This is a presentation I did for Farm Credit Canada’s marketing group in Regina this Septemeber. If you weren’t there the slides may be confusing as I like using as many pictures as I can. If you have questions on it please don’t hesitate to Tweet me (@jephmaystruck) or e-mail me at jephmaystruck(at)gmail(dot)com.
Every time you come in contact with any brand, company, or organization you either like it a little bit more or like it a little bit less, the feeling is never completely neutral. The majority of these impressions (feelings) come from your sub-conscious mind, which makes it difficult to understand why you feel the way you do about some brands. Just assume everything is marketing.
They way the flight attendant smiles at you gives you an impression of the airline.
The way a hostess open the door at a restaurant changes your impression of the establishment.
The way the cashier talks to you while making a purchase changes your impression of the store.
The font you use on doors in your office changes our impression of your company. Read more
Today, every man, women, child, company, not-for-profit organization or any public entity, all have the freedom to create whatever they want and publish it online. Think about it for a minute.
Everyone is a media outlet.
Ten years ago, there were too many hurdles to jump through before you could get your own website. Today, a site can be developed as fast as your hosting company can get you on to their server. We’re talking hours, not months, weeks, or days. On Twitter and Facebook you can have an audience within minutes of signing up.
When something that’s traditionally been expensive, like communication to an audience, becomes incredibly inexpensive (almost free) inevitably more people will utilize it. That means there will be a lot of unintentional communication (more noise than signal). Companies begin communicating without understanding the repercussions and soon will alienate their past and potentially future customers. It happens on Facebook daily, updates that don’t solve a problem or entertain, just useless noise.
Here’s my warning.
Have you seen the Unsubscribe button on Facebook?
With one click, any one of your “friends/people” who like your page can silence everything you publish. That’s just Facebook.
Filters on e-mail allow anyone to block your address if you’re sending them e-mails they don’t want.
Twitter’s the easiest, they can just simply unfollow you.
Remember, everyone’s a publisher now, if you or your company are trying to communicate something to an audience, it better be anticipated, engaging, relevant, timely, helpful, or entertaining. If it’s not, no one is going to listen and you’re wasting your time.
Maybe it’s time to revisit your communication strategy.
1. Don’t be risky, pick something safe to do.
2. Whatever you do, do not offend anyone.
3. Make sure everyone around the boardroom table agrees unanimously with the tag-line and marketing tactics.
4. When you get a complaint stop what you’re doing and conform to whatever the complainant says.
5. Make sure your campaign is targeted at the largest audience possible.
6. Don’t worry about selling your product, create the most amount of awareness as possible.
7. Don’t worry about increasing the bottom line, try to win advertising awards.
8. Find where your competitors are advertising and advertise there.
9. Put a QR code on your advertisement even if it’s on a billboard or a TV commercial, everyone uses QR codes.
10. Use words like competitive advantage, synergies, going viral, strategic alliances, impressions, and
11. Focus on the 4 P’s of marketing (Price, product, promotion, place).
12. Ensure you’re in full control of the message 100% of the time.
13. Don’t measure unless you have to and if you do, measure by ad impressions and campaign reach.
Do you actually need a marketing strategy?
Unless your product or service is so in demand that business just falls into your pretty little lap, then you probably don’t need a marketing strategy.
So to the 90% of businesses that DO need a strategy here’s a framework to help you.
Why
First you must understand your company’s “why”. Why do you exist? Why do you sell products or services? Remember, people rarely buy your product for “what” it is, they more often buy products for the why behind it. If you can identify “why” a company exists it’s much easier to understand “how” they can help potential customers and “what” their product needs to include.
“We are the lowest cost, no frills airline.” -South West Airline
“Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” – Google
“Invoke the imagination, provoke the senses and evoke the emotions of the people around the world.” –Cirque Du Soleil
“To provide the best customer service possible.” – Zappos
“Every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds.”
-Amazon Kindle
“To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” -Starbucks
BHAGs
Once you have established your “why” you must then set a bhag, a big hairy audacious goal. Jim Collins first mentioned this concept in Built to Last, in the context that the visionary companies who were in fact built to last, had a major goal in mind that would seem, for the most part, unattainable.
That’s the weird thing about goal setting, no matter how far out the desired outcome may be, these companies were resilient in trying to achieve these goals.
Does your company have a BHAG? Why not? A BHAG shows a company has a long term outlook, that they aren’t just around to make a quick buck, that they actually care about how they grow.
Sam Walton set a BHAG for Wal-mart that they still haven’t achieved yet. Key word in that sentence is “yet”. I have no doubt in my mind that they one day will.
How, What, Who, When
Once you have your BHAG set you’ll have an idea of the direction of where the company is going. Now you must determine how you’re going to achieve it. What your short term objectives will be. Who your target audience will be (no it can’t be everyone). And when you can begin implementation.
Gone are the days of the “master strategy” you must have objectives to be moving towards but any detailed planning past a year is useless. Things change, industries shift, and the only thing you can guarantee is that change will occur. Being ready to pivot and to adapt means you have an intimate knowledge of your customers and you’re always trying to provide them with more value. It’s your loyal customers that will be the gasoline to your firestorm of growth.
Tactics: Awareness, Purchase, Experience
As Jim Lecinski points out in “Winning the Zero Moment of Truth” you must understand the complete purchase cycle of your customers. From awareness of your product to comparison and consideration. If the product holds up after research (ZMOT) you will move on to purchase (FMOT). Once the item or service is purchased the experience (SMOT) will be a part of the marketing mix because the service it’s self can influence repeat purchases and/or spreading the newly found delight to social circles on and offline.
It’s naive to think a little big of advertising here and there will suffice anymore. You have the option to strategically breakdown what stage your potential customers are at in the purchase cycle and deliver them an anticipated, valuable, dare I say, enjoyable message to help make their decision easier.
Yes, fine-tuning your website will satisfy the zero moment of truth but what about the first and second moments of truth? Are you taking advantage of every stage in the purchase cycle?
Hint: The secret is in finding your “why”.
You live, you learn. You learn, you live.
The old adage, often used in hindsight, has now been replaced, especially in terms of business, with a new situational appraisal. Learning is absolutely necessary for survival.
In Eric Reis’s New York Times Bestseller ‘The Lean Startup’, Reis emphasizes that (in business) “The only way to win is to learn faster than everyone else.
This can (and needs to be) applied to a business’s marketing. Too many times, companies forge ahead with marketing plans strictly based on the mediums available and inflate their advertising budgets to execute their “strategy”. There are (at least) three things that need to be thoroughly investigated before making any decisions. They are emphasized here:
1. YOU
Learn who you are.
Ask yourself important/hard questions
And then:
Don’t assume people will love you.
Don’t incessantly bleed brand info.
Create context, provide value, b.o.b. (bend over backwards)
2. YOUR CUSTOMERS
Learn who your customers are.
Find out who they are, where they are, and what you can do to get them to do what you want them to.
And then:
Don’t assume people will love you.
Don’t incessantly bleed brand info.
Create context, provide value, b.o.b. (bend over backwards)
3. PLATFORMS
Learn the platforms needed to connect.
Get some dirt under your fingernails. Try. Fail. But don’t waste time.
And then:
Don’t assume people will love you.
Don’t incessantly bleed brand info.
Create context, provide value, b.o.b. (bend over backwards)
In conclusion:
Don’t simply spend on advertising to create an image for your business. Spend on the human capital and processes that will make your customer’s one-on-one experience remarkable. The effect will be noteworthy and spread exponentially. Your advertising will be real.
