Steve Jobs than I could ever write. But I do want to add my condolence. He was an amazing marketer and an inspiration to me in writing my marketing book www.poweershiftmarketing.org). 

In my own small way, I wanted to teach people the marketing skills that Jobs inherently knew. That you should never let your past define your future. That form and function in a consumer product are equally important. That knowing your customer and being the first to respond to their needs will make you a market leader. That great vision drives great innovation, and innovation delivers products that can change the way people live forever.

To discover more on why Steve Jobs was such a great marketer, I would suggested reading this Wall St. Journal story: WSJ.com – Mossberg: The Steve Jobs I Knew* This article will be available to non-subscribers of the Online Journal for up to seven days after it is e-mailed.

GOOD-BYE TEXTBOOKS

When the iPad came out, I mentioned in a speech about trends that I thought the tablet would fundamentally change the textbook market. I mean, would you rather grab a heavy backpack filled with a ton of textbooks or your iPad? Well, two years later, the future has arrived in India.

Called Aakash, the $35 tablet was developed by UK company DataWind, but it is being assembled in India.  The main purpose of the device is for education and 100,000 units have been ordered by the Indian government for students who will receive the tablet for free.

So how well are you seeing the future? Is your company spending enough time to look at trends that could fundamentally change your business?