In just 17 minutes, 100,000 radio listeners across the nation heard CEO Lonny Kocina receive high praise for his best-selling book, The CEO’s Guide to Marketing, heard our website mentioned three times and got to know some of our agency’s back story. That’s how impactful a single media story can be!
Lonny appeared on the KFXR radio show, CEO Money, to talk about his award-winning book. Host Michael Yorba – an experienced CEO and Chairman of the Board – was very enthusiastic, telling Lonny: “The way you’ve laid this out is just brilliant. It’s simple. It’s easy to follow. Yet it’s practical.” Their conversation was so engaging that Yorba asked Lonny to return for a second interview. The interview was also posted to the CEO Money website, further extending the reach and longevity of this publicity.
Seventeen minutes is a long time. During this interview, business professionals learned why Lonny wrote the book (“I wanted to write what I felt was a really practical book for marketers”), and some of the problems it helps solve (“I’ve seen so many marketers who really don’t know much about marketing.”)
Lonny explained that the SAM 6® process outlined in “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” is intended to simplify the marketing process. “(Marketing is) too important to be trusted to people who don’t have a good understanding,” Lonny said. “It needs to be run by a process.”
He then walked Yorba through the first four steps of SAM 6. Yorba was thrilled that the first step involves gaining competence in marketing concepts and principles. “Usually people start with the creative and then reverse engineer,” he commented, immediately catching on to the value of using SAM 6.
“You’ve got to give people clear direction,” Lonny confirmed. “Creative people are not process people. Steps one through five (of SAM 6) outline the process and step six connects the creative people.”
It was gratifying to hear Yorba, a very experienced business professional, become so enthusiastic about what Lonny was saying. By the time they started discussing step four, the Schedule Calendar, Yorba was obviously hooked. He commented, “Here’s how you spend the money and where you spend the money. Most people … when they come to this part of their business … it’s chaos. You’ve made it orderly and mapped out.”
Toward the end of the interview, Lonny commented that marketing will probably get more complex. “I long for the days when you used direct mail, ran a few ads and put somebody on the phone. It was so simple and straightforward.”
While today’s marketing channels are radically different, he confirmed that one thing doesn’t change: “Every company out there is trying to make their product famous.”
We’ve heard from many business leaders who, after reading “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing,” want us to help make their products famous. This has inspired us to create an affordable marketing package, rooted in our Strategically Aimed Marketing process (SAM 6®), to enable even more businesses to try our services. They’re called Newsies. If you’re intrigued and want to learn more, complete the form on the Newsies site or call Tom at 952-697-7215.
