Marketing-Fix: 100-Words-On

“Kirk, we read these 100 words, but what do you do – exactly?”

OK, that smarted.

Then we wondered: How can businesses avoid being inward-focused self-referential when marketing themselves?

• Be Clear – be concise. We read by scanning, think in sound bites and write with tweets.  Marketing ‘targeted solutions’ with a dense 6-panel brochure or a
  website with 12 options isn’t targeted.

• Be Clear – avoid jargon. Explain what you mean.  DRIPs can be dividend or direct-mail programs.  VPVH – ‘viewers-per-viewing-household’ confused even our CMO friends.  And, they’re chief marketing officers – not chief merchandising officers.

• Be Clear – deliver specific benefits. Generalities tempt, but ‘easy and
  elegant’ could apply to an algebra proof, a casserole or – yes, a hotel.  Does
  ‘providing intelligent cost solutions’ mean anything?  Or just sound good?  Why not say: ‘We deliver cost savings. Guaranteed.’

Back to me, I’m a ‘marketing troubleshooter with a creative bent.’  Hope that’s clear.

It’s tempting to jump on the latest marketing trend.

For example, trendwatching.com recently suggested creating ‘brand butlers’ to improve the customer experience—and allocating marketing dollars there.

Brand butlers, wow!  Another nicety that—sounds great.

But, perhaps being first with the latest only makes sense when all aspects of customer service work flawlessly.

And how often is this true?

• Consider recent experiences with Fortune 100 companies:

• “Real-time” inventory systems that are repeatedly incorrect.

• “Customer Service Facilitators”—formerly known as tellers—who’ve mastered greeting, but not doing deposits accurately.

“Live Flight Status” that’s hours off.

Before embracing the new and novel, why not:

• Audit how well basics are executed.

• Augment what works to improve service.

• Evolve to the next level when it’s appropriate.

Let’s all clean house before hiring the butlers.

$500,000
is the New
$1,000,000

-Lisa Spellman
303 Gallery

Extreme, but this did make us wonder, particularly as consumer confidence dips to a 28 year low:

How do businesses adapt to seismic changes without diluting their brand’s DNA?

Embracing one “big” idea appeals. But pitfalls abound with popular strategies:

Slashing prices to improve short-term results. What happens after customers experience “luxury for less”?  Once Lucky’s $200 “premium denim” is $98, “luxury” may lack credibility there indefinitely.

Rushing “me-too” products to protect market share or exploit hot niches. Tried-and-true, but prone to backfiring if features or functionality are missing—think of Microsoft’s Zune music player.

Increasing marketing to buy share. Bold, but alienating if efforts don’t synch with the times.  Chanel advertising logo-emblazoned $4,500 boots, cringe-making.

Less sexy, but addressing and adapting all business aspects surgically can produce results without gutting your brand. Examples from H-P to Lululemon seem apt.

The “new” basics

The “new” classics

The “new” traditions

The same old snooze?

Observing retailers and others retreating to safety in merchandising and marketing may make sense for the “great recession”—but will it deliver the season—or critically, a direct hit with consumers in this economy?

Black twinsets, exhortations to “Believe” or engage in the “Joy of Giving” in retro campaigns and sparsely decorated stores feel as lazy and off base as demanding that I “want it.”

Especially in hard times, success requires viscerally connecting with customers:

• Engage—create powerful messages that stop us in our tracks.

• Inspire—offer amazing products and services that move us to call, click or visit.

• Excite—deliver an unbeatable value proposition to close the sale.

For every successful cakewrecks.bogspot.com and highsnobiety.blogspot.com, 100′s more hyper-focused sites and blogs seem traction-less based on readers’ interactions.

Creating ever narrower “communities” for targeted audiences that will deliver motivated consumer “eyeballs” sounds appealing. But, we wonder:

How interested are these “motivated” viewers? If they don’t take action, they’re not of any value to marketers.

Are there enough of them? With typical click, response and conversion rates, campaigns might not make the cut.

What will get them to take action? To achieve success with smaller audiences requires many more of them have to act.

