Consumers Losing Faith – In Each Other

We live in “interesting” times: The global economy, social unrest, natural disasters, political infighting, and quantum leaps in information and communication technologies all contribute to profound changes in our individual and collective attitudes. So it comes as no surprise that recent surveys suggest the American people have less confidence in business – especially banking and insurance – in our government, and in virtually all traditional media. What’s most disconcerting is that we’re also losing faith in one another.

True, we’ve seen trust in our institutions steadily erode for some time, and recent events accelerated this decline in confidence. As a marketer, this is very disturbing news. In essence, our companies and clients are less trusted, and the media we use to communicate to the consumer, including TV, radio and newspapers have all lost credibility. For example, only 24% of Americans trust TV news reporting, 31% trust radio news and 32% trust newspapers, according to the annual Edelman Trust Barometer (www.edelman.com/trust/2010).

It gets worse: The survey, based on over 4,800 interviews, also found that – for the first time in the study’s ten-year history ¬– trust in information from “people like me” dropped 20 points to 27%. This seriously challenges the long-held belief that people put their greatest trust in recommendations from their friends, family and peers. Ouch!

This means that if news from traditional media isn’t trusted, our public relations actions also lose credibility. Moreover if there is little faith in what businesses tell us, what good is advertising? And if 73% of consumers don’t trust each other, what is the point of testimonials, blogs, customer reviews and all social media?

In my view, the Edelman survey is a wake-up call for all of us in marketing, but not a reason to panic. Our society may have become more cynical, but people still want and need products and services that help them achieve their personal goals. And even the most jaded among us appreciate being treated with professionalism and respect. Besides, most of us tend to take the path of least resistance, so we’ll stick with a product or company – as long as they don’t let us down.

So what’s a marketer to do? How about going back to the basics? Here’s a radical thought: Let’s win back the customer’s trust by treating everyone the way we would personally like to be treated. Certainly, it’s important to be aware of the latest tactical communications tools, but there is no substitute for sound marketing strategies that focus on customer value. Therefore, be sure your products and services align with customer wants and needs, and build relationships one customer at a time. Examine your people and policies to ensure that you make it easy for customers to do business with you. Don’t rely on any one medium – traditional or social – but rather drive a clear, concise and compelling message through multiple channels. And, for goodness sake, make your messages truthful and credible.

Life Lessons & Marketing

From time to time I receive emails that are full of inspirational phrases. You’ve likely seen many of them, too, as they tend to circulate throughout the Internet. Some are nothing more than a collection of clichés, but others show some original thought. One that landed in my in-box recently was a slide show set to music that offered “45 Life Lessons.” At first I was tempted to send it directly to the trash. Then I thought better of it and took a look. Maybe it was just my mind set at the time, but it seemed that some of these “life lessons” were equally applicable to marketing. I’ll share just a few with you:

Whatever doesn’t kill you does make you stronger.
OK, I’m pretty sure Nietzsche didn’t have marketing or even business in mind when he articulated his famous profundity. However, many of the businesses I know that have survived the Great Recession believe that they are well positioned to take advantage of the recovery. The past 18 months forced them to make some tough decisions, eliminate waste, try new marketing methods and keep a closer eye on the results. They will, in fact, emerge as stronger organizations.

Over-prepare and then go with the flow.
I recently read an article in a prestigious business publication that proclaimed strategic planning a waste of time. This is, according to the writer, because things now change so quickly. My reaction is that the author doesn’t understand what “strategic planning” is really all about. At least not when it’s done correctly. A strategic marketing plan, for example, is not meant to be static. It must be a living document that flexes with changing market conditions. You establish goals for the future based on the realities of the moment, and develop strategies that will take you there. This doesn’t mean you simply initiate the plan and then forget it. Rather, you must constantly monitor the market situation and adjust the plan accordingly. So why have a marketing plan at all? Because the plan provides a baseline from which to work. Without the plan, we’re more likely to make rash decisions, based on insufficient information.

However good or bad a situation is it will change.
When we experience difficult times, as we have of late, our survival instincts take over and we do what we must to get through the darkness. As the cycle continues, smart business people begin planning marketing strategies that will enable them to make the most of the recovery. However, once the enterprise is running on all cylinders again, we tend to forget that there will, inevitably, be another down turn at some point. That’s the natural order of things, which is why it’s a good idea to always have a “plan B” in your hip pocket.

