Demand Generation Consulting

Do You Have a ‘Progression’ Plan?

August 26, 2011August 26, 2011MattLeave a Comment

Steve Jobs announced this week that he will be stepping down as CEO of Apple. As part of the succession plan, Steve recommended his replacement and rumors are that they have enough products in the pipeline to keep the company humming for the next two years.

In the context of marketing, we should be doing a similar ‘progression’ plan when it comes to our campaigns. I think often (and for good reason) we get swept up in the here and now. It’s also important to realize that this campaign or project will be completed at some point. Make sure to take a look at how it all fits.

One of the reasons Apple has been so successful is that there has been continuity across the product development and marketing. The iPhone fed off what the iPod built and the iPad fed off the iPhone. These products did not succeed by accident, it was a result of meticulous planning regarding brand and product development.

Step back and take a big picture look at everything, do these smaller projects and campaigns all fit with your brand strategy? Is there something tying them together that helps build brand identity? If not, why not?

3 Ways Netflix Could Have Handled Pricing-Gate Differently

July 18, 2011July 18, 2011MattLeave a Comment

By now, I’m sure you have heard, Netflix intends to split its streaming and DVD services in two. Customers that were once receiving DVDs and streaming, will now how to pay for both. Not so bad on its surface, right? It actually sounds like a smart move, separating the company into dedicated segments allows employees to specialize and deliver more expertise. The problem is not what Netflix is doing. It’s how it did it.

Netflix has grown a loyal following through the years by over-delivering when other carriers under-performed. Blockbuster charged way too much on the way out the door and the way back in (late fees). Netflix charged an acceptable amount and made going to the mailbox fun again. When most other streaming services suffered from frequent buffering and only allowed us to watch on our computers, Netflix delivered a strong, reliable solution that made consumers overlook the dearth of content.

Instead of building on this brand equity Netflix under-delivered AND under-performed. The brand began by alienating the enablers of its tremendous growth, its customers. Some customers (like me) did not receive notification of the change in a timely manner. The news exploded on social media and some customers had to find out from friends and the Twitterverse before hearing directly from the provider.

Recommendation Number One: The Customer Comes First
No matter what the message, it’s important that the first news of the change comes from the brand. Otherwise, the noise from social channels amplifies the negative and drowns out the positive. If your brand can get the first word in, it’s at least a building block towards understanding. Be proactive with the message.

Recommendation Number Two: Be Honest
The blog message that Netflix used to announce the pricing changes was informational in nature but I’m still questioning if the “Lowest Price Ever” angle is the best way to go. Consumers in this digital age are smart, and if they aren’t all smart, they’re probably friends with somebody that is. So let’s not try to spin this in such a positive light. Let’s be honest. What if Netflix were to lead off by saying thank you to all the customers for the tremendous growth. Then explain that in order to continue offering a strong selection and incredible service, we have to make changes. The low price angle just doesn’t resonate when, for most customers, it’s actually a price hike (to continue the same service(s)).

Recommendation Number Three: The Customer Always Comes First (and Last)
Now, let’s consider how Netflix is implementing these pricing changes. They go into effect immediately for new customers and in September for existing. Most of the posts I’ve read felt like this treatment was a slap in the face for existing, heretofore, loyal customers. These customers have helped fuel the company’s meteoric growth and they get a 60 percent price hike and a 45 day respite for their efforts? Why not reward those that have been with the company by grandfathering them in or offering special loyalty rates? In an age where competition is high and switching services is as easy as downloading a new app, customer appreciation is key. Verizon recently moved to tiered data plans but avoided similar outrage by grandfathering in current unlimited plans.

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that Netflix has built its brand around convenience. A price hike is not convenient and finding out about it from second-hand sources is also not convenient. Be proactive, be honest, be consistent, and always think of the customer – or someone else will.

What Oprah Can Teach Us About Social Media

June 3, 2011September 8, 2018MattLeave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I set out on the great Twitter adventure. As much as I like to call myself a marketing professional, I was pretty late to the game with that. Nonetheless, I dove in head first trying to read, click, and absorb everything I could about what works and what doesn’t in the Twitterverse.

