How to Win Your Major Marketing Campaign

 

In major marketing campaigns – in business or politics – there’s nothing more frustrating than losing. But a lack of funds or a small war chest is not the salient reason for defeat. It isn’t necessarily how much you spend.

There are many reasons for marketing failure of a campaign.

Here are 14 of the more important reasons:

1. Inadequate analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
2. Drawing incorrect conclusions from the analysis (leading to ineffective overall strategic planning)
3. Unrealistic budgeting
4. Ineffective testing of ideas and messaging
5. Arrogance – over confidence
6. Poor coordination with centers of influence
7. Not developing effective teamwork and communication among stakeholders
8. Targeting the wrong market
9. Lack of job descriptions – who will do what and when?
10. Wrong people in many key positions
11. Poor positioning in attributes and benefit statements
12. Ineffective allocation of promotional funds – wrong mediums preventing top-of-mind awareness in customers, or voters
13. Unproductive evaluation of the campaign and return on investment
14. Unsuccessful responses to negative surprises and failure to capitalize on opportunities

Two basic rules include: “Know thyself” and “Know thy audience.”

Not to over-simplify, in essence, the key is to properly plan but only after you perform a strategic analysis.

Identify your centers of influence and strategic partners, quantify your goals, make a budget, identify your target audience, test your messaging, implement your plan, create a positive image, create a call for action, continually evaluate your progress, and respond to challenges and create opportunities.

No detail is too small: In collateral, from colors to font choices, or in developing centers of influence for the multiplier effect. But don’t get paralysis from analysis.

Plan your campaign to reach each person in your target audience with a positive message for a minimum of five times. That’s the magic number for optimal results. And be consistent to develop trust.

Remember the difference between marketing and advertising.  Broadcast advertising is all about frequency, reach and cost per thousand. Internet advertising is concerned about cpm, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, and cost-per-action. But marketing is not simply creating a radio, TV or Internet advertisement or harnessing social networking tools. Advertising is merely one component of marketing.

Marketing pertains to the big picture. Marketing is the understanding of your target audience for the cost-effective process of selling the right product or service at the right time and at the right price. It’s a systematic development, coordination and implementation of a myriad of initiatives – proactive events – not just a bunch of advertisements.

Social media

Make certain to orchestrate and synergize your advertising with public relations, videos, word-of-mouth and social media. Thanks to the new Digital Age, consumers are in charge. Set up a dialogue, not a monologue.

For example, if you’re targeting young adults or teenagers, it’s sad to say, but they are getting their “news” from their social media.

Your communication plan should contain timelines. Press kits are helpful, but in this green age, they are not necessary. Regarding relationships with journalists, here’s a hint: Reporters like to deal with experts. So portray yourself as one.

Choose wisely. Insert and distribute effective videos and provide the right motives for people to share. The right content has to be presented in right place.

Follow the trends to see how to get the most attention. For example, Digg.com can be helpful but remember it’s mostly a young audience – big on tech and off-the-wall stories.

Just like reporters, every generation likes experts and stories. Storytelling holds great power for you. So tell a good story, write a good headline, deliver on your promises, and cite outside participants for proof in your claims.

Value perceptions

In marketing, whether its products or political candidates, people base their buying-decisions on emotion.

To keep things simple, the following explanations refer to business but are applicable or transferrable to politics.

About 18 percent of people – blue-collar and professionals, alike – will only buy your products and services at the cheapest cost in the marketplace.

The most-valued prospects are the people who are affected by their five value perceptions – motivating them to positively respond to your call-for-action.

The five perceptions and their percentage of importance in decision-making:

Employees, Spokespersons – 52 percent. The key characteristics are integrity, judgment, friendliness and knowledge.

Remember, about 70 percent of your customers will buy elsewhere because they feel they’re being taken for granted. And customers normally will not tell you why they switched to your competitor.

Image of the organization – 15 percent. They are concerned about the image of your company in the community. Cause-related marketing is a big plus in forging a positive image. So is cleanliness and good organization.

Quality of Product or Service Utility – 13 percent. The customer is asking the question – “What will this do for me?”

Convenience –12 percent. Customers like easy accessibility to do business with you. That includes your Web site, telephoning you, and the convenience of patronizing your business. 

Price – 8 percent. Price is important, but it’s the least concern among the five value-motivating perceptions.

Seven marketing elements

Once you understand what motivates the customer to buy, there are seven steps you must take for creating a happy buying environment. Fear is a great motivator. But Americans are tired of negativity. Yes, the marketing process goes a lot easier if you can make buying fun.

For marketing in a downturn or not, every PR or advertising message should – as much as possible –contain these seven elements:

1. FEE. This is an acronym for establishing a common ground for a foundation using the principles of event and empathy. Every purchase is an event in the life of a customer – no matter how big or small.  It also helps to show concern about the welfare of the customer.
2. Research/focus groups on attitudes. Use tools to get the prospect to open up.
3. Agreement on Need. Get the prospects to agree on their need to buy a product or service.
4. Generic Value Proposition or Benefit Statement. Here’s where you explain your value proposition. Remember the difference between features vs. benefits to answer the basic marketing questions, such as the acronym, WIIFM , “What’s in it for me?” or “So What?”)
5. Fill Prospect’s Need. Depending on your audience, use more specific benefit statements.
6. Commitment – Ask for the order using a non-threatening, closed-ended question.
7. Seal the Deal. This final step has three components –

• Use the magic words:  “Thank you.”
• Prevent buyer’s remorse – remind the customer of benefits they’re receiving
• Look for an opportunity to provide the person with unexpected, perceived added value without hurting your bottom line.

