PPM: Parts Per Million Marketing.

The world is like one big swimming pool. It's full of 'water' in whatever market you are trying to reach. Adding your message is like adding chlorine to the water. Even after a big shock, you have to keep adding more or you lose the powerful concentration needed for results.

Childhood summers. My summers were not spent at the pool. That is not where I learned this. No, as a boy, my summers were spent in the peach packing house. All the clanging, banging moving parts. The psssst, whooosh of the box filler and me placing yet another empty box to be filled with peaches that were so hard, we farmers knew only "city people" would eat them.

But I digress. It was when I learned to mix the chlorine and take the chemical readings (the concentration of chlorine) in the hydrocooler that I finally got a break from putting boxes on the filler. The hydrocooler was basically a big pool of water that was chilled freezing cold and chlorinated.  Sun-warmed peaches from the fields was placed in the hydrocooler in bins and the cold water was pumped over the bins dropping the fruit's internal temperature to increase shelf life. The chlorine in the water cleaned and disinfected the fruit to eliminate brown rot, again to increase shelf life.

"Chemical Mixer" was a big promotion (unless you breathed the chlorine by accident while scooping.) It was as "Chemical Mixer" that I learned about Parts Per Million (PPM). At the beginning of the season, we had to dump buckets of chlorine into the water to get even a small reaction of increased chlorine levels. Once we finally got the chlorine reading where it needed to be, we'd only have to add a little more after processing X number of bins of fruit tomaintain that level of disinfection.

Shock value. Blasting the pool from ZERO PPM took a lot of chlorine product and a lot of effort. Sound familiar? If you're launching a new business or product or service or church or campaign or even trying to correct some staffing issues that have been neglected for a long time, you are going to need some "shock value."

PR is shock value. Advertising blitz is shock value. Incredible service is shock value. Sitting down with someone and having that honest conversation you've been avoiding and they know you've been avoiding is shock value. Going to a trade show or convention is shock value - you study for 3-6 DAYS on just one topic! Hugh's visit to your farm is shock value - we spend ALL DAY talking about the project.

Shock value is great! It gets things moving. It kicks your a**! You get fired-up again, but then it slowly dissipates as life, routine, habit, busyness creep in and you start to lose your "concentration"; you start to dilute your PPM. Think about marketing. If you get one big news story in your local paper, you love the shock value of that free press. The PPM in your market are for your marketing message is through the roof! Over time, however, the value of the story decreases, people forget, the message is diluted by all the other messages and business slows. You find yourself back at square one. That is why you specifically cannot rely on "one big story" to drive business for you all season.

Maintenance. To keep up your "concentration", your PPM, you need maintenance. You need an ongoing marketing campaign. You need to keep eating right after your yoga-vegan retreat. You need to add chlorine to your pool after "shocking" it. You need to keep making sales calls. At Maize Quest, we have our big Maze Master Summit. A full day of sessions focused on getting our operators the knowledge and motivation they need to be successful, but we can't stop there. We have monthly online classes, ongoing support, unlimited email and phone support, bi-weekly emails all for maintenance; for maintenance of that fired-up, can-do spirit. One big day won't last all year.

In advertising, shock is nice, but maintenance is key. You have to be there every week. You have to own the media outlet. You have to be consistent more than you have to be "shocking."

Think about your staff training. It's not the big hiring and training event that kills you, it's the short half-life of the employees' knowledge. You have to have a continuous training system in place. They can't possibly "get it" in one helping and you absolutely can't expect them to. What is your maintenance program for your staff training? Are they losing "concentration"? Diluting the PPM you "shocked" them with when you hired them?

As marketers we often live for the "shock value" of a big story, a huge product launch, a grand opening, a full-day seminar, but the real victory is won in the maintenance department. As you plan your marketing, keep in mind that if opening day is your biggest day - you've failed. Real, sustainable business is built consistently over time by delivering your best day in and day out. That may not be sexy, but it's profitable.

Be consistent. Consistency in applying chlorine was the only way to keep those peaches clean. Consistency is the only way to keep your marketing going, your weight loss on track, your employees in line, and your clients motivated. Sure, it takes a little "shock" to get things started to boost the PPM, but if you never lose your "concentration" you only ever have to add a little bit more at any one time.

Have a great week.
-Hugh