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Attention!! I've stopped ranting
and raving here and do all my musings on my blog. Go to
Hamilton's Blog.
A great way to decide whether you'll work well with someone is
to understand what he or she thinks about. Some of the things
catching my attention:
1.14.5 Don't end up in the "murky middle" with your
positioning. . .
While I count “things we can learn from the French” on a pretty
short list now days, I found a statement by the Director of
Design for Renault interesting:
"The future does
not belong to designers creating products that do not displease
the customer."
He made the statement after the first car he designed for
Renault after coming over from Ford Europe, the Twingo, received
mixed (to say the least) reviews from focus groups:
"Fifty percent of
consumers said they hated it, and 25% were dubious," says le
Quement. "But 25% said they loved it and wanted to know where
they could buy one."
The Twingo was a hit (http://www.renault.com/gb/produits/twingo.htm).
The marketing lesson: work hard to differentiate yourself (even
if your positioning turns some people off). Said another way:
don’t end up in “the middle,” wallowing around looking like and
sounding like everybody else.
A J.D. Power and
Associates survey says carmakers that polarize opinion make
higher margins on the cars they sell. The study found that cars
that people either love or hate -- such as the Chrysler PT
Cruiser and Infiniti FX -- "sell quicker and at a higher profit
margin" than cars that get lukewarm reactions.
When it comes to marketing, la vie longue la difference (long
live the difference)!
1.1.05 Resolved: To be more authentic with our marketing for
2005.
No comment
here about whether resolutions work or you should bother. I do
my resolving on birthdays. But since ‘tis the season” for
resolutions, here’s one you might try on for your ’04 marketing.
. .
Be
authentic.
First,
duh! I know, it “goes without saying.” It’s the right thing to
do. But in practice, the world’s full of BS, much of it slung
by my brethren out there.
Don’t you
add to it.
You don’t
like it when people do it to you so don’t do it to your
customers and prospects.
Plus, it
just doesn’t work anymore. . .Set too high an expectation in an
attempt to persuade and people will feel tricked. Regardless of
how your product performs, they aren’t satisfied.
The result:
no word-of-mouth or, more likely, bad word-of-mouth.
Another
reason to be authentic: the Internet will expose you. With more
information just a click or two away, you’ll get found out
pretty quickly if all you have to offer are glorious platitudes.
The net’s fundamentally changing the communication equation. It
takes the control away from you and puts it in the hands of the
people you want to communicate with.
So: think
authentic, think persuading people by educating them.
Does this
advocate dryly presenting product features?
No. Show
your passion. Be excited. Extol your benefits. Just make sure
you operate within the bounds of what’s real. And what you
can deliver. And, oh yeah, provide back-up for your
claims. Is your technology really “leading edge?” Are you
really an expert? What makes you one? Does your product really
produce an “immediate ROI?” If so, show me.
Said
another way, ENOUGH ALREADY with empty claims and
overstatement. You’re tired of it. I’m tired of it. They’re
tired of it. It doesn’t work anymore.
Two good
examples of marketing authenticity:
www.redoyourpool.com/resurfacing.htm
The first
sentence of this page says it all: "Resurfacing pools is the
heart of what we do. It's what we know best. However, we don't
know what is best for you. So we explain the different surfaces
to our customers and let them tell us what they want.
www.chrysler.com/town_country/index.html?context=homepage&type=drop
Go to the
bottom left under the minivan image and click on “Competitive
Comparison.” They include this because these sites are a click
away:
Compare Minivans
... Search Results for: Compare Minivans.
... Compare Minivans - Compare
Prices
On Cars Before you buy, compare prices from national
dealerships. ...
www.gmsupplier.us/dir/compare_minivans/index.shtml - 19k -
Cached -
Similar pages
Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Minivans at
Epinions.com
Compare prices from across the web and read reviews from
other consumers on
Vans & Minivans before you decide to buy. Join Epinions |
Help | Sign In. ...
www.epinions.com/auto_Make-Vans_Minivans - 48k - Dec 30, 2003 -
Cached -
Similar pages
Have a
safe, productive, challenging, satisfying and profitable 2004!
12.15.04 Remember your product--your creative isn't the only
place to look for increased sales.
