| At Marketsmith we have a saying to describe almost everything. For instance, we talk about someone who talks off point or off the cuff as "Free Willy"; when someone creates a budget to save his job and it has little or no chance of success, we call it a "Hail Mary Pass"; when we know someone is forced to work with us and s/he does not want to, her/his interactions with us are what we usually call "violence." The newest word in our lexicon describes a person, usually a circulation manager or director, who is so mired in data, due to a proliferation of source codes, that s/he has no way to navigate out of this situation and feels like the only hope is to create a new piece of information, which only adds to the confusion. We call that person a "crazy cat person." |
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| This term in particular helps define what we do at Marketsmith. I think we are more like "Cat herders" than anything else. If you look up "Cat herding" in Wikipedia, it says "comes from the common saying that something involving coordination of many different groups or people is as difficult as herding cats." We spend a great deal of time "herding" a variety of people, platforms, tools, resources, costs, and fragmented historical information to bring them to a consolidated and actionable view and plan. |
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| We talk about crazy cat people (with endearment, knowing I could be called one in my personal life) because we talk about the psychology behind the proliferation of source codes, reports, and analysis. Circulation professionals get caught in an endless cycle of trying to do the best job by being the most precise but unwittingly undermine their greater mission, growing circulation and revenues. The reality is when we see a circulation operation stuck in a morass it is usually an indication of one of these situations: |
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 | When there is no marketing database platform or it is unstable so it cannot provide the data which give insight to past performance in a meaningful way. |
| When a company is finding it harder to make money and department staff have been in the same place for a long time with no changes or really love the Brand, they believe by creating a multitude of data points they can find the one nugget that will get them out of the hole or stop the bleeding. |
| When the person responsible for circulation is struggling and is not receiving the necessary guidance and direction. |
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| Folks who have created this proliferation of information usually want to avoid meetings and discussions because they believe in their schemas and do not want to have to explain them either to people who can not conceptualize the numbers OR to someone who might, in fact, challenge an algorithm. |
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| So at Marketsmith, I think it is fair to say that we are cat herders. Our ability to coordinate multiple groups, technologies, data points, and historical records allows us to marshal those resources and create and execute plans that will deliver great outcomes for our clients. Identifying and understanding all the pieces, collapsing them, parsing though them, validating the quality, understanding the costs and cost structure relative to revenue, and finally developing a roadmap to move forward that brings it all to action in real time and generates rewarding results. |
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| Everyone is talking about the need to target, focus, personalize. However, in many cases, there may be too many source codes. We are saying that you need to look at your segmentation objectively and determine how to make it more actionable so it will deliver results. |
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| Ask yourselves these questions: |
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| What is our strategy based upon this information? Are we hitting our forecasts? |
| Are we selling as many items as we were last year to hit that revenue? |
| How are we trending? Are our sales going up, down, even? |
| Of critical importance - Are we making money, not only top line revenue, but also bottom line net income? |
| And ensuring the health of your brand - Can we articulate where we will be in two years and how we are going to get there through a unified, holistic contact stratagem? |
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| If you are satisfied with your answers, the health of your brand, the results of your contact strategy, and EBITDA, then let the cat person be; s/he is doing good work and taking the Brand to a better place through diligence and ability to dig into the minutia. |
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| But if you are unhappy with the answers, we suggest this solution and recommend you start today: |
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| Consolidate data points consistently. |
| Use real data coming from true sources that are accurate and up to date. |
| Make sure a report card system helps leverage your marketing database to create monthly benchmarks. |
| Move to a matchback system using point of contact and order curve allocation systems. |
| Make sure that the paid search, email, and offline teams are meeting a couple of times a month to have a consistent offer and complementary strategies. |
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| Do not force offline marketers to go it alone anymore. It does not make good business sense. In a silo, it is close to impossible for an offline circulation person to be anything other than a data analyst and tool proliferator, instead of an integrator, leader, and performance-generating planner. |
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| We all know or have met crazy cat people. The reality is they are trying desperately to make a difference in a way they feel is helping. In most cases their world is upside down, facing a sea of confusing and conflicting stakeholder and market demands and pressures. |
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| I tell the clients we counsel that crazy cat people are good; they are detail oriented but need better direction. It is up to the leadership to recognize that cat people need to be herded - guided and supported in changing behavior and long-standing practice. You set the goals and provide the tools that allow each member of the team to make a difference through a holistic process that fosters the unique contributions of all members of the team, including crazy cat people. |
