May 13, 2009 | Marketing
I should comment about the Federal budget handed down on Tuesday night, it is expected, so here goes, on behalf of the small businesses I work with.
The bank is still chasing to reduce the overdraft.
Sales are still hard to get, and getting harder, and margins are being squeezed.
Creditors want their money quicker, and debtors are stretching, cash is very tight, refer to No. 1.
So what if I can get a better tax deal on capital investment decisions I make, I still need the cash to be able to make the purchase. Refer to No.1.
I also need cash to be able to meet the payroll and associated oibligations, including filling in all the b…… forms, from all the “shiny-pants” around the place who deliver me “services” of varying quality and availability. Refer to No.1.
My employees are getting pretty twitchy, and confused. Twitchy with me, because they see that things are tough, and they are concerned, for themselves, and me, and confused because it is the toughest budget in 50 years, but they just got $900 in their bank account, and the are unsure about how it is tough, so they are looking for the time-bombs.
Lets just survive this month, work on next month, then maybe we can worry about the spin if we are still here, not down the CES. As for the long term structural adjustment, etc,etc that was sprouted on Tuesday, it is undoubtably necessary, assuming there is someone left to pay the taxes, but someone should do some restructuring now, it is needed, and I think I know where to start.
Another day, another 1/2 dollar.
May 12, 2009 | Management, Marketing
Category Management is an FMCG term being bandied around so much that is coming to mean nothing in particular, because it is so widely used.
In its genesis, it was an expression used to describe the manner in which retailers managed their limited shelf space and range in such a manner to maximise sales and margins while best meeting their particular customers needs.
However, it has since evolved into another tool in the retailer arsenal to extract “rent” for shelf space from manufacturers, which often has little to do with meeting customers needs. This focus has left suppliers, particularly those to FMCG retailers, building a management and marketing infrastructure that focuses on the demands of the retailers, often to the detriment of their consumers. The rise of housebrands is evidence of the abrogation of FMCG suppliers around the world from the task of innovating to engage consumers, and putting resources into paying retail rent.
In many countries the power of the mass retailers is daunting, but they should not absolutely dictate, after all they are essentially sales orgainsations, not marketing ones, they rely on their suppliers for the bulk of their marketing, and have little interest in developing market and consumer behavioral intelligence .
Focus first on what your consumers need, both today and as their needs evolve, and the rest will follow.
May 11, 2009 | Marketing
Tom Fishburne nails it with this cartoon satirising the target market conversations that occur with monotinous regularity in many marketing/advertising offices. Many just do not get it, that to be “remarkable” to use Seth Godins term, is crucial to attracting an audience that may relate to the offering.
The days of mass marketing are over, now we need to look for the market of one and figure out how to service it. Interesting to hear yesterday on the radio a conversation about the business model of newspapers, (do they read my blogg?) and the pleading for US governmenmt assistance. President Obama indicated that the US required a vibrant, competitive, and diverse news sector, leaving the listeners to think he may subsidise the papers to survive, as he has the auto industry.
What are the newspapers doing that is remarkable, that is attracting the consumer, and therefore offering the advertiser a point of contact? Little that is remarkable!
Somebody should show the president the cartoon.
May 11, 2009 | Marketing, Operations
Feature creep, along with its big brother, range extension, have been mainstays of marketing activity for 50 years.
Marketers should now start thinking about, and asking consumers about the relative value of new features or variants. Ask them what they must have, and what they would like to have, and do some analysis of the purchase intention at different price points, with differing options.
Consumers will make tougher choices in tougher times, are they really prepared to pay the extra for the cosmetic frill, or would they take a less “optioned up” option at a cheaper price.
Marketers should also be asking their operations people and bean counters about the real cost of adding the “frills” and reflect the savings in the price to consumers were the frills removed. In most cases, the savings are far greater than the purchase cost of the added frill, as manufacturing cycle time, labor, inventory, and freight costs, amongst many others, are all reduced, delivering savings that are often hard to see if you are just using the P&L to monitor performance.
May 8, 2009 | Marketing, Uncategorized
In a recent blog I mused about the business model of the newspaper industry, wondering if it could survive , given the inroads of the web. It is also reasonable to ask if the e-paper can survive without the paper version.
How hard wired is the behavior that leads to people relating to the paper version, and is there a mid point like Amazons Kindle?
The brands that the e-papers are seeking to leverage are all the result of the old version, none have so far made anything of a dent in the task of building a newspaper brand in cyberspace.
I think this tells us something about the manner in which humans like to relate to brands, preferable if they are physical in some way, the impact of a tactile experience with a product imprints the brand better than an “e-experience” alone
Apr 30, 2009 | Marketing
Archimedes theorised that “With a long enough lever, you could move the world”
It appears that the web is such a lever, as the world has changed as a result of the leverage applied by the development of the web.
The internet bubble may have burst in the nineties, but the wild predictions made at the time are by and large coming to fruition, just a decade later, largely by different businesses, and with a clearer path to commercial sustainability, using the “old economy” disciplines of finding a way to solve a customers problem, or reduce his costs, whilst proactively managing your own assets, as the way to profitability.
