Jun 12, 2015 | Change, Customers, Marketing, Strategy
apologies to Scott Brinker, www.chiefmartec.com
Faced with so much choice of technology and platform options to reach and engage consumers, many marketers are paralysed. On the other hand, many are tempted to be all things to all people, simply because the tools are there to reach them, and they hope that they strike a hot prospect somewhere.
“It’s a numbers game” dominates many conversations, and it seems limiting your options is silly.
However, the customer has extraordinarily well developed bullshit meters to filter out the digital noise, so unless you are very specific with the offer, it will not pass the filter, it will not be seen.
It seems to me there is way too little being done to consider the people we are trying to reach. It is ironic that the tools have given us access to their lives, but often we choose to ignore the individual and chase the usually poorly defined “triibe”. A great description coined by Seth Godin, now misused by many.
We need to stop obsessing about the tools and ask ourselves three basic questions:
What is it we are trying to do?,
Why should anyone care?
How do we use these tools now available to make a difference?.
It seems to me there are four strategies
- Establish your “Why“. Simon Sinek in his seminal TED talk compellingly makes the argument that this is the core of marketing, to quote, “people do not get what you do, they get why you do it”.
- Build relationships. This sounds a bit yukkie, but when done with a genuine desire to help, and add value to others, it delivers to both parties. The twin brothers of C21 marketing, “Social media marketing” and “content marketing” have between them led us astray. Everyone is working feverishly at the tools trying to be different, the face in the crowd that stands out, but mostly failing, there are just too many faces, and too few asking the follow up question of “what am I going to do with them when I have their attention”. For the faces, they are attracted from time to time and let down somehow, and have become even more reluctant to give anything easily.
- Bridge the gap between what you say, and the customer experience. Too many marketers are there for the money, not for the joy of delivering on the “why”, and do not really care about the challenge of getting their customers to say “that was amazing?” Marketing is emerging as the difference between success and failure in this commoditised and transparent world, so you better get some of the rare good stuff.
- Choose your tools based on the behavior of the individual consumer. There are so many tools, and combinations of tools available, that making the choices becomes a task of considerable proportion. Choosing the right combination can be the difference, so make sure you choose on the basis of the best way to match your messages to the behavior of the consumer, not by what is available. No good having a hammer when you need a screwdriver. When you are building a deck at the back of the house, the choice is obvious, but when building a bridge to the consumer, the discriminating factor is their behavior in any given set of circumstances, and this is really hard to predict, you really need to understand them in great detail. There is too much technology, it has become the end, rather than the means.
When you are stuck, give me a call.
May 29, 2015 | Branding, Marketing, Small business
Build to last
“Brand” is a widely misused and misunderstood term, often referring to a whole range of devices, symbols and expressions that are no more than single elements of the whole.
Building a brand in the digital age of speed, idea cloning and ubiquitous communication is a real challenge, but those who get it right, win big time.
Just look at Apple. When Steve Jobs came back, it was just about broke, now it is one of the largest, and most successful corporations the world has ever seen.
Do you need any more evidence that branding in the digital age works?
While Apple is not the corner store, the foundations of Apple can be applied to every brand, and every business, from the corner store right up to Apple, whose retailing operations in the Apple stores are setting new benchmarks for retail performance.
1. Start inside. No brand can exist in isolation of the internal values and culture of the business they represent. No amount of smart advertising and slick promotion can substitute for great customer experience and value generation, which starts inside.
2. Seduce, don’t sell. Today’s consumers are smart, advertising sensitive and cynical, they need to be seduced by the superior value your brand represents, the experience it delivers. Purchase decisions are not always rational, and when a successful brand is involved in the choice, the equation usually does not have much weight on the price component of the value equation.