Progressive
Insurance basically “rebuilt” their product from the ground up
(auto insurance). From the customer’s perspective. They
share their customers’ perception that includes the WHOLE
process of buying insurance: shopping; comparing; the coverage;
the premium; and the process of filing and collecting on a
claim.
How did they
rebuild it? First, as you probably know, they give you their
quote and quotes from three of their competitors (makes
shopping for insurance easier, builds trust). And while that’s
pretty cool—companies just don’t do that—it’s not revolutionary
(remember independent insurance agents?).
It gets
better.
Their goal is
to be at the accident scene within 45 minutes. They train their
customers to call them from the accident scene. For some, they
install a GPS unit that sends the location of the car to HQ
after an impact of 35 MPH or higher and dispatches an adjuster.
An adjuster
shows up in an SUV or minivan, takes digital photos of the
damage, emails the photos via cell phone to HQ, receives a fax
(computer and printer/fax onboard) with a settlement damage
estimate, prints out a check to cover the damages and hands it
to their customer.
Gasp! Double
gasp!!
If you’ve ever
been in an accident you appreciate how revolutionary that is.
It’s absolutely brilliant. It’s almost like they asked people
to imagine the perfect auto insurance company (which, of course,
they did) and then they created it!
And it’s
working. Progressive is one of the fastest growing insurance
companies as a result of this dramatic rebuilding of their
product. Along with great advertising and a great website (the
#1 most visited insurance site on the Internet).
If you’re
interested in increasing sales, keep working on your message and
marketing methods. But make sure you also ask yourself:
How can we change, add to, modify or take from our product
during 2004 to improve sales?
Next, ask your
customers to imagine the perfect ______________ type of product,
then explore the possibilities of giving it to them. How could
you do a “Progressive Insurance” on your product?
“Impossible”
you say! Maybe. Even probably!
BUT, and this
is a big but, a wonderful thing can happen when you allow
yourself to dream a bit. You find a handful of practical ways
you CAN improve your product.
Re-inventing
or even fine-tuning your product can be as powerful a growth
engine as the other “Ps” combined. Make sure it’s part of your
marketing plans for 2004.
10.11.04 Listen to your customers. . .but not all the time.
I was
reading a blurb by Tom Peters (one of my heroes) that really got
me thinking. Paraphrased: Listening to customers can be good,
but if you don't go beyond that occasionally, you won't get
truly innovative; customers tend to think incrementally. He
used the examples: nobody ever told Chrysler they wanted a
mini-van; or told Ford they wanted an SUV; or told Domino's they
wanted 30 minute pizza delivery.
Good
point. Especially to a guy (me) who preaches talking to
customers. So, do both. Talk to customers, but don't stop
there. Dream, imagine and maybe you'll surprise the world (or
at least your customers) with something they didn't know they
couldn't live without!
8.31.04 Is your website static?
Before I
urge you to put video or audio on your website and get some
pizzazz going. . .I admit to only having a pitiful small amount
of audio on mine. I could use the excuse that we've been so
busy the past six months doing for our clients that we haven't
done for ourselves (true), but then, that's just an excuse. So,
forgive me this one time as I urge you to do as a say, not as a
do: hey, for Pete's sake, put some movement and sound on your
site! You can now deliver video in a simple, inexpensive manner
(production values don't have to be on a grand scale, Flash
streams video just fine). Have a story to tell? Tell it:
http://www.redoyourpool.com/RogerandChris.htm
http://www.superiortattoo.com
Then click on "Flash Videos" then on "Meet Superior"
http://www.scottsdaleseminars.com/video/index.htm
Or better
yet, let your customers tell it:
http://www.redoyourpool.com/whatcust.htm
http://www.superiortattoo.com
Then click on "Flash Videos" then on "People talk about the V-TEK"
http://www.scottsdaleseminars.com/customers/
6.17.04 It's my Birthday and I'm getting all misty. . .
Well, maybe
not misty, but Birthdays do cause me to look back and look
forward. Clients pay me to move them forward and that can
sometimes be tough. But one year old and I'm more determined
than ever to push (see our
Mission). I had a
prospective client yesterday say he wanted to double his sales.
