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the use of Data in Marketing – Podcast

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:05:00 +0000

In Part 2 of the 2-part Business901 Podcast with Dr. Eric Reidenbach of the Six Sigma Marketing Institute, we discussed the use of data and analytics. We are swamped with incoming data. I believe that the best way to interpret, define and use this sea of information is through the use of Six Sigma tools. I asked that question of Dr. Reidenbach and this is an excerpt of one of his answers:

I think that there is a ton of data, and that’s why you need some overriding metric, if you will, or overriding paradigm such as a value paradigm which governs and directs you as to how you convert data into information.

The big breakthrough that Gale has made for marketers is the discovery of the power of value. And the company who can harness and identify, create, and deliver value is going to be the market share winner. Now this opened a lot of eyes. Not all of them, unfortunately, but some. So now a lot of the data that is collected, and a lot of the information that is generated from that data, is in the nature of value, and the tradeoff between quality and price.

What are the CTQs that comprise quality? What is their relative importance? How do we use that information? There’s always, always that one final glitch in the whole process and that is after we’ve generated this information, how do we use it?

Dr. Eric Reidenbach is the Director of the Six Sigma Marketing Institute. The Institute is one of the leading organizations and authorities of Six Sigma marketing, a fact-based, disciplined approach to growing market share in targeted product/markets by providing superior value. Dr. Reidenbach has developed a number of unique approaches for measuring and managing value, the best leading indicator of market share growth.

Podcast 1 of 2: The Nature of Value Podcast with Dr. Eric Reidenbach

Dr. Reidenbach is the author of over 20 books on marketing and market research. His most recent books include:

Amazon Links:
Listening to the Voice of the Market: How to Increase Market Share and Satisfy Current Customers
Six Sigma Marketing: From Cutting Costs to Growing Market Share

What kind of questions would you ask at a tollgate?

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:30:00 +0000

In a recent post, Using the Six Sigma Tollgate in your Marketing Funnel I went through the concept of using a tollgate in your marketing funnel. Below is a list of questions that might help general a few ideas that you may want to consider. The list was derived from the book Implementation: How to Transform Strategic Initiatives into Blockbuster Results. Intentionally, I left it very generic.

Define stage:

Why is the change necessary?
What is the proposed scope of this project?
What if we do nothing?
What alternatives have been looked at?
What will be the key objectives for this project?
What is out of scope?
Who is the sponsor for this project?
Who are the key stakeholders?
What are the principal risk to success?

Measure:

What specific benefits of this project deliver?
How will this project contribute to our goals?
What budget and resources will be required?
What assumptions and constraints should be considered?
What dependencies or interfaces should be considered?
What are the major project deliverables and milestones?
Who will manage this project?

Analyze:

How will all the work is scheduled?
Who will be responsible for each work package?
How will identified risk be manage?

Improve:

How are we progressing against our schedule?
How are we doing against budget and resource requirements?
What issues do we face?
What new risk have been identified?
What changes do we need to make to the plant?

Control:

Have we completed our handover to the users?
Have we closed the project and communicated where needed?
Have we captured useful knowledge and lessons learned?
Have we evaluated the results that we have achieved?

P.S. Implementation is a great book to have as a companion before, during and after providing the leadership in a project management process. It is on my trashy section on my bookshelf with other highlighted, written in and dog-eared page books.

Speed may be the biggest Determent to your Marketing Success

Technorati Tags: Six Sigma,Lean Sigma,Marketing Funnel,DMAIC,Implementation

Marketing and Six Sigma Methodology

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Understanding Variation – The Key to Managing Chaos by Donald Wheeler is a book I recently re-read. I had remembered it and thought it had some good points. Not for the depth of analysis, most Black Belts will not find it too challenging, but for the examples and flavor of the writing. This book was originally published in 1993.

Marketing needs to do a better job of using statistics and especially variation. When I start talking numbers to people, and what they mean, I get looked at like someone that is just trying to complicate a creative process. Improvement is about numbers. Measurement is about numbers. The truth is, marketing is about numbers. So why not employ more of the Six Sigma methodology? I understand that achieving the quality that Six Sigma represents may be difficult but the principles and tools should, nevertheless be utilized.

Your present marketing data more than likely is flawed and ineffective. Comparing one number to another is just ineffective. Comparison is limited because numbers are subject to variation and without variation taken into account the data is distorted.

Don Wheeler starts his book by saying that comparing numbers to specifications will not lead to improvement. Specifications are the Voice of the Customer. The specification approach will not reveal insights into how the process works and as a result will not tell you where you are, how you got there and how or what to improve to get out of it.

Defining this a bit: Voice of the Customer defines what you want. Voice of the Process defines what you will get from the system. Management job is to bring Voice of Customer in alignment with Voice of the Process.

