See The Principle Behind the Poster

Posted by Rahna on May 29, 2008 under Strategy | Be the First to Comment

Continental Airlines has a postering campaign that includes a headline that reads, “You’ve Got Suits Older Than Our Planes.”  The fine print talks about how they have the “newest jet fleet.”   

There are several basic advertising principles illustrated in that ad: 

1. Be timely.  With all the bad press that Southwest has generated about the age and poor condition of some of its airplanes, Continental is taking advantage of topics that are top of mind with its customer base.

 

2. Use emotion to your competitive advantage.  The inherent implication is that everyone else’s fleet is old and therefore, scary to fly.  This ad prays on the fear of flying and offers Continental as the alternative choice.

 

3. Put it in context.  By comparing the age of their planes to the age of a suit in someone’s closet, they have reframed the meaning of the word “old.”  This classic technique can be found in many industries.  “Ten Easy Payments of $19.99” (versus $200.00) or “Less than the cost of dinner for two” (versus $100.00). 

 

So the questions for today are: ·         What negative press is your industry getting that you could flip to your advantage?                 ·         What emotional triggers can you tap into?·         What frame of reference can you provide that allow someone to look at your offering from a whole different perspective?         

What value signals are you sending?

Posted by Rahna on May 22, 2008 under Strategy | Be the First to Comment

The economy is certainly impacting many areas of business. $4.00 for a gallon of gas has made people much more mindful of how they spend their money. This leads to businesses offering promotional programs and deeper discounts in order to woo money from the wallets ofAmerica.  

These days, you may be considering lots of promotional programs in order to meet your sales goals. Be mindful of what impact promotions have. It is one thing to offer something on a short term basis in order to see a lift in sales.  But if those promotional offers end up as standard, every day offers, they are no longer promotions. The danger in offering promotional programs is that you water down the value of your brand and you train your consumers as to what to the value is (or isn’t) for your brand.   Even with this economy, the products or services that you provide do have value. Be sure you have a clear strategy for the promotional programs that you offer and try to change them often so that consumers don’t get convinced that your product or service is of lower value.

Managing Your Digital Identity

Posted by Rahna on May 19, 2008 under Consumer Engagement, Uncategorized | 3 Comments to Read

In my last blog, I talked about social media audits.  Once you have the analysis of what is being discussed (or, sometimes just as importantly, what is NOT being discussed) you can move into action. 

How do you do that? 

Get help.  There are also companies that will help you manage your on-line positioning and help you shape how people see your brand. Social media is not something just for college students anymore. Whether you are a Fortune-500 company or small start-up, you need to think about your online image, both in terms of a website but also in terms of the blogosphere. Are there positive things being said about you? Are negative things being said about you?   Engage in the conversation!  Hire a firm that specializes in social media to jump in to the blog/forum/video-sharing site/social network/message boards on your behalf and communicate YOUR message.  This allows you to a measure of control in today’s user-generated world during a time when many advertisers feel out of control.  

If you are “old school,” you may think this is SPAM.  It’s not.  It’s conversational marketing that has a leg up on traditional marketing…it’s completely measurable.  Activating this type of a campaign can radically improve your results.   

Ask anyone who’s tried it.  Welcome to the twenty-first century.  Enjoy the ride.

Are You in the Blogosphere?

Posted by Rahna on May 15, 2008 under Consumer Engagement | Be the First to Comment

This is for those “old school” marketers whose marketing plans still consist wholly of TV, radio and newspaper.  Amazingly, I still find in my travels clients who are not concerned with their digital identity. 

Social Media is a quickly evolving marketing tool. Several years ago, nobody knew what “social media” was.  Now there are companies that can give you a social media audit for your brand, your industry, or any topic you define.  They will monitor what is being talked about, what people say about your brand (or your competitors), the discussions surrounding your industry and a whole host of other measurements. When choosing to do a social media audit, make sure that the information that you’re getting is actionable.  

What do you do with this information once you get it? Well, you shape your business accordingly. There are companies that have learned what people think of their industry; there are companies that have learned what isn’t being offered in their industry. They’ve been able to identify gaps in the marketplace simply by listening to what’s happening in the social media world. Sometimes specific brands are mentioned, more often not.  Usually it’s the industry or topic that is mentioned.  

