Category: a slice of STRATEGY

Pure, unadulterated strategy: marketing, brand positioning, & entrepreneurial wisdom. New trends with staying power. Old standbys with inarguable value.
What to embrace, what to avoid, and what to attempt — with steady discernment.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Screening Sales Leads for More Productive Reps

Posted on by Red Slice

Let me put my B2B marketing hat on here. I recently chimed in on a Linked In discussion about leveraging outside firms or inside sales teams to help set appointments/screen leads for experienced sales reps. I have used both methods to great success – and a few failures – and want to share them with you. Some of this could apply if you sell consumer products via direct sales reps as well.

Many account execs these days have moved from a strict “feature-function-benefit” sale to a more “customer-centric selling” technique. This used to be called “solution selling” and there is a great book on this topic if you want to learn more. For those of you not familiar with this from enterprise software, this means that the rep acts more like a consultant and detective and less like a “hard sale” pusher – they take the time to get to know the person’s business, ferret out their pain points, find ways to measure value and then build a solution/package that meets the person’s needs. They have strategic business-level conversations, rather than getting down in the weeds on features and functions. This is a much more collaborative and consultative relationship that can yield future sales down the line, since the client sees you as a partner.

Many firms with dedicated, “high-touch” sales reps sometimes hire outside firms to either telemarket for leads or screen incoming leads for real opportunities. This allows the account execs to focus more on relationships, building value, strategic partnering and business solutions – rather than cold calling and wasting their time with “tire kickers’ who will never buy.

I’ve used both external firms and inside sales teams for this function. Aaron Ross is a great consultant who built a top-notch Inside Sales team at Salesforce.com and now helps organizations refine their sales processes to get results. I’ve worked with him in the past and he’s great. Vanella Group is also a wonderful prospecting firm full of professionals who used to be big whig sales execs and know how to find real opportunities (she doesn’t use people right out of college to do this kind of prospecting and screening).

Here’s what I have learned are the keys to making it work:

1) Have buy in from Sales leadership: The key factor is aligning with sales and ensuring the Sales VP is on board, has a say in the selection of the firm/new hire, helps define which leads are “appt worthy” and actively enforces good follow-up behavior among his/her reps. If the Sales leader is not on board and enforcing the process but its all coming from marketing, you’re dead in the water.

2) Nail Down a Clear Process: Sales needs to be well-informed about the initiative, know what the next steps need to be and how the whole process will be measured. Create a clear appointment-sales-rep handoff process so nothing falls through the cracks (put your operations hat on, create a process flow with decision points for all parties and ensure all reps know and agree)

3) Track and Measure. We had appointment setters who could enter the lead directly into our salesforce.com (SFDC) sales and marketing automation system. If a rep did not follow up or take the appt, we knew exactly when and who and could call them out. We also could track leads through to the sale from this initiative by using SFDC’s analytics.

4) Agree on What Makes a Qualified Lead: Ensure the definitions of a “qualified lead” worthy of an appointment are clearly understood and agreed to between marketing and sales so no one wastes time or money. This misunderstanding is one of the biggest reasons such initiatives fail. Have clear criteria for both sides on what makes a lead appointment-worthy. For example, we had company size, level of the person, if they were going to spend on a solution within 6 months, etc. as part of this criteria.

5) Maintain Accountability: Track all your activity to generate the lead and appt, so that if sales drops the baton, misses the appointment or doesn’t dollow up, you can know this and can remedy it quckly.

6) Make a Superstar That Others Will Follow: Celebrate success by enlisting the help of a well-respected, successful rep to “try the system out” and when he/she gets a win, promote it broadly. Reps will only spend time doing things that they know for a fact will yield commissions.

7) Put Communication Channels in Place: Ensure you have a process in place for the outside firm to make the appt and the rep to KEEP the appt. I’ve seen outside firms make appts and not clearly communicate time, date, etc to the rep (or not know which rep to send it to). There needs to be a mechanism to quickly check the rep’s availability so the prospect is not left hanging. I allowed my outside firm to send emails directly to my reps, even though they would put the lead in the system, just to ensure the appt was kept.

