Marketing Wisdom

Wiki’s – Are they really real?

Need to follow-up on a previous posting I did some time ago.  Was reading some research today and “whallah!!”, very few companies are having much success with their wiki’s.  According to the research, employee’s of the companies were either not interested, did not have the time, or the information that was there was irrelevant or not of help to those employee’s.

The research went on to further state what I had mentioned some time ago, that wiki’s, if allowed to be viewed by individuals outside the company, could contian information that could hurt or embarass the company. That that information, if not shared and updated and, most importantly, protected, could help a company grow and be more productive.

Keep trying to make it work – a Wiki can hurt your company, but, it can also help your company – it is up to your IT department and all the employee’s who contribute to protect it and make it grow.

What is it?

Pragmatic Marketing is a unique way to “look” at products before they are born. If you go to www.pragmaticmarketing.com, you will see the “steps” and “ways” to do this.

The question is, why is this new or, more to me, why is this needed, in this way.

As I say to my wife all the time, THIS IS MARKETING.  Taking something that we do every day and making it into something that has to be purchased.  If not purchased, you are something lessor than other individuals.

So, pragmatic marketing is doing focus groups (they don’t call it that), talking with buyers about why or why not they will want this product, planning a branding and communications campaign, working with all the various divisions that will affect the product, expecially sales, and so on.

To me, pragmatic marketing is doing what any real knowledgeable marketer would do to make a product successful.

I can see why this would be useful to a marketer that a) doesn’t know marketing, or b) is new in marketing. But, if you have at least 10 years of marketing experience and you don’t know or do everything that pragmatic marketing “teaches”, then, you shouldn’t be in marketing.

In conclusion, don’t judge someone if they aren’t “certified” with the pragmatic marketing certificate – they probably have been doing what it teaches for longer then the term has been in existence.

Has your budget been cut yet?

So, the economy is not doing well – from total depression to a slight recession to whomever you are speaking too – but, there is a money crunch out there and consumers are looking at their dollars a bit differently today then they were three years ago.

Which gets to the point of this posting.  Companies, large and small (mostly large though), start looking at how their dollars are spent and the first place that the executives (and board) look at is Marketing.  As discussed in previous postings, marketing is the hardest area to show a ROI – how can your PR activities be turned into a dollar value? How can a TV advertisement show an increase in revenue? Yes, both of these activities can be “turned into” a ROI chart, showing how many people saw the advertisement or read the story in the magazine. Yes, you may see a spike in sales after a release is published or an advertisement runs, but, when compared to sales, it is hard to justify.

Why wouldn’t a company put their limited budgets into sales rather then marketing? It sounds like the correct thing to do.

But, don’t you agree that the ceasing of building your brand, of advertising your new product, of introducing the new product to the world could (and probably would) affect the long term sales of your product or building of your brand? It really isn’t a “probably”, it is a fact. How many companies seem to “disappear” during times like this? And then, when the economy comes back, they “reappear”? But, instead of being ten steps ahead, they are all the way back at the beginning again.

Yes, if your company is financially strapped, then, you have to cut budgets – but, marketing is what tells people what to buy, where sales shows what to buy. One is displayed at a non-retail place where the other is only shown at a retail location.

Think of it this way – with the economy being this way, people don’t just “go” to a retail establishment anymore to “shop” – they go because something has “pushed” them there - and that “push” comes from marketing, not sales.

Good luck.

I have been asked, especially in the past 10 years, “How do you keep up with today’s technology? It is moving so fast, how can you possibly understand it all?”
It is a great question, because you can’t.  You can’t keep up with all the technology going on out there; from new cell phone apps and services to enterprise apps or software as a service. There is so much out there and there is no way to keep up on it all.

So what do you do?

First – target and focus on what your industry is in – if you are in the mobile industry, read and study everything you can get your hands on to understand the technology, trends, and upcoming innovation in that market.

Second – take one step away from this target and study other outside influencer’s.  I have mentioned this before in my postings; imagine a target, with the inner circle being that of your market, the next circle out is influencer’s that can/may influence your current market. For example, let’s say you are in the magnetic storage industry (hard drives – both internal and external), the next circle out is enterprise storage solutions (because a) they use your magnetic hard drives, but, also have new technology that influences storage, like magneto-optical, or optical (and so on). This next circle is the MOST important area, outside of your main market, to study and be aware of. The next circle is other market influencer’s, like, new companies coming out with smaller storage (not just in technology, but also in capacity – like, for another example, the Apple Thin Notebook – Apple is providing a smaller hard drive so it will fit in the laptop – will consumers accept this? If so, how does this impact your market and your revenue?)