3. Lead, don’t follow. Brands have the capacity to lead consumers towards a place they have not been before, or not considered, as they create new value propositions. They look for trends that have the potential to crash into each other at some point, and change behaviour, and then see them before anyone else. Then they build an offer at the point of intersection, often creating the disruption themselves. The great ice hockey player Wayne Gretsky said he did not skate to the puck, he skated to where the puck would be. Successful brands do the same thing, lead, they certainly do not follow or react fads and short term “opportunities”.
4. Sweat the small stuff. Every potential touch point a customer may have at some point with a brand is an opportunity to enhance the brand, or add to the depreciation. Jobs’ fanatical dedication to making even the things no consumer was ever likely to see perfect is legend, but provided a platform for consumers belief that Apple was simply “better”
5. Commitment and focus. Brands that succeed do so because over a considerable period that stay focused on their core “Why” as Simon Sinek would put it. They do not succumb to corporate politics, marketing “short-termism”, and distractions from the market, they hunker down for the long term and deliver what the brand stands for at every opportunity.
6. Broad appeal. Really successful brands have a set of values that cross normal product category lines, and they are able to deliver in differing categories. They are able to accommodate shifts in consumer behaviour because they are not defined by their product attributes, but by their values and relationships with customers.
7. Relish and learn from competition. Marketplaces are demanding places, and only the best survive and prosper. Watching the steps and missteps of competitors makes brands stronger, and when a strong brand has strong competition, they both get better. That is the nature of competition.
8. Design is crucial. A well designed and executed product, and peripheral material like adverting, packaging, and look and feel of the product itself can deliver a unique message to consumers about the values that their purchase choice is delivering to them. Unmistakable, and remarkable are terms that every brand owner should chase for their offering.
9. Defy conventional wisdom. Unless a brand is distinctive, memorable and creates value, it will go unnoticed, and the best way to be noticed is to defy conventional wisdom. Do not do what everyone else is doing, find a way to add value by being different.
10. Communicate facts that resonate. Today’s smart consumers are less likely to be seduced by flimsy claims their parents accepted, they want solid information, facts that are relevant to them on which to make what they see as rational purchase decisions. They recognise preferences are no longer formed by fancy and extensive advertising, but by the realities that their target customers believe.
11. Design for people. Successful brands are never for everyone, their do not squander scarce resources trying to be so. In contrast, the design the brand experience is designed for the specific people who are most likely to be their loyal and lifelong customers.
A brand is more than a collection of attributes and deliverables, it is a long term strategic platform for growth and profitability. Why would you not invest in that?
May 15, 2015 | Branding, Customers, Innovation, Marketing
innovation comes from dot joining
Before 3M came out with the now ubiquitous little yellow pad of semi stuck sheets, nobody realised they needed them.
There was no clamour for sticky note papers to use as messages, place-holders, and the thousand other uses we have found for them, no market research pointed at the opportunity.
Someone connected the unconnected dots.
The story goes that there was a failed glue experiment in the 3M lab archives. One of the product lines of 3M is glue, sticky stuff used as a joining agent with uses from the home to building sites and industrial applications. Researcher Spencer Silver was seeking a super strong adhesive, the line of experiments was deemed a failure, it was not glue, it did not stick, although it seemed to be re-useable, the stickiness was not strong. It was however, long lived. One of 3M’s employees who was also the member of a local church congregation choir, frustrated that his placeholders kept dropping out of his hymn book made the connection, and a product was born.
Point is the research had been done, there was a solution in the archives in search of a problem.
The challenging task for innovators and marketers is to put ourselves in the position where we can connect the solution with the problem.
That does not happen in the office, it happens where there are conversations happening, often random conversations, between people with vaguely connected networks and ideas.
The science of networking indicates we get more from those we know vaguely than from our very close peers.
Why?
Because those close to us are typically the same as us, similar views, experiences and attitudes, exposed to the same sorts of stimuli, that is why they are close to us.
The revelations, the connection of the unconnected dots usually comes from left field those who we know, but not well, who circulate in different groups to us, have different knowledge, networks and interests to us.