8) You Need More than People Who Can Dial a Phone: You need experienced sales reps who can listen, overcome objections and ferret out opportunities and pain points. They need to know what to listen for, how to ask probing questions and how to get past gatekeepers and talk about value. Again, Vanella Group does a great job with this.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Marketing Tools, Advice and Real Ideas You Can Use

Posted on by Red Slice

Promo time: Seattle business owners, there are a few spots still left for our Oct 28 workshop, Ignite Your Marketing. Forget the fluff and hype: Whitney Keyes and I provide real, actionable, easy marketing advice that will save you thousands of dollars of time and money – and will increase visibility, press and sales for your biz or brand. Whether you are a coach, author, winemaker, boutique owner, internet marketer, lawyer, real estate agent, software company, or eRetailer – this class is not to be missed!

We’ll start work IN CLASS on a 10-step brand strategy exercise, demystify all the marketing terms and tactics out there, and focus your efforts (and $) on what will have the most impact on increasing sales. You’d be crazy not to attend this class with 2 experienced marketing consultants and all their bags of tricks for just $225.

Plus, lots of tips on how to score free or almost free marketing and publicity!

All attendees get a marketing jumpstart kit full of tips to get exposure, easy ways to market yourself at low cost, planning templates, and other cool goodies valued at over $600 – who says you can’t build your own marketing plan quickly, easily and with minimal effort?Register by October 10 and you’ll ALSO be entered to win Nancy Juetten’s Bye Bye Boring Bio Action Guide, valued at $49

Register now, people – this is a crazy good deal and a dynamic workshop you will love.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Product Placement – What Do You Think?

Posted on by Red Slice

It’s all the rage, what with DVR’s and TiVo – to try to get your product into the set of a program/movie or used by a celeb. It’s more of a soft sell, the product is shown in context, people don’t zap through it, and you can associate your product with a hot new star or show.

Would love to hear what all of you out there think about product placement (intentional or otherwise) in general, or about such marketing opportunities.

In a story reminiscent of actors being discovered in line at the bank, Angie, one of the owners of a local Seattle online boutique The Crafty Devils, was contacted by a movie prop manager about one of her bags. The movie turned out to be the mega hit “Twilight” and the rest is history. Other examples are Eileen Shields Footwear, whose shoes made it onto the feet of Cythia Nixon in “Sex and the City“, and a Claire V. handbag featured on “Desperate Housewives.” And these are all unpaid examples. Companies can still try to pay for product placement – I even read in the WSJ that many brands like Barilla Pasta are now paying for placement in infomercials for related products (cookware).

Overall, it’s a myth that only big brands can have product placement success – and that it always has to be paid placement. More often than not, if you have some buzz going about your small biz, a prop manager somewhere might hear about you. Many small businesses are hiring PR firms that specialize in product placement or brand integration who get the hottest new finds in front of people like prop managers. Places like Hero Entertainment Marketing or Ostrow Alliances have divisions now specifically designed to help small businsses. They say that after the publicity fees, the placement can cost as little as a few free or discounted samples. And this might be even more effective than paying for the placement like the big guys do – if the prop manager thinks the product is a good fit for the character, this is much more authentic.

But if you are a small business especially….you have to leverage the exposure by promoting it yourself, because you can’t flash your URL or address up during the show. Promote “as seen in…” on your website; do a press release; take out an ad that talks about this; put up in-store signage; create postcards; contact local press, etc.

