Independent Thinking » marketing

Books, Velcro, and Celebrating Success

Daria Steigman — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:03:21 +0000

How do you measure success?

There’s a lot of conversation around business success, what it means, and how to measure it. (And we probably talk even more sometimes about lazy metrics and poor measurement.)

I’m not going to talk about measurement at all today. Just success. Because sometimes you need to celebrate the small victories.

One of my 2011 goals was to read more business books. I set two goals: (1) to read at least one book a month about business, entrepreneurship, and/or marketing communications; and (2) to review a book a month.

Velcro helps.

Velcro was one of my three little words for 2011. In a blog post to start the year, I wrote:

I’m good at coming up with ideas, but sometimes I need more focus to see them come to fruition… I need to keep the velcro handy to keep me locked in.

It worked. I started the year thinking about how 21st century businesses are putting the power of collaboration and openness to work. I also read about what makes a good entrepreneur and how to tap into your entrepreneurial DNA, received tips on how businesses can leverage social media to thrive, and ended the year thinking about being weird.

12 Books for 12 Months

Here’s what was on my 2011 reading list:

As for 2012? I have four books in the queue, including Mastering Uncertainty and The Introvert’s Guide to Business. Stay tuned.

What successes are you celebrating as 2011 draws to a close?

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt (Flickr).

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Why Every Deal Is Not a Bargain

Daria Steigman — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:45:26 +0000

What’s up with the “2 for 1″ sales trend these days?

My thinking on pricing, rates, and value is pretty clear. And I don’t understand why some people think every deal is a bargain:

“Buy 1, get 1 free” suggests the item is overpriced.
“Buy 1, get the second free (just pay separate shipping)” suggests the product is so cheap that all the profit is built into the shipping cost.
“Used to be [a lot more], but really great price today” tells me the product is pretty close to worthless. And no one’s buying it and we desperately want to get rid of our inventory.

I’m all fine with sales–everyone knows that’s a temporary drop in your profit margin. (And “2 for 1,” used judiciously, can serve that aim.) But when your business model is all about discounting, then I start to get worried.

What about you? Seen any deals lately that aren’t bargains?

Photo by Anthony Easton (Flickr).

The End of Brand Loyalty

Daria Steigman — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:04:09 +0000

Is brand loyalty dead?

One of the interesting findings in the IBM survey of CMOs ( here is is my take on the overall report) is that companies are unprepared to deal with “decreasing brand loyalty.”

They’re asking the wrong question.

Were travelers loyal to Wells Fargo?
Were households loyal to Ma Bell?
Were airline passengers loyal to Pan Am?

Customers don’t have less brand loyalty today. We have more choices.

People are fiercely loyal to companies that don’t suck. Apple isn’t the only computer maker, phone maker, or music maker. Zappos isn’t the cheapest place to buy shoes. And Disney isn’t really the happiest place on earth.

What are you doing to earn customer loyalty?

Photo by MoneyBlogNewz (Flickr).

Why We Are All Weird

Daria Steigman — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:03:53 +0000

Write a book. Call it a manifesto. Give people a choice between Wonder Bread and funkiness. And then, when you get to the end, tell your readers that you’ve both wasted your time if you think you’ve got it figured out.

Seth Godin is a brilliant marketer.

We Are All Weird posits the end of mass–production, politics, retailing, education. Those still focused on mass are missing the point, says Godin:

“[The mass marketer] is busy looking for giant clumps instead of organizing to service and work with smaller tribes.”

And later he says:

“It is true that we want to be a part of a tribe. What’s not true is that it must be some uber tribe, the one and only mass tribe, the center of the curve. Our own little circle is in fact what we really want.”

While I might not use the word “weird” to describe myself (I prefer “independent”), what I like about We Are All Weird is that Godin taps into the fact that people want to be free to express themselves. Maybe it’s your choice of jeans, or cars, or hotels, or coffee. Choice means we get to choose.

Changing means of production, of distribution, and of marketing, meanwhile, mean that you can have a smaller, more spread-out market for your product but still have a market.

Godin’s tribe is filled with marketers, but that doesn’t mean his book shouldn’t also resonate with entrepreneurs and other business owners. Because at the end of the day it’s really about understanding who your core audience (tribe) is. If you’re still trying to be everything to everyone, you’re probably going to lose your market to people with better product or service differentiation.

It’s not about niches. Maybe.

