Aligned Marketing Blog

I talked with two well-regarded companies last week, both leaders in their industry, and came away with the feeling that their marketing teams are being dumped on. Their stories are remarkably alike.

Their IT Departments built capable websites years ago under the direction of senior management. Both sites contain useful information, have comparable functionality to their competitor’s sites, and represent their brands well. They are, in effect, brochure sites designed to communicate a general message to a general audience. Both sites were developed based on generic business goals.

Sometime between the birth of those sites and today senior management figured out that a website is a strategic asset. A website needs to be part of an overall business and marketing strategy. I know, shocking.

Senior management goofed. Now they want marketing to lead complete makeovers of these websites and, in addition, launch the company into the world of social media. The word "world-class" was used by both teams. As Sportscaster Keith Jackson would say, “Whoa Nellie!”

First, this is a great opportunity for marketing to step up and make a major contribution. The problems are:

1. The existing marketing teams have minimal competence in online marketing. They have a basic understanding of the web, as consumers, but lack the deep understanding needed to create an exceptional web-strategy from the ground up.
2. The existing marketing team has always been a support group, the nice people that create brochures, so they have little strategic capabilities and the requisite confidence needed to lead effectively.
3. Senior management has failed to articulate the business goals that are necessary for successful online marketing.

That last point is critical. As mentioned, both teams have been told they need to build “a world-class website.” As I told them, I’m in the business of building websites and I don’t know what that means. No one does without a clear understanding of the overall business goals.

Here’s why. A world-class website must be tied to a business goal. The architecture of a world-class website built to drive lead generation can be markedly different from a world-class website built to be a central repository for technical information, a library of support, if you will.

Can the two goals co-exist on one website? Sure they can. You bet. In fact, every page should have a business goal. The same applies to social media.

The company’s social media goals need to be well defined. Are you trying to become or extend your role as thought leader? Is the goal to reduce customer service costs by utilizing platforms such as Facebook and Twitter? Or are you just trying to drive more traffic to your website?

There’s no absolute right or wrong here. I take that back. I think it’s wrong when senior management fails to do their job and then dumps on marketing.

Steve Hartkopf

800-707-9150

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Social media is really nothing more than an online reflection of the offline world. The offline process that leads up to a sale; "know me, like me, trust me," also applies to the online world of social media. Sales happen at the end of that process in both worlds.

That sounds simple because it is. What’s striking is how many people get it terribly wrong. Instead of taking the time to get involved in an online community, much as any good business person would if they joined the local Chamber of Commerce, most people rush to the Close. They broadcast their sales pitch out randomly, hoping to hit a target. What a total waste of energy, not to mention the damage done to your brand.

When they don’t hit a target, they blame the medium, the technology. “I tried social media and it didn‘t work.” That’s a crock but it is easier than blaming themselves. It’s easier than doing the hard work involved and dedicating the time to do truly join a community and contribute real value. It’s easier than being a responsible citizen.

Responsibilities are serious business. Avoiding your responsibilities to build trust in the community, which is that you are doing if you just throw out your pitch randomly, means you are a spammer. Spammer is an ugly word in our wired-up world. So ugly that in it’s most literal sense, it’s illegal. Most of us have software installed on our computers to block these cretins.

Opening accounts on social sites such as LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter and the others for the single purpose of promoting yourself is a bad strategy. Get involved! Become an active member of the community. Provide value. Give good advice and engage with a servant’s heart. Keep the conversation going on the forum itself, don’t try to divert members to your site, your self-interest. Wait until you’re asked.

Take the time to comment and vote on other people’s content. Visit other people’s blogs and “RT” (retweet) good information, Friend those you know or who have similar interests as you and call-out the spammers. Finally, rather than quantity you should seek quality.

In other words focus your efforts on the social sites you are going to be involved in and sites that contain a group of people who can relate to your content and perspective. Don’t submit an article on postpartum depression to a social network convened around Fantasy Football.

As is always the case, to reap the rewards you must do the work. Everyone, as I taught my two boys, pays List Price for success.

Add value to the community and the community will reciprocate.

Steve

800-707-9150

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Describe your business in terms of benefits and value so the person you are talking to can better understand how you can help them, regardless of what it is you do. “I‘ve been building estate homes in Chicago since 1977” is more descriptive and better than, “I’m a builder,” because it infers some of the benefits you provide and encourages a conversation.

The second version lets the other person know you have solid experience, probably know a lot about a specific geography, you build big-expensive house and, finally, it implies the homes you build are constructed well. If those inferences were not true it is unlikely you'd have been in business since "1977." If you had simply said, “I’m a builder,” you would miss all those important attributes and benefits. Successful people never make this error and almost every successful person I’ve met is a good conversationalists.

A conversation allows you and the other person to determine if your unique expertise fits their unique needs and if your personalities are compatible for a business relationship.

So, the next time you meet someone describe your business or profession in interesting terms that conveys the benefits you provide.

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Does your company have specific business goals for your social media activities? If not, you should.

