Buzz!Words

Painful Marketing Lessons

I was reading the Grocery Manufacturers of America daily newsletter today and learned that Kraft is considering putting Post cereals up for sale.

Well, this is no great surprise. When Kraft bought Nabisco cereals in 1992, they increased their market share by over ten points. At the time, it was pretty clear that they didn't know what they were doing with the cereal category. Kraft is a company that's very good at being number one or two in a category, competing primarily with private label. But they don't know how to compete particularly well with aggressive, creative marketers. An old friend once called Kraft a "coffee and cheese company with hobbies". I'll come clean here. I worked at Kraft Canada for three years, although not on the cereal category.

In the ten years since Kraft's purchase of Nabisco cereals, they have lost every single share point they gained in the Canadian market. That's because Kraft runs its operations with a tight focus on productivity. While that may be admirable, it lead to things like removing the capability to drop those great little toys inside the package (known as "inpacks"). Not having inpacks meant that the cost of producing the cereal was a bit lower. But at the same time, the bean counters eliminated one of the most powerful motivators in cereal sales -- those goofy little prizes in the cereal box.

Lesson learned: You can't save your way into a profit, you have to sell your way there.

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.

How Do You Educate Consumers?

I watched the documentary Supersize Me last night on DVD. It was a great movie - I highly recommend watching it. Aside from the enormous health implications of the fast food industry, the movie got me thinking about the importance of both personal responsibility and the responsibility of marketers.

I've also recently read two books, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser and Food Politics, by Marion Nestle. Both point a long finger of blame toward industy, and marketers in particular for the health crisis that we are facing in North America. So what is the responsibility of marketing?

Here's the glitch. The capitalist system is based on offering customers what they want, when and where they want it. The company that can do this best, at the best value will become very profitable. Consumers want salt, fat, sugar and caffeine. They taste good. Fast Food companies and food manufacturers (let's not let the grocery companies off the hook here), deliver those things in a convenient package inexpensively. So, marketers are doing exactly what the consumer wants them to do. Is there anything unethical about that?

Now I have to come clean. I worked for two large food manufacturers - Kraft and General Mills - for a number of years. I never saw myself or my peers as unethical, or as manipulative. I always believed that the consumer has a choice whether to purchase a product or not. The rationale I always heard for not educating consumers has always been, "that's not our job" or "it would cost too much" or "we trust the consumer to make informed choices".

The problem is, the consumer is not always informed. They may not care, they may not have access to information, or the information may be hidden from them (big tobacco is a case in point). They may not have the inclination to get the full information because it seems like a relatively harmless, low risk choice.

So how much responsibility does the marketer have to educate a consumer? Well, I don't know. What I do know is that marketing is evolving into a conversation with consumers. Maybe we just have to have ongoing conversations, through media like blogs, websites, emails and traditional TV and radio, to figure out what consumers don't know, and need to know, how and why they might change their behaviour. So how do you educate a consumer about the complex subject of nutrition? Well, that's the challenge for food marketers to figure out. And a challenge for health professionals.

Closing our eyes to increasing consumer dissatisfaction with corporate behaviour (aside from the Fast Food companies, you have Big Tobacco, Enron, Tyco, the list is endless) will only lead to long term cynicism and growing distrust. So, despite the costs, complexity and risks, marketers have got to start having conversations with consumers, about both the benefits and the risks of their products. It's time to be authentic.

Experience Marketing Made Simple

One of my favourite business magazines is Fast Company. I was recently scrolling through some back issues when I came across a series of short articles on marketing and strategy called Fast Talk: Summer Amusements. Here is a quick summary of the article:

1) Create a memorable scene. Basically, people want to share their memories of a wonderful vacation by sharing photos with friends, which encourages new visitors. This is old school buzz marketing at its best.

2) Sell the Experience. The experience is everything, so the service must be courteous, clean and pleasant.

3) Never Coast. Always be improving the service, adding new features, creating a reason to come back.

4) Build a Distinctive Showcase. Create something that is different from you competition and build on it.

5) Swim Against the Sharks. Leverage your strengths as a small player vs your mega large competition. Faster, more initmate, high touch.

Although this article was written about the amusement park industry, it could apply to marketing just about any product or service. Now, I have some thinking to do.

Web as an Important Shopping Tool

Just finished reading the monthly Food Marketing Institute/Neilsen/Phil Lempert e-newsletter. Its filled with info about the food marketing industry. Phil also runs one of the best websites on the industry, called SuperMarketGuru.com.

The newsletter has a brief piece on the importance of the internet to shopping behaviour that is worth looking at. The article is based on a poll conducted on the SuperMarketGuru web site.

I can give you a quick summary of the newsletter article. Keep in mind that the respondents to the poll are all people who are actively on line, so it probably overstates the importance of the web. Here are the findings: 1) 58% said that they are "always" connected. 2) 98% indicated that they used the web for email, 78% for news and 64% for gathering information before going out to shop. 3) 53% shopped on line.

It is interesting to note that the respondents used the Internet to gather information for shopping much more often than they used the medium to do the actual purchasing; underscoring the importance to include detailed and compelling product information on websites.

This reinforces my rant from last week about retailers needing to provide consumers with detailed on line information about their product offering, not just "brochureware" websites. Consumers will be using the internet more and more to determine which stores to shop at. You could be eliminated before the consumer even steps in your door.

Loyalty Programs Do They Work?

I read a great interview in the Working Knowledge website today. In Loyalty: Don't Give Away the Store, Rajiv Lal talks about his key learning about loyalty marketing in the grocery industry:

Reward your existing, loyal customers, without incurring a major cost by doing so. Positively affect the behaviors of not-so-loyal (worst) customers, especially middle-tier customers. Find out who the high potential customers are, the ones whose behavior is worth modifying. That is where I think the biggest bang for the buck is. Effective, targeted merchandising and service.

I would add that the best reward for a loyal customer is to provide the best shopping experience - a combination of price, ease of shopping and great levels of service. Do that well, and I'll keep coming to your store, whether or not I get "points".