Discipline Of Direct

Kent’s track record of marketing success demonstrates his ability to have every graphic, every image, every word work as a team to communicate an actionable message. Like each creative endeavor, discipline in following the right formula is the key to consistency and predictability. Having created and tested creative messages for companies across the country, Kent shares the proven formulas for creating and delivering marketing messages that influence customers stop by, drop in, return this card, call now, vote, click, visit, download, remember, act now, come by, feel understand, share, link, like, join, change and yes, even repent.

Discipline VS Creativity

Whether in his day to day profession or from the stage, Kent exemplifies disciplined creativity. “It’s not discipline vs creativity, it’s discipline VS creativity and the VS stands for ‘Very Strict.’ Though this sounds a bit incongruous. Kent teaches and lives the “formulas” that consistently and predictably deliver results. Whether it’s in leadership or marketing communication or corporate consulting, there are formulas that strictly direct creative influence. Those formulas can be taught, learned and followed by almost anyone.

The formula for consistent and predictable results in advertising/marketing communications is found in “Discipline of Direct.”

The discipline starts like this:

“Get the right message understood by the right people and action follows.”

It is no more complex than that. When we face any communication challenge we simply ask “Who needs to know what, to motivate them to do what you want them to do?”

Once you answer that question, it is all about developing and delivering that knowledge into the head and heart of your prospect.

In “Discipline of Direct” Kent takes over 35 years of direct marketing experience having mailed hundreds of millions of pieces and generated millions of responses, each of which were tracked and creatively imparts the essential formulas that have led to predictable results.

The formulas are simple, the discipline to follow them is sometimes the challenge. In “Discipline of Direct” even the un-disciplined learn how to “follow the recipes of successful marketing and advertising. There is a science and an art to creating the successful advertisements. Audiences can learn both.

Whether its for online media, traditional broadcast or print media the formulas remain the same because human behavior is still human behavior. Strategies and tactics change and will continue to do so forever, but the need to understand how to craft and deliver a message that changes minds and hearts is the key to any communication effort.

The sweetness of discipline.

Launched in the late 1970’s Mrs. Fields Cookies grew from a popular home-made style cookie sold in Palo Alto, California into an international text-book success story.

Having re-located to Park City, Utah in the 80’s Mrs. Fields Cookies experienced several years of mixed marketing results utilizing a variety of different advertising agencies both large and small. In what seemed a bizarre choice, during one of their searches for a more effective agency, our direct marketing agency was chosen to serve as the new Mrs. Fields Cookies agency.

Mrs. Fields Cookies is a giant retail operation – not a direct marketing company. We should not have even been on the list for consideration. Though our company was considered, and rightly so, one of the premier direct marketing agencies, we were not a traditional mass media “image” agency.

In one of our client meetings I asked the director of marketing why us. “Why did a world famous cookie manufacturer with retail stores all over the world pick a direct marketing company when clearly Mrs. Fields was never going to utilize our direct marketing skills, particularly our skills in direct mail?”

The answer is what framed our identity and has defined us for the past 20 years.

She responded without a hesitation. “We knew you guys had discipline. Your whole existence revolves around results. Every member of your team knows that every word, every image, every design element has to contribute to influencing the audience to action. There is no way we can measure how the signs in our stores or the counter displays sell cookies like you guys measure your direct mail response. But we know you’re trained to always focuse on response, so we stand a better chance that the recommendations you make are based on how best you can influence our audience, not just impress other advertisers.” Then she concluded, “Now, prove us right!”

And we did. We created campaign after campaign for years. Our fresh, disciplined approach to what was typically “image” advertising lasted longer than the Mrs. Fields marketing team did. We served Mrs. Fields Cookies marketing needs and their other entities’ needs (TCBY, Pretzelmaker, Great American Cookies and Original Cookie Company) for several marketing teams over the years.

Packaging that definition of our discipline into a few short words, we call it “The Discipline of Direct.” The discipline to insure that every element of a communication is purposefully crafted to inspire, entertain, educate and ultimately influence the reader, viewer, listener or participant to a desired action.