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Oct 26, 2012

Here we go again?



Last year, a few weeks after moving into our new home, we were greeted with an unwanted visitor:  Hurricane Irene, who managed to drop a tree across the driveway and another on the house.  Welcome to the neighborhood, Paul.

Now, forecasts have Hurricane Sandy turning into 'Frankenstorm' in time to mess up Halloween, so having learned my lesson I'm planning in advance.  Well, a couple days in advance.  Which is clearly not enough, if you want to buy a portable generator.  Which leads me to a comment:  why, when an e-commerce site is out of stock, do we need to find the product, read the reviews, decide we want it, and THEN discover that it's nowhere to be found in a 12 state vicinity?

After Irene, sensible bricks and mortar retailers posted hand written signs saying 'No Ice' so that customers didn't need to stop and bother the clerk for the 300th time.  During the petrol tanker strike in the UK, stations posted signs saying 'No Petrol', again to dissuade motorists from queuing for hours for nothing.



Somehow, this notion of retail sensibility for out of stock situations during times of peak demand does not spread to e-tailers like lowes.com, who merrily let me waste time only to find that the closest my local Lowes has to a generator is a few candles.  A simple interstitial either confirming out of stocks, or directing to an availability page, would have been welcomed.  The lack of communication is another example of how some retailers just don't get it where their e-commerce sites are concerned.  What the ideal e-commerce site provides is the ease of at home shopping, and a virtual replication of, or even enhancement to, the in-store experience.  Surely out of stock situations - and it's not just hurricane prep items but hot Christmas toys or fashion 'must haves' - warrant a well thought out contact plan and strategy to save customers time and ensure the experience is less negative.

Unlike my posting last time prior to Irene, I'm not going to say anything tempting fate.  Stay safe, anyone in Frankenstorm's path!

Oct 18, 2012

Farewell Newsweek as we knew it

Time for a touch of nostalgia, folks, as Newsweek just announced it is going purely digital, and dropping the print version of their magazine.  Of course, I saw this on-line, so the irony is clear, but it reminded me of some of the old Newsweek magazines which my father had saved ... presumably for days like this.  One in particular is the July 28, 1969 edition.

Here's the cover shot, so you can guess the main story:

An unearthly shot if ever there was one.  And at the time, although I was too young to realize, a monumental moment in mankind's mission for mastering the majestic moon and outer space.  Okay, I got a little carried away with the alliteration, but the point is that Newsweek, along with the daily newspapers and other magazines like Time, were THE source of information, and used some extraordinary journalism to capture the essence of this event.

Other little tidbits from this edition:

  • Teddy Kennedy was in a bit of hot water, as this edition spotlit the infamous Chappaquiddick tragedy in the National Affairs section that dogged him for decades after the incident.
  • The Vietnam War had an update page called 'Steady on Course', showing a photo of Admiral John S McCain Jr. walking with others to plot the course of the war.  No, that's not the Republican nominee for President from 2008, but his father.
  • The international section headline was "India:  Gunning for Mrs. Gandhi".  25 years later, that is exactly what happened, as the Indian PM was assassinated by her bodyguards.
  • The Spotlight on Business section highlighted 'Bernie and His Billions'.  No, not Madoff, but another Bernie, Benard Cornfeld, who was described as a "self-made emperor of international finance".  The article included color photos of him cavorting with women as the 'Hugh Hefner of Western Europe', and riding horses at one of his grand estates.  He was ultimately tried and acquitted for running one of the biggest confidence games of his era.  Must be something about being called 'Bernie' that leads people down a crooked path.
  • The Dow closed the week before at 845.92.  Total.  As in down 6.33 to close at 845.92.  Contrast that with what happened on October 13th, 2008 when the increase was +936.42 or September 29th of the same year when the Dow declined -777.68, and you get the point.  A lot of shares have changed hands since that magazine has published.
  • Blind Faith made their first appearance in the US, jamming 20,000 into Madison Square Garden.  If you've never heard of Blind Faith, you might know the band members.  Ginger Baker on drums, Eric Clapton on guitar, and 21 year old upstart Steve Winwood.  




Oct 15, 2012

Green Eggs and Ham anyone?