So for small or large businesses alike who offer products: as you build your 2010 marketing plans, try to include opportunities beyond traditional advertising to get your big break – whether you need to pay for the exposure itself or for a publicist. Get creative. You can also continually try to get your product on “Oprah” – and we all know the stories of what happens to small businesses when they get this little boost. If you are not sure where to start, talk to your PR firm or contact a product placement expert and see if you can pay for just an hour or two of consultation on the subject. The cash register rings may be worth the effort and expense.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Ask the Expert: PR Expert Nancy Juetten with Reasons Why Having a Fabulous Bio in Today’s Demanding Times is Absolutely Essential

Posted on by Red Slice

Red Slice had an excellent chat with PR powerhouse Nancy Juetten of Main Street Media Savvy. Nancy helps businsses get seen, heard and celbrated in their own backyards and beyond. She just came out with a fabulous new tool, Bye Bye Boring Bio Action Guide, for crafting a winning personal bio that tells your story, gains killer exposure and scores points wih the press. We sat down to talk about what a well-crafted bio can do for your press opps and business.

RS: Hi Nancy. So, really, how important is your bio? Who reads those on websites anyway?

NJ: People do business with people they like, trust and respect. It is essential to share who you are, why you are qualified, and why it matters with a few lines of well-chosen text that tell your story in a compelling, inviting way. A bio is an efficient and essential tool to share this information so the right people will pay attention. If you are serious about speaking on the radio, commenting for the media, or getting invited to speak in exchange for professional fees, you must have a bio that makes clear the value you bring and why it matters right now.

Also, consider this: The US department of labor reported recently that 15 states are still experiencing double digit unemployment.
2) 27 million people are in some stage of “escaping from cubicle nation” to start and grow businesses of their own.
3) Plenty more are seeking out side incomes to stay afloat in this demanding economy

These circumstances have people looking for a way to stand out from the crowd so they can get the chance to dance and get on with their life’s work NOW. Don’t be boring and boilerplate with your message. Be magnetic and really great to invite more of the right opportunities.

Check your web site stats to find out how many people are reading your bio. Chances are the numbers are higher than you would have first thought. If your bio is “boilerplate” and boring, take the time to revise it to be “really great” and inviting. Then, when your ideal customers land here first and love what they read, they won’t be able to stop themselves from reading more, sending you an email, or dialing the phone to discuss how to benefit from how you serve.

This bio for Patricia Fripp is one of my favorites:

Patricia Fripp is an award-winning speaker, sales presentation trainer, and executive speech coach who delights audiences, electrifies executives who speak, and transforms sales teams. Meetings and Conventions magazine calls Patricia “one of the country’s 10 most electrifying speakers.” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance says, “Patricia Fripp’s speaking school is the sixth best way you can invest in your career.” She is also the author of Make It! So You Don’t Have to Fake It and Get What You Want. Learn more at www.patriciafripp.com.

Right off the bat, you know who she is, what she does, and for whom. It is clear that she delivers stunning results. She offers sassy sound bites that lend credibility to her offering. She makes it easy for the reader to learn more and buy. This is a winning recipe that works for radio station interviews, website bios, speaker introductions, and more.

RS: Will people think you’re not professional if your bio is too playful and personal?

NJ: I heard an executive from Microsoft quip, “Social media isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle.” In today’s information overloaded world, where messages of 140 characters speak volumes about the sender, we all have to be mindful about the quality and texture of information we share in our bios and social networking profiles. My advice is to share information that is relevant and magnetic for your ideal customers to know, while also sharing a bit about who you are so the reader can form an opinion about who you really are. Are you an irrepressible entreprenuer? Are you someone who is known for having an endless supply of great ideas? Are you a
risk taker who loves sky diving, roller coasters, and more? If you try to be all things to all people, you end up being too little of the right things for the right people. Have courage to declare who you are, how you add value, and why you are an essential ingredient for success in your niche, and you’ll invite more of the right
opportunities.

RS: Sounds a lot like what Red Slice says about branding in general. Better to appeal strongly to the people who matter than blandly to many more who don’t. So how will a better crafted bio help me get more exposure and speaking engagements?