How to overcome objections: If you’re at a meeting and encounter an objection, be careful with your response. Always empathize. Your first statement should be a note of empathy even if you disagree.

If you don’t know how to answer the person, explain you need more information and will get back to them later ASAP: “How about if I call you at 4?”

If you do know how to respond and in order to overcome an objection, it’s still important to use empathy.

Here are the three steps to overcoming objections:

1. Get the prospect to restate his/her concern. Then repeat the person’s words:  “If I understand you correctly, you feel…?”
2. Empathize:  “I can see how you feel that way”…or “You know, someone said the same thing last week.”
3. Overcome the objection with facts.  (Then recap the seven steps.)

After you’ve won, best-practices also call for follow-up and laying a foundation for an infrastructure that promotes long-term success.

From the Coach’s Corner, do you want a fun look back at the top 100 advertising campaigns of all time?

Here are the top 100 campaigns: http://adage.com/century/campaigns.html

Are You Committing The Seven Deadly Sins of Selling?

 

Whether you are an established company or a startup, what you probably need most in this economic climate is a positive revenue stream. It’s possible with a higher-performing sales staff.

So you might wish to consider the latest strategies of a globally known sales trainer, Roy Chitwood, who is based in Seattle.

He says salespeople often commit seven crucial errors. Mr. Chitwood, of Max Sacks International, has the credentials to address the topic – more 250,000 salespeople at 3,000 companies in 18 countries have used his sales counsel.

He’s released a white paper, “The Seven Deadly Sins of Selling.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Sin No 1: Talking too much, listening too little. The typical salesperson walks into an office, gives the official two minute warm-up – asking about the fish on the wall or the family photo on the desk – then, like a high diver, leaps into a hot presentation about this feature and that feature, the options available, the price and the savings. There is no close. Most interviews are terminated by the prospect so they can get on with their life. Knowing what questions to ask and how to ask them is the only way to find out if you’re making a presentation to the person with the real need, the authority and the money.

Sin No 2: Selling the product, not the benefits. When someone buys a drill bit, it’s not the drill bit the customer wants, it’s the hole. People buy to fill a need or solve a problem. No one is willing to pay for a product or service they don’t need or does not perform. Yet salespeople sell as if they will. Presentations continually focus on the width, height, weight, power, speed, buttons, bulbs or whatever of the product/service. Whether they’re individuals or committees, people buy benefits, not features. Prospects have hidden buying motives. There are reasons why they select one brand over another, why one product/service seems to fill the need better.

Sin No 3: Never asking for the order. As a prominent study proved, more often than not, customers don’t have to worry about a pressured close, because in 62 percent of the cases, the salesperson never asks for a sale. For most salespeople, selling is an uncomfortable experience because they don’t know where to go in their presentations.

When prospects say “I would like to think it over,” “Your price is too high,” “I want to shop around,” what they’re really saying is, “You haven’t convinced me to buy.”

Sin No 4: Pushing for the close too often, the salesperson tries to “sell” rather than help the customer “buy.” When the salesperson is ready the trick closes begin. These old closes and gimmicks are outdated and backfire more often than they work. The prospect has fears, uncertainties and doubts about the decision to spend money, and when closed too soon, reacts negatively to being forced to makea decision. Pushing too hard means the salesperson is forcing the prospect to build a defensive wall that won’t come down easily. Following the sequence of a well- given presentation means asking for the order will be at the right time.

Sin No 5: Wasting selling time. Selling is a problem for most salespeople because they don’t know how to spend their time profitably. Selling is prospecting, cold calling and obtaining leads. It is traveling to meet strange people, having to send emails and proposals, make phone calls and hand out brochures. It is doing the paperwork and servicing the client. There is only one way to insure you get to the close, and that’s by having a logical sales procedure. This is why the salesperson should learn the buyer’s decision-making process.

Sin No. 6: Not identifying prospects from suspects. There are many people who will listen to a sales presentation. It may make them feel important or help them fill their time. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t help the salesperson get any nearer to the sale. In fact, it takes the salesperson further away from the sale because time has been wasted and the point-of-entry into a company has been mismanaged.

Presenting to people who are not qualified is just that – presenting. It is not selling. And a company or a salesperson can’t make a profit by just presenting. Probably the greatest misuse of a salesperson’s time is presenting to someone who doesn’t have the need, the authority or the money.

Sin No. 7: Making a sale, not a customer. A professional salesperson is someone who helps a prospect satisfy a need. And most importantly, your company can count on the loyalty of a new client – one that will return with repeat and increasing orders. For many salespeople, just getting the sale is the only objective. To accomplish this end, they use whatever means are available – assumptive closes, high pressure tactics, promises of extra incentives, threats of price increases or whatever other tricks are in the bag. Salespeople like this sometimes walk out with a sale, but they don’t sign on customers. In fact, the customers may be so resentful of the pressure and tricks, they may rethink their commitments.

Mr. Chitwood’s Web site: www.maxsacks.com.

From the Coach’s Corner, a study confirms the importance of maintaining your Web site for higher holiday sales. A research firm, Nielsen Online, identified the top five reasons why customers visit a retailer’s Web site before visiting its store.