Third – Read outside the market publications, from the web to the paper to magazines. Read only those pubs that your customer may also read. A great example, and the basis for your marketing activities, is this: You want a company to purchase your product, but, the purchasing agent doesn’t want your product (either too costly (in their mind), doesn’t fit their need (because they are ignorant), and so on). But, the purchasing agent is not the person that is going to be using your product, the product is going to be used elsewhere in the organization. Target them. How? They read, they do research, they study, they talk to others. Get in their faces so that they can do the “pull” and tell the purchasing agent to purchase your product.

In other words, do research. Find out what they read and study and get in those pubs. Educate them on your solution and you will get the sale.

It’s basic marketing, but, it increases revenue.

So, back to technology – if you do the above steps, you will inherently understand what is affecting your market, what new technologies are coming out, and how to counter them and address them. Remember, your product is already obsolete when you come out with it, but, you need to make the sales. By keeping up with technology IN YOUR MARKET, you can counter it with your marketing efforts, and thus grow the company.

We all have only a limited amount of time in the day – and yes, this does keep you focused in a general marketing category – but, that category is wide and spread across a few industries, thus not locking you into one category (like only storage), but, all technology related to storage – therefore, you can move to other industries quite easily.

Marketing Strategy, Brand Strategy, Communications Strategy, etc.

We all need a strategy, right? For life, for family members, for work, for play, for whatever we are doing.  We get up in the morning and tell ourselves what we are going to do that day and the order we’re going to do it, right? Well, that’s a strategy.

But, let’s talk more about setting a Marketing Strategy and Marketing Plan.

What is it?

Well, you can read numerous books about setting a marketing strategy and almost everyone will say something different. So, I am here to tell you my definition.

First, your marketing plan is part of your business plan. Without a business plan, don’t start a marketing plan. Read a book on making a business plan (or read my blog sometime in the future and maybe I will talk about it).

Second, you must think LONG TERM. I mean five years, even if your business has only been around for five weeks. Find out, by reading your business plan, what new products and/or services you plan on offering in five years. If your management/board/c-level executives don’t now, then, QUIT YOUR JOB and go somewhere else. But, if they do know, integrate that into your plans, even if the product is something so new, so different, that you can’t address that today.

Third, you must think LONG TERM. I mean three years.

Fourth, you must think LONG TERM. I mean one year.

Okay, you get the idea. Your marketing strategy and plan must start today and integrate out to five years from now. Beleive me, if you are meeting with a partner or the press, they WILL ask you what you plan to do after this product is at the top of the bell-curve, and you better have an answer. Even if it is a totally new direction – for example “This is our new toothpaste, it fights cavities, blah blah blah”…”and yes, in two years, we are planning on getting into surfboards, using the technology we gained in making the toothpaste, blah blah blah”.

Fifth, how are you going to get your message out there? Your strategy needs to incorporate ALL of the marketing mediums available, from web to merchandising, from promotions to event marketing. List out events five years from now on that you are planning on attending, like CES in 2012 or CEBIT in 2013 or whatever. Put down brochures that you want to make, around products that are in the pipeline, that are dreams, etc.

Okay, that’s it. lol. No, there is alot more, but, this is a good start. Let me make it clear on one thing – the marketing strategy and marketing plan should be able to be read by a layperson and “see” what is happening today, next month, next year, and five years from now. By the way, it is sooo easy to “forget” to update the marketing plan and strategy one year from now, as you are then “in the mix” and “don’t have time” to update it. UPDATE IT!!!

Remember with a strategy, you must think about the “end goal” – increase in product sales, revenue, profit, etc. and HOW you are going to get there. What do you have to do to make that happen – and of course, the easy answer is “lots of money”, but, try it without money. How would you make the strategy a “winner” spending little or no money.

Your marketing strategy should be understood by everone, from the top top to the lowliest. What is it goint to take and how are you going to get there – and the “you” is each individual in the company and any vendors that you have.

Yes, we all know that the economy is hurting us, from placing ads to producing brochures to shipping product to to to, well, you get the idea.

As previously mentioned, the first thing that is cut in most organizations when money slows down is marketing. From cutting the ad budget to not sending out mailers to creative.

As I said then and I say now, I do disagree with this. Now is the time to keep (or increase) the budget, because people do have a limited amount of money to spend and you need to be front and center, not behind or gone. But, you can read that entry for more information on that.

I want to talk about the EMBRACING of the economy and owning it.

Now is the time to step up and show how your product will HELP consumers/partners through the lean times.

For example: a security company can say “with the economy getting worse and more people not working, some of those people will turn to the dark side (i.e. thievery) and our service(s) can help you cope (stop)”. You get the idea.

Another example: a CPG sells laundry detergent, so they can say “with our concentrated formula, you can do more wash with less detergent, saving you money”. Again, you get the idea.

But, what about web companies? Easy. “Instead of driving to a store, come to our site and shop here first and save on the cost of gas and environmental impact”.

Or, non-profits – now here is a case where the economy will truly hurt them, as their money is mostly made through donations and contributions. How can they appeal to the market to keep giving money? Well, they can’t do anything different then they already have been doing, i.e. begging. If they are large, then they probably have investments or an endowment that will see them through the lean times, but, otherwise, they have to “APPEAL” to the good in people. From “give blood, it may save your life” to “give money, it will continue to educate the world about xxx”.

And of course, there are companies that will definitely be affected and may have to shut down some or all of their operations because of lack of funds/revenue. As my grandfather always said “make a product or contribute a service that people must have, not like to have, as those that survived the great depression did just that – they made products that consumers needed (like food) or services (like being a doctor)”.

No, you can’t change your profession now, but, you can think about how you can appeal to someone’s pocketbook, not through thievery, but through honest to goodness quality goods and services.

The economy will certainly weed-out those companies that have been “hanging on” and “barely surviving”, but, that is a good thing.

Like a garden, you have to weed it every now and then to get the best vegetables.

I have written about this before – many times. You MUST be willing to go to market with 80% of the marketing plan/collateral/website/etc finished. Not 100%. (You can finish it later.)

Remember, at 100%, it will be five months from now and the market will have passed you by. If potential customers are asking about your service/product and you have 80% of the messaging finished, or whatever, don’t say “I’ll get you back in a month when it is finished”, because they will have moved on. Give them what they want.

Just had to vent. Sorry for the short entry today.

GateKeepers (or Who has the Money?)

I know, I know, it has been a while since I wrote here and I do apologize; but, let’s get down to business.

Remember the gatekeepers? The gatekeeper is the one who holds the keys, or, in your case (if you are a marketing individual) the person who holds the money.

For a parent and a child shopping in Toys-R-Us, your market is the child, but your gatekeeper is the parent.

You must always remember that marketing only to the child will not result in increased sales; but, if you market to both the child AND the parent, your sales should increase.

The person that will use the product is the child, but, the parent is the one who purchases the product. Yes, parents do hate it when their children are screaming and clawing and crying for a new toy and many do succumb and purchase the toy, but, others don’t.

It is the ones that don’t that you must ALWAYS think about – do research, do study groups, do whatever you can to understand what it would take to get the parent, i.e. the gatekeeper, to purchase the product!!!

If you put the price right on the product, the parent knows immediately what the price is and doesn’t get frustrated (on top of the screaming child) becuase they don’t know the price. Or that it will entertain the child for 10 hours. Or that the child will want to play with other kids with the toy (and keep them away from the TV). Is it mentioned?! Is it pushed on the packaging or advertising?!

If you disregard the gatekeeper (i.e. ignore them), you will lose out on another revenue stream.

Think about it.

I may have mentioned or spoken about this previously, but, again, it came up recently in a meeting that I had with a client.

The client was telling me how the staff that he had was not accomplishing all the tasks that he was assigning, that they were complaining about being “over worked”, and that he wished he had employee’s like me – who he thought would be able to accomplish all the tasks assigned. As a side note, he and two other guys worked together for many years and only recently (the last three years) did they start to grow their company (where they now have 40 employee’s).

I asked him what those tasks were – which I promptly numbered and put on a dry erase board. I then asked him to write on a piece of paper how long he thought the tasks should take to be accomplished and I would do the same (even though I did not have the full understanding of what the tasks entailed, I could and would probably come within 10-20% of the true time that would need to be committed).

One last caveat that I got from him – I wanted him to choose two employee’s, one that was his brightest star (meaning almost accomplished every task assigned) and one that stated that they were overworked and didn’t have enough time.

Here is just one example of a task.

Pull together a spreadsheet listing all the companies competitors, their products, their pricing, and the best analysis (guess) of their profit per product. Because the company was very focused in nature, the competitors didn’t number more then three companies and no more then 10 competitive products.

His answer was four hours.

Mine was 16 hours.

His “brightest star” answered 12 hours.

His “complainer” answered 20 hours.

After this was done, my client and I then discussed why there was such a difference of time between him and the rest of us. The three of us were at least 300% more to 500% more in need of time.

1) Was your answer of four hours because you have been in the business for 20 years and know the information, where, like any company, most employee’s have been in the position from one to two years and don’t have the same knowledge?

2) Was your answer because you expect everyone to be like you and have that same knowledge?

3) Was your answer unrealistic? (which didn’t go over to well with him.)

I asked him to step back and put himself in the position of his employee’s. This really didn’t work (as most CEO’s and Presidents think that they are the best and everyone else is out to milk them for money and not work).

