Tag Archive for Marketing Strategy

15 Mar 2010
Buying Behavior • Marketing Strategy

Feature the Flaw

Scott Anthony recently wrote a post for the Harvard Business Review on disruptive innovation.

Turning a flaw into a feature is a time honored tradition in the software industry. “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature” dates back at least to the mid-’80s. Turning bugs into features is also a critical skill of the would-be disruptive innovator.

The heart of disruptive innovation is the intentional trade-off — sacrificing raw performance in the name of simplicity, convenience, or affordability. The trick is finding the customer who embraces this trade-off because they consider existing solutions to be too expensive or too complicated.

In other words, disruption is almost always a strategic choice. Companies with a would-be disruption on their hands have to carefully consider their target customer.

Consider, for example, what would have happened if Procter & Gamble had tried to sell its Swiffer line of quick cleaning products to people obsessed with deep cleaning. Those consumers would have looked at a product designed to clean without sweating as inferior. In fact, Swiffer initially struggled in markets like Italy where consumers considered sweating an integral part of the cleaning process!

Instead, P&G sought customers who embraced simplicity, because often their choice wasn’t a deep clean or a quick clean, it was a quick clean or no clean at all. The “flaw” of light cleaning was a “feature” to the simplicity seekers.

Featuring the flaw often requires looking at markets in new ways and finding seemingly invisible customers. Some simple questions to use to guide thinking include:

  • What are the competitive alternatives to your idea?
  • Where are you better?
  • Where are you worse?
  • Are there people who consider existing alternatives out of reach?
  • Are there circumstances where using existing alternatives problematic?

The next time someone tells you to a fix a potential flaw in your idea, flip the problem on its head by seeking a customer that would consider the flaw a feature. Does this spark any ideas for your marketing? Is there something about your product or service that you can turn into a great feature?

| No comments | Tags: , , , ,
10 Mar 2010
Marketing Plan

Help Your Brand Stand Out

Andrea Syverson suggested some ideas in Target Marketing Magazine to get you started in your thinking about how to differentiate your brand.

We like to cheer for the underdogs, they try harder. These “underdogs” seem more comfortable in their own brand skins. They are original. They are daring. They are independent thinkers.

What about your brand? I bet your customers know the answer.

Stand Out from the Crowd

What are the differences between the many companies jockeying for customers’ minds and market share these days? Is there a difference between OfficeMax, Office Depot or Staples? What differentiates Barnes & Noble from Borders?

What is different between your offering and your top two competitors? If your brand is sandwiched blandly between others, it’s time to rethink both your brand positioning and your merchandising concept. Don’t bore your customers with this sea of sameness. They deserve better.

There is no formula for authenticity. Either you are authentic or you’re not. Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to living in a faux society, where entertainment is disguised as news, celebrities are disguised as heroes and Internet connections are disguised as relationships. And, yes, there are faux brands and transaction-based companies focused on themselves and short-term profits.

In “Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want,” authors Joseph Pine and James Gilmore propose that authenticity is a completely new management discipline, and they outline three axioms for authenticity:

  1. If you are authentic, then you don’t have to say you’re authentic.
  2. If you say you’re authentic, then you’d better be authentic.
  3. It’s easier to be authentic if you don’t say you’re authentic.

This may seem simple, but it isn’t. Many brands fall back to being faux. It’s easier.

Authenticity in Action

Consumers crave the real deal. They desire companies that deliver on their promises and brands that listen and do what their taglines say they do. They seek independent thinkers, product creativity and originality in solving their problems. They want brands that respect their time.

Authentic companies have one thing in common: They are true to themselves. They beat their own drums. And, most importantly, their customers thank them for it.

Steven Covey, best known as the author of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” writes:

The more authentic you become, the more genuine in your expression, the more people can relate to your expression and the safer it makes them feel to express themselves. That expression in turn feeds back on the other person’s spirit, and genuine creative empathy takes place, producing new insights and learnings.

We believe the same is true of brands. Authentic brands are infectious. They draw people in. Authentic brands stand out. Authentic brands feed people’s spirits. They give customers what they crave today: realness.

So, how can we help you communicate your authentic brand message?

| 2 comments | Tags: ,
08 Mar 2010
Business • Buying Behavior

More For Less For More

In an interesting Harvard Business Review post by Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu, and Simone Ahuja, the authors discuss an emerging trend. More for Less for More (M4L4M) is a strategy that places an emphasis on delivering more value for less cost for more people.