The reasons include:

• Wanted to compare prices between different retailers whose stores I might shop – 33 percent
• Wanted to see if the product I was looking for was in stock – 28 percent
• Wanted to find sales in the store – 26 percent
• Wanted to come up with holiday gift ideas before I went shopping – 22 percent
• I ordered online for in-store pickup – 12 percent

Study Provides Vital Lessons for Web Sites Seeking Profits

 

For information and advertising, consumers apparently trust their local newspaper Web sites over any others, according to a new comScore marketing study. It shows 57 percent of respondents prefer newspaper sites for trusted content – local information and ads.

Here’s another stunning statistic: The sales conversion rate was a whopping 82 percent.

In essence, the survey revealed that the advertisers’ selection of the medium in which to advertise is the most important consideration – not the creative. Forty percent “…agreed that their opinion of online advertising is influenced by the type of website on which the ad appears.”

This was especially true for reaching upscale consumers. Sixty-three percent of high-income households and 60 percent of college-educated shoppers trusted newspaper sites more than others.

True, the study was funded by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), but the study was conducted by the authoritative comScore. It was conducted in Nov. 2009 and released in Feb. 2010.

In fact, comScore reports newspaper sites were the No. 1 preference for all types of content, including classified ads.

Thirty-six percent of the 3,050 respondents said newspaper sites were trusted for ads compared to 23 percent who preferred television station Web sites, and 12 percent for portals.

No. 1 newspaper rankings also included:

• Local information – 29 percent
• Local sports – 27 percent
• Local entertainment – 26 percent
• Local classifieds – 39 percent

The criterions for ads: timeliness, credibility and relevance.

Incidentally, the results favoring newspaper sites were true for all ages. In the 18-34 demographic, newspaper sites beat television 35 percent to 22 percent. The spread was even greater between newspapers and portals, 35 percent to 11 percent.

That’s heartening news for traditional journalists who have long worried about the trends in declining newspaper readerships, especially among the young.

NAA has 2,000 member newspapers nationwide.

To see the study – Site Matters: The Value of Local Newspaper Web Sites.

No surprises here, but I disagree with the findings in one regard. Any media Web site with a strong local news image will equal the clout of a newspaper site. 

The study is welcome news for me as a business-performance consultant. I’ve long advised clients about two basic tenants in marketing and sales success:

• First impressions are important.
• The medium success is synonymous with the message.

In other words, news and public affairs usually attract the most civic-minded consumers with above-average net worth. But I would include radio and TV sites with newspapers in this regard.

And remember the adage, “Birds of a feather, flock together.” For Web sites, be selective to whom you sell ads. If you’re an advertiser, check the quality of the other advertisers before you buy.

From the Coach’s Corner, in 2009 I wrote about the importance of developing trust with consumers in my case study of a failed financial institution, Venture Bank, in Washington state.

My thesis: Eclectic branding does not work when you want someone to trust you with their money. 

The moral: Somehow, smart consumers inherently know that when branding doesn’t convey trust and value, it’s a reflection of poor management decisions.

See: “Marketing: Why One Bank Fails, Another Succeeds.”

Advice for Ad Agencies to Generate New Business

 

An article in AdAge.com caught my eye: “Marketers Exhibit Cad-Like Behavior at the RFP Ball.”

The author, Jennifer Modarelli, opined about the lack of courtesy and respect companies give to advertising agencies. I agree with her.

And there were excellent comments – such behavior is symptomatic of the times. Such sales opportunity costs are too high.

Many ad agency ideas are worth millions. Therefore, it’s important for ad agencies to earn a place at the senior executive decision-making table in the conference meeting rooms.

If you’ve encountered such behavior as an agency, as a business-performance consultant, here are some options you might wish to consider:

• Unless, you have the staffing to absorb such high sales opportunity costs, stop reacting to RFPs.
• In your pitches, stop giving details without an agreement and compensation. Instead, share your approaches to prospects’ marketing dilemmas.  Otherwise, a cost-benefit analysis will show the resulting legal hassles aren’t worth it.
• Refrain from giving proposals – try letters of agreement after using the appropriate steps to sell your brand to prospects (a trick I learned from fellow members of www.consultantswest.com).
• Offer benchmarks for your performance and show empathy for marketplace conditions. But monitor the client. That’s an approach I used early in my career as a young account exec at KIIS-FM in Los Angeles when a Beverly Hills client doubted my approach (but he had unkempt aisles in his upscale store).  Later, as an agency VP, I once saved an account after a client whose niche was women complained about my mediocre results.  I reviewed our approach and I was perplexed, so I visited one of his mall locations where I noticed several problems (i.e. the first 6 customers weren’t greeted, dirty store windows, and blaring male oriented hard-rock music). So it had to be the client’s poor performance.  I asked to meet with the client outside one of his locations. He saw for himself the company’s self-destruction. So, when I bought my own shop, this is how and why I expanded my services/revenue streams to provide other business services.
• Develop ground rules for client service (my firm has 60). Occasionally, I’ve encountered some friction with a client, so I pull out my service policies and I discover I failed to adhere to them.
• Solicit compliments. When you get them, ask for two referrals to their peers at other companies who might need your great marketing.
• Pre-sell your shop. Bypass the advertisers’ “screening out consultants” by getting close to the advertiser in advance. Join the largest business organization in your locale and volunteer for appropriate committees.
• Continue your SSP, shameless self-promotion. Try new approaches. During the last recession, I convinced a TV station to allow me to do on-air testimonials explaining five benefits the station provided my clients. In turn, my clients were impressed with the frequent testimonials and took pride in my “doing favors for the station”. After a year, I had to repeatedly ask the station to stop the testimonials because I developed an optimum number of clients (the station’s sales management enjoyed the new business the testimonial attracted).

