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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for anybody interested in marketing and/or sports, November 25, 2002
Loved reading MARKETING OUTRAGEOUSLY by Joe Spoelstra, one of America's top sports marketers . . . he uses many real--and often funny--examples to show how it is possible to get a company known without going into bankruptcy.Even if you're not a sports fan, there is much here that can be applied to almost any marketing situation. What I so much liked about this book is that Spoelstra has been involved in what he writes about . . . he has consulted with major sports organizations including baseball, hockey, soccer, and basketball in the United States, Spain and Japan. Also, he was general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers for 11 years, during which time he was the focus of what was perhaps the strangest trade in sports history. Portland was in need of a guard to fill a hole created by injury. The guard the Blazers wanted was the starting point guard for Indiana Pacers. A deal was struck; the compensation to the Pacers wasn't a player, but one week of Spoelstra's time. He then played a key role in the restructuring of the Pacers' front office. Later, as president of the New Jersey Nets for three years, he increased that team's revenue by almost 500 percent. There were several memorable passages; among them: * Learn to ask this question: "What's it going to take?" Most business people are thinking, "How can we make our budget numbers?" or "How can we improve our profit over last year?" They are asking the wrong question. What if you asked the following question at your company: "What's it going to take to be the best company in our industry this year?" You don't have to be CEO or a business owner to ask this kind of question. You could ask, "What's it going to take to become the best marketing department in the industry this year?" or "What's it going to take to be the best department in our company this year?" I know how difficult it is to answer that question. I've asked it many times. Sometimes I've just asked myself, because it can seem too outrageous to ask anyone else. Sometimes I've asked others, even though if they'd been carrying guns I'd probably to dead. But you have to ask it, because that's the only way to come up with truly outrageous marketing ideas. * I've got a warped perspective on advertising: I think advertising should get results you can feel. Don't hive me any of that image or identity stuff; I want revenue that I can track to the ad. Anything less is, to me, like throwing my money into a tornado and hoping for the best. You might ask me: "How much revenue would make you happy?" Well, I've got a simple little formula for that: $4-to-$1. I call it The Ratio. For every dollar I spend on an ad, I want to see four dollars in revenue as a direct result. * At the beginning of this chapter, I asked you to take out of your pocket the piece of paper on which you had written, "What's it gonna take . . .?" because I was going to ask you to write something on the back of it. Here's what I want you to write. It's another question: What did I do today to make money for my company? Go ahead, write that down on the other side of the paper. I'll wait. That piece of paper is going to become an important tool for you. Just two simple questions. They could have a lot of different answers. But to really get into Marketing Outrageously, you've got to ask yourself those two questions--every day.
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