by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
It's very interesting how history does repeat itself. When TV was new, just having a "commercial" on TV meant that you were groundbreaking and innovative. It didn't matter how the quality was, how good the content was, or even if you advertised in the right shows. All that mattered was that you were there. Then, as broadcast industry matured and audiences became educated, quality trumped amateurish production, entertainment value had to coincide with message value, and a deeper understanding of what audiences watched what shows and why became important.
The internet is going through the same process. Before it was good enough just to be there. Now the internet is striving toward developing into a core discipline with best practices and rules of traditional advertising. Here are a few thoughts about how I see new media marketing becoming more like mass media marketing:
1. Visual and Video wins – One thing that TV did was to engage more people quicker than reading a magazine. We are all more attracted to video than the printed page. And, if we look at print, ads that are more visual dominate attract more attention than those that are copy heavy. The internet and social media is becoming the same way. We are visual beings at our core. We love to watch. We love to observe. It's more of an effort to read. I'm not saying reading is bad. In fact engaging copy is wonderful to read, but it's got to create a visual in my mind and not just spout off facts and stats. Which would you rather do, watch a 1 minute video or read a page and a half about the same thing? With the advent of Hulu and other such sites, more people are watching "TV" on the internet complete with advertising. And people are still willing to watch. This segment is growing tremendously. Even the web site is becoming more visual dominate. From my experience with our agency, the web sites that make design as important as content keep visitors on the site longer than just a content driven site.
2. Quality counts – Before, YouTube was all about homemade videos. It was captivating. Today, online videos are becoming more sophisticated. I'm not saying that homemade will go away, they will always have their place. But online videos are becoming more of a marketing tool and as a result, they are produced with greater production value. The audience is also becoming more select. Sure, the stupid pet trick will get great viewings, people are gravitating toward quality sites, blogs, and shows that deliver quality. As companies are trying to grasp how to integrate new media, the occasional spike isn't what online marketing should be about. It's about building a consistent groundswell of devoted viewers, attracting new visitors seeking what you have and converting them into devoted fans. Quality of content has also risen. People expect experts. They want to read and watch people who know what they are talking about and the best at their businesses. We all pass over amateurish media, no matter the form, and gravitate towards media that is able to pull it all together, quality production with quality content. A killer combination.
3. Advertising still pays the bills – Social sites are still struggling on how to be profitable. They get great masses of registered users and visitors because it's free. Most of these sites started very altruistic, but now are searching for ways to become sustainable because they still have to pay their staff, buy servers, etc. We all know in the real world, almost all enterprises can't give away their product or service over a long period of time and still remain in existence. Some of these sites and platforms are turning to "selling" you upgrades to your free blog, twitter page, etc. If they can't sell enough add-ons, they will either eventually fade away or be bought by an enterprise who has other ways of making money and will be using the site as another marketing tool in their mix (i.e. Facebook and Rupert Murdoch, YouTube and Google) And even in the YouTube case, Google is still losing money and is trying new ways to generate income to make the purchase payoff. MySpace is laying off hundreds because "free" is becoming unsustainable. Advertising still pays the bills on many social sites and web sites. It's interesting to hear entrepreneurs talk about creating a new, free social site. One of the first things to come out is "…and we'll have sponsors and sell advertising to make money so we can keep the site free for users."
I think it's a great time to be in marketing. There are so many options. I also see there is so much to learn that it keeps me excited and even more driven in my chosen profession. It's very cool to experiment, learn, and create a new way of integrating marketing. But as I understand more about the online environment, the more I see familiar concepts and rules still apply.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Do other forms of advertising contribute to "buzz" or is it the marketing nirvana that needs no help? Some claim that generating buzz is completely organic. They think it's free (even though marketers spent about $55 mil. a year on “free” buzz). They think it’s the only way to drive sales (even though it's only short lived, about a week or two). And they think that once you have buzz, everyone will remember who you are and what it was for (does out of sight, out of mind mean anything to you?)
There's a study that has just been released by YouGov’s BrandIndex that had some very interesting findings. They measured daily feedback from thousands of consumers for the first half of this year to find out what brands they are “buzzing” about. BrandIndex found that brands who took the initiative and advertised heavily, were able to make significant inroads on brand buzz. LG advertised heavily the first half of this year in conjunction with promotional events. They became the buzz standout with 17.7% in increased perceived value and 22.1% in buzz improvement. In the hard hit financial sector, almost everyone came up losing except Morgan Stanley. While everyone declined in perception and positive buzz, Morgan Stanley gained 11.2% in buzz improvement through aggressive advertising touting their revamped firm with the purchase of Smith Barney. Here’s a short list of some of the winners and losers in the first half of the year. Almost all of the winners had aggressively increased their advertising spend the first half of this year:
Biggest improvement in Perceived Value
1. LG 17.7%
2. Ford 15.2%
3. Facebook 11.5%
4. Best Buy 8.5%
5. Crystal Light 8.3%
Biggest decline in Perceived Value
1. Craigslist -13.7%
2. GE -10.9%
3. Citibank -8.5%
4. Bank of America -8.3%
5. Pioneer -7.4%
Biggest improvement in Buzz
1. Ford 24.2%
2. LG 22.1%
3. Microsoft 15.4%
4. Home Depot 14.9%
5. Dairy Queen 12.5%
Biggest decline in Buzz
1. Craigslist -32.6%
2. Air France -27.5%
3. Pontiac -17.3%
4. Hummer -12.8%
5. Chevrolet -12.2%
According to Mr. Marzilli of BrandIndex, believes the brands who take risks and invest in advertising stand to gain the most in the second half of the year. I’m not denying the importance or influence of buzz, but how you get it may be different than you think. A comprehensive strategy that includes online, offline, traditional advertising, and social media all contribute to an ocean of buzz that’s hard to beat. In the end, the real measurement isn’t in visitors to your site or comments to your blog. It’s revenue. Unfortunately, I can’t pay my suppliers with visitor counts or click throughs.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
The big question in every marketer’s mind, how much should I spend on marketing? Then, other questions follow; What do I spend on? How much do I spend for each? How do I know what is working? Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, these questions must and need to be asked. But how do you come up with a valid number? You can depend on past spending habits, such as some large corporations do. You can set a number you can afford as is common with small businesses. Another way to set your marketing budget is found in two questions:
How fast do I want to get there?
First, instead of just picking a number you can afford or depending on what you spent last year, your marketing budget should be dictated by your end-of-year goals. There is no text book formula that will work because each business is different. Each industry category is different. And each individual business or corporation’s goals are different. Your market category could be very competitive with many players in your sector or you could be facing only a few “goliaths.” Your budget size should be in balance with how much you want to achieve over the next year and in the long-term, each year’s budget should be in balance to what you want to achieve in the next 3 – 5 years. An aggressive business plan that requires you to meet a high financial goal or an awareness goal can only be accomplished with an equally aggressive marketing plan. Any cut backs in marketing spending, over time, you will see less ROI in your bottom line. For example, GEICO increased their spending by 75% over 4-years. This was twice as much as their competitors. By 2006, GEICO saw the returns they were planning on. According to J.D. Powers & Associates, GEICO stood far above the rest in new-customer acquisition. Even though they are the No. 4 player in the market, they ranked No. 1 in new-customer acquisition. They also topped the brand awareness ladder over their larger competitors.
Some depend heavily on word-of-mouth. This is a tactic that works and should be considered as a part of your overall plan. Two things to keep in mind; first, someone else is in control of your message and brand, not you, and second, for the most part, it takes time. You have to have the luxury to wait it out until it builds and catches on. Some depend on new media, such as blogs and social media, to drive their message and brand. These tactics are a great supplement in your strategy, but not the silver bullet as some will want you to think.
It’s all or nothing
The second part is an “all or nothing” approach. Don’t look at the concept of budget as how much to spend on each tactic, but to see it as what tactics should be FULLY funded and what tactics you should not spend a dime. Like a lot of things in life, if you do it half-way, expect to fail. If you are going to commit your limited resources, then you need to commit to it completely. This brings up a question, “How do I know what to commit to?” This should be answered by taking a hard look at what your core brand stands for. All you do and say as a company should be in alignment with what you really stand for, your true brand position. If your true brand position as a photographer is to “capture romance” then, every marketing tactic that should be FULLY funded needs to be in alignment with romance. If your brand is “self expression” as a national hair care company, the specific tactics you invest in needs to support this concept. I’m not saying to only invest in one or two tactics. You need to still develop a comprehensive marketing plan, but the specifics that go into your plan needs to be only those things that are in harmony with your brand position. And these are the tactics that need your full commitment to realize your end-of-year goals and achieve the ROI you need.
By looking at marketing spending and budget setting differently, you can realistically align expectations and investment amount with your core brand. This will help prevent wasting money with a “shot gun” approach and will further a deeper understanding with your true audience and ultimately gain their loyalty.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
The big question in every marketer’s mind, how much should I spend on marketing? Then, other questions follow; What do I spend on? How much do I spend for each? How do I know what is working? Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, these questions must and need to be asked. But how do you come up with a valid number? You can depend on past spending habits, such as some large corporations do. You can set a number you can afford as is common with small businesses. Another way to set your marketing budget is found in two questions:
How fast do I want to get there?
First, instead of just picking a number you can afford or depending on what you spent last year, your marketing budget should be dictated by your end-of-year goals. There is no text book formula that will work because each business is different. Each industry category is different. And each individual business or corporation’s goals are different. Your market category could be very competitive with many players in your sector or you could be facing only a few “goliaths.” Your budget size should be in balance with how much you want to achieve over the next year and in the long-term, each year’s budget should be in balance to what you want to achieve in the next 3 – 5 years. An aggressive business plan that requires you to meet a high financial goal or an awareness goal can only be accomplished with an equally aggressive marketing plan. Any cut backs in marketing spending, over time, you will see less ROI in your bottom line. For example, GEICO increased their spending by 75% over 4-years. This was twice as much as their competitors. By 2006, GEICO saw the returns they were planning on. According to J.D. Powers & Associates, GEICO stood far above the rest in new-customer acquisition. Even though they are the No. 4 player in the market, they ranked No. 1 in new-customer acquisition. They also topped the brand awareness ladder over their larger competitors.
Some depend heavily on word-of-mouth. This is a tactic that works and should be considered as a part of your overall plan. Two things to keep in mind; first, someone else is in control of your message and brand, not you, and second, for the most part, it takes time. You have to have the luxury to wait it out until it builds and catches on. Some depend on new media, such as blogs and social media, to drive their message and brand. These tactics are a great supplement in your strategy, but not the silver bullet as some will want you to think.
