Mythology - The Meaning Behind the Marketing

Don't Forget the 4 M's...

Jeff James — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:56:24 -0400

Its relatively easy with all the tools and metrics available in today's marketing landscape to find yourself lost in the shuffle. Many marketers lose sight of their goals and find it hard to craft strategies that will actually produce results. Even experienced marketers resort to "wait and see" approaches when trying to jumpstart a campaign and then wonder why they are falling short.

Here is where the fundamentals of advertising and marketing come in: The 4 M’s, Motivation, Messaging, Media Mix, and Maximization. Constantly referring back to the 4 M’s through each stage of your campaign guarantees that you are doing the things necessary to minimize wasted costs and maximize success.

The first and most important M is Motivation; 90% of new products fail because they do not address the motivations of the customer. Your message is also crucial if you want to reach your target. The messaging you present must align with your customers’ motivation and reflect the true goals of your brand in a convincing way.

Media mix is critical to reaching your target audience and achieving your objectives. McDonald’s unveiled a new menu item and invested millions in an aggressive ad campaign to support it. After the campaign was concluded and the analysis conducted, it turned out that McDonald’ could have reached six million more potential consumers by spending the same amount of money yet allocating it differently in its media mix. A proper media mix insures cost efficiency and also targets your customers more directly.

Finally, Maximization is what turns a good campaign into a great campaign. Maximize your resources through smart allocation and measurement while not getting too bogged down on the in process actions. Remember that outcomes are what matter and every action should be directed at achieving your objective.

Marketing with The COP

Jeff James — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:06:36 -0400

Systematic planning is the means to a successful end for your advertising/marketing team. “What Sticks” by Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart outlines two simple approaches: COP and the 4 M’s of advertising.

The COP (Communication Optimization Process) methodology is a framework for laying the foundation for your campaign and creating the benchmarks for you resulting actions. COP emphasizes the communication of what the campaign will do, in measurable terms, and institutes accountability into the process. COP prescribes a series of three meetings with your campaign team to make sure the campaign has a strong base.

In the first meeting, you and your team will define success, that is, outline the campaign outcomes in a quantifiable and measurable way that you would deem a success.

In the next meeting, you need to evaluate the possible scenarios that will arise in the development of your campaign and what alternatives are available. According to surveys, marketers spend 70% percent of their work time doing rework, i.e. making adjustments and revisions. Being able to plan for problems that will undoubted arise will increase reaction time when they do occur.

In the third meeting, you and your team will tie your goals together with how the campaign will be developed and create an action plan that delivers on your strategy. Remember, ROI research, goal planning, and campaign development are all worthless unless it is applied to the implementation.

This all sounds like a logical planning algorithm for a successful campaign, but if it is so easy, why do many marketers and companies completely miss the mark or underperform when the potential for success is so high? Here is where the fundamentals of advertising and marketing come in: The 4 M’s, Motivation, Messaging, Media Mix, and Maximization. Constantly referring back to the 4 M’s through each stage of the COP process and periodic assessments during the campaign guarantee that you are doing the things necessary to minimize wasted costs and maximize success.

Next post: The COP's sidekick, The 4 M's

What Sticks?

Jeff James — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:53:23 -0400

Marketing is broken? Well… yes and no, and as the author’s of “What Sticks” Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart explain, marketing itself may be undergoing a fundamental makeover. Traditional marketing and traditional marketing mistakes are now being exposed and addressed as more efficient means of measurement and analysis are being applied to the craft.

“What Sticks” gives direction to advertisers and marketers who know there is a better way but have little clue as to how to begin the undertaking. Of the $300 billion spent on advertising in the U.S., over $112 is wasted. Just with some simple strategic steps and a fresh perspective, advertising and marketing budgets can be utilized to their full potential and play a game changing role in boosting sales.

The crux of “What Sticks” is that there is no hard and fast rule which applies to all marketing strategies. The traditional campaigns were often created with no room for flexibility, no insight into the target audience, and dumped millions of dollars of funding into an undirected effort. In “What Sticks” simply defining your campaign goals, developing a plan that achieves those goals, and allocating funds aligned with your action plan can rapidly increase the efficiency of the marketing strategy.

Systematic planning is the means to a successful end for your advertising/marketing team. “What Sticks” outlines to simple approaches: COP and the 4 M’s of advertising. The COP (Communication Optimization Process) methodology is a framework for laying the foundation for your campaign and creating the benchmarks for you resulting actions.

COP emphasizes the communication of what the campaign will do, in measurable terms that institute accountability into the process. COP prescribes a series of three meetings with your campaign team to make sure the campaign has a strong base. Creating a strong foundation for your action plans through the COP will guarantee your campaign has meaning and accountability.

Next Post: Letting the COP work for you!

Empowered Marketing Pillar #10: Beware the Low-End Competitor

Jeff James — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:21:18 -0400

You're a dominant player in your market. You're making fat margins. Everyone uses your products. Why worry about a pesky little new entrant in your market, one that is charging less but delivering less functionality and value than you are? If you lower your price to match them, you'll just be cannibalizing your own margins, right?

