Marketing Communications Blog

How to damage your image

Had surgery the other day. Nothing serious, just a walk-in/walk-out of a few hours.

Came into the hospital, filled out all the paperwork, and was escorted to the waiting room by an administrator who was professional and enjoyable.

In the waiting room, had a great conversation with the nurse and receptionist there (this is a hospital - you go nowhere without someone from the hospital being in front of you).

Was called in to the surgery room, met a great nurse and had a great conversation with her as we went through the procedure (as well as the doctor - but, he was not part of the hospital, he was my doctor who came in to do the procedure).

My doctor left after the procedure and the nurse and I continued to talk - I had to wait about 10 minutes to make sure that I was okay after the surgery.

The nurse filled out all the paperwork for me, telling me what and what not to do, what I can and cannot eat, how much medicine I should take, etc. This was all written on a piece of paper, with the top area for signatures and the bottom with all the instructions. 

Then, the unbelievable happened, the nurse took out a pair of scissors and cut the bottom half of the paper off and handed it to me.

No, the paper wasn't a tear sheet.  No, it wasn't a separate piece of paper. It was the second half of paper and cut.

An experience that was nerve wracking and stressful, ending with a nurse cutting a piece of paper in half with all the instructions on it. What a reminder that hospitals are run by people who don't care about their patients.

Terrible marketing as well as bad operations. In fact, the nurse apologized for cutting the paper in half.

Does your business do something like this? Have you gone down the lowest level of your business and seen how it interacts with the customer?

I was so embarrassed for them - especially for the nurse having to apologize.

Posted by blaine at 05:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

How far should you go with Social Networks?

There is a lot of discussion about "if" or "when" a company/business should start a social networking site.

A social network is a place where people can come and a) post comments, b) read stuff about your business/company, c) speak with others, real time (IM) about anything, and d) post comments.

Why do I have the same points twice - because by having a site like this, people can post positive as well as NEGATIVE comments about your business.  As I stated in a previous post, negative comments are good to have, as it is instant feedback on areas that need improvement, as well as showing that you believe in freedom of speech. 

You can always remove any negative comments (but then, why have a social networking site?).

This is the issue of having a site like this. The blogs, you can control.  The content, you can control. But, by allowing your customers to speak with each other and post what they think, that is, again, the issue of having this technology on or as your website.

Think it through before you put up a social networking site. It does cost some money, but, the damage can be incredible if you don't watch yourself (and the site!). 

Let's take the dogfood recall as an example.  Would you, if you were one of the major brands, have fared better if you had a comment area on your website? Would it have been beneficial to have a blog so your customers can read about what you are doing?

As all of you know (if you are a follower of this blog), I absolutely believe that it would have been beneficial.

The first would have been to issue apologies through the blog.

The second, would have been to issue next steps through the blog.

The third, would have been to get customers to talk to each other about what they are going through with their pets.

And the fourth, to respond to the customers about their concerns. Yes, you would have had customers say "I will never buy from you again".  But, if you were the dogfood manufacterer BRAND, then, you could have laid out next steps on how you will never allow this to occur again (we didn't see that anywhere, did we?).

Think it through if you are going to get into a social site - I think it is worth it, no matter what, but, sometimes, your management may not think so. 

Posted by blaine at 07:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Packaging - is it worth the price

Was helping a start-up client put together the copy for the packaging of a new product of theirs.  They sent me pictures of the packaging, as well as their first draft.

It was beautiful packaging, a full four colors, glossy, that folded out (like a book) so when opened, the product was stareing the buyer right in the face, beautiful.

I had to ask them how much the packaging was costing compared to the product (percentage). I had to ask, because throughout my career, as well as your own I'm sure, you have to constantly measure your cost of goods vs. your margin vs. product retail price.  How much more money could you make if you can continuously lower your cost of goods (like packaging), thus increasing your margin, and thus making the retail price acceptable to the world.

The beautiful packaging would certainly impress the retail buyer. I am no so sure about the end consumer, since they won't fully see it's "beauty" until after they buy it (and packaging is one of the first AND last lines in purchase intent).

I'm sure that they are going to go ahead and use the impressive heavy beautiful packaging (as they are a start-up and this is how start-ups think). But, I bet, within a year, they will either have an alternative or outright different package - one that is simple and cheap.

Apple computer is the only one who can afford to have expensive packaging and that's because the consumer pays for it.

I will keep you advise.

Posted by blaine at 07:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don't get caught up in the Branding Hysteria!!!

Was actually strolling through some web marketing advice the other day and came across some discussion on brands and how you should build them.

I thought it was a pretty good article (not great), but, pretty good.  Why?

Because they said "Your web name is your brand".  Which I kind of disagree with. Your brand better be bigger then your web.  Yes, you may have only enough money right now to have a website and not do advertising or promotions, etc., but, the brand better be strategized to be bigger then this.