Good luck!

From the Coach’s Corner, OOPS, I just realized I need to be more diligent about following my own advice, so I’ll skip writing this Coach’s Corner giving more tips and will reflect on more business-development ideas.

Of Interest to Web Publishers, Videos Continue Surge in Popularity

 

If you’re a Web publisher, videos are an increasingly important indicator of your relevance to Internet users.

Videos continue to be the online rage as 33.2 billion were viewed online by 178 million in America in December, 2009, according to research firm, comScore.

comScore says the Google sites were the most popular with 13.2 billion videos for a 39.8 percent market share, thanks to YouTube. It garnered 99 percent of Google’s viewers.

Here are the other rankings of viewed videos:

 ·         No. 2 Hulu -1 billion – 3 percent

·         No.3 Microsoft – 561 million – 1.7 percent

·         No. 4 Fox Interactive Media – 550.5 million – 1.7 percent

·         No. 5 Yahoo – 539.4 million – 1.6 percent

·         No. 6 Viacom Digital – 372.6 million – 1.1 percent

·         No.7 Turner Network – 366.9 million – 1.1 percent

·         No. 8 CBS Interactive – 297.2 million – .9 percent

·         No. 9 Megavideo.com – 210.2 million – .6 percent

·         No. 10 AOL – 209.9 million – .6 percent

This also means the 178 million viewers each saw an average of 187 videos.

In view of these numbers, it isn’t surprising that Google had the most unique viewers with 135.8 million. That’s 97.5 videos per person.

From the Coach’s Corner, here’s a valuable source of information in search engine optimization:

Thanks to a tip from Web Pro News, a video featuring Google’s Matt Cutts explains the problems/solutions of stale links on your site, Watch Video Here

Marketing – How to Profit from Emerging Human Behaviors

 

One of the traits successful businesspeople share is the ability to see the big picture. That’s true in marketing, too.

So a marketing thesis caught my eye: “5 marketing megatrends you can’t ignore” by Adam Kleinberg. He’s the CEO of Traction in San Francisco.

He points out that everyone is seemingly aware of trends including Twitter, the baby boomer passion for home renovation or that green is cool.

But he contends it’s best to understand the big picture. I agree. It’s one of the complaints my clients have often voiced about their employees or vendors. Their typical comments: “People don’t understand what’s at stake or they don’t understand my vision.”

Mr. Kleinberg certainly gets it. He understands that many companies have not capitalized on what he calls the “5 marketing megatrends you can’t ignore.”

Businesses broadcast their value propositions, target their niches and distinguish themselves from competitors.

My sense of his argument is that most do not forecast emerging human behavior, tastes and leverage trends to be relevant. That means better understanding the big picture.

His five mega trends:

Mass collaboration is powering the new economy – He explains how some businesses are innovating to create better products almost by consensus with stakeholders outside their companies. He calls it the “collaborative economy.”

“A fundamental shift has occurred in which brands have become a conversation — and audiences have just as much of a say in the shape of that dialogue as marketing directors and agency copywriters, he wrote.

He singles out Apple for good reason. The results speak for themselves. Apple customers are fiercely loyal.

Constant connectivity in an on-demand world – He suggests Millenials only know about instant gratification.

He’s right. For them, everything is on demand – they’re instantly and constantly wired. They only know technology.

I would add the word, mobile, to describe the phenomenon.

He cites Sprint for its “now” concept. Sprint is making inroads to being synonymous with “get what you want now.”

Globalization: Making the world a smaller place – He reminds us that globalization is a permanent. It’s not going away. We’re all globally interconnected.

Candidly, in studying the visitors’ data for this Biz Coach Web site, I’ve been amazed at its national and global reach – not just the locations of my site’s users but how certain columns attract readers and why bloggers re-post certain Biz Coach topics.

Unions don’t seem to get this global concept and complain about offshoring of jobs. Yes, I have a lot of empathy, but one of the emerging trends is that more and more people are enjoying their abilities to empower themselves.

Mr. Kleinberg understands and makes this suggestion: “The recession has left millions of Americans out of work, many wondering what their next move should be. Today, they can start their own global business from the comfort of their living room.”

Hey, I agree – he’s preaching to the choir as I’ve written about this. For more, see this Biz Coach column: “Need a Job? The Recession and Offshoring Don’t Have to Be Obstacles.”

As a company example that understands what’s taking place, Mr. Kleinberg suggests Alibaba.com and discloses it’s a client of his:

“It’s a website that helps small and medium-sized businesses around the world find suppliers or manufacturers for virtually any product or service they might need. Alibaba.com makes it possible for virtually anyone with a laptop and an idea to find a supplier half a world away to help them build a business. The site has 42 million members, and the company has grown from 18 employees to 10,000 in a decade,” he wrote.

Pervasive distrust in big corporations – Mr. Kleinberg asks these questions:

“Does our economic situation have you infuriated with corporate America? Do you feel like the jerks on Wall Street and the incompetents in Detroit almost destroyed this country’s financial system to line their own pockets? Do you trust big banks to have your best interests in mind?”

He adds: “If you answered ‘yes, yes, no,’ to the above, you’re not alone.”

That’s exactly what’s occurring in politics: “Showdown in Massachusetts – Winning the Hearts of Voters.”

