To borrow from another brand… Walmart, you’ve come a long way baby.

Remember when everyone hated Walmart? It started out as a family run business and then as it grew, it became the evil empire.  There was even talk of a curse when the Waltons tragically lost two family members in one year.  A documentary that detailed the sins of Walmart was very popular and this is when I think the brand people realized there was a real problem here.

So what happened? My theory is that some corporate soul searching went on. Now whether or not soul searching can happen in for-profit corporations may be debatable, but it appears as though the company has made some significant changes to compete and work to improve the quality and perception of the Walmart brand.  Aside from branding, the corporation also faced real business hurdles because of how their brand was perceived.  I found an article from Emory’s Gozuieta School of Business that does a good job of summarizing:

According to several accounts, Wal-Mart is struggling to establish stores in the West and Northeast and in urban areas like Chicago because these areas are more unionized and particularly concerned about the company’s social policies. Wal-Mart has flourished in the Republican red states, but the company is virtually blocked out of expanding into Democratic blue states.

In 2009 the low cost retailer was ranked in the top two Fortune 500 companies and number 5 for profitability. With numbers like that most companies would have strong corporate giving programs. Philanthropy is a duty to most but always a plus in my book. Most recently, Walmart has contributed over 1 million dollars of aid to Haiti.  Big companies have great potential for good -or- maybe to whom much is given, much is expected…

Walmart is now the largest retailer of organic products.  It’s a volume game and they’ve got great distribution and expertise in supply chain management.  The move to organics is consumer-driven but the brand also benefits.  In addition to their big move into organics, the store is working with suppliers to help them adopt more sustainable business practices and more organic products.  In July of 2009, Walmart announced that they would create a worldwide sustainable product index which would provide consumers with a rating about the sustainability of products the store carries.

I vaguely remember issues about Walmart not paying a living wage, union busting, and discriminating against female employees.  But all of that seems to be like a distant bad dream.  Now, shoppers walk in with their reusable Walmart bags and load up on organic fruit and sustainable products.

Brand strategy or just good business? It’s great when you can do both with the same strategies.

With everything going on with Toyota, I’m wondering will this help American car makers win some market share back from foreign carmakers.  It does get a little grey since foreign cars are manufactured in the U.S.  I’m not speaking from a protectionist stand point.  I just wonder if American car makers are not capitalizing on the opportunities presented them.

Before, American car makers didn’t seem ‘incentivised’ to improve the quality of their product.  It was common knowledge that other cars had higher resale value, less mechanical issues, and overall longer running time.  In the past 3-5 years though it seems that those same car makers have to innovate or risk becoming non-existent brands in the future.

From a strategy perspective I would see an advantage in American car makers doing something to capitalize on the opportunity. Thoughts?

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Despite my better judgment, I’m doing a very introspective post.  It could be because I’m up late thinking about work.  It’s more likely that something is bugging me.  ‘This will surely be one of those posts I contemplate deleting after it’s published but you have to tell the truth to get the truth so here it goes.

I am a marketer, and a pretty serious one.  I am a writer.  I emphasize getting a point across – one on one or in a group.  I am a speaker.  Clearly I like to talk people and I’m pretty good at it.

I am a singer and a songwriter.  I’ve released two albums and am finally back in the studio working on the third.  My albums have digital distribution and can be found online at iTunes, Napster, Amazon, and other marketplaces.  Yeah Madia does music and Madia [a.k.a. logan] does marketing.

I always thought people should pick something, and get good at it.  It wasn’t because I didn’t think people could be good at multiple things.  I did and I do!  I think that when we summarize people in our head, we can only fit one thing.  As people we define other people in a very small box.  I think most mental summaries are a word or two.   Mother.  Musician.  Marketer.  Writer.

We define people by the role we know them to play or the role that is most prominent – and because of that, I conformed to the idea that I have to be one thing now that I’m a grown up and can no longer pass for a college student.  (maybe a grad student…)  People told me I had to pick something.

So I’m coming out to multiple groups that I have worked very hard to keep separate.  Why?

• It’s bound to happen.
• I might as well control the message. (inner marketer)
• If we’re friends you’ll hopefully make my box a lil bigger.
• If we’re not friends, maybe you’ll resist putting others in a box.

If you’re a person of multiple talents, I think letting the walls down is good.  It shows you have multiple strengths and sometimes unique insights as a result of your multiple perspectives.  They told me to pick something… but I’m ignoring that advice.

I still don’t think business gets it.  Let me be more specific.  I’m not sure that some businesses get the implementation of digital media.  They don’t understand the commitment.  Today I thought of an analogy that made so much sense I had to break my rule of not getting carried away with multiple blog posts in a day.  Since I’ve just enabled comments – this is a big move for me.  To the point.

The wedding and the marriage.

The way a lot of businesses are still interacting with digital media reminds me of the couple all excited about the wedding.  They plan.  They budget the resources to pay vendors, florists, caterers, venues, etc… and after all that, they have their day. After the day – things tend to get a little tough.  Hence the divorce rate.  I always think to myself, maybe instead of the fancy centerpieces they should have sprung for marital counseling or preparation for the journey.

In the same ways people tend to focus on the wedding and not sustaining the marriage, businesses overemphasize their foray into digital media.  Look at us we’re blogging, podcasting and tweeting.  What businesses lack is the core strategy and expectation that they will have to experiment and customize these tools to accomplish the goals they’ve set.  The idea that you’d be able to start a blog and instantly build a following, master the feedback process, and strike chords with every post is not naivete, but a bad expectation to have in the first place.  It is very much like having a marriage and believing that every day is going to be filled with rainbows and sunshine.

I’m sure you could have a big wedding that kicks off a 60 year marriage but if I had to choose I’d pick a smaller wedding and a huge 50 year anniversary party.

Businesses should celebrate their successes in digital media, not their decision to participate.  Manage leadership expectations appropriately and continue to test and perfect your approach to accomplish the goals you created.  In this case – it takes commitment to celebrate.

Ah, the competitor. Whether you like it or not, the competitors are here to stay. If you just entered a new market be sure that there are current and future competitors evaluating the barriers to entry and profit margins for that particular industry. Competitors are good for business – and knowing them is critical.

Who’s doing what you’re doing? If you have a product on shelves, who is it next to? What products are you competing with? Understanding where your competitors are in the market is critical. First, you should have an understanding of how your product compares to theirs? Hopefully there is something that gives you competitive advantage. Maybe your bicycle seats are more comfortable or maybe your bike is just as good quality but cheaper. The point is that you need to understand this information. It’s like knowing where you stand. You think WalMart marketers cringe when Nordstrom sells a pack of tee shirts? Probably not because their goal is to be the low cost leader. They aren’t competing with Nordstrom on product. They’re competing on price. Nordstrom on the other hand is competing on customer service and product quality. There is a whole body of work on competitive dynamics that deals with competitive interdependence in strategy development and industry life cycles.

More on the competitor later…