Apr 16, 2015 | Branding, Marketing
“True Aussie” meat products have been around for 12 months or so in export markets, and we are told of its great success, Japan is particularly pointed out, where “That True Aussie beef logo can be found on more than half of retail packs in Japan now, and growing fast.” MLA Japan spokesman.
Yesterday, the National Farmers Federation came to the party with at least public support for the idea, supporting the suggestion that the “brand” was potentially far wider than just meat.
“True Aussie” is another in the long line of group marketing initiatives based on generic branding. They are attempts to leverage the assumed clean green credentials of Australian produce created by industry bodies funded by levy. Meat, horticulture, dairy and grains have all had a shot, domestically and internationally over the 35 years of my memory of these things.
Where I wonder are all those lavishly promised outcomes, those dollars flowing back to farmers because the international consumers demand Australian produce over produce from anywhere else in the world?
However, it is a very appealing idea, which I guess is why it keeps on being wheeled out again, and again, as the panacea.
“Focus the marketing funds against the common concerns of all consumers rather than spreading it around by operators acting individually, build the value positioning of Australian produce by providing the assurance of product provenance, and promising great value for money”.
Problem is that to date, in the real world, it has not worked. Perhaps things have changed sufficiently that this time, attempt number ?? how many?
Back in 2001, running a maverick operation called Agri Chain Solutions that had been reluctantly outsourced, at the direction of the then PM Howard, from the old department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (AFFA) I commissioned a piece of research aimed at uncovering the motivations driving the decision making of those who controlled the supply chains in markets targeted by produce exporters. The results were not a surprise to anyone who had really thought about the problems facing produce exporters, but were not popular amongst the industry bodies at the time.
In summary it confirmed that those who did not sell anything, ie industry bodies, had no power in the game beyond the power to give money for promises, and when the money ran out, nothing really had changed.
Supply chains, particularly those dealing with commodities, are driven by volume, availability and price, at least they are once you get past the regulatory barriers that populate and pollute the commercial environment. If you do not own anything, if you do not have the power to change anything except by committee consensus, have no power of coercion, and if you are not commercially agile, and able to differentiate, you get taken to the cleaners.
Every time.
There is an old saying, we’ve all heard it, ‘do what you have always done, and you will get what you have always got’
Well, we are doing it again.
The digital tools we have now have potentially changed the game by giving the real opportunity for supply chain transparency, potentially turning them into demand responsive chains, but that requires real skill and commercial discipline to pull off, which is still sadly absent.
I hope that this time something I have not seen has changed that will give us the promised outcomes, I genuinely hope I am wrong, but unfortunately I suspect history is going to be repeated, and in another decade, it will roll around again.
Apr 14, 2015 | Customers, Marketing, Small business
It is all about what goes in
Unlike a funnel for petrol into your tank, sugar into your cake, or production ingredient into your ribbon mixer, in a sales funnel there is no bloody gravity!
You have to create the gravity!
You have to create the customer energy, commitment, interest, whatever it takes to move from one point to another more committed point, and eventually to a transaction.
Not easy.
Most marketers inherently hope if not believe their prospective customer is just hanging out for their product, that even if they do not yet know it, their product will be the saviour. That is not because they are misguided or simple, that is how they are trained, and those that stick with it are usually the more optimistic, and sometimes thick-skinned amongst us.
The reality is that most customers are distracted by life. Their kid is sick, their car just terminally broke down, their daughter is going out with the “wrong” bloke, or they are planning a holiday. They really do not give a flying fig about your brand new, shiny, world beating gizmo anyway, and it is just easier to be nice and not tell you to piss off, and be busy when you ring, than to be a bad guy. You just misunderstand and wonder why the order has not come in yet
This rant was motivated by another of those annoying self proclaimed experts that extol the unmatched virtues of their particular cure-all, in this case a digital funnel template. Must have scraped my email from the website, twitter, or some turd sold it to him. Now my inbox is being flooded with spam, with the writer becoming increasingly concerned at my health because I have not yet bought.
“Just do X, so easy anyone can do it, and for an investment of just $279 for my exclusive, all singing all dancing funnel and 15 minutes a day the cash will roll in”.
Bullshit.