It’s all or nothing
The second part is an “all or nothing” approach. Don’t look at the concept of budget as how much to spend on each tactic, but to see it as what tactics should be FULLY funded and what tactics you should not spend a dime. Like a lot of things in life, if you do it half-way, expect to fail. If you are going to commit your limited resources, then you need to commit to it completely. This brings up a question, “How do I know what to commit to?” This should be answered by taking a hard look at what your core brand stands for. All you do and say as a company should be in alignment with what you really stand for, your true brand position. If your true brand position as a photographer is to “capture romance” then, every marketing tactic that should be FULLY funded needs to be in alignment with romance. If your brand is “self expression” as a national hair care company, the specific tactics you invest in needs to support this concept. I’m not saying to only invest in one or two tactics. You need to still develop a comprehensive marketing plan, but the specifics that go into your plan needs to be only those things that are in harmony with your brand position. And these are the tactics that need your full commitment to realize your end-of-year goals and achieve the ROI you need.
By looking at marketing spending and budget setting differently, you can realistically align expectations and investment amount with your core brand. This will help prevent wasting money with a “shot gun” approach and will further a deeper understanding with your true audience and ultimately gain their loyalty.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
There are many books, blogs, and speakers out today spreading the gospel that a business doesn't need advertising, advertising agencies, or even PR firms. “You can do it yourself.” they exclaim. Because of social media, blogging, and the dozens of networking groups available, you can be your own marketing machine and do it just as well as the “professionals” and all for cheap or free. These self-help gurus say all you have to do is buy my book, audio CD, and sign up for my weekly newsletters (for a small fee of course) and you too can be as brilliant of a marketer as Crispin Porter Bogusky, BBDO, or Weiden & Kennedy.
In a sense they are right. For start-ups and beginning entrepreneurs, you do have to do it yourself. Lack of funds and every other key resource forces them to be resourceful and become instant marketers out of necessity. So yes, DIY marketing is probably essential for most budding entrepreneurs. But as your business grows, so will your need for real expertise. Not only in marketing, but in other areas such as accounting, legal, and HR. These DIY gurus claim that the internet has changed the rules. They are right, but only to a certain point. Once a business gets past the start-up phase, they will be facing stiff competition from the medium companies to the market leaders in their category. At that level, they play for keeps. Keeping their market share and grabbing as much of yours as possible. Now some individuals do have a natural talent for marketing and will develop that as their business grows. Most, however, do not have that unique talent.
Where I find the “hole” in the DIY preachers is that they don’t take into account as a young company gains traction and starts competing against larger competitors, who are good at all facets of the game. The market leaders are experts at the game. How do you think they became market leaders? These companies employ the best minds possible regardless if they are within the company or not. That’s why they hire agencies who understands their market, are experts at integrated marketing, and have teams of talent at their disposal. This is where the DIY marketer starts running into stiffer competition and will realize they are great at making the widget, but not great at other functions of the business, such as marketing, accounting, HR, etc.
If Coke, McDonald’s, and WalMart don’t believe themselves to have superior talent in house to do their marketing, then that should be a clue to the up and comers. Those who do their own marketing (Target), if you look closely, they’ve set up an in-house advertising agency that is no different than the ones they could hire. In reality, they still don’t do it themselves. They just happen to own the advertising agency they work with.
Now the DIY gurus say because of all of the information on the web, individuals can search and find all kinds of information on how to market (like this blog site, for example). It is true, that one can find a lot of great information about how to be a marketing genius, but it still comes down to talent. Just because you can research the subject doesn’t mean you’re going to be great at it. To me, if you can’t be great at it, why are you doing it? Isn’t this the same philosophy most use as a reason to open their own business? They believe they can do better than what’s out in the marketplace now. Just because you research how to keep your own books doesn’t mean you should. Again, the higher the competition, the more they will have experts on their team filling key positions. Not just a part-timer or an entrepreneur who has never kept corporate books before. Again, small companies can perform the basics, but as they grow their needs grow more complex and their competition more formidable.
It all comes down to this. If a company wants to stay small, you can stick with a DIY marketing strategy. But, if a company has larger aspirations, they will be competing against the best in the world and must raise every facet of their game to match that level. Including integrated marketing.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
I had lunch with a colleague recently. Our discussion turned to marketing and how the landscape has changed and is changing. During our talk, we both noticed that there seems to be two camps that are emerging.
Camp 1: These people believe that this is the beginning of the end for traditional media and “old school” marketing tactics. A few have made the statement that direct mail, print advertising, and TVspots will disappear in the next 5 years. The world belongs to bloggers, twitters, and SEO.
Camp 2: This group believes that traditional marketing tactics will still play an important role in the overall marketing strategy. They’ve heard it all before, when radio came about, the print medium will die. When TV became a mass product, radio’s days are numbered. When CDs came out, this was the ONLY way were going to listen to music in the future. etc. Camp 2 doesn't hop onto a bandwagon quickly.
My colleague told me that a woman, who owns a business, said she gets web site hits, blog comments, tweets, etc. in upwards of 25,000 per day. She is squarely in Camp 1. She completely believes that social media, especially the FREE ones, are the only way to go. When my colleague asked her about any other marketing tactics, she completely believes the notion that advertising is a waste of money. When my friend asked, “So, how many of those 25,000 are you turning into paying customers?” Her actual reply was that it was ZERO, but that’s not the point. (Huh?) The goal is to start a community and communicate. Not sell. (Didn't see that coming) If the point of being in business is not to generate revenue, then, what is the point of business? And if, in her mind, the point of social media is not to turn these connections into paying clients, what is the point of these kinds of tactics?
This got me thinking about how extreme the views are in today’s marketing world. Every time there’s a major shift in new technology or knowledge, the same revolutionary cry goes out, “the things of old will fade away as the new technology flavor of the day, is the future.” From my view, new technologies do change the game. It makes what was once impossible, possible. For example, in order to get your brand noticed, there was no other choice than to run TV spots, radio commercials, and print ads. Now with the internet, you can go directly to the consumer yourself without the heavy media buy. What I think people forget is no matter the technology, marketing physics and principles still are relevant. For example, just because we build new buildings out of space-age materials, new alloys, and improved techniques of building, doesn't negate the core principles of applied physics. Even if the materials and techniques change, principles of physics still are very relevant. The same goes for marketing and branding. In fact, many of these social sites are struggling to break even. Making a dime is asking too much. As for me, my business is in the business of generating revenue. The better we serve our clients, the better our bottom line is. It’s so yesterday’s analog way think.
In my years of marketing, one thing I’ve learned, extreme positions are usually wrong. Absolutes are usually wrong. Both in business and in life. I come from old school marketing and I'm working hard to learn how the new tools and marketing environment can be leveraged on behalf of my clients. I don’t have it figured out, but I do know one principle still applies; no one tactic (read technology) is suited for 100% of your customers, 100% of the time. Smart integration of marketing strategies and tactics is STILL the best way to turn prospects, bloggers, shoppers, tweeters, into real customers who pay real money for your services/products.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
I had lunch with a colleague recently. Our discussion turned to marketing and how the landscape has changed and is changing. During our talk, we both noticed that there seems to be two camps that are emerging.
Camp 1: These people believe that this is the beginning of the end for traditional media and “old school” marketing tactics. A few have made the statement that direct mail, print advertising, and TVspots will disappear in the next 5 years. The world belongs to bloggers, twitters, and SEO.
Camp 2: This group believes that traditional marketing tactics will still play an important role in the overall marketing strategy. They’ve heard it all before, when radio came about, the print medium will die. When TV became a mass product, radio’s days are numbered. When CDs came out, this was the ONLY way were going to listen to music in the future. etc. Camp 2 doesn't hop onto a bandwagon quickly.
My colleague told me that a woman, who owns a business, said she gets web site hits, blog comments, tweets, etc. in upwards of 25,000 per day. She is squarely in Camp 1. She completely believes that social media, especially the FREE ones, are the only way to go. When my colleague asked her about any other marketing tactics, she completely believes the notion that advertising is a waste of money. When my friend asked, “So, how many of those 25,000 are you turning into paying customers?” Her actual reply was that it was ZERO, but that’s not the point. (Huh?) The goal is to start a community and communicate. Not sell. (Didn't see that coming) If the point of being in business is not to generate revenue, then, what is the point of business? And if, in her mind, the point of social media is not to turn these connections into paying clients, what is the point of these kinds of tactics?
This got me thinking about how extreme the views are in today’s marketing world. Every time there’s a major shift in new technology or knowledge, the same revolutionary cry goes out, “the things of old will fade away as the new technology flavor of the day, is the future.” From my view, new technologies do change the game. It makes what was once impossible, possible. For example, in order to get your brand noticed, there was no other choice than to run TV spots, radio commercials, and print ads. Now with the internet, you can go directly to the consumer yourself without the heavy media buy. What I think people forget is no matter the technology, marketing physics and principles still are relevant. For example, just because we build new buildings out of space-age materials, new alloys, and improved techniques of building, doesn't negate the core principles of applied physics. Even if the materials and techniques change, principles of physics still are very relevant. The same goes for marketing and branding. In fact, many of these social sites are struggling to break even. Making a dime is asking too much. As for me, my business is in the business of generating revenue. The better we serve our clients, the better our bottom line is. It’s so yesterday’s analog way think.
In my years of marketing, one thing I’ve learned, extreme positions are usually wrong. Absolutes are usually wrong. Both in business and in life. I come from old school marketing and I'm working hard to learn how the new tools and marketing environment can be leveraged on behalf of my clients. I don’t have it figured out, but I do know one principle still applies; no one tactic (read technology) is suited for 100% of your customers, 100% of the time. Smart integration of marketing strategies and tactics is STILL the best way to turn prospects, bloggers, shoppers, tweeters, into real customers who pay real money for your services/products.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Almost everyone knows companies need a mission and core values. Most everyone agrees that these items are important to setting the course for the future. But, unfortunately, there are many who really don't understand how to develop mission and core values or even how these things interact with brand position. Here's one of the most common mission statements: “We strive to meet or exceed expectations through superior service, being customer-centric, and a dedication to quality. We will conduct business with the highest of ethics and moral standards.” Sound familiar? The problem with this is that it’s too ambiguous. There’s no concrete direction. No specific instructions on how to get there. And no differentiating cause. There's no inspiration for the rank and file. Who would want to give their heart and soul to this kind of mission?
How can one create a true brand with this type of nonsense? No wonder 80% of businesses fall under “commodity”. And for you tech-heads, technology is NOT a differentiator. If it’s technology based, eventually it will be free (see open source, music, news, just to name a few). Then what? A mission and core values need to set a specific purpose and specifics on how to get there. Here are a few points about mission and core values:
Mission – The purpose of mission is to set a SPECIFIC goal for the company to achieve that is beyond just generic, cliched sayings. People want to be a part of something great. Give it to them. Setting a real mission needs to inspire as well as create a solid, concrete goal. Company missions ask their people to go on great journeys and adventures in order to fulfill the mission. For example, GE’s mission through the 80’s and 90’s: “Be #1 or #2 in any business that GE is in. If we can’t be that, then we will sell the business and get out of the category.” Wal-Mart: “To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people.” Mary Kay: “To give unlimited opportunity to women.” These mission statements are inspiring, specific, and give employees a sense of esprit-de-corps.