Go talk to them, network, engage, step out of your comfort zone, and with time, curiosity, and yes, lady luck does play a role, you might find your Post-it-note. You will almost certainly not find it if the only place you look is inside your own patch.
May 13, 2015 | Branding, Marketing
Courtesy: Tom Fishburne
Putting together a good brief is a foundation of successful business, whether it be a brief to a creative agency, engineering team, or outsourced service of some type, and irrespective of the platform to be used, a great brief plays a key role in achieving your goals.
Following are some simple rules to follow. The weight you put on them may differ depending on circumstances, but the principals remain.
- Describe what you are setting out to do. Sell a service, create a product, evoke a feeling, whatever it is, if the reader does not know in detail what you are setting out to do, how can you expect them to deliver.
- What do you want the receiver to do with the information we are giving them. When developing a creative brief, it helps the creatives to know what your choices of media are, how you want your logo to be displayed, and any cultural imperatives. Do not expect them to be able to read your mind. An engineering brief will be different, but same idea, give as much specific information as possible.
- Who is the audience for the final product. The greater the level of detail, the better. “Women over 35” is better than “all women”, and “women between 35 and 50 with executive jobs in the private sector with two children” is better still. The greater the level of detail the better the potential outcomes from the briefed activity can be.
- What does the target audience feel about the existing products and categories they buy. Having an idea of the current state of mind of the target audience is pretty important if you are setting out to change their behaviour and as a result their long term attitudes and preferences.
- What do you want them to feel about this new offer. In other words, after they have seen our offer, how do we want them to feel, and as a result, act?
- What are the key differentiators of our offer? What makes this alternative better than the others?
- How will this differentiator make a difference to the lives of those who buy it? Even if it a box of soap powder, this rule holds. It is the answer to the consumers question “Why should I buy this?
- Finally, any specific things that must be there, or indeed, cannot be there.
Sorting all this stuff out for the brief also ensures that you have thought about all the alternatives and issues before you take up the resources of the “brifees” in considering the brief.
Better yet, having a great brief gives you a basis to make an objective decision about the best alternative offered, and whether or not it meets your commercial needs.
May 8, 2015 | Communication, Marketing, Small business, Social Media
I am speaking to small businesses all the time, and there are a lot of common conversations that occur. One of the most common is about advertising, particularly as it relates to advertising with Facebook and Google.
The conversations take a pretty common route.
The first thing to understand is the huge differences in a potential customers situation as they encounter Facebook ads, and Google AdWords.
The reasons people go to these two platforms are different.
Facebook is social, people are not there to buy stuff, so the path from the social to a transaction usually has a number of steps.
By contrast, a Google search is very specific, “I want information on XX”. Sometimes it will be for the purpose of researching, and sometimes they are committed to making a purchase of a product in your category. They are a “sale ready” audience.
It is for this reason I often recommend people start with AdWords as a means to advertise digitally, learn, and perhaps later use Facebook.
Irrespective of the platform choice, following are the 12 things that make sense to me that you should consider as you start on the digital advertising journey.
- Learn about the platforms, at least in principal, so you understand the stuff told to you by so called experts, and are in a position to ask intelligent questions.
- Start small, figure what works, and expand along the best path, always being prepared to adjust as you learn more. Having a plan, and ensuring the plan is captured in a detailed brief is essential, even if you are doing all the work yourself.
- Tracking and metrics. Before you start, know the source of visitors to your website, and track the changes that occur after the ads are placed. The huge change that has occurred with digital advertising is that we can now answer the question “which half of our advertising is wasted.”
- Define those you want to reach, in as much detail as possible. There are many different, although overlapping audiences you can target: current Facebook fans, and their friends, your current mailing lists held in whatever form they may be, visitors to your website, your competitors customers and friends, (particularly Facebook) and “lookalikes” to any of the above. The choices in the platforms are pretty good, take the time to really understand the choices you are making.
