What if Businesses could only Market Locally?

That’s the way it used to be!  In our new flat world that is connected by the internet, mobile phones and mail systems the thought of only marketing to those near you seems archaic.  The reality is it was less than 250 years ago the US post office was formed, 77 year since the first television program was broadcast and 33 years since the internet became public. 

You may have heard of Moore’s law that basically states that the capability of technology doubles every two years.  This same trend seems to be in place for the number of advertisements on the market today.  Individuals are swamped with request for their attention and money leading many to hate marketing.

I hate marketing.  And I’m sure I’m not alone in this!  How many times have you gone to check your mailbox only to return with a handful of advertisement and no mail.  The same is true for my inbox.  Ads and promotions clog up my account making it difficult to find (easy to lose) those important email.  My only solace — at least trees are not suffering for the spam I receive.

Marketing takes up time — according to this site, Americans spend around 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.  That doesn’t even begin to count the number of hours spend deleting or unsubscribing from junk emails.  Let alone the number of hours spent being bombarded with advertisements on television, radio, web banners, pop up ads, marketing calls, spam texts, and the endless other forms of digital marketing that is emerging. 

Sells you things you don’t really need — With the number of mini storage unites in this country housing the things we can’t fit in our houses, do we really need more stuff?  Infomercials are renown for convincing people they need yet one more thing.  Take my mother for instance (I love her but…) this Christmas she decided to buy me a “cooking machine” that basically cooks your food in different shapes — really mom!!??!  Why did she think I needed that? Do we really need all the gigots and gadgets?  I say NO!

Invades my privacy — Another thing that annoys me is the selling of my information for marketing purposes.  Last year I did some comparative shopping online for health insurance and to this day, months later I am still receiving calls telling me they are calling regarding the quote I requested.   I won’t be making that mistake again!

Often stretches the truth — “You have been selected to WIN!” . . . right!  Deceptive wording, images and claims of what a product or service will do for you is seriously a problem.  The FBI reports almost 100 million mass marketing fraud cases on the books that are pending.  It not only hurts consumers it costs tax payers money!

Contributes to environmental loss — with the boom of marketing has also come the boom of consumption.  Without factoring in the actual products consumed, junk mail alone kills 2.6 million trees each year and produces 1 billion pounds of landfill each year according to this site.  If that weren’t enough, the pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities using about 28 million gallons of water each year to process the same junk mail.

So what is to be done if we can’t turn the hands of time back and just focus on selling to our local market?  Though it’s not a complete solution, the way we approach marketing in our own businesses can make a difference.

Serving vs. Selling — In my research on marketing trends I stumbled across the coined phrase “marketing myopia.”  My curiosity took me to Wikipedia where it talks about a theory that I want to believe is true.  It stands for the idea that “businesses will do better in the end if they concentrate on meeting consumers’ needs rather than on selling products.”  Theodore Levitt wrote a paper in 1960 with Marketing Myopia as the title and published it in the Harvard Review where he was an editor.  Levitt held that the myopia culture would lead a business to fail because they would adopt a complacent mindset and not keep up with what the consumer wanted (vs. needed).  Some suggest that this paper marked the beginning of the modern marketing movement.  If that’s the case, maybe we need to retrace our steps and reconsider the outcomes and obvious unintended consequences of our societal emphasis on indulging our every want.

To give just one example: please don’t make me cite the sources on statistics for health problems due to obesity that are at historic highs.  Marketing has played a significant role in this and where has it landed us as people?  Yes, it made McDonalds and numerous other businesses a lot of money but at what cost? 

My point is that as citizens of the world we are consumers that have a choice to influence the market, and marketing, by our purchasing decision and how we respond to the waste that surrounds us.  As future business owners we have a choice as to how to market and how we are going to present our products, these are real issues we need to wrestle with and find better solutions for.

In the mean time as a consumer, take 2 minutes to save yourself hours later by registering on the National Do Not Mail List and the National Do Not Call List.  Your on your own when it comes to emails.

An Achievable Dream

For our team project we chose to study a school on the East Coast that is making a significant impact in the lives of children living in poverty in the inner city of Newport News, Virginia.  An Achievable Dream Academy (elementary school) and An Achievable Dream Middle and High School provide K-12 education for at risk and impoverished children.  They also have a nonprofit counterpart called An Achievable Dream Inc. that is responsible for raising the extra funds needed to run the school and also help coordinate some of the programs that benefit the children.