Core values – These are specific behaviors and attitudes that will help a company achieve their mission. Core values should reflect the vision, culture, and goals of the company. These values should define several things.
1. Explain why you do business the way you do
2. Articulate what you stand for and why
3. Clearly communicate what is expected from each employee in order the company can achieve it's mission
Core values isn’t too detailed in the “how”, but it concentrates on the “why”. Why these qualities are important. Why these values are the key to our success. You need to leave room for exploration and innovation of these values. This will create new and exciting interpretations of possibilities that you never thought of before. It will also allow your company to adjust and adapt with the changing world of business. If you are too ridged, all you get is emotionless robots without passion or true commitment.
In the end, if you get your mission and core values right, you are on your way from being a commodity to being unique. This is something you can define your brand upon. Marketing can then communicate that brand to your prospects and customers and it will be received as genuine and real. No B.S. because it comes straight from the heart and not just from a board room. Here’s one acid test to see if you have truly discovered your mission, core values, and brand: If, the next day, your mission, core values, and brand becomes a competitive disadvantage, will you still hold them dear and continue to operate your business based on those beliefs?
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
Almost everyone knows companies need a mission and core values. Most everyone agrees that these items are important to setting the course for the future. But, unfortunately, there are many who really don't understand how to develop mission and core values or even how these things interact with brand position. Here's one of the most common mission statements: “We strive to meet or exceed expectations through superior service, being customer-centric, and a dedication to quality. We will conduct business with the highest of ethics and moral standards.” Sound familiar? The problem with this is that it’s too ambiguous. There’s no concrete direction. No specific instructions on how to get there. And no differentiating cause. There's no inspiration for the rank and file. Who would want to give their heart and soul to this kind of mission?
How can one create a true brand with this type of nonsense? No wonder 80% of businesses fall under “commodity”. And for you tech-heads, technology is NOT a differentiator. If it’s technology based, eventually it will be free (see open source, music, news, just to name a few). Then what? A mission and core values need to set a specific purpose and specifics on how to get there. Here are a few points about mission and core values:
Mission – The purpose of mission is to set a SPECIFIC goal for the company to achieve that is beyond just generic, cliched sayings. People want to be a part of something great. Give it to them. Setting a real mission needs to inspire as well as create a solid, concrete goal. Company missions ask their people to go on great journeys and adventures in order to fulfill the mission. For example, GE’s mission through the 80’s and 90’s: “Be #1 or #2 in any business that GE is in. If we can’t be that, then we will sell the business and get out of the category.” Wal-Mart: “To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people.” Mary Kay: “To give unlimited opportunity to women.” These mission statements are inspiring, specific, and give employees a sense of esprit-de-corps.
Core values – These are specific behaviors and attitudes that will help a company achieve their mission. Core values should reflect the vision, culture, and goals of the company. These values should define several things.
1. Explain why you do business the way you do
2. Articulate what you stand for and why
3. Clearly communicate what is expected from each employee in order the company can achieve it's mission
Core values isn’t too detailed in the “how”, but it concentrates on the “why”. Why these qualities are important. Why these values are the key to our success. You need to leave room for exploration and innovation of these values. This will create new and exciting interpretations of possibilities that you never thought of before. It will also allow your company to adjust and adapt with the changing world of business. If you are too ridged, all you get is emotionless robots without passion or true commitment.
In the end, if you get your mission and core values right, you are on your way from being a commodity to being unique. This is something you can define your brand upon. Marketing can then communicate that brand to your prospects and customers and it will be received as genuine and real. No B.S. because it comes straight from the heart and not just from a board room. Here’s one acid test to see if you have truly discovered your mission, core values, and brand: If, the next day, your mission, core values, and brand becomes a competitive disadvantage, will you still hold them dear and continue to operate your business based on those beliefs?
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Do you really know what your company sells? This seems like a no brainer, but many get it wrong. Many business owners get it wrong. Great branding gets to the core of this question. To many, the physical products and services they deliver are what they sell. It's the widget. It's the software. It's the service. These may be the physical items or actions that you sell, but it's not really what your should be company is all about.
If you understand your true brand, you'll know concisely what you're selling. Branding goes way beyond the physical and hits the emotional. It's the fulfillment of a dream, the relief of a worry, or bringing sheer joy to an otherwise dull day. Here are some examples of what some companies are selling:
Progressive Insurance – Their CEO has said they don't sell insurance. They sell "speed". It is not unusual for a Progressive representative to be at a scene of a claim within 10 minutes, view the situation, and often, writes a check on the spot. They have worked hard at crafting their actions to support their brand of speed.
Disney – "What does Disney make?" says a trainer. "We make people happy.", says a new "cast member". That's right. Disney doesn't sell animation, stuffed toys, or musicals on DVD. They're core product is to make people happy. This is the guiding brand promise in everything they do. This is their product that was set by Walt Disney himself and has continued to this day.
Starbucks – Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. Surprise. They sell "daily inspiration". It is to this end that Starbucks makes critical business decisions on what goes on, and into, each store. The atmosphere needs to inspire you, even for those few minutes you're there getting your Grande Pike Place. If the breakfast sandwich doesn't evoke a bit of inspiration beyond being just another "good" sandwich, then they don't carry it. Starbucks is in the business of selling inspiration on each visit.
From these examples you see that the real products these companies sell are more appealing and more captivating than just the physical lumps that are on the shelves. This is what separates them from their competitors who may think they only sell insurance coverage, DVDs, and regular coffee. If you get your branding right, you'll discover the real product you sell and what customers are willing to pay premium for because you deliver more than just the commodity of the product or service. By delivering dream fulfillment and possibilities, your brand become irreplaceable.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
Do you really know what your company sells? This seems like a no brainer, but many get it wrong. Many business owners get it wrong. Great branding gets to the core of this question. To many, the physical products and services they deliver are what they sell. It's the widget. It's the software. It's the service. These may be the physical items or actions that you sell, but it's not really what your should be company is all about.
If you understand your true brand, you'll know concisely what you're selling. Branding goes way beyond the physical and hits the emotional. It's the fulfillment of a dream, the relief of a worry, or bringing sheer joy to an otherwise dull day. Here are some examples of what some companies are selling:
Progressive Insurance – Their CEO has said they don't sell insurance. They sell "speed". It is not unusual for a Progressive representative to be at a scene of a claim within 10 minutes, view the situation, and often, writes a check on the spot. They have worked hard at crafting their actions to support their brand of speed.
Disney – "What does Disney make?" says a trainer. "We make people happy.", says a new "cast member". That's right. Disney doesn't sell animation, stuffed toys, or musicals on DVD. They're core product is to make people happy. This is the guiding brand promise in everything they do. This is their product that was set by Walt Disney himself and has continued to this day.
Starbucks – Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. Surprise. They sell "daily inspiration". It is to this end that Starbucks makes critical business decisions on what goes on, and into, each store. The atmosphere needs to inspire you, even for those few minutes you're there getting your Grande Pike Place. If the breakfast sandwich doesn't evoke a bit of inspiration beyond being just another "good" sandwich, then they don't carry it. Starbucks is in the business of selling inspiration on each visit.
From these examples you see that the real products these companies sell are more appealing and more captivating than just the physical lumps that are on the shelves. This is what separates them from their competitors who may think they only sell insurance coverage, DVDs, and regular coffee. If you get your branding right, you'll discover the real product you sell and what customers are willing to pay premium for because you deliver more than just the commodity of the product or service. By delivering dream fulfillment and possibilities, your brand become irreplaceable.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
I recently had a prospect tell us that the only reason why we didn't win the business is because they thought the size of our agency was too small to handle their global account. (Never mind the fact that I had established their brand, position, key messages, conducted an international vetting process, and initial set of marketing and advertising materials 3 years earlier) The prospect felt they needed "numbers" of people to feel like they would be taken care of. This got me thinking about how different the world of business is becoming and will be in the future.
The future of business is not going to be built the way it used to be. It will not be about gigantic corporations with 9 layers of management. It will not be about economies of scale because technology has broken down that barrier. And business will not be about owning everything they produce or even their processes. The future of business will be a different kind of organization. Here are my thoughts:
Small core, large network – The future business organization will have 300 people, of which only 7 are full-time employees. The rest are "guns for hire", the best in breed at what they do. All of this talent will be leveraged for a defined goal. The result is that clients get expert services and expert results. The company is able to stay lean and make a difference. They will also be very profitable. The other 293 people who worked on the project will be able to add another great gig to their credit. They will move from great gig to great gig doing the thing they love and are best in breed at.
Experience counts – Experienced people can do more, in less time, and get it right on the first pass. This cuts down on the need for layers of staff to "manage". It's been said, "If you need to manage someone, then you've made a bad hire." Future business organization will be made up of almost exclusively smart, talented people who know what they're doing. Lets face it, in most of today's companies, the talented ones are outnumbered by mediocre personnel at least 20:1. It is this experience and talent that will allow a company to handle the needs of any size client regardless of complexity or scale. Talent kills. Experiences kills. Smart kills. It's hard to beat that combination.
Nimble wins – Being nimble means being able to develop ideas, quickly, execute them quickly, and see what happens. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. From Henry Ford to today's Silicon Valley success stories is to try a lot of things and see what works. Because the word changes so quickly today, companies don't have the luxury to study and make plans perfect before they launch. John Merck III has said that Merck needs to fail more quickly in order to succeed.
Does all this mean that large companies can't win in the future? No. It's more of a mindset. A large company must be able to keep that core DNA of entrepreneurship. GE has been able to do that. They allow each division to be like their own little business and act independently of the parent company. In the early 2000's, GE had bought over 1,000 companies. Their trick, they didn't squash the entrepreneurial spirit and leadership that made these companies special enough for them to buy. The same with Walmart. They keep the flow of ideas from being stalled through layers of bureaucracy by allowing individual store managers to experiment in everything from internal policy to customer service.
When it comes to down to marketing, I feel agencies that are filled with smart, talented people can produce amazing, creative ideas that in the end, produce great bottom line results. This has nothing to do with how big or small a agency is. It has everything to do with experience and talent. The future agency is able to expand as large as needed by enlisting best in breed and leverage their talent to the client's cause. Give me 10 experienced, talented people over 100 average people. We will produce work that is greater and will captivate the marketspace and deliver results while the 100 average people become more about overhead and less about achievement.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
I recently had a prospect tell us that the only reason why we didn't win the business is because they thought the size of our agency was too small to handle their global account. (Never mind the fact that I had established their brand, position, key messages, conducted an international vetting process, and initial set of marketing and advertising materials 3 years earlier) The prospect felt they needed "numbers" of people to feel like they would be taken care of. This got me thinking about how different the world of business is becoming and will be in the future.
