Category Archives: Advertising

Game Plan v. Chase the Ball: A Marketing Strategy Treatise

| Advertising, Affect, Create, Marketing Strategy

The soccer played by little kids is more than a treat to watch. Last week I went to soccer games for both my eight-year-old daughter and my 10-year-old son. My daughter’s game was highlighted by an ever-moving swarm of girls chasing the ball. The team members take the ball away from each other and it’s difficult to actually do anything with the ball because there are always so many of the kids around it. The one or two girls attempting to play defense lazed about as their minds dwelt in princess land or some other fairy tale world not comprised of a grassy fields, shin guards, and bouncing balls. Consequently, it was no surprise that when the ball and group sped past them. Any goals that were scored were usually a matter of one girl being slightly better or faster who scored when the ball eventually was kicked out of the group and she happened to be the first one to get to it.

Conversely, my son’s game was much different. For the most part, the boys played specific positions and stayed in that position to either attempt to score or to fend off defenders. (Of course there is always some position creep in soccer played by 10 year olds, but they do well for their age.) The boys actually began passing the ball and making plays toward the goal. All of the goals that were scored were a result of either a good pass or being in position at the right time. Even the least athletic, and least interested, of the boys scored when, as a result of him being “in position,” he got a rebound out of the goal and quickly kicked it in. Our goalie played brilliantly and stopped a host of potential goals for the other by being aggressive and going after the ball rather than hoping to be able to use his 5′ stature to stop a ball going into a 21′ x 7′.

Needless to say, the two styles of play are vary greatly. They also have varying entertainment levels. Where the one you watch because its cute, the other begins to resemble good soccer.

There are similar approaches to the marketing function within any organization. In the nearly two decades I’ve been a marketing consultant, I’ve worked with hundreds of companies of all sizes and from many different industries. The significant majority “chase the ball” when it comes to their marketing strategy. In fact, there have only been a few who had a clearly defined marketing strategy to dictate how and where to go. Instead, almost all of the companies I’ve worked with, prior to engaging our firm, have followed a decision making process that goes something like this: “I have this widget to sell, so I need a logo, a web site and brochure to sell it.” Then they are left with a content void as they struggle to determine how to use those tools. This is akin to purchasing a hammer and nails prior to the plans in your attempt to build your house.

Several years ago we surveyed 50+ dentists about their marketing efforts. We found that all of them thought of their marketing strategy in terms of the media used rather than having any plan that would help them use those media to differentiate their practice.

Furthermore, as trends occur in marketing, they are usually the last to hop on board. If they do, they frequently get caught up in the “medium” as opposed to the message. For example, a board member recently told his cohorts how they needed to get their half-billion-dollar company on social media. Of course that wouldn’t be such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that his company sells large-scale construction projects to government.

Conversely, if marketers can think more strategically about how they approach the promotion of their products and services they are more likely to be successful in not only implementing their team more effectively, but they are also far more likely to score a goal (whatever that means) while be far less likely to be blindsided when the some trend or medium attempts to pass them.

Several years ago we had a client that serviced the medical industry who had built a successful company of about 100 employees. They had used piece mill marketing collateral that, had it not been for the same logo atop all of them, appeared as though it were from the same company. They also recognized that if they wanted to get to the next level, they needed to have a better game plan. Consequently, we were contracted to perform market research and develop out that strategy. We found that given the level of experience their target audience had with the product they were far more concerned about customer service than they were about specific functionality or price, although both were important. That finding, consequently, enabled them to develop a strategy based around customer service that would suddenly allow them to develop a game plan to attack the marketplace. The strategy filled the content void by showing them exactly what they needed to do with their web site, proposals and other collateral.

The_Periodic_Table_of_Content_MarketingE-consultancy’s Periodic Table of Content Marketing is a great tool to use to ground you thinking strategically about your marketing efforts then walking you through the usage of the tactics necessary to support that strategy. The exercise of using the table forces one to think first about strategy and then provide ample methods of implementing that strategy through various media.

In conclusion, companies who develop their strategy prior to engaging any marketing tactic will find not only that they know exactly how to use that tactic, but also that they are much more effective in producing tangible results.

 

Lies, Inundation and Being Sold Part 2: Ads Ads Everywhere

| Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Measure

This is the second in a series of posts discussing several challenges that marketers face in reaching their customers and how to overcome those challenges. This iteration deals with the inability of consumers to trust advertising. Part one dealt with dishonesty in marketing. Part three will break down the problem with “being sold.”  Future posts will provide solutions to these problems.

ads_in_times_square

You used to wake up with an alarm clock playing your preferred radio station (or at least one you hated so much that you had to get out of bed to turn it off). The alarm clock has been replaced by a cell phone playing Pandora. On your drive to work, you notice that the billboard on the side of the freeway that used to change every few months has been upgraded to a digital iteration that swaps ads every few seconds. When you get to your office and check the news, you see a column of ads, this time customized to one of your preferences or previous searches.

