February 19th, 2012
You can't buy your favourite brands at Shoppers any more, and you may not want to buy their replacements
If you've been in a Shoppers Drug Mart store lately, you may have noticed that many of your favourite brands are missing. As I discovered this week when I traipsed up and down the aisles for 10 minutes looking in vain for a can of Planter's nuts, there were approximately 16 feet of shelf space devoted to various nuts and trail mixes, but only one brand represented: Life Brand. And this is happening throughout the store, as Shoppers' brands (which, in addition to the Life Brand, include Quo and GOSH cosmetics, Balea Skincare, RAW Essentials, Simply Food and Nativa, among others) are knocking name brands off the shelves.
You don't have to tell me about the advantages (for the retailer) in promoting store brands: Better margin, lower marketing costs, repeat visits to the store, exclusivity, brand awareness in the home, etc. I get it. The problem for Shoppers, however, is that - unlike President's Choice, Loblaws' super-successful store brand - Shoppers' products mostly aren't all that great.
The food products are substandard (I dare you to ingest a Nativa cracker or cookie and then want to eat a second) and not all that cheap; a box of the facial tissue won't last you through 24 hours of a cold; and the Quo makeup always gives me a rash.
But don't take my word for it. "Oh, I never use any of the Life Brand medications," one Shoppers staffer, who asked not to be named, told me. "There have been way too many recalls on those products - you can't trust them. And the food products keep going on sale because no one buys them."
"I tried the chocolates when they first came out," said a merchandiser for one of the big Toronto stores. "They're terrible! I wouldn't buy them for myself, let alone buy them for anyone else. I don't understand why they keep trying to force us to promote them as gifts - I'd be too embarrassed to give them to someone."
Store owners don't have a choice
If the Shoppers house brand products are so bad - and the people who work in the stores know it - how come they continue to get more shelf space, while even big, established brands are getting pushed out? Shoppers head office is forcing them to take the product.
Stores are sent batches of the products, whether they order them or not, and are required to merchandise it according to the pre-determined planogram. Head office doesn't really care if we sell it or not, since they get paid once it goes out to stores. (It's worth noting that in 2010, Shoppers owner-operators filed a class-action suit against Shoppers management, for similar heavy-handedness.)
Eventually, this has got to erode margins
I know what Shoppers is trying to do and why: As a publicly-traded company which has lost revenue in recent years to changes in the way prescription drugs are sold, they're looking to shore up the stock price - and brand loyalty - in other areas. And replacing independent name brands with higher-margin, supply-chain-controlled store brands is a good way to improve 'shareholder value'.
Except they seem to have forgotten a key factor in the retail process: The consumer.
Consumers are much more willing to try store brands than they were 20 years ago, and it's not difficult to get them to try a new product, especially when you remove the element of choice. ("I wanted Planter's nuts, but I can't be bothered going to another store, and Life Brand nuts can't be that bad, can they?")
But once consumers have tried a handful of products and found most of them disappointing, they'll eventually give up. At best they'll keep shopping in your store but avoid your house brand products; at worst they'll switch stores entirely. "I never go to Shoppers any more," a friend of mine said to me recently. "All their stuff is way more expensive than Rexall, and I can't get what I need anyway." Some store managers say that retail margins are already being affected because they have to put the house brands on sale all the time just to get them to move.
The problem is that it takes time for consumers' buying habits to register with the people pushing the house brands. After all, Shoppers has 1000 stores across Canada, so by the time the store-brand product rejection causes a real dent in the bottom line and the individual store owners manage to convince head office that the products just aren't working no matter how much they're forced to merchandise, it'll probably look like the problem is coming from another direction.
Will Shoppers survive this? Yes. Are they risking long-term competitive advantage for short-term perceived gains? Definitely.
February 15th, 2012
Your competitive set may be a lot different than you think.