The future of business is not going to be built the way it used to be. It will not be about gigantic corporations with 9 layers of management. It will not be about economies of scale because technology has broken down that barrier. And business will not be about owning everything they produce or even their processes. The future of business will be a different kind of organization. Here are my thoughts:
Small core, large network – The future business organization will have 300 people, of which only 7 are full-time employees. The rest are "guns for hire", the best in breed at what they do. All of this talent will be leveraged for a defined goal. The result is that clients get expert services and expert results. The company is able to stay lean and make a difference. They will also be very profitable. The other 293 people who worked on the project will be able to add another great gig to their credit. They will move from great gig to great gig doing the thing they love and are best in breed at.
Experience counts – Experienced people can do more, in less time, and get it right on the first pass. This cuts down on the need for layers of staff to "manage". It's been said, "If you need to manage someone, then you've made a bad hire." Future business organization will be made up of almost exclusively smart, talented people who know what they're doing. Lets face it, in most of today's companies, the talented ones are outnumbered by mediocre personnel at least 20:1. It is this experience and talent that will allow a company to handle the needs of any size client regardless of complexity or scale. Talent kills. Experiences kills. Smart kills. It's hard to beat that combination.
Nimble wins – Being nimble means being able to develop ideas, quickly, execute them quickly, and see what happens. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. From Henry Ford to today's Silicon Valley success stories is to try a lot of things and see what works. Because the word changes so quickly today, companies don't have the luxury to study and make plans perfect before they launch. John Merck III has said that Merck needs to fail more quickly in order to succeed.
Does all this mean that large companies can't win in the future? No. It's more of a mindset. A large company must be able to keep that core DNA of entrepreneurship. GE has been able to do that. They allow each division to be like their own little business and act independently of the parent company. In the early 2000's, GE had bought over 1,000 companies. Their trick, they didn't squash the entrepreneurial spirit and leadership that made these companies special enough for them to buy. The same with Walmart. They keep the flow of ideas from being stalled through layers of bureaucracy by allowing individual store managers to experiment in everything from internal policy to customer service.
When it comes to down to marketing, I feel agencies that are filled with smart, talented people can produce amazing, creative ideas that in the end, produce great bottom line results. This has nothing to do with how big or small a agency is. It has everything to do with experience and talent. The future agency is able to expand as large as needed by enlisting best in breed and leverage their talent to the client's cause. Give me 10 experienced, talented people over 100 average people. We will produce work that is greater and will captivate the marketspace and deliver results while the 100 average people become more about overhead and less about achievement.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Recession. Wild market swings. New competition. You better get used to change. It's here to stay and I believe it's the way of global business from here on. What once was "gospel" is no longer always true. Winning companies will act more counterintuitive. They will learn to thrive in a sea of change and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. As one of our recent military Generals said, "If you don't like change. Try irrelevance. You'll hate that even more." The same is true in marketing. If you don't leverage your brand in challenging times, then you might not be around for the good. Here are a few reasons how I believe brands can, and should, capitalize on any economic condition:
1. It takes less effort – When your competitors are pulling back, now is the time to strike. It will take less investment to be heard because there's less "noise" out there. You will be able to negotiate some great value-added extras on media buys and placement. There are many studies that show marketers who kept their level of advertising investment the same during economic slow times, was able to gain significant market share when the economy picked back up. They were able to also ride the momentum gained to a greater effect during the high times right after the recession. While everyone else is trying to start their marketing engine back up, they're already at full speed and pulling away even more.
2. Hard times makes you better – What is true for you on a personal level, is true for the corporate level. Hard times makes you sharper, more focused, and become more creative. A good economy covers many business sins. You can get away with being stupid and still make money (for a while). When the conditions tighten, those who have managed and leveraged their brands and marketing well, will see the results of their discipline and investment pay off. There's no room for mediocre performance and so-so brands. Just look at the casual dinning sector. The likes of Chills, Applebees, and Fridays are taking a huge hit because their brands reside in the middle and are getting squeezed by McDonalds on the low end and Oceanaire on the high end. (check out Brand Power) In order to take advantage of the economic conditions, your marketing also needs to get creative and bold. You can't be timid in a world of change.
3. Change brings opportunities – Business is no longer static. Competition comes from all angles and in all sizes. This is truly a case where the mouse can roar and David can defeat Goliath. With change comes opportunities. Companies must look with a fresh view, all the possibilities change brings. It allows brands to reinvent themselves by offering a creative twist on current products or create new markets through unique combination of services. Change allows brands to extend their meanings both wide and deep. The mistake comes when marketers count solely on the physical aspect of the product or service they offer. If you do that, you're a fad. And all fads eventually go away. Investment in your brand in times of change allows you to reach new markets and customers by being able to add new meanings to what you stand for. The core of what you stand for remains the same, but the form must change. If you get stuck on the physical nature of what you have or your processes, you're missing the point about leveraging your brand. Brand is not the physical deliverable.
Economic recessions and constant change will become the norm in business life. Learn to embrace it and take advantage of it. One of the most important asset you have is your brand. It's what stands the test of time and can become an enduring icon in customers' mind and hearts. These times belong to the bold and to those who refuse to sit back and let thing happen to them. Instead winning companies leverage their brands,make a dent in their world, and accelerate their momentum when the economy swings to the better.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
Recession. Wild market swings. New competition. You better get used to change. It's here to stay and I believe it's the way of global business from here on. What once was "gospel" is no longer always true. Winning companies will act more counterintuitive. They will learn to thrive in a sea of change and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. As one of our recent military Generals said, "If you don't like change. Try irrelevance. You'll hate that even more." The same is true in marketing. If you don't leverage your brand in challenging times, then you might not be around for the good. Here are a few reasons how I believe brands can, and should, capitalize on any economic condition:
1. It takes less effort – When your competitors are pulling back, now is the time to strike. It will take less investment to be heard because there's less "noise" out there. You will be able to negotiate some great value-added extras on media buys and placement. There are many studies that show marketers who kept their level of advertising investment the same during economic slow times, was able to gain significant market share when the economy picked back up. They were able to also ride the momentum gained to a greater effect during the high times right after the recession. While everyone else is trying to start their marketing engine back up, they're already at full speed and pulling away even more.
2. Hard times makes you better – What is true for you on a personal level, is true for the corporate level. Hard times makes you sharper, more focused, and become more creative. A good economy covers many business sins. You can get away with being stupid and still make money (for a while). When the conditions tighten, those who have managed and leveraged their brands and marketing well, will see the results of their discipline and investment pay off. There's no room for mediocre performance and so-so brands. Just look at the casual dinning sector. The likes of Chills, Applebees, and Fridays are taking a huge hit because their brands reside in the middle and are getting squeezed by McDonalds on the low end and Oceanaire on the high end. (check out Brand Power) In order to take advantage of the economic conditions, your marketing also needs to get creative and bold. You can't be timid in a world of change.
3. Change brings opportunities – Business is no longer static. Competition comes from all angles and in all sizes. This is truly a case where the mouse can roar and David can defeat Goliath. With change comes opportunities. Companies must look with a fresh view, all the possibilities change brings. It allows brands to reinvent themselves by offering a creative twist on current products or create new markets through unique combination of services. Change allows brands to extend their meanings both wide and deep. The mistake comes when marketers count solely on the physical aspect of the product or service they offer. If you do that, you're a fad. And all fads eventually go away. Investment in your brand in times of change allows you to reach new markets and customers by being able to add new meanings to what you stand for. The core of what you stand for remains the same, but the form must change. If you get stuck on the physical nature of what you have or your processes, you're missing the point about leveraging your brand. Brand is not the physical deliverable.
Economic recessions and constant change will become the norm in business life. Learn to embrace it and take advantage of it. One of the most important asset you have is your brand. It's what stands the test of time and can become an enduring icon in customers' mind and hearts. These times belong to the bold and to those who refuse to sit back and let thing happen to them. Instead winning companies leverage their brands,make a dent in their world, and accelerate their momentum when the economy swings to the better.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
In the marketing industry, clients have sometimes grappled on what is most effective, advertising or public relations? If you ask some ad agencies, they will tell you advertising drives marketing. If you ask some public relations firms, they will tell you that public relations gives you more bang for your buck. In my 25 years of marketing, I've had the privilege to work, and learn, in some at some of the best advertising agencies and public relations firms. Here are a few concepts that I've incorporated into our agency:
1. Advertising is for the long haul
Advertising is the foundation to build your brand. It's the constant hum that keeps your company and products/services in the minds of your customers and prospects. The main goal is to never go “dark” because it’s still true, “out of sight, out of mind”. Ad campaigns are strategic pushes that you ADD on top of what you’re already doing to reach critical mass. Whether it’s a new product introduction, breaking into a new market or just reminding the world the value you can bring to their lives.
2. Public Relations is spikes
Public Relations is able to gain quick momentum in a short amount of time. It’s a great tool to gain quick awareness, buzz, and become the center of social media. PR’s effectiveness lies in their relationships with media outlets, influencers, and individuals. It’s a great way to either be the lead edge of an ad campaign or to drive interest when advertising is in maintenance mode. It provides quick, immediate spikes in the market space. Public Relations also is very effective when it comes to crisis control or driving home important information that needs to get out in a short amount of time.
3. Know how to use both
In our experience, not too many companies can afford to spend full blast on both advertising and public relations at the same time. To gain maximum effectiveness from both tools, we’ve incorporated a “yin-yang” approach (see chart). This ensures that we never go “dark” in the market space and that we use each tool for what it’s meant to be. Some marketers I’ve seen, want to use PR as their advertising strategy. The problem they run into is PR is very dependent on new news. No new news, no interest. It’s very unrealistic to think a company will have great new things that’s worth a significant amount of spend every month. Eventually, your media relationships will sense you’re crying wolf too much and begin to ignore your pitches. On the other hand, some expect advertising to create immediate buzz and become the darling of social media. Unless you do something very daring and bold, that’s unlikely to happen.
In the marketing industry, clients have sometimes grappled on what is most effective, advertising or public relations? If you ask some ad agencies, they will tell you advertising drives marketing. If you ask some public relations firms, they will tell you that public relations gives you more bang for your buck. In my 25 years of marketing, I've had the privilege to work, and learn, in some at some of the best advertising agencies and public relations firms. Here are a few concepts that I've incorporated into our agency:
1. Advertising is for the long haul
Advertising is the foundation to build your brand. It's the constant hum that keeps your company and products/services in the minds of your customers and prospects. The main goal is to never go “dark” because it’s still true, “out of sight, out of mind”. Ad campaigns are strategic pushes that you ADD on top of what you’re already doing to reach critical mass. Whether it’s a new product introduction, breaking into a new market or just reminding the world the value you can bring to their lives.