Like many parents, I occasionally go through old toys and children's books which have fallen into disuse or are outgrown.  Usually it involves making comments like 'ah, remember when' and 'not sure I can get rid of this', especially if both you and your spouse are attempting the clearing out task.  With a 10 year old, sadly many of the Dr. Seuss books have given way to more challenging material involving fewer pictures, more words, and no rhymes.  One such book, 'Green Eggs and Ham', was one of my personal favorites and on re-reading it last weekend, it became clear that there's a few lessons we marketers could benefit from courtesy of Dr. Seuss.

I won't repeat the entirety of the tale in this posting but suffice to say it is about an effort by one character, 'Sam I Am', to get another unnamed character to taste something new, and the often absurd extremes Sam goes to in order to entice a tasting.

If we think about conventional marketing of a product or service, the approach is often similar to that taken by Sam I Am.  We describe the product and ask the customer to try it.  If that doesn't work, we try different circumstances to drive the initial trial.  Maybe we don't opt to put the product on a boat or with a mouse, but we still try to find alternative ways to influence perceptions through changing the positioning, conjuring up new campaigns, endorsements or sponsorships, or various other initiatives aimed at inducing trial.  And marketers sometimes spend vast fortunes bludgeoning customers into surrender - especially political candidate marketers, if my experience in the swing state of Virginia is anything to go by.

For many products or services, once the initial trial is obtained, the customer is sold.  Hence the efforts auto manufacturers and dealers go to to gain the crucial test drive of a new vehicle, or the millions spent on sampling at grocery.  Yet is the 'Sam I Am' approach to marketing the best way?  Does constant repetition and adaptation of a core product/service message really the best way to gain trial?

In the social world that we inhabit, I'd argue that while components of the 'old way' of positioning and gaining trial still work, it would behoove Sam I Am to undertake a few other tactics in his effort to secure trial of the green eggs and ham, namely:

1.  Basic data interrogation -  Of course, learning primary data, ie the character's name, is vital to ever gaining an element of trust, so clearly Sam I Am had some data interrogation to do with his prospect green eggs and ham list before approaching with the offer of trial.  He might have also checked his records regarding previous egg and ham campaigns, to see if his unnamed prospect had been approached, how many times, with what message combination or offer, etc.  And if the prospect had indeed been a customer who had lapsed, maybe check with his customer service data to see any complaints raised about the eggs or ham - perhaps the previous color for the eggs was red, so green might be a product innovation that could re-gain a lapsed customer?  Using a decent CRM system linked to a customer service platform, Sam I Am might have armed himself better for his initial foray.
2.  Social listening - Sam I Am could have determined the unnamed characters preferences or  what has been termed 'secondary data'  - ie interests, goals and motivations - through social listening using tools like Radian6.  This might have helped him refine the selection of use occasions or participants to offer - instead of on a boat, maybe a kayak if the unnamed character was a regular REI fan and blogged about his kayaking?  It may have uncovered a vast group of prospective green egg and ham users, who perhaps had preferences that could have honed down the rather haphazard food and location pairings Sam I Am attempted.
3.  Influencer marketing - Sam I Am could have sought expert recommendations on the quality of his green eggs and ham from noted experts or foodie bloggers, and ensured the unnamed character saw said recommendations prior to initiating trial efforts.  This may have softened resistance to the notion, although the unnamed character does go to great lengths to say he does not like green eggs and ham, suggesting an unsatisfactory prior experience with the 'brand' that an influencer may not overcome.
4.  WOM - There's little doubt that if Sam I Am had trust to begin with, he would not have needed such extreme lengths and effectively gain 'surrender' for the trial.  Yet many customers do not trust the brand owner, and are more likely to believe a friend.  So perhaps Sam I Am could have cultivated some known advocates with a word of mouth marketing program to encourage sampling and trial by their friends, in the hopes that trusted friends may have induced the trial.

greeneggsandham_screen2

In the end, of course, the green eggs and ham is liked, no matter the physical circumstances or who the meal is presented with.  The unnamed character becomes a joyous advocate for green eggs and ham.  And Sam I Am tried to win an Addy for his "out of the box, hit them with rocks, put on white socks" thinking.

Oct 4, 2012

Dog days













Our dog is a 12 year old Scottie named Murphy.  Unfortunately, Murphy had a tussle with our significantly younger and bigger King Shepherd, resulting in poor Murph spending most of the weekend and this week in the vet emergency clinic.  Good news is he survived the scuffle (barely ... a case of attempted dogslaughter by the Shepherd?) and is recovering nicely.  But he is definitely off his food.  After numerous discussions with the vet, the recommended solution?  Baby food, non-chunky, off of a spoon.