He contends that the brand that gets it is Ally Bank, and quotes the company’s advertising propaganda:

“We are Ally Bank, built on the foundation of GMAC Financial Services. And with that experience we’ve learned that these times demand change and a new way of doing business. So we’re taking banking in a new direction…That means talking straight, doing right and being obviously better for our customers.”

A global sense of urgency to fix the problems of a modern world – He asserts going green has become an immediate priority:

“Being green is a minimum standard…But being green is symptomatic of another megatrend that is influencing the world on a massive scale — a global sense of urgency,” he wrote.

Which company does he cite? IBM.

“IBM has wrapped its big blue arms around the massive sense of urgency that is sweeping the globe with its campaign for ‘A Smarter Planet’,” he wrote.

He indicates that IBM’s website summarizes how IBM is relevant:

“The technology is here.
The people are ready.
The time is now.”

Congratulations to Mr. Kleinberg, www.tractionco.com, for his insights. I received his article via the folks at www.imediaconnection.com.

So study human nature or hire someone who gets it. Treat this economy as an opportunity for growth. And go find a need and fill it. Good luck!

From the Coach’s Corner, if you trade in South America, here’s more on constant connectivity:

comScore (the Internet research company) reports that Microsoft was No.1 in instant messenger applications in Brazil in Dec. 2009. But Google is making inroads.

The press release: http://bit.ly/b6jr40.

Marketing Essentials on a Shoestring Budget

 Part two of a three-part series: How to grow your small business

Why do businesses sometimes falter? Let’s get the perspective of a retired longtime business professor and business counselor who is actively pursued for his opinions.

“One reason is they fail to understand their special niche or their market,” said Neil Delisanti, who enjoyed a unique, long career as a business professor at the University of Puget Sound and The Evergreen State College. He also ran the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Tacoma, WA, where he advised more than 2,000 firms.

Mr. Delisanti says the mortality rate for small business is high in the first years of operation and it’s still true that 85 percent of businesses fail in their first year. The odds dramatically improve once you’ve survived for five years. So, what can you do to win?

He advises studying the emotions of consumers in their buying habits: “Consumers want to visualize how your products enhance their families, personal lives or professions. Usually in household situations, women make 70-80 percent of purchases. They like hearing the term ‘security’ associated with their purchases. Other key persuasive words include: easy, good, healthy, new, own, proven, and results.”

To learn more about the marketplace, free government data is available at www.census.gov.

Delisanti says businesses grow by developing core values, a vision, and a business plan: “Don’t fantasize about what you think the market will be, or even worse, what you want it to be. Find out well before you invest your hard-to-accumulate capital, or take a financially irreversible action. Most businesses will fail, if they don’t understand the market niche they are trying to serve.”

He warns about the danger of cannibalizing your business: “This often happens when a business opens another location or takes on an additional, but similar product/service. If your first store in Los Angeles has customers coming from Pasadena, when you open the Pasadena store, you will lose their business in Los Angeles. So you may see a sizable loss of sales from the first location or the original product.”

Whether you’re challenged by other small companies or so-called box stores, he emphasizes the Internet is the easiest, most-economical way to check out competitors: their product descriptions, prices, customer lists, staff profiles, branding, and their target niches.

He prefers www.yahoo.finance for free financial data on big firms. You can research the press coverage of competitors by entering www.google.news and type the name of the Web site you want to research.

To see which Web sites drive traffic to your competitors, go to Google and type “link,” a colon, a space, and then their Internet address. You can request them to link to your site, too.

You can check your competitors’ marketing strategy for free by researching listings of trade shows at www.tsnn.com. Trade magazines and associations sometimes provide information and startup resource kits.

Above all, visit www.sba.gov/sbdc or call the SBDC office near you.

Branding

“Regarding your brand, which will help set you apart from others, make certain you give adequate thought to your name, logo, slogan, pricing, location, and anticipated level of customer service,” said Mr. Delisanti. “Next, research what you need to trademark to protect against plagiarism and focus on presenting a consistent message.” (In Washington, the Secretary of State’s office will trademark a name or slogan for a nominal fee.)

Because advertising by itself is no longer adequate, your strategy for growth should include stimulating consumers into talking about your company’s value at the water cooler while they’re at work. That means a strategy of buzz marketing, which basically consists of three elements: paid advertising, earned advertising, and developing centers of influence.

In paid advertising, try to accomplish two objectives – short term sales and long-term branding success. However, this makes budgeting for advertising a bit tricky; 2 percent of adjusted gross sales is the maximum for most businesses. Some suppliers have co-op programs and will pay part or all of your co-op, which is welcomed by newspaper, radio and TV sales people. Co-op ads are an economical way to drive traffic to your Web site, but remember a good-looking Web site doesn’t guarantee success because it often merely serves as an online brochure.

If you can afford TV advertising, make certain your commercial airs regularly and is highly visual. Don’t underestimate the value of audio to help grab the attention of viewers. Avoid the temptation to be too cute – concentrate instead on the benefits valued by consumers. Remember the Taco Bell Chihuahua dog? Sales actually dropped and the chain was forced to change its strategy.

It’s possible to dominate with a high frequency of TV commercials in off-peak hours. Understand whether you need a 5, 15, 30 or 60-second commercial. I like to air two 15-second commercials twice in the same break, at the beginning and again at the end. Known as bookends, they can accelerate your brand awareness. Be sure your messages don’t air adjacent to competitors.

