One of the more beachable business books I’ve read is “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. What
every business can learn from the most iconic brand in history” by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan.
It's a fast, 156-page read of the Dead’s marketing breakthroughs, coupled with examples
from other industries. It includes helpful application tips (labeled “Rock On”)
for your own business situation. Here are my top 3 takeaways:
1. Be on the lookout for
new business models. The Grateful Dead
pioneered a multitude of new business practices.
- Unlike other bands that relied heavily on selling records, the Grateful Dead made their money primarily from concerts and merchandise.
- The Dead eliminated the middleman by selling tickets directly to fans rather than going through major ticket sellers.
- And finally, they pioneered relationship marketing by including the following on one of their record sleeves:
DEAD
FREAKS UNITE:
Who are you? Where are you? How are you?
Send us your name and address and we’ll keep
you informed.
Deadheads, P.O. Box 1065, San Rafael,
California 94901
New business models are even starting to emerge in the
traditionally risk-adverse pharmaceutical industry with Pfizer’s new approach
to the Lipitor
patient expiration being a prime example. Rather than let brand sales plummet
into the sunset, they extended Lipitor sales by selling directly to patients—at
a generic price—by enlisting help from specialty pharmacies. With all the
upcoming changes in the healthcare industry, it pays to invest some thinking
time into how medicines can get into the hands of patients more quickly and cheaply.
2. Experiment and
continually adapt. No two Grateful Dead
concerts are alike. The Dead experimented continually as a group, and
individually, both on and off the concert stage. This uniqueness increased the
value of their concerts and concert tapes.
In applying this relentlessly
innovative mindset to the practicalities of business, the authors advise that
“marketers should shorten their planning cycles to monthly—versus six to twelve
months out—in order to become more agile in response to changing marketplace
dynamics, new product developments, changing competitive landscapes, and new
marketing technologies.”
While a monthly planning cycle might be impractical,
it does make sense to plan for regular quarterly reviews to evaluate the
current direction and environment. At the annual planning session, it would
make sense to:
- highlight how the environment could change
- note how you will monitor the potential change
- identify some alternative ways to address any environmental shift
Ask your team: What if a competitor comes out with better
than expected data? What if your brand suddenly has a shorter or longer
expected life? Identify and plan for these potential pivot points.
3. Get some fresh
perspectives. One of the reasons why the Grateful Dead was so innovative
was that the band members came from diverse musical backgrounds. For example, Jerry Garcia was also a bluegrass banjo
player in addition to rock guitar. To think more expansively about your team,
the authors suggest searching for employees using very broad criteria, such as
finding someone who is good with numbers and someone who is good at getting
found.
A more practical approach for the upcoming 2013 planning season would
be to locate a few people from different industries and brainstorm around a key
issue; say, retention. Or encourage each team member to take a course outside
of healthcare. That’s how we encourage our extroverts to expand their thinking.
For example, one of our extroverts will be taking an online course with Berklee School
of Music on Online Music Marketing. Just thinking about how you would
develop a fan base is sure to result in some new acquisition and retention
strategies.
The book is full of lots of other practical business advice
engagingly served up with tales of the Grateful Dead and their loyal Deadheads. So put Marketing
Lessons from the Grateful Dead on your summer reading list. Try bringing
the book to work and reading it at lunch; it’s sure to start a new conversation
and that’s what you want.
Thanks for letting us share.
Dorothy
Next Wednesday’s
post is about setting up metrics that can help your brand succeed.
To read previous 2013 Planning Thought Starters posts about:
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