Fast. Yeah, don't we all. There's a paradox about growing
sales fast or slow--at least based on how we do it. We start
slow. We test. We get past the uncertainty of not knowing if a
marketing method will work BEFORE we go full speed. Want to go
fast? Then be willing to go slow first, unless you are far less
attached to your money than most people we work with.
3.31.04 The celebrated Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field
A friend
forwarded an account of Steve Jobs' latest presentation at
Macworld written by one of the Mac faithful, David Plotnikoff of
the Mercury News. Vintage Jobs: demoing everything himself;
convincing everyone, once again, there was something
different--inherently better--about a Mac; and making you feel
you could somehow be part of something bigger, better than
yourself with a Mac.
From a
marketing standpoint, it's shear poetry what Jobs does. Poetry:
simple; communication stripped down to its essence; powerful;
emotional; and the product of a hell of a lot of work. He walks
out onto the stage in jeans, takes your breath away with feats
that border on the magical and then shows you how he did it.
Not a wasted word or motion. Everything so tight, so
natural--the product of a hell of a lot of work. Like I said,
poetry.
What's your message? How poetic are you when you present it?
See the
video:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf03/
See the
article:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4896427.htm
3.10.04 Uncertainty can slow your prospecting (think war with
Iraq)
Have you
felt a slowdown recently? There are many possible causes: some
big, testy and fundamental (your message has worn out, for
example); some smaller and transitory, like people feeling more
uncertainty in their world (think war with Iraq). Uncertainty
creates risk. Avoiding risk is a natural human response.
Nobody likes to change vendors (or hair stylists!). So, as the
risk around us increases, we’re less likely to increase it by
giving your company a try for the first time. If you’re
interested in attracting new customers, the question becomes how
to reduce the uncertainty of someone trying your product for the
first time? If you answered "by featuring our satisfaction
guarantee," sorry, that’s the wrong answer. Everybody offers a
guarantee. What then?
Click here for three things we’re working on with clients to
help them reduce uncertainty for new customers. . .
1.10.04 Does your marketing tell a story?
Let's face
it, we're all human and all humans love a story. What's yours?
Not that boring stuff: we manufacture a complete line of
________ and are the largest in the Southwest. . ." But what is
at the core of why you're different; of who you are? Hummmm,
you say. That's okay, actually, you're probably not the best
person to answer that question. Who can? Your customers.
How? Ask them to talk about "their experience" with your
company. When they say things like "they're very competent,"
"they give us great service," "they seem to care more than the
others," ask them for examples. Those examples tell your
story. Video tape or audio tape your interviews. Do some
simple editing to clean them up and shorten them. Then post
them on your site. DO NOT get slick. The more production
values you try to add, the less people believe them. Keep them
real.
Example.
12.20.03 This is definitely a rave!
My son's
sixth grade chorus singing holiday songs.
Listen!
11.10.03 How do you increase sales 30%?
Find the
next big idea? How about finding three things that bump sales
10% each? Major initiatives take lots of time to create, test
and implement. Better to have five smaller things cooking.
Three may fail, but if two work, then find five more things.
Gosh, maybe sales will go up 50%! Leave the big ideas to
somebody else. . .
9.19.03 Stop thinking about it so much!
Just move
forward. You don't need all the answers before you start.
You'll get the information you need -- customers will tell you
what you need to know -- by their behavior. Stumbling over the
answers will get you to where you want to go faster than trying
to make everything nice and neat before you start. How does
this relate to marketing? Do small tests. Tinker. Change
things up. Try things. When Lands' End brought out their first
catalog, their niche was supplying boating enthusiasts with the
latest, coolest equipment. Three days before press time they
realized they had one extra page. And no products to fill it
up. Desperate, they found some shirts, boating shoes and
shorts. Over 90% of their sales came from that one page. . .opps!
We tested two TV commercials recently for a client. One people
liked, the other they didn't. But there was one thing about the
commercial they didn't like that stuck in their minds -- that
they liked. And you better believe we're using it!
10.17.02 How about those car companies?!
You've seen
the ads: zero percent financing if you buy a car now. Wow!
This ought to work and work well. HOWEVER, do you remember what
Chrysler did many years ago when their back was against the
financial wall? They offered rebates. . .and few cars have been
sold without them since. I'm betting the industry won't be able
to shake zero percent financing either. (Revisiting this rant
on 1-1-03, yep, it's still here.)