2. Public Relations is spikes
Public Relations is able to gain quick momentum in a short amount of time. It’s a great tool to gain quick awareness, buzz, and become the center of social media. PR’s effectiveness lies in their relationships with media outlets, influencers, and individuals. It’s a great way to either be the lead edge of an ad campaign or to drive interest when advertising is in maintenance mode. It provides quick, immediate spikes in the market space. Public Relations also is very effective when it comes to crisis control or driving home important information that needs to get out in a short amount of time.
3. Know how to use both
In our experience, not too many companies can afford to spend full blast on both advertising and public relations at the same time. To gain maximum effectiveness from both tools, we’ve incorporated a “yin-yang” approach (see chart). This ensures that we never go “dark” in the market space and that we use each tool for what it’s meant to be. Some marketers I’ve seen, want to use PR as their advertising strategy. The problem they run into is PR is very dependent on new news. No new news, no interest. It’s very unrealistic to think a company will have great new things that’s worth a significant amount of spend every month. Eventually, your media relationships will sense you’re crying wolf too much and begin to ignore your pitches. On the other hand, some expect advertising to create immediate buzz and become the darling of social media. Unless you do something very daring and bold, that’s unlikely to happen.
If any agency, advertising or PR, says that the other isn’t worth the investment, they really don’t know how to market in my opinion. You see more and more many agencies are blurring the lines. Ad agencies forming PR departments and visa versa. It’s the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. This coordination is powerful and extremely effective. I will bet on my chances of winning with both fists’ swinging vs having one hand tied behind my back.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
There are two under served market segments in today’s market place. One is seniors. The other is women. This blog is going to focus on women. I just recently had a conversation with a prospect. Their company is in the category of improving home air quality. One of their products keeps upstairs rooms cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. We all know how difficult it is to cool/heat upstairs rooms. It’s a great product. In our conversation, we discussed the market space their product needed to appeal to. Initially, they though it was more of a guy’s product since it’s a home improvement item. They looked a outlets such as Lowes, Ace Hardware, and HVAC companies. I told them that they were going after the wrong market.
Women are completely under served by marketers, but it’s the women who dominate the decision making in almost every key area of commerce. Marketers and advertising agencies must wake up and start paying attention to women in an authentic way. Not just an ad or two or a “program”, but gear long-term strategies in earning women’s business. Here is a brief breakdown of just a few categories where women are the main buyers or are the main influencers:
• Personal computers – 66%
• Financial services (household investment decisions) – 67%
• Home improvement – 80%
• Consumer electronics – 60%
• Adventure travel and vacations – 89%
• Small business loans – 70%
• New cars – 60%
• ALL CONSUMER PURCHASES – 83%
And these are just some of the categories that used to be thought as male driven. Women are harder to gain, but once you do, they stay loyal to a brand over 3-times longer than men. Women don’t buy brands, they join them. A recent statistic in the financial industry shows that the average male refers their institution to approximately 6 other people. Women, on the other hand, refers their financial institution in to 22 other people. Who would you rather have as a customer? A riding mower manufacture wanted to test for themselves if the theory of women dominating the market space holds true in their industry. The result – over 60% of their customers are women. Riding lawnmowers. Who knew?
Major marketers have begun to see the potential in connecting with women. They realize how much money they are leaving on the table by not catering to them. Lowes has made a real effort to connect to women in their marketing and advertising. Their results have been very positive so far. It’s allowed them to gain market share on Home Depot. Financial institutions such as Prudential and Fidelity are creating marketing programs directly aimed at women. I showed the prospect, that was mentioned earlier, several magazines such as Parents, Better Home and Gardens, and Real Simple. All women’s magazines. He saw advertisers such as Lowes, Home Depot, True Value Hardware, Bank of America, and Fidelity. He realized as I built the case that women are is prime audience. Not the guys he assumed they’d be. Now just because you’re marketing to women doesn’t mean you’re excluding men. In fact, if you win over the women, you’ll get the husband and the family. Lose the woman, you lose the family.
What needs to change? Most women don’t feel like they are portrayed honestly in advertising. In a survey, 91% of women say marketers don’t understand them and 59% say they annoy them.
• Women don’t buy brands, they join them
• Selling to men: a transaction, selling to women: relationship model
• Research shows women are interested in a relationship with their vendor
• Connect women to each other connects them to your brand
• Own 51% of high net worth
In the end, the women market is powerful, affluent, and in charge. Your marketing and advertising better be inviting them to join your brand or otherwise you’ll find your competitors wooing their dollars at your expense. And once they become loyal to a brand, it’s extremely hard to pry them away.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
There are two under served market segments in today’s market place. One is seniors. The other is women. This blog is going to focus on women. I just recently had a conversation with a prospect. Their company is in the category of improving home air quality. One of their products keeps upstairs rooms cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. We all know how difficult it is to cool/heat upstairs rooms. It’s a great product. In our conversation, we discussed the market space their product needed to appeal to. Initially, they though it was more of a guy’s product since it’s a home improvement item. They looked a outlets such as Lowes, Ace Hardware, and HVAC companies. I told them that they were going after the wrong market.
Women are completely under served by marketers, but it’s the women who dominate the decision making in almost every key area of commerce. Marketers and advertising agencies must wake up and start paying attention to women in an authentic way. Not just an ad or two or a “program”, but gear long-term strategies in earning women’s business. Here is a brief breakdown of just a few categories where women are the main buyers or are the main influencers:
• Personal computers – 66%
• Financial services (household investment decisions) – 67%
• Home improvement – 80%
• Consumer electronics – 60%
• Adventure travel and vacations – 89%
• Small business loans – 70%
• New cars – 60%
• ALL CONSUMER PURCHASES – 83%
And these are just some of the categories that used to be thought as male driven. Women are harder to gain, but once you do, they stay loyal to a brand over 3-times longer than men. Women don’t buy brands, they join them. A recent statistic in the financial industry shows that the average male refers their institution to approximately 6 other people. Women, on the other hand, refers their financial institution in to 22 other people. Who would you rather have as a customer? A riding mower manufacture wanted to test for themselves if the theory of women dominating the market space holds true in their industry. The result – over 60% of their customers are women. Riding lawnmowers. Who knew?
Major marketers have begun to see the potential in connecting with women. They realize how much money they are leaving on the table by not catering to them. Lowes has made a real effort to connect to women in their marketing and advertising. Their results have been very positive so far. It’s allowed them to gain market share on Home Depot. Financial institutions such as Prudential and Fidelity are creating marketing programs directly aimed at women. I showed the prospect, that was mentioned earlier, several magazines such as Parents, Better Home and Gardens, and Real Simple. All women’s magazines. He saw advertisers such as Lowes, Home Depot, True Value Hardware, Bank of America, and Fidelity. He realized as I built the case that women are is prime audience. Not the guys he assumed they’d be. Now just because you’re marketing to women doesn’t mean you’re excluding men. In fact, if you win over the women, you’ll get the husband and the family. Lose the woman, you lose the family.
What needs to change? Most women don’t feel like they are portrayed honestly in advertising. In a survey, 91% of women say marketers don’t understand them and 59% say they annoy them.
• Women don’t buy brands, they join them
• Selling to men: a transaction, selling to women: relationship model
• Research shows women are interested in a relationship with their vendor
• Connect women to each other connects them to your brand
• Own 51% of high net worth
In the end, the women market is powerful, affluent, and in charge. Your marketing and advertising better be inviting them to join your brand or otherwise you’ll find your competitors wooing their dollars at your expense. And once they become loyal to a brand, it’s extremely hard to pry them away.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
What does your brand do for your customers? That’s the real question. Now, I’m not talking about specs or a description of what it literally does. What I want to know is what does it do for your customers. A brand done right creates a mindset in your company and in your customers. They almost become human in representation in customers minds. It’s possible to get your brand verb down to just one word. For example, Harley Davidson rebels, Nike wins, Intel innovates, and Apple creates. These brand qualities are what their customers identify with and want to make their own.
Brands are active. They just don’t sit around. Even bad ones are active. They just do harm as long as they go unchecked. A great brand does something for the customer in a real, authentic way. There was a research project by Duke University that was published in the Journal of Consumer Research in 2008. It set out to see if it could measure what a brand does for consumers. Could Apple really make you feel more creative? They compared Apple to IBM as a controlled test pairs. Subjects were presented with a split screen. What they saw was a flash of a logo for a half of a second. Half of the test group was repeatedly shown the Apple logo, the other half, the IBM logo. Afterward, the subjects were given a creative challenge. It was to come up with as many uses for a brick that didn’t pertain to making a building. Independent researchers were to judge the answers based on how creative they were. The results: The group that had been exposed to the Apple logo came up with 30% more uses for a brick that the group shown only the IBM logo. The independent judges also rated the Apple group more unique and creative than the other. The same test was done with Disney and E! (Disney’s brand represented honesty) The group was asked to answer true or false on a battery of questions. The same results: Those shown only the Disney logo overwhelmingly answered their questions with more honesty than the group shown only E! logo.
So what does this prove? It does support that brands DO inspire or create certain kinds of feelings and emotions in consumers. Branding is that simple and that hard. Don’t let anyone kid you, if done right, branding is hard. If they tell you it’s easy, either they don’t know what they’re talking about or they are much smarter than I am. Just like in martial arts, if some one tells me they can get a black belt from any style in less than 3.5 to 4 years, it’s not worth much. They would be better off going to the local martial arts supply store and buy their black belt for $5. It’s cheaper and the results are the same. The same is true about branding. Branding is not a program, it’s not about money, but it’s about a state of mind.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
What does your brand do for your customers? That’s the real question. Now, I’m not talking about specs or a description of what it literally does. What I want to know is what does it do for your customers. A brand done right creates a mindset in your company and in your customers. They almost become human in representation in customers minds. It’s possible to get your brand verb down to just one word. For example, Harley Davidson rebels, Nike wins, Intel innovates, and Apple creates. These brand qualities are what their customers identify with and want to make their own.
Brands are active. They just don’t sit around. Even bad ones are active. They just do harm as long as they go unchecked. A great brand does something for the customer in a real, authentic way. There was a research project by Duke University that was published in the Journal of Consumer Research in 2008. It set out to see if it could measure what a brand does for consumers. Could Apple really make you feel more creative? They compared Apple to IBM as a controlled test pairs. Subjects were presented with a split screen. What they saw was a flash of a logo for a half of a second. Half of the test group was repeatedly shown the Apple logo, the other half, the IBM logo. Afterward, the subjects were given a creative challenge. It was to come up with as many uses for a brick that didn’t pertain to making a building. Independent researchers were to judge the answers based on how creative they were. The results: The group that had been exposed to the Apple logo came up with 30% more uses for a brick that the group shown only the IBM logo. The independent judges also rated the Apple group more unique and creative than the other. The same test was done with Disney and E! (Disney’s brand represented honesty) The group was asked to answer true or false on a battery of questions. The same results: Those shown only the Disney logo overwhelmingly answered their questions with more honesty than the group shown only E! logo.
