1. Known Demand. The consumer already knows that he wants and/or needs the product.  Acquisition imminent.
2. Unknown Demand. A dormant or potential demand for something, whether already in existence or not, which the consumer does not know he currently has a desire for. Yet, when the consumer is presented with the option to experience a new product (or service), he immediately recognizes his desire for it.
3. Non-Existent Demand. There is no demand for what you offer.
4. Delayed Demand. A demand for something which is readily available, already known of by the consumer, yet not fully realized as a present, crucial need by the consumer. The product, experience or service is easily accessible or purchasable, but your target audience is not yet ready or willing to engage in or invest in what it is that you offer. However, at some point in time these potentials will eventually turn into real sales or investors or followers, OR they will flat out reject you. Either way, they’ll come to a point of decision.

1, 2 & 3 are fairly simple to understand and increasingly easy to help or satisfy.

4 is tricky though. 4 tends to make 1-3 more confusing, even cluttered and irregular. What do we do?

Make seed freely available.

Seeds are snippets of the whole which, when dispersed, can successfully land, take root and grow. Seeds are not the entire plant. Seeds are seeds. They are small packets of information and color and potential that hold everything necessary to one day burst open and grow into something useful, nourishing and profitable. Seeds are the proof and preview of what is to come. However, seeds must be used and spread responsibly.

As leaders, entrepreneurs and business owners, we have an abundance of tools necessary to spread seed and measure the most productive soils.

The old methodology would tell you to haphazardly throw seed everywhere. In other words, force enough seed into the environment, overwhelm the public with your idea, and count on at least a portion of the public cultivating your _________(fill in the blank). This doesn’t work anymore. Why? Because people are extremely picky as to what they want growing in and from their lives, and they’re tired of being told what to grow, how to grow it and what ideas to spread.

The new methodology is to give seed away and not force its spread. Allow the public to pick up your idea or product or leadership and become a part of something greater than themselves–a growing, thriving community of like-minded people who will spread the _______(fill in blank) with you. When a sector of the field sees your idea prospering in another, it becomes desirable and thus spreads on it’s own. Really great ideas spread in this manner.

It’s about creating, uncovering and cultivating an authentic desire in others lives by being a genuine example of what a little seed full of greatness implanted into your life can eventually grow into.

If it’s a great idea, people will eventually long to be a part of it, and they will love it so much that they just have to spread it. This creates demand, and the opportunity for you to make a constructive difference in people’s lives. Stop forcing seed into the environment. It’s irresponsible and not working. Start creating, talking about and distributing great ideas, beliefs and products worthy of others acquiring, spreading and planting for you. This will help more of your 4′s turn into positive 1′s.

I get this “letter” from my friends down in Austin, Texas, every 2-3 weeks.  It’s the same situation every time.  I open the mailbox, and this genuine Hallmark letter falls gently into my eagerly awaiting hands.  I think to myself, “Oh, it’s a friendly letter from a friend for something that I must have forgotten.  Is it Christmas?  My birthday? hmmm Whatever could this be…for… (insert heart breaking here).”  After I open it (like a little school boy opening up a birthday card from Grandpa & Grandma!), I am quickly disappointed (to tears!) as I discover that it’s just another advertising scheme (I mean tactic) from AT&T, trying to get me to buy their U-Verse Package.

Q: So, why is it broken?

A: Because I already have a U-Verse account. I bought my AT&T U-Verse account nearly 6 months ago, yet I have still not stopped receiving advertisements nearly every single day in some form or another.  My interpretation:

1. Extreme waste of resources, time and paper
2. Someone at AT&T is not communicating.
3. It’s nice to get a Hallmark card…just not from your Internet/TV provider.
4. Continually provide me with the best Internet and TV service (ever!), email me the bill once a month, and then,…leave me alone.  My heart has had enough.

I recently returned from a quick getaway to Belize, Central America.  I had a fantastic time; highly recommend it.  There are very few things in life which are better than an adventurous trip in which you can combine and enjoy both ocean and jungle experiences; and Belize is a destination which is casually overstocked with both.  

Options can be hard to navigate.  Where will I live, East coast or West, mountains or plains?  What will I do this evening, workout or watch TV?  Should I go to college or try something more abstract?  Do I want whipped cream on that latte or maybe just some cinnamon?  Do I really need leather interior or should I stay with the cloth?  Should I watch The Biggest Loser or American Idol?  Should I buy a house or continue to rent?  Do I really want to cut my hair?  Should I study abroad or take that internship?  Pinot Noir or chilled Riesling or a Belgium?  Should I marry my girlfriend or just maintain our status quo?  What flavor of gum should I buy?  What’s the best deodorant?  How many different types of razors does a guy need to choose from!?

Options are wonderful, but they can be challenging and/or frustrating to choose between, to figure out which one is the best for you.  

Don’t be fooled by the marketing…unless you have no choice.  When it comes to deciding which deodorant your wife is going to enjoy the most (after she inconveniently forgets to mention which one is her scent of choice) you’re in trouble, marketing will win; and inevitably you’ll purchase the one with the prettiest wrapper that doesn’t smell like a hospital.  For some decisions, the marketers have already staked their claim.  However, there are still plenty of choices throughout life which will require some serious contemplating, and your decision making apperati will almost certainly be stretched to the max because you understand that these are the decisions that will almost certainly change or redirect the course of your life, forever.  These are the decision which are best left up to you and not the marketers.

