This was a great show today. Two guests who are both speaking at the upcoming brand manage camp in Chicago this September were with me. Joining me first was best selling author Kevin Clancy. He’s written Counterintuitive Marketing and Your Gut is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head. He’s the chairman of Copernicus marketing.

I asked Kevin to talk about something marketers should all know about, but unfortunately we practice little of…that is proper segmentation and targeting of our markets. According to Kevin, only two out of ten U.S. companies grow organically by more than 2 or 3 percent per year. The rest are holding their own or actually declining. (That other 80%, he says, may grow through mergers and acquisitions, but within three years they're unhappy with their growth strategy and results.) He says a major reason behind the frustratingly anemic growth numbers is that marketing strategies, programs, and budget dollars are very often not directed to the buyers who will return the highest return on investment. Thus we need better targeting -- a profit-directed approach.

My second guest was best selling author Barry Schwartz. He’s written Paradox of Choice: Why more is Less. I wanted Barry on the show because many marketers argue that giving our customers lots of choices is the way to gain market share and grow a company. However, Barry has found evidence that there is a point at which too many options impede action rather than generate it. In fact, he noted that too many choices can hurt our brands even if a consumer makes a good choice -- they still feel as if they missed out on something important. Barry not only brought some excellent research to the conversation, I really liked his style. This guy is wicked smart and has a sense of humor to boot!

Both authors are going to be at the upcoming brandmange camp in Chicago on September 25-26. I wish I was going to learn more from these folks...but schedule conflicts arise. You, however, should get your butt to this camp because after listenting to today's program, you'll see we all still have a lot to learn.

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It's always nice to have an expert on the show -- and it's doubly nice when they come back for another program. With me was Debra Semans, senior vice president for Polaris Marketing Research. Our topic was how to align your organization's systems to deliver on its brand promise -- with a particular focus on employees.

We know that branding goes beyond the traditional marketing activities of advertising, logos and corporate identity. But it happens time and again – a well-crafted brand is done in by employees who just don’t deliver. So, how can you align your organizations execution capability with your brand? Do you have a clear understanding of how to make sure your organization’s actions to deliver your Brand Promise?

One of my favorite take aways from this show was Debra's idea of a brand plan for internally communicating the company's brand. This plan, which articulates the organization's and employee's behaviors (will do/won't do), and how things will get measured, is the keystone to ensuring a systematic approach to living your company's brand. As an example, Debra mentioned how Microsoft builds into their employee reviews criteria for measuring how engaged the employee has been in company and department activities (fun as well as brand-related).

Part of your brand plan is getting each department talking about how they interact and can influence the brand. Yes marketers, even finance influences the brand -- so get them talking about it and identify ways that they will be contributors. Then, everyone is accountable (pun intended!) Lastly, Debra exhorts us to not forget the heritage aspect of our brands -- the emotional side, and how important it can be in the daily lives of employees.

Overall, be intentional. Be specific. And be prepared to look not only at the visual elements of your brand, but at the systems and operational aspects as well if you want to really deliver on your promise.

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There’s two sides to every coin and one of the benefits of online surveys is that they can often be less expensive and faster to do. But according to my guest this week, the draw back is that up to 45% of your responses may be fraudulent. The issue of online survey credibility is a big one, but one that can be easily addressed.

A regular guest to the program, Wally Balden, joined me today to talk about online surveys and ways to either trap fraudulent or inattentive responses, or weed out the data on the back end. Wally is Director of Internet Research for Maritz Research where he is responsible for the development of online research tools and applications.

Some of those steps include employing traps at the intake questionnaire. My favorite was asking opinions about a product or service that never existed and then when someone provides their feedback on it, you know you have a ringer. Other options were including oppositely worded questions, or specific instructions within the question to only do part of it.

Great show and Wally is as smart as they come.

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