Radio is good, too. As I do with TV news programs, my preference is a respected all-news or news-talk station. You’ll reach an active, socially aware audience. Their listeners’ average net-worth is usually higher. A good classical music station is good, too, for reaching successful listeners.

Sponsor worthy events and local news coverage to become a magnet for community-minded consumers with good credit.

Pitfalls

Pitfalls to watch: Direct mail coupons only attract price-conscious consumers once after each mailing. This means coupons won’t attract repeat customers to enhance your brand equity. With the success of the Internet, young adults increasingly ignore radio stations and newspapers.

Your paid-advertising campaigns need to be synchronized with earned advertising – good press about your business. Public relations is an art, but you can accomplish effective PR with a quality press release, if journalists see that you’re newsworthy. Note: they also often take note of cause-related marketing campaigns that benefit the community.

You might benefit from unplanned PR opportunities by frequently advertising on TV news programs. Journalists will see your ads because they watch to evaluate their own reports as well as the work of their competitors to make certain they aren’t scooped on major stories.

A case study: After one of my clients consistently sponsored news programs for one year, a Seattle TV producer called me to request a live interview of my client regarding a new product; I hadn’t even submitted a press release. (The reporter is now an NBC newscaster.)

Developing centers of influence is a strategy of generating buzz with influential people to create referrals. Join professional, business, and civic groups (i.e. Rotary). Focus on value and customer service with strategic partnerships. For example, I’ve enjoyed synergizing clients, such as credit unions and car dealers. The credit unions advertised car sales in their newsletters, which resulted in credit unions loaning funds, dealers selling cars, and consumers happily driving home.

Don’t forget social networking media. That’s a subject in itself. Check elsewhere on this site for additional tips.

Other Delisanti reminders for growth:

1. Develop multiple revenue streams and a new product line.
2. Be pro-active, which means making old-fashioned cold calls.
3. Maintain relationships by sending greeting cards, thank you notes, special offer notifications, and an occasional visit or phone call to just chat and not sell. Make certain your small business voice is heard – vote and make your business concerns known to lawmakers.

To check out the other two columns in this three-part series, how to grow your small business, see:

10 Scholarly Solutions for Selling More Products

Management and HR for higher performance

From the Coach’s Corner: To summarize the principles of marketing essentials for growth on a shoestring budget, consider the words of Theodore Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

Checklist to Build Your Brand on a Budget

 

Branding is very important. Nebulous branding is a leading cause of business failure.

Besides ill-defined branding, when a business fails there are several likely reasons. They include poor planning, insufficient passion, ineffective management, weak finances, undesirable location, and ineffective use of technology.

A solid brand will help you land customers and insure customer loyalty. For sustainability and strong customer relationships, remember your customers want consistency and a positive tone.

Successful companies also work on continual improvement. They gain market share by becoming more competitive. That includes effective pricing as part of their branding process.

For success in brand-building, remember it’s a process to manage the feelings and thoughts of your customers by creating a happy buying environment.

How?

Address the five critical value-buying perceptions that motivate customers to buy from you. While pricing is important, target only customers who want value, not necessarily those who want the cheapest price. My research shows 18 percent of the population will only buy the cheapest product or service.

Target the other 82 percent who are concerned about price but they have other concerns about value.

No company has ever succeeded by only focusing on selling at the lowest price. Even Walmart’s branding slogan is “Save Money. Live Better.” And they always position a greeter at the store’s entrance. Costco creates a community atmosphere with lots of added value.

Much like buying a house, you need to build brand equity. That means first tapping into the value-emotions of your customers.

The value perceptions and their percentages of importance include:

• What customers perceive about you, your employees and spokespersons – 52 percent.
• Image of your company – 15 percent.
• Quality of product or service utility – 13 percent.
• Convenience –12 percent.
• Price – 8 percent.

So, for a quick primer on affordably building brand equity, here is a checklist of 29 tips:

1. Test your ideas. Rely on the opinions of successful people and get a mentor. Use them as a focus group. But in the end make sure you have a strong aptitude for decision-making and follow your instincts.
2. Develop a mission statement. What is your reason for launching a business and values?
3. Create a logo and insert it in every one of your collateral messages, such as advertising, letterhead, signage, business cards and Web site.
4. Create a Web site. Only 52 percent of businesses have a Web site, which might give you a competitive edge over others who don’t have one. Keep it current and update it every two years. Insert your logo as a favicon, which is short for favorites icon; also known as a website icon or a shortcut icon. In this way, it will show up in the search line on users’ computers. It will add sophistication to your online image much like bigger companies.
5. If you have a small company, own your keyword names – both your name and that of your company’s. If your company is named after you, that’s even better. How many quality references does the Web have about you?
6. Market yourself personally as well as your business.
7. Stay current on social media; at least LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
8. Become known as the leader in your industry. Choose the right colors for your business. For example, research shows certain cars with certain colors do not sell well, such as purple or yellow.
9. Tell a great story.
10. Be consistent.
11. Personality and character is important to show value, stability, security and fun.
12. Partner with other successful people and businesses.
13. Create a leave-behind sales flyer. Differentiate yourself from competitors. Limit it to one page with short paragraphs, your contact information and logo.
14. Volunteer your time and expertise.
15. Get face time with customers.
16. Speak, write and teach. Customers love buying from experts.
17. Develop and maintain a prospect list with deadlines for action and follow-up.
18. Offer your expertise to reporters who cover your industry and don’t forget trade magazines. Don’t be discouraged if a reporter doesn’t call you. Be patient. I once offered the expertise of a law firm client as an authoritative information-source to the media and five years later he was quoted in a major newspaper.
19. Create press releases for the media and post them on your Web site on a “Press” or “Media” page.
20. Personally contact the media with your ideas.
21. Use cause-related marketing, especially in this economy.
22. Be present at as many relevant events in your community as possible.
23. Post your appearances in a calendar on your Web site.
24. Budget permitting, join your chamber of commerce and industry associations.
25. Study SEO techniques so customers can easily find you and discover information about your abilities and expertise.
26. Develop and implement policies for excellent customer service and retention.
27. Practice an attitude of gratitude.
28. Always demonstrate that you want to make sales, but you don’t need them.
29. Keep on trying whenever you fail. Every experience is a learning experience.