Hence my trip to the grocery store to buy 10 jars of pureed turkey, chicken, and beef for the dog.  First time visiting this aisle in 9 years.  And it was an interesting excursion from a couple perspectives.

First, that an aisle which is normally nothing more than a cut through to the dairy department is a lot busier brand-wise than I recall from the days when baby food was bought for a baby, namely mine.  The variety of foods and food combinations is quite remarkable, with clear delineation of more expensive varieties from the value options.  Yet what is even more remarkable is the lack of standout on the shelf, and overall poor quality of merchandising by the large manufacturers.  Now that could be the buyer at Kroger stopping some nice initiatives, but it felt like a part of the store which, though high profit, is relatively ignored from a shopper marketing perspective as young mom's account for a small minority of this particular store's traffic.  Any short term promotions to build trial and loyalty was almost non-existent, if you judge activity by the shelf alone.  So I went on-line, and whoa:  what a lot of stuff is available, courtesy of Gerber/Nestle, Beech Nut, and a whole host of brands.  Plenty of what marketers are terming, in annoyingly repetitive fashion, 'engagement opportunities' for the young mother with time on her hands (not) to explore these sites, laden with coupons and advice.



But that raises the question - why isn't it carried through to the point of sale, the zero moment of truth or whatever you want to call it?  Is all the seeding of prospects occurring outside the store, such that the in-store experience is purely a transactional relationship, aimed as satisfying the shopping list item?  Why is there no guidance to choosing a selection of items which provide a balanced diet to a baby or toddler, in the form of shelf strips or point of sale advice?  Or why not provide QR codes which link to the information, to help a mother get the right assortment for her child?

In short, it seems at least where baby food is concerned, that the digital revolution has been at the expense of the shopper marketing revolution, with precious little interest or effort in driving sales and information at the last few feet.

Still, at least Murphy is feeling better!!

PS:  It feels kinda weird feeding a dog baby food from a spoon.  Almost had a knee jerk reaction to put him over my shoulder to 'burp' him afterwards ...


Sep 17, 2012

How the NFL mirrors the changes in marketing














I LOVE both the NFLand marketing.

But football has changed - and so has marketing, before our eyes.  

Witness the following:


Football
Marketing
Yesterday
Today
Yesterday AND Today
Tomorrow
Huddle
No Huddle
Planning Cycles and Large Team Initiatives
Real Time Adaptive Planning and Small Team Empowerment
Receiver shuttles in signals
QB hears signals on headset
Communication via ‘traditional’ channels
Communication via ‘real time’ channels
Predictable play calling:  run, run, pass, punt
Unpredictable play calling:  constant change and mix it up
Predictable mix of campaigns and tactics – ‘we’ve always done it this way, and it worked before’
Responsive, adaptive tactics and programs, which optimize opportunities as they appear
QB tries to read defense
QB studies tendencies, and predicts while still reading
Marketers try to understand competitors and market changes through traditional research methods like focus groups or sales interviews
Marketers use predictive analytics and advanced social listening to understand competitors and market changes … as well as traditional research methods done in a non-traditional way
2 minute offense is strictly for the last 2 minutes in the half/game
2 minute offense is anytime
Speed to market is on hyperdrive only in exceptional, non-routine circumstances
Speed to market is always on hyperdrive, and doesn’t need exceptional circumstances to occur.
Players multi-task and play offense and defense in some cases
Players are specialists
Senior marketers multi-task, and are expected to be experts in all aspects of an increasingly complex marketing field
Senior marketers specialize in terms of technology, insight, communications – less ‘generalists’ and more specialists – and hence structure aligned to having specialisms within the marketing function
Pads made of leather
Pads made of complex polycarbonate mixture
Communications mainly paper based or TV
Communications mainly electronic and real time.
Running back … runs the ball.
Running back might run, catch, throw an option.
Marketers hired for marketing a product or service
Marketers hired for marketing a product or service, specifying innovation and IT requirements, selling partnerships or even directly to major customers
  


The question for marketers is simple:  how adept are you at calling an audible in the heat of battle?  Do you have Manning or Brees in your DNA … or more conventional qualities, like the vast majority of Bears QBs (with the exception of Cutler)?