So what does this prove? It does support that brands DO inspire or create certain kinds of feelings and emotions in consumers. Branding is that simple and that hard. Don’t let anyone kid you, if done right, branding is hard. If they tell you it’s easy, either they don’t know what they’re talking about or they are much smarter than I am. Just like in martial arts, if some one tells me they can get a black belt from any style in less than 3.5 to 4 years, it’s not worth much. They would be better off going to the local martial arts supply store and buy their black belt for $5. It’s cheaper and the results are the same. The same is true about branding. Branding is not a program, it’s not about money, but it’s about a state of mind.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
I happened across a research finding that I found very interesting. It set out to discover, “What’s the future of advertising?” It was conducted by the Wharton School of Business in conjuction with the Advertising Research Foundation. (One thing to understand about the ARF, they are NOT a lobby group for the advertising industry or a trade organization. They don’t favor media companies or ad agencies. And they aren’t bias toward any advertising vehicle, old school or new media. They are an independent research group that objectively looks at advertising, it’s trends and what it means.)
Their findings support some information that is widely accepted and disputes others. They wanted to see if some of the “accepted” truths such as “TV isn’t working” is factual or is it just a lot of assumptions. Here’s a brief of the highlights:
1. TV advertising – TV, overall, still works as well or better than it did more than 10 years ago with similar tests. The concern about the decreasing effect of TV advertising is not supported by the data. TV is still very effective.
2. Word-of-Mouth – Over 22% of “influentials” word-of-mouth was sparked by paid advertising and was brand specific. Of the remaining 78% that wasn’t spurred by advertising, no brand was recommended in the conversations.
3. Online Buzz – Over 30% of online buzz was generated because of specific advertising. (These numbers are low because they don’t account for indirect influence of adversiting)
4. DVR – Essentially no difference in average recall or likability scores among households with DVR’s than those without. This is supported by a study by P&G seven years ago.
5. Print advertising – Print is more effective than TV or online advertising at creating purchase intent. It produces a higher sales lift per dollar spent.
6. Search rankings – Gives a higher sales lift per customer exposure than online display ads alone. But, display ads used in conjunction with SEO, produces a higher lift than using either one separately.
In the end, the findings supports one key factor that we believe in: new technology is not a strategy. It’s a part of it, to be sure, but the interplay of all of the tactics gives marketers a powerful way to drive your brand and message in all areas of media, online, offline, social, and search. The smart money is to be where your customers are, regardless of the media vehicle.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
I happened across a research finding that I found very interesting. It set out to discover, “What’s the future of advertising?” It was conducted by the Wharton School of Business in conjuction with the Advertising Research Foundation. (One thing to understand about the ARF, they are NOT a lobby group for the advertising industry or a trade organization. They don’t favor media companies or ad agencies. And they aren’t bias toward any advertising vehicle, old school or new media. They are an independent research group that objectively looks at advertising, it’s trends and what it means.)
Their findings support some information that is widely accepted and disputes others. They wanted to see if some of the “accepted” truths such as “TV isn’t working” is factual or is it just a lot of assumptions. Here’s a brief of the highlights:
1. TV advertising – TV, overall, still works as well or better than it did more than 10 years ago with similar tests. The concern about the decreasing effect of TV advertising is not supported by the data. TV is still very effective.
2. Word-of-Mouth – Over 22% of “influentials” word-of-mouth was sparked by paid advertising and was brand specific. Of the remaining 78% that wasn’t spurred by advertising, no brand was recommended in the conversations.
3. Online Buzz – Over 30% of online buzz was generated because of specific advertising. (These numbers are low because they don’t account for indirect influence of adversiting)
4. DVR – Essentially no difference in average recall or likability scores among households with DVR’s than those without. This is supported by a study by P&G seven years ago.
5. Print advertising – Print is more effective than TV or online advertising at creating purchase intent. It produces a higher sales lift per dollar spent.
6. Search rankings – Gives a higher sales lift per customer exposure than online display ads alone. But, display ads used in conjunction with SEO, produces a higher lift than using either one separately.
In the end, the findings supports one key factor that we believe in: new technology is not a strategy. It’s a part of it, to be sure, but the interplay of all of the tactics gives marketers a powerful way to drive your brand and message in all areas of media, online, offline, social, and search. The smart money is to be where your customers are, regardless of the media vehicle.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
“What’s my ROI in this campaign? If I spend this amount in marketing, how much will I increase in sales?” ROI is the single most measured and talked about benchmark in business, especially in marketing. For financial types, it helps them justify the spend in marketing and advertising. And with new technologies today, like the internet, we can actually measure what each effort brings in. So, what’s wrong with using ROI as THE single measure of success?
Here are a couple of points:
1. Marketing success is also because of brand success
For many companies, their brand is their greatest asset. If you don’t believe that, tell me which you would rather have: an increase of 30% in your current sales because of a SEO and PPC campaign or Apple’s brand? Evaluating a brand is beyond the simple ROI measurement. You can measure a promotion or advertising campaign’s effectiveness, but what does it do to the long-term value of the company? If you concentrate too much on ROI to guide marketing decisions, you could be damaging the long-term value of your brand. Branding isn’t the only thing that ROI can’t measure. Does customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, perception of your company, employee morale, and motivation of distributors matter to you? Do you think they make a difference to your bottomline? Can you measure these traits with ROI? If you sacrifice brand qualities in favor of exclusively depending on financial ROI, you could be damaging your company more than you are helping it.
2. Are you measuring the right numbers
Looking at the numbers isn’t bad. What you have to be sure is that you’re looking at the right numbers. Business has many things to measure, but if you blindly assume that sales ROI is THE only number to concentrate on, you could be missing potential revenue. At worst, you could be damaging your long-term brand and health of the company. For example, one of the leading gas station companies in China owned about 50% of the market. Their C-level executives decided to concentrate on doubling revenue by increasing the number of stations. They felt if they achieve their target goal of number of stations, that would achieve their ultimate target of double revenues. They achieved their “numbers”. They proved their business and marketing acumen. Something strange happened, their overall revenue went down. Why? After some post-research, they found out that a majority of stations was underperforming. Because of the lack of training, cutting costs to where it affected customer experience, and depending on one or two marketing “silver bullets”, customers were completely underwhelmed. You see, they’ve built up a brand that meant something, so when the shear number of stations couldn’t provide the same level of experience, many customers were disappointed and bought fuel elsewhere. The company’s problem was they concentrated on the wrong numbers which ultimately damaged their real value, their brand.
Measuring ROI isn’t wrong. It’s wrong to focus solely just on that. Starbucks is a clear example. They built their brand on the coffee experience. In order to boost short-term profits, they introduced several initiatives such as breakfast sandwiches. Now the ROI was in the black. It makes money, but as Howard Schultz sees it, they’ve lost their way and have strayed from their true core. Even employees feel like they are working at a fast food joint instead of being the special person they’re supposed to be – a skilled barista. This is one factor of why Howard Schultz is getting more involved again with his creation. He’s sees the long-term brand damage that short-term ROI is causing.
So in the end, be more open minded about marketing, what you measure, and what you call success. In business, as in life, money isn’t everything.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
“What’s my ROI in this campaign? If I spend this amount in marketing, how much will I increase in sales?” ROI is the single most measured and talked about benchmark in business, especially in marketing. For financial types, it helps them justify the spend in marketing and advertising. And with new technologies today, like the internet, we can actually measure what each effort brings in. So, what’s wrong with using ROI as THE single measure of success?
Here are a couple of points:
1. Marketing success is also because of brand success
For many companies, their brand is their greatest asset. If you don’t believe that, tell me which you would rather have: an increase of 30% in your current sales because of a SEO and PPC campaign or Apple’s brand? Evaluating a brand is beyond the simple ROI measurement. You can measure a promotion or advertising campaign’s effectiveness, but what does it do to the long-term value of the company? If you concentrate too much on ROI to guide marketing decisions, you could be damaging the long-term value of your brand. Branding isn’t the only thing that ROI can’t measure. Does customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, perception of your company, employee morale, and motivation of distributors matter to you? Do you think they make a difference to your bottomline? Can you measure these traits with ROI? If you sacrifice brand qualities in favor of exclusively depending on financial ROI, you could be damaging your company more than you are helping it.
2. Are you measuring the right numbers
Looking at the numbers isn’t bad. What you have to be sure is that you’re looking at the right numbers. Business has many things to measure, but if you blindly assume that sales ROI is THE only number to concentrate on, you could be missing potential revenue. At worst, you could be damaging your long-term brand and health of the company. For example, one of the leading gas station companies in China owned about 50% of the market. Their C-level executives decided to concentrate on doubling revenue by increasing the number of stations. They felt if they achieve their target goal of number of stations, that would achieve their ultimate target of double revenues. They achieved their “numbers”. They proved their business and marketing acumen. Something strange happened, their overall revenue went down. Why? After some post-research, they found out that a majority of stations was underperforming. Because of the lack of training, cutting costs to where it affected customer experience, and depending on one or two marketing “silver bullets”, customers were completely underwhelmed. You see, they’ve built up a brand that meant something, so when the shear number of stations couldn’t provide the same level of experience, many customers were disappointed and bought fuel elsewhere. The company’s problem was they concentrated on the wrong numbers which ultimately damaged their real value, their brand.
Measuring ROI isn’t wrong. It’s wrong to focus solely just on that. Starbucks is a clear example. They built their brand on the coffee experience. In order to boost short-term profits, they introduced several initiatives such as breakfast sandwiches. Now the ROI was in the black. It makes money, but as Howard Schultz sees it, they’ve lost their way and have strayed from their true core. Even employees feel like they are working at a fast food joint instead of being the special person they’re supposed to be – a skilled barista. This is one factor of why Howard Schultz is getting more involved again with his creation. He’s sees the long-term brand damage that short-term ROI is causing.
So in the end, be more open minded about marketing, what you measure, and what you call success. In business, as in life, money isn’t everything.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Today, I’m going off the marketing path just a little to make a point I believe in. In today’s world, technology has made it possible to communicate across the world and connect with people whom you’ve never met before in person. We can woo customers whom we have no idea who they are and garner business from people we’ve only emailed. If we’re somewhat advanced, we actually get to see them through teleconferencing. All of this is fine and dandy, but I feel like it also makes us vulnerable with our customers.
You see, if there is no personal or human connection, your customers can, and will, easily replace you. You’re nothing more than just an email on the other end or just a voice on the cell phone. I have no personal buy-in to you or your company. Some may say that their superior product/service will be enough to capture and keep customers. I don’t buy that. There are too many “superior” products/services who lose out to others because the salesperson actually took the time to get to know the customer as a person and understood who they are and what they’re about. Remember, we humans tend to do business with friends over strangers any day.
