Apr 2, 2013 | Branding, Communication, Customers, Marketing, Social Media
Are these two separate ideas, or just opposite ends of the same stick?
In a world increasingly driven by data, and as someone who has been known to rant about the necessity of measuring marketing efforts in order to build a better ROI on marketing investments, where does emotion fit in?
Data is a bit like the framework of a house, you can see where the bedrooms and bathrooms are, how big they are, are there any windows, and so on, but that is a sterile, emotionless representation of the home that framework can become. Add some colour, furnishings, a kids teddy on the floor, and the framework becomes a home. It is these additions, the accoutrements of life these added things that all have their own stories that adds the emotion to the framework of the house.
We are rushing headlong into a world run by data, but it would be a mistake to let the pendulum go too far, and overwhelm the emotion, as we live and remember with stories, and memories, data is just the means we use to make them more accessible.
As you contemplate the analytics on your web site, and the data in your CRM system, don’t forget that each data point represents a human story, experience, feeling, and some sort of emotion, and it will add great value when you are able to incorpoare that into he way the data set works.
Mar 27, 2013 | Branding, Customers, Marketing, Sales, Small business, Social Media
Things move on petty quickly.
It is just a few years ago that even ordinary websites had a reasonable chance of being noticed, and communicate something worthwhile. Not now, a site that just offers static information is as relevant as last weeks chip wrapper.
“Content” suddenly became the next big thing, useful information in graphic and video formats, links to other sites, and research reports to the wazoo, all offered in the interests of “engagement” of the reader. Still pretty useful, but the production of content has become so easy, that most of it around is just crap, and it takes effort to sort through it. Research comes from unknown, unqualified sources, video is largely of the result of a kid with a mobile, there is simply so much of it, that no longer does it easily fit the bill.
Social media of various types now fills the role of information, and engagement. Websites are rapidly becoming the business end of the sales process, and as such must be transactional, their relevance as purveyors of information, is rapidly eroding to that of relevance only in the sence of confirming terms of trade.
A website without a capacity to transact is like a fancy car without an engine, nice for enthusiasts to look at, but no good for getting the shopping.
Mar 25, 2013 | Communication, Customers, Marketing, retail, Small business, Social Media
One of the foundations of mass marketing was to be able to segment your market, geographically, demographically, behaviorally, brand preferences, and so on.
In the old days of mass media, it was really the only way to target messages at those most likely to be receptive, match the media selection to the characteristics of your target market.
But what has happened in the social world of networked consumers and crowd sourced comment and content?
An acquaintance runs a wonderful patisserie in a rejuvenated inner city location. It is pricey, but the value is there, reflected in the range, artistic presentation, great service, and above all, pastries to die for. However, some of the comments on the review sites would lead to a conclusion that the products were overpriced, too fancy, and lacked character.
Standing in the queue on a Saturday morning just before Christmas, observing others, and listening to the comments, the penny dropped. Those in the queue were older, clearly successful, were regulars, and loved the place, whereas the casual buyer, the ones far more likely to leave a comment on a review site were most probably Uni students, on their way between the train station and the campus just down the road. These buyers were more liklely to want a cheap, filling, snack rather than a tasty work of art.
The lesson: Do not believe all your read on social media review sites, any more than you believe all you read in a politicians press release.
Feb 22, 2013 | Collaboration, Customers, Marketing, Social Media
David Ogilvy, fount of Intellectual Capital and the orginal “Madman”
Business is based on relationships, and generally the relationship comes before the business. As a result, you have to find a way to identify those with whom a commercially sustainable relationship is possible, then offer them sufficient value for them to buy from you.
Broadly there are four common ways to go about this:
Meet them in person
Meet them over the phone
Beat them over the head with advertising (primarily a consumer strategy rather than B2B)
Meet them via some sort of social media.
However, a fifth option is emerging rapidly:
Engage them via some sort of attractive e-content, that encourages them to come to you. If you can actually figure out how to achieve this outcome, the return on your investment in content will be huge.
So, the real question is what do you need to do to make the content compelling. Pretty simple, basic marketing stuff, perhaps so simple that most just gloss over it, offering insufficient thought, so here goes with a list:
- Define who your ideal customer is, and “e-talk” to them, in their language, looking at your offering from their perspective, not yours.
- Make sure the content interesting, informative, offers distinctive Intellectual Capital that conveys your proposition clearly.
- Be clear about the value they will derive from a relationship
- Ensure the post, blog, whatever it is, can be easily shared, and encourage that sharing
- Have a call to action, the Rule number 1 of direct marketing!
- Relentlessly monitor responses, and experiment with the message and they way it is packaged.
When you are doing all that, you are being smart at blogging, or social media, does not matter what you call it, you are using the power of the digital age to engage, and create the opportunity for a sale.
Feb 6, 2013 | Customers, Marketing, Sales
Modern life gives us an array of opportunities to go somewhere, physically or digitally, and have presented to us a huge range of choice in any category of interest we may have.
There is a paradox here.
Concentration of anything, attracts those who may be interested in purchasing to the location, whilst creating the hurdle for those hoping to make a sale of differentiating their offer from everyone else in the concentration.
This morning I was waiting for a meeting in a café in a local shopping strip that is little more than a concentration of cafes, bistros, and dining of all sorts. I was struck by the breadth of choice, and the resulting challenge of differentiation for the operators.
The café I was in is one of about 7 or 8 within 150 meters, all selling good coffee, a range of simple, tasty menu items, but all pretty much the same to a casual visitor. I wonder what would happen if one of them started roasting their own coffee, creating that intoxicating smell, and the opportunity to tell a story about the beans, why the tastes varied, where they came from, and how the skills of the barista influenced the outcome. They may also make a bit of extra margin.
The provision of a cup of coffee is pretty commoditised, buying roasted beans from one of the roaster/distributors is a transaction where the individual café has little leverage in the price negotiation, but there appears to be plenty of margin in the roasting business. Seems pretty obvious to me.
Jan 3, 2013 | Customers, Management, Sales
Some informal research I completed recently amongst businesses in my “patch” turned up a surprising result.
One the questions I asked was “what is the most important job in your business?
The surprise was that so few respondents nominated “sales” at all, let alone in the top three.
When you think about it, without sales to pay for the apparently more important functions like, HR, Marketing, OH&S management, engineering, NPD&C, and all the rest that got a mention, all those more fashionable functions will not be around.
Has “Sales” become its own metaphor?
Sales is often an entry level role personified by the keen young bloke (or gal) with the brief-case, glib tongue, and “crash or crash through” attitude to human relations, and as a result is being left behind in the corporate furr-ball. Do well in sales, and you might be promoted to marketing.
Perhaps we should rename sales “Revenue Generation”. Call it what it is, focus more on those carring the direct responsability to conduct conversations with those who write the orders, and perhaps that might focus the mind a bit better?
