If you are in Business – it is Time to Compete!
Posted on April 17, 2015 by Kevin Huhn, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
The thrill of competition is not isolated to sports … consider marketing. It takes an idea, stirs emotions, forces a decision. Coaches do the same.
To succeed in sports a coach stirs up emotions in athletes, so they will make a decision about a situation, and on what action to take, then encourage them to take it…. this is a repeated process over and over. In marketing, people take an idea, stir up feelings in others, so they make a decision and then take appropriate action… then repeat this over and over.
Marketing, like sports, offer many individuals the opportunity to do something they love to do… be creative, excel at a skill and then share it with others. They also are unfair and cruel. In sports, it is no different. Fans will advise teams, athletes and ownership groups of their appreciation or lack there of. In most cases, the loyalty of the fans will win-over and a concession will get made. Like fans in sports, consumers will let you companies know if they don’t like what you have done to “their” product. An example that best demonstrates this comes from PepsiCo Americas Beverages.
In 2009, the NY Times did a story on the Tropicana orange juice container makeover. PepsiCo Americas Beverages had changed the look of their brand, Tropicana, for their orange juice containers which stirred up consumer complaints in form of letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls. Complaints included the opinions of their ‘most loyal consumers’, which resulted in the company switching back to the original look of the containers after dismal sales that year.
Sports are not forgiving on an athlete who makes too many mistakes. Worse, sometimes the career is ended from a contract buy-out. Many marketing agencies, executives and brand managers also experience the same outcome. Consider Skype’s Chief Marketing Officer, who was fired from his position, so the company could get back its shares.
Marketing of a product or service is more than just a position and goes beyond just creating sales. In professional sports, athletes do not compete solely for themselves. There are many stakeholders involved such as the media, an owner, a league or association. In marketing there is the business owner, shareholders and even the media.
Sports and marketing are so much alike. The athlete in sports is like the marketing individual of a product or service. Each of them has a goal in mind. In sports it is a winning score, the fans and good community relations. In marketing it is the bottom line, the customer and good media.
So if you want success, it is time to compete. Get in the game and learn more about coaching.