This competitive scenario and its implications is well-documented by one of my favorite business authors and speakers, Clay Christensen of Harvard. His Innovator's Dilemma laid out a framework that makes "disruptive innovation" (as compared to incremental innovation) predictable.

Christensen writes that the dominant player in an industry seems to have little incentive to develop disruptive innovations. Why? Because there is too much internal pressure to be self-protective. Often these disruptive innovations lead to cheaper solutions that fit the marketplace better. Many executives inside the company whose products/services would be cannibalized by the new innovation will fight it, often to the point that it dies on the vine.

Meanwhile, an upstart competitor with nothing to lose has no problem at all chasing the low-end. By offering a product/service that better fits the price range and needs of these low-end customers, they build market share. Soon, that disruption has taken hold and starts to seriously threaten the status quo. Christensen provides many good examples of this, such as the PC's growth at mini-computers expense.

Today, a major case study in the making is occurring right before our eyes. Microsoft, long dominant with PC and server applications, is seeing new Internet-based services ("cloud" services) such as Google Docs, Google Sites and Zoho.com offer a barrage of new "good enough" services. In many cases the services are free, supported by ads and/or fee-based add-on services.

Microsoft execs are certainly aware of the "disruptive innovation" model, and their Live Services strategy - lead by industry legend Ray Ozzie - has been an attempt to begin offering lower-end, often free online services. Unfortunately for Microsoft, their efforts have been clunky and not well accepted by the marketplace in most cases. Ozzie's challenge is to get a very large company back into a startup mentality to focus on their own disruptive innovations.

You may only be a dominant player in a smaller market, even a local one. But beware of competition that seems to be harmless today; it could be the disruptor that changes the playing field in your market.

Microsoft Marketing Goes "Bing!"

Jeff James — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:21:03 -0400

I often observe my old company's marketing with a mix of critical eye and hopefulness, all colored by my fourteen years at the company. So I'm obviously enjoying the marketing related to the launch of Bing, Microsoft's latest effort to humble Google.

In many ways this is classic Microsoft: an emphasis on feature-rich improvements over the competition, a major publicity push, and "launch event" stunts like a campy "Bing-a-thon" hosted by Hulu.com and (of course) a Space Needle stunt.

(Some of these launch stunts can go horribly wrong. I still cringe and break into cold sweats at the memory from my days as a young Microsoft marketer in the early Nineties when someone thought that sticking MS execs in a broadway-musical style product launch musical was a smart thing to do. Yikes.)

In terms of raising awareness that there is an actual choice in search engines now, it seems to be working.

Google has always taken pride in not really marketing itself other than by coyly generating buzz about what service it may or may not be launching. In some ways that approach has created significant media and consumer craving for the next cool Google innovation.

Microsoft has rarely, if ever, taken the understated approach to marketing. It has a saturation-style approach that in many ways is "old school." The Bing campaign seems to be an interesting mix of old and new media and tactics.

At least - thank goodness - the central marketing group has taught the Microsoft product groups to consider unique, memorable names vs. "Microsoft Search Engine 3.0". You can take that to the Bing. That's a major breakthrough, although some are disagreeing.

For the good of search engine competition and more options in search marketing, let's hope Microsoft gets some traction this time.

Advice on 21st Century Social Media Success from 1936

Jeff James — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:23:08 -0400

Recently I had the pleasure of presenting at West Virginia University's Integrated Marketing Communications Program Weekend. The IMC programat WVU has taken a leadership position in the journalism and marketing world with its unique online-only format and focus on a new approach marketing: viewing the whole marketing picture, not just the parts. Students in the program learn to see things they way the consumer sees them - as a constant flow of information from indistinguishable sources.

So what do you say to a roomful of professors, administrators, students and prospective students that they haven't heard before that will inform and inspire?

Well, you go back to 1936.

That's the year Dale Carnegie published his historic guide to social success, How to Win Friends and Influence People. In a world where the marketing and media megaphone has been replaced by collaborative conversations, Carnegie's advice seems more relevant than ever.

Here are a few of Carnegie's laws for success:

Become genuinely interested in other people.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.
Show respect for other people's opinions.
If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Let the other person feel the idea is his/hers.
Throw down a challenge.

Think you could generate a few Twitter followers and Facebook friends with that advice? My wife probably exhibits these skills more naturally than anyone else I know. People are drawn to her because, well, she makes them feel valued and really does listen intently to them. She probes them with questions, getting them to open up about things that they would never share with others. (She's declined my suggestion to get her own talk show.)

Here is a view of the rest of the presentation. What do you think about Carnegie's advice and its relevance for today's social media world? (That's me being genuinely interested in other people.)

21st Century Social Media Advice from 1936

View more OpenOffice presentations from Jeff James.

Starbucks Fights Back

Jeff James — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:35:30 -0400

Starbucks is placing full page ads in major newspapers trying to reclaim its legacy of setting the bar for the best-tasting coffee. Starbucks of course built their wildly successful business through 1990's - 2000's based on creating brand value around bringing great coffee to America and the world, as well as creating a hip, smart vibe in their stores.

