Blankety Blank Marketing

May 30
2009
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There’s always a new type of marketing on the horizon.   Here’s a short list of just some of your choices

  • Permission Marketing
  • Guerilla Marketing
  • Duct Tape Marketing
  • Experiential Marketing
  • Integrated Marketing
  • Inspired Marketing
  • Middle Finger Marketing
  • Digimarketing
  • Neuromarketing

And the list could go on.  How can you know which is right for you?  Can you do one and not the other?

Here’s the answer. Don’t get intimidated by the jargon. Most great marketing is based on never-Social network puzzle changing fundamentals, not the least of which include amazing creativity, intuition, risk-taking, knowledge of the market, and a clear understanding of what you have to offer and why it’s wanted and needed.

In fact, most new marketing trends are merely the name of a marketing book that needs selling. Marketing authors represent some of the best marketing minds in the world. It’s why they’re worth reading. It’s also why they realize that a new book better have a catchy new title in order to sell. They know you do judge a book by it’s cover (which includes its title, promise, and creative appeal).

Moral of the story: What do you call what you sell?  If you want to sell your wares to today’s consumers, reconsider what you’re calling what you sell.  Make what you’re selling sound like something the customer wants and needs to buy. It makes the sale that much easier, and positions you that much higher as an innovative company worth the customer’s time and attention.

P.S. Middle finger marketing is a new term floating on the web.  It refers to a writer, Greg Verdino, and his recent experience flying with a branded airline. The experience was less than wonderful and he was somewhat understanding until, once back on the ground he spotted a billboard for the same airline during a taxi ride. Knowing the cost of a billboard ad, he figured  the airline could have likely have had a better ROI if it spent a bit more on great customer service and less on advertising. He dubbed the experience middle finger marketing since he felt that, in the end, it best reflected how the airline felt about him as a customer. Here’s the link to the full story. It’s worth the read.

* abridged with permission from original post on InsideMarketing.org, 5/30/09, Rhona Bronson, NAPL

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Advertising, Books, Guru Wisdom, Marketing | Tags: , , , ,

Hats Off to Mr. Rogers

May 19
2009
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Marketing has always been about reaching the right people  It the olden days, gosh — what … 12 years ago?–  it was still about mass marketing — reaching the masses.  Then, along came Pepper & Rogers and everything was about 1:1 –get to one person at at time with a personalized message and make them feel special.  Was Rogers related to Mr. Rogers perchance? I think not. That Rogers cared about neighborhoods.

Soon thereafter came Seth Godin with permission marketing…. even if you personalized the message you’d better make sure you had permission to talk to the person. It’s kind of the Victorian version of marketing — speak only when you’re spoken to.
And now, we have social media — which is probably as anti-social as you can get.  It’s not personal, most people have pseudonyms or pseudo-pictures (also known as avatars) and the game is again about numbers (i.e. how many followers do you have on Twitter?).  Never mind that half my followers are people I never heard of and people who shouldn’t want to follow me, but are hoping against hope that I’ll follow them back.  It’s reverse mass marketing!
This is what hasn’t changed in marketing over the years.  It’s all about people.  Sometimes we call them targets, sometimes audience.  More recently, we call them community (there’s that Mr. Rogers thing again), but unless some people out there care about our message, product, company, cause — our marketing has truly fallen on deaf ears.
Here’s the real marketing question: Whom do you want to reach?  Whom do you want to care about you? Those are the people you need to account for in your marketing efforts. And without knowing your target, you don’t have a marketing plan at all.
* adapted with permission from original post on InsideMarketing.org, 5/19/09, Rhona Bronson, NAPL

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Guru Wisdom, Marketing, Planning | Tags: , , ,

De-age and Suit Up

May 13
2009
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What’s your age?  Not your chronological or biological age, but your marketing age?  Today’s world is rapidly changing as is the media and methods to reach ever emerging audiences.  If you’re aging rather than De-aging, my word for staying young at heart and in mind, than you’re not well suited for marketing.

In the popular TV series “How I Met Your Mother,” the key character Barney (played by Neil Patrick Harris) is always “suiting up” to Neil Patrick Harris successfully  ”play the field.”  In Marketing, “suiting up” means staying up with trends, ideas, media, and reach methods. It also means having a large dose of creativity and a desire to try new things. It is true that if something works, you should stick with it. That’s why Barney always “suits up.” But, it’s also true that if you just stick with a “control” and never test new options, you will never find the next great touchpoint for inspiring a customer to do business with you.

Recently I had a discussion with a relatively young woman who wanted to be in marketing. Although I don’t know her age, she is clearly younger than me — at least chronologically. She said she “didn’t get” social media, didn’t feel inspired to explore it, and her friends on Facebook considered her a “stick in the mud.” I noted that in marketing terms she was much older than me and that she was potentially at the end rather than beginning of her marketing career. Why? If she doesn’t want to be on Facebook, that’s a personal option.  But if you want to be in Marketing, it’s not an option. It’s akin to saying you don’t want to learn to type or speak clearly in the same language as your customer. You’re admitting you don’t want to communicate with people in their (not your) chosen medium.

When you stop wanting to explore new things, it’s time to retire.  That’s true in business in general, in the technology sector in particular, and in Marketing overall. In Marketing, a successful person has to have some sense of wonder about the world, the people in it, and what makes them tick. The type of media they like is your clue about how to reach them and is a large part of what makes them tick.

Crazy_optical_illusions_old

Attached is a modern optical illusion.  I like it better than the more classic  “Old woman/young woman” illusion usually used to make the case that the “eye can play tricks.” This one, “Forever Always” by Octavio Ocampo, is not only colorful, but shows both an old woman and old man. Click on  the photo to make it larger. Then take a closer look into their eyes and minds. You’ll see youthful thinking. I guess they’re both in Marketing!

* adapted with permission from original post on InsideMarketing.org, 5/13/09, Rhona Bronson, NAPL

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Marketing, Social Media | Tags: , , ,

Strategic Presence vs Tactical Promotion

May 04
2009
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Last summer I had the honor of teaching parts of the Strategic Management Course at NAPL’s Management Institute. Throughout, I was asked when we would get to marketing.  The answer was: through the whole course.

  • When we were discussing mission statements, we were talking marketing. It’s hard to do any effective marketing if you don’t understand a company’s mission.
  • When we were talking about vision statements we were talking marketing.  It’s difficult to put together a sensible marketing plan if you don’t understand where a company is trying to go, or what it hopes people will think and say about it.    

Here’s one of the big misunderstandings about marketing — By definition it is an strategic rather than a tactical endeavor.  Unfortunately, most companies don’t view it that way and just want a quick tactic to get some messaging out the door. That’s promotion, and if you can’t help but confuse marketing with promotion in your mind, just abandon the term.  Instead, adopt the term Strategic Positioning, because,in essence, that’s what real, effective marketing is.

The reason most companies don’t have effective marketing is that they are clueless about what their strategic presence needs to be.  And, that’s when you know you’re still operating in a commodity mentality.

* reprinted with permission rom original post in InsideMarketing.org, 5/4/09, Rhona Bronson, NAPL

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Written by Rhona Bronson in: Marketing, Strategic Planning | Tags: , , ,