Brand Differentiation is the Starting Point for Driving Profitable Long-term Growth
May 8th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Without a differentiated brand positioning, organizations face commoditization, and it becomes exceedingly challenging to win new customers except when competing on price.
Quad/Graphics’ third annual Special Interest Publishers Survey revealed many key insights about publishers’ pain points, needs and strategic priorities. While the findings were unique to magazine publishing, they were consistent with recent studies conducted with C-level executives in other industries, such as the retail trade, consumer packaged goods, insurance/financial/education/healthcare services and associations/not-for-profit. They all center on a singular strategic imperative: to drive profitable long-term growth.
At the end of the day, the ability to successfully carry out this mission is largely dependent on an organization’s performance in three critical areas referred to in my earlier posts as the “Three Pillars of Marketing”:
- Brand Development – driving profitable growth through a brand positioning that is unique from market alternatives and relevant to customer needs;
- Market Development – driving acquisition of profitable new customer targets to grow market share and expand into new markets; and
- Customer Development – retaining and maximizing the value of existing customers while reducing marketing investment and costs to serve them.
Developing a differentiated brand positioning is the first step. This is the foundation that drives everything that happens in the remaining two pillars. Without it, organizations face commoditization, and it becomes exceedingly challenging to win new customers except when competing on price.
Unfortunately, when growth stalls branding is often overlooked in favor of short-term tactics, such as price-cutting or promotions designed to boost sales. But the real issues – lack of differentiation and relevance as customers’ needs change – often fail to be acknowledged and appropriately addressed.
One reason busy executives tend to overlook branding as a strategic business tool is that the concept of brand is misunderstood. They think of a brand simply as a logo, tagline or ad campaign. They fail to understand its deeper meaning and that branding is a multistep journey: the one tool in their tool chest that can have the greatest impact on growing the long-term profitability and asset value of their business.
For many organizations, brand equity is the most valuable asset that appears on the balance sheet. And strategic branding lays the foundation for increasing the return on your overall marketing dollar investment and other closely related benefits, such as category leadership, reduced vulnerability to competition, the ability to charge premium prices and quicker acceptance of new products and services.
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GOODWILL: THE CONVERGENCE OF FINANCE AND MARKETING
April 27th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
The 1980s witnessed a Copernican revolution in the understanding of the workings of brands. Before this, ratios of seven or eight were typical in mergers and acquisitions, meaning that the price paid for a company was seven to eight times its earnings. After 1980 these multiples increased considerably to reach their peak. For example, Groupe Danone paid $2.5 billion for Nabisco Europe, which was equivalent to a price:earnings ratio of 27.
Related articles
- A Roadmap for Re-securing Marketing's Leadership Seat at the Executive Table (brandmc2.com)
- Top Brand Measurement Firms Can't Agree, Are You Surprised? (alan-hart.com)
- Brand equity (slideshare.net)
Soft Culture Matters as Much as Hard Numbers
April 25th, 2012 § 1 Comment
In a recent article in Fortune, Jack Welch and Suzy Welch stated that “Soft culture matters as much as hard numbers.”
Jack Welch
But the reality is, though, that too many leaders don’t understand the importance of culture like Jack and Suzy. “They think a company’s values can be relegated to a five-minute conversation between HR and a new employee. Or they think culture is about picking which words — do we ‘honor’ our customers or ‘respect’ them? — to engrave on a plaque in the lobby.”
According to Derek Irvine in his recent blog post on TLNT, this is pure nonsense. “An organization’s culture is not about words at all. It’s about behavior — and consequences. It’s about every single individual who manages people knowing that his or her key role is that of chief values officer, with Sarbanes-Oxley-like enforcement powers to match. It’s about knowing that at every performance review, employees are evaluated for both their numbers and their values.”
Fortune points to several foundational requirements for building a winning culture of recognition that is proven to drive bottom-line business results through increased employee engagement, retention, productivity and performance including:
- Making culture an ongoing topic of conversation, training and reinforcement instead of a one-time event
- Taking the values off the plaque on the wall and deeply integrating them into the daily work of employees
- Clear rewards – and consequences – for how employees reflect the values in their work.
