Once again, Tom pegs what I’m thinking and where I’m at.
Blending into the herd has never really been my style. And this is my year to spread the message far and wide.
Here’s his way to kick off the New Year…
Thanks Tom.
Archive for the 'advertising' Category
While I thoroughly love Tom Fishburne’s cartoon essays on the state of big brand marketing, I think he’s slightly off base on this one. Just to be clear, he’s not wrong; I think he’s missing an element of truth that has always been there, but hard for traditional consumer goods companies to see.
The internet has literally changed almost every aspect of our lives in one form or another. Consumer Advocates have ALWAYS been the true driving force behind product sales. Ask anyone with a limited marketing vocabulary and they’ll tell you that word of mouth is the best form of advertising–and they’re right.
Technology drives marketing strategy to a large degree. From the days of the “traveling doctor” in the Wild West, to Coney Island hawkers, to Saturday morning network television cartoons; advertisers used technology to their advantage because they could afford to do so. The modern internet, call it web 2.0 or social media or whatever, has allowed ALL of us to express our advocacy to the masses. Tools like Blogging, Twitter, Email, YouTube, etc… have given us the power to say what we like and dislike–especially what we dislike.
Big companies are worried about using social media as a marketing vehicle because it allows the unwashed masses to say something negative about their products or brand or name. Well guess what? People have always controlled the message; not corporations. Neighbors have always talked. Hairdressers have always gossiped. Today we live in a world where experiences are no longer contained to friends and family. Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, said it best, “the ants have megaphones.”
If you’re a marketing manager for a big company, you better get used to it because more and more power will continue to go to the customer. Pull your head out of the sand and participate in the conversation. Honesty, authenticity and real dialogue never go out of style.
One of the default responses that small business owners have when talking about growth is advertising. To a lot of them, advertising is synonymous with marketing.
Let’s all get on the same page with regards to definitions. Advertising is a marketing tactic; just like PR, special events, networking, speaking or writing. Marketing, on the other hand, is a core element of your business; much like finance, operations or HR.
You cannot run a business without some form of marketing. For a lot of companies, the default marketing strategy is word or mouth or referrals. You can, however, do a lot of marketing activities without spending a penny on advertising.
You see the big Fortune 500 companies spending hundreds of millions on advertising. Let’s look at an example of an Apple advertisement making fun of Microsoft hoping to fix it’s Vista problems through advertising:
Advertising is costly, hard to measure and is losing effectiveness faster than the Titantic sank. Thanks to Jeff Sexton, at Future Now, let’s look at a few companies that have made a national splash by focusing their efforts on the customer experience and viral word of mouth instead of advertising:
1) Zappos
2) Krispy Kreme
3) StonyField Yogurt
4) Silk (soy milk)
5) Smart Wooland more…
Let me ask you a question that makes a lot of people open their eyes and think:
If advertising is such a wonderful business growth strategy, why don’t you see more ad agencies actually advertising to attract new clients?
Think about it. And trust me, it’s not that they don’t want/need the work.
Saw this great video below on a Facebook post by my friend, Jason Parmer, owner of design firm, Apparel Studios.
If this video wasn’t so spot on, it’d be funnier. Unfortunately, since I’ve lived on the client side of the fence more than the agency side, I’ve been part of meetings just like these. The group think that comes from everyone trying to cover their own a$$ and make it look like the winning idea was their own kills simple effective marketing.
It will never cease to amaze me that organizations bring in the “expert” outside marketing firm only to second guess and outright direct the final product. If they were capable of producing the deliverable on their own, why go outside in the first place? You don’t tell an architect how to design a stable, functional and attractive structure; you don’t tell the oncologist how to treat cancer; you don’t tell the attorney how to best win your case. Yet everyone thinks they are a designer; everyone thinks they are a world class copy writer.
Now, I cannot put all the blame on the client. A large percentage of the design profession suffers from self esteem issues and cannot seem to stand up for what’s right. They quickly forget that their ability to solve problems is valuable. Too many designers cut their own throat just to get an assignment only to cuss the client all the way through the process–while crossing their fingers for a referral. They’ve never taken the time to understand what makes business work and therefore have a hard time truly communicating with their own client. They complain that “good design is not magic;” then fail to ask enough–or the right–questions to get the answers required to create an exact solution.
Clients respect marketing firms that can prove their point. And designers need enough balls to stand up to the client and say, “This is wrong for these reasons…,”and be willing to walk away if the client won’t listen. Let another schmuck handle it. Go out, proactively market yourself and find clients that value what you bring to the table.
Enough ranting. On with the show… “What if there were no Stop Signs and a Major Corporation was tasked with inventing one.”