NJ: A radio station producer for a nationally syndicated talk show told me last week that the bios guests send in are often long, boring, and not well suited for radio. The downside for the guest is that the radio station producer likely doesn’t have time to re-write the bio to be suitable, so she likely captures key words and runs with it. It is far better for you to provide a few lines of well-worded text to introduce you in the perfect way than to relinquish control to someone who doesn’t care nearly as much about your story or your success as you do. It’s your story. Tell it well.

What most people want is the chance to to do what we really love with our time and our lives. At the same time, most of us fear being anonymous, not being heard, or toiling away in obscurity. And, if being seen, heard and celebrated in the media is on your priority list, a great bio is your calling card to qualify to tell your story so the right people will listen and take action. No matter where you stand on the continuum — from seeking a perfect assignment or getting known for your winning ways in your own backyard and beyond — a great bio isn’t just something to put on the “to do” list. It is absolutely essential, now more than ever.

Folks who struggle can find help with the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. I highly recommend checking this out, and I’ve already put some of the lessons learned here into practice for my clients. And those who need a guiding hand from a PR expert to turn their ideas into a few lines of well-worded, magnetic text can consider signing up for an Extreme Bio Makeover.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Frenemies

Posted on by Red Slice

Befriend the competition? Mon Dieu! But smart companies are learning how to partner up and play nice to everyone’s business can grow.

My good buddy Whitney Keyes like to cite a story of a local Seattle chocolatier who needed to find an innovative way to incease customers. The solution? Partner with the other local chocolatiers in town (the horror!) and create a Chocolate Tour that would stop at all the stores and educate people on the history of this divine treat. The result was increased business for everyone, and a great press opportunity to ptich to local papers.

When we combine efforts, we can offer much more value to potential customers than we can going it alone. How exciting would a tour have been for just one chocolate company? But when you can offer multiple options and a more robust benefit to people, they will see more bang for their buck and will respond.

Some other local businesses often partner with complimentary companies if they go after a similar demographic. For example, Trophy Cupcake here in Seattle just had an event on Saturday with local boutique Show Pony. The two have similar target audiences and decided to pair up and offer a trunk show, complete with cupcakes and shopping. Similar target audiences, different products = a more robust offering to attract people. Lululemon Athletic here in Seattle often partners with organizations that reach the same female demographic to conduct parties and workshops in-store – life coaches, networking groups, etc.

This might seem like a simple idea, but many companies – large and small – do not take advantage. My guess is because of fear. Fear of “losing” money to “the other guy”; fear of promoting someone else’s product over their own. “But what if they buy his product and not mine?” Wah.

Get out of your own way, people. If foot traffic has gone down to your store or website or your reps are stalled on deals, what do you have to “lose”? It can’t get worse, right? When you can offer a more complete bundle to people, they see more value – maybe they wouldn’t have bought from you or your partner company by itself but together, they are willing to spend even more money combined. Think about it from the customer’s point of view, not from protecting your own fiefdom.

I often do workshops with other marketing consultants. (One will be coming up in late October in Seattle, so stay tuned!). Technically, we are competitors but not really – we all have different stenghts. Together, we offer a valuable workshop to which neither of us alone could have attracted as many people.

Try it. Think about the businesses that complement your goods or services. Are you a roofing company who can partner with plumbers, electricians, etc. to refer business (see the 9/28 WSJ SmallTalk column in print, Section R)? Are you a florist who can partner with a jewelry store or spa around Valentine’s Day? Are you a software developer who can partner with another software company who sells a different product to the same audience as you? Are you perosnal stylist who can partner with a career coach or dating site to help people put their best foot forward? Are you a department store who can partner with a local designer to expand your product offerings at a Preview Party?

I challenge you to put one partnership/coopetition tactic into your marketing plan for 2010 – or even Q409. You will be surprised at how much value you will generate.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Ignite Your Marketing! October 28, Seattle

Posted on by Red Slice

Seattle-area business owners: Whitney Keyes and I are back presenting Ignite Your Marketing on Ocober 28, 2009 in Fremont from 6-9 pm. All info is here.