Related articles
- Is the Importance of Brand Values Overrated? (brandmc2.com)
Study shows Facebook is as effective as TV in engaging your customers
April 25th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
by Tony Fannin, CEO/Partner, BE Branded |
One of the common beliefs is traditional media, like TV, is more wasteful of marketing dollars than online and social media properties. The old joke of “I know half my money is wasted in advertising, but I don’t know which half.” comes from this idea. Yes, it is often hard to quantify how a TV spot affects sales since the power of TV is mostly in awareness and brand building and less about immediate sales.
4 Tips for Advancing Your Job Search or Career in Marketing, Creative & Related Fields
April 22nd, 2012 § 2 Comments
Hint: Be a student of where technology is heading.
According to Forbes, 60% of graduating college seniors today will be unable to find full-time positions in their chosen fields. And, the unemployment rate for 20-to-24 year olds is about 14%, well above the national unemployment rate of 8.2%.
Career Search
Yet, there is a critical shortage of digital-savvy talent in today’s workforce, according to an article titled “Digital-savvy workers are in demand” that appeared April 15 on JSOnline by Marissa Evans.“The explosion in digital devices has triggered a rush by companies to hire digitally trained employees to provide and deliver the content for all those smartphones and computer tablets. The adoption of mobile devices in particular has become so widespread, so quickly, it has forced companies such as Bader Rutter to think about how to use this new medium and how to balance it with traditional media. In two years, Bader Rutter a Brookfield, Wisconsin-based marketing services agency, has hired more than 100 associates who focus on building digital development in all areas of the company, including public relations, social media, web design and development. The agency, with a staff of 224, has increased employment 40% since it started hiring more digitally savvy candidates.”
Milwaukee-based Big Shoes Network, an aggregator for Wisconsin and Illinois employment opportunities in digital marketing, is another example. Its online job board saw a 40% uptick in job postings on last year. And, so far in 2012, postings are up 50% from a year ago.
Recent research studies conducted by Forrester, the CMO Council and other organizations nationally also confirm that marketers are planning to make significant investments in digital over the next 12 months. Yet, many companies, especially small to midsize businesses, lack the internal expertise needed to plan and carry out digital initiatives. Areas where new skills are in high demand include: Website, mobile site, and mobile/tablet app design and programming; video production; social media strategy; online content creation; search engine marketing, data analytics; and brand strategy.
Unfortunately, most graduating seniors who are looking to pursue career opportunities in marketing, public relations or creative fields do not have these skills. Universities and colleges, in general, have been slow to react and have not adequately prepared students for today’s digital world.
If you are a college student or if you are already employed and are looking to increase your value to your employer and advance your career, here are four practical tips:
Tip #1: Demonstrate that you understand and are already engaged with digital strategically.
According to Daradirek “Gee” Ekachai, associate professor and chair of the Department of Strategic Communications at
Marquette University (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Marquette University (one of the few universities that has been proactive at putting digital in practice in the classroom), this is very important. “Employers are not looking for a student who has multiple accounts for every new social media platform,” according to Ekachai. “Rather, employers want to know if a student can use these new social media tools strategically, if they can really engage stakeholders.”
Tim Dodge, CEO and President, Hanson Dodge Creative also says that his company is “actually only hiring people who understand and are engaged with digital every day.” He adds, “On top of that, they must have ideas to share and stories to tell. We are looking for employees who can bring new ideas to the table and who can understand and keep tabs on a bit of everything from Twitter to YouTube to Web programming. Today, everyone has to be a student of where digital is going and how it’s evolving.”
So, if you aren’t already digitally active, begin following and participating in online discussions that are relevant to your industry or discipline. Try to dedicate up to a half-hour daily to the following social media engagement activities:
- Follow thought leaders/experts on important topics in your field. Read their blog posts and leave comments. Check out their LinkedIn profiles. Invite them to join your LinkedIn network. Follow them on Twitter. Retweet their posts.
- Follow leading companies in your industry and their employees on LinkedIn.
- Join relevant LinkedIn group discussions. This is great way to learn about topic industry challenges and this provides excellent opportunities for you to join in on the conversation.
- Start your own blog and begin creating your own content and aggregating relevant content from trusted sources. WordPress is a terrific resource for this. It easy to use and it doesn’t require as much time as you might think to create your blog and post industry-related articles.