Don uses examples of Control Charts,X-Charts, XmR Charts and a few other graphs. He does a nice job of mixing practical stories and making a statistical book as easy of a read that it can be. He sums up one story by saying:

Optimization of the parts does not equal optimization of the whole.
Traditional cost accountings can hide or miss the essential figures.
Analysis by osmosis is very ineffective.
Graphs communicate the data better than the tables.
It is dangerous to confuse a target value with the voice of the process.

Can you start using proper data in your marketing process? The book recommends starting tomorrow by:

Begin to collect the right data
Insist upon interpreting within their context
Filter out the noise before considering any value as a potential signal
Cease to ask for explanations of noise
Understand that no matter how the results may stack up against the specifications, a process which displays statistical control is
performing as consistently as possible.
Always distinguish between Voice of Custom and Voice of Process.
Help others take action on assignable causes.

P.S. I typically find that most companies are not ready to start a Six Sigma project because of the lack of measurement in their processes. Having the working knowledge of Black Belt can greatly enhance getting started down the path. It is a journey and depending upon the scope of the project, one not to hastily jump into.

BTW: I recommend reading the book first.

Another word for Marketing – How about Voice of the Customer?

If you are going to Improve, you have to know your math

Six Sigma Marketing

Technorati : Black Belt, Marketing, Methodology, Six Sigma, Voice of Customer

Using A3 in Marketing

admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:30:00 +0000

I know you are thinking A3 is your first choice of paper size. Saying to yourself, I can’t be changing paper size, and I am not going metric. However, what I am addressing is the Lean Tool of A3 reporting. I believe it is a perfect tool to summarize many of the marketing projects that you develop. Why use it? It is a formal process to document and report solutions in a storyboard fashion on a single sheet of paper. It actually takes a big piece of paper 11 x17 or (2) 8 1/2 x 11 sheets. The paper is laid out with the left side defining the problem and the right side proposing the solutions.

The benefits of A3 are :

It helps define a standard for all to use.
It provides a clear and concise method of reporting information.
Method of operation is visible and accessible to all.
It can promote communication, and team working.
It leads to a reduction of waste.
A continuous improvement activity.
It creates an efficient working environment.

So what is so special?

I think it has several qualities:
It makes you think graphically.
It forces you to make the story flow logically.
It makes you condense words.

To go about laying the A3 Report out, I have included a diagram from Systems2win for you to use as a guideline. However, another format to follow for the A3’s can vary as long as your story line stays intact. The value comes from the thinking that goes into generating the A-3 reports (as Tim Berry says, “It’s the act of creating the plan that has value”, not conformance to a specific template. If you’re familiar with the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process it can make a great story line for most problem solving A3’s. However, using the DMAIC process you can:

Define how a particular problem was identified and why it is a problem.

Measure the current state of the problem and how the problem was investigated and Analyze what solutions were considered.

Improve the plan for solving the problem and how the Control or follow-up will be done.

The reason I encourage using the A3 in the marketing process is it demonstrates and recaps the thoughts, efforts and actions that took place for a particular campaign, such as advertising or public relations or even a launch. This report can really highlight the value that marketing supplies. However, always remember that the A3 report is meant to tell a story.

How do you create a scorecard?

Why do we measure?

Technorati : A3, DMAIC, Lean, Lean Sigma, Marketing Reports, Six Sigma

Ebook on Integrating Theory of Constraints with Lean Six Sigma

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:55:00 +0000

Bob Sproull, author of The Ultimate Improvement Cycle discusses the recent push from TOC disciples to bring TOC on an equal playing field as Lean and Six Sigma. I find it interesting because bottlenecks and constraints are an integral part of Lean and Six Sigma training but TOC has never seemed to be on an equal platform. Bob, talks about this and how he always starts with a Value Stream Mapping process to find his constraint.

Integration of the Theory of Constraints and LSS -

Can Theory of Constraints and Lean Six Sigma co-exist

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Bob Sproull was my guest on the Business901 podcast. Bob is an experienced manufacturing executive with a distinguished track record of achieving improvement goals in Manufacturing, MRO, Quality, Product Development, and Engineering. His experience base ranges from low-volume custom products (truck bodies) to process industries (tires) to service industries (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). He is a nationally known speaker and author on problem-solving and statistical techniques, as well as his latest book on implementing an integrated Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints.

Our discussion centered around The Ultimate Improvement Cycle: Maximizing Profits through the Integration of Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints show you how to draw the best from Lean and Six Sigma by employing principles drawn from the Theory of Constraints. This approach will ensure that your effort is focused in the right place, at the right time, using the right tools, and the right amount of resources. This multi-pronged approach addresses cost accounting, variation, waste, and performance measurements. But most importantly, it focuses your organization on the right areas to optimize.

I enjoyed many of his thoughts, especially on Value Stream Mapping and his description of focusing on the matter at hand, the constraint.