What do I mean....hmm...Okay, I have a client. She has a website, called www.kittykatgraphics.com. (Long name, huh?) If you were to go to this site, you would see beautiful artwork - typical wall mounted pictures, but, also those same pictures put on unique items (like tops of boxes, tables, etc.). When I spoke with her about the name - and how hard it may be for someone to remember it, she said "I don't care about the website name, the brand that I want to build is my name".

That's great - so, why not put your name all over the website - instead of in the area of "About the Artist". Why not put the name front and center (the name was already taken by another individual).

She did.

Why? Because she knew, after discussions with her, that she needed to start building her brand/name. That eventually, if she were to move into a gallery, or a retail store, that her name would be used, not the website name.

Okay, so, back to my point. Sometimes, the website can't be the brand, OR, the website limits the growth of the brand. The brand has to be bigger then the product, the website, the marketing, etc.

In other words, when you are thinking about building your brand - remember something, THE BRAND TIES EVERYTHING TOGETHER - or - it is the glue that holds everything together.

Posted by blaine at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Installed Base

Just finished reading an article about how Ipod will never fall, as it was first and now has a commanding lead in the market.

Was interesting to read the editor speak about how the Zune failed and now the Sandisk/Yahoo MP3 will fail also, because they don't have an installed base. It was also interesting to see how the editor never mentioned any other product category that fell to a late arrival; for example, Toyota overtaking Ford/Chrysler/GM; Dell overtaking Compaq; AMD taking over Intel; and so on.

Is amazing to see this, as this is what drives many CEO's to not take risks and enter existing markets and, I believe, it is why we are seeing so many new companies come up with totally new ways of doing things or improving on existing things (which then leads to numerous lawsuits and no one ever benefits).

As a marketer, you can't live in the numbers - you MUST take risks and see the opportunities that are out there. There are always people who will buy "the other product" to stop the monopolization (look at Microsoft and Linux). Is that enough to sustain a company - probably not, but, it can be enough to take the first steps.

Research is great (as I wrote about previously), but, it can also lead to you never wanting to take risks or open up new markets.

Posted by blaine at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Crisis Management

Yes, we can go back to the pet food and continue, but, I want to speak more generally about Crisis Management.

In my experience, there are only two kinds of crisis' that occur:

1) Those that you were unprepared for,

2) Those that you were prepared for.

Yes, who would have thought that a supplier of yours would now start shipping poison instead of their regular product, or that your CEO died in a car crash, or that an earthquake would shut down your assembly plant.

The ones that you are not prepared for are truly a crisis.  Everyone turns to everyone else for answers, which of course moves up the chain of command (and time is wasted) until the CEO is called upon to make a final decision as to how to respond, if a response is necessary, when to respond, and who will be the one in front of the camera's (or quoted in the press release, etc.).

The biggest issue when a crisis occurs - and one that you can't get back - is time. Every second that is lost can be perceived as "inattention" or "inactivity", and worse, that you don't care or were totally unprepared.

So, become prepared.

When I lived in Israel, I prepared "pre-packaged" press releases; that, yes, were pretty morbid. One was if a homocide bomber hit our building (and some employee's were killed), another was if our CEO or CFO died by a homocide bomber, and another was if our building was hit by a rocket.

But, I didn't stop there.  I prepared for an earthquake in China and our fab was shut down (investors would be asking "how can you make product?"); or our European office was closed down because of a general strike in France; or, a plane crashed with all of our sales people on it (coming back from a trade show).

These weren't all press releases.  These were plans laid out as to what we would say or not say, when we would say it, and so on. Just one page documents on the plan.  If we knew that a press release was required, then, we had a draft made up - and yes, there were some blanks in it, but, the "meat" was there.

In a crisis, if I was on your team, and a crisis occured, at ANY time of the day or night, all I did was pull up the plan (or the one that closely resembled it), pulled the people listed in the plan together, and supplied them with the next steps (or draft of press release or speech).

It has occured to me in the past, and you know what, it saved me time, which saved my company time, which saved embarassment or perception that wasn't needed.

Posted by blaine at 06:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Passion

Held an offsite meeting with a client over this past weekend, primarily to media train four of their employers (CEO, CFO, VP Markting, and Director Marketing).

After the first hour of training, we started the typical role playing that you do. It quickly became apparant that much work was going to be needed with two of the trainee's, and one was NOT the CEO.

After another hour of this, we took a break.

The CEO and I spoke about this during that break. Yes, they were rough, yes, they couldn't think so quickly on their feet, and yes, that is what we were there for, for the CEO to refine and keep the edge, but, to bring the others up to speed so they could help him do media tours, etc (and free up his valuable time).

But, I stated that all of this was irrelevant - knowing what to say when, knowing how to take control of the discussion, how to segui, how to lead, etc. if they didn't have the passion.

Passion? Yes, passion.  Passion for the job, for the product, and for speaking publicly.

It is true that a lot of people can't speak, let alone speak publicly.  You can lead a horse, but...