Years ago, when I was young and stupid and working for a big advertising agency, I was part of a team that pitched a big television campaign for a packaged goods company. We spent weeks on a flashy presentation (quite literally: it was 1999, and using Flash in a boardroom presentation was still considered cutting-edge), packed the room with black turtleneck-wearing hipsters, and did the elaborate ad agency tapdance. We had feelers out at the 3 other agencies we knew were in the running and were certain we'd totally outperformed them in every way.
We didn't get the business. Neither did any of the other agencies. It went to a couple of guys we'd never heard of who'd invested in some digital equipment and some super-creative spec work, and offered the client a whole set of commercials for less than we'd budgeted for a single spot. And it turned out that the client was sick of high-octane presentations that tended to have little or nothing to do with the quality of the final product.
These days, I'm on the other side of the equation: Half the time we get a new client, it's because some marketing/design company pitched them on a website that was going to cost $30,000 and take 3 months to build, with an incremental $1500 tacked on for connecting their Twitter feed to their Facebook page. Sooner or later, the client expresses their incredulity to someone else, who says "Why don't you just call Sarah at StayAwake, because she can at least tell you if that's realistic."
I guarantee you that the other marketing/design company had never heard of us - and in fact I've had the odd angry phone call demanding to know who in fact we think we are - and never considered us their competition.
A different economy means different choices
It's not even as simple as choosing one marketing partner over another, either. It's that when an individual has $100 to spend on something personal, they're choosing between clothes and perfume, or between eating out and buying a lamp. When an employer has $10k to spend on employee development, they're choosing between a training program or a rewards program. Or when a company has $1 million to spend on growing sales, they're choosing between infrastructure and marketing.
And don't forget that your customers may not see your competitive set the same way you do. In my experience, above, we naively assumed that the client was only going to consider other 'big agencies' - but they were looking at a much broader set of possibilities.
Defining your competitive set
Fully understanding just who and what you're competing against for your customers' time and money has a lot to do with your industry, price point, and proposition, but asking these questions will help you get a better handle on what your competitive set looks like:
- Are you selling a commodity where customers can compare apples to apples? Or a service which has all kinds of different variables?
- What do your customers have to give up in order to purchase your product (i.e. if they spend money on your product/service, what will they have to forego buying)?
- When you lose business, who are you losing it to? Is it the same couple of companies, or a wide variety?
- Who do your customers see as your competitors? Are you sure about that?
- What is the end result/benefit of buying your product? What are the other ways a client could get to that result/benefit?
BONUS TIP: Try pretending you're a potential customer and Google some of the search terms you'd use if you were looking for a supplier. The stuff that comes up that you thought had nothing to do with your product or service is a good way to start thinking laterally about your competition.
February 12th, 2012
You need to be able to explain your advantage in 10 seconds or less
Here is a conversation I had with a potential new client a few weeks ago:
ME: "Okay, I understand what it is you do and sell, and you've told me a little about your sales goals and that you have an aggressive growth strategy for the next 18 months. But I can think of a few players in your space who seem to be doing similar things. Can you tell me how you're different or better?"
CLIENT: "What do you mean?"
ME: "I mean, if a potential customer is trying to decide between buying your product and buying that of a competitor, what factors will make them choose you? Are you cheaper, faster, more reliable...?"
CLIENT: "Well, we deliver a quality product."
ME: "Yes, but what does that mean to you? What will that mean to the customer?"
CLIENT: "Hhmmm...I'm not sure."
ME: "Well, how are you getting clients right now?"
CLIENT: "Most of our business comes from referrals from our existing clients, actually."
ME: "That's a good sign - it means you're doing something right. Why are people referring their friends and colleagues to you? Are they telling you why they're calling you?"
CLIENT: "They say that we're more trustworthy than other companies in our space, and that we have better customer service, and that we do a better job of solving their problems, and we become a better long-term partner. Oh, and we always save them a lot of money over the long-term, because we don't sell them stuff they don't need."
Aha!