More for More, the current approach taken by many Western firms, charges customers a hefty premium for often over-engineered products. Less for More is China’s low-cost strategy of creating stripped down products that cost less and manufacturing them on a large scale for global markets. Unlike these two approaches, M4L4M offers firms a new way to reconcile multiple, seemingly contradictory financial equations: deliver more experiential value to customers while simultaneously reducing the cost and delivering that value to a greater number of people.

Entrepreneurs are learning to extract more value from limited resources. They are embracing creative mindsets practiced by resource-constraints to invent affordable and sustainable solutions that deliver more value to more people at less cost. As a forward-thinking business leader, what can you redesign within your organization to deliver more value at less cost for more customers? What are you doing to meet the needs of increasingly frugal but demanding customers in a world of scarcity?

How about marketing? Are there new ways to communicate more for less for more? This is another time to consider direct mail.

| No comments | Tags: , ,
03 Mar 2010
Marketing Strategy

Strengthen Your Brand

Andrea Syverson recently asked some great questions for readers of Target Marketing Magazine.

Questioning is the precursor to innovation. Alfred North Whitehead, a British mathematician and philosopher, said, “The ‘silly question’ is the first intimation of some totally new development.” After years of questioning, there really are no silly questions.

Even Jerry Greenfield’s (of Ben & Jerry’s fame) lighthearted question, “If it’s not fun, why do it?” is one of utmost importance to its brand. Fun is an attribute at the top of Ben & Jerry’s brand and product fit charts. It is even a tab on the Web site.

In 2003, Frederick F. Reichheld wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review called “The One Number You Need to Grow.” His research showed if brands concentrated on improving just one measure, it should be the answer to this question asked of their customers: “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?”

Author James Thurber wrote, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” What other questions is your brand grappling with, or perhaps should be grappling with, these days?

Try these steps to get things going:

Create an Environment for Questions. First, do you cultivate a question-asking environment? Without the freedom to raise questions or question decisions appropriately, your brand may have a blind spot.

Question to Build Loyalty. Secondly, can you handle the answers to tough questions? Many brands have solid customer loyalty programs in place. These are indeed important parts of retention strategies. But take a moment to turn that question around for your brand—just how loyal is your brand to your customers? What have you done for them lately?

Listen Up. Thirdly, what are your customers’ pain points? What makes them mad, frustrated or just plain tired in relation to your product, service, category or overall brand experience? If you spend time uncovering these issues and then creatively addressing them, both your customers and your competitors will take note.

There are many examples of product/service/experience rage out there. Are companies listening? Do they care?

So, take some time to question your culture, your customers and your results.

| No comments | Tags: , ,
23 Feb 2010
Advertising • Direct Mail

The Hare and The Tortoise (or was it a snail)…

A fable based on tomorrow’s thoughts…

There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run, how many people he could reach in a single mouse click. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, (or maybe he was a snail) challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.

Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest (on his analytical reports of 5 percent open rates and great return on investment because hey even if you make a few sales, sending all that email cost almost nothing). He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, “How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?”

Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, “There is plenty of time to relax.” Or perhaps he decided go for a run on a treadmill, just for fun, staying in the same spot but moving furiously fast.

Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise (or was it the snail), they woke up Hare or did they scare him to try a different tactic? Hare  began to run on the road again, but it was too late. Tortoise (or was it the snail) was over the finish line, he won and is winning customers, sales and profits.

The moral of this story is the quick easy fast fix does not exist and the reality is that Slow and Steady direct mail also known as “snail mail” wins.

| No comments | Tags: , , , , ,
19 Feb 2010
Direct Mail • Marketing Strategy

Which Came First?

We did a study and analysis of our customers and sales over the last 14 years. We found a few surprises.

Even though we have a passion for helping new businesses get started and grow and love watching people realize their dreams. The average number of years that one of our customer organizations has been operating was almost 20 years. Are organizations more likely to spend more on direct mail the longer they are in business or are they still in business because they spend more money on direct mail?