It is also true that alot of people love their jobs, or love the product or service that their company provides (and yes, sometimes it is NOT both).

And, finally, it is true that you can teach someone to speak publicly (maybe not perfect, but, "good enough"). That you can get someone to love their job, through financial incentives, 100 vacation days a year, etc. And you can get someone to love their companies product/service (like by giving them the latest new flat panel TV every time they come out with one, minimum of three a year and they can give away the previous TV's (wow, wouldn't that be a cool job)).

But, you can't teach passion. It is more then love. It is something that comes from the soul.

You can see, when the person is speaking, or doing their job, or whatever, that they throw their heart, their soul, their conscience, into it - trying to make perfection.

Let me put it even easier - you can tell when someone has passion for their work when they beat themselves up before anyone else has a chance because of a mistake they made. 

They added the numbers wrong, they said the wrong thing in an interview, they missed the typo in the 10,000 word presentation. You would think they were suicidal about it.

That is passion. The pride, the love, the desire to do it right, not only the first time, but EVERY TIME.

So, what am I trying to say? From speaking with the media to answer the phone on your desk - do so with passion. Do it with love. Do it with the desire and knowledge that what you are doing is making you (and your company) a more professional organization - AND - a company that many outsiders will be jealous of.

So, the CEO and I decided to remove one of the people from media training - because they would never have the passion for doing it, and work with the other so that their passion would grow and they would become an outstanding professional for the company.

(By the way, when you do this - being passionate - don't be surprised if your personal life becomes more passionate and opportunities will start to come your way.)

Posted by blaine at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Basics of Advertising

Met with a client yesterday and walked away amazed.

First, the client has been in business for 10 years.

Second, they advertise the same way, month after month, year after year.

Third, they are a franchise, so their corp. headquarters provides them with all the ads, pre-made.

Fourth, they never thought of taking the ads that were provided to the next level.

Fifth, they were in the rut of "we have always done it that way".

So, in this short meeting, here is what we discovered.

1) That the yellow pages, even though mandated by corporate, doesn't mean that you have to take a 1/4 page ad (and yellow pages are still very very expensive).

2) That the two newspapers that she advertised in may or may not be the best means on her ROI. She has never measured their success rate through ad counters or promotions (like "bring this ad in and receive 10% off).  She has always done it this way and "knows" that it is successful because she has clients who say "I saw you guys in The New York Times" (but, even when she was telling me this, she didn't know if it was true or not - since they run their ad every week in it - so they could have seen it three years previously).

3) That she could add copy to her existing corporate advertisements to "hone in" on the clients that she wants.

4) That she was more concerned with the other franchises in the area and what they may think then in making more money for herself (she wasn't that confident in her successful business).

5) That the other franchises could also be friends for her - that they could all get together and "pool" their moneys and buy bigger and better advertising (like TV).

So, we scheduled another meeting to discuss the above and many more facets of pulling in the right ROI. That an outside perspective is good for the business.  That paying a few hundred dollers could bring in a few thousand dollars (you have to invest money to make money).

Think things through. Are you currently doing things the same because it is "easy"? Because you have always "done it that way"? Because you don't have time to try something else? That maybe, putting in that extra two hours will save you 10 hours in the long run?

Look at what is in front of you - just because a local radio hits your target audience, does it bring in the clients? Should you change to something else? Direct mail? Newspaper? Internet?

Figure out your ROI on your current advertising - Run some promotions of "bring in this ad and get 10% off" in one newspaper and another promotion, in another newspaper, offering 20% off. See who brings in what?

If you do just these items, you may be surprised about how you are spending you money unwisely and that there may be better ways to use it.

Posted by blaine at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lawsuits - Who Talks???

Was watching the continuation (second month now) of the dogfood controversy; who poisoned what, who was at fault, and, more interesting to me, was who is going to have the lawsuit??

Watching the various spokespeople for all the various companies, it was amazing how NONE of them have communicated with each other. Especially the brand(s).

Yes, they are competitors, but, they also have one thing in common - they are the brand(s) that are killing peoples pets (of course, not the manufacturer of the food who supplies the brand).

Why aren't they speaking with each other? Why aren't they getting together (over the phone would be easiest) and discussing what to say and what not to say - why aren't they showing a united front.

As I previously mentioned in a post, they are waiting for the other to make a mistake and everyone (lawyers) focus on that one company - and then, let the feeding commence.

With just 30 minutes of time, they can have this all figured out and show that they are all together, that they are remorseful for what their suppliers did, and that they will do everything in their power to help the owners of pets get through this difficult time.

Simple isn't it? I bet there are some angry and confused marketing people in these brand companies.

Get together now, because when the lawsuits really start coming in, then, it may have been very good forethought to have had your spokesperson speaking from the first day (everyone will turn to him/her for info) then demanding that the CEO get out in front of the firing squad.

Posted by blaine at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)