And so it would go, that after Energy, the enterprising marketer would look to have some excitement from her marketing. The next rung, or step on the acronym implies a relationship to the Energy put into a program or marketing initiative. Hopefully this is a reasonably creative effort, so something new or innovative is going on. Otherwise it's tough to find any Excitement, "Hey, we're doing some advertising today!" ???
Well maybe not. Let's try something else. An enewsletter? A Blog?
Okay, perhaps we're getting little bit warmer, a bit more exciting with this. We think there's also a sequence here, an emotional connection, or cause and effect, or formula: "If we put in a bit more Energy into this marketing (which can be quite broadly defined to include the product development stuff), and we do it in the right way so our investment of Energy pays off with a good idea, or a special insight into something our customers will value, we'll see this right away in a quality or tangible product feature that's differentiated in its benefits. It will be exciting to see this or discover it."
Then the marketer can go off and really celebrate this discovery. Feel some excitement.
Of course, it could also just be a really good marketing idea. Either way, the Energy is an investment (did we say that this could also be the dollars we have put into it. Money is a latent form of Energy) that pays off in the Excitement generated by the idea.
Opportunity
Now we have the very next part of our sequencial acronym: 1. Energy, 2. Excitement, 3. Opportunity...
Well, let me come clean here. This is not that serious is it? I'm just having fun after all. Yet, thirty years of marketing before the mast (the creative side of marketing communications and advertising) provides me with a decent enough excuse or cover for having some fun. And, maybe it makes some sense as well.
I believe the first two emotional connections, the investment of Energy, and the Excitement one feels on making a discovery, means very little if there's no Opportunity to match it or moment to be seized. There has to be some connection to a market of people who trade, buy or sell. If not, the Excitement dies down in a big hurry.
You have seen this. So have I. You present your idea to the prospect, client or partner and they say, "Yeah, but...." You feel the exciting atmosphere of the moment drain away in seconds. An Art Director stated this well (I can't recall the citation, please let me know if you recognize this one), after a particularly brutal meeting when his ideas were shot down: "Lions three Christians zero!"
Opportunity is a nautical phrase, "opposite the port," O Puerto, etc. You can imagine the chance of making the port to the leeward side with a fresh wind, a captain who calls it too late and you're suddenly past the point where you can sail into the harbor. Wait, there's a storm coming, oh shit!
I think that's the relationship to the Opportunity in businss and marketing. We've all had ideas. Some of them very good ideas. Yet without the capital (either money or human resources) the Energy isn't there, the excitement of waking up one night saying, "hey, this just might happen" doesnt' gel. No one is really getting it. the Excitement doesnt' spread.
How many ideas are like this? A passing fancy that one person thinks is great, but won't go anywhere. No real energy is generated. No excitement spreads.
Just one hand clapping.
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