You may feel that your brand or your industry is not “interesting” enough to be discussed in a general blog, but perhaps you can take it up one level. I was having discussion with someone about whether pudding would be a discussion item. You may say pudding is not interesting, and pudding is not exciting enough for someone to talk about on-line. However, kids healthy snacks is, and so maybe there’s a way for you to find out what moms are saying about kid snacking.  That then can lead you to somehow developing a unique position for your pudding.  

The opportunities to learn about your consumer through social media are endless, and I encourage you to take a good long look at what you can use, analyze what’s being said about you and your industry, and then act!

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”

Posted by Rahna on May 5, 2008 under Consumer Engagement | Be the First to Comment

I was reading a blog about “Informing or Evangelizing: Turn Down the Volume”, that can be read in its entirety here:  http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/2008/04/informing-or-ev.html 

The idea discussed in the article was that evangelizing has many positive connotations from the standpoint of new media and social media but can have a negative connotation from the standpoint of evangelizing leading to skepticism. Lewis Green states that “Evangelists are blinded to reality by their beliefs.”  

To me, it’s just semantics, whether you call them evangelists, ambassadors, junkies, or enthusiasts.  No one seems to have difficulty with the term “fans.”  How is that any different?  “Fans” come from the term “fanatic,” which certainly connotes someone a little “over the edge.”  Go talk to a Chicago Cubs “fan” if you want to talk to someone “blinded to reality by their beliefs.”   

Regardless of what you call them, they are all people who are advocates for your brands–people who believe in what you have to provide and so will tell the rest of the world. Any marketer worth his salt should want to provide this. If you are in business, you should be providing such a service that everyone thinks you’re fabulous.   

Over-deliver.   

Exceed their expectations, and you will build loyalty beyond belief. People should be delighted with your product or service experience. This is the pinnacle of marketing—of any business. Creating passion for your product or service is the most  cost effective way to go to market because: 

1. You don’t have to pay for someone else to talk about how great you brand is.
2. It is authentic. People will believe someone else telling them how great a product or service is, much more so than you telling some one great your product or service is.

 

In the article, he talked about “Turning Down the Volume” and using the older phrase “word of mouth marketing”. The problem I have with that phrase is that it doesn’t connote the passion that “evangelism” evokes. Now nobody wants to hear from someone who is “blinded” to anything.  I understand the negatives associated with the word, but it is used precisely because it connotes such strong feelings.  Everyone should be looking for a way to provide a product or brand experience that delights the consumer such that they would tell someone else how fantastic it is.   

Rather than worry about the semantics, worry about what you are creating. Does anyone talk about your brand? Great! If not, get to work!  There is tremendous opportunity to do this in today’s media market. If you can find a way to get people talking about your brand, you’ve done something right.  

Delight your customers and you will create evangelists/fanatics/ambassadors/advocate/enthusiast/junkies.  Most importantly, you will have created revenue. And THAT smells very sweet!

Consume less media to increase your productivity

Posted by Rahna on May 1, 2008 under Strategy | Be the First to Comment

I’m reading Timothy Ferris’ The 4-Hour Work Week, and I am finding that, according to him, being clueless about the world around you is actually a measure of high productivity. Who knew?  I wish he’d tell my husband that; he’s a news channel junkie.  My husband thinks I should watch the news more often.  I don’t really read the newspaper or watch a lot of news. My husband is addicted to MSNBC, Fox News and all the other news channels and keeps it on the background as he works all day. He is an architect and can somehow do that. Me, I need focus.  

In the book (which I highly recommend), Ferris talks about the fact about you should only be consuming information that you need.  I thought that was an interesting concept. When I need news, I seek it out.  I subscribe to several marketing e-newsletters to keep me informed about what’s going on the marketing and media world—to understand others’ strategies and how changes in the business world will affect my clients. In addition, I have subscription to Inc, Fast Company, Business Week and a few other industry magazines that I can consume while I eat my lunch.  Whenever I need information and inspiration for development of programs for one of my clients, I find that inspiration often comes from a combination of my background and experience mixed with fresh ideas found on-line. That’s one of the beauties of the internet.  

I must admit, there are days when I just need to get connected to the world. But for the most part, I’m happy not knowing all the garbage that goes on in the world. While I’m interested in how China reacts to an earthquake and what aid they may need, I’m not as concerned about what Obama’s minster said the day before yesterday.  So if you’re looking for a way to add more time to your day, do what I do – don’t read the newspaper, don’t watch TV, just do whatever it is that you want to do. As Timothy Ferris states in his book, you’ll be surprised how little you’ll miss.