When you get up with the sun and commence upon a day that is filled with only a few options, life can be very simple.  In Belize, my choices were: a) go to the beach b) eat something delicious or c) go snorkeling.  I know, tough.  How does real life work though?  How do we discern what’s best in the midst of all the madness or in the midst of complete calm?  Let’s face it, every day we are bombarded with a myriad of choices, some important, some absolutely not.  Every choice that we make, shapes us into who we will one day become.  Recently, my wife and I have had to make some challenging decisions.  Here are a few of the criteria we used to guide us:

1.  Which choice guides us towards (and not away from!) the goals we set down on paper when we first got married?
2. Which choice leads towards distinction, exclusivity, rarity and greatness?  Which choice makes us more abnormal, away from the average?
3. Would the debt acquired by this choice be a good or bad debt?  Personal fiscal responsibility.
4. Which choice enables us to most effectively help a greater number of people?
5. Which choice is more fun, the greatest adventure?  
6. Which choice helps us live out our dreams?
7. Which choice aligns most closely with our faith?

If a decision requires these type of criteria, you’re probably making an important choice.  If not, you’re probably just buying deodorant.

SportsCenter is composed of the extraordinary, uncommon events that happen every day in the world of sports.

Even the most avid sports guru couldn’t find enough time in her day to watch, analyze and report on every sporting event held every day throughout the entire world.  ESPN doesn’t have the time either.  In fact, they usually only have about 30 minutes.  They don’t show every single moment of each game.  They show highlights.  They show the extraordinary, the best of the best, and that’s it.  They broadcast the same information, told in slightly different ways by slightly different people, over and over, and they are extremely successful.

Why?

Highlights grab people’s attention.  Showing highlight after highlight keeps people’s attention.  The reason highlights are so attention grabbing is due to there characteristic uniqueness.  There are millions of mundane sports moments every day, but only a select few moments will actually be exceptional.  Only a few will be worthy of a top-play spot.

Think of the last thing that grabbed your attention.  Was it something that happened normally in your day-to-day routine, or was it something out of the ordinary, far away from routine & normalcy?

Great leaders and visionaries grab our attention by being exceptionally different.  They break molds and they interrupt routines.  The best way to grab someones attention is to break one of their habits, break their preconceived notion of what their brains are used to telling them is true.

Great athletes amaze us because they don’t follow the routine.  They make preeminent, abnormal plays.  Great people–people whom we remember & pay attention to–follow the same plan.  Do something uncommon, grab a lot of people’s attention, and use that attention for something remarkable.

Darwin just had a birthday.  I have been asked to explain Darwin’s theories on numerous occasions (I know, me of all people!), especially during  my college years.  ”Parke, what do you think of evolution?  I just don’t get it.  Can you explain it to me?”  Well…sure…

Two minutes later the conversation ended in further frustration. Why?  As a science major, I had heard the message of Darwin hundreds of times before over the course of 4 years.  I had become an expert on The Theory of Evolution (and by expert I mean that I knew more than the average college student only taking intro biology because she had to).  Even though I knew more than the average, this didn’t make my explanation of evolution or Darwin (or anything!) any easier to understand.  My message was too complex. My “student” had heard her professor’s lecture, she didn’t comprehend it the first time, yet there I was trying to give her the same information in the same way all over again.  Silly.

Marketing follows the same rules.  Any message that is worth giving must first be packaged properly in order to be heard, seen, understood, payed attention to or remembered.  Here are some rules by Chip & Dan Heath from Made To Stick that will help.

You can choose one of the first two, or you can wait for #3:

1. Choose accuracy first at the expense of accessibility
2. Choose accessibility first at the expense of accuracy
3. Choose neither.  Instead, understand this:

If a message can’t be used to make predictions or decisions, it is without value, no matter how accurate or comprehensive it is.

Did my message help my fellow student make good decisions come test time?  Probably not.  I sacrificed accessibility for accuracy.  A less complex message would have been better.  My message had zero value.

What messages are you sending out?  What messages are you buying into?  If these messages are useless, it won’t matter how accessible, how entertaining, or how complex they are; they will get lost in the crowded world of unlimited messages.  I think Darwin would agree.

Here is a great quote from famed marketer Alex Bogusky in an interview with iMedia.  Bogusky was the leading creative mind behind the Truth anti-smoking campaign, the Volkswagen ads, Coke Zero branding, Sprite, Geek Squad and Burger King marketing.  His latest and greatest responsibilities involve taking care of and implementing Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign which hopes to battle back against Apple’s “Mac v PC” ads which have been on display for the past 2 years or so.  You have probably already seen these Microsoft ads.  Whether you like his work or not…here’s the quote.  For more of the interview-which was done in August of 2008-click Bogusky’s picture below.

iMedia: If you were a young person excited about the business, how would you prepare yourself to do great work?

Bogusky: At first, you have to just get started and learn more about what it is that you really like about the business. Sometimes you talk to young people and they think they want to be an art director, but you realize they’re more of a writer. You talk to an art director and you see that the only time their eyes begin to sparkle is when they talk about the toys they make. And you realize: that’s a toymaker. And yet, there’s probably a lot of pressure at school and at home to do something because you’re good at it. Yeah, you’re good at that, but your eyes light up when you talk about this.

You have to discover that for yourself, and you can discover it at any place. Be open-minded and just slide toward those things that give you joy.