9.17.01 So, now what?
Our economy
has been slipping for the past 14 months. Now this. . .so, now
what? We've been busy with client triage; helping those first
whom need it most. Surprisingly, and we work with a very
diverse group of clients, the majority of our clients APPEAR
they will not be significantly hurt by the uncertainty that
defines our world. Some are hurt, badly. But there are things
we're doing to "stop the bleeding" and get them moving forward.
Actually, I wrote about four things you can do in a softening
economy back in April (see below). What I said then still
applies:
White Paper.
9.11.01 The world has profoundly changed. I hope humanity's
goodness prevails.
9.7.01 Ebay's going where the people are.
So you want to sell your lava lamp. There was a time when you
had a garage sale or put a classified ad in the local
newspaper. Now you have Ebay. Now Ebay will help you also put
a classified ad in a newspaper. Ebay is testing a logical (in
my mind, at least) extension of their business: enabling their
sellers to also advertise stuff in selected classified sections
of newspapers. They're testing Ebay sections in the classified
sections Florida and Minnesota newspapers. We wish them well
and can't wait to see how well it works. . .
I like the
idea because one of our mantras with clients is be where your
customers are. Too many companies get hung up on trying to be a
purely net entity, others make half-assed attempts at an
Internet presence. Be where your customers are. If they look
for products like yours on the Internet, be there. If they look
for products like yours offline, be there too. For more on
this, see my
White Paper,
Reconciling Online and Offline Marketing Strategies.
4.29.01 Have you noticed the mall?
If your shopping malls are anything like the ones we have in
Scottsdale, you'll see the unmistakable signs of an economic
downturn. Look at all the "Sale" and "Take an Additional XX%
Off" signs in the windows. Retailers are starting to tug on
consumers to spend money. I usually see this kind of frenzy
during the holiday shopping season, not in May. I believe
people are pulling back. If I'm right, what should you be doing
in your business today to make sure it doesn't affect you?
Check out my
White Paper on four
things to do when the economy softens.
3.11.01 Branding, as practiced today. . .
With sincere apologies to Winston Churchill:
"Never has so many professed to know so much, and have had so
little to show for it."
Branding is NOT a cool new logo or slogan. Branding is NOT
awareness.
If you know SUVs, Ford Explorer, Jeep, Range Rover each mean
something different to you. Locally, the Tex Earnhardt
dealerships mean something different than the Lou Grubb
dealerships. Coke means something different than
Mountain Dew. The meaning or perception is the branding each
has achieved. Nancy Sullivan, an anthropologist who studies
tribespeople in New Guinea when she isn’t doing market research
in America makes my point, "Whether it’s an outrigger canoe or
SUV, things are empty vessels until people invest them with
meaning." It’s up to us marketers to suggest and mold the
meaning people invest in the products and companies we
represent.
Branding isn’t something you do.
It is the result of many things you do. Branding is the
impression of, feeling toward or level of understanding people
have about a product or company. No impression, no feeling or
no understanding, and no branding. Remember the cool little dog
sock puppet in all the ads for the pet-related dotcom? Remember
which one (pet.com, petco.com, petsmart.com)? It doesn’t
matter, after $20+ million spent on "branding" you can’t
remember and they’re out of business.
Regis McKenna, a superb marketer and consultant (he helped
launch the original Macintosh), calls branding ". . .the refuge
of the ignorant." I agree. Most of the people busy talking
about branding today don’t know what the hell they’re talking
about. They have simply jumped on the buzzword bandwagon and
are wasting untold amounts of money and opportunities for their
bosses, clients or investors, whomever they happen to work for.
Be wary of the branding bandwagon. Make sure your marketing
transfers meaning.
10.17.00:
A Glimpse into the Future
Answer:
Much has been written about the Internet and its promise in
delivering a variety of video/film/short stories/whatever. Many
companies have tried and failed at all of the above. Well, you
heard it here second (Fortune
Magazine
was first). I believe "shows" like RUNNER
will be the model. Think the next generation of Millionaire
meets Survivor meets Big Brother.
Check out the RUNNER site.
9.5.00 Question:
Is it difficult to attract people to your site and convince them
to take action once they're there.
