Ten RuIes of RadicaI Marketing

1. The CEO must own the marketing function Radical marketing requires
that the top individual in the organization be intimately involved in the
marketing function, and in fact, drive the marketing approach of the
organization. This ensures that everyone in the organization has a strong
focus on the interaction with the market, because the CEO demands and
expects it.

2. Make sure the marketing department starts small and flat and stays
small and flat The key point here is that the marketing function must not get
so large that it starts to become bloated with bureaucracy and protocol, but
rather is small and flexible enough to respond to new trends to stay in
touch with the market, and to try out 'outrageous' new approaches.

3. Get out of the office and face-to-face with the people that matter most
the customers Hardly a radical idea, but surely a sensible one.

4. Use market research cautiously Related, this point relates to the
propensity for CEOs to 'go with their gut' on key marketing decisions, rather
than relying upon focus groups or in-depth market surveys. Because of
their close connection to their customers, such marketing decisions often
turn out to be right.

5. Hire only passionate missionaries Radical companies hire what the
authors call 'passionate missionaries' for senior positions. These are
individuals who believe in the product and the customer base as strongly
as does the CEO.

6. Love and respect your customers Unlike 'mainstream' companies, senior
people in radical marketing companies do not see their customers only as
target market segments, defined by demographic or psychographic
characteristics. Rather, they think of their customers as being like
themselves, passionate and proud to be associated with the product. n this
sense, the authors describe the senior managements of 'radical' companies
as 'loving and respecting' their customers.

7. Create a community of customers One very striking aspect of certain of
the radical marketing companies discussed in the book is their ability to
create an extremely dedicated and loyal community of customers, who will
even go to the extent of having their bodies tattooed with the brand they
identify with (e.g. Harley-Davidson, the Grateful Dead).

8. Rethink the marketing mix "Radical marketers market continuously and
devote huge amounts of money, effort and time to communicating with their
customers. However, they seldom have huge advertising budgets. n fact,
some, like Providian, don't even have marketing budgets, reasoning that
such budgets act as "entitlements" and encourage spending when none is
needed or, conversely, as ceilings, discouraging marketers from spending
more when they see an opportunity... When radical marketers use
advertising, they tend to do so in short, sharp bursts, what we have called
"surgical strike advertising".... Radical marketers tend to use more one-to-
one or targeted communications tools, ranging from direct mail to Web
pages to local advertising to sponsoring neighborhood basketball
tournaments.

9. Celebrate uncommon sense Radical marketers break the rules. For
example, rather than try to maximize distribution of product to place as
much as possible in the market, they may tend to limit availability to create
pent-up demand, and thus foster loyalty and commitment among their
distributors.

10. Be true to the brand "Radical marketers are obsessive about brand
integrity, and they are fixated on quality."