- Build relationships with current customers/fans. We all know that it is easier to get more business from an existing relationship, whatever the form of that relationship, than it is to start from scratch and build a new one to the point where they are prepared to buy from you.
- Create “stickiness” and trust by offering free advice, content, and ideas, and advice, and in responding, do so on a personal level. Webinars, podcasts, lists, blog posts, all serve differing needs in the process and the old adage that you have to give a bit before you can expect anything to come back, still works.
- Understand the customer journey. Facebook particularly, but also Google, require conversion to a sale after the initial contact. To do that you need to provide access the offers, products and relevant information through a landing page process of some sort, leading to a shopping cart, or sign up form. At each point, the potential customer has to make a choice, “do I proceed or not?” and making that choice easy, to the point of automatic requires real understanding of their mindset.
- Landing page optimisation. The differences in performance of differing landing page copy and design is astonishing, so the optimisation of landing pages is a whole process, even an art in itself.
- Create the process before you place the ads. A very common common mistake is to place some ads, they often do not cost much, then when a response arrives, you start wondering what to do with it. Wrong way around. Have the process mapped out, with the follow up content written and the delivery sequences mapped out.
- Analyse and analyse. Obviously having the right metrics to analyse is important, but tracking visitors, conversion rates, and the path a visitor takes to a transaction is enormously valuable in optimising the process. To some extent this is a repeat of step three, but the emphasis here is on the continuous improvement by testing and tweaking of the communication.
- Have a budget, and stick to it. Tracking conversion rates and the cost per conversion at each point in the customers journey as per the point above is vital. The opportunity to measure the conversion costs has never been greater, so make sure you do, and you give yourself time to correct the mistakes you will inevitably make.
- Rinse and repeat, to learn and improve.
You can pay someone too do all this for you, but even if you do, it is reassuring to understand the principals of the process. Most small businesses are careful with the pennies, so making the effort to understand where your money is going, and how to maximise the impact gives the confidence to make the commitment.
May 6, 2015 | Branding, Marketing, Small business
courtesy Hugh McLeod
20 years of working with small businesses and it seems the attitudes to marketing have not changed much.
Most recognise the change in the tools. They seek to engage with social media by being “on facebook” and “Liking” a few people, having a few Apps and sharing photos on their phones, and many have a website that is little more than an electronic brochure at best. The list goes on a bit, but the reasons for this lack of recognition of the importance of marketing have a very few, but very common roots.
Founder focus. Most founders come from a specific background, engineering, accounting, bricklaying, and they are good at it, focus on it, and seek to provide service by doing it better, more often, they often see just lots of one sort of tree, rather than a forest.
Where is the money? The limited funds small businesses have are generally allocated against the specifics they understand and need to build a businesses. T
o continue the analogy, an better computer system, bigger truck to carry the building materials around, things that relate to the core reason for being in business, not this fluffy ill defined marketing stuff. Besides,” I have a website, and it does nothing for me”.
Everyone’s a marketer. Probably the deepest, darkest hole. Everyone knows a kid who can set up their devices and do a website for them, or they edited the school magazine so know how to write and edit copy, the summer intern “knows” social media, and the flaky new age couple down the road know all about the new stuff ‘happening”. God save me from pretend marketers, but they are cheap, if not free, and usually make an unholy mess.
This will sell itself. The product is so good, all we have to do is make it available. How often have I heard that old furphy?
Better do something! And the last, often literally, reason marketing pops onto the radar is a recognition that if nothing changes, the “cleaners” will arrive. “We are suffering, better do something, maybe marketing is the answer”. Too little too late, and there is often insufficient money left to make a difference.
Sad but true for way too many.
What have I missed that you have seen?
The right way to go about all this is to recognise that everyone must be in marketing from day one, weather they like it or not, it is an investment in the business, no different to the truck, or computer system necessary to deliver the service you offer.
