Here's a July 4th post from my niece Suzy Wente Villareal and comments that follow. Digression is so much fun sometimes . . .
Shout out to Suzy and Lesley!
Suzy Villarreal (Suzy Wente)
More progress on the rent house today. Next...BBQ. I'm pretty due our forefathers would have wanted me to celebrate with cheese filled hamburgers, sweet potato chips, fried pickles and mushrooms.
David Torres
We are so on are waaaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!
17 hours ago Suzy Villarreal
Queso made with hatch chilis and sausage. I've nearly eaten the whole damn bowl. Ya better hurry.
16 hours ago Lesley Inman
Dang! I am hungry now...thanks! Feed me!! Do I have to stand out in front of your house w/ a sign, and my mower? "Will mow for SVR's food"
12 hours ago Pat Wente
Who's Lesley Inman? Are we related? Suzy, your great-grandmother (Ruth's mother) was named Lee Dora Inman. Ruth's favorite person in the world when she was a little girl was her Grandpa Inman.
2 hours ago Lesley Inman
You may be related to my X husband's family...Inman was my married name. While we were married, we did find a lot of relatives w/ his last name...you never know! I could ask him if he recognizes the name...
about an hour ago Pat Wente
Ours were from southeast Missouri. Suzy's dad can show you the whole genealogy.
about an hour ago Lesley Inman
Cool..that may mean she has to invite me over for a, um, dinner...to see the family tree! lol! She amazes me w/ her domestic abilities, I sit in awe of her!
about an hour ago Suzy Villarreal
Sorry i missed out on all of this. Just awoke from my hamburger coma.
about an hour ago Lesley Inman
LMAO!
about an hour ago Lesley Inman
Yeah, we didn't need you! j/k..we figured it all out. You are having me for dinner to figure out how you and my X husband are related! lol! y'all kinda' resemble each other...hmm....
about an hour ago Pat Wente
The Inmans (some of them) were pretty sleazy. Actually that's not true: they MARRIED sleazy -- my great-grandmother and great-great grandmother were both married to Inmans (uncle and nephew). And that's a sicko story in itself. G-G-grandmother ran a "boarding house" which we think was probably a whorehouse.
56 minutes ago Lesley Inman
LOL! You said it, not me! Yeah, there were some unsavory character's that I met at family reunion's...There seems to be a trend w/ the Inman men...not the nicest bunch!
43 minutes ago Pat Wente
They must have mixed with our Meadows and Bewley clans. Those were the ones who moved to MO from Arkansas after the murder indictments came down.
35 minutes ago Lesley Inman
Yikes!
34 minutes ago Suzy Villarreal
Wow, brothels, murder and incest. Awesome. That makes for a cool reunion. "Jim Bob is from the murdering side, keep him from the knives. Jimmy Wayne, he's from the incest side, keep your daughter at yer side. Priscilla Jo, she's an entrepreneur."
23 minutes ago Lesley Inman LOL!
Funny Suzy woke up!
18 minutes ago Lesley Inman
btw, Audrey still refers to you as "funny Suzy!"
18 minutes ago Suzy Villarreal
Lol!!!
17 minutes ago Lesley Inman
We could at least write a bad country song at the reunion!
17 minutes ago Suzy Villarreal
Lmao!
12 minutes ago Pat Wente
Steve Murphy and I wrote one at his ranch, entitled, "I'll help you shove your gut-shot elk cow into the front-loader with my red leather gloves, because I love you. Darlin'." That's the chorus.
4 minutes ago Pat Wente
We'd been drinking. The messy-dead elk cow, front-loader, and red-leather gloves were taken from real life experience. Ask him.
2 minutes ago Pat Wente
I still can't put those gloves back on.
2 minutes ago Suzy Villarreal
Love it. Red leather gloves!!!
2 minutes ago Pat Wente
In defense of the Meadows family, the neighbors started it. They killed Meadows' livestock after the War (Civil) because the Meadows family had been Union sympathizers. So, in retaliation, the Meadows boys and their Bewley cousins killed the neighbors' -- uh -- family members.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Thoughts about "strategic marketing communications"
Here's the deal. I'm not sure, finally, that I believe in "strategic marketing communications." Marketing communications is a collection of tools and tactics that serve to implement a strategy. Your marketing communications plan can and should link back to a strategy; maybe that's what the strategic marketers are talking about?