At the conclusion of his book, Godin writes:

“If you’ve made it to the end of this manifesto and come to the conclusion that you need to spend more time going after niche markets, I fear we have both failed.”

It’s not about niches if you think of a niche as a broad market segment. As in the Hispanic market, the gay market, or the veterans market. Because that’s just another way of mass marketing, albeit to a slightly more sliced-and-diced demographic.

But, let’s face it, tribes are niches–just organized and defined by the people themselves rather than imposed from “outside.” And that’s a difference well-worth both understanding and embracing.

We Are All Weird is a quick read, and it’s a good reminder that good marketing doesn’t have to be mass, boring, or normal.

Are you marketing to the weird?

Special thanks to Christina Pappas, who sent me her copy of We Are All Weird after I got intrigued by her book review.

Photo by peregrine blue (Flickr).

The Rich (Marketers) Aren’t So Different After All

Daria Steigman — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:04:48 +0000

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “the rich are different from you and me.” (And Ernest Hemingway, unblinded by bling, is said to have replied, “Yes, they have more money.)

Turns out, when it comes to marketing, money doesn’t seem to yield a big advantage. According to From Stretched to Strengthened, chief marketing officers (CMOs) are struggling with many of the same challenges that keep small businesses up at night.

Under-prepared for Big Data, Market Fragmentation

It seems no one is ready. As the chart shows, CMOs report feeling unprepared to manage the impact of everything from social media to decreasing privacy and the erosion of brand loyalty. “CMOs are stretched,” write the authors. “Even those who work for the most successful organizations are struggling.” They add:

“One of the most surprising findings… is the degree of consensus among the respondents. No matter where they work, their industry, or how large or successful their organizations are, CMOs are facing many of the same challenges and most feel unprepared to manage them.”

One of the most interesting findings from the report is that many CMOs are still trying to understand markets (not individuals):

At one level, looking just at the challenges of harnessing the data, this makes perfect sense:

Relatively few CMOs … are exploiting the full power of the digital grapevine. Although nearly three-quarters use customer analytics to mine data, only 26 percent are tracking blogs, only 42 percent are tracking third-party reviews, and only 48 percent are tracking consumer reviews. This is largely because the tools, processes, and metrics they use are not designed to capture and evaluate the unstructured data produced by social platforms.

And, yet, the downside of looking only at aggregate data is that they are forced to make a lot of assumptions about individual behaviors.

Is There An Opportunity for Small Business?

Small businesses can have a competitive edge. Sure, we struggle with the same challenges. But we’re closer to all our stakeholders (especially clients/customers, and prospects), so it should be easier for smaller organizations to understand what makes our customers tick.

From Stretched to Strengthened, which reports the findings from one-on-one conversations with over 1,700 CMOs in 19 industries and 64 countries, also looks at the skills CMOs will need to be successful moving forward (including cross-collaboration, creative thinking, and an aptitude for analytics). There’s a lot of good data in the report, so it’s worth taking a look.

Do you think small businesses have an edge? What are you doing in your business to be prepared to meet the challenges ahead?

The Problem with Form Letters

Daria Steigman — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:04:42 +0000

Is personalization really that hard?

I received the following letter the other day:

Dear Valued [name of organization] Member,

Please excuse this form letter, but it is an inexpensive way for us to let you know that your membership is up for renewal. We wanted to be sure you have the opportunity to receive all the benefits of membership without interruption…

Excuse me, but if you really wanted to save time and money you could have sent an e-mail.

Form letters are lazy. Form letters without a hint of personalization send the message that you can’t be bothered to actually talk to people.

This is how you value me?

My friend Shonali Burke had a great blog post the other day about bad business pitches. At least those are from strangers.

The organizations you do business with should at least know your name.

What do form letters say to you?

Photo by Alan O’Rourke (Flickr).

3 Surprisingly Awesome Ways to Use Location-Based Marketing

Daria Steigman — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:04:46 +0000

I really dislike the early iterations of location-based marketing.

They’re interruptive rather than integrated. And gamification turns me off. (Seriously: being the mayor of your local coffee shop matters to you?) Then there’s the whole tweeting-about-it thing. People are all indignant about Triberr, but I find all those “I’m at…” tweets are far more irritating.

There has to be a better way to use this technology–and to get me to give up my data.

