Are You Getting ROI From Your Marketing Strategy?

A recent conversation with a business owner proved to be very interesting. When I asked the owner what the marketing approach was for the business, he returned a blank stare.

Our conversation was initiated because the owner had expanded products and services and the new offerings were not producing as expected.

The business had been operating with primarily price point marketing strategy that was appropriate for his industry. The new products and services were higher price points and his operational approach and “selling” and promoting approach to these items was the same as the price point product. The well-known approach was resulting in disappointing sales for the new offerings. What went wrong?

Let me back up…..When you use a price point marketing strategy, the process is simple. Keep operational prices low and prominently advertise your low prices. This is a good approach for commodity type items. As an example, grocery stores use this approach and a lot of retailers utilize it on “specials” to get attention and traffic and then rely on other tactics to upsell. It is a tried and true strategy but it doesn’t work in all situations or industries.

In the case of the business owner I met with, the price point strategy was not the winning approach for their expanded service and product line. It was failing, so in came a “consultant” (not me at this juncture). The consultant went full throttle with the price point model and began slashing operating expense to make each item sold more profitable. Not a bad approach in some cases, but the wrong one in this case.

The items being sold were high quality, specialized and leant themselves towards customization. Reducing costs and customization rarely go together and in this instance, cost reductions eliminated customization. Sure, there was more profit in each item sold but the number of items drastically dropped, rendering net profits to almost null. What to do?

I explained to the owner that although he had been very successful with price point marketing in his primary business, the new items required a different approach. They required relational marketing.

Relational marketing requires you to build relationships with your buyers and to cater to them. This is one of the most solid differentiators in marketing. As an example, if you sell coffee to commuters, what makes people buy from you over the plethora of other providers? In most cases, it is because of how you treat them. You allow them to feel special, make special requests and if you are good, you know their name and have loyalty programs. This will keep your customer coming back and it will make them choose you over price point almost every time.

For this business owner, he is now in the process of repairing those relationships with lost customers and building new relationships with new ones. It is an uphill battle, once you have lost customers, but it will work if you can act swiftly and are persistent. It is important to note that sometimes your marketing strategy is not a one size fits all. You may have several strategies needed for your company. Choose wisely!

When all else fails, consult a professional with years of experience who knows the correct strategy, tactics and tools required to make your business thrive.

Happy Marketing!  

Marketing and Squirrels – Do they have anything in common?

Certainly you’ve heard the statement, “S/He is like a squirrel hunting for nuts”. This is usually meant as a derogatory comment about someone. However, I propose and have seen that a marketer who isn’t really trained or knowledgeable about analytics and /or database marketing, may start their search for a nugget of information that will improve their marketing ROI in the same way a squirrel hunts for nuts.

Unfortunately a lot of companies, even large ones, do not have the data collection or resources devoted to analysis of the available marketing data that could help a marketer analyze data to easily find the nuggets (and sometimes gems) that will enlighten them to alter their marketing strategy and dramatically improve results.

What do you do if you are in this position? Think like a squirrel! Look, hunt, ask everyone questions (especially the seasoned sales people as well as the operations folks).

Here’s a short list of what basic questions to answer/define:

1.     Who is my customer?

a.     Define as many characteristics as you can: What is the demographic information? What are the best customers and how often do they buy? Why do they buy? What method do they use to buy? What is the return rate of these customers? What anecdotal information (psychographic, personality, etc.) can you get from the people closest to the customer? (This is where the info from sales and ops can really help.) If you have support and budget, get your best customer list appended with psychographic data. This will most definitely provide you with invaluable insight into your best customer.

2.     Who are my other customers?

a.     Do a quadrant analysis on your customer list and divide them into four groups: Best, Next Best, Third Best and Fourth Best.  (I suggest that there is a fifth group and that is people who routinely interact with your marketing tactics but don’t buy from you. Then, test to see if you can convert these folks into customers or make them evangelists – but that is your last step in this process.) Repeat the process above for each quadrant.

b.     Compare your results and percentages, with each quadrant’s characteristics, against your potential market (geographic, market size/share of market, demographic indicators in your market, etc.) Determine how you are doing in comparison to what is there for the taking. Define your saturation level and look for the opportunities and develop a strategy to capture as much as you can.    

3.     What are your customers buying?

a.     Look at the quadrants separately. Are there any significant trends of what is purchased and how it is purchased across the board or do your quadrants respond differently? Some of my clients have found that they are spending a lot of their time and money marketing to people that really just routinely buy the same thing/s, at the same time and by doing this exercise, they realize that a lot of the marketing could be redirected to increasing share of wallet or bumping the 2^nd quadrant up into the 1^st and the best customer could be communicated to with a loyalty strategy.

4.     What does this data tell you?

a.     Now that you have the data (even if it is raw) look for the patterns and look for the opportunities. Look for how these groups like to buy from you and look at how they have responded to your current marketing. As an example, it might be fascinating for you to see that your strategy is heavy on digital marketing but your customer tends to buy via telephone orders. (*Hint: this may tell you it is the personal touch that your customer likes and your customer may or may not be responding to your digital efforts.)

What do you do next?