These are not only effective tactics that demonstrate your strategic understanding of digital, but they distinguish you from the hundreds of job applicants that may be also applying for the same positions that you are seeking.
Sharpen your skills by picking up courses in digital communications.
FindtheBest Colleges and Universities is an excellent online application that compares and ranks those institutions that are offering curriculum in digital communications.
Tell your story using multiple channels when you apply for career positions or internships.
In addition to submitting online applications (a standard requirement for most employers today), consider setting yourself apart by creating a website with your own personal URL and including print mailings with QR-2D barcodes or other media. This was covered in one of my recent articles titled “Four Lessons to Learn from a Graduating Senior.”
Lastly, Keep your eyes on the horizon of where technology is heading.
In closing, I would add one more point to consider: Traditional media is not dead. While most companies today are rapidly moving to digital channels, they haven’t abandoned their traditional marketing strategies. In fact, our parent company, Quad/Graphics, recently conducted a study among special interest publishers in the U.S. and found that 99% of these businesses still own printed magazines. Anecdotally, we also know that the printed magazine remains the main economic driver for most publishers today.
According to Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President and CEO, Quad/Graphics, “While digital media is growing, we believe digital media complements, not replaces, print. Together, they create greater value for the reader or a more powerful call to action for consumers to shop.”
So, while you need to prove your digital skills, also show that you are strategically savvy about how to leverage legacy traditional vehicles as digital media is brought into the mix. Keep your eye especially on NFC (near field communications), augmented reality, image recognition and HTML5. Learn how early adopters are beginning to use these new emerging technologies and formats to help drive channel interactivity and create more compelling consumer experiences.
It is not just a digital world nor a traditional media world any longer. It is an all channel, all the time world and the consumer is driving when and how they want to connect and interact with people and brands. Employers are seeking new talent that can help their organizations stay relevant to their audiences and on the leading edge of what is happening technologically.
Related articles
- 1 in 2 New Graduates Are Jobless or Underemployed (abcnews.go.com)
- Why Social Media Skills Should be Taught in the Community College (carolhbates.com)
- #IOLchat Report: Gaining Practical Experience in an Online Program (onlinecollege.org)
Is the Importance of Brand Values Overrated?
April 12th, 2012 § 2 Comments
Not if they are infused by your day-to-day actions
It has been said that a company’s values offer an important way to create brand uniqueness. The functional benefits of a company’s products and services are usually temporal. But a company’s culture, when deeply anchored by strong values that guides how it conducts its day-to-day business, conveys what it stands for and creates a strong emotional bond with employees and customers over the long-term.
But in today’s distracted and overcrowded world, are brand values overrated as a tool for creating distinction and brand meaning?
Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & CEO, Quad/Graphics
A new client of Quad/Graphics, our parent company, recently shared this insight with Joel Quadracci, Quad’s Chairman, President and CEO:
“Over thirty-five years as an analyst for five Wall Street firms, I’ve met hundreds of companies. Dozens of them claim a ‘unique corporate culture,’ say they stand for quality, are customer centric or … well, you’ve heard it all before … and so have I … so many times that I almost take it for granted that it just ain’t so. The fact is that most companies think that they are unique, but they’re really pretty much alike.”
Then this client adds:
“But when some of these platitudes turn out to be true, when it does seem that everybody in a company is singing from the same songbook, when you can see mutual respect among employees at all levels and even the physical facilities reflect a kind of corporate self-respect — rather than an overblown sense of self-importance — and you can guess how such things go together … and it all seems to work … well … it’s very refreshing, almost a tonic. It really was a pleasure to spend the day learning about your company, to watch you learn more about [us] and feeling that you regarded us not like a customer, but like a customer and a partner, too.”
From these remarks one can conclude that talking about brand values probably has low resonance when used merely as a
Quad/Graphics Values
marketing communications tactic today. But the ability to “bring to life” an organization’s brand values through its day-to-actions and infuse them consistently throughout all touch points, signifies who you are, why you are different and has staying power.
But getting there is not easy. It takes leadership, focus and continual reinforcement. For an organization’s culture to truly be fueled by its values, its employees must believe in them and embrace them as a way of life.