Marketing is really all about communicating key differentiators
I knew this business had something going for it, because I happened to know that it had done pretty well in the preceding 2 years, even without doing any marketing. So clearly it was delivering a decent product. But getting them to articulate their key differentiators - service, strategic partnership, cost-effectiveness - was like pulling teeth.
This is a common problem for small businesses, especially those in the 'professional services' category. They've had initial success as a result of personal relationships - typically those of the founder - but after a couple of years, those relationships are saturated. They know they need to broaden their target market, but when it comes time to explain why they're different, and better, than their competitors, they find themselves tongue-tied or reliant on 35-page PowerPoint decks. Either way they lose the 10 seconds they've got to make a big impression with a potential new client.
Here's the thing: If people could do what you do, they wouldn't be in the market for your services in the first place. In other words, they probably don't know a whole lot about your industry or field. So you have to make it easy for them to understand the benefits you're offering before you try to explain all the details to them.
That's where the key differentiators come in. It's all about boiling down the ways in which you're different - and better - to a few key points that you can use any time you're communicating to a potential client, whether that's in marketing materials or in person.
Don't try to squeeze everything in at once
As I wrote the other day, trying to explain every little detail to a customer can backfire - people only have a limited capacity for new information at a given time, and the goal of marketing is to capture their attention long enough to get them sufficiently interested to give you more of their attention. So rattling off a laundry list of features and benefits isn't the best strategy. Instead, pick 2 or 3 and work them into a compelling story.
Here's how:
- Make a list of all the features and benefits of your product or service, and how they're different from your competitors
- Choose the top 3 based on what your current customers are telling you mean the most to them
- Construct your messaging around these 3 differentiators
- Test the messaging in the marketplace, and take note of which ones seem to resonate with potential customers
- Refine as required
Over time, you'll probably find that different messages work with different target groups: Your public-sector clients may respond best to cost and security messages, while your private sector clients may respond best to the fact that you deal with other 'big names' in their industry. That's okay - at least the next time someone asks you how you're 'different and better' than your competitors, you won't have to say "What do you mean?"
February 9th, 2012
So yesterday I wrote a post about how the Susan G. Komen foundation has now become inextricably linked with religion and politics, thanks to their actions regarding Planned Parenthood and Karen Handel in the past week or two.
It wasn't a controversial post: I didn't take a stand on religion, politics, abortion or Planned Parenthood - only on how getting associated with controversial topics like that can have serious, long-term consequences for your brand.
Imagine my surprise, then, when this morning a couple of people let me know that the link I posted (which was automatically fed to my Facebook account from my Twitter account) was being 'blocked' by Facebook. I wish I'd done a screen cap, but basically what happened was when you tried to click on the link, a notice popped up saying that Facebook had blocked the link on improper 'terms of use' grounds. There was nothing wrong with the blog or my website itself, and when I posted the link to a friend's page, it wasn't blocked or flagged.
I don't know what happened. Did someone complain about the title of the post? Did someone complain about the blog post itself? If so, who complained? And why? Or did a Facebook algorithm just not like my use of 'religion' and 'lethal' in the same headline?
Facebook offered no reason, of course, and no way to get to the bottom of it.
A couple of people have suggested that I not write this follow-up, lest I get in bigger trouble with Facebook. But I wrote the piece in the first place because I noticed that other people seemed reluctant to talk about it, and it gets my goat that I have to be leery of making what seemed to me an obvious - and not particularly incendiary - connection based on a topic that's had widespread media coverage.
Anyway, go read the original blog post, and let me know: Is it really the kind of thing that Facebook should be blocking?
February 7th, 2012
So, as my Twitter feed fills up with endless tweets about the vapidity that is Pinterest, I can't help noticing that marketing types aren't talking a whole lot about this week's debacle involving the Susan G. Komen foundation and their funding of Planned Parenthood.