Sep 12, 2012

Campaign tagline 'match n win?'

If you enjoy games where you need to match up two columns of information, then you'll enjoy the following in the spirit of the election season.

Can you match the tagline with the anti-campaigner from these previous Presidential elections? Prize?  Nothing but the honor of knowing your stuff!!

Slogan
Anti-?
1.  Ma, Ma, where’s My Pa? Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha
a.  Kerry
2.  Let’s stop the 4th term now
b.  Adams
3.  57,000 ways to tax Americans
c.  Ford
4.  Bargain and Corruption
d.  Cleveland
5.  Bonzo is Back
e.  Bush (GW)
6.  Bozo and the Pineapple
f.  FDR
7.  Compassionate Colonialism
g.  McCain
8.  Don’t settle for peanuts
h.  Reagan
9.  Incontinence meets incompetence
i.  Carter



Answers:  1d, 2f, 3a, 4b, 5h, 6c, 7e, 8i, 9g

(Special thanks to taglineguru.com for the info on these)

And the credit for this tagline goes to ...


Hot news on the communications wire this morning says that Toyota has introduced a new tagline, "Let's Go Places".  According to the report, "Toyota worked with advertising partners Saatchi & Saatchi, Dentsu America, Conill, Burrell, Intertrend and Grieco Research to create the tagline."
Which begs the question:  how did that work?  Did Saatchi come up with "Let Us", then Dentsu pitched in with 'hey we can shorten this let's make it "let's"'?  Did Conill and Burrell then spend hours contemplating words like 'drive', 'jumpstart' (nope, not so good for a car brand) before settling on 'go'?  And was it up to Intertrend and Grieco Research to figure out that "Let's Go" by itself is better suited to a laxative brand, and therefore needed the eponymous "Places" to round out the message?
It's interesting how this approach to giving the whole communication agency team credit for what will assuredly be a long term tagline is a radical change from earlier times when single mainline ad agencies claimed taglines and slogans as being their creative property.  The benefit of the team approach?  Everyone can claim they developed it.  Not just those in the creative departments, but countless freelance creatives who worked at any of those shops can probably put it on their reel or resume.  Of course, if the tagline bombs or is perverted due to some mechanical issues - as in "Let's Go Places as Long as They have the Parts in Stock" - then watch everyone run a million miles from the program. 
Such has it always been in the communications game - success means everyone jumping on the bandwagon and claiming credit; failure means no one did it.  Sort of like asking who voted for Nixon in 1972.  Incidentally, his 1972 campaign slogans were "President Nixon - now more than ever" and "Four More Years".  I heard the latter once or twice at the DNC recently - do you think they were honoring Nixon?  But maybe Nixon's 1968 slogan was better:  "Nixon's the One".  Yep, that's probably what the Watergate prosecutors thought too.

Sep 6, 2012

Let's stop the engagement




I've worked in marketing all of my life.  And every so often, I come across a word which is over used by practitioners to the point of it's meaning being lost or confused.  In the 1990s one such word was 'integration', as applied to either your agency services or more often the campaigns you produced.  For some, an integrated campaign was one in which the literal assets of one media (e.g. the TV ad imagery or copy) were zealously duplicated in any other media (e.g. direct mail, email, website, on-pack, etc.).  For others, an integrated campaign was one in which the tone was consistent - each channel could look different, but they had to 'sing off the same hymn sheet'.  Still other pundits took the stance that an integrated campaign was one where everything linked to everything else, even if the tone or imagery differed.  So, for example, as long as you put the website address on the TV spot, or had a click through on your website to the video of the same TV spot, you were integrated.

But that was the 1990's, when Clinton was President, grunge and Britpop played in clubs, MP3 players weren't selling much until that Jobs fella changed it, and direct marketing/CRM was seen as the savior of most companies.  Surely, in the twenty-teens we're about to enter we'll have outgrown such confusion over a word.

Nope.  It's now  in our social world all about 'engagement'.  You know:  10 steps to engagement; how to engage with prospects; how engaging is your brand; are your employees engaged with your brand; etc.  How many emails or postings of content do you receive daily with the word 'engagement' somewhere in the title or description.
    