In a recent MarketingProfs Webinar, Aaron Strout and Mike Schneider talked about some of the more forward-thinking ways that companies are using location-based marketing to engage with both customers and prospects. Here are my top takeaways:

Showcase your smarts. USA TODAY’s foursquare page includes a “10 Great Places” feature that gives users “tips”–information on places ranging from The National Mall to the Bird Cage Theater in Tombstone, Arizona. In doing so, the media company has found a way to engage with a broad, geographically dispersed audience. I can see ways that all kinds of organizations can create campaigns that give me a reason to check in.
Make it participatory. Buffalo Wild Wings teamed up with SCVNGR to create a series of challenges around the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Most required small actions (a picture of the sauciest wing in the bucket, a snapshot of you with a fan of the opposing team). The campaign drew almost 200,000 unique players and 1.3 million challenges. Sure, there was a big gamification element–but it also fit the personality of both the venue and the forum (sports). If my favorite sports bar did this around the NFL playoffs, I’d probably be all over it because it’s social and it’s fun.
It’s not just for B2C. Strout and Schneider talked about how cybersecurity firm BreakingPoint has created a foursquare location for its conference booths and encourages check-ins via its marketing collateral. The strategy, which also includes prizes for checking in, has led to hundreds of demos with key prospects. It’s just another example of how business-to-business companies can take advantage of location-based marketing.

During their Webinar, Strout and Schneider also provided a peek into the future of location-based marketing, including passive check-ins (addressing the “interruptive” problem), location-at-point-of-sale strategies, and better use of meta data. There’s some terrific stuff here.

What creative uses of location-based marketing have you seen? What would you like to see?

Photo by sophiea (Flickr).

How to Turn Browsers into Buyers

Daria Steigman — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:09:39 +0000

In the age of The Google, you’re nowhere if you can’t be found. Especially by your prospects. As a result, pretty much every business has to be a publisher, and every company has to have something to say besides “BUY ME.” Content matters.

In Content Rules, co-authors Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman have written a bible for savvy entrepreneurs and everyone else who understands that good content is a competitive advantage. The point of great content, they say, is:

“to convert browsers into buyers and customers into regulars or (better yet) rabid fans, ambassadors, and advocates. You do that by deepening your relationship with them, over time, by repeatedly and consistently creating content they care about and want to share freely with their friends and colleagues, and by encouraging them to engage with you and to sign up for things you publish (like an e-mail newsletter or a webinar) or to download a white paper or an ebook.”

You can read the full book review here.

Photo by David Armano (Flickr).

Can You Have Too Much Business?

Daria Steigman — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:04:06 +0000

A big rap on Groupon is that it brings in one-time customers that most retail businesses have no idea how to convert. If it led to a steady uptick in business, companies would be cheering. Right?

But can you have too much business?

Chef Geoff‘s uptown location used to have a terrific happy hour. You could come in, plop down at the bar, order a Super Mug, watch the news or a game, and hang out. My last memory of Tim Russert was on a bar stool at Chef Geoff.

That was Before The Groupon.

The Groupon brought in a new customer base–and a noisy, bustling happy hour made up mostly of law students from a nearby university. Now I have nothing against grad students (or college bars), but it’s a different atmosphere. And empty bar stools are hard to find.

I don’t know whether Chef Geoff is happy with its new business model. Or whether it’s impacted their dinner numbers–which is what generates the real revenue. What I do know is they sent an e-mail in June saying that the schools were out and it was a good time to come back in.

Maybe you can’t have too much business. But you can have too much of the wrong customers for your core market.

Photo by Mo Riza (Flickr).

Why I Love Billboards

Daria Steigman — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:05:08 +0000

I love billboards, and not just because dozens of South of the Border ads have given me and millions of other drivers cheesy entertainment while driving up and down I-95.

Billboards work.

In an era when we’re constantly on the edge of sensory overload, very little unwanted information seeps through. I tune out extraneous stuff on Web pages, rip ads out of magazines, mute TV ads, fast-forward through commercials while streaming video-on-demand, and pay for ad-free premium Spotify.

But I see billboards. Clean Bathrooms Next Exit. Best Morning Drive Station. Outlet Stores 20 Miles. Free Wifi, Heated Pool, Kids under 12 Stay Free.

And Slavery Still Exists.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month launched a human trafficking awareness campaign. I hadn’t seen or heard anything about it–and it’s a topic that I pay attention to. Then I rode by a “Slavery Still Exists” billboard at a busy intersection in Atlanta.

Billboards aren’t right for every business or every ad campaign. But sometimes old-fashioned, low-tech, can be a very effective way to grab people’s attention.