1.     Develop a strategy to gain customers where there is room for growth. Develop it based upon how your customer interacts with you not based on what you have always done.

2.     Test your strategy (A/B is standard) and define your winner.

3.     Once you have your winner, develop a campaign and implement it.

4.     Use this strategy for all of the quadrants where you see potential. Change your strategy to loyalty where you have saturation.

Is this the end of marketing analytics or database marketing? Absolutely not! This is a very good starting point though. I have used this approach with many, many clients with unbelievable results. Try it in your organization and with success, perhaps you will be able to justify the investment of tools that will help you to continuously perform such analysis and even develop a strategy to acquire a full- blown database marketing strategic environment. I strongly believe that once you realize what amazing results you attain by implementing a “smart” approach to marketing strategy, you will never go back to a think tank or top down marketing approach ever again.

Happy Marketing!

Mary  

What Does Familiarity Breed in Your Business?

I am often placed in a position as a consultant to be the “outsider looking in”. In fact, I take this approach with every position I under take. What I generally find is that there is a gross illusion of the customer’s understanding of a business’s processes, purpose and services.

A recent example of this was at a seminar for small – medium sized businesses. Upon entering the foyer to the conference room, there were tables set up with functional signs at each one. One said Marketing and Sales and another said Finance and so on. At each post was a person who could provide help on their topic. Having some insight into the seminar series, I knew that these tables were set up for business owners to drop by and ask questions or inquire about setting up free counseling services for their business. Had I not been an insider in this case, I would have had no idea what these people or tables were. Being the continuous process improvement and customer behavioral modeler that I am, I watched to see what the incoming attendees did. Yup, just as I suspected they would,  they signed in at the entry desk, looked at the tables with a gaze and walked straight into the conference room and waited for the first speaker to begin. What a missed opportunity – for everyone!

This was a perfect example of the seminar producers being too familiar with what their process and services were. They forgot to look at the experience from the attendees’ point of view. If only someone at the sign in table either told the attendees about the tables or even handed out a flyer explaining the tables, I am certain that many business owners would have utilized this free service to get specific questions answered and/or set up time with a counselor to get help later. But with no direction, the attendees walked right past the tables and into the conference room and waited for the speaker to begin.   

The first speaker this particular night was quite vibrant and covered the topic of Social Media at a high level, opening the door for many follow up questions and very possibly some consulting work. The room was packed, so quite realistically, the topic of SM was something that these business owners needed/wanted to learn about. I was quite impressed with the speaker’s presentation as it offered a valuable overview but by no means left anyone new to SM with the ability to sit down at their computer and start their Social Media Program. Bravo, I thought. Great job of leading the horse to water…now tell them how they can get help in actually starting SM and how to learn what it can do for their business. Nothing. The presentation ended and intermission was called.   

The missed opportunities were killing me! The room was ripe with prospective consulting clients and no one told them how to get it! In fact, four people seated near me asked what I did and all respectively asked if I could help them with Social Media. Of the four, I am working with three of them now on how to use SM effectively for their businesses. I don’t know what the other 200 attendees are doing now, but I know they didn’t get the detailed help on Social Media that they need to start utilizing SM for their businesses.  

After intermission another speaker droned on about a topic that I am still unclear of to this day. I suppose that I would classify it as personal empowerment or organizational structure. Regardless, this speaker cleared the room. By the end of the seminar, the room was 2/3 empty. Since I had been asked to assist by providing suggestions on how to get more people to sign up for counseling, I sat in my seat after the seminar ended making notes. Then, a man handed me a card – no explanation – just handed me a card. As I looked at it, the card was a form to fill out to request consulting services. Finally!  There was the offering – but there wasn’t any information or signage on where to submit the card once I filled it out. Oh no –not again – more missed opportunity!

These are small examples but painful for the organization that held the seminar. They highlight the organizer’s over-familiarity with what they do and their lack of familiarity or even recognition that a new attendee has no idea what the process is and the details of “how to” are just as important as content.

This was a sad illustration of how easy it is for an organization to be so familiar with their process that they forget to explain it to their customer. I urge you to take a fresh look at your customer interactions and look at where you are missing opportunities.

Aesop is quoted as saying that Familiarity Breeds Contempt. I offer to you that familiarity leads to confusion, missed opportunities and bad service. A simple but good example of remembering the small stuff that makes a difference is the ticket taker at the movie theatre. As s/he rips the ticket s/he tells you what theatre you are in and which direction (left or right) it is located. Could we find the theatre without this? Yes, but this small gesture provides a feeling of service, attention to details and comfort. After all, if I know where my theatre is, I will most likely not waste time looking for it and I will use that time to hit the concession stand on my way to my movie ;)

The theatre example is a basic and practical understanding of consumer behavior. Some companies have very sophisticated modeling protocols. Others, like a very famous amusement park, require their theme park engineers and designers to observe people interact with the park's offerings to see what customers want to have as an interaction and to learn to anticipate what attendees want to experience. Why don’t you take the time to look at your business interactions from an outsider’s point of view? You just might find that you gain more customers, sell more candy or retain your customer’s loyalty as they feel that you take the time to care about the small stuff and their overall experience.

