Robert Bloom On Helping Companies, Well, Bloom
Advertising guru/marketing consultant Robert H. (”Call me Bob”) Bloom was greeted enthusiastically when he spoke at a Greater Dallas Chamber lunch today, with young hipster types embracing him like a rock god. Then again, he had some pretty smart things to say about growing your business. You’ll find them after the jump.
Bloom, whose Dallas ad agency helped boost companies like Southwest Airlines and Zales Jewelers back in the day, ticked off six “growth realities” and urged those in the Chamber audience to heed them. Among them:
You either grow your company, or you die. Do what you do best–better than anyone else (see Southwest). Securing the right customer can unlock your hidden potential (see Curves, the women’s fitness chain). The surest way to grow is from the inside, capitalizing on your company’s strengths. Complacency/procrastination can be fatal.
One master of the growth game who knew his customer and his company’s strengths, Bloom said, was the late Stanley Marcus. Presenting Mr. Stanley with a Neiman’s ad for approval once, Bloom recalled, he was asked by the retailing genius to delete the store’s address from the copy. “When you’re Neiman Marcus,” Marcus explained, “you don’t need an address.”
Bloom’s Chamber talk was tied to the release of a new book he’s co-authored titled The Inside Advantage. He’s scheduled to sign copies at the Preston/Royal Borders tonight at 8 and to address a breakfast meeting at SMU’s Temerlin Advertising Institute/Cox School of Business tomorrow morning at 8:30.
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