If a big business struggles because it lacks marketing savvy, instead of fixing the problem, it will rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. For instance, Pier 1 Imports’ new management just canned the company’s top marketing exec. I’d have fired him for wasting the company’s money on stupid ad campaigns starring a washed up Scientologist actress and an interior design expert whose greatest claim to fame was cashing in on his sexual orientation by appearing in a ‘reality’ show.

Let’s see, when you’re shopping for home furnishings, what’s the first thing you look for? The recommendation of a cult member or some guy who runs around telling everyone that he’s gay? Who cares?

What will Pier 1 do?

My guess is that they’ll hire a clone of what they just fired and come up with another dumb round of commercials starring Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, or some other twit that doesn’t fit the target demographic of their customers.

What should the company do?

1. Get rid of the title “Executive Vice President of Marketing.” Replace it with “Chief Direct Marketer.”

2. Hire someone who actually knows direct marketing. The interviewee should know by heart the fundamental marketing and branding concepts of Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy.

3. No one who doesn’t understand Ben Mack’s book, Think Two Products Ahead, should even be interviewed for the job. Ditto for some hack who has blown money to win creative awards instead of making a profit for his former employers.

4. Base compensation exclusively on tracked and confirmed improvement to Pier 1’s bottom line. No stock options or exec perqs simply for leaving one big company to come on board and mismanage Pier 1.

Successful Internet and offline entrepreneurs understand these concepts. Unfortunately, large companies become filled with drones who forget that the purpose of their business is to make money.

Don’t think I’m picking on Pier 1. It is just a good example of what’s wrong with marketing in big corporations.

About the Author

With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 14 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young shows entrepreneurs how to protect and grow their businesses online. He's the author of Internet Marketing Legal Secrets Revealed. Not just a lawyer who focuses exclusively on Internet and marketing law, Mike’s been working with computers for more than 27 years (his first computer was an Atari 400 with 8 KiB RAM) and started representing Internet businesses back in 1996.