From the Coach’s Corner, you might want to check the other marketing/sales pages for more branding tips.

For outstanding strategies in finance and technology, I wholeheartedly suggest reading the insights of strategic technology consultant Joey Tamer (www.joeytamer.com):

What No One Tells You about Raising Investment Capital

NFL Heroics: Great Metaphors for Business Success

 

Past Super Bowl feats serve as terrific examples to inspire equally superb business performances to achieve profits.

Indeed, enthusiasm and hard work deliver results. Joe Theismann always seemed to be on target as quarterback for the Washington Redskins, but he isn’t always right in predicting the National Football League’s most valuable player.

He didn’t criticize Shaun Alexander’s ability, but Theismann said the Seahawk couldn’t win the award because Seattle is a smaller media market than others, such as New York City. Of course, Alexander was an enthusiastic hard worker and was voted MVP after his record-setting performance in 2005.

The moral? Anything is possible if you dream big, stay positive and work hard.

Good Marketing Captures Emotions. In a nationwide TNS Express Online Survey sponsored by Coors, a poll asked fans to pick their favorite Super Bowl moments. Nearly half of the males said at least one of their early top Super Bowl memories was included in the current Coors TV campaign, “Coors Light Super Train.”

Three of the most-mentioned favorites:

• Joe Namath’s 1969 prediction that his New York Jets would beat the then-Baltimore Colts, which was a lesson in marketing puffery. You might recall he went on to sell tons of products, especially hosiery.
• Hank Stram’s colorful quote the following year, “Pump it in there, baby,” was a lesson in perseverance.
• The invincible “Steel Curtain” of the Pittsburg Steelers, which taught us lessons for protecting brand equity.

Even non-Steeler fans enjoyed watching the team’s cast of defensive stars, including “Mean” Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, and Jack Ham, including Greene’s poignant commercial when he gave his jersey to an adoring nine-year-old boy who gave Mean Joe a Coke.

His memorable commercial also sold a lot of Cokes; unlike many commercials that are clever and cute but fail to generate a good ROI.

Lessons in Execution and Courage. The aerial artistry of Terry Bradshaw’s pass completions to Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were awe-inspiring. The receivers were like graceful ballet dancers as they leaped to catch the ball. They were also tough and never fumbled; examples of mental strength and focus. With his enthusiastic, likable personality, Bradshaw remains popular as an NFL commentator.

But my all-time favorite Super Bowl was in 1980 when the Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams in a highly entertaining game, 30-19. My most inspiring player in that game was All-Pro Ram defensive end Jack Youngblood who played every down of the NFC Title Game and Super Bowl on a broken leg.

So act with courage and execute well. Both are needed for success in business.

Lessons in Marketing Strategy. Reprise Media’s “Super Bowl Search Marketing ScoreCard,” measures how well advertisers capitalize on their Super Bowl advertising investments. The technology firm, www.reprisemedia.com, helps companies increase their brand equity in online marketing.

The company contends that national advertisers fail to capitalize on their Super Bowl commercials by not taking enough precautionary steps in online marketing. That means focus on ad text, keyword selection, and landing page content.

Not to oversimplify, the company offers four basic reminders:

1. Make sure to include your Web site address in your advertising.
2. On search engines, bid on your company’s name, products, services, and your spokespersons.
3. Ensure a common thread in all your advertising and repeat your key phrases.
4. Prevent buyers’ remorse by making visitors feel rewarded. Offer to let them register to win a product and promote interaction with you.

Smaller advertisers, too, can benefit from Super Bowl-like performances by learning from successful national advertisers. You’ll reach the best prospective customers with good credit or high net worth by advertising on local news outlets.

Cost-effective keys to online success include media outlets with strong journalistic standards. You’ll also be amazed how economical their Web sites are, too, if you insert banner and rich media ads. Don’t forget to generate opportunities by submitting quality press releases to their news departments.

From the Coach’s Corner, branding remains an important factor in fast food sales, which has suffered as a result of the economic downturn. It has forced fast food companies to discount prices and focus on value meals. However, as consumers now count their eating out at fast food restaurants as a dining-out treat, the companies with the strongest branding and customer service will win.

Here’s a case-in-point: Wendy’s/Arby’s earned $14.7 million in Q3 2009 a year after their merger. But Arby’s appears to be the weaker of the two and some analysts predict they can only succeed with value meals.

Value meals are a drag on earnings if customer service is not perceived as good. Obviously, that’s a concern in the fast food business, especially when a company does not have a visionary salesperson. (Beloved Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas knew about quality, customer service and what his customers wanted.)

Whether the economy is strong or weak – 18 percent of customers will only buy the cheapest product or service – they’re not likely to return unless you have the cheapest prices. So, you want your stores to succeed on repeat business by targeting the 82 percent who are concerned about price but are influenced by other factors.

