These truths are self evident
9 Inch Axiom – Problem Solving
‘Sometimes the best solution is the most obvious and the one that is based on basic truths’
An axiom is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated, but is considered to be self evident. Its truth is obvious and taken for granted. Axioms serve as a starting point for deducing and inferring other truths.
9 INCH AXIOMS are the premises that my blog posts are based on. As this is bakers dozen post #13 on 9 INCH MARKETING, I thought it might make sense to look at the first dozen axioms. Feel free to click on the axiom to check out the post:
1. THE JOURNEY |‘The brain is only the starting point . . . engage and win the battle for the heart’ (My first post and the primer for the blog)
2. LAGNIAPPE | ‘a little something extra for the customer should be the rule and not the exception’ (A great way to build customer loyalty)
3. MULTISENSORY MARKETING |‘The more senses you engage, the closer you get to the heart’ (5 tool / sense marketing)
4. RESOLUTIONS | ‘Your odds of achieving a resolution is directly proportionate to the amount of people you share it with’ (Tips on making a New Year resolution stick)
| ‘To be meaningfully relevant, you need to hit the right person in the right place at the right time’ (Right3 – a litmus test for any marketing solution)
6. THE BRAIN AND THE HEART | ‘IF you can appeal to logic and emotion and treat them equally the same’ (My attempt at a viral video to officially launch the blog)
7.V4 PRINCIPLE | ‘Word of mouth is one of the oldest and most effective forms of promotion’ (WOM and its exponential power)
8. IMPRESSIONS | ‘All impressions are NOT created equal’ (Thoughts on the Ripple Effect)
9. FEEDBACK | ‘Don’t ask for feedback unless you are willing to act upon it with an eye towards continuous improvement’ (Take #2 on my viral video ‘IF’)
10. TACTILE DESIGN | ‘Many times the feel of a product can be more important than the look’ (A look at the power of touch and a spotlight on Tropicana’s new packaging)
11. TOUCH | ‘The sense of touch is our oldest, most primitive and pervasive sense. When you feel it, you believe it’ (More on touching and feeling, plus a look an interesting mobile marketing tour by Kleenex)
12. AIDA | ‘In order to solicit action . . . you must first generate awareness, stimulate interest and cultivate desire’ (An attempt at plotting out the journey from the brain to the heart. Warning – this post is graphic)
Today’s Lagniappe – I was reading a great post on the blog EYECUBE that recommended a book from 1916 called OBVIOUS ADAMS. 
The short book can be downloaded for free online via PDF and is only about a 20 minute read. Here is a great article on the book from Jack Trout which will provide a solid overview. Trout is the godfather of positioning and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost marketing strategists.
Here is an excerpt from the article that discusses the ”Five Tests of Obviousness”:
–The problem when solved will be simple. The obvious is nearly always simple–so simple that sometimes a whole generation of men and women have looked at it without even seeing it.
–Does it check with human nature? If you feel comfortable in explaining your idea or plan to your mother, wife, relative, neighbors, your barber and anyone else you know, it’s obvious. If you don’t feel comfortable, it probably is not obvious.
–Put it on paper. Write out your idea, plan or project in words of one or two syllables, as though you were explaining it to a child. If you can’t do this in two or three short paragraphs and the explanation becomes long, involved or ingenious–then very likely it is not obvious.
–Does it explode in people’s minds? If, when you have presented your plan, project or program, do people say, “Now why didn’t we think of that before?” You can feel encouraged. Obvious ideas are very apt to produce this “explosive” mental reaction.
–Is the time ripe? Many ideas and plans are obvious in themselves, but just as obviously “out of time.” Checking time lines is often just as important as checking the idea or plan itself.
When Jack Trout tells you that OBVIOUS ADAMS is the best book on marketing he’s ever read you pay attention. He says those five principles are worth a thousand books on marketing, his included.
The goal of marketing is to capture the mind and ultimately conquer the heart of your target audience.
The aim of 9 INCH MARKETING is to examine that journey. We'll explore 'how to' bridge the gap between traditional and social media by taking a sensory approach to integrated marketing.
Here is the background on Jack Trout and his books:
With Al Ries he co-authored the industry classic, Positioning:
The Battle for Your Mind, which was published in 1980. In 1985 he and Al Ries wrote a second best-selling book entitled Marketing Warfare. Positioning and Marketing Warfare are now published in 14 languages. In 1988 Bottom-Up-Marketing was published. In 1993 their book, The 22 Immutable Laws
of Marketing became the marketing bible. It outlined the basic reasons why marketing programs succeed or fail in the competitive nineties. Jack Trout closed the circle with the sequel to Positioning in 1995. Entitled The New Positioning it takes the world’s No. 1 business strategy to a new level. It became a Business Week best seller and has already been translated into 16 languages. This was followed by The Power of Simplicity – A Management Guide To Cutting Through the Nonsense And Doing Things Right. Then it was Differentiate or Die – Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition which presented the keys to survival in a killer global economy. This has also become a best seller.
His latest books are entitled Big Brands Big Trouble and The Genie’s Wisdom. They explain why the marketing process is so important for senior management to learn and practice.