Buzz!Words

Marketing 101 - Writing for the Web

Today's post is a mini tutorial on writing for the web.  These ideas come from 3 sources:  Dr. Jacob Nielsen, a web usability expert; MarketingProfs.com, a marketing knowledge portal and the Stanford Web Credibility Project. 

Make it concise:

• Half the word count of normal writing
• Start with the conclusion
• One idea per paragraph

Make it Credible:

• Outbount links to credible sources of information
• Always reference your sources
• Always have contact info and detailed background of website owner

Make it Readable:

• Bullet lists
• Clear subheadings
• Short paragraphs
• Lots of white space
• Summary paragraphs

Make it Objective:

• Use neutral language
• Don't exaggerate or boast

Make it About the Visitor:

• Understand your readers needs
• Write the site about the reader, not about you, your company or your organization
• Get feedback from your visitors, engage them
• Make sure you update your material regularly

Using the Web to Create Communities

Looking for ways to involve a group of people in a cause?  Many non-profits and government organizations have underutilized the technological tools available to create and support communities. 

Technology is affecting the basic fabric of our community.  In an article on Clickz News, A.C. Nielsen presented a recent US study that shows that people are now creating communities online over shared interests or "affinity", rather than creating communities around geography. 

People in 30% of online community participants interact daily, while offline community groups, assocations only 7% meet daily.  Online communities have shared interests, including:

• Hobbies
• Health care
• Public issues
• Business networking
• Sports
• Alumni
• Commerce

Tourist towns now have an effective way to reinforce their relationship with visitors across the world, by creating online communities to reach their visitors when they are at home. 

Lesson Learned:  Using the web, blogs, enewsletters and forums are a great way to build shared interests and personal commitment to a place, cause or hobby. 

Marketing 101 - Marketing Planning

Last week I met with the President of a medium size business.  She had many employees, a good share of her market, and has been experiencing double digit growth for years.  She is very good at what she does. 

Now, it's time for her to move into the next stage of her business.  And that means she needs a marketing plan.  In fact, I believe that everyone needs a marketing plan.  (Even me, which means that I actually have to write one!)

Okay, here is a marketing plan:

1. What you are trying to accomplish (objectives)

2. What's unique about your product or service? (positioning)

3. Who you are going to market to (target)

4. How much you are going to spend (budget)

5. What you are going to do (activities)

6. When are you going to do it? (timing)

7. Did it work? (evaluation)

lLesson Learned:  As Dr. Phil says, you can't work the plan, if you don't have a plan.

Marketing 101 - Innovation

Read a great article on "fashion" driven categories in blog called Influx. What's interesting about this observation is that they believe that any product or service can take advantage of fashion. The implications of following the fashion, or creating a fashion is that the competition is likely to follow quickly, and customers will get bored quickly, so your business strategy is about speed and quantity of innovation. Some great companies have done an amazing job at innovation -- SC Johnson and Colgate are a couple of package goods companies that are innovating their way to great profits.

Here are some thoughts on innovation:

1) Not just product companies need innovation, service and retail companies also need to innovate.
2) Innovation is not just about building a better mousetrap. It's about innovating in every way you interact with your customer, from customer service, to communication, package design to the type of service you offer, to the way you price it, to the selection of service or goods you offer.
3) Every business needs to have an explicit innovation plan. Not just the big companies, every company. (As Dr. Phil says, if you don't have a plan, how can you work it?). Write it down and track it. Be accountable for your plan.
4) Good innovation can be a great point of difference from your competition. Make sure that you let people know about your innovation and what it can do for them.

Lesson learned: If you don't innovate, your competition will.

Marketing 101 - Objectives

Arguably, the most important thing you can do when planning a marketing program is to have clear, single minded objectives. What are you trying to do? Who are you trying to target?

If you try to be everything to everybody, you'll end up having a confused message, and accomplishing very little. People will opt out, since there isn't a clear call to action that is meaningful.

Think about your marketing in the context of an overall plan. You already know that you have to have a positioning relative to your competition, and a target, the people that you want to engage in a conversation. That is your overall brand strategy.

Now, decide your objectives. For example, you might want to increase the number of time your current active customers purchase your goods or services. And... you might want to get your lapsed customers back.