Diving a little deeper, we find engagement has multiple meanings and raises multiple questions and opportunities for befuddlement and confusion.  If someone 'likes' your brand, are they engaged?  Well, maybe - they were engaged at the time they clicked 'like', so for a nanosecond or two.  Or maybe they were engaged by the offer or funny video you did, but couldn't give a hoot about (or even remember) who they 'liked' to get it.

Does engagement mean they regularly chat about your brand to all their friends?  Sure, that's engaged, although if your brand was Clorox wouldn't you be concerned about the type of people who pontificate about your brand excessively as having a strange personality disorder?  Not sure I want as my brand advocate someone with potentially a screw loose.  I can be loyal to a brand, use a brand, but it doesn't necessarily follow that I want to be engaged by a brand.  Hell, Clorox, I buy it ... isn't that enough?

But the bottom line is at the moment, engagement is so overused that I think some of the meaning is going out of the term.  People aren't really sure what it means anymore, but like 'integration' in the 1990's it must be a good thing to have or why else would everyone be talking about it.

In seeking resolution to this challenge, I took a step back and thought about what most Average Joe and Josephine thinks about the word 'engagement'.  My limited scale research (I talked to the neighbors, Joe and Josephine ... they're thinking of changing their last name, as it hinders job applications for Joe) and found that they don't think they're 'engaged' with a brand, only that they like it, hate it, can't be fussed with it, don't know it, or think it's someone else's.  Some brands they'd like to be engaged with - Porsche, for example.  Problem is Porsche doesn't want to engage with them, at least not where new cars are concerned.  Mr and Mrs Average do not drive a Porsche.



So maybe the trick is to think less about 'engaging' customers, and more about what the original form of engagement stands for.  Tell someone "I'm engaged" and it's a clear signal that marriage is impending.  It's a promise, nothing more.  Doesn't carry much legal weight, it can be short or long or failed or called off.  But it's a promise.  So the question is does your brand elicit a promise with your customers?  Are you breaking your promises (through customer service or through crappy performance) such that the engagement breaks off?  And are you measuring engagement by the metrics of what someone says (ie telling everyone 'we're engaged') or what someone does (ie here's the ring and the wedding is booked)?  In other words, is your engagement meaningful enough to drive actions and get you the ring ... in particular, the ring of the cash register.

Wait a minute - that's another 90's reference - cash registers don't really ring anymore, do they?  That's what I call progress!

Sep 5, 2012

Sports Analogies: Part One



Imagine the situation.  You’re leading the client services team pitching a huge new client.  It started with 10 agencies on the pitch, and in round one, your creative director nailed it.  Amazing ideas, terrific presentation – brought tears to the eyes of the client, it was so good.  You breeze through to round two with the field whittled down 5 agencies.  Again, the CD lays it on the line and pulls out amazing work.  Cheers from the client, with post presentation feedback indicating that your CD is the ‘creative spark that fuels your business’.

Now it’s down to the final shootout, all the big guns firing as three agencies vie for this lucrative assignment.  The morning of the pitch, you’re called into the CEO’s office, presumably to discuss the final presentation team or format or iron out some details.  Instead, you’re told the CD will NOT be there or do any further work with this client on the pitch.  Reason:  fatigue brought on by too many hours in the office coming up with ideas, and a determination by the management team that we need to ‘save’ some of the CD’s ideas and energy for the next prospective client. 

How do you feel?  Well, now you know how Washington Nationals fans feel at the moment over Stephen Strasburg.

Mar 7, 2012

Wild Onion Musings: Last Impressions Matter

Wild Onion Musings: Last Impressions Matter: Walking through many stores is often a manifestation of the retailer's desire to create a positive impression from the point of entry to t...

Last Impressions Matter



Walking through many stores is often a manifestation of the retailer's desire to create a positive impression from the point of entry to the store.  In many cases, that impression is excellent - a walk through Whole Foods or The Fresh Market is like a grocery fantasy land, complete with exotic smells and sounds to complement a visually enticing shopper experience.  No doubt many thousands of hours have gone into crafting these exceptional experiences, and a positive first impression.