Happy Marketing!

Mary

As always, if I can help, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mary.mussard@yahoo.com

  

CAUTION! Be Careful With Your Online “Voice”

CAUTION!

Be Careful With Your Online “Voice”

We have all been warned everywhere (even on Dr. Phil!) that once something is on the internet it is FOREVER.

The purpose of this is not to support or negate that statement or belief.

 What I feel  important is to share with you is that dipping your business’s toe in the Social Media pond: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Pinterest, et al  is not anything to be taken likely.

I recently heard a presenter on Social Media at a seminar state two things to many non-Social Media business users that made be scared for them a bit. They  were:

·         Jump on in, the water is fine

·         Be sure to inject your personality into your postings

The reason this concerned me for these eager business owners was that what was not expressed was that your business’s Social  Media posting/s are a crucial part of your branding. Importantly, what this, means is that it should have a planned strategy, purpose, desired outcome, target, etc. -  just like any other facet of your marketing plan. Hopefully, you have a marketing plan, but if not, at a minimum, give thought and planning into your online strategy before you just jump in the water. `And if you don’t know where to start, get help. Personal help is best. Most books are too vague for first-time toe dippers ;)

Many (especially small businesses) are almost in a panic about not being in Social Media, but I caution anyone to strategize or seek a marketing professional strategist to examine your business, its target and your brand to help you incorporate Social Media into your marketing mix. Don’t act on a whim and rush to get into it because everyone is doing it and you feel late to the ball.

Example Scenario of Why Not to Rush In Without a Planned Voice and Brand Consistency:

A product start up with an excellent offering and an owner/founder with a challenging personality was not engaged in Social Media/Marketing in any way.

He personally setup his Social Media presence and managed it himself.

There were some not- so - flattering comments made on the Social Media venues.

He  (the founder) personally responded to the comments by defending his position, arguing with

the posters’ points and degrading the posters’ for making their comments.

With this course of action, ALL future  posts were then about how unprofessional the founder’s posts were and ANY talk of the product ceased to exist. The opportunity to promote this good product were extinguished.

 

 

I hope from the true life example above I have illustrative the caution I ask you to make before you:

·          Jump on in, the water is fine

·         Be sure to inject your personality into your postings

 

 

Mary Mussard Woods is an executive marketing, operations and general management consultant. Mary is extremely experienced with all situations and industries, fiscally prudent and produces, mary.mussard@yahoo.com

First Out – Last In

Avoid the Fiscal Cliff for Your Business

 

Most marketers agree that “we” are the first group to be cut when an organization faces financial hardship. This is baffling as studies have shown that those organizations that continue to commit financial resources to marketing through tough times, even Recessions, are significantly faster to rebound than those who do not.

 

Likewise, when an organization is on its last leg, the leadership decides to  pull from the coffers and get marketing help to save their business. Although this is better than doing nothing, inevitably, the cry for help is too late. Even the best in the business cannot save a financially struggling business in under three months.

 

Although this is a short post. Please re-read if you are in a leadership position within a company. Too many businesses are failing and much can be attributed to the behaviors (mistakes) described above. To survive in this environment, you must be smarter than the rest of the pack. Don’t follow the same knee jerk reaction that most businesses do, be fearless and let the professional marketers save your business from its fiscal cliff.

 

Good Marketing = Good Business,

Mary

Article title:11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn't Run Your Social Media

Article title:11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn't Run Your Social Media

Ageism or sound advice? What are your thoughts?

http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/social-media-dont-put-intern-in-charge.html

Happy Marketing,
Mary

GREAT EXAMPLE: The New Rules of Marketing and PR

In his book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR , by David Meerman Scott, the author postulates that the introduction of the internet has changed the game for Marketing and PR Professionals like nothing be for it. (I’ll voice my opinion on that another time.) He especially points to the advent of Social Media. He poses much needed rationale, considering many large enterprises are running – not walking – away from SM, as to the importance of playing in this playground and as to its importance in intelligence gathering and interaction with (potential?) users/buyers/consumers. From what I surmised from his writings, we should all be using SM - at all cost - as it offers so many benefits.

Whether you agree with this as a tenet of your Marketing/PR Mix or not, one thing that is very clear and I believe to be true is the importance of content when using SM. I will state that I think that with many things, if you are not going to do it right, don’t do it at all and this is definitely my opinion on Social Media. And this is where Mr. Scott and I agree completely. Social Media MUST HAVE good content.

An example to follow –

The gist of this article on most pages would have been an announcement similar to: XXXX event on XXXX date at XXXX. Those X’s represent most people’s idea of SM. In this piece, however, Gordon Durich does a fabulous job of drawing the reader in with a question, answers and a (BTW) announcement. It is well done. It a perfect example of providing content to draw general interest and I bet many that read (and maybe attended the event) are not even really art/movie enthusiasts. But Gordon has intrigued the reader with the wonders of the art form. You feel his PASSION and KNOWLEDGE and it translates into interest. It is great content and I urge you to read it and to follow this example the next time you pen a post on your SM site.

Here’s Gordon’s piece: http://www.gordondurich.com/

Happy Marketing!

Mary