If you are serious about growing your business, wading through the marketing mumbo jumbo, and focusing your time and money on what will really increase sales, you need to be here. We’re presenting a fresh, dynamic look at building a brand strategy, smart marketing planning tips, how to get free (or almost free) publicity – and we’re including a robust Marketing Jump Start Kit, with tips, tools and tricks (and 2 eBooks) to help you manage the marketing maze. This Kit is a $600 value and is free to attendees.

Here’s what people said about our last joint workshop:
“Great overview to move forward with my business and our marketing”
“Great job! I really learned a lot and will benefit greatly from the advice and tips”
“Packed with info!”
“Really great class! I learned so much.”

If you like wasting hours and dollars on marketing that doesn’t get any results, please skip this. But if you want to make sense of the mayhem out there and only focus your energies (and strict budgets) on buidling a strong brand and doing things that move the needle, this practical primer and power shot of marketing education, tips, and ideas is for you. Heck, pick our brains for 3 hours with all your questions and challenges.

Space is limited, so sign up pronto. Go here for more info and to register. All systems go!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How NOT to get a city on your side

Posted on by Red Slice

Chase bought Washington Mutual last year and entered the Washinton State market with a pretty big advertising and branding campaign. Unfortunately, I am not sure what message they were trying to send to Washingtonians in the process.

Washington Mutual (WaMu) was an established Washington state institution, where many people earned their living and did their banking – especially in Seattle. WaMu had embarked on very colorful branding campaigns in recent years that I truly admired for being so different from all the other banks out there. Playful, irreverent and a touch hip, these ads made the bank stand out from a sea of look alike competitiors that touted trust, reliability, and formality. They touted friendly, approachable service and mocked other banks’ fees. This is one of my faves.

Chase as a brand could not be more different from WaMu. Talk about a culture clash. Although, many of Chase’s TV ads in the last year, I must admit, have been a bit of a departure from staid, boring bank ads with some pretty sweet soundtracks and a sense of energy.

So now Chase takes over WaMu and breezes into town last year. In Seattle , I started seeing bus boards and billboards everywhere a while ago. They made ample use of the Chase blue branding (good move) and used simple headlines and graphics (another good move.) Where it falls down is that the campaign essentially insults all Washingtonians. The headlines have a very insulting tone, implying that us morons in Washington State never knew good, responsible banking until Chase came and saved the day. The headlines include “Let’s start banking better, Washington.” And that is one of the least offensive. There was lots of buzz initially on the internet from miffed Washingtonians on this issue.

I’m not normally overly sensitive to ads. But even I, a New Yorker by birth, immediately bristled at the insinuation Chase was making. I pictured a fat-cat, middle-aged, paunchy White guy behind a large mahogany desk, “You guys are completely clueless and you don’t know how to handle your money, ” (patronizing sigh, perhaps some eye rolling) “Let us “big city folk from New York City show you how it’s done so we can save you from yourselves, you idiots.” Really? A bank telling me how to handle my money after the year we just had? REALLY? And I’m not even a WaMu customer in the first place.

The way to win friends and influence people in a region where you’ve just taken over a proud state institution and conducted layoffs is not to insult people into liking you. Maybe a softer, “We’re proud to be here and call Washington our new home. We want to help you get through this financial mess together….” Blah, blah. Anything would be better. Their transition site does a better job with messaging than their ads – if you ever get that far before you angrily switch all your accounts over to Wells Fargo. And it seems that site had problems as well from a usability standpoint.

Branding – especially when you are new in town and facing a hostile and scared mob – needs to be better thought out and integrated among the advertising messaging, the online experience, and most importantly, in the actual customer experience. You have to make the promise consistently (and in a way that does not irk people) and then follow-through on the dellivery of services. In my opinion, Chase fell down with the brand ad messaging here before they even left the gate. Follow this example and you may as well rent a bus and drive your customers over to the competition’s doorstep.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business

Posted on by Red Slice

I heard a fascinating talk at a Ladies Who Launch event the other night that not only helps women business owners hear the secrets about what men think, but also provided some strong marketing and branding advice for any business owner.