The number of ads to which consumers are exposed is on the rise. Where 40 years ago, consumers were exposed to approximately 200 ads per day (see https://ams.aaaa.org/eweb/upload/faqs/adexposures.pdf), today it is estimated that consumers are exposed to anywhere from 600 (see https://ams.aaaa.org/eweb/upload/faqs/adexposures.pdf) to 5,000 (see http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cutting-through-advertising-clutter/) ads in a day. This is caused in part by the proliferation of new media that exponentially segments what were once reliable consumers of a specific medium.

Although this proliferation of both ads and media provide some unprecedented opportunities for marketings, including the ability to reach niche audiences that were nearly impossible to reach before, it also creates some significant challenges (see the Marketer’s Milieu Infographic).  Not only does it make for more media for the marketer to scour, but it also presents a real difficulty in getting the targeted consumer to give any heed to your ad when there is so much to compete with.

Put yourself in the place of the consumer.  If you were to stand amidst the advertisement behemoth that is Times Square (see image above) does any one ad or message stand out? If so, what is it and why? Or, is the cache´of Times Square simply attributed to the overall experience of the overwhelming nature of all of the ads?

As consumers, we’ve become very adroit at tuning out what we perceive to be visual or audio noise. Yes, ads help us know which plumber to call in the event that my sewer line breaks, but we also know how to avoid it. Half of the reason for owning a DVR is the ability to skip the content you don’t care about. When the ads come on the channel/station is changed or the Pandora station is switched.

There are times when there are innovations that make us stop to actually consume the ad, such as in 2009 when CBS and Pepsi teamed up to deliver the first ever video ad in a print magazine (http://youtu.be/hjGQuneTWMY ). As no one had ever done that before, if you thumbed through the magazine, you had to stop and watch it as it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Although I could care less about CBS’ 2009 fall line up, I had to click the buttons to watch the videos simply because it was so innovative. However, such innovations in advertising are few and far between. If you don’t have millions to spend on the development of innovative advertising media, you’re forced to sift through the ever-expanding media while confronting an even larger challenge of getting your audience to not only notice your ad, but to remember it and accept whatever it is you’re trying to communicate.

This is not to say that marketers should not advertise. It is to say, however, that we as marketers must use the media at our disposal to communicate more effectively with consumers. We need to find ways to break through the clutter to make sure that they take note of the important things we have to say.

How to do that will be the focus of the next several posts.

The Marketer’s Milieu (Infographic)

| Advertising, Create, Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized

The marketing professional is frequently in a tight spot. Not only do you have to meet the demands of your organization to collect a paycheck, but you’ve got to find and engage an audience that may not care what you have to say. If you don’t get them to pay attention and “like” you, your job is on the line. So, to all those of you who feel like you’re in a “tight spot” as marketers, here’s an infographic that serves as our attempt to show you a bit of well-deserved empathy.

marketers_milieu

Lies, Inundation and Being Sold: Part 1, The Great Dupe

| Advertising, Create, Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized

This is the first in a series of posts discussing several challenges that marketers face in reaching their customers and how to overcome those challenges. This iteration deals with the inability of consumers to trust advertising. Part two deals with the prevalence of advertising. Future articles present solutions to help marketers overcome the challenges described. 

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A couple of weeks ago, my brother, a successful endodontist (root canals), heard an ad on the radio for a local used-car dealership. In the ad, the dealership touted that they want to buy your used car and would pay virtually any car owner $3,000 more than the car was worth. Upon visiting the web site, there are large ads , headlines and even a video stating that even if you don’t buy one of their cars, they’ll buy yours. 

As my brother is still hanging onto the car he had in college in the late 90s, he figured that the $3,000 bonus was even more than the car was worth so why not give the dealership a try? Needless to say, the salesman’s rampant backpedaling over the $3,000 deal obviated to my brother what we all suspected—the ad was merely an attempt to dupe potential customers into coming into their dealership. They had no interest in purchasing his well-used vehicle.

Of course, my brother is neither the first nor the last to experience deceptive practices in advertising- and marketing-related activities. It’s no surprise that a recent study by YouGov found that 50% of Americans don’t believe what they see, hear or read in advertisements. It’s also no surprise that said study listed advertisements for cars as the forth least trustworthy category of ads. Furthermore, nearly two thirds (58%) said that there should be stronger requirements for proving claims

The responsibility for this lack of trust in traditional advertising rest squarely on the shoulders of the decades worth of advertisers, marketers and organizations that have resorted to mindless gimmicks similar to the one that duped my brother. It creates a serious challenge for those of us who try to market legitimate products and services using above-board strategies and tactics. It also plays a significant role in a consumer’s nearly involuntary reaction to sales-related messaging, where at best it is simply ignored or at worst resented.

We call on marketers and advertisers everywhere to give up the lies and gimmicks and develop something of real, salient value to their customers.

The next post in this series will explore the prevalence of advertising and how that further challenges the marketing landscape.