Jan 9, 2012 | Branding, Marketing, Strategy
As a marketer, I have always sought to differentiate my products from those of my competitors in a meaningful way, to add value to the experience of use.
In a hyper-connected, multi-branded world, where most people don’t care too much despite the billions spend by marketers trying to make them care, you have to take the concept one step further.
A brand that just looks, feels, and performs just a bit better than the others is really just another brand, but one that somehow makes a difference to peoples lives, that is one that encourages and justifies loyalty.
Apple is the obvious example, Steve Jobs’ obsessive perfectionism and determination to control everything about the experience, and be as he put it “at the intersection of technology and art” has delivered more than just differentiated, competitive products, they have redefined and created markets.
My mate Louis Marangon of Riverina Grove, a little food manufacturer in country NSW is a similar obsessive, to the extent that it is possible, taking all his ingredients from local producers, the fresh, local, and transparent supply chain both offering both assurances to users, and keeping the money in the country. He is now the only Australian owned manufacturer of a number of products left standing.
Umair Haque says it very well here, as he often does.
Jan 5, 2012 | Branding, Communication, Customers
“Advertising is what you do when you cannot get there in person”
This has been a pretty regularly heard quote over my 40 years in this business, attributed to Fairfax Cone, one of the founders of Foote Cone & Belding advertising. It remains one of the foundations of good (i.e. effective) communication weather it be paid-for media space, or one of the newer forms of “content marketing” on the web.
How come most of the advertisers I have heard/seen over the Christmas period never heard it?
I make that assertion based on the crap that passes as advertising over this period, almost all of it based on price and a transparent “1/2 yearly”, or “Clearance sale” type claim. Also, the businesses owner is often used as the mouthpiece, usually not a media friendly person. Nothing to attract me apart from a cheap price, certainly nothing to persuade me that the product will do anything to solve my problems, just price.
Problem with price being the only reason to buy, is that it just becomes a race to the bottom, and as Seth Godin has pointed out, the risk here is that you just might win.
If you could talk one on one to all the potential customers, would you still say the same thing as you are saying in your advertising?
If the answer is “No” better rethink your approach for the good of your long term pocket.
Jan 3, 2012 | Branding, Customers, Marketing, Sales
We are in the middle of the post Christmas sales, an orgy of discount opportunities for consumers as retailers rush to clear stock, and take advantage of the behavior consumers exhibit every new year, “buy, buy, grab the discount”.
Whoops?
Have we trained customers to expect great deals post Xmas, do they put off spending at full price till the post Xmas period, not because the deals are great, but because they have been trained to do so?
Clearly the answer is yes, customers have been trained, just like Dr Pavlov demonstrated.
So, what else can customers be trained to do? When you think about it, the list gets pretty long.
Switch brands indiscriminately
Demand discounts
Be impatient and unforgiving
Expect free service, whilst getting a discount price
24 hour delivery
Limitless warranty
The list goes on, but to each, there is a positive side, customers can be trained to stay with the one brand, not to expect discounts and unreasonable service and warranty, not all of them, but usually enough to make the investment worthwhile, as the alternative is to go broke being the cheapest to all, rather than delivering genuine value to those who are prepared to pay for it.
What are you training your customers to expect?
Dec 1, 2011 | Branding, Communication, Customers, Marketing, Social Media
Marketing on line is no longer the “next new thing” it was just a few short years ago, it is mainstream, a major consumer of marketing resources, and source of huge marketing value when done well. As with all new things, you get better with practice, and we are just at the beginning, learning how to use the tools now becoming available to build an experience for our customers they relate to, and can value, building the relationships they have with our businesses in the process.
In past blogs, I have noted the success of Tesco, particularly in Korea with their virtual shops, and the astonishing range of innovation that can be generated using QR codes.
In this link to what is in my view the best curator of web marketing topics, the Businessgrow blog, there is an accumulation of the best on line campaigns done to date. It avoids the usual suspects, and concentrates on those that are pushing the boundaries, and is therefore a valuable glimpse into the opportunities emerging. The web may be a free medium, but it is one where content is king.
Being different takes creativity, guts, foresight, and resources help, but are not a substitute for the other three. In the end being effective on the web is way more than just being there, because almost everyone is there now, you have to stand out, be relevant, engaging, and useful.
Nov 18, 2011 | Management, Marketing
This process has many forms, I have probably seen most of them over the years.
Percentage of sales, opposition activity, what the P&L can bear, what was spent last year, what seems like a nice round number, what the new CEO says, the last and “balancing” item in the budget, and there are others, including and significantly the confusion between strategic investments and short term tactical spending which is often just a cost of doing business in a distribution channel.
Notice the absence of customers in the mix?
All of these common budget setting tools are internal, the serve the operational needs of the business, and have nothing to do with customers, and how they are to be reached, engaged, and persuaded to become apostles for your business.
No wonder we get so much random rubbish thrown at us through the multiplicity of media channels we now have, that have nothing to do with the brand building and strategic positioning of the product or service.