So, you might be more successful targeting larger, ostensibly less focused audiences.

Is it push?

Pull?

Or borrowing?

Reputation Garage recently pegged Americans as more skeptical than ever:

75% don’t believe that advertising is truthful.
Only 13% trust big business.

It’s easy to think that with better advertising messages we can push customers to trust us.  Or use gifts, loyalty programs and similar to pull customers to us.

But, aligning with–and using–customers’ interests might be today’s best tool for building credibility.

Why not use charity tie-ins? Tom’s Shoes “one-for-one” program* donating a pair for each pair of shoes sold offers a great template.

Align your values with your customers? Fiji Water offsets its carbon footprint by 120%.

Use your customers as experts and advocates? Amazon and TripAdvisor employ user reviews and ratings to burnish their authority.

You’re “borrowing” their interests for yours.

“Well, I’ll know it when I see it”

“But, I only needed a summary”

“Europe?  We can’t market there”

Despite best intentions, it’s easy to overlook giving our co-workers adequate information to ensure success.

Haven’t we all worked on a project that’s gone off track, over budget or become a nightmare, largely because of incomplete information?

Some tactical thoughts that may seem mundane, but we’ve found useful:

Start a project—especially one that’s cross-functional, by making the effort to have a kick-off session.

Delineate goals, limitations and expectations, supply documentation and background materials.

Build consensus with robust discussion aiming for clear objectives, deliverables and rolls/responsibilities for everyone involved.

It’s time-consuming and may seem tedious, but “garbage in, garbage out” still holds true.

Great campaigns evolve from using emotion strategically.  You look under the hood, identify a problem and the way the product or service can solve that problem and make the consumer feel good, thoughtful and smart for buying the product or service.
“Choosy mothers choose Jif”  It doesn’t take much effort to smear some corn syrup sweetened peanuts onto a piece of bread.  But, Jif became the leading brand by telling mothers that when they buy Jif, they’ve done something good for their kids.

“For everything else, there’s Mastercard.”  This campaign that evolved the “Priceless” effort, successfully transforms charging into a way to connect with family and friends with unique experiences.  Hey, I’m not going into debt—I’m giving my grandson drag racing lessons!

“Just do It”  Perhaps, the most discussed slogan of our time, with good reason.  Just do it transformed Nike—and by extension—the athletic foodwear industry from selling rubber, canvas and a bit of leather into an active lifestyle.

“We Try Harder”  Avis’s long-running campaign transformed being an also-ran renting cars into a service that helps you and works harder to help you.  They’re not just renting a car—they’re making sure you get to the sales conference or family reunion.

“I get so emotional baby”

Does that make sense in business?

Quoting advertising iconoclast, Beth McLure:

“Emotion wins, but success takes strategy: Identify a problem.  Find the answer.  Develop an affinity for and an emotional tie with the consumer.  Stick with it.”

Perhaps by thinking in PowerPoint, SMS and Tweets, we’re reducing marketing concepts to colorless, emotionless phrases.  Does “Turn Here” convince anyone to invest at Fidelity?

From wing-nuts to wingtips, leading with emotional benefits can bring success when well executed: “For everything else, there’s Mastercard.”

We’d ask:

What emotional benefits do your product or service deliver?

Do the benefits serve customers’ needs—and feelings—better?

Does this create an imperative that makes customers act?

When these questions can’t be answered—going back to the drawing board might help.

Email

Google

SMS

Facebook

Linked-in

Twitter

With more ways to research and communicate instantly, has our decision making improved?

Speed? Yes. Quality? Maybe not.

Haven’t all of us led—been led on—an unproductive goose chase because we acted almost impulsively on partial knowledge or our 30-second reaction?

Particularly now when every dollar counts, we’re convinced that pausing, considering what you’re trying to accomplish—before hitting the send button—has never been more important.

We’ve been trying to:

• Define what needs to be achieved.
• Outline steps to get there.
• Review resources.

Pause.

Solicit feedback.
Revise.

Pause.

Send.