Author: Matt

Leveraging more than 15 years of experience marketing for start-ups and established companies, I provide demand generation and marketing consulting services from strategy through execution.

Taking Advantage of Uncertainty

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Facing a challenging economy and tightening budgets, some companies may choose to do the first thing that comes to mind.

Trouble is – all analogies aside – marketing isn’t war. You don’t succeed by hiding out and waiting until it’s safe. What better time to get in front of consumers than when everyone else is taking shelter? If you need to find a way to trim your budget, look at ways to cut overhead. Can you re-purpose something that’s already been designed? Take a more focused approach or combine your company’s efforts to save time and money.

Here is a concise report from MarketingSherpa regarding marketing in an economic downturn.

All’s Well That Ends Awesome

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The point here is to always end with something unique and  relevant (or uniquely relevant) to your audience. Whether it’s a presentation, interview, webinar, or even an email. This part of the message gives your audience a sticking point, a bookmark to reference in the future.

“Hey, she was the girl that remembered that we had a big company 5-k coming up and ended her presentation with a slide of web sites for beginning runners.”

This serves as a great tool to show you know more about the company than its potential purchasing power and provides an excuse for you to check in from time to time.

Know your audience. End awesome.

Spring Cleaning – Welch Style

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Jack Welch is famous for removing the lowest performing (bottom 10%) from his staff. So this year I challenge you to do the same. I’m not saying go out and start handing out pink slips in the parking lot, but take this opportunity to evaluate your marketing programs.

What has been performing above average, about average, and below average? Has this trend been about the same for the last few quarters? Years? If something is continually performing below others, cut it out. Money and time are precious, don’t waste it on things that aren’t giving you back what others could.

And if you find any Boston or Kiss records while you are doing your other cleaning, send them over. Mine are skipping!

Look the Part

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If you want to be seen as an industry leader, as cutting edge, as innovative, as a thought leader — look the part. An innovative company doesn’t just create innovative products, it creates innovative marketing. How are you going to convince potential customers that you have fresh ideas if your marketing collateral is based off of a template and stuffed with  sterile stock photos?

Believe me, there are plenty of graphic designers out there that are just waiting to hear from you. Give them the reigns. You might just be amazed at how much a professional designer can help craft your brand.

Who looks better? The guy wearing the mass produced costume or the one that had it custom made?

Who’s On First?

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When you woke up today did you have a plan for the day? Did you know what tasks were waiting when you sat down at your desk? Did you know who you’d be talking with, taking orders from, giving orders too? If your organization, like many, has gone through some restructuring or reorganization the answers to those questions might not be so easy. If it is easy for you, maybe it’s not easy for the people that interface with you. Make sure they know their role, how it supports the strategic goals of the company and how to fulfill it on a tactical basis.

Baseball would look awfully weird if the first baseman didn’t know where to go when the ball was hit.

A Shortcut to Creativity

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One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of the time people say they need to have alone time in order to create. For those with infinite time it may be true, but in business today time is the most valued asset. How do we foster creativity and do so without disrupting timelines for expected deliverables?

The answer is not to lock yourself away in a room to ‘ideate’.

It’s the exact opposite, get out there and talk with people who have differing points of view. If you spend all your time in marketing, spend some time in development or customer service or accounting. I once saw an interview with BB King where somebody asked him how he spurs the creative process. His answer? Look to other work and make it your own.

This can also be applied to the business world. Look outside your industry or even business as a whole. Expose yourself to new hobbies and this will uncover new ways of thinking and getting things done.

The Upside of Responsibility

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Often in big business, tasks are broken down into small easily repeatable processes. The goal is to take something complex and make it simple.  That way the pieces can be easily replaced as necessary.

Though it may seem like a good idea to distribute the work, you may actually be doing more harm than good.

When we separate process responsibilities there is more room for a breakdown in the process. Blame can be shifted, communication can fail, and eventually — productivity falls.

Encourage your people to take ownership of projects from start to finish. Sure it might take them a while to learn the ropes and yes they’ll be harder to replace. The upside is that they will feel a greater sense of achievement, gain meaningful experience, and become your resident expert.

Viewing the process with a wide-angle lens will give them the opportunity to examine the process as a whole and possibly find new, more efficient ways of doing things.

Keep Social Media – Social

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Let’s face it, social media has hit the big time. I recently read a report that said close to 80% of the Fortune 100 are engaging in some sort of social media strategy. However, the danger with social media going corporate is sterilization. There’s so much money/equity at stake that the people at the top take very restrictive stance on social media. Employees are told to get on twitter but only to follow others or broadcast press releases. Any socialization or interaction on these sites is frowned upon. While I understand the thought process, I tend to think that people join Twitter and Facebook and YouTube to be interactively involved. If your account serves only as a one-way mechanism to ‘blast’ consumers with content, it’s very possible that either a) users will quickly learn to filter out your content or b) one of your competitors will be happy to interact with them about your product AND theirs.

Think of all the great insights we would miss if we told our children to look and listen but never talk.

On Making Sense

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A lot of times in marketing it can be easy to get swept up in the moment. To think that everyone receiving the message has the same knowledge of the event as you do. If they don’t, then it’s their fault. After all, you sent them an email, maybe even a series of emails, explaining the new product/process.

The problem, unfortunate as it may be for us, is that our customer’s lives generally don’t revolve around our company’s every move.  I’m sure there are some folks out there at Metallica and Jonas Bros. inc. who beg to differ, but for the most part, our companies/products help people achieve some end. The product or company is not the end all and be all for the consumer. As a result, they aren’t waiting (im)patiently for that next email announcement or quarterly newsletter.

As the social aspect of the internet kicks into ever-higher gears, our customers are growing more and more selective with the content they choose to accept. So it’s important to make sure that the message your sending has all the required parts. When you are writing copy for a one-off piece like a newsletter or email, act like a news reporter. No matter how many times he/she has reported the story, on the same channel, to the same viewers, the reporter will always start from the beginning. Because somewhere out there, someone may have just tuned in.

Manufacturing Inspiration

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Slightly NSFW –

I love this episode from “The D” . In their own way, they talk about trying to force inspiration when a deadline is approaching. As Jack says, sometimes the best thing to do is to get out of your traditional thought process. Don’t keep trying to do what your competition is doing (only slightly better). Do something completely out of the ordinary – make them copy you! You  might want to keep at least a towel on while your brainstorming though!