The children that attend these schools are children that otherwise would have likely become a statistic in the dropout rate, be yet another teen pregnancy, caught up in gang violence or just simply the unemployable.  You see, over 50% of the population of Newport News has a family income of $25K or less.  85% of the local population comes from single parent or guardian homes.  And 100% of the children that attend An Achievable Dream qualify for free or reduced lunches.  Here are some additional statistics on the area if you are interested.

Walter Segaloff, a local businessman is the visionary behind this school.  He was having a hard time finding functionally literate high school graduates to employ in his warehouse.  He would frequently find himself interviewing around 300 applicants to find 40-50 to hire.  Wondering if he was the only business facing this challenge, he consulted with the local shipyard and a couple other plant owners and found they where having the same challenge.  

Wondering how far reaching the problem was, Walter set a letter out to 200 business owners calling meeting to discuss the problem.  To his surprise 150 of those businesses came represented.  The problem was greatly affecting their profitability. 

With the business community’s support and urging, Walter began to dream about what could be the hook, the leverage point for change.  One day watching a tennis match it occurred to him that this sport could provide the inroads needed.  The next year he began an after school tennis tutoring program that over the last two decades has grown into this great school that is know for quality and excellence.

An Achievable Dream or AAD for short has a unique culture and curriculum that set it apart form other schools.  Each morning, at least five administrators, local officers or military soldiers greet children as they walk into school.  This is not because they have discipline problems — rather just the opposite.   “We really don’t have any problems with violence in our schools” says Judi Overbey, the AAD Tennis Director who is our main contact.  This same greeting also happens in between classes.  Teachers stand outside their classroom door and greet children on their way in.  The children are required to shake their hand, look them in the eye and say good morning or good afternoon.  Some of the benefits of doing this Judi said are boosting the children’s confidence around authority figures, it also gives authority figures a daily opportunity to build a relationship with the children and it also teaches the children good manners.  Likewise it give teachers an opportunity to assess how each child is doing and weather or not there might be something happening at home that would require them to provide the child will a little extra attention and support.

Once in the school the children are not allowed to talk in the hallways but go directly to their morning program, a pep rally in the gym where they line up, their uniforms are inspected, they sing the national anthem, hear a motivational message from one of the teacher that gets them jazzed up about learning and then they recite their “banners.”  Banners are saying that are hung all around the school to remind the children of important values and truths.  Through repetition and participation in saying them each and every morning, these banners become a part of each child.  Here is the complete list:

•  Proud to be drug free
• Be cool – stay in school
• Nothing was ever achieved without enthusiasm
• It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice
• Being bright is out of sight
• Decisions are up to me
• Success in school – helps me be successful in life
• Being a success means doing my best
•  I can go to college if I work hard
• An Achievable Dream loves me
• I am someone special
• Believe in yourself
• I will say no to guns
• I will say no to drugs
• Being smart sends my scores off the chart
• I must learn to earn
• I AM somebody

The culture however does not stop there.  The teachers on staff understand why they are there and have a real heart to see each child succeed.  Walter evangelizes the belief that every child can and will learn.  Extended school days, Saturday classes and four additional school weeks in the summer help children receive the attention and help they individually need.  Breakfast, hot lunch and nonperishable food sent home with children on Fridays to help students make it through the weekend and are also important elements of the care and support these children need to succeed.

As for the expanded curriculum, children attend a social rotations class each morning in which they study one of the following topics:

Speaking GREEN – In this class they work on mastering the verbal skills of the wider world.  It teaches the standard American English they will need in a college classroom, in a job or out in the business community.

Etiquette – Students must learn and are expected to display good manners.  Skills such as table manners are taught preparing the children for special occasions like when their accomplishments are celebrated.

Peaceful Conflict Resolution – Core to the AAD culture, this class explores why the pace and safety are better served by non-violent strategies that produce solutions that preserve the dignity and wellbeing of all involved.

Ethics – Teaches the children how to make sound value-based decisions.  The class focuses on putting character traits like honesty, respect, trustworthiness, integrity, responsibility and kindness into action.

Healthy Living – Time is devoted to learning sound habits like nutrition and hygiene.  Basic skills the children will need for life but may not be taught at home.

So do all AAD’s efforts pay off?  Do all the extra hours, hand shaking and special classes produce results?  — Evidently, as the school has a consistent 100% on time graduation rate with student’s test scores rivaling the students of more affluent schools in the area. 

AAD is making a significant difference in narrowing the opportunity gap and bringing social justice to Newport News. This year AAD is celebrating their 20^th anniversary.  Click here to watch their most recent video and maybe you too will be inspired that the dreams of these children can come true.