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Data Analytics: The Holy Grail for Driving Retail Sales and Profitability
April 11th, 2012 § 1 Comment
But, How Can Small Retailers Leverage the Power?
Today, most large retailers have a predictive analytics department devoted to understanding consumers’ shopping habits and personal habits, so they can more efficiently market to them. But, according to a recent article that ran in The New York Times “How Companies Learn Your Secrets,” Target is one of the most advanced users of predictive modeling techniques.
For decades, Target has collected vast amounts of data on every person who regularly walks into one of its stores. Whenever possible, Target assigns each shopper a unique code — known internally as the Guest ID number — that keeps tabs on everything they buy. If you use a credit card or a coupon, or fill out a survey, or mail in a refund, or call the customer help line, or open an e-mail or visit its Website, Target records it and links it to your Guest ID.
Also linked to your Guest ID is demographic information like your age, whether you are married and have kids, which part of town you live in, how long it takes you to drive to the store, your estimated salary, whether you’ve moved recently, what credit cards you carry in your wallet and what Web sites you visit. Target can buy data about your ethnicity, job history, the magazines you read, if you’ve ever declared bankruptcy or got divorced, the year you bought (or lost) your house, where you went to college, what kinds of topics you talk about online, whether you prefer certain brands of coffee, paper towels, cereal or applesauce, your political leanings, reading habits, charitable giving, the number of cars you own and so on. However, all this information is meaningless without someone to analyze and make sense of it.
This is where Target’s Guest Marketing Analytics department comes in. This group is expert at using predictive analytics to learn when customers are going through a major life event, like graduating from college, getting a new job, getting married, having a baby or getting a divorce. These life changing events are when customers are most likely to also change their buying habits.
For example, by crawling through all the data, “Target has been able to identity about 25 products that, when analyzed together, enable the company to assign each female shopper a pregnancy prediction score,” according to The New York Times. “Target can even estimate her due date within a small window, so it can send her coupons timed to very specific stages of her pregnancy. Target’s database now includes tens of thousands of women who are most likely pregnant, so it can target those women and their husbands to visit its stores and buy baby-related products. As a result, in recent years Target’s mom and baby sales have exploded.”
It is clear that sophisticated data analytics has the power to drive higher sales and profitability for retailers by allowing narrower customer segmentation and, therefore, more precisely tailored products. A study by the McKinsey Global institute similarly estimated that a retailer using “big data” can increase operating margins by as much as 60%. (IDC defines big data as “a new generation of technologies and architectures designed to economically extract value from very large volumes of a wide variety of data by enabling high speed capture, discover and/or analysis.”)
But, what about smaller retailers who may not have the internal expertise and resources to do predictive modeling like Target? The sheer volume of online and offline data continues to proliferate and this creates monumental challenges for retailers of all sizes to harness this information. According to a recent report by IDC, a plethora of input sources now exist, including transactional data, warehoused data, metadata, video surveillance, geo-location data, shopping cart information, site visits, video views, demographic profiles, and social media postings on Facebook and Twitter to name a few.
Reporting discrepancies across these disparate channels often requires time-consuming manual integration. The evolution of new channels also exacerbates marketers’ ability to extract customer insights needed to effectively integrate new campaigns into the marketing mix, according to a 2010 Online Analytics Benchmark Survey conducted by Adobe. For example:
- 71% of marketers are using social media, but 52% cannot measure conversions
- 46% are using video, but only 19% use analytics-based performance to make promotional decisions
- 27% are using mobile, but only 33% can segment visitors to optimize their experience
The Power of Data Analytics
So, back to my earlier question, what can you do if you are a small retailer or other marketer to address these challenges and leverage the power of data analytics? Certainly, firms that specialize in data analytics, such as Merkle, Horizon Set and ANSIRA – NSI Razor may be a possibility. But, I was curious to learn after reading the “State of the Online Marketing Services Industry” study conducted by HubSpot in the summer-fall 2011, that data analytics wasn’t even mentioned as a service option that agencies now offer or are planning to add in the future. Is this because they lack competencies in these areas and/or feel they are disadvantaged due to lack of ownership/access to their clients’ customer data?