My cursory sampling of fast food restaurants shows a connection between a successful fast food stores and the perceived level of good food and customer service. A key ingredient is respect for the customer and showing an attitude of gratitude. The stores that have employees who excel in customer service and say thank you to customers are a catalyst for customer loyalty.

For value-conscious customers, price is important but their purchases are decided on emotion.

In order of importance, their five buying perceptions are:

1. What they think about your spokesperson and employees
2. Your company image
3. Product or service utility (is this good food?)
4. Convenience
5. Price

For more related reading, see: Case Study: Mistakes Companies Make When Losing Profits, The Seven Steps to Higher Sales, and Sports Offers Lessons on Strategic Management and Planning.

Meantime, emulate Terry Bradshaw’s enthusiasm and you’ll get repeat business.

Secrets to Success in Recessions: Expand Marketing

Authoritative research and the five lessons I have learned about marketing and recessions in my 30+ years experience.

 

Authoritative research continues to show businesses are self-destructing when they cut back on marketing in downturns. If implemented and evaluated properly, marketing creates a return on investment in multiple ways.

More on that later. Meantime, suffice to say recession or not, a good marketing approach requires intensity and is based on thought leadership about every facet from social media to internal company communications. And marketing, of course, includes strong public relations.

If anything, maintain your marketing investment and expand your PR efforts.

Sports provide great metaphors for business. As in any sport, remember this basic principle: Write a great game plan and attack…attack…attack.

Actually, I was prompted to write about this topic again when I enjoyed reading a commentary by award-winning public relations expert Devon Blaine in the blog of a strategic financial consultant, Joey Tamer.

Ms. Blaine provided documentation on why it is unproductive to stop or trim marketing during a recession.

“Though this strategy might seem to make common sense, recessions are times that call for uncommon business wisdom,” wrote Ms. Blaine, president and CEO of the The Blaine Group, Inc. in Los Angeles. “Recessions reward the aggressive marketer and penalize the timid one.”

In other words, timorous businesses forego an opportunity for niche leadership and to expand their market share.

Authoritative Study

Ms. Blaine cited a noteworthy study, “Advertising & Marketing During An Economic Downturn,” by David Stanley of Industrial Equipment News. It analyzed the situations of more than 1,000 manufacturers in what’s called “Profit Impact of Market Strategy” (PIMS).

Far too often, studies appear to be self-serving for special interests. But this study, www.tinyurl.com/lokgyd, is objective and unique. It is from The Strategic Planning Institute in Cambridge, MA, which describes itself as a non-profit membership association that promotes “strategic business management.”

Actually, The Strategic Planning Institute, www.pimsonline.com, originated as an internal planning project at General Electric. Then, from 1972 to 1974, it evolved into a Harvard Business School project.  

The PIMS study concluded that bold marketing in a downturn resulted in strong performance while tepid marketing had undesirable consequences. In addition, the higher marketing investments did not hurt profits for the short-term.

1990’s Study

“Penton Research Services reports that shortly after the 1990-91 recession, Coopers & Lybrand, in conjunction with Business Science International, surveyed CEOs from growth companies about the effect the recession had on their profit growth and the actions they had taken in response,” cited Ms. Blaine.

So what were the conclusions from the second study?

“A strong marketing program enables a firm to solidify its customer base, take business away from less aggressive competitors, and position itself for future growth during the recovery,” she concluded.

Incidentally, I am very familiar with the capabilities of Devon Blaine, www.blainegroupinc.com, and Joey Tamer, www.joeytamer.com/blog. You can take the bank anything they write or say. We are all members of Consultants West, www.consultantswest.com, a roundtable of veteran consultants that meet regularly in Los Angeles.

Again, I agree with Ms. Blaine. Having experienced five major economic downturns in my career, I know there is one inescapable fact about marketing and recessions. Companies that view marketing strictly as a percentage of their budgets miss opportunities for growth. Successful companies look at the short and long-term ramifications.

During downturns, good companies that cut marketing budgets soon learn they do not retain dominance in their marketplace, and they will learn they have lost market share once the upturn begins.

From the Coach’s Corner: Not to be redundant and to add to Ms. Blaine’s points, in my 30+ years experience, here are five salient lessons I have learned about marketing and recessions:

1. A quality company that maintains stellar marketing in a recession succeeds. But it is imperative to continually evaluate the company’s marketing return on investment.
2. If a company does not provide enough value or is a substandard company, marketing does not help them. This has been true in all industries – from the auto industry to law firms. So this means taking a sober look at the value of your company’s products and services.
3. A recession is a terrific opportunity to take a big picture snapshot of a company. It is important to look a client’s total situation – such as in human resources or pricing – and come up with solutions.
4. The best companies are proactive about planning and execution in good times and bad. Many companies show poor judgment about pricing and cost-cutting in marketing. It is unproductive in a downturn to slash prices in a knee-jerk fashion. A better approach for a company is to continually test marketing ideas – always be on the offensive. Automatically slashing prices without assessing the competitive landscape can undermine your brand’s value, and make it difficult to successfully raise prices later.
5. Companies that cut marketing investments fail to sustain their “Top-of-the Mind Awareness” and unnecessarily lose revenue in the recessions, and they endanger their profitability when economic conditions improve. Indeed, it takes more resources – time, energy and money – because they have to work too hard just to re-establish their brand.

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