For those of you who haven't been following the story, here it is in a nutshell: Susan G. Komen For the Cure, the organization which brought you the ubiquitous 'pink ribbons', raises something like $400 million annually for cancer-fighting-related causes. This year, they were slated to give $700k of that to Planned Parenthood, an organization which works to "...improve women's health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies, and advance the right and abilities of individuals to make informed and responsible choices." Pro-lifers in the US interpret this to mean that Planned Parenthood 'promotes' abortion; pro-choicers see Planned Parenthood as a vital resource for disadvantaged women who are most in need of assistance.
Last week, Komen announced it would pull their grant to Planned Parenthood. The religious right was thrilled, because they saw it as a victory for their agenda. But the left-wing internet blew up, and Komen not only reversed its stance but parted ways with Senior VP Karen Handel (a former gubernatorial candidate who was outspoken in her desire to defund Planned Parenthood), who was widely believed to be the architect of Komen's initial move to withdraw their Planned Parenthood grant.
This is really all about politics and religion
Most of the mainstream media is carefully skirting the issue, but let's be honest here: The whole furor about Komen, Planned Parenthood and Handel is all to do with politics and religion. And these days, especially in the US, politics and religion are inextricably intertwined.
And here's where Komen has just done itself a huge amount of damage. In a matter of days, they've gone from a fairly neutral, non-profit, friendly-pink-everything organization to one which has managed to antagonize both the left-leaning, less religious camp (by withdrawing their support for Planned Parenthood) and the right-wing, conservative Christian camp (by reversing their decision and getting rid of Handel).
Komen has now become both political and religious, and it's already causing huge problems for the brand.
They've made it okay to boycott pink ribbons
I don't know about you, but when I saw pink KFC buckets of chicken and pink M&Ms, I had to wonder if the whole pink ribbon campaign had gone too far - should we really be eating more fried foods while telling ourselves that we're helping women's health? And I had heard rumours about how the Komen foundation was more interested in selling pink stuff than they were in actually finding a cure for cancer.
But I wasn't about to stand up and start criticizing pink stuff, because I'd look like a misanthropic luddite who didn't appreciate awareness or research or, even worse, was somehow 'against' supporting women with breast cancer.
It turns out I wasn't alone, however, and the events of the last few days have opened the floodgates. The blogosphere is abuzz with commentary - from the left, the right, and the alternative-living types - all of whom are not only angry with Komen's moves this week, but who are also getting more vocal with their criticisms of Komen's practices around inflated salaries, questionable product endorsements, and relationships with pharmaceutical companies.
A brand misstep of New Coke proportions. Or at least Netflix.
Two weeks ago, I would have said that Komen was one of the most successful non-profit brands in the world, and in fact could compete with for-profit brands in terms of top-of-mind awareness and loyalty - they've raised something more than $1 billion in less than 10 years.
Today...I don't think Komen is going to collapse overnight. There are too many people with too much emotionally invested - and too many brands with too many runs and events and products invested - in Komen-related programs for the whole organization to implode in the next five minutes. But if their bottom line hasn't been cut in half in the next 18 months, I'll be greatly surprised. I only hope that that money finds its way to other cancer-fighting causes.
February 6th, 2012
I know you have great ideas. But they're not doing much, just sitting there in your head.
You know you need a blog, or some kind of regularly updated content. The problem is, you hate writing - well, maybe 'hate' is a strong word, but the last time you had to sit down and write more than 2 paragraphs in a row it took you all afternoon and finally you just gave up and spent the rest of the day making a fun diagram on PowerPoint.
If you're at the point where you know you need to create content, you've probably got some ideas of what you'd like that content to look like - it's just a matter of getting those ideas out of your head and into the world.
Of course, the easiest way around an aversion to writing content is simply to hire someone - they can interview you, extract all the good ideas you've been thinking about, and then ghost-write your content for you. The problem is that this tends to be expensive, because anyone you're going to trust enough to be your 'voice' is probably going to cost real money.
Here's how to get as much content as you can out of your head and into some kind of format that you can use to either write some 350-word blog posts, or hand off to someone to turn into content for you without having to spend a huge amount of money.