Self-professed and reformed “Alpha Male” Chris Flett of GhostCEO was the speaker. GhostCEO helps mentor and coach women business owners by providing answers, not just asking questions like many other biz coaches. If you visit his personal vs. company website that promotes his best-selling book, What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business, you will surely get a taste for his candid, brutally honest, no-holds barred, opinionated style. He’s provocative, I’ll give him that.

OK, I admit I was a bit skeptical . My first thought was that this guy has treated women in business badly (self-admitted) in the past and now here he is trying to make money by acting like he’s on their side? I also hate when women play the “gender” card in business and act like that is why they can’t get ahead when I see so much self-sabotage out there. But I left thinking, “Yes, this guy has a giant ego but he’s honest, has a good heart and his points are extremely valid.” Plus, this is the guy that I want to listen to about business – someone who has created and sold successful businesses . I appreciate candidness in business, and this guy has it in spades. I don’t mind arrogance if the person is successful and has a reason to be arrogant.

Why did he write the book (besides making money)? He felt that if he was going to give advice to a sister, daughter or other woman he loved before she embarked on a business career, what would he want her to know? At least if she’s armed with the information, she can make good choices. This resonated with me (and then my skeptic said, “I’m sure that helps him sell more books!”) But you know what? Who cares, if he’s providing valuable info? That’s a win-win.

So what did we talk about? Here are some highlights. Keep in mind these are provocative generalizations, and you may or may not agree but I don’t doubt that these thoughts and behaviors are out there, as I’ve seen them myself – would love to get some comments going on this. As stated, some of this advice holds true to marketing and branding in general. Want more details and info? Buy the book.

  1. Stop giving up your power: Women businesspeople give up their power all the time. With clients, vendors and colleagues. They don’t ask for exactly what they want and when they do, they sugarcoat it or don’t think big enough. Next time you discount for a client or let a vendor/employee railroad you, Chris says to think about what example you are setting for how women should be treated and would you treat a client/partner like that yourself? Taking poor treatment from others in business is not the message we want to send. And as far as brand goes, your personal conduct and reputation supports or negates your brand, so think about that.
  2. Cycle each other up, not down: Men push each other to be greater. Women try to “out-miserable” each other. “Business is bad, I can’t do this that or the other.” “Oh, that’s nothing. MY business is suffering from….I can’t…..etc.” Men tend to cycle each other up since Alpha males especially do not want to engage in “loser behavior.” Women tend to cycle each other down. Listen to the language you use with each other and set a better example. Men tend to pick each other up along the way, even if the other guy sucks because you never know when you need favor. Chris adds this is why men love The Godfather so much: the honor code is huge.
  3. Never bring up personal issues or family. Not sure I agree 100%, but his point is business is business and personal is personal. I worked with an Alpha Male that followed this philosophy and was seen as untrustworthy and secretive (turned out he was). Chris advises never bringing up family unless the guy brings it up first – and most Alphas will not. And personal issues at work? A no-no. Especially not the “If you had kids, you’d understand why I can’t make deadlines. You are not being fair,” comment a guy friend of mine got from a female colleague. Seriously.
  4. Give information differently to men vs. women. Chris told a great story about a financial planner who gave him the bottom line and let him go, but spent 3 hours with his wife going through the process. Men need “what”; women need “how.” Alpha males are goal-driven and care about how much money they can make with the least amount of effort. Women often want to also hear about the process. This also applies to the language you use. Retailers are much more successful with Alpha males when they say, “Let me know how I can assist you” vs. “How can I help you?” Alpha males don’t need “help” – and it puts you in the weaker position of “helper.”
  5. Ask for what you want, not what you think you can get. Strong men love strong women who ask for what they want. If you want to do business with an Alpha, be bold, be concise and think big. Don’t think “how”, think “why” and then find people who can show you. Confidence is key. Chris advises answering 3 questions nefore talking business with an Alpha Male (and this is true for your marketing messages as well): What do you do? Why does it matter? Why do I care? If you can’t answer that for an Alpha male (or a customer), you will lose them.
  6. Excuses don’t matter, Outcomes do. Alphas care about results. So when you’re late, don’t bore them with all the reasons why; just sit down and promise it won’t happen again. Move on to your next course of action, not the “why” of what came before. Again, Alphas don’t care about process, they care about outcomes.
  7. Keep secrets. The secret keeper is the most powerful person in business. And you will be tested by Alphas, Chris says, with half-truths from time to time so they can see if it comes back around.
  8. Don’t engage in open war. Hold your cards close to the vest when being openly attacked and don’t engage on their level of reaction. Tell them to “go take a moment and pull themselves together” if you need to diffuse the situation. Women especially need to practice not getting emotional at times like these.
  9. Business is not fair. But you can choose to do business with fair people. You have to have boundaries.
  10. Ask for endorsements. Don’t be shy about asking for referrals, endorsements and references from those you work with. If you do a good job for them, they will be glad to offer it and this kind of word of mouth is key to growing your business.
  11. Always have a Plan B. Pursue your business, but always have something cooking on the back burner. You need a backup plan.