But in my experience, very few people are focusing on the strategy as a daily activity. They are getting stuff done; putting out fires; handling what hits them that day or week. I just wonder how often someone -- at ANY level in the organization -- has time to think, "Am I acting strategically today?" Uh, no. I'm usually wetting down the burlap bags to be ready to beat back tomorrow's flames.
A number of years ago someone codified the whole business outline. What's your mission? Your vision? Your values? Your strategic plan for reaching your vision? for implementing your vision?
You know what? Bullsh*t.
The mission is ALWAYS to make money. No matter how high-flown the language, that message will be somewhere in the mission statement. How are we going to make money? By getting people to buy our sh*t, whether it's a product or a service. Your vision is to be the biggest and the best, or the most successful, or however you define transcendent happiness. In corporate America, that means major dollars back to major share holders. Your values state how far you'll go, or how far you won't go, to achieve your vision. We'll try not to destroy the environment. We'll try not to abuse or kill our employees. We'll try not to poison or otherwise damage our customers. We'll try not to become community pariahs. And so on.
The strategic part happens when you're trying to figure out what your product is, how you'll handle the competition, through being first to market, or the best value, or the luxury brand. Strategic marketing is about research for product and positioning.
The rest of it, in my opinion, is not that strategic. Marketing 101 says the fourth "P" is promotion, but figuring out the strategy for that is pretty straightforward, once you've done your research.
Marketing communications is a TOOLKIT of tactics, tools, timelines. Yes, they have to link back to the strategery (to use one of my favorite non-words), but in my experience the organizations that spend too much time on "strategic marketing plans" never get around to executing.
Maybe what organizations need is LESS marketing STRATEGY, fewer strategic marketing planners, and more on-the-ground do-ers. Communicators who make stuff happen. Maybe it's time for consultants who don't leave behind lengthy plans but completed programs and projects. Real stuff that successfully tells the company's story to potential customers, encourages employees, and helps the community at large feel better about the fact that this organization is a hometown company.
I'm just sayin' . . .
But in my experience, very few people are focusing on the strategy as a daily activity. They are getting stuff done; putting out fires; handling what hits them that day or week. I just wonder how often someone -- at ANY level in the organization -- has time to think, "Am I acting strategically today?" Uh, no. I'm usually wetting down the burlap bags to be ready to beat back tomorrow's flames.
A number of years ago someone codified the whole business outline. What's your mission? Your vision? Your values? Your strategic plan for reaching your vision? for implementing your vision?
You know what? Bullsh*t.
The mission is ALWAYS to make money. No matter how high-flown the language, that message will be somewhere in the mission statement. How are we going to make money? By getting people to buy our sh*t, whether it's a product or a service. Your vision is to be the biggest and the best, or the most successful, or however you define transcendent happiness. In corporate America, that means major dollars back to major share holders. Your values state how far you'll go, or how far you won't go, to achieve your vision. We'll try not to destroy the environment. We'll try not to abuse or kill our employees. We'll try not to poison or otherwise damage our customers. We'll try not to become community pariahs. And so on.
The strategic part happens when you're trying to figure out what your product is, how you'll handle the competition, through being first to market, or the best value, or the luxury brand. Strategic marketing is about research for product and positioning.
The rest of it, in my opinion, is not that strategic. Marketing 101 says the fourth "P" is promotion, but figuring out the strategy for that is pretty straightforward, once you've done your research.
Marketing communications is a TOOLKIT of tactics, tools, timelines. Yes, they have to link back to the strategery (to use one of my favorite non-words), but in my experience the organizations that spend too much time on "strategic marketing plans" never get around to executing.
Maybe what organizations need is LESS marketing STRATEGY, fewer strategic marketing planners, and more on-the-ground do-ers. Communicators who make stuff happen. Maybe it's time for consultants who don't leave behind lengthy plans but completed programs and projects. Real stuff that successfully tells the company's story to potential customers, encourages employees, and helps the community at large feel better about the fact that this organization is a hometown company.
I'm just sayin' . . .
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