Finally, for all of us who occasionally wake up feeling that there’s a dark cloud overhead, I leave you with one last platitude: No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. It’s the professional thing to do.

Open Letter To An Entrepreneur

Dear Entrepreneur:

Several weeks ago you sent me an email requesting “…assistance in sales and marketing.” You also put me on notice that “We are only interested in spending money on things that will directly help us get sales.” Fair enough.

I called and learned that you and a partner have developed a new application for RFID technology, but you had no idea how to sell it. As I needed much more information to address your problem adequately, I offered to have a no-cost, face-to-face discussion. You resisted this idea but eventually (and reluctantly) agreed, asking me to email the kind of the information I required so you could prepare. I did so and you promptly responded with answers that, of course, only scratched the surface. I replied that, based on your answers, I had some short-term ideas, but wanted to meet to work out if they were on target, and to discuss long-term marketing strategies. I never heard from you again.

My friend, I’ve worked with a number of start-up companies and started a few of my own, so I certainly understand your urgent desire to generate revenue. However you’re at a critical point in your development and because, by your own admission, you and your partner know nothing about marketing, your reluctance to invest a few hours in free conversation with someone capable and willing to help you mystifies me.

Perhaps you waited until the 11th hour to reach out for help. Maybe you’re approaching Desperation Gulch. Or maybe you’ve since latched onto some quick-fix scheme. It’s possible you just got lucky. I don’t know the answer, because you haven’t responded. But here is what I do know:

1) Whether you’re a start-up or an established enterprise, marketing is an ongoing process, not a magic bullet. You have to develop a plan with goals, strategies and action steps that make sense for the nature of your business today, and what you want it to be in the future. It doesn’t have to be a comprehensive tome. Many start-ups make do with a 1 – 2 page document. What’s important is the quality of thinking that leads to this marketing blueprint.

2) Developing a new use for a technology like RFID is pretty exciting. However, if you haven’t determined which markets actually have a need for what you’re selling and are willing to pay for it, you could be all dressed up with nowhere to go.

3) If you’re confident that you’ve identified markets that recognize the value of your product and have the resources to buy it, you need to understand the buying process and learn who makes or influences the buying decisions for these organizations. Otherwise you’ll waste a lot of time and money chasing sales that may never come to fruition. And, yes, even a blind pig will find the odd truffle, but at what cost?

4) Successful entrepreneurs understand the value of networking and building long-term, meaningful relationships with customers, employees, suppliers and advisors. You see, all the people we meet, either by themselves or through their connections, may someday be in a position to do us a world of good (think: Six Degrees of Separation). However, being human, they’re inclined to offer help to those they know, like and trust. When you break that trust by not acting professionally, you risk closing the door to many opportunities.

There’s more I could say, but let’s leave it at this: I truly hope that you find great success with your new endeavor. Further, I hope you learn that true success in all things involves giving, as well as getting. And sometimes all that you need to give is a little respect.

Don’t Just Talk. Communicate!

Dr. Dennis O’Grady has a message for marketers and other business people: “You may be talking your way out of successful customer relationships without realizing it.” As a Dayton-based clinical psychologist who specializes in interpersonal communications, Dr. O’Grady has distilled years of research into a communication system he explains in his book, “Talk To Me” (available in local bookstores and on Amazon.com).

According to Dr. O’Grady, “Just as people are born either left-handed or right-handed, they are born as one of two types of communicators. I’ve designated these as Empathizer-Types (E-Types) or Instigator-Types (I-Types). One type isn’t better or worse than the other, and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. The trick is to know which type you are, learn the characteristics of both types and be able to use this knowledge to communicate more effectively.”

So what does all of this have to do with marketing communications? Plenty. As savvy marketing people have moved from focusing on individual transactions to developing deeper customer relationships, it’s more important than ever that we understand each other explicitly. Have you ever lost a customer and didn’t know why? It could be that you were simply not communicating effectively. You may have unknowingly hurt the customer’s feelings. Or perhaps they felt that you didn’t pay enough attention to what they were telling you.