The art of face-to-face is becoming lost. We use speed and convenience of technology to communicate with our customers at the sacrifice of becoming a real person to them by physically seeing them on a regular basis. At BE Branded, we make it a point to actually see our clients on a regular basis. We break bread with them. We become more than just a voice or email. And sometimes, we actually develop a true friendship. It’s amazing what you can learn about each other over lunch or dinner. You realize that each other are real people with real emotions, concerns, hopes, and dreams. By understanding this, you can actually better serve your client. And in some cases, keep them as clients. Because you’ve become more than just a “vendor”, you’re most likely to be given second chances for blowing it on those rare occasions. You’ve deposited “goodwill” in the bank.
Here’s an example of what can happen if companies depend too much on technology for their communications and connections with clients. Just recently, Heineken put their marketing account up for review. Their current advertising agency is in Portland. Heineken is in New York. It’s not that they were dissatisfied with their current agency, but they felt that because of the complexity of their marketing channels, they wanted an advertising agency who they could meet with face-to-face on a regular basis. Heineken executives stated that “Collaboration is essential for a successful partnership, and in-person meetings DO make a big difference.” The account is worth $110 million. Other companies also put their advertising account up for review because of wanting more face time with their agencies (ConocoPhillips and Liberty Mutual).
Technology is great at what it does best – quick, convenient, innovative. But when it comes to servicing clients on a real, human level, nothing replaces good, ol’ fashioned face-to-face discussions. Think back to even your own personal experiences with calling the customer service line of a company. It took three rounds of listening and talking with a computer before we reached a human. Now wasn’t that pleasant? Keep the art of seeing real people, having real conversations, solving real problems. Who knows, you might end up with a new friend. And when that client is now a friend, your chances of keeping their business just increased dramatically.
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Too many companies and entrepreneurs today think that technology is a strategy. They say, "All I need to do is get rankings. Just create an online store and they'll come running. What I really need is a killer app. You just have to be doing the newest twitter thing (or whatever the flavor of the week is)." Too many believe the silver bullet(s) is Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Companies and entrepreneurs make e-commerce or social networking their core marketing strategy.
Here's some insight for you – TECHNOLOGY IS NOT A MARKETING STRATEGY PLAY. It's only an enabler. Real marketing strategy is still centered around relationships with brands. It's still a matter of emotional connection, not technology connection. The online tools are great and allow us to do things that were once impossible or very expensive. Cool apps, social media, and web site rankings are part of the picture, but it's not THE picture. What happens when you put all of your money and efforts into a piece of technology or new app and 6 months later something cooler, different, better comes along? Do you run to that? If you keep this up all you'll end up doing is running in place going from one new thing to another. Now there's nothing wrong with trying out new things, but too many just hop in without any thought of does it help us get to where we're going? If so, how does it fit within the other strategies already in place?
Here's an example. Drugstore.com was supposed to put the Walgreens out of business. No more brick and mortar. Just go online, click, click, and you're done. It was going to be the new world order overtaking the outdated concept of actual stores. Initially, Drugstore.com's stock soared as everyone saw this as a "can't lose" company because their strategy was NEW technology and a NEW way to do business. But Walgreens did a strange thing. They didn't panic. They didn't put their next two-year marketing budget building and promoting an online store. What the executive team did do was they took a careful look at the web, its capabilities, and its advantages and compared that to what their core brand was (to be the most convenient pharmacy in America). Now, yes, an online store is convenient, but it also would erode one of their core economic drivers, the purchase of snacks, drinks, paper towels, and any other of items they sell that aren't dugs. So how did Walgreens not only survive, but crush Drugstore.com? They utilized the new technology in how it operated their backend. By creating an internal network of linking all of their stores online, customers now can call every Walgreens store in any state their "hometown" pharmacy. Because each store can access customer information from a common data base online, a customer from Kansas City who is on vacation in Tampa can walk in and get their prescription filled right there. This supported their brand of "most convenient pharmacy in America" without eroding one of their core economic drivers. This also helped Walgreens still keep a real, human relationship with their customers by having human pharmacists interact with customers and answering any questions or fears they may have.
Side note: Drugstore.com stock sold for $11 at their IPO. At it's peak it was $69 in 1999 a few months after the IPO. Now it sells for $1.84 in 2009. Price for Walgreen's stock: $30 as of June 2009.
In the end, marketing strategy is about telling a human story that communicates on an authentic level in ways that truly connect with your market. Marketing is a RELATIONSHIP PLAY that leverages technology to its advantage. If it doesn't add or support your brand, why use it?Technology must enhance your brand and story. It shouldn't BE the story.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
Too many companies and entrepreneurs today think that technology is a strategy. They say, "All I need to do is get rankings. Just create an online store and they'll come running. What I really need is a killer app. You just have to be doing the newest twitter thing (or whatever the flavor of the week is)." Too many believe the silver bullet(s) is Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Companies and entrepreneurs make e-commerce or social networking their core marketing strategy.
Here's some insight for you – TECHNOLOGY IS NOT A MARKETING STRATEGY PLAY. It's only an enabler. Real marketing strategy is still centered around relationships with brands. It's still a matter of emotional connection, not technology connection. The online tools are great and allow us to do things that were once impossible or very expensive. Cool apps, social media, and web site rankings are part of the picture, but it's not THE picture. What happens when you put all of your money and efforts into a piece of technology or new app and 6 months later something cooler, different, better comes along? Do you run to that? If you keep this up all you'll end up doing is running in place going from one new thing to another. Now there's nothing wrong with trying out new things, but too many just hop in without any thought of does it help us get to where we're going? If so, how does it fit within the other strategies already in place?
Here's an example. Drugstore.com was supposed to put the Walgreens out of business. No more brick and mortar. Just go online, click, click, and you're done. It was going to be the new world order overtaking the outdated concept of actual stores. Initially, Drugstore.com's stock soared as everyone saw this as a "can't lose" company because their strategy was NEW technology and a NEW way to do business. But Walgreens did a strange thing. They didn't panic. They didn't put their next two-year marketing budget building and promoting an online store. What the executive team did do was they took a careful look at the web, its capabilities, and its advantages and compared that to what their core brand was (to be the most convenient pharmacy in America). Now, yes, an online store is convenient, but it also would erode one of their core economic drivers, the purchase of snacks, drinks, paper towels, and any other of items they sell that aren't dugs. So how did Walgreens not only survive, but crush Drugstore.com? They utilized the new technology in how it operated their backend. By creating an internal network of linking all of their stores online, customers now can call every Walgreens store in any state their "hometown" pharmacy. Because each store can access customer information from a common data base online, a customer from Kansas City who is on vacation in Tampa can walk in and get their prescription filled right there. This supported their brand of "most convenient pharmacy in America" without eroding one of their core economic drivers. This also helped Walgreens still keep a real, human relationship with their customers by having human pharmacists interact with customers and answering any questions or fears they may have.
Side note: Drugstore.com stock sold for $11 at their IPO. At it's peak it was $69 in 1999 a few months after the IPO. Now it sells for $1.84 in 2009. Price for Walgreen's stock: $30 as of June 2009.
In the end, marketing strategy is about telling a human story that communicates on an authentic level in ways that truly connect with your market. Marketing is a RELATIONSHIP PLAY that leverages technology to its advantage. If it doesn't add or support your brand, why use it?Technology must enhance your brand and story. It shouldn't BE the story.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
Your business isn't growing and your bottom line proves it. Is it your marketing that's not hitting the mark? Or, is it your sales efforts that is losing the customer? Is it one or the other or both? How can you tell? Ultimately, how can you fix something if you don't know where the problem lies? Here is one way to find out.
It's called the Purchase Funnel Assessment. It visually shows you what responsibilities marketing and advertising has and what responsibilities sales has. Below is the chart that I'll reference in this blog.
Your business isn't growing and your bottom line proves it. Is it your marketing that's not hitting the mark? Or, is it your sales efforts that is losing the customer? Is it one or the other or both? How can you tell? Ultimately, how can you fix something if you don't know where the problem lies? Here is one way to find out.
It's called the Purchase Funnel Assessment. It visually shows you what responsibilities marketing and advertising has and what responsibilities sales has. Below is the chart that I'll reference in this blog.
At the top is what marketing is responsible for. Sales is responsible for the bottom half of the funnel. This is where a purchase begins for all customers. They flow in this order:
Getting customers into the purchase funnel is what marketing does. This is accomplished by brand, advertising, messaging, and media plans.
1. There must be awareness of your product/service
2. Customers must then become familiar with what benefits you provide and how you will make their lives better
3. Then they will form an opinion about you and your company
4. Once they have an opinion, then you are in their consideration to buy from
The bottom half of the funnel is where sales takes over. This has everything to do with the environment (store or web site), competitive conditions, and pricing structure.
5. Once they're in the "store" how strong is the intent to buy? It's sales' job to increase that intent
6. Customers must have a great experience while there, otherwise, they are out the door
7. If you follow through on your part, then the purchase is made, congratulations, you have a new customer/client
If there are any holes in any of these seven steps, that's where customers will leak out and you lose them. This is how you can tell if there's a hole in marketing or sales. By knowing this you can fix the problem quicker and with the right solution. For example, if your brand isn't well defined, then opinion of your company suffers. Your prospect leaves at this point. That's a hole in your marketing. If your company (or web site functionality) does not provide a wonderful time are not genuinely there to serve, your prospects will have a bad experience with your company and walk out the door (or click on to another web site). This is a hole in sales.
All of these steps must be fulfilled in order to gain another customer/client. If your company isn't gaining the market share you projected or expect, then there is a leak in your funnel where they are leaving you. By knowing if its a marketing or sales issue, you'll be able to take appropriate action and invest your resources (human and financial) wisely. And one more point, when fixing these leaks, being cheap won't cut it. All you'll end up doing is putting on a temporary patch which you'll have to spend more re-fixing later. While in the meantime, you're still losing customers, just not as fast as before. Like anything else, if you're going to do something, do it right with the necessary resources. It will payoff in the the end with increased revenue and market share.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
I just recently came from a corporate networking meeting. I had the opportunity to listen to about 30 "elevator" speeches. A few were good, some interesting, but most were very forgettable. The ones that were dull solely concentrated on what they did or the literal description of their product. We all have had the experience of when someone tells you the specifics of their product or service, our eyes glaze over and the information goes in one ear and out the other. There's nothing that captivates our imagination or compels us to be a part of something great. Unfortunately, many company's advertising does the same thing. The spout off the latest and greatest details of what their product does or the kind of service they provide without capturing our imaginations or touching on our desires. Customers glance at it and blow by. It doesn't matter if it's online, offline, social media, or any other channel you can think of.
