Over the past few years the podcast as a content piece has seen a major resurgence. Much like the rise, fall, and rebirth of blogs (remember the early Blogger sites?) podcasts have found new life. But why should you as a business or as a person care? Why should you podcast? If you’re reading this instead of listening to the recording above, you’re probably a little skeptical. Here are six reasons why you should stop reading right now and hit that “play” button! Read more
Everyone thinks they understand the marketing game.
But when you see their work, they’re so afraid to go against the grain.
“It doesn’t work on me”, everyone thinks they understand advertising.
Then they only buy pop-culture products by name brands, to me that’s not surprising.
The marketing world has been based on selling more eye balls, I need more exposure, more impressions, more branding!
The smart companies know that if they spend more on Customer service and making a better product, when the smoke clears they will be the ones left standing.
We’re about to enter the marketing war, you have no choice in this matter.
But it’s not about a bigger megaphone to try and create more useless banter.
That’s what we don’t like, your boring message that’s supposedly tailored to my “demographic”.
Really you don’t care about my opinion of your product, you’re making a feeble attempt at increasing your website traffic.
The war of traditional versus the future, we’ve seen this battle before.
Older people don’t like to change but the younger generation can hardly wait for what’s in store.
Agencies have ruled over the marketing world for long enough, I wonder how they’re going to adapt.
When you work for one and offer an idea outside TV, radio, or print, you’re bound to get your hand slapped.
“Recommend billboards or TV, we make a quick 15% off every ad we sell!”
It’s this mentality at agencies that makes me think their business model is about to go through hell.
Monetize the website, monetize the Facebook, monetize our blog!
Figure how much profit we can make, heck put our logo on that dog!
You think I hate mass media, commercials are bad and have no use for the newspaper.
It’s not the medium, it never was, it’s your attitude I have a problem with, you sound like Don Draper.
You assume people want to hear about what your company has to say.
But for 98% of us we could care less about your company while going about our day to day.
Stop trying to get more exposure and stop interrupting me while I listen, watch and read.
Focus on the 2% and make sure you’re there the second your service is in need.
Have a conversation with your customers and realize you need feedback to grow.
Your other option is to listen to no one and change nothing, this last opportunity you will inevitably blow.
As marketing budgets get slashed and business models turned upside down, bankruptcy is no longer the “unthinkable”.
If you don’t want to adapt, if you don’t change the course. Always remember the titanic was touted as being unsinkable.
Experience will tells us it’s too risky to change, “focus on your strengths, don’t follow fads”.
Instagram and Snapchat seem like effort, it’s much easier just to buy ads.
Now here’s your warning, I’m delighted to let you know.
If you ignore the conversation and keep interrupting us, it’ll start to show.
You’ll alienate your loudest customers and they’ll be sure to let everyone know,
what an ignorant company you are and to your competition they’ll go.
The companies that will win have something you can’t get from an agency.
A dedicated tribe of people who care dearly about your company.
So fire the marketing department and hire a philanthropist or nine.
Begin your tribe by telling your story to the world online.
Written in January 27, 2012. Originally titled “The Marketing Rap”.
(^Article from Berkley citing several studies on why doing good deeds makes you feel good not just emotionally but biologically as well)
As in, it builds good Karma. (In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson he talked about the point in which Apple was coming up with iTunes. Everyone was stealing music on the Internet and Steve didn’t agree with that, he wanted a different solution. When the media was critical of iTunes in the beginning Steve was questioned about if iTunes was viable and if it would last, his response was “stealing music isn’t going to last, it’s bad Karma.”
Stealing music hasn’t stopped but iTunes has done very well since it’s inception. Jobs was right, we don’t mind paying a small amount for music, it’s the morally right thing to do.
Everyone could use a little more Karma.
Reciprocity suggests that doing things for others is the best way to help yourself in the long run. We’re all going to stumble in the future, we’re all going to make mistakes, you can guarantee it. If you help people without expecting anything in return, when you’re at your worst the people you’ve helped will step up and be there for you.
Go on, make some good Karma.
Help people, even when you know they can’t help you back.
Perhaps one of the spicier apps catching on these days is Tinder.
Overview:
Tinder is simple. It connects you with people around you, whether you know them or not, lets you decide if you want to connect with them based on their appearance, interests, and mutual friends, and then allows you to chat with them if you’re a “match”. You become a match if they, while unaware of your interest or lack of interest in them, decide that they want to connect with you. The concept sounds a lot like what Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker were trying to accomplish with their under-utilized Airtime creation but with more emphasis on what is loosely referred to as “dating”.
The User Experience:
Users upload up to five pictures of themselves and have the option to write a short tagline that will appear under them. Mutual friends and interests are drawn from Facebook profiles. You can set your matching preferences for the categories of age, gender, and search distance (to a maximum of 100 miles). The fun begins when you click on Recommendations and the first profile pops up.
At this time, you can click the photo to view the others and then make a decision on whether or not you want to invite this person to connect. You have to make this decision to discard them into an abyss, never to be seen again, or save them before viewing the next profile. The allure and thrill come from the feeling, real or contrived, that you’re tempting fate with each dismissal swipe to the left or approval swipe to the right.
The Evaluation:
What some might immediately dismiss as a meat market of sorts actually has some draw to it. The problem at this point is that very few people in the Regina area are using it, meaning you’ll quickly run out of match recommendations and have to check back every few days to see if any newcomers match your criteria. The value of this app for a business is extremely minimal or non-existent since it lacks the premise of meeting new people for the idea of knowledge-sharing and relationship-building in a business context. My initial thought is that an app could make a road trip into a strange new city a bit more exciting depending on your selectiveness. This app has the potential to take off as more users get it.
Overall Rating: 6/10
(photo credit: Spam.budwin.net)
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”.