That’s where the Talk2Me system comes in. By learning which type of communicator you are and understanding the traits of your opposite type, you’ll have the communication skills you need to talk with your customers instead of talking to them. As a result, you can create more profitable relationships.

Through the metaphor of communications as a superhighway, Dr. O’Grady’s system enables readers to learn and use the strengths of both E- and I-Types to avoid communication “accidents” that prevent us from achieving our goals.

“On this highway,” Dr. O’Grady tells us, “E-Types drive ocean blue-colored cars because their emotions run as deep as the ocean, and they put the ‘motion’ in the word ‘emotion.’ I-Types drive burnt orange cars because they burn as bright as the sun and love to instigate and lead change. E-Types complain that I-Types don’t listen to them, and I-Types complain that E-Types don’t drive past their moods fast enough.”

Which type of communicator do you think you are? According to the book, you are likely an Empathizer Type if:
• By nature, you are a sensitive person.
• You are an empathetic leader.
• You are a good follower and a team player.
• You struggle with your feelings getting hurt too easily and for too long.
• You are a great listener because you listen open-mindedly with three ears.

You are likely an Instigator Type if:
• By nature, you are a less sensitive person.
• You are a strategic leader.
• You are a good problem-solver and debater.
• You struggle with biting your tongue or sticking your foot in your mouth, wishing you could take back your words.
• You have guts galore and courage to lead the way ahead through the unknown.
• You listen selectively with a goal in mind, and you expect people to push back and spark a conversation.

You can find out for certain which type communicator you are by visiting www.drogrady.com and clicking on “What’s your type?” Your answers to a dozen short questions will tell you. I answered these questions and quickly found my communications type is…well, I’ll let you guess.

By the way, the lessons learned through Dr. O’Grady’s system not only help you to be a better marketer, they can also make communicating with your business associates and those closest to you in your personal life much more effective. Which may be an even better reason to check it out.

Think Marketing Strategies, Not Just Tactics

OK. I’m a little frustrated now. So forgive me if this sounds a bit like a rant. But you’d think that suffering through more than a year of economic angst would motivate enterprises to reconsider the way they’ve been doing business and build better models. As the world’s financial giants have recently demonstrated, however, many companies just don’t get it. They’re returning to business as usual. And that doesn’t bode well for any of us.

Obviously, my focus is on the changes organizations need to make in their marketing schemes. Throughout these difficult times my colleagues and I have advised clients to reexamine their entire marketing approach, take a fresh look at what they and their customers desire, and develop new programs that will profitably deliver customer satisfaction.

Granted, this is not easy to accomplish and it may take time to see the results. That’s why some companies choose to gamble on “quick fix” tactics that they hope will work immediately. But the simple truth is that your business needs sound marketing strategies, not just tactics. And folks, tweaking the advertising message, cutting prices and opening a Twitter account are not strategies. Your customers are looking for the best values they can find, not simply the lowest cost. That means they want the whole package: Good solutions, great customer service, and genuine convenience, as well as fair prices.

So what kinds of strategies should you consider? Well, first, remember that strategies are the big ideas that will help you achieve your business goals, not the action steps that make your strategies work – those important tactics come later. You might begin by asking yourself some fundamental questions like these:

• How well do my products and services satisfy my customers’ needs? What problems are they solving for my customers? Are there changes we can make that will better satisfy the customers while protecting our profitability? Do we have good information about what the customer wants from us, or do we need to conduct some research?

• Is our pricing structure such that the customer recognizes the value they receive for the cost? Do we need to bundle certain items together, or deconstruct existing combinations of goods and services? Are we over or under pricing our goods and services? Do we really understand our customer’s perception of value?

• How easy is it for our customers to do business with us? Are we using the right forms of distribution? Are our selling techniques in sync with the customer’s buying habits? Have we adapted to the changing nature of consumer behavior?

• Are we communicating a clear, consistent and compelling story to our customers? Are we delivering the promises made in our communications? Do we continue to use only broadcast messaging or are we augmenting it with more direct efforts? Are we embracing social marketing concepts to build long-term relationships with our publics?