In reality, customers don't buy products and services. They buy benefits and dreams. Your advertising and marketing should captivate your customers imagination. It should help them see how wonderful their life COULD be with your product or service. Marketing isn't a spec sheet. It's not a rundown of EVERYTHING your product does. Nor is it a laundry list of every service your provide. And it's definitely not how wonderful your company is. Your advertising should be about how you can benefit your customer's life. How your service can help them achieve their dreams. It doesn't matter if it's B2B or B2C, the same principles apply:
1. Tell me what benefits I will get – Don't tell me everything your product/service does. It not about how great you are, it's how much can you benefit my life or business. Save the details. That will come after I decided that you may have what I need. Then, I will want every piece of information you can give me. Not so much because I want to be able to do it myself, but to reinforce that my faith and trust in you is warranted.
2. Tell me how you can help me achieve my desires/goals – Help me realize my dreams and goals and I will be loyal customer for life. Not only that, I'll become an evangelist for you, for free. Don't tell me about how great your company is, that you've been in business for a gazillion years, that you will meet and exceed my expectations, and that you deliver quality, have standards of excellence, all wrapped up in integrity.
3. Tell me how you can be a meaningful part of my life – Let me know how you can become an integral part of my lifestyle or business and I'll give you my emotion and wallet. Show me how you fit my lifestyle, not make me adapt to your world or do things your way.
Your marketing and advertising should not be a dry recount of your product or service. Your advertising should capture the imagination and stimulate the mind. It is these things that customers will not only buy, but buy into.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
I just recently came from a corporate networking meeting. I had the opportunity to listen to about 30 "elevator" speeches. A few were good, some interesting, but most were very forgettable. The ones that were dull solely concentrated on what they did or the literal description of their product. We all have had the experience of when someone tells you the specifics of their product or service, our eyes glaze over and the information goes in one ear and out the other. There's nothing that captivates our imagination or compels us to be a part of something great. Unfortunately, many company's advertising does the same thing. The spout off the latest and greatest details of what their product does or the kind of service they provide without capturing our imaginations or touching on our desires. Customers glance at it and blow by. It doesn't matter if it's online, offline, social media, or any other channel you can think of.
In reality, customers don't buy products and services. They buy benefits and dreams. Your advertising and marketing should captivate your customers imagination. It should help them see how wonderful their life COULD be with your product or service. Marketing isn't a spec sheet. It's not a rundown of EVERYTHING your product does. Nor is it a laundry list of every service your provide. And it's definitely not how wonderful your company is. Your advertising should be about how you can benefit your customer's life. How your service can help them achieve their dreams. It doesn't matter if it's B2B or B2C, the same principles apply:
1. Tell me what benefits I will get – Don't tell me everything your product/service does. It not about how great you are, it's how much can you benefit my life or business. Save the details. That will come after I decided that you may have what I need. Then, I will want every piece of information you can give me. Not so much because I want to be able to do it myself, but to reinforce that my faith and trust in you is warranted.
2. Tell me how you can help me achieve my desires/goals – Help me realize my dreams and goals and I will be loyal customer for life. Not only that, I'll become an evangelist for you, for free. Don't tell me about how great your company is, that you've been in business for a gazillion years, that you will meet and exceed my expectations, and that you deliver quality, have standards of excellence, all wrapped up in integrity.
3. Tell me how you can be a meaningful part of my life – Let me know how you can become an integral part of my lifestyle or business and I'll give you my emotion and wallet. Show me how you fit my lifestyle, not make me adapt to your world or do things your way.
Your marketing and advertising should not be a dry recount of your product or service. Your advertising should capture the imagination and stimulate the mind. It is these things that customers will not only buy, but buy into.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
We've all know of many companies who have single positions of "Sales and Marketing". Often times, these are the same companies who blame marketing for the lack of sales. And most of the time it's the advertising or marketing agency that becomes the "fall guy" for the poor sales numbers. They believe since sales didn't increase, that the marketing campaign was a failure. In my opinion this type of thinking is not just wrong, but can be detrimental to the growth and health of a company.
In it's true essence, marketing is a way to introduce your company, service, product to the marketplace. It's a way to set yourself, your brand, as unique from other competitors who have similar products, with similar prices, and similar features. Now all of this has nothing to do with sales. Marketing isn't a one-on-one tactic. Marketing is telling as many people as possible who you are and what you offer to make their lives better, easier, more luxurious, cooler, etc. Marketing's ultimate goal is to bring interest to your company, product, service. Sales' ultimate goal is to make the one-on-one sale.
Sales is the singular activity that makes the final pitch to show a prospect that buying from your company is a worth while engagement. Whether it's brick-n-mortar or the virtual store, sales comes down to the moment of truth. By then you have had to made your story compelling and engaging through marketing to get them to consider you in the first place. It's up to the "sales" effort to get them to take action.
Here is a elementary, but clear, example. Say your child no longer wants to play the violin. So, you make a sign saying "Gently used violin for sale". You hang it in a local store. You ask people to call for details. The sign you made is marketing. The store is the media channel. The phone conversation with Mr. Jones – describing your child's violin, the quality, how new it is, and how little it's been played – that's sales. Marketing introduced Mr. Jones to you. You become the sales department.
Sales and marketing are different disciplines. Most companies are good at sales. Most companies are not good at marketing mostly because they try to sell when they really need to be marketing. That's where advertising agencies bring their real value. They are marketers, not sales companies. Trying to sell someone who doesn't know who you are and what you stand for turns you into the type of salesman that we all hate being around whether if it's an individual or a company. Sales without marketing, people feel like they're being "hustled". If you get your marketing right, making the sale will be easier.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
We've all know of many companies who have single positions of "Sales and Marketing". Often times, these are the same companies who blame marketing for the lack of sales. And most of the time it's the advertising or marketing agency that becomes the "fall guy" for the poor sales numbers. They believe since sales didn't increase, that the marketing campaign was a failure. In my opinion this type of thinking is not just wrong, but can be detrimental to the growth and health of a company.
In it's true essence, marketing is a way to introduce your company, service, product to the marketplace. It's a way to set yourself, your brand, as unique from other competitors who have similar products, with similar prices, and similar features. Now all of this has nothing to do with sales. Marketing isn't a one-on-one tactic. Marketing is telling as many people as possible who you are and what you offer to make their lives better, easier, more luxurious, cooler, etc. Marketing's ultimate goal is to bring interest to your company, product, service. Sales' ultimate goal is to make the one-on-one sale.
Sales is the singular activity that makes the final pitch to show a prospect that buying from your company is a worth while engagement. Whether it's brick-n-mortar or the virtual store, sales comes down to the moment of truth. By then you have had to made your story compelling and engaging through marketing to get them to consider you in the first place. It's up to the "sales" effort to get them to take action.
Here is a elementary, but clear, example. Say your child no longer wants to play the violin. So, you make a sign saying "Gently used violin for sale". You hang it in a local store. You ask people to call for details. The sign you made is marketing. The store is the media channel. The phone conversation with Mr. Jones – describing your child's violin, the quality, how new it is, and how little it's been played – that's sales. Marketing introduced Mr. Jones to you. You become the sales department.
Sales and marketing are different disciplines. Most companies are good at sales. Most companies are not good at marketing mostly because they try to sell when they really need to be marketing. That's where advertising agencies bring their real value. They are marketers, not sales companies. Trying to sell someone who doesn't know who you are and what you stand for turns you into the type of salesman that we all hate being around whether if it's an individual or a company. Sales without marketing, people feel like they're being "hustled". If you get your marketing right, making the sale will be easier.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded
How does brand power relate to advertising and marketing spend? In other words, how much is enough? First of all, know what to expect from your competitors. This will give you a gauge on how much you need to invest in advertising and marketing to keep up and how much to surpass them. This is a new way to think about advertising budget. It's no longer tied to percentage of sales. Here is an overview based on where you fall on the brand power scale (see blog on June 13, 2009)
Optimum branding is measures the efficiency of the dollars spent in relationship to the brand power achieved. There are four categories:
Proactive brands – These brands have greater than average brand power. They spend amply to build strong positions and dominance. Their spending is the most effective. (it's more efficient to stay in motion than to stop and begin again)
Inefficient brands – These brands are usually in brand crisis. They lack strategic focus or fail to fully integrate their marketing efforts (traditional, online, social media, PR, etc.)
Inactive brands – Mostly made up of smaller brands. Less established. Low advertising budgets with predictably low levels of brand power.
Reactive brands – They have impressive brand power and are spending the amount necessary to achieve it. They are here instead of in the Proactive Brand category because their position depends on market factors beyond their control. (a product that becomes wildly successful, but fads as the fad fades. no staying power independent of the trend). They do enjoy strong brand status, but are vunerable if they relax their efforts and break consistency.
A new or little know company can make a lot of progress very fast if they invest in their marketing appropriately. Every person is a new convert. The potential market is wide open. As they become more familiar and more established, the pool of unreached potential market shrinks. The effectiveness declines. ($9 of spend only buys $3 worth of punch). But if the budget is reduced, then your brand power will begin to lessen because it still takes a level of budget just to maintain without losing ground. So advertising budgets needs to remain in proportion to the brand power a company is at and at what level they want to achieve.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
How does brand power relate to advertising and marketing spend? In other words, how much is enough? First of all, know what to expect from your competitors. This will give you a gauge on how much you need to invest in advertising and marketing to keep up and how much to surpass them. This is a new way to think about advertising budget. It's no longer tied to percentage of sales. Here is an overview based on where you fall on the brand power scale (see blog on June 13, 2009)
Optimum branding is measures the efficiency of the dollars spent in relationship to the brand power achieved. There are four categories:
Proactive brands – These brands have greater than average brand power. They spend amply to build strong positions and dominance. Their spending is the most effective. (it's more efficient to stay in motion than to stop and begin again)
Inefficient brands – These brands are usually in brand crisis. They lack strategic focus or fail to fully integrate their marketing efforts (traditional, online, social media, PR, etc.)
Inactive brands – Mostly made up of smaller brands. Less established. Low advertising budgets with predictably low levels of brand power.
Reactive brands – They have impressive brand power and are spending the amount necessary to achieve it. They are here instead of in the Proactive Brand category because their position depends on market factors beyond their control. (a product that becomes wildly successful, but fads as the fad fades. no staying power independent of the trend). They do enjoy strong brand status, but are vunerable if they relax their efforts and break consistency.
A new or little know company can make a lot of progress very fast if they invest in their marketing appropriately. Every person is a new convert. The potential market is wide open. As they become more familiar and more established, the pool of unreached potential market shrinks. The effectiveness declines. ($9 of spend only buys $3 worth of punch). But if the budget is reduced, then your brand power will begin to lessen because it still takes a level of budget just to maintain without losing ground. So advertising budgets needs to remain in proportion to the brand power a company is at and at what level they want to achieve.
www.bebranded.net
317-797-7226
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