If you are a retailer, what services are you outsourcing and/or technologies are you using to address your data analytics needs? How are these solutions working? Are they economically feasible for most retailers? If you are on the supply side, what recommendations do you have that can help small retailers enhance their data analytics capabilities?
Related articles
- The rise of analytics (ibm.com)
- Big Data Analytics Defines Top Performers (bi24.co.uk)
7 Powerful Triggers to Make Your Brand More Fascinating
April 1st, 2012 § 5 Comments
In a distracted, overcrowded world, how do you convince people to change their behavior?
Cover via Amazon
Sally Hogshead argues in her latest book – Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation - that fascination is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal for influencing decision-making. According to Seth Godin, “This is a transformative work, a beautifully written book that will forever change the way you see the world.” It is a riveting journey through the forces of fascination – how it shapes our ideas, opinions and relationships – and how we can wield its power to build strong brands.
Sally reveals seven universal triggers to persuasion and captivation – Passion, Mystique, Prestige, Power, Rebellion, Alarm, and Trust. The secret is using the right triggers, in the right way, to get your desired result. She shares countless examples and provides a roadmap with pragmatic advice and actionable ideas to help you unlock your own brand’s “chemistry set” and make even unfascinating brands fascinating. These deeply rooted patterns for why and how we become more fascinating are backed by a national study of thousands of consumers.
This book is both entertaining and thought-provoking. I urge you to buy and read it soon.
Also, check out Sally’s latest blog post titled “The World is Not Changed by People Who Sort of Care.”
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- Persuasion by Fascination – Sally Hogshead Discusses the Art of Communication Presentations (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
- Marketing Smarts Podcast: Sally Hogshead and the $500 Cup of Coffee (mpdailyfix.com)
- The Power of Fascination and Content Marketing (contentmarketinginstitute.com)
Four Lessons to Learn from a Graduating College Senior
March 13th, 2012 § 5 Comments
Thousands of U.S.college grads are seeking career opportunities this spring. Yet, according to Forbes, it is likely that 60% will not be able to find full-time positions in their chosen professions. Furthermore, the unemployment rate for 20-to-24 year olds is about 14%, well above the overall unemployment rate of 8.3% nationally. So, what is a graduating senior to do to land a job?
Brittany Noel Olson
Well, one enterprising young lady, Brittany Noel Olson, is using a novel approach that has sparked keen interest by some high-profile potential employers, including the likes of Virgin America, Sambazon and Terracycle.
Yes, it is not a coincidence that Brittany and I share the same last name. Indeed, she is my daughter. But, the concept for her career search campaign was conceived entirely by Brittany and I can’t accept credit for any of her ideas. I confess that I am probably not impartial since I am her father, however I do feel there is a worthy story to tell here and am looking forward to sharing it with you.
As marketing professionals, we sometimes get too close to what we’re doing. Then someone comes along with a fresh perspective that helps us rethink our approach. So, here is one of those ah hah moments.
There are four take-always I think we can learn from Brittany’s approach:
The Possibilities are Endless
- Do your homework –Brittany carefully researched those companies she was interested in targeting. She concentrated on their goals and cultural values that mesh up closely with her own personal values and aspirations. Brittany’s short list of about 35 companies included organizations that are entrepreneurial, innovative, environmentally focused and employee centric. Although most were small-to-midsize companies, demographics played an insignificant role. With the help of Jigsaw and other online tools, she also identified key people within these organizations.
- Dare to be different – In keeping with her entrepreneurial spirit, Brittany is interested in landing an entry-level position where she can learn the business from the ground floor up. This goal has been her singular focus. In some instances, this strategy may have hurt her because she is not applying for traditionally defined job functions. Instead, she is seeking opportunities that may need to be created uniquely for Brittany based on her goals and skill set.
- Let your creativity shine – “The Possibilities are Endless” is the adopted theme for her campaign and is consistently carried out through all of her communications. The tone and manner of her message is simple and authentic.
- Tell your story using multiple channels –Integrating digital and real-world communications is a critical need in many organizations today. Although Brittany is a dual Business Administration and Business Management major at Salve Regina University and is not majoring in marketing, demonstrating that she is multichannel savvy helps her stand out from other job seekers and showcases her competency in this important area.