The more I learn about small business, the more I’m surprised about the shaky foundation on which they build their businesses. Owners risk so for their business, yet they often put themselves at greater risk because they choose not to market consistently.
Overwhelmingly, when people discover that I’m a marketing coach they proudly state, “I’ve built my entire business on referrals. I’ve never had to spend a penny on advertising.” And my response is typically, “That’s great, advertising rarely works for service businesses anyway. And I applaud you for providing a service valuable enough to get people talking. So tell me, how do you get referrals on a consistent basis?” That’s when they usually stop dead in their tracks. They realize that referrals are not predictable; they realize that they are not in full control of their own business.
Now let me be clear; referrals are great! They are vital to your firm’s growth. They are the easiest business to close and they are typically less price sensitive than other buyers. You should ALWAYS strive to do your job well enough to get people talking about you and your services to friends and colleagues.
That said, the ideal client mix for a service business is 50% referrals and 50% new business. And by new business, I mean clients that would not have otherwise come to you without stumbling across one (or more) of your marketing tactics. So what’s your percentage? How much of your business do you ultimately control?
Referrals are going to happen (or not) when you provide good service and deliver value. Referrals are next to impossible to control. You can’t magically turn on the referral switch and get new business when you need it. So while they are great business; you shouldn’t let referrals totally control your business. You need to proactively grow your business in addition to working with referrals.
You need a reliable system in place for generating new leads and attracting new clients. By balancing referrals with proven marketing strategies, you can potentially double your business if your current mix is 100% referral-based.
Just for a minute, assume you keep your current level of referrals and you elevate your new business marketing efforts to attain the ideal 50/50 split. What would that mean for your business? What would that mean for your personal goals? Having a marketing engine that consistently creates more opportunity than capacity allows you to choose better clients and better projects.
What I’ve discovered is that most people don’t understand how to market their business. They’ve never had any training or they simply get distracted by the details leaving their big plans to collect dust. In addition to referrals and advertising, there are many more marketing options.
BNI is the world’s largest “lead referral group.” Each week millions of businessmen and women around the world get together to proactively drum up referrals for their business. Earlier this year, they asked their members about their marketing strategies. Here are the results (in order of weight as of March 2008):
Referral Marketing – 41.6%
Direct Marketing – 17.6%
Web Marketing – 9.9%
Direct Mail Marketing – 5.8%
Email Marketing – 5.5%
Print Ads – 4.8%
Other – 4.2%
Public Relations – 3.8%
Telemarketing – 3.1%
TV/Radio – 2.8%
So even in a group that purposefully built to generate referrals, members are still spending over 50% of marketing efforts on other strategies. But here’s the kicker, BNI members are missing out on some of the most effective marketing strategies available for professional service businesses.
Just look at the focus on direct marketing, direct mail, print ads, and tv/radio; those strategies are basically marketing number games. The response rate for those strategies is so low you need tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of contact names on your prospect list to make it worth your time and effort. We’re talking about a ~0.5% response rate on those strategies.
If you’re in a service business, you are selling your knowledge, expertise and ability to solve client problems. Chances are you have hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in your contact list or address book–no where near enough to play marketing number games. Not to mention, it’s very difficult to explain the value of your intangible service offering with traditional advertising. You need a different approach; you need different options.
I help my clients pick between 11 proven marketing strategies. We select the top three to five strategies that are best suited for their unique goals and personality. These are “big bucket” strategies that can have hundreds of different tactical executions apiece. The 11 strategies include (in alphabetical order not effectiveness):
1. Advertising (paid placement of message, incl. sponsorship)
2. Articles & Publishing
3. Direct Outreach (one-to-one direct mail, email, phone calls)
4. Keep in Touch (newsletters, auto-responder email)
5. Networking (events, lunches, committees, Board of Directors
6. Online (SEO, banner ads, webinar, registration forms, blog)
7. PR (earned media/press mention)
8. Referral (Word of mouth, viral marketing)
9. Speaking, Presentations, Workshops
10. Special Events (host seminars, open house, customer events)
11. Strategic Alliance / Joint Venture
For instance, take Networking. As an overarching strategy, you can network at local Chamber events, professional groups, church, alumni clubs, civic organizations, and online networking sites like LinkedIn. You can join boards, country clubs, mastermind groups. In order to take advantage of networking (or any of these strategies), you need a plan.
Each of these marketing strategies has been proven to work. But some are more effective than others. Notice that advertising and referrals are both solid strategies, but they’re not the only options. And I like I said before, advertising only works with businesses with mass market appeal. The very nature of a service business has a targeted audience.
