In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, hosts Andrew Romeo and Anthony Sapountzis talk to Judy Celmins, who is not just a marketing genius and a startup mentor but also hosts her own podcast, ThriveableBiz Podcast. Judy was, in fact, DevReady Podcast’s first-ever guest and she comes back to the podcast to talk about her book ‘Marketing = Customer + Heart’. The book is not just a book on marketing, it’s a way of doing business and you want to get your copy asap. (Note: 100% of the profit from the book would go to helping a Ukrainian family).
Judy and Eriks Celmins co-authored the book and in it, they share the 7 stages for building a solid growth strategy. Developed over their three decades of experience challenging conventions and problem-solving in a wide range of innovative businesses and industries, this formula will help a business owner to create and retain customers, innovate and come up with exciting ideas, make well-targeted marketing decisions, develop strong customer relationships, and have a competitive edge. Talking about what made her decide to write the book, Judy shares how it was driven by not just her work with clients across different industries but also her own frustrations with marketing products. Marketing comes to her intuitively and her goal was to document the process so that others could learn from it and build businesses that continue to thrive.
Judy says that most people are passionate about something and they think it is a great idea to be self-employed. And while a great idea might stem from one’s own needs, it is of utmost importance to understand that for a business to be successful, there needs to be a strong enough market need. Creating a customer is hence, to her, of the essence in business because the goal is to create a customer. That’s where marketing comes in because you can’t create a customer unless you do marketing which resonates with the customer. And as she reiterates, “If you can’t get to that audience and really motivate them, then you don’t have a business.”
Judy then goes on to talk about a calculator she developed—a blend of TAM, SAM, SOM (TAM – Total Addressable Market; SAM – Serviceable Addressable Market; and SOM – Serviceable Obtainable Market) with risk management and competitor analysis—all critical to ensuring growth in any business.
Furthering her insights, Judy talks about how change is a constant in business and how adapting to that change is a challenge. The world is changing and so are the needs of the customers, so knowing who the customers are and what their needs are, will help businesses identify the opportunities and then use creative and innovative ways to meet the needs.
Here are some of Judy’s insights:
· Understand that marketing applies to pretty much every segment of any business
· Create the customer
· Ask the right questions
· Understand what is missing from competitors’ product/service
· Understand the specific customer needs first and then focus on creating
· Continue to evolve with the change in the market
Key Topics
What is marketing?
· Marketing is critical for growth
· How to create a customer?
· How to ask the right questions?
· Creativity and innovation
· Overcoming the challenge of constant change
Key Quotes (Time Stamps)
“You almost have to get out of that passion. Don’t lose it but you have to step outside of that passion and get to understand the real customer need for it and how many customers are wanting to go to buy it. In the end, that’s what we are in business for—that’s to create a customer and you can’t create a customer unless you do marketing.” (5:13 – 5:37)
· “It’s not about how wonderful your widget is, you know. It’s about how good your messaging is and how it resonates with that audience, how it connects with them.” (5:41 – 5:54)
· “If you can’t get to that audience and really motivate them, then you don’t have a business.” (6:35 – 6:42)
· “If you haven’t got a competitor, then clearly there’s no market.” (11:37 – 11:40)
· “Your sole role in business is to identify who your audience is to make them your customer. That’s your sole reason for existing. The rest of it is an outcome of having however many customers you have.” (14:30 – 14:46)
· “You need to find out what it is that they are missing from their current providers.” (17:15 – 17:20)
· “Not everyone knows what they might need but they may know what they are frustrated about, what they don’t like” (18:58 – 19:03) – Andrew
· “You’ve just got to accept that that is the only way you can keep ahead. You have to ask naïve questions constantly. And be listening for the responses.” (23:49 – 24:03)
· “One of the best things you can do as a manager is allow your team space to create, to think.” (25:20 – 25:30)
· “I guess the purpose behind the book is that you know, I want people to understand that marketing is across everything. And if you understand it, ultimately, your true purpose of the business is to have a customer. If you come at it from that perspective everything is a bit easier. Your pillars are designed specifically around those marketing identifications and then it is easier to make decisions.” (27:52 – 28:17)
· “The idea from our perspective is always to focus on that creativity. So, if you are focusing it on the customer’s need, on the real purpose of what you are doing, what the customer is going to use this to satisfy, what need does it satisfy, then the creativity is actually really easy.” (29:40 – 30:01)
· “The key with innovation is incremental change, I believe, for a start. And that’s much easier to manage in a business anyway. But even if you are a new startup and you come up with some,…what you think is disruptive, the challenge with disruption though is that it’s going to have a percentage of the familiar because if it’s not familiar people won’t go for it” (31:58 – 32:24)
Social Media Clips (Time Stamps)
· What marketing means to Judy (3:54 – 6:47)
· Understanding what marketing is to grow (6:48 – 9:14)
· Creating a customer (14:30 – 18:14)
· Asking the right question (21:59 – 24:23)
· Having a focus to drive creativity (29: 40 – 32:24)
· Constant change is a challenge (33:29 – 38:10)
Useful Links
Connect with Andrew Romeo
Connect with Anthony Sapountzis
