Presentation available on creating a competitive and sustainable marketing strategy.

The Presentation

Jeff Snowden presents concepts in his new book The Promise and The Trust in a 60-minute presentation full of stories and examples. The presentation is valuable to general, marketing and brand managers and those that advise on brand marketing activities.

Background

After working in Atlanta with STB Media Group, ASI worldwide, Lazzari and Tillman Allen Greer, Jeff Snowden co-founded Snowden Tatarski in 2000. Since that time he has consulted businesses of all sizes on brand strategy, marketing and advertising.
Snowden has taught workshops, been a featured speaker and authored discussion papers on marketing, branding and advertising. He authored the marketing strategy book, Gin, Incense and Deacon Blues and has contributed to Kleepner’s advertising procedure, a popular college advertising textbook. Jeff is also a former commercial photographer and has two books of his photography published. He resides in Athens, Georgia with his wife Maura, a social worker, where the couple gardens compulsively and pretends they are still in college.

A brief of the presentation

In the beginning, there were ideas. Those ideas turned into businesses. One person milled grain. Another made cheese. And another shaped metal. And then, in time the crafts began to specialize. The blacksmith profession split and some blacksmiths specialized in horseshoes and other specialized in making things like swords.
Businesses were built with refined purposes. For many, the business was driven by passion. The craftsmen and smiths took pride in their work and the reputations they had made for selling quality goods. Bigger businesses were formed to serve bigger needs.
Even today, we tell the story of great and passionate entrepreneurs whose drive and purpose guide companies to greatness. We wax of their focus and vision. We tell of their passion for their employees and customers. We pry through their histories hoping to reveal that magic blueprint for unbridled success.
But then something happened. Businesses began to separate from those focused purposes. Instead of intensely living out a passion or purpose, companies tried to manufacture the appearance of purpose. Companies separated from being focused on products, customers and experiences and became more focused on the mirage of celebrity executives, Wall Street roller coaster rides and disconnected branding veneer meant to hide aimless, purposeless and insatiable companies.
Mission statements went from being aspirations to a bunch of corporate puffery. Organizations no longer had concrete reasons for being other than creating the perception of making money. Brands became synonyms for the orchestrated trickery meant to persuade consumers that our products, services and companies are really something more than they really are.

At the same time and possibly instigated by the beckoning complexity of the finance and IT portions of business, marketing departments began to intoxicate themselves with all manner of potions and elixir cure-alls. Psychographic segmentation, media mix modeling, buzz worthiness, executive blogs and a whole host of other marketing malarkey helped sooth otherwise aimless and fruitless efforts by allowing everyone to look really busy.

In truth, there are only two works that matter in marketing: Promise and Trust. Your company has something distinct and differentiating about it, otherwise it would not exist. It is a promise to consumers. Understanding that promise is crucial to the point that you should remove everything that is in the way of carrying out that promise and accentuate the things that are helping. This means products, systems, people and processes.

A whole lot of successful companies do this without even knowing it. The reason why they do is because they start with a focused purpose and keep it potent. They manage the interaction with the customers and keep a level of attentiveness and transparency that consumer’s feel they can support. In short, these companies prove to customers that every dollar spent on the company’s products will result in the benefits promised and expected, be they functional, emotional or experiential.

Consumers want to know their investment of time; energy and any other resources will have the intended result. They want and need to know that what you are offering is not fully duplicated elsewhere for less money, will be worth their investment and will deliver the desired result. This is where trust comes in. People want to know they are making a wise choice with their resources. All the little procedures we do under the marketing umbrella are (or at least should be) aimed at increasing the trust that customer resources are well placed.

The goal of marketing is to build trust in the promise of the offering. It is that simple. No amount of marketing tactics will ever overcome the need of companies to make a compelling promise that they can deliver and then help consumers believe that promise. Consumers have always been and continue to be interested in getting the desired result for their investment. Offerings that clearly offer and pitch such will be successful.

It all comes down to The Promise and The Trust.



What people are saying about the book.


Consumers yearn for authentic brands, services and products that deliver on their value promises from companies that can be trusted and are transparent to their customers. Jeff Snowden revisits the business of branding, boiling it down, like good southern home cooking, to a simple yet filling portion of Promise and Trust. His exposition is clear, concise, and chocked full of stories, metaphors, and real life narratives. He gives branding new life.

Thomas Leigh, Professor
Tanner Chair of Sales Management
Department of Marketing and Distribution
Terry College of Business
University of Georgia

Oh, does this subject and book hit a sweet spot in my business soul!
I have had the wonderful opportunity of introducing new products to the consumer world, and am presently doing that very thing. At the age of 66 the fires still burn, as does the passion of introductions. Jeff’s book hits on so many of our companies Core Values, with the heart of those values being the promise and the trust. This is a great insight to consumer products and their development, growth, success or failure. Jeff Snowden has such a unique way of business writing that provides common sense and down-home humor while being encouraging, but reminding us to never take ourselves to darn serious.

Tom Nall
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Republic Tequila


Once again Jeff Snowden turns his bemused eye on the over-hyped and under-delivered world of current brand marketing and, in plain, compelling language champions the fundamentals that once drove great products and companies. His latest book is a simple plea for the enduring value of common sense and honest commitment in marketing... shared through a wry perspective that gently skewers the foibles and fantasies of so many “how-to” business tomes. Enjoy the read— you might even learn something!

Hayes Roth,
Chief Marketing Officer
Landor Associates


“Promise and trust are critical elements in differentiating your product in a land of killer competition. Without it you stand a chance of not surviving. A must read.”

Jack Trout
Author of Positioning and Differentiate or Die