The elements of her campaign include (but are not limited to):
- initial highly personalized mailings with a QR-2D barcode that was sent out in late January
- a website with a personalized URL www.discoverandinnovate.net and linkage to her LinkedIn profile
- a reminder postcard that was mailed out three weeks following her first mailings
- online applications (a standard requirement by most employers today)
- telephone and email correspondence once interested companies have responded
After taking a quick two-to-three-minute tour of Brittany’s website, I’m sure you’ll agree that the experience gives prospective employers a clear picture of Brittany’s values, aspirations and differentiating attributes where she can add value.
So far, all looks good! Approximately a dozen interested companies have already responded and some promising interviews are on the horizon. She has also received some highly complementary comments about her creativity. Brittany is beginning to network with key people with some of these companies via LinkedIn. She is also calling other companies that haven’t yet responded and is optimistic that some live opportunities are still waiting to materialize.
Hope you enjoyed reading this article and found it inspiring!
A Roadmap for Re-securing Marketing’s Leadership Seat at the Executive Table
March 12th, 2012 § 1 Comment
Changing the Paradigm from a Marketing Communications and/or Sales Support Function to a Strategic Business Partner Begins with a Clear Focus on of the Purpose and Three Pillars of Marketing.
The Purpose and Three Pillars of Marketing
I recently had breakfast with a friend who changed jobs a few months back. My friend, Mark, is now a business development account executive for a computer technologies firm. He really enjoys his new position, which involves working closely with IT and financial executives. Formerly, he worked in business development for a web services marketing agency and printing company. In both of these previous roles he interacted primarily with marketing executives. Mark characterized the IT and financial folks he now works with as being more relaxed, approachable and easier to work with and contrasted this to marketing executives who tend to be less relaxed and more concerned about control.
I was fascinated by this and we continued discussing reasons why. We wondered if this could be related some way to basic job insecurities by marketing executives. It is well documented that the average tenure for CMOs is only about 22 months as you probably are already aware. Or, perhaps, it could be due to concerns about their shrinking sphere of influence and power within their organizations. It seems that in many companies today the role of marketing has been relegated to a marketing communications and sales support function.
Additionally, there has been increasing demand for marketing performance accountability and measurement. And, while IT and financial professionals have increased their influence, marketing’s sphere of influence has often times diminished. Today, in many B2B sales-driven organizations especially, marketing does not have representation in the C-level suite.
So, how do we change this paradigm and re-establish marketing’s rightful role as a strategic business partner with a seat at the executive table? It begins with a clear understanding of the purpose of marketing and a roadmap for changing internal perceptions and earning credibility through highly focused, measured activities that support the organization’s financial goals and business priorities.
There are many often confusing definitions of marketing and this has exacerbated the problem as well. But at the end of the day, I would argue that marketing exists for only one sole purpose: to drive profitable long-term growth. And, as previously identified in one of my recent articles titled The Three Pillars of Marketing, there are only three simple strategies that marketing professionals need to worry about to carry out this mission:
- Build strong brands through differentiation and by remaining relevant to customers’ needs and priorities. This is the foundation for everything else in marketing.
- Strategically drive market expansion and acquisition of profitable new customers.
- Increase the monetary and advocacy value of your existing customers.
To make these happen, marketing’s domain must also evolve to include leadership oversight or strategic guidance in three critical areas: customer insights, innovation and technology.
Purposely connecting the dots back to the financial goals and business priorities of the organization also means measuring what matters most. Although situational, leading metrics/KPIs often include brand equity for the first pillar, market share or acquisition rate for the second pillar and lifetime value for the third pillar.
But changing the culture to re-establish marketing’s leadership role as a strategic business partner can be a challenging process. It requires strong leadership and vision by the head of marketing, buy-in by the CEO and other C-level managers, and having the right marketing operations team in place with the right skill set. A relentless focus on the mission and Three Pillars of Marketing must also be the cornerstone. Additionally, the CMO’s agenda must be forward-looking, transformational and focused on filling capability gaps in critical areas, such as digital and real-world integration, market and customer marketing insights, and performance measurement.
Please share your thoughts. How does this view of the world of marketing align with your thinking? I’d love to hear from you.
Jay Olson