Chris also goes into some common slang terms used by Alpha Males and what they mean, such as “piker”, “kill it and bill it” and “boat anchor” but I siggest you pick up the book to learn more.

Overall, a fascinating talk that gave me lots to think about and react to. But you can’t deny that knowing the game is half the battle to winning the game.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

When Brand Advertising Goes Bad

Posted on by Red Slice

Catching up on some football this weekend, a TV ad provoked such ire in me, that I had to share.

Before I reveal it, let me defend why I have such strong feelings. Marketing and branding has rceived such a bad rap over the years as litle more than “pretty pictures” and wasted budget. OK, this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I’ve never not had to fight and claw my way through an expenditure justification meeting with a CFO. And I get it, I really do. There has been such misguided marketing shoveled out over the years (and I admit, I shoveled my share of it, too). And you can’t just spend money with no ROI – you need to be able to track and manage ROI on any investment you make. That’s just sound business, and while I might be in marketing, I did earn a business degree so I understand that the name of the game, at the end of the day, is revenue.

So I have spent my career learning to be a diligent “measurer.” Whether that’s tracking website visits, leads, conversion rates, unaided recall, PR hits, focus groups, etc. the Type A in me has always enjoyed the challenge of proving that marketing – when it’s done right – should affect the bottom line and is not all fun and games. It takes a lot of skill to tap into people’s needs and prompt them to act. Yes, sometimes it still all falls down because of product quality, a flawed business model or some sales reps who can’t seem to close the deal – but you can only control what you can control, right?

And then, I see advdertising like I did this past weekend. And I want to slap somebody. Hard.

Pacific Life is running a TV ad that I’m sure cost a pretty penny. It’s an ad showing dolphins jumping up out of the ocean, set to an epic soundtrack. Then, the Pacific Life product categories (annuities, etc.) flash across the screen for about a second and the commercial ends. Someone feels so smug about this ad, they actually have it on the home page of their website, titled Dancing Whales.

What the…..?!

Yes, the logo has a whale on it. Yes, whales are cute and I like watching them. Yes, I believe that not all ads should be dry, feature-function-benefit informercials, but can showcase a lifestyle or an attitude. But whose idea was it to say, “Hey, our logo has a whale! Let’s spend money on a 30-second spot with jumping whales and that will definitely show people a) why we’re different from every other financial services company out there; b) will help people get to know our values; and c) entice them to contact their Pacific Life rep today!”

This is indeed what happens when people that think marketing and advertising are easy make decisions. OK, maybe I’m being harsh for comedic effect, but truly: how does this ad in any way help them differentiate, tell their story, show me what value I get from being their customer, or all of the above?