I’m still very much a novice and if you count followers as success, I’m pretty far down the chain, but I did learn a few things. Mainly, I’ve learned that a lot of people claim to have “steps” for social media success. My timeline is filled with “5 things” and “3 things” and “how NOT to’s” but after further observation, I realized that everybody is really just following the same formula — Oprah’s.

Yep, Oprah. She has succeeded by doing a few things very well. Not coincidentally, building a social media following is strikingly similar to building a media empire.

- Listen to Your Audience – This is probably the hardest of the steps to prove with anecdotal evidence. But I think it’s fairly plain to see that Oprah has achieved success by listening to the audience. This helps keep the show focused on issues that matter to that audience. By taking the pulse of the audience, Oprah had the ability to deliver what the audience wanted. Use searches or just browse your follower’s profiles to see what everyone is talking about.

- Be Authentic – One of Oprah’s greatest talents is the ability to relate to her audience as a normal person. She asks questions as a lay person, not as a celebrity. She also has very publicly struggled with weight issues. By publicly enduring these ups and downs (whatever they may be), she proved to her audience that they are all struggling with the same things. Common experiences help form relationships. This is Twitter’s real draw, we get to see behind the curtain. While it certainly can go too far, it’s important to let your audience know that you are human.

- Deliver Valuable Content – After listening to your audience to find out what they like and what they’re like; It’s time to deliver the goods. Convince the audience that you have something worth listening to, or reading, or talking about. Oprah does this by selecting experts that deliver no-nonsense advice for the problems that every day people are going through. This is interesting because Oprah isn’t necessarily developing the initial content herself, she is playing editor-in-chief and selecting which articles to publish to her audience. We can do the same thing.

- Be Consistent – Now I have to clarify, I’m not actually an Oprah watcher, but just about every woman I know is at least a fan and an occasional viewer. By delivering high quality content every weekday, Oprah has become a reliable, resource for day-to-day life. She will be hard to replace simply because it is so hard to deliver value on such a consistent basis. So the next time you think it’s too much work to send out an @reply or compose a blog, just be thankful you aren’t producing a one hour talk show. If you aren’t there delivering content every day, someone else is.

- Syndicate – Oprah is a very wealthy lady and part of the reason is because of the syndicated nature of her show. Her show is available in every market, every day, sometimes at two different times in the same market. This means her viewers simply have the opportunity to stay abreast of her content wherever they are. In recent years she has taken the syndication farther with O Magazine and yes, even Twitter! We have the same opportunity with social media. Take the content you create and syndicate it throughout your social networks.

If It Ain’t Broke – Break It!

May 6, 2011May 6, 2011MattLeave a Comment

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

But what happens when the going gets good? Rita McGrath via HBR reminds us that past success is not a guarantee of future profit. She’s right. It’s important (though all too common) for companies that experience success to be lulled by it as well. The once ubiquitous Nokia is scratching and clawing to remain relevant in the brave new iWorld (and as Rita states – RIM may not be far behind).

These two industry giants had once enjoyed immense popularity. But throughout the years, they started losing focus on delivering innovative products. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Wrong. While it can be quite alluring to sit back and watch the profits roll in, that success won’t last. The only way to remain relevant is to augment existing products while innovating new ones. Innovation is tough, really tough, especially the market-disrupting, status-quo destroying kind. It’s important though to pay attention to your product and to continuously look for ways to improve or make it obsolete. If you don’t, someone else will.

One way to brainstorm ideas is to list the attributes of your product/service. List the materials, the pros, and the cons of each. By separating the material from the whole, you are able to critically analyze the product (hopefully without too much bias). It’s important here to listen to consumers but also to remain aware that they may not know what they really want. As consumers I think we tend to think in terms of incremental innovation. How can we make this specific product better? While that type of thinking leads to some advantages, it won’t bring market dominance. To create a game-changer, we as marketers, need to strive for the discontinuous, disruptive type.

Find the unmet needs and meet them. And just when we have that need met – you guessed it – time to start over. Head back to the top of this post for help with that!

The Difference Between Cars and Marketing Departments

April 21, 2011MattLeave a Comment

Cars:
In order to keep it running smoothly you should perform regular maintenance and look for potential problems.