The small business owners I talk to want a tangible return on their investment of time, money and energy into marketing. Everyone has unique goals, but one of the most common goals that I encounter in professional service partners is the desire to be seen as an “expert” in their field. They want to elevate above their competition and be recognized as a leader. If this goal resonates with you, one of the most potent combination of marketing strategies you can employee is Writing, Speaking, and Networking.
Think about who you look to as leaders. How do you tap into their knowledge? Where do you find them? Chances are you buy their books; or read their articles/white papers; or see them talk at a conference. Experts purposefully select marketing strategies that allow them to capitalize on their knowledge and “thought leadership.” Now, this is just one example. You have to pick strategies that excite you and are best suited to reaching your specific goals. If you can’t get excited about speaking, for instance, chances are you won’t actively work your speaking plan.
In closing, I want you to think about your business and your goals. If you have a business built 100% on referrals and you’re completely happy, I congratulate you. But if you have a business dependent on referrals and the stream is dwindling down or you yearn to take the business to the next level, you must become a better marketer. You need to balance your referral stream with new clients. Building action plans around a couple of the marketing strategies listed above is a great way to reach the 50/50 client mix.
—–
If you’re in the greater Lexington, KY area, mark your calendar. Starting May 15th, I’m leading an 8 week marketing workshop for Independent Professionals and Partners in professional service businesses who want to attract more clients. This program, entitled the Fast Track to More Clients, will be a business “tipping point” for owners who are:
- Tired of struggling with marketing and getting minimal results
- Resistant to engaging in marketing activities
- Committed to growing their business to a whole new level
Learn more at http://www.nick-rice.com/fasttrack
from Tom Fishburne at BrandCamp
If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes in Corporate America, chances are you’ve sat through one of these idea/brainstorming sessions. It’s a shame that true innovation and creativity typically take a back seat to turf protection, bad attitudes and personal politics.
Welcome to the February 12, 2007 edition of Marketing (r)evolution Carnival.
This ended up being much larger than I anticipated, but there’s a lot of good articles here. Enjoy the 2nd Edition.
Advertising
David Polinchock presents Experience Manifesto: BEL Predictions posted at Experience Manifesto, saying, “I thought that our 2007 predictions would make a good addition to the next edition of the marketing (r)evolution carnival.”
Christopher J. Brunner presents Are You Using Your Business Cards? posted at The Small Business Buzz, saying, “Are you using your business cards to network and advertise your business? If not, here are some tips to help you utilize the power of these mini-billboards called business cards.”
Vahid Chaychi presents How to Maximize Your Profit in Pay Per Click Advertising posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing, saying, “Pay per click advertising is good but you should be able to make a profit through it. It means you should make more than what you spend. You can do it by choosing the right keywords, proper designing of the target page and … .”
Christopher J. Brunner presents Adding Non-Text Elements to Your Business Cards posted at The Small Business Buzz, saying, “Thank you for considering my submission for inclusion in this month’s edition of MRC. Michelle Cramer”
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Of Loan Refinancing, Debt Consolidation And LowerMyBills’ Dancing Cowboys posted at The Digerati Life.
Branding
Ron E presents Branding to the Young…of Heart posted at Brand Curve, saying, “Branding and Marketing to the baby boomers is getting hotter by the minute. Some thoughts on how companies can tackle this -forgotten- market.”
Kim M. Bayne presents Naming Your Web Site posted at Minced Media.
David Maister presents Stylists (Staff Turnover and Customer Retention) posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, “Who owns your brand? Your employees or your company?”
Anna Farmery presents Communication – Push or Pull? posted at The Engaging Brand.
Krishna De presents 5 keys to authoring your business book posted at Krishna De.
Marketing
Matthew Paulson presents Why I Don’t Buy From Quixtar posted at Getting Green.
K T Cat presents Where the Traffic Comes From posted at The Scratching Post.
Anna Farmery presents How Apple excites you posted at The Engaging Brand.
Charles H. Green presents Trust Tip 47: Subsidize Marketing with Sales posted at Trust Matters, saying, “Are you getting the most marketing impact out of your sales interactions?”
infonote presents Marketing and the legal environment posted at Kaizenlog, saying, “Kaizenlog contains a marketing section with information that people should find useful.”
Daniel presents CopyMarketing · 9 Steps To Reach Your Customers Successfully! posted at Copymarketing: Writing Profitable Marketing Copies.
Daniel presents CopyMarketing: One Very Effective Headline That Matters posted at Copymarketing: Writing Profitable Marketing Copies.
Daniel presents Benefits: The Real Currency of Marketing posted at Copymarketing: Writing Profitable Marketing Copies.