Selling is hard work, best done by professionals who understand their market, products and customers well, and have the emotional intelligence to work with the prospect to deliver value via a transaction. It never happens just because somebody bought a template.
Sales Funnels can only be as good as the input allows, and the process facilitates. When you need someone who can do this stuff properly, call me.
Apr 10, 2015 | Management, Small business
It is interesting to consider the notion of ‘knowledge’ and how experts are given that label.
Often it just means that someone who is seen as an ‘expert’ may have just a little bit more knowledge that those who are listening.
Consider the primary school teacher, teaching maths to 10 year olds. To them, the teacher is an expert, knows it all, but could that same teacher teach maths at high school, graduate, or post graduate level? Probably not.
In primary school they are a relative expert, but the depth of knowledge required to teach maths at a post graduate level is far higher than primary school. On the other hand, could the teacher of post graduate maths teach 10 year olds?
Often not, as they do not relate to the level of knowledge that exists, and the way these kids will think and learn. The Uni professor may have all the maths skills, but often no skill at relating to their 10 year old audience, often simply because of the assumed level of expertise .
“How could they not know that?”
This post evolved out of a series I am doing, teaching basic software skills to small businesses by relating them to the things they need to do in their business every day, cash flow, P&L, and the other basic stuff that are absolutely essential to a business, but ignored by many small businesses simply because they do not understand what is being said.
There are legions of free “how to” videos, manuals, and the rest, readily available, but still I see small businesses every day who do not understand the importance of actively managing cash flow, or if they do, how to go about it.
Accountants know this, but they have generally failed dismally to communicate it to their small business client base. Generally it is not because they do not want to, but rather because they fail to communicate at the really basic level many small businesses require. On the other hand, owners of small businesses are often loathe to engage their accountants in this sort of conversation at $200/hour when they know they will not understand a thing.
Clearly the assumed level of knowledge is too high they get confused, and do not relate, but that is not their problem, it is that those setting out to teach the stuff have failed to understand their audience.
Apr 7, 2015 | Innovation, Marketing, Strategy
Innovation and context
The first axis of innovation is the product. French born and educated artist, mathematician, philosopher, free thinker Marcel Duchamp who took American citizenship in 1915 submitted a piece to the prestigious Exhibition of independent artists in New York in 1917.
The piece was initially rejected by the exhibition organisers, but later lauded as a turning point in art, from the ‘retinal’ meant to be just seen to something meant to be more philosophical.
It was a piece titled “Fountain” and was in fact a porcelain urinal, the first if its kind.
My point is that the first urinal publicly displayed can be created and installed by an “artist” and Duchamp was a genuine artist in the widest sense of the word.
However, the second installation of a porcelain urinal, because it is not an original idea, is done by a plumber.
The second axis is context. Duchamp’s urinal would not have been so famous, such an artistic turning point (I still have trouble with the whole idea) had the photograph that started it all not been by a renowned photographer, taken in his studio, and lauded by the intellectual press at the time as ground-breaking. Had Duchamp just installed his urinal in the public loo down the road, it would probably not have been any more than a fancy pisser, unnoticed in the chaos of life.
What the difference is was the context in which his porcelain urinal was presented.
When you need someone who understand the differences, and how sensitive they are, give me a call, and I will be delighted to help you manage the context such that your pisser has the opportunity to become a piece of art.
Apr 5, 2015 | Change, Leadership
Insight from Hugh MacLeod. Thanks
Marketing is all about engaging with people, real people, one at a time, and giving them something of value.
In the process, often you have to change their minds, give them a sense of what could be, and reflect their lives back to them in ways they had not seen themselves.
As marketers, and fellow human beings, we have to do it with ideas, arguments, humanity, and ……. Cartoons??
Yes cartoons.
I have been a fan of Hugh MacLeod for a considerable time, his combination of wit, humour, sarcasm and insight, that ability to distil the hubris and bullshit we see every day, while delivering a message of great value is wonderful.
It changes peoples lives.
This collection reflects his deep understanding and connection with people and business, headlined by his collaboration with Brian Solis.
It should be required reading although you do not really read it, you either get it at a glance, or you don’t.
Happy Easter, be safe, and love someone.
Allen