The larger a company is in terms of employee size also correlated with average sales. In other words, the more employees that work in a firm, the more the firm spent on direct mail. Again you could ask did the organization grow because they used direct mail more or are they more likely to use direct mail because they have more employees?

| One comment | Tags: ,
18 Feb 2010
Buying Behavior • Saving Money

Back to Basics

According to an article extracted from McKinsey Quarterly by Harvard Business Publishing, purchasers of consumer electronics have greater interest in products offering core benefits at attractive prices than in products with unused bells and whistles.

Consumer Attitudes Toward Products

Consumer Electronics Get Back to Basics

Part of marketing is product design, but I wonder do we need to embrace these trends in other areas too?

| 4 comments | Tags: , ,
12 Feb 2010
Advertising • Marketing Strategy

Simple Sells

BNET recently shared this great post about simplicity. Marketers at Starbucks, Kraft, and Campbell have discovered that “simple” sells. Products that stress fewer ingredients – food, drinks, cosmetics, even pet food – are outselling rivals, as this USA Today story explains.

Is this a trend with traction? Will this “marketing megatrend” extend beyond consumable products? Leading consumers with creative marketing is one thing. Is ’simple’ something we should all be considering in our marketing, branding, and positioning? The answer to that is yes. Here are …

Five Reasons Why You Should Keep It Simple:

1. Communication. Regardless of whether your organization is Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Consumer (B2C), high-tech or high fashion or non-profit. When it comes to positioning, the simplest and easiest to understand way of getting across your unique value proposition (the reason why customers should buy from you and not your competitor) is always the best way.

2. We’re All Consumers. You, me, the CEO, even the seemingly unflappable finance and IT people. We’re all consumers and we’re all subject to mega-marketing trends that invade our subconscious day and night.

3. Stress and Overload. We’re all stressed-out on media, product, and “choice” overload. Too much choice can be a bad thing. We are all overloaded with media and product choices. Moreover, technology adds complexity that takes time to learn. It’s nice to have one less thing to analyze and worry about. “Simple” is calming, relaxing … for a change.

4. In Management and In Life, Keep It Simple. That simple rule goes a long way to explaining why Apple’s Mac continues to gain market share over PCs.

5. Left-Brain And Right-Brain Appeal. Emotionally, we associate “simple” with easy, quick, controlled. While we make left-brain decisions based on the perception of quality and performance, in many of those metrics – defects, moving parts, size and weight – less is more. These days we just want things to work the way they’re supposed to – no instructions, no drama, no returns.

Direct mail is a really great way to communicate “simple” in a clear-cut and easy to understand way. Call us at 602-272-2100 for some fresh ideas in graphic design or just let us mail your simple idea.

| 5 comments | Tags: , ,
11 Feb 2010
Advertising • Buying Behavior

Life Changing Opportunities

In December 2009, Deliver Magazine did a summary of statistics about new parents that they extracted from TheBump.com.

  • 69% of new and expecting moms use the samples received in pregnancy and parenting gift packs
  • $3,342.00 is the average amount spent during the first year of pregnancy
  • 85% of new parents set up a college savings plan
  • 82% of new parents create a will/living trust/estate plan
  • 67% of new parents book a vacation
  • 51% of new parents purchase or lease a new or pre-owned car
  • 32% of new parents purchase a home for primary residence.

These facts remind us that life changing events prompt changes in buying behavior. Other life changing moments:

  • Getting a driver’s license
  • Going to college
  • Entering the work force
  • Getting married
  • Empty nest
  • Retirement

I think you get the idea. I know that my friends are looking forward to children going away to college so they can finally fix up their houses. Can we help you reach a key group as they go through new experiences that lead to new needs and wants? Using a well defined list helps you speak directly to people who need and want what you have to offer.

| 6 comments | Tags: , ,
09 Feb 2010
Buying Behavior • Design • Direct Mail

The Power of Touch

Real Simple Magazine printed an extract of research results from The University of Wisconsin-Madison that found that 30 seconds is all you need to feel attached to an item after touching it. Research says you are 39 percent more likely to buy an item you touch as opposed to one you never handle.

Retailers, is there anything you can do to encourage your customers to touch things?

What about mail? Can you get a sample or a representation into the hands of your next customers?

University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Professor of Marketing Joann Peck and Jennifer Wiggins of Kent State University found that the simple addition of a fuzzy dot glued to the cover of a mailing piece encouraged readers to spend more time with the mailer and increased response.

Talk to us about other ways to include something to touch with your direct mail.

| 2 comments | Tags: , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »