Marketing Wisdom

By now, you know BP’s brand is crushed with the oil leak. Arizona Iced Tea has lost strong brand confidence because of Arizona’s government. What else?

For those of you who have been following me for the past few years:

1) Crisis documents had to have been finished and ready to go out (how can you NOT have crisis communications ready if you aren’t BP?).
2) Your spokespeople have already been determined and are ready to respond, within 24 hours, of any disaster (Arizona Ice Tea took four days to respond that they are NOT in Arizona, but in New York – way to long).
3) You already have spokespeople in place (or on their way), within 24 hours, to the local media as well as national media locations (i.e. here, in the U.S., it would be an individual in New York, one in Washington D.C., and one on the Gulf Coast (wherever all the media is stationed to report on the spill, in case of BP).

BP still has a chance to slow/stop the damage (yes, it is severely damaged) – they need to get out front and stop hanging in the shadows (remember my posts on the poisoned dog food? I still hear people asking about that).

Arizona finally has started putting spokespeople on the air saying that they are not from Arizona so please don’t punish us.

It all comes down to marketing fundamentals (like baseball or football). You don’t practice and update the fundamentals, you will lose the game.

Good luck!! (Again!!)

I believe that I have spoken about this previously, but, here is a little more info to help you.

Do you need to have a Scope of Work document to give to an agency (or RFD, etc.). Yes and no, depending on where you are in the process.

I am going to assume that you have not done this before and this will be the first time that your company has asked an Agency to “bid” for your business.

1.) Sit with your CEO, CMO, VP of Marketing and decide/determine what you want an agency to accomplish for you in the first six months and one year from date of hire.

This should be a simple statement (almost a mission statement) that address’ what you want – some want brand building, some want product awareness, some want damage control, etc.

2.) Write each of them an email and asked if they were interested – it gives great insight into how they react to the unexpected (and of course, if it took a week to answer, they don’t make the cut).

3) Have a conference call with them and lay out what you are looking for; this should be 10-20 minutes of you talking about what your want the END RESULT to be (one year from now). Then do 10-20 minutes of Q&A

4) Based on that discussion, THEN put together a scope of work and mail to them. The first page should state again your mission and what was already said in conference call; pages 2 & 3 are all the questions that they need to answer within “x” amount of time (I usually give 14 days business days). Questions should be like:

a. Who would manage the account (who, amount of time, what/who else do they manage on a daily basis)

b. How would they spend the $100,000 budget (example) (page one talks about what you want – so, say to them, “if you only had $100,000, how would you use that to accomplish our goals?”

c. What’s the reporting structure? Who calls whom when?

d. Who are some of their elite media contacts that could help you gain market awareness? (or share?)

You get the idea.

One last point – do NOT hire an agency until you and management have decided on the mission and what you want to accomplish. It is a waste of money to do anything else.

Have any of your watched TV? Has any of you watched a news channel? Sure you have. Have you watched a TV news channel who has guests on – guests that are NOT on TV regularly (like, every other month)?

Why, may I please ask, do they NOT look at themselves in the mirror before they go in front of a camera? Oh, they do? Of course they do.  Have they never seen someone else who is not on regular TV on TV?

Of course they have – and most likely, they have said “I will not repeat that look”. 

No, we are not talking about Media training – there are millions of media trainers out there, go use it. 

This is about LOOKS.  Both male and female. Yes, the lighting is harsh, but that doesn’t mean that you should cake on blush, or eyeliner, or pancake mix. 

GO and pay for professional make-up artists – pay the money, even if you are on for only 1 minute.  People will pay attention to your words and not try and figure out what color of purple your lips are.

What’s my point? I have seen so many interviews lose their focus and essence because the individual was dressed inappropriately or had bad make-up.  And yes, this DOES apply to men.

Amazing how anyone who is in marketing forgets to focus on what is needed to succeed.

I have had the recent pleasure of working with some companies who realized “loss of focus” means “loss of time and ultimately revenue”.

I have written about this before, but, it has been some time so thought I should hit everyone over the head again about this.

Marketing Focus – there are many opportunities to be focused as you work through a marketing campaign, or strategy, or brand campaign, or tactics; you get the idea. 

Make sure, if this is all new to you, to go and pick up a basic marketing book and follow their steps.

1) Who is your target (and you can’t answer, North America, or All Children that are 10)?

2) Why are you targeting them?

3) What is the value that you see getting from them? (this is important and I have written about it under Gatekeepers and other areas – you might say “we are going to sell kids video games”, but, if you think the value is that, you may be wrong – because the parents are the “valuable” ones – they have the money, not the kids. You get the idea.)

4) Look at the forest, not the tree in front of you – yes, we are talking about focus and eventually you will have to look at individual trees, but, not at the beginning – the single tree is the last part of the equation. Remember playing with a Magnifying glass as a kid? The first time you used it, you held it far away and didn’t see where the point of light was hitting, until you brought it closer and closer to the object and the light became more and more focused.  But, first, you had to find the target, and then the focus began.

As usual, I can go on and on, but, to spare you and me wasted time, I will end here, and remember, you can always write me an email and I would enjoy helping you become successful.

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 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.

Sadly, there is always someone in a company (usually the CEO or CMO) that says “Let’s see a marketing plan”.

Why is it sad? Because, what is a marketing plan?

Over the 20 years that I have been in business, I have put together over 100 marketing plans, and each and every one is different. And no, its not because the products were different, it sometimes comes down to:

1) the culture of the business,

2) the budget,

3) the personnel,

4) and many other items (but, way too long to put here).

Most newbies in marketing get their college marketing book and use the template that is provided to put the plan together.  I admit it, I did this the first time also.

After about an hour of trying to “make things fit”, I realized that it doesn’t work that way.

Some companies consider Sales to be an integral part of a plan, other companies want the Sales team to be left out.

Some companies want it to be a local launch, others want it to be worldwide.

Some companies require that other divisions be involved, where others let the Marketing team be autonomous with the plan.

And some companies don’t want promotions to be a part of it, or PR, or advertising, or who knows what.

All of these have to be taken into consideration when putting a plan together.

KNOW the person who asks for the plan. Know what they are thinking and what they want.

If you don’t know, ask!!! My first 20 plans were what I thought would be a good plan for a “go to market” strategy, and most had to go through major revisions before the actual presentation was made.  All because I didn’t know what the person who asked for the plan wanted.

To end, I will give this brief example.  One time, I did a 20 slide Power Point presentation, covering everything, from merchandising the product to how the sales team could “pitch” the product. After I finished, the CMO said “All I wanted was how we will role this out to the Media”, i.e. a Public Relations program.

Make sure that you get a definition of the “plan” before you begin – it will save time and headaches.