An Eye on Zion & Zion

How do you differentiate a marketing agency? Value, performance, customer relations? Aric Zion says yes to all three. As founder and CEO of Zion & Zion Consulting Group, Aric brings a rare and, to be frank, bizarre combination of talents to the table. Both an engineer and a marketer at heart, this marketing professional has broad experience. He is as comfortable dealing with the basics of helping local businesses such as Goettl, Slide-Lok, and the Arizona Science Center as he he is with advising ASU graduate students on the intricacies of Factor Analysis and RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation). Aric manages to run a full service agency with his partner, Dugue, and teaches marketing once or twice a year at the university.

There is a saying that 'success leaves clues.' During lunch at the Cafe Istanbul recently, I had the opportunity to quiz Aric on his clues to building a successful, respected marketing agency. It soon became apparent that the keys to his success included hard work and caring for the customer. Yet with each example of successful programs, the 'clue' emerged. Aric's approach is to find the best solution to a marketing challenge, then ask the question, "Ok, is this solution different from what any other good marketer could come up with?" Very often that answer is no. That is when Aric applies his team's energies to refining and enhancing the solutions to bring really great results.

Aric says that now his team asks themselves this question before presenting work for him to review, producing unique and successful solutions to a broad range of marketing situations.

Professionals in Marketing and many other fields struggle to differentiate themselves. This one clue from Aric Zion can help us all reach a new level in our professions and leave 'the pack' behind.