So, I then took a different tact – picture yourself in the tool manufacturing business that makes hand tools. You only make hammers, screw drivers, wrenches, and pliers. How much time, based on the same assignment that you gave your employee’s, would it take for you to accomplish said task?

After alot of stuttering and stumbling, he said he could probably do it within 20 hours. I asked him to rethink the answer after working for the company for a year? and then for three years? Would the time change?

Of course he said it would, because knowledge would be gained and understanding on what the “boss” (i.e. me in this case) wanted would be better understood.

I then completed the loop and said “what difference is there between what you did to your employee’s and what I did to you?” He said there was none – and of course, you could see the light go off over his head.

I learned this the same way that he did, through years of management, that not everyone thinks like you do, nor do they approach the same task in the same way.

When I had employee’s (or staff), there was a golden rule that I lived by and expected my employee’s to live by also.

Do the best that you can in the time that you have.

I always expected my staff to work a minimum of eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. If they were willing to work more, then, I would assign tasks until I knew they were on the edge of “going under”. This isn’t bad, this is being a manager.

But, back to my statement above, I would assign tasks that I knew my staff could accomplish, and with their total buy-in on accomplishing that task in the time they needed.

For example – if you ever had work done on your house by a contractor, they, when bidding, would say “I can do this in three months”, and living in the Northeast, you knew that it would be accomplished in six months.

Same with your staff. Ask them how long it would take for them to accomplish the task. They may say – 40 hours. You think that it can be done in eight. STATE THIS to them. Then, renegotiate again. They will probably say 32 hours this time. You may relax and think 16 hours. Agree to their number of 32 hours (NOTE: This would be done with a new employee.) Then, see how they spend their time and how long it took and, of course, how well it was done. You may be surprised – you may get something that you didn’t expect – i.e. a finished assignment that not only does the three things you asked for, but, another 20 items that you didn’t think about (wow, you just discovered an employee who can be a help to you and the company and not a hindrance). And, of course, you can also, in the future, set the boundaries for what you need, so that the time being negotiated is more in tune with what you expect, not what they expect.

Remember something, they also may not go about the task the same way you do.

I always have said to my employee’s – “Do the best you can in the time you have – AND – I want “Z”, (with “Z” being the definition of the finished task). How you get from A – Z is up to you. But, I want “Z” on the date or hour that you committed to.”

This gives them the freedom to do the task, at their pace, and, ON THEIR TIME. You will be surprised how many of your staffers will work at home, think about it on the train, work through lunches, etc. Because you empowered them to finish the task their way, not instilled a framework and set “rules” on how they must accomplish it.

One last point. And this relates back to my statement – if you assign a task, are you the type of “boss” that, if it can’t be accomplished (or isn’t), that you would prefer nothing compared to something that is 80% finished?

Do the BEST that you can, in the time that you have.

I would appreciate the 80% and also learn about the capabilities of my staffer.

There was an article in the Harvard Business Review about insubordination and entrepreneurship (in a company) and how it a fine line (or gray area).

As most of you know, I have had the pleasure of working for some great technology companies, all of them at the beginning of their life, all of them in “start-up” mode, and all of them incredibly successful (or quickly became).

Throughout my career, if you spoke to my previous supervisors (from directors, to CEO’s), I have been insubordinate – because I believed in my cause/case so strongly, that I strongly voiced (over and over) what I believed. I would figure that 90% of the time, I was correct (and they would agree to this also).

The basis was that we had and were working in an entrepreneurial atmosphere. Because of this, we had to act and work like entrepreneurs. Meaning, we had to think of unorthodox marketing strategies – not your basic Marketing 101 strategies and plans.

Because of this, I helped all of these companies be successful – because I worked and thought like an entrepreneur, bringing new and innovative thinking to their marketing plans. I didn’t invent a physical product - I don’t have that great of a mind – but, the same entrepreneurs that invented the product, needed the same thinking that went into the product, and innovative marketing approach.

What am I trying to say? Just that, if you are involved with an incredible product, that you KNOW will be hugely successful, and you have a strategy to bring the product to market that you KNOW will succeed, then, stand up for what you want, don’t “fold” easily. Don’t give in. Even when I was an Asst. Marketing Manager, I stood up and stated what I believed.  If it fell on deaf ears, then, I said it again, until it was heard. After I knew that it was heard, and they still said “no”, then, I backed off.

Stand up for what you believe in, even if it comes to that fine line of insubordination. I’m NOT saying to sabotage the product or company (come on – then you SHOULD be fired!!!), but, make sure that your voice is heard. There are so many people out there who have incredible marketing idea’s, and don’t speak up, or speak up once and don’t do it again. Don’t be shy – your product may succeed more then you can imagine if you speak up.