While not an exhaustive list, the answers to these questions should point you toward those marketing areas where you need to develop new strategies. Your strategies may include changes to your product offering, new pricing policies, improvements in customer care delivery, operational changes in the way you deal with customers before, during and after a sale, a rethinking of your brand image, and how you engage in communications with your various publics.

These well-thought-out strategies will lead to the action steps that will carry you to greater success today and for the future.

Miss-marketing Healthcare Reform

I find it surprising that the White House has done such a poor job of marketing its healthcare reform package. Especially when you consider how incredibly efficient the Obama campaign was in using all forms of marketing to win the presidential election. A few observations:

1) Social media marketing was one of the cornerstones of the presidential campaign, but we’ve heard very little about its use promoting healthcare legislation. Why?

2) The opposition has clearly been successful fueling grassroots opposition to the administration’s plan, often using fear and other emotional triggers to their advantage. The counteractions by the Administration relied more heavily on rational discourse. This is a highly emotional issue, and the President has not tapped into those emotions strongly enough.

Yet, at the heart of the matter, may be the most fundamental of marketing mistakes. First, from the outset, Obama’s message has not been clear, consistent and compelling. It was purposely vague on specifics so that Congress could take the President’s broad concepts and work out the details in true democratic fashion. Unfortunately, this opened the door to speculation and allowed opponents to take certain aspects of what the House was considering out of context. These issues, then, became the basis of the protests and loud opposition.

Second, the White House may have underestimated the depth of concern many Americans have with the idea of the Federal Government being directly involved in their healthcare, and the resistance to change among those Americans who are satisfied with their present healthcare situation.

The President then played “catch-up” by appearing on as many news and talk shows as possible, in an effort to turn the tide. Unfortunately, as every marketer knows, once your credibility is called into question – whether warranted or not – it’s extremely difficult to convince the audience to have faith in your message.

Good marketing is knowing your audience, making sure you can align your product with the wants and needs of that audience, crafting a clear, concise, consistent and compelling message and reaching your audience through the most effective channels.

Obama did this brilliantly during the Presidential campaign. For healthcare reform? Not so much.

Telling Your Story

Business people like to deal with facts and figures. After all, that’s how we typically measure success. We look at sales numbers, market share, gross margin, EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) etc., etc. It’s good and necessary that we use these metrics to evaluate and manage our enterprises. However, there are times when facts and figures are simply not enough, especially when it comes to presenting our marketing messages to existing or potential customers.

This is particularly true in business-to-business presentations where product specifications, ROI and other factors often take center stage. Of course all of these things are important for the customer to know. The problem is this: we forget that even the most analytical buyers seldom make purchasing decisions solely on the basis of fact. The truth is that, in most cases, it’s the emotional responses people have to products, services and the people who represent and support them that tip the scales.

As taught for decades by sales educators from Dale Carnegie on down, and proven by their pupils’ successes, we tend to buy from people we know, like and trust. Which means your customers need to know more than just the bare facts. They need you to tell them your story. And the more vivid and engaging that story is, the better your chances of making the sale.

This was driven home to me recently through a conversation with one of the CEOs I coach. Having built up and successfully sold one business, this entrepreneur recently turned a personal hobby into a growing business that is already recognized by major players in his industry and his state’s government. He was recently invited to speak before an influential industry group that can open the door to a large number of potential customers.

We discussed his presentation strategy that included a comprehensive slide show full of important facts and figures about his new operation. As we reviewed his presentation he expressed concern about holding the audience’s interest throughout the talk. I agreed that, in the limited time he was allotted, he might overwhelm the audience with too many statistics and not be able to convey enough of the passion he feels for this endeavor.

I suggested that instead of relying on the slides, he use other tools to tell his story that will let his personality and commitment shine through. He agreed and this is how the presentation unfolded: After introducing himself, he showed a 4-minute video presentation we developed for his Web site and as a sales tool. Through narration, music and imagery, this video concisely explains his business model and outlines its benefits to the customers. It tells the story simply while tapping into emotional issues we know resonate with his customers.

Following this presentation, the CEO told the rest of the story: How he has developed an easy-to-understand-and-implement process that can turn an industry that is struggling to survive into one with a promising future for all those involved. He then described a few customer success stories that illustrated and supported his claims. Finally he distributed a fact sheet with statistical information appropriate for his audience, and answered questions.