Set a reasonable time limit and eliminate distractions
If writing's not your thing, there's nothing worse than telling yourself you're going to spend 'the day' trying to do it. Instead, just aim to do as much as you can in a 2-hour block. Turn off your cellphone, shut down your email, disconnect the internet and send the family to the movies so you won't be tempted by procrastination distractions. Do give yourself a snack food and a glass of wine if that helps.
Don't try to be Hemingway
Many non-writers get sidetracked when they worry about spelling, grammar, sentence structure or style. When you're just getting started, it's better to just get your thoughts out. Stick to bullet points if that's easier, and switch to paragraphs when you have a lot to say. But don't worry about run-on sentences and don't stop to wonder whether 'miscellaneous' is spelled properly - getting your ideas to flow is more important.
Start with your pet peeves about your industry
This is an amazingly inspirational place to start when you're looking for content ideas. Start with everything that bothers you about the industry in which you work: The incompetence of other practitioners; the bad customer service; the lack of regulation; the misconceptions and myths; the way the big players are ruining it for smaller players; the things that consumers should know but don't - whatever drives you nuts.
Don't self-censor at this point - at this point, you're just talking to yourself. So if you think that 75% of the other people in your industry are total idiots who shouldn't be allowed to speak to clients, write it down. You can edit yourself later.
Move on to the ways you'd change your industry
From your pet peeves, it's a natural step to talking about how you'd change your industry if you could. Better education, better customer service, better processes, more ethical practices - what would you change if you had the power to do so?
These could be small things that you're already doing in your own day-to-day worklife ("I always make sure my team has continuing education opportunities") or big things that you'd do if you were in a position of wide-reaching power ("If I was the president of a global multinational, I'd set up an ombudsman for my industry...").
Now you can turn on your computer and check other blogs
When you've run out of your own ideas, it's okay to turn on your computer and read blog posts by other big names in your industry. What are they saying that you agree with? What are they saying that you definitely don't agree with? Disagreeing with other bloggers - and offering well-thought-out reasons why you disagree - can be a fruitful area for developing your own ideas and content.
A couple of these sessions, and you may have rewired your brain...
You may never come to love writing, or find it easy to do. However, once you've done a couple of 2-hour sessions to get your ideas out of your head and into a more share-able format, you'll probably find that the ideas come more easily, because you've given your brain a bit of a structure in which to organize and think about them. And that book you've always thought about writing may be more doable than you thought.
February 1st, 2012
This is the control panel for a Winnebago. But I thought it was a nice metaphor for having your social media channels managed from one central, delightfully wood-panelled, location.
These days I find myself doing a lot of social media consulting, usually helping small businesses start using social media. And the first question I'm always asked is: "What social media channels should I be using?"
99% of the time, my answer is the same: Start with the trifecta of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
"I get that I should be using Twitter and LinkedIn," they say. "But Facebook? Isn't that just for personal stuff, like friends and family? I don't want the world to see my family pictures. That's not appropriate for my business. And Facebook can't help build my business anyway."
When you're a small business, you are your personal network
The thing is, when you're a small business owner, much of your business is going to come from your personal network. Your sister-in-law, the guy you shared an office with 10 years ago and still keep in touch with, the neighbour you always hang out with on Friday nights when your spouses have other things to do - these are people who are often in a surprisingly good position to refer you, your business and your product to others. And they're likely to be surprisingly enthusiastic about you.
In fact, they'd probably recommend you to more people more often if they could remember what you do and that you're doing it - and that's where Facebook can help.
For example: The other day, a friend from grade school posted a note on Facebook about how she was having trouble with her nanny. I don't speak to her on a regular basis, and she lives in another country, so without Facebook I wouldn't have known that she was having an issue. As it happened, my cousin-in-law, who runs a babysitting business, had just posted a note about how her company can help find nannies in that area. So all of a sudden I was able to connect my friend with my cousin-in-law's business.