I call this the “Perfume ad conundrum” You know how some perfume ads have gone so far down the lifestyle branding path that their abstract ads are now mocked for being pretentious and nonsensical? That’s a result of someone saying, “Consumers are dumb, If we just put 30 seconds of (enter adjective here) up onthe screen, will associate us with (insert same adjective) and we will be ‘branded’.”

Uh uh. Not how it works. A good branding campaign does not forget the fundamentals of communication and marketing: value propositions (even if you just focus on 1 per ad, as Apple doesso well), differentiation (how can only this company provide what they are promising?), and clear mssaging (can I understand exactly what they are telling me?)

Ok, you could argure that I remembered this ad and am ranting about it, so didn’t it work? Um, not all talk is good talk that makes people buy your stuff. Many “water cooler” ads are ones in which the gossipers can’t remember which company they were even for, so how does that help people spend their money on you?

So, yes, I get a little out of joint when I see millions of dollars being spent by big companies that should have experienced marketing professionals who know better. Otherwise, it just makes it that much harder for those of us who value the depth and discipline of marketing to get our budgets approved. It’s bad enough that brand marketing is cited as pretty fluff (when execs are being kind) and a money sinkhole (when they are not) – can’t those of you blessed to get your budgets approved practice it at a more worthy level that positively impacts the bottom line?

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

"The Consumer is Not an Idiot. She is Your Wife."

Posted on by Red Slice

Years later, this mantra of ad great David Ogilvy still rings true. Award-winning creative and chairman of Droga5, Dave Droga did an interview with WSJ. Magazine this past weekend and had some good insights into today’s marketing landscape. Droga’s agency was behind the UNICEF Tap Project and the hilarious Great Schlep campaign video with Sarah Silverman, convincing Jewish Obama supporters to visit their grandparents in Florida and sway their votes.

Here are some gems from the article:

  • “The key to good advertising is knowing when to talk to the customer and when not to.” His point being marketing needs to be much more of a 2-way conversation with your customers – so you need to stop talking and shut up and listen every now and again to create a relevant brand. Advertising has moved beyond nice, neat digestable, 1-way 30-second spots or print ads to campaigns that are much more interactive and conversational.
  • On David Ogilvy’s famous quote: Companies need to understand what role their brand plays in people’s lives and not assume customers can or need to be spoon-fed something inauthentic. From my agency days, I loved when execs were afraid that the campaign was “too smart” for their audience and they wouldn’t “get it.” Even if the profile/demo of their audience clearly showed us that they would.
  • On not wanting an “agency style:” His point being he didn’t want to create a cookie-cutter Droga style that would make clients say, “Do for me what you did for X brand.” This just means you are borrowing someone else’s brand even if it does not fit you. “Eventually you end up giving everyone else fake versions of someone else’s DNA,” he says. Yes, we all want the success of Apple’s brand. But – tough love for companies who think all this takes iss slick advertising – we are not all living, eating and breathing the Apple motto and playbook inside and out – everything from products to R&D to policies to new hire requirements. You just can’t fake it. Or you can, but only for so long and then people get mad.
  • “Online is amazing, but it is not in itself a solution:” The interactive dialogue can be fantastic but you can’t always transfer marketing for other mediums onto the web. His point is that with all that opportunity, there is also the opportunity to be more annoying to people online. “Online” or “social media” is not a strategy; they are channels, or elements of the overall plan to reach your audience. And they need specific campaigns and creative that adapt to that channel and adapt to how information is consumed by your audience.
  • The “Human Response:” Droga says, regardless of the medium, the question you should ask with any marketing is “What response do I want with this? What emotion do I want to elicit?” So many businesses start with ideas for tactics first (I want a TV ad, I want a microsite, etc.) and don’t think about what they actually want to achieve with each tactic, what action do they want the audience to take? Sometimes, the best approach is a simple one and if you have a clear response/emotion in mind, you can simplify your message and make it much, much more powerful.