Okay, that's two very different messages. So, don't try to jam them into one marketing program. Better to do 2 small, focused programs than one big program that tries to do everything. If you can't do 2 programs, pick the one that you think will have the bigger bang, and start there. But whatever you do, stay focused on your objective, and consistent with your brand strategy. You want people to say, hey, that's me, I should look at this.

Another advantage of objectives? If they are specific, like increase customer frequency from twice a year to 3 times a year, you can actually measure your success, and figure out if your marketing investment is paying off. 'Nuff said.

Marketing 101 - Search Engines

Best, most straightforward article I have ever read on Search Engine Optimization, "Ten Steps to Higher Search Engine Positioning", by Dave Davies. Enough said. One can't be an expert at everything.

Marketing 101 - Keywords

Okay, so this is a really complicated post. Which I am going to make simple. Search engine and website marketing are really tied together. It is critical to understand how the keywords that you use in your website, in the title, description, keyword tags and throughout the site content will impact your Google page rating. Google page rating is critical, since the 85% of surfers will not go to the second page of search results -- you need to be on the first page.

You can go to WordTracker to do a quick trial of your favourite keywords. A good keyword gets used by a lot of people in searches, but doesn't have a lot of other websites using it. WordTracker's software can help you identify some of these potential keywords. Your keywords should be related to the content of your website. It is a bad thing to have irrelevant keywords.

Then, use these keywords in your content, and in links within your content. Keep in mind to not overdo the use of keywords, and to make sure that they make sense within the context of the copy. Focus on 2 or 3 keywords at the most per page.

Good luck!

Marketing 101 - Marketing Jargon

As I've been writing my Marketing 101 posts it has occurred to me that we as marketers have done exactly the opposite of what we preach. Let me be specific. We have created mountains of jargon that depersonalizes and de-empathizes the consumer. No wonder Kevin Roberts, the author of Love Marks, says,

Brands Can't understand the new consumer. The new consumer is better informed, more critical, less loyal and harder to read.

I think that brands can't understand the new consumer all right. It's because marketers can't understand the new consumer. Because we've distanced ourselves from consumers very efficiently from consumers.

Distanced ourselves through language. I hate talking about "target markets". It sounds like we should point a gun at a target. It sure doesn't sound like we want to have a conversation with our most important customers about what we offer.

I also hate talking about positioning statements, brand visions, brand characters and the like. How about who we are, how we are different and why you will like us? The minute we start using jargon, we depersonalize the consumer. (See, I just did it - the consumer? - talk about depersonalized!). I love to think about my customer as a TV show character. For example, when I worked on Bulls Eye BBQ Sauce, I used the character Tim Taylor, from the TV Show Tool Time, as a representative of the consumers that we were trying to reach. It personified the target and the brand for everyone working on the business in a way that everyone could relate to.

As marketers we really have to be able to visualize walking in the shoes of our customer. I learned this the hard way, when as a 33 year old, I was assigned to work on Total cereal. The average consumer age was in the early 60s. Somehow, I had to start to understand the needs of the average 60 year old, rather than try to push my views, perceptions and values. That was how I learned that seniors are not a single group. For example, someone in their 50s could be marrying for the first time, be a new father, be a new grandfather, or a new widower. They could be retiring, or starting a 3rd career. They could be a fitness addict, or someone experiencing their first life threatening illness.

As marketers, we have to go beyond thinking about our customers as "seniors" or "targets", and start thinking about them as people. Josh Weidman made a great comment in response to my post about marketers' responsibility to educate consumers. He quoted a former president of Merck, who said that if the business was about the patients, then the money would follow. The more we put labels on our customers, the more we think of them in abstract terms, the less we build the Love and Respect that Kevin Roberts so effectively outlines in his book, Love Marks.

Marketing 101 - Positioning

As I promised yesterday, as part of my ongoing Marketing 101 posts, I am going to tackle the concept of positioning. There has probably been enough written to fill a university libary on positioning. Al Ries invented the concept over 20 years ago, and it has become one of the most important issues in marketing today.