Answer:
Netzero gives away, free, a large screen TV, everyday, to
attract you to their site. So they can persuade you to sign up
for free Internet access, saving you about twenty bucks a
month. Key concept here: giving away something expensive to
attract you to a site that offers a free service that saves you
$240 a year.
I'd say the answer is yes. Heck, it's tough GIVING AWAY
something free on the net. That doesn't mean it's impossible.
It just means you need to continually chip away at it. . .
8.22.00 Great copy
Regis Philbin on the success of Millionaire -
"It's a
runaway beer truck careening down a hill out of control. It
cannot be stopped, it will not be stopped!"
8.17.00 FYI: On-line ad spending / top banners
Dollars spent for on-line advertising (banners, sponsorships)
for 1999 was $3.5 billion and is expected to grow to $5.3
billion in 2000. The largest category is financial services.
Bonzi Software had the most clicked on banner ad for the week
ending 8-6-00, reaching an amazing 7.3% of the at-home Internet
users and 13.4% of at-work Internet users. Wow!
More
8.10.00 The net's demos are balancing out.
People with household incomes under $25K are logging on at a
rate 50% higher than those folks with fatter wallets. They're
also spending more time per month on the net (13 hours versus
9). If you sell to lower income people and think your Internet
strategy doesn't have to embrace them, think again. (Media
Metrix report for June 2000)
8.1.00 Evidence you don't have to be smart to work for a large
record company
Jupiter
Communications has found that Napster users are 45% more likely
to increase their music spending as a result of songs they've
"sampled" online.
Isn't that
the site the large record companies just spent millions shutting
down? Hummmm. .
7-26-00 Is Your Web Site Full of Baloney
Most web sites look like sandwiches at a smorgasbord.I'm
astonished at companies’ inability to utilize the Internet’s
incredible digital possibilities.Think about the number of web
sites that don’t:
-
Offer any
sort of graphical explanation of their products or services.
-
Offer
audio or video content.
-
Use any
movement; even a PowerPoint-like presentation.
Isn’t this
just common sense? Hey, Mrs. Rubinski convinced us in 10th
grade civics class to use visual aids. Okay, so you get my
point. Now, what to do if you site is looking more like a
baloney sandwich than you care to admit? Change it! You don’t
have to spend a fortune either. Just start. Add some color.
Demonstrate your advantages visually. Talk to people. Pretty
soon . . . you’ll have a BLT instead of a baloney sandwich.
7-4-00 Fourth
of July
The wisdom
of a great American:
"You must
speak truth so your words go as sunlight into our hearts."
Cochise
The truth
is vitally important to a consultant. We cannot afford to play
with it when reporting to our clients. Telling the truth to a
prospect cost me $3,000 last week. Ouch.
5-21-00 garden.cruddy
Sharon (my
wife) bought my mother a wonderful, dramatic houseplant for her
birthday, which my mother loved. She paid about $30 at a local
nursery (don’t worry, my mother will never read this). So, she
thought she’d buy one for her mother in Washington DC for
Mother’s Day. I tell her to order from garden.com. She finds
the same plant at garden.com, $49 plus $8 shipping, but they
tell us not to worry, it’ll get there by in time. She thinks,
“They’re over charging me, but what the heck, it’ll get there in
time.” It is supposed to arrive tomorrow, May 22nd.
In case anyone is keeping score, Mother’s Day was May 14th.
Sharon calls, mad. They offered to eat the freight.
Unacceptable. If you look at their stock, it too is heading
south (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GDEN&d=t).
(3-01-01
note: They're history!)
Martha is “da man!” As below average as garden.com was,
marthastewart.com is equally above average. She, er, they, do a
great job. Tremendous selection, easy to find soaps or garden
goodies, the products are well-presented, fair prices and
absolutely great execution. Her, er, their, shipment was early,
and they created a very nice “presentation” when you open the
box (wrapped in tissue with a sticker on it) for a wood rasp
(honest, a wood rasp!) that’s used as a kitchen grater. http://www.marthastewart.com/
A great URL, tons of VC cash and a pretty good web site does not
necessarily equal a pleasant buying experience. I wonder how
long garden.com will be around. I wonder how much money we’ll
spend with Martha over the next 10 years?
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