It wouldn't have happened on Twitter (since my Twitter feed is too busy and my grade-school friend isn't on there anyway), and it definitely wouldn't have happened on LinkedIn (since 'trouble with nannies' isn't the kind of content that tends to find a place on LinkedIn).
If you aren't linking Facebook to your professional profile, how will these kinds of connections happen?
Stop worrying about the invasion of your personal life
Guess what? The convergence of your personal and professional life has already happened. If you're a small business owner who's been out there doing small-business-owner things like meeting people, attending events, publishing articles and making contacts, your personal life isn't a mystical secret. Anyone with 30 minutes and some basic deduction skills can find out a lot about you, and can probably find a whole heap of photos, too.
This is a good thing. You want to be accessible; you want to turn up in Google searches. The more findable you are, the more credibility you have. And unless you've been a complete idiot, and posted a whole slew of photos of yourself doing jello shots off the naked torsos of strange men, attaching your Facebook profile to your personal brand - and associating it with the company you lead - isn't going to be a problem.
When you're too private, people wonder why
The other day I wrote about how authenticity and transparency in advertising isn't as popular as the gurus would have you believe. However, where they're right about transparency is when it comes to personal branding, and when you're a small businessperson, personal branding is everything.
Before you ever get into a meeting with a new client, someone in the decision-making chain is going to Google you. If they can't find much information about you, they're going to assume you're not as prolific, influential or important as you want them to think you are. They're simply going to wonder why someone who calls themselves an 'expert' only has 3 search returns. Facebook can increase your searchable content volume while you're building up your other channels - and that can be a big advantage.
January 25th, 2012
Scarcely a day goes by in which I don't get tweeted yet another article talking about authentic brands, authentic personal brands, authentic branding, and, of course, transparency and truth in advertising.
And I get it: In a networked world, more consumers have more access to more information, more quickly, than they've ever had, and they're better at parsing messages than they've ever been.
But here's the funny thing: Consumers don't actually want the whole truth. Those of us who spend a lot of time on social media talk a blue streak about truth and transparency because we see our little blogosphere world blow up when some brand gets caught in a lie or the halfwit intern in charge of the corporate Twitter account says something stupid, but it's not that simple. And here's how I know.
Regular milk has dead bacteria in it
A few years ago, I spent a lot of time working on a milk account, one of the 'fine filtered' milks that have done such a good job of de-commoditizing the milk segment. The side of the milk carton says that the milk is "92x more pure" than regular milk because it's been "filtered".
The truth is that it's more like 1000x more pure; the reason it's more pure is that the 'filtering' has removed the dead bacteria that were killed by pasteurization; and the reason that it stays "fresher, longer" is because there aren't any bacteria carcasses rotting in the milk.
But in focus groups, consumers didn't believe the "1000x more pure" claim, and they definitely didn't want to hear about dead bacteria floating around in regular milk - even though once you know that, you'll never drink non-fine-filtered milk ever again.
Citronella doesn't do jack squat
I also worked on a big household products brand, who had a big insect repellent line of products. One of the products they made was citronella candles and lanterns, but they never wanted to advertise them. Why? Because they knew - through their own, and independent, testing - that citronella does almost nothing to repel insects, especially mosquitoes. The corporate culture was one of high ethics and family values, and it killed them that stores were marketing citronella products next to 'real' insect repellents.
When they tried to explain to consumers that citronella products weren't effective, they got an incredibly negative response. So they finally just gave in and made them - but, in a move that will shock those of you who think that marketers are all evil, refused to let us promote them as insect repellents.
Water by any other name must be special
Have you ever looked at a bottle of, say, shampoo, and noticed that the first ingredient is often listed as 'Aqua'? That's water, of course. And you think to yourself: Why on earth don't they just say 'water'?