By focusing on the story-telling and using the facts and figures throughout to support his statements, the CEO engaged the audience as human beings as well as business people. Because he is passionate about what he is doing, thoroughly understands this industry and his process, and has the facts to back him up, he told his story convincingly and reached his audience emotionally as well as intellectually. By all measures it was a highly successful presentation.

How about you? Is it time to take an objective look at how you tell your story? Does your passion and commitment shine through? Do you showcase how what you do benefits those people who are your customers? Or are you hiding your most appealing messages under a bushel of facts and figures?

Thanks For Reading This

Thank you for reading this. In fact, thank you for reading, period. With the plethora of communications technologies now available, reading the written word is becoming a lost art. Sure, we “read” all day long: Tweets, text messages, emails, blogs, Web sites, social and business networks, on e-readers like Kindle, and, on occasion, in newspapers and magazines like this one.

But how much are we really absorbing? Fact is we have so many easily accessible sources of information that many of us feel pressured to visit them all – and often. This demands a great deal of time, so we’ve become masters of scanning and skimming. Which means we often come away with no more than a superficial understanding of what we’ve been exposed to.

Now consider your role as a marketer: You’re using a mix of traditional, “new,” and social media to best reach your target audience, including many of those discussed above. Knowing that readers are scanning these media for only those messages that are of immediate interest, and skimming the first few words for relevance makes it vitally important that what you say about your enterprise is concise, compelling and consistent.

This is nothing new, of course. We’ve known for years that the headline of a print ad, the opening few seconds of a radio or TV spot, or the landing page of a Web site must grab the audience’s attention and lead them into the rest of the message. Unfortunately, because attention spans are now measured in nanoseconds and the audience is only interested in that which is relevant to their immediate situation, this task has become much more challenging.

All of which means that now, more than ever, you need to have a clear understanding of what your business is all about, and be able to boil it down to a simple yet powerful message that permeates all of your communications. It’s the most basic and yet often overlooked tenant of marketing: Know your company’s unique value as concerns your target customers.

This requires thinking carefully about what your organization’s reason for being truly is. Remember: Your company’s value to your customer is not merely the sum of your people, products, services or assets – no matter how great they are. To your customers, the only thing that really matters is how well whatever it is they buy from you meets their needs. Which means you need to understand your customer’s problems and align your resources to help solve them.

A classic example is Black & Decker. At the outset, the company owned the hand-held electric drill business. Thanks to patent protection, they rightfully saw themselves as the company that invented and sold the electric drill. Eventually, however, someone in the company recognized that what they were really selling wasn’t a drill at all. They were selling the ability to make holes.

In other words, the company was selling a solution for people who wanted to make holes in a variety of materials, and do so faster and easier than they could with other methods. This revelation enabled the company to understand that it wasn’t simply about making and selling electric drills. It was a company that sold people the ability to do their work faster and easier through a reliable, powerful product. Looking at it that way, the company could entertain making and selling a variety of laborsaving tools and accessories.

Armed with this perspective, the company built a brand identity with consumers that immediately conjures up an image of reliable power tools that make it easier to perform tasks in and around the home. This means that regardless of the media used, the core message of what the company offers resonates with millions of customers.

I suggest that, if you haven’t already done so, take some time for reflection and make sure you fully understand what your organization is all about. The big question: How does your organization satisfy the wants and needs of your customers? Then craft a concise message that quickly communicates your true value. Use it to advertise, sell, Tweet, blog, etc., etc., etc.

Oh, yes. And thanks, again, for reading this.

How Not To Do Strategic Planning

Every organization needs a well thought-out marketing plan that establishes strategies and actions to help achieve its most important business objectives. Otherwise, you may apply your resources to programs and projects that offer little or no return on investment. One key here, of course, is that the marketing piece must be an integral part of the overall strategic planning effort, not simply tacked on later.

The second key is to be certain your marketing objectives are clearly defined and shared with all personnel. For as the Roman philosopher Seneca put it: “If one does not know to which port he is steering, no wind is favorable.”

