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.