Marketing Wisdom

I must apologize but Toyota’s recall is constantly in my face so I have to comment again.

Anybody see the Toyota TV commercials lately? About fixing the problem, about fixing over 1 millions cars so far, about how families still love and trust Toyota?

Very well done campaign – very informative and simple. They don’t say what the problem is – they just say that we are fixing everything. Very positive. They don’t throw themselves on a sword (American’s wouldn’t understand that anyway).

The question that you must ask is – how long will this campaign run? Will they overrun it, causing everyone to say “okay, we know you screwed up and are fixing everything, just do it and go away” – which, of course, does not help your brand. Of course, if they end it today, will it be too short – should they do it longer?

Personally, I would run the ads one more week and that’s it. America forgets so fast, don’t keep reminding them.

Just wanted to share with all of you a slide that I give when introducing a branding strategy. 

The brand communicates the desired essence of a company or product(s)/service(s)

By communicating the brand and its essence, the brand will have a “life” – meaning, “it will take on a life of its own”

The only option that a company has in “controlling” that life is to place its logo’s and taglines in all outgoing “signage” (i.e. correspondence, web, etc.)

Once the brand starts for a company, it is extremely difficult to “change” the brand – without extreme cost and time

Lastly, it is advantageous for a young company to not define its brand in “concrete” but to keep it “fluid” so it can change the brand and position as the company matures

Remember the pet food recall? Remember how brand names were never known as to who was behind it? That everyone kept saying it was the Chinese (and who knows what “Chinese” is – which one of the billion people is responsible?).

Well, now, we are seeing the other side. The side that I spoke about in previous posts. How, as a brand, if you come forward and admit your fault and how you are going to fix/change that fault, people, ALL people will forgive.

Toyota has done that. They stepped up and took the blame – on a piece of hardware that they do not produce – one of their 100,000 vendors makes it. But, they did it right – not be like American companies and blame others, but, step forward and take it.

It’s too bad that our government had to make it political (wonder why they didn’t do that with the pet food or the Firestone tires that were killing everyone). 

Toyota lost nothing yesterday. They actually gained. People saw that an individual was taking the blame and was willing to do whatever it took to fix it.

I would be surprised if Toyota lost one customer yesterday after watching the president make attrition.

That was brand management at its best – learn from it.

Ever notice today that alot, A LOT, of people, especially professionals, say “I MEAN” when they talk.

“There are a lot of people who do this.  I mean, there are many people who do this”.

This started so many years ago – and personally, I believe that it replaces “Ummmm” before or during a talk.

To those who aren’t professionals, that’s fine to me. But, if you are a public person, especially in Public Relations, what the H**L do you think you are doing by saying this? It means that you are NOT thinking about what you are saying.

I mean, you must start to think about the words that will flow from your lips, I mean, you don’t have to say I mean, it is just a silence filler as you try to think of your next words.

Whatever happened to professional people speaking professionaly?

Am involved in setting up a “start-up” (that doesn’t sound right, does it?) and was discussing an aspect of marketing with the other founder (I am the other founder) about who is going to buy our product from us. In that discussion, I used the term “Gatekeeper” numerous times, and eventually, she asked (the other founder) “what is a gatekeeper?”.

I guess, through the years, that I have come up with my own descriptions of words that I heard used throughout my years of marketing.

Originally, the word “gatekeeper” was introduced to me at Nintendo – we used the term to describe the PARENTS of the children that wanted a game.  The child didn’t have the money to purchase the game (what 8 year old has $50?) – but, the parent did. So, our marketing efforts were two-fold: one to attack the child, the other to attack the parent.

There were and are a few ways to attack the gatekeeper to get them to spend the money.

One is to drive a message at the non-gatekeeper (with Nintendo, the child) so that they constantly are asking the gatekeeper “can i have it, can i have it, can i have it…), eventually driving the gatekeeper insane and giving in.

This is a very common practice – look at WWE, where they drive the message to the younger crowd to purchase a $49.00 pay-per-view so they can see their favorite wrestler. They are selling a service, a product, and entertainment.  Unlike Nintendo, which is only selling a product, that gets used after the initial purchase, with pay-per-view, it’s a one-shot deal. (And yes, I understand that you can record the viewing – but, that’s not the substance of what I’m talking about.)