A couple of years ago I was working on a personal care brand who tested ingredient lists with consumers, and the truth is that 90% of them prefer a shampoo or conditioner which uses 'aqua' rather than 'water', even when they know perfectly well that 'aqua', is, in fact, just water. They'll even pay a premium for it. They figure that water which is called 'aqua' is probably fancier water than the stuff that comes out of a tap - it must be distilled, or glacial, or something. Even though it never is.
No, I'm not saying consumers are stupid
...so don't get all snippy. I mostly think that there are so many messages flying at consumers from so many directions all the time that they simply don't have time to think too much about dead bacteria in their milk, or seek out primary-source data on citronella instead of believing their sister-in-law, and I think it's just fine if they enjoy 'aqua' more than plain old 'water'. It's not like I'm making my own soap out of lye and olive oil, and I'm quite sure I'm living in my own little world of self-delusion about the products I buy.
I'm just saying that marketers are still doing a lot of storytelling, and the stories haven't suddenly become non-fiction.
January 18th, 2012
You know you need some marketing. But where do you start?
These days, most of my work is with small-but-fast-growing brands, like this and this.
I spent the first 10 years of my marketing career working with big brands, but I much prefer working with entrepreneurial companies: They're willing to take more risks, the limited budgets mean you have to get more creative, and there's more room for a big vision that isn't going to get hijacked by layers of stakeholders because you're creating a brand from scratch with a small team of highly invested people.
The challenge in starting from scratch, however - especially when you're working with companies who don't have in-house marketing or communications resources, and who have never really undertaken a marketing project before - is knowing where to start. When you've got a limited budget, it's crucial to focus your resources.
So how do you do that?
The 11 questions you need to ask to arrive at a marketing strategy
Most entrepreneurial businesses don't want to shell out $25k to a 'consultant' to generate some 50-page PowerPoint deck about Their Marketing Vision. And I agree - that's $25k they could be spending on results-oriented marketing efforts.
Here's how to get a good handle on what your marketing strategy should look like, in 11 handy questions.
1. What are your top 3 business goals for the next 12 months?
All marketing initiatives need to be tied to specific business goals - with specific revenue numbers. There's no point in increasing retail sales if what you really need is to increase sales via sales brokers. Answering this question will also help you arrive at a realistic marketing budget.
2. Where do you see the business in 3-5 years?
While the answers to #1 should be highly specific ("Increase revenue on X product by X%"), the answers to this should be more 'visioning', like "We'd like to be the leading provider of X in X area"). However, it's important to keep this realistic: If you're currently the #10 player in a saturated market, know that 3 years probably isn't long enough to get to the #1 spot.
3. What are your top 3 most pressing business issues?
Are you suffering from a lack of awareness? Not being considered in the competitive solution set? Not being able to communicate with customers? Operational delays? Confused employees? Marketing and communications can help with all of these - and sometimes it's more effective to spend marketing dollars training and educating employees than to build a fancier website.
4. Which of your products/services is currently making you the most money right now?
The product/service with the best margin may be the best place to start spending marketing dollars, because you'll get more bang for your buck. Once you've tested the market, you can invest in other products/services.
5. What are your top 3 barriers to sale/sales objections right now?
Are your salespeople having trouble getting meetings? Are they having trouble closing them? Are potential clients having a hard time finding you, or are they worried about your credibility in the marketplace? Do you have a great sales team but a confusing message? Before you start undertaking television advertising, it might be best to focus on sales materials or a more coherent brand identity.
6. What do(es) your target market(s) look like?
This is a big one for small- and mid-sized businesses, who typically want to sell to 'everyone'. But when you're just starting with marketing, the more you can segment and target narrow niches, the better results you'll have. It's better to divide and conquer than to go scattershot.
7. Do you have a 'brand story'?
Do you know what you sell, why it's different or better, and how it will make the lives of your customers and clients better? In my experience, most small-but-growing businesses do have a compelling story - they wouldn't have made it this far if they didn't - but it's not being clearly and consistently articulated. Sometimes this is where an outside marketing consultant can help the most.