Lately, Starbucks has been under attack on both fronts. McDonald's McCafe launched a blisteringly dead-onanti-Starbucks positioning ad that made fun of the snootiness factor. Stores such as Dunkin' Donuts launched "taste test" style ads to deconstruct the myth of Starbucks' coffee superiority (can you imagine how insulted Starbucks brass must have been..."Seriously? Dunkin' Donuts?").

In the latest Starbucks print ad that I saw this morning, they attempted to take back the great coffee position. It will be interestingto see if the marketplace buys into the pitch or if their position has been too damaged by the competition. Personally, I believe it's the combination of emotional and functional factors that Starbucks lost in the past 4-5 years that has hurt them the most. Over-expansion, sometimes into very non-Starbucky places such as interstate highway rest stops, diluted the "specialness" of visiting a Starbucks store.

Mythology Joins Empowered Marketing Initiative

Jeff James — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:19:14 -0400

Since its inception in late 2007, Mythology has sought to help organizations build belief in their business. We believe marketing is at its core a "belief management" discipline. What your own team members believe about yourself, and what customers and prospects believe about you, determine your true brand.

One thing we've noticed is that there is a lot of anxiety out there about how to generate better results in marketing. CEO's are finally demanding more insight into what they're getting out of their marketing budgets. Marketers are anxious about all the new social media tools and how to move forward.

That's why we have partnered with our web services and digital marketing partner WELD to launch Empowered Marketing. This approach to marketing gets back to basics with the Ten Pillars of Empowered Marketing, a set of assessment and planning milestones that calm the nerves and open the possibilities for marketers.

Check out the Empowered Marketing site and watch the videos explaining this unique, yet powerful, approach to marketing planning and execution. With Mythology's strategic research, planning and management services, and WELD's advanced web presence, digital content and search engine expertise, we are well-positioned to empower you to reach the next level of performance with your marketing.

Build or Borrow a Social Community?

Jeff James — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:55:30 -0400

The mad dash to set up Facebook fan or group pages by businesses has reached the early majority and may be entering into the late majority. Even United Airlines has a "fan" page (Is anyone really a fan of an airline? Notice they seem to have turned off posts. Perhaps JetBlue or Southwest Airlines in their early days?).

The social media platform player Ning has grown quite a bit recently as more organizations determine they want more control and functionality over their organization-sponsored social network. Ning allows you to brand your site to your liking (for the most part), set up your own profiles and integrate more content than a public social network like Facebook.

However, if you set up your own network, you'll have to work harder to get people to join and participate. Facebook's beauty is its inherent viral functionality; when someone signs up for your page, all of their friends see that they've done it and some will sign up also.

We think it is useful to think of using each tool at different points of the customer adoption funnel. For example, a Facebook fan page will probably generate more members at the earlier stage of commitment, but due to its light functionality, it is less likely to deeply engage.

A customer social community, on the other hand, is more likely to attract true advocates who are seriously ready to engage with like-minded advocates. This one that designed and manages for the Hatfield-McCoy off-road trail system is a great example. Fans of HMT are already deeply engaged in answering questions, connecting with each other, and providing feedback.

In some cases, companies and non-profits are forgoing a traditional web site and just launching a Ning-based site as their primary web presence. In many cases, especially where deep interaction with customers or constituents is important, this is a smart move.

Does your company participate in social communities? On what level? We'd love to hear about your successes and challenges in this ever-evolving world of social marketing.

What Does Zappos.com Sell, Really?

Jeff James — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:44:25 -0400

Zappos.com of course is the legendary online retailer. It's probably most famous for selling shoes and its rabid commitment to customer service. It has since gone on to sell many items, such as clothing, accessories, and bags.

Zappos.com's legend grew during a time when buying online was still quite a hassle. Who hasn't felt a twinge of uncertainty over buying something (especially clothing) online knowing that if you didn't like what you thought you bought, the hassle of returning it was far greater than stopping by a local store (a fact that many bricks and mortar retailers have leveraged in their ecommerce strategies).

You know the rest: How Zappos.com inserted a postage paid return envelope and a package in your shipment in case you didn't like it. How they encouraged people to buy it, try it and return it. How their customer service reps are encouraged not to follow call scripts, and how they have no time limits on their customer interactions. How they train their call center reps for weeks before turning them loose to spread Zappos.com joy. How they advertise free ground shipping, but most orders get shipped overnight...further surprising their customers with unexpected value.

So what is Zappos.com selling, really? What is their value proposition? It's customer joy, of course. They are selling a surprising, "wow" kind of emotional jolt. Let's be honest, it feels good to be treated extraordinarily. It's awesome to get someone on the other end of the phone who wants to help you, no matter how long it takes.

Some may counsel Zappos.com to stay focused, to stay in their retail niche. But customer joy is a powerful, extensible kind of value proposition. You can think of many industry niche scenarios where Zappos.com core value could improve things dramatically.

They are already monetizing their unique expertise and passion for customer joy by inviting other companies in to receive training on their model (is Zappos.com the next Disney Institute in this regard?). Their CEO has said, perhaps in jest - perhaps not, that he wouldn't rule out a Zappos.com airline someday.

Hmmm...An airline that brings customer joy. Sign me up.