Yet with many retailers, what is the last impression a shopper has?  The checkout.  Traditionally highlighted in research as the bane of most shopper's existence, it's a source of frustration and annoyance on busy days in particular.  There's a number of reasons why this is the case.  Let's face it - checkout is where reality dawns on shoppers.  All those wonderful ideas they've conceived about their meals or DIY projects or whatever they put in the cart come crashing down as the shopper faces the harsh economic reality that they have to pay for it and the realization that it probably cost more than they were expecting.  Add to this 'pain point' the checkout clerk, who in many cases is the most junior staffer or newest hire, and you have the potential for a really lousy last impression.  Putting a button on a checkout clerk saying 'How can I help you' or 'Customer First' does not make them an attuned salesperson or CS representative.

Indeed, most retailers now offer self checkout in an attempt to speed up the process and minimize the pain associated with waiting and dealing with a clerk.  And on most occasions where I've used said scanners and bag carousels, I've found the process equally time consuming and invariably requiring the assistance of the one person whose job is to oversee all of the self checkouts.  Apple are going further, testing self-checkout via mobile apps in selected stores as well as pre-ordering capability, to minimize wait times and free up staff.

Yet minimizing the exposure to the checkout clerk is not the answer, particularly in busy grocery stores where the shopper objective is to get people to fill their carts and self-checkout isn't practical.  Imbuing the clerk in the ethos of the retail brand and the practice of exceptional customer service is more than answering a few questions on the application form or reading the new hire handout.  Most clerks can recite fruit and veg codes, but not the vision for the retailer brand nor the values which they all supposedly share.  Few clerks ever receive formal training on handling customers effectively, efficiently, and positively.  Scenario training, role play, gaming - all are techniques which could educate and enlighten the checkout staff.  Investing in staff, particularly when they're often the lowest paid, is likely to pay greater dividends in terms of not just brand perceptions and that last impression of the customer but in terms of staff retention.  With staff turnover at retail typically 20-25% per year, any reduction in the implicit cost of getting new people has got to make economic sense.

The challenge for retail marketers is simple:  how can you make the last impression, as good as the first.  Dishearteningly, few have been up to the challenge so far.

Feb 22, 2012

No strings attached

We're moving Wild Onion Marketing into a new direction:  shopper marketing.  This plays more to our heartland of retail marketing, sales promotion, data, mobile technology, and merchandising.  More on that later, but thought we'd start to move the blog more in the direction of issues and trends within the shopper marketing arena.  First stop, invariably:  retailers.

A friend who used to work with me previously served as Lord Sainsbury’s PA in the UK.  Sainsbury, CEO of the huge multiple grocer bearing his name, used to regularly travel the country visiting outlets on the company jet or via limo.  Of course, when Lord Sainsbury was arriving, stores were swept clean, shelves stocked immaculately, staff uniforms pressed.  Like a good regiment, the staff would be lined up, ready for an enthusiastic greeting of their founder and CEO/Chairman.

Lord Sainsbury would arrive, and promptly have the regional and store management show him around.  All would be pleasantries until … the butcher’s counter.  Suddenly, Lord Sainsbury would stop, point down at the floor, and ask ‘what’s that’.  Staff would stare at the floor, seeing nothing amiss.  Managers would sweat, butchers twitch, as Sainsbury would repeat his enquiry to utter silence.  'What's that', he'd repeat.

Soon, a tirade would erupt, as the infamous Sainsbury temper would ensure all within earshot knew that the famous owner had visited.  And invariably regret the day they were born.  The cause?  A loose piece of butcher's string, swept under the counter but not out of sight.  To Lord Sainsbury, it was not a piece of twine, but a symbol of waste, slovenly management, lackadaisical attitudes.

Striding out of the store, Sainsbury used to explain to my colleague that these store staff would likely see him only once or twice during their employment (which with retail turnover at 25% is probably true).  He wanted to ensure they remembered a message from his visit.

Now maybe your CEO is not quite as temperamental as Sainsbury, or slightly draconian in his employee relations.  But the point is this:  waste can happen throughout a store, especially in the area of shopper marketing.  Poorly executed programs, complex operational instructions, lack of attention to detail in design or development of whatever the campaign may entail:  all are common issues.  

The goal for any retail marketer, especially in the competitive environment most retailers or e-commerce providers face, is to ensure your customers have the best environment in which to buy.  In essence, help the 'buyer buy', not simply the 'seller sell'.  Extend that attention to detail to how you promote, merchandise, service, stock, deliver.  

Make no bones about it, it's hard - many moving parts, difficult to control staff, and paramount need for speed of execution.  But remember the string - and avoid getting strung up in the process!!