8. What are your current communications assets (website, infosheets, social media, etc.)?
It's important to understand what marketing tools you're already using, and whether they're working or are just placeholders. Maybe your current website doesn't need a huge overhaul - maybe it would be better to spruce it up a little, then focus efforts on that dormant Facebook page that already has 250 'likes' and which could grow. And don't forget that people can count as 'assets': Maybe you have a salesperson who happens to be a technology geek, who'd love to take on your social media responsibilities.
9. What are your customers/employees/other stakeholders saying about the way you're communicating with them right now?
The other day I talked about how great branding comes from the inside. Employees who are on the front lines - both with customers and with management - probably have some great insight into your communications in terms of what's working and what isn't. One anecdote from one strident employee shouldn't direct your whole strategy, but if you've been hearing from employees and customers that, say, your website is difficult to navigate or they don't really understand your product line, that's probably something to consider.
10. What does business success look like to you, 12-24 months from now?
This sounds a lot like questions #1 and #2, but it's interesting: If you go through these questions in this order, you'll find that by the time you get to this question, you'll get answers that have more to do with positioning, proposition, corporate culture, client base, etc. Because while the answers to 'business goals' tend to be expressed in terms of sales and revenue, overall business success is a lot more complex.
11. What does marketing success look like to you, 12-24 months from now?
99% of the time, marketing is a long game, especially when you're just getting started and need to build brand identity and awareness, and test the marketplace. Sure, the goal of marketing is, ultimately, to 'sell more stuff', but it can do that in a lot of ways, from driving site traffic to increasing engagement to improving customer service to improving the sales function. So the answer to this question isn't just "Sales should have increased by X%", but also "Increased customer retention", "Lower cost of customer acquisition", etc.
I know, I know - another long post. But whether you're a marketing consultant or a new marketing client, I promise these 11 questions will get you an effective marketing strategy, faster than you thought.
January 12th, 2012
When Kim Kardashian's marriage dissolved after 72 days, I wrote a blog post about how it was likely to do serious damage to her brand.
Well, it's true that she's not as visible in ShoeDazzle ads as she used to be, Skechers has replaced her with a bulldog for their new ad campaign, and the comments sections of gossip websites are filled to bursting with requests to stop posting about this "no talent" family, but, sadly, 'Kim and Kourtney Take New York' just got record ratings this past weekend.
So perhaps the brand implosion hasn't (yet?) happened. But why?
Because she's using 'Kim and Kourtney' as an extended self-redemption commercial, and the editing is fantastic.
The Kardashian editing team has always been hard-core: In Season 6, Episode 12 ('Trouble in Paradise'), they did a seamless job of editing Kim's original comment of "When I married a black guy, my father didn't speak to me for 3 months..." to the much less damning "When I married a guy, my father didn't speak to me for 3 months..." (Watch the episode here: the comment happens about 5 minutes from the end.)
But the post-divorce editing has been inspired. The Kris Humphries reaction shots alone - yawning, staring into space, gazing hopefully at his smartphone while string theory is being discussed around him - are doing more for Kim's erstwhile reputation than any soft-serve halfwit Barbara Walters interview could.
And this weekend's episode had a nice setup scene in which Kim tells her mother she's having 'doubts' about the marriage.
The scene is supposed to take place in Dubai, two weeks before Kim officially announces her divorce, but it's happening in a car with darkened windows - it could have been shot any time. But watch closely: When the camera cuts away from Kim, they've inserted additional audio in which she sounds much closer to divorce, and much more 'conflicted' about the situation.
I'm sure there are all kinds of other creative editing tricks being used here - I don't watch the Kardashian shows all the time, and these are just a couple of examples which struck me as the most glaring. But I continue to be kind of stunned that (a) no one else seems to notice this stuff and (b) no one on the Kardashian production team has had the kind of life crisis that prompts them to come forward and say, "You know what? I don't care if I never work on a Ryan Seacrest production again. I just can't be a part of this any more..." - and then spill the background details.
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