Scott Allen presents Monday Marketing Tip #5: Cotton Candy Marketing posted at About.com Entrepreneur’s Guide.
David Olsen presents Affiliate Marketing – Five tactics for getting the most out of your traffic posted at Affiliate Profit Center, saying, “Affiliate Marketing – Five tactics for getting the most out of your traffic”
Drew McLellan presents Surprise (Marketing lessons from Walt) posted at The Marketing Minute, saying, “This is the first in a series of 8 posts that spotlight the marketing wisdom of Walt Disney.”
Benjamin Yoskovitz presents Publish Articles Online to Generate Buzz and Traffic posted at Instigator Blog, saying, “Looking for ways to generate buzz, I’m attempting to accomplish as many of Ron McDaniel’s 57 buzz challenges as possible. One of them was to look at writing articles online (in article directories.)”
Becky Carroll presents Marketing Experiences, not Products posted at Customers Rock!, saying, “Thanks for the opportunity! This post is the first part of a series and discusses how we can look at marketing from a customer’s perspective, across the entire customer experience.”
Chris Sandberg presents Using Social Proof as a Marketing Tool posted at Internet Business Blog.
Elias Dabbas presents The Benefits of a Local eBusiness posted at The Media Supermarket.
Strategy
Matthew Paulson presents Gold: A Bad Investment posted at Getting Green.
Ruben presents 5 Explosive Secrets to Boost Your Traffic For Free For Years posted at Turn Your Blog Into Money Making Machine.
David Maister presents Changing People’s Minds posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, “Is your marketing strategy changing minds?”
Vahid Chaychi presents How to Report Spam and Scam Emails posted at Work at Home Entrepreneurs, saying, “If you have an email address, you should be able to report spam and scam emails. If internet users learns this, we will have a safer internet for everybody.”
almomento presents The Hidden Power of Mastermind posted at BurstCreativity.
Krishna De presents Google alerts – probably the best free research tool in the world posted at Krishna De, saying, “Discover 10 ways to use Google Alerts to grow your business”
Steven Silvers presents If your advertising agency isn’t getting arrested, maybe they’re not trying hard enough. posted at Scatterbox at stevensilvers.com, saying, “The accidental publicity value of the Great Boston Terrorist Ads Scare will convince other companies to create their own buzz through “public nuisance marketing.””
Jon Miller presents 8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing posted at Modern B2B Marketing, saying, “Unshackle yourself from traditional marketing and sales models — here are eight ways how.”
Erek Ostrowski presents Organizational Culture: The Keys to the Kingdom posted at Verve Coaching, saying, “Understanding the role that culture plays in defining an organization’s potential gives you the keys to the proverbial kingdom.”
Vahid Chaychi presents Learn your Lesson the Easy or the Hard Way posted at Work at Home Entrepreneurs.
Millennium Mommy presents Priscilla Ortiz – Journal to Prosperity, Path to Freedom Inc.: More for you posted at Priscilla Ortiz – Journal to Prosperity, Path to Freedom Inc..
Daniel Scocco presents Competitive Advantage: Responsiveness to Change posted at Innovation Zen.
That concludes the 2nd edition hosted by Strategic Design. Submit your blog article to the next edition of marketing (r)evolution carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: marketing (r)evolution carnival, blog carnival, nick rice,
The intial Marketing (r)evolution Carnival went over so well that I’ve decided to host one on a regular basis.
The 2nd Edition is scheduled to launch on Feb 19, 2007. You can submit articles in the following categories:
- marketing
- branding
- creativity
- strategy
- advertising
The submission deadline is Feb. 16, 2007. If you’ve never participated, this is a wonderful way to gain exposure for your blog and be introduced to some of the thought leaders in this space. And you don’t even have to write anything new – you can submit an existing article. Submit your posts now, the list of authors & articles is growing by the day.
Stowe Boyd of /Message has been stirring up a hornets nest on how the traditional press release fits into this new world of social media. If you’re responsible for corporate or marketing communications you owe it to yourself to check out his posts.
As this social medium matures, I think it’s important to realize that for the time being, social marketing avenues are just one of many marketing tools. It’s far too early for most businesses to abandon everything but blogs, ratings, and user generated content. And it’s still a little early to hang your hat on RSS. There are decades of infrastructure and communication channels that businesses leverage to get their message out – though few will argue that most do a poor job of communicating effectively.
Having said that, the sooner that traditional businesses get up to speed with this “trend” that is quickly becoming mainstream, the better off they’ll be (i.e. their brand communications will be more honest, more human, and more effective).