Given the importance of strategic marketing, it never fails to amaze me that some companies create a plan only to have it gather dust on a credenza. Meanwhile marketing dollars are tossed at projects based on whims, warm feelings or the reading of tealeaves. I can only conclude that there are those who see the planning process as simply an annual ritual for satisfying the board, the bank or their own, oversized egos. For these misguided souls I offer the following suggestions guaranteed to help you produce a document worthy of being forgotten as soon as it’s completed.

How Not To Do Strategic Planning

1. Meet on-site. There’s nothing like the distraction of phone calls and other interruptions to keep the team from focusing on the task at hand. Besides, look how much you’ll save by not booking a hotel meeting room. Plus you can let everyone make their own lunch plans so there’s no danger of keeping the discussion juices flowing.

2. Make sure you personally lead the discussions. You don’t want some trained, outside facilitator mucking things up with strange ideas or exercises that get everyone involved and maybe even bring a fresh perspective to the sessions. After all, you need to control this exercise to prove you’re worth the big bucks.

3. Don’t assign any homework. If you let your people think about your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats independently, they may not all agree. Then how do you get this darn thing done in a few hours?

4. Forget research. Go with your gut. If you don’t have all of the facts, just make a lot of assumptions. After all you’re only betting the future of the company on what you think your customers want and need, and how well they think you deliver on your promises.

5. Listen to the nay-sayers When old Charlie reminds you that you “tried that once and it didn’t work”, make sure everyone knows how much you value his input and encourage other risk-adverse thinking.

6. Have a good laugh about the stupid, new ideas some of your people come up with. There’s nothing like a little ridicule and embarrassment to stifle creative thought.

7. Take the Nike® approach. You know that your people are basically lazy and have lots of excuses for not producing the sales, gross margins or net profits you’re entitled to. So set your goals, no matter how unrealistic, and then tell them to just do it!

8. Keep The Plan Confidential. Don’t share the goals and strategies with anyone outside of the meeting. It’s enough that your key reports know what is expected. Letting the rank and file in on the plan is just too time consuming and may raise a lot of irritating questions.

Building Your Brand Inside & Out (2.0)

The pride of Scotland, poet Robert Burns wrote: “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel’s as others see us!”

So how do you see your company? How do your customers and potential customers see you? And most important: Do you and those in your target markets see your organization in the same way?

These questions, of course, go to the heart of building and maintaining your brand. Last week we talked about how important it is that your internal audience – everyone from the CEO to your newest hire – clearly understands the company’s vision of what your brand represents, and that your people deliver your brand’s promises to everyone they come in contact with. It’s no easy task, as it requires educating new employees and continuously reinforcing the message with each team member. However, it’s absolutely essential to your organization’s success.

But what if your brand image no longer resonates with your customers? What if you’re out of touch with the true wants and needs of your target markets? What if you’ve stumbled a few times? Perhaps you introduced a product that didn’t perform as expected or instituted a customer policy that backfired. Fact is it’s easy to cruise along on autopilot, blissfully unaware that customers are slipping away because they no longer believe you’re a good source for what they desire.

So how do you know if your current and potential customers still find your brand message relevant in their lives? I suggest you ask them. And, in most cases, the best way to do so is through a third party: a reliable market research firm. Yes, I know. Your salespeople and other representatives are in touch with your customers on a regular basis. But they often hear what they want to hear and not necessarily the customer’s true feelings. Even worse, they are not necessarily in touch with all of the people you would like to have as customers.

A good market researcher will help you define the right questions to ask and develop a plan for getting the answers you need. The approach may be quantitative (statistically reliable research that gives you percentages you can project to a larger audience with a stated degree of certainty) or qualitative (not statistically projectable, but good information nonetheless, from personal interviews or focus groups). The researcher then implements the plan, analyzes the data and interprets the findings for you.

The goal of this exercise is to find out what current customers and those you would like to have as customers really think of your company. What is the image they have of your organization? Do they see what you would like them to see? And is it something they want, need and care about? If the research confirms that you and your potential customers are on the same page, terrific! If not, it’s time for some serious soul-searching that goes well beyond developing a new slogan or advertising campaign. You need to take a careful look at what the market is telling you and how this information aligns with your company’s mission, vision and values. Because if you don’t “see yourself as others see you” and successfully address the needs of the marketplace, someone else will.