What I’m talking about is getting your market to open their wallet and spend money – and sometimes, your market does not have the money.

So, the other way, is to get the parents (in the case of Nintendo and other manufacturers) to see the inevitability of spending the money and doing so (or, getting them to see the value and purchasing it on their own).

Today, there is a TV advertisement about a video game system that “teaches” math, spelling, etc. This company does NOT market to the child (what kid wants to have a learning game?), but, they go after the parents. And the parents are eating it up.

What I am saying is KNOW your market/audience. You may be making a product that makes a husband thin. But, you market to the husband, and they will either a) say they are thin or b) be too embarrassed to purchase it, or some other reason. But, if you market it to the wife, saying “don’t you want the trophy husband that you married back then? get this product and he will return”, and the wife will purchase. The wife is the gatekeeper.  Of course, so is the husband, because there are husbands that will try it, but, probably the majority of the market (gatekeepers) is the wife.

But, don’t sell your marketing plans short – as with any marketing 101 class – look at your target market, and then look at those individuals who interact with that market and how they influence it.  If this is done properly, you may discover that the person who USES your product may be different then the person who PURCHASES the product.

Good luck – hope this helps….

I think I spoke about this before in a previous entry, but, am not sure.

My business is based on this line, phrase, and even issue.

Is reality real? I great question, one that you can have answered (or not), by watching The Matrix (and the rest of the series).

But, you look at today’s media (which is ALL about marketing), and you get the spin – and you can see the control,  that the media has on the masses.

I do hope that you look at what you do and realize that you have the same influence as well as the same power. Of course, with this, comes the issue of abuse, but, I don’t want to speak of that here.  I want to talk about how, if you can get people to believe that the perception that people “think” is possibly real to ”it is” real, you can change a complete marketplace.

For example, at a web company I worked for, we were just moving along, no great increase in revenue, no decrease, just, status quo – even though the mandate was to grow by 200% in one year.

Everyone tried everything to grow. We didn’t do to well. So, we switched everything we had to Hispanic language, put out marketing materials saying “The Hispanic market is scooping this up as fast as we can make it available”, even though it really wasn’t true, because we had just started one week before. But, my point is, we immediately started telling everyone that the “reality” was that the Hispanic market already accepted this and was using it, and you better get on the boat, or you are going to be left behind.

Another is a product I launched. A new product, that NO one had ever conceived of, let alone knew what use it was for. I couldn’t do it like I did the web service, as no one had ever heard of this new product (again, so new, everyone asked “what do i use it for” – compared to, let’s say, an internet service provider, everyone knows what they do, it comes down to what you get for the dollar).

So, couldn’t put out a press release or do an advertising campaign saying “Look, everyone is using it, because everyone wants it” – when, again, everyone would ask, “what the h**l am I going to do with that?”.

So, it really had to be a grass roots thing. Pretty much do a “red herring” – give the product away (we wrapped every one of our products in a $20 bill (this is how I say it, because we discounted the product by 80%).  This allowed a few huge companies to take a “risk” (we even agreed to buy the product back if they didn’t sell it) and “see” what would happen.

Once we had the companies lined up (okay, it was really only one company – but, hey, the name IBM is a nice name to have stand behind your product), I then moved to the next level of my marketing strategy. Where people started to talk about it, analysts endorsed it, and a few more companies got into it (because they saw IBM get into it).  And this was with VERY FEW SALES occurring.

It went on from there – so many companies wanted to “see” it and take a “risk”, that everyone wanted a piece – now, many people have it and many people use it (but, more have it then use it, lol – that’s what’s great about a commodity).

Okay, you want to know the product?  It is one of my proudest achievements – to take a company and product that no one knew, had gross revenue of $20M, and leave them five years later, with a $600M revenue stream (and now are being bought by another company) …it is a USB Flash Drive, or thumbdrive, or diskonkey, or whatever – you know, the little 128Mb USB thingy that you store files on.

I remember presenting the strategy on how I was going to make this product a world wide commodity to the CEO and CFO of the company. I ended my presentation with the statement “I am going to do this by making peoples perception about this product into reality”.

The CFO asked, “What do you mean?”

I replied “I am going to put this product everywhere, so that everyone believes (perceives) that this product is the hottest thing, that they must have it, that everyone wants (reality) this item, that is why it is everywhere”.

They both replied, that there is no such thing as “perception is reality” and that my strategy will never work.

 Thank G*D for my BU’s GM – (for those of us that don’t and can’t keep up with all of the acronyms out there – that is) Business Units General Manager – who stood behind me for almost two years and told the CEO and CFO to get out of the way and let me do the job – thank you!!! In that time, we topped $100M in sales.

Today, I ask the CEO if he believes in Perception is Reality – and he always replies “Never had a doubt”.

By the way, I’m not bragging – if you have been following me long enough, not that…just very very proud on what I did – the only marketing person for this company for five years (and yes, I DID have one agency help me – a boutique agency – because my budget was less then $100K per year).

Was going through some old paperwork the other day (from a fashion company I worked for many years ago) and discovered all my notes that I took when in meetings with the CEO, President, and CFO (the owners).

Page after page was “get one page ad in xxx magazine” and “send in item for review in xxxx magazine”.

Not once, in all my notes, was their discussions about where we were going to be one year from now, let alone in six months.

But, let me be fair – there is definitely a difference in marketing STRATEGY for a family owned business and a large publicly owned business.

I have been at each end of the spectrum – on one hand, like at the above business, all I did (and all management wanted me to do) was tactical marketing. Sending out a press release, placing an ad, etc.  They never wanted to meet and discuss where they wanted to be one year from now; how, if they planned now, I could position one of their new products and its new brand to take on the world. They were happy with the strategy that they had for 20 years and would continue to keep for the next 20 years.

The other end, I worked with a company that only wanted strategies – LOVED strategies – what we were going to do next year, where the brand would be in three years, how the products would be packaged, how the website would look (when finished), how I would get coverage of the products in all the media, etc. But (there is ALWAYS a but, huh?), when it came to the budget needed to implement these strategies, I would ask for $1M, (less then 1% of their total revenue), and they would say, great, do it, but, for 1/4 of that. I understand pencil sharpening on budgets, but, not to this degree. What we ended up with were strategies that everyone liked – on paper – but in reality, they always fell short, because the tactical side took a hit.

Strategies and tactics should always work hand in hand. In looking at current job openings around the world today, you always see “must be willing to roll-up their sleeves” and “must have entrepreneurial spirit”, etc. but, many of these companies are working in start-up mode – which is great, because in todays market, you must be able to turn on a dime, NOT on $1 bill; because of this, strategies are “nice to haves”, not requirements, or, they are requirements, but, the tactics take a hit.

Needless to say (in ending), a strong strategy, that has the full support of the company (staff as well as budget) and the capability to DO the tactics will make most products and services successful.

Remember (for example), without packaging, you don’t have a budget – and if you don’t have a strategy on what, how, and why you need this packaging over the long term, you will lose – not only the market, but, the essence of what you are trying to build.

Plan for the future – have a strategy in place when launching a new product, brand, or service, but, insure that you have the tactical capabilities to be able to implement what you are trying to do. Don’t get lost in beautiful presentations and paperwork – roll up your sleeves – but, always, step back and make sure that your strategy is being followed.

So many times throughout my career, I have been in debates about “who brings the money in for the company?”.

Being a “marketer”, usually everyone assumes that I believe that marketing is responsible for paying the bills. That the “awareness” campaigns that marketing does is what drives consumers to purchase the product/service, thus, bring in the money in.

I always have to disagree to this.

I have always believed that it is the sales team/staff/etc. that is responsible for bringing the money in. Without a sales force, no one will ever find the product in the market. Yes, there are times where the money spent on branding/marketing is so excessive that stores call and ask for the product (because of the demand in the market), but, this is so rare that any company relying on this as their sole revenue generator always fold.

Sales teams are the lifeblood of any organization and it is a marketing persons role to first and foremost support the sales team with any and all needed materials to “make the sell”. Be it a presentation, brochure, advertisement, prototype, etc.

Companies that “get ahead of themselves” and don’t continuously do gut-checks with the sales team quickly experience their sales declining. A salesforce using a presentation that is over a year old, or brochures that list products that have been discontinued, quickly put the salesperson in a postition of disadvantage -where they don’t have the respect that is needed to sell the product.

Support your sales team – without them, you don’t get a paycheck.

So much effort is put into research.  Some, well thought out, and some, very superficial.

Research covers so much – from market acceptance to competition strategy. Research is done when purchasing another company and/or putting a person in front of a TV camera for the first time.

Of course, hiring a good researcher (or firm) is one of the first priorities.

But, I don’t want to discuss the dynamics of research here – I want to discuss something else.

And that is research done by you – the person requesting the research.

DO SOME!!!

So many times I have seen researchers present their “findings” and completely miss what is so well known on/in the market. For example, I was at a research meeting the other month and a firm came in and presented its findings. After the 30 minute presentation, there was not one mention about the primary competition. When asked why nothing was presented on the competition, there was some hemming and hawing (I wonder if those are real words?) by the presenters, and then their leader stated “We did not think that these guys were of such importance for you going to market with your new product.”

What? How can the main competition not impact the launch of a competitive product.

Why was this done? How did they miss this competition – you could tell that this company did not come up on their radar screen.

For one reason, the primary company did not “help” the researchers with their knowledge – they didn’t share with them who they thought were major competitors. Yes, it was an error on the research company to not interview the primary, but, you cannot ever assume that a researcher has the same knowledge that you have.

By the way, the research company provided alot of insight into the market, but, they missed a major influencing factor by not looking (or knowing about) the primary competition.

If you are any good at marekting, you read. You read books, magazines, the web. You understand your business better then ANY OTHER person outside of your company (of course, except the competition).

Help a research firm know what you are thinking. Share your knowledge. So many managers don’t want to give up their “knowledge”, because they have been taught that “knowledge is power”.

Remember, you work for a company that is paying your salary – by not sharing information, you can hurt the success of your company.  (See my blog entry on “Hiring and Team Building” for further discussion of this.)

Research is a necessity – many of us don’t have the budget to hire outside firms, so we must do on our own. But, not sharing the knowledge (research) because we perceive that we are more “powerful” in having that information, can come back and bite us in the butt – because we don’t share the information, our company can lose market leadership, or the success of a product, or whatever.

Think about it.

Ahhh, brand strategy – how many times throughout our marketing careers do we hear “We must have a brand strategy for this product/company”.

But, what do they mean?

Who knows – every time, I hear this and then ask the person what they mean, I get many different answers.

• Our company must have a strong brand because we need consumer recognition.
• Our product needs a strong brand so that we can unseat the competition.
• Our company must have a strong brand so that investors will know our company.
• Our product needs strong brand recognition so that we can compete, or will drive consumers to buy our product, etc.

And so on.

Most people don’t understand what and WHY they need a brand. Many companies succeed and are profitable with little or no brand strategy (or budget to make the brand).

Coke has made a science out of building/making their brand recognized the world over.

Apple is doing the same (but, they have also changed their brand through the years – remember the Apple with rainbow colors?) – but, they are still recognized.

How can one company, who changes its brand image mid-life, maintain its brand recognition, where the other keeps its image on every surface throughout the year (as well as traditional advertising).

But, you can read books on both companies and their marketing/brand strategies.

Companies that you never even heard of make billions of dollars a year without any brand strategy.

The bigger question is, and one that I always ask after someone says “We must have a brand strategy for the product/company” is:

“What do you hope to accomplish? What is your goal?” Is it in answer of one of the questions asked above? Or is it something else?

And usually it is something else – usually it is “I want the consumers that need are products/services to buy OUR products/services”.

So, does this require branding – a strong brand recognized the world over?

No, it does not – it instead requires a marketing strategy – on how to target the market that needs the product/service – not one that requires a brand.

I think you get the idea – before spending millions of dollars on a brand, think it out – work with ALL the various divisions that have the product, sell the product, or make the product, and find out what their customers want (and what they think).

A LOT OF THE TIME all that is needed is a well-thought out marketing strategy and not a branding strategy.