Marketing:
In order to keep it running smoothly you should perform regular maintenance and look for potential problems.

Cars:
You can buy a flashy car but it won’t necessarily get you to your destination faster.

Marketing:
You can spend a ton of money and not sell any more units or create any more awareness.

The difference?

A car that’s neglected and mistreated will eventually stop working. Not only that, but the manner in which it stops working will point to what is wrong with the car. This isn’t the case with marketing departments. A department that neglects to reflect can still function, plowing ahead for years on bald tires and a rusty frame without even a hint that things could be better. Digital marketing has provided many ways to measure performance of campaigns and tools. There are also still great ways to track print and video campaigns too (hint: steal from direct marketers). ROI is proof you are really great at what you do, or that you need to refine your process. It’s hard to know how far you’ve gone (and to prove how far you’ve come) when you’re odometer hasn’t moved since day one.

Share. Share. Share.

February 11, 2011September 8, 2018MattLeave a Comment

One of the keys to long term growth is innovation. One of the keys to innovation is sharing. When all sorts of different ideas are floating around and bumping into each other, chaos (and creativity) ensues. Let it happen and encourage it to happen in your absence through creative seating, facilities design, and social media. Working in groups is often more challenging but the product is often a more complete offering.

Though Lennon and McCartney are legendary for their creativity, perhaps there is a reason neither’s solo work did as well as when they worked together.

Gift Wrap

December 23, 2010December 23, 2010MattLeave a Comment

Preparing for the upcoming holiday, I realized how poor my wrapping skills are. For a moment I thought that maybe I should take my gifts to the mall and have them wrapped by a pro. Then I thought about how my friends and family would react to me telling them that. I think they would have been disappointed.

Here’s why: Giving a gift isn’t just about the material transaction. It’s about the emotional transaction.

A gift says that you took the time out of your day to focus on that one person. The gift wrap shows that not only did you spend money, but you spent more time and more effort (to at least try) to make the present look nice.Taking the easy way out and having someone else wrap the present, shows an unwillingness to spend that extra time and effort.

In a competitive market where the product life cycle is shortening by the minute, the only thing you have to offer is gift wrap.

What can you do to let your customers know that you’re focused on them?

‘Tactical Strategy’

December 1, 2010MattLeave a Comment

I came across this phrase today and it sounded great at first — then I went back and thought about it. Does it really make sense? The interesting thing about this phrase was that it gave up something about the presenter. The presenter was more concerned about tactics than the overall strategy.

This person routinely struggles with building and adhering to an effective strategy. Instead, each new task is of the highest priority. The problem with that is that when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. Everybody soon puts their head down in an effort to get things done, and they never look up to see where they are headed.

If your day-to-day actions are tied to tactics and not strategy and vision, you will get things done. But, simply getting things done does nothing to get us closer to our objectives.

Lay out a strategy, identify priorities, and plan tactics that feed into that strategy like a hot air balloon. Doing this helps transform disparate self-centered entities into a cohesive force building towards a common goal…soon there’s only one place to go.

Lessons From the Sock Drawer

September 28, 2010September 28, 2010MattLeave a Comment

You start out with the best intentions. Everything is in order. Everything has a reason for being there. But somewhere down the road, it happens. You stop getting the same results. Sometimes you take out more than you put in. Sometimes you add new things in to the mix without taking out the old.

At some point, things start getting a little out of line. No worries though, you always seem to find what you’re looking for, it just takes a little more time. Fast forward a little bit. Soon, you can only find one pair that matches and one of them has a hole in it. But it’s 6:58 and you have to be out the door by 7 so you take what you can find and rush out the door. Everything was so orderly at one time and now it’s a wreck. How did this happen?

Sound familiar? Is your sock drawer a mess? Don’t keep adding to an already cluttered agenda. If something needs added, see how it fits in with earlier plans. Does it replace something you already do? Are you (or somebody else) already doing it and don’t know it?Are you doing some things just because you’ve always done them?

Often this is the case. If we keep adding responsibilities and initiatives without regard for prior objectives, it’s easy to get off track. If this new initiative truly is more useful than the old one, figure out how to effectively combine them. Or, better yet, get rid of the old one. If you keep your agenda focused, it’s easier to focus on your agenda.