So, what is positioning? Well, it's about positioning your business, brand, service benefits relative to your competition in the consumer's mind. Think about Miller beer, in the 70s it was positioned as the beer that you consumed in the golden hour after work. A positioning statement is an internal document that you use to determine all aspects of your business. If something you plan to do isn't consistent with your positioning statement, you don't do it. It also helps you communicate with consumers. Your positioning statement guides what you say to consumers in advertising, PR, in every single communication you have with your customers.

A positioning statement is not something that you actually say to consumers. Miller beer didn't say "its the beer that you consume in the golden hour after work". Miller's advertising used a tag line. A tag line is a consumer friendly sound bite that communicates the positioning statement. In Miller's case it was "It's Miller Time".

Now, there are critics of the Al Ries vision of positioning. They believe that Ries' vision of positioning is a bit antiquated, ignoring some of the emotional elements of branding. Perhaps they are right. However, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Positioing still plays an important part of creating a great marketing campaign.

Here are my views on brand positioning:

1) Pick a distinctive positioning that fits with your company, is credible and is a meaningful benefit to your customers.

2) Make sure that none of your competition can say the same thing, either because you owned it first, or because your organization is unique. Make sure that there is a reason to believe.

3) Be consistent in your brand positioning. Make sure that everything in your organization reinforces that positioning, from print materials to advertising to customer service to your web site to the way your office looks.

4) As you learn more about your positioning, brand and marketing efforts, refine your positioning and try new ways to communicate your positioning.

5) Keep at it. It takes years to build a consistent positioning with consumers on a big budget. When you have a little budget, it takes consistency and creativity to get your message across.

For example, on of my clients, Sharen Realty GMAC Real Estate (yes, it is not a coincidence, it is the family business), has settled on a positioning that they are the real estate company that knows the geographic area better than anyone else. Why should a customer believe that? Because Sharen Realty has been in business for over 50 years, more than anyone else in the area. The third generation of the family is now part of the family business. It's also meaningful to our customer base, since Sharen Realty operates in a resort area, it's important to out of towners to have a realtor who knows the area. We've integrated the tag line "We Know Grand Bend" into the website domain name, into the site itself, into all of our advertising and promotions.

Creating a positioning is really very simple. The closer you are to your customers, the easier it gets. The tough part is having the discipline to execute it throughout your marketing plan, throughout your business operations, and sticking to it consistently.

Marketing Demystified

After reading a number of great websites about marketing, including a wonderful knowledge exchance site called Marketing Profs, I thought it might be a useful exercise to write a series of blogs that introduce non-marketers to the mysterious world of marketing.

What is marketing all about. It's about creating a package of product, service, price, promotion and positioning that consumers will buy, at a profit to your business. Sounds simple, huh? Well we marketers have to justify our salaries. So we've developed a series of concepts to ensure our continued employment. If you are interested in the details, I recommend David Aaker's book Building Strong Brands, or check out his website Prophet.

Lets start with the basics. I'll ask a series of questions that outline the process of developing a new brand.

Every brand, product or service has to be positioned relative to its competition. What is unique about it's benefits, attributes, its character?

Who is the brand meant for (I hate the word target - makes me think about guns, not people)?

What does this brand look like? The brand character and essence are the emotional elements of the brand that help consumers identify with it.

What does the product look like? What features and benefits does it provide? How does it look, feel, taste? How is it packaged? Is it easy to understand what it is and how to use it? What is the experience using the product like?

How is the product priced relative to the competition? Is this price consistent with the benefits and features the product provides?

How does the consumer find your business, service or product? Is it sold to wholesalers? Is it in bricks and mortar retail, online?

How does the consumer learn about your product or service? What are the emotional and functional benefits of your product or service. How do you encourage your customer to buy more, buy more often or refer their friends to buy?

So this great long list of questions will likely lead us to an even longer list of marketing tactics to get consumers to make a transaction -- advertising, packaging, in store signage, out of store signage, direct mail, email marketing, newsletter marketing, websites, blogs, viral marketing, public relations, market research -- the list goes on.

Of course, your business issues are the key to figuring out which of these great long list of tactics will help you build your business. So, if you are starting up, and need new customers, you won't be focused on tactics that build loyalty.

So stick with me, tomorrow, Marketing 101 will explore the wonderful world of positioning. In the meantime, you can check other marketing blogs and websites listed to the left of this article if you want to dig a little further.