In a November 2009 survey MarketingSherpa discovered that approximately ninety-four percent (see chart below) of those surveyed use social media to increase their website traffic, which is not surprising.

What might surprise you is twenty-one percent don’t actually measure their results and five percent have no specific objectives for their social media activities. So I can only assume that they’re on LinkedIn and Tweeting, for example, because they think it’s the right thing to do.

Doing something for the sake of doing it doesn’t sound like real business to me, does it to you?

The other thing that surprised me was the relatively low number of respondents who use social media to reduce their customer acquisition and customer support costs. I mean, the tools are free!

The bottom line is social media is a free and easy to use platform for promoting your business and communicating directly with your customers and prospect, so use it.

If you’re not sure how, give us a call.

Steve Hartkopf

800-707-9150

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1. Fire
2. Jesus and
3. the Internet

I know a lot more happened, I just think the rest of it is largely subtext. I guess I’m a big picture guy. Some of us operate at 20,000 feet and some us at 3 feet. That’s fine. We’re just different. One view is not necessarily better than the other and we need both types of people (and a lot more) in the world. We all have a role to play.

Even though I consider myself a decent writer, I’m not the guy to hire if you want to a write long detailed process manual, which may be needed to implement a strategy. I’d get about 90% through, get bored and struggle with the last 10%. Attention to detail has been a life-long issue for me. My best work has been done when I had highly analytical teammates, people to help me with details. These differences are good, in fact they’re important.

Can you imagine how boring it would be if every night you sat down with your friends and family and said, “Okay, what should we talk about? Fire, Jesus or the Internet?” That wouldn’t work well, although I know people who, it seems, do only talk about the last two.

It’s hard to figure out your own set of words. It takes time and effort to work through and reconcile your inner-most thoughts and feelings. But that’s exactly how we learn about ourselves. My little three-word exercise is just one tactic and those are my results.

I’m going to assume your list, your top three (fifteen, whatever) is different than mine and that’s the point. Write your own list. Once you have it, study it. What does it tell you about yourself? How can you incorporate your natural tendencies, the real you, into your work? How can you mix it into your fun?

I’ve shared my list. Care to share yours?

Steve

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1. Project centric: The change that is required to make tomorrow better than today is often measured by the number of projects completed. Outsourcing is project-centric and delivers results with minimal impact on day-to-day operations or personnel.
2. Size doesn’t matter: Small projects such as web design, training and video production are ideal for outsourcing for all but the largest corporations, those with virtually unlimited internal capabilities. Large projects that require an outside perspective, such as institutionalizing Six Sigma or Strategic Pricing, are excellent projects to outsource since true change rarely happens from the inside out.
   
3. Skills: Outsourcing lets you acquire specialized skills to accomplish goals, complete projects and augment your existing resources. Projects that are popular to outsource are social media tasks, such as blogging, search engine optimization, and specialized training or coaching like improving presentation skills.
4. Cost effective: Outsourcing is a variable cost option and preferred by many over adding full-time employees, which is a fixed cost solution. In this economy variable cost projects are approved easier than new headcount. Since outsourcing is a global industry adding world-class talent to your team is not as expensive as hiring talent.
5. Velocity: Speed can make the difference between good and excellent. Outside providers can deliver resources, even in large quantities, quickly while hiring fill-time expertise can take weeks or even months.
6. Technology: Few companies can afford the money to purchase or the time it takes to learn the latest technologies available in every function – sales, marketing, IT, logistics, etc. Outsourcing allows you to rent the best technology available from the best providers.
7. Accountability: Outsourced resources do not suffer from goal diffusion or the day-to-day fire-drills that impact full-time staff and extend project deadlines. An outside provider of resources has one responsibility and one priority, which is to complete the project. Their focus delivers better results and greater accountability.

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Our economy is in the rough and, while most are slashing expenses, people and marketing budgets, some leaders are using this pre-recovery time to increase investments in marketing. In a recent BtoB Magazine survey, “2010 Outlook: Marketing Priorities and Plans Survey results, 11-16-09, 71% of those surveyed are investing more in their website in 2010 than they did in 2009.

In a separate study from Bain covering over 2500 companies, about 24 percent more firms were shown to “move from the back of the pack to the front of the pack,” with regards to sales and profits, during recessions than do during non-recessionary times. Do significant marketing investments during a recession make sense?

It did for Southwest Airlines and Wal-Mart (see Monday’s post). Both were noted in the Bain study for their vision and results but other companies have made smart pre-recovery investments as well. For example, the “Intel Inside” campaign was launched during a recession in the 1990’s. Before that, Proctor & Gamble invested heavily in Ivory Soap during the Great Depression and achieved spectacular results that lasted for decades. What is it that Southwest, Wal-Mart, Intel, Proctor & Gamble, great companies all, knows that other companies seem to miss?

It’s this, marketing investments that are consistent and aligned with your customers’ needs and aspirations are always wise investments. Now is the time to assess your customers’ needs, as well as your own strengths and goals, and invest.

Slashing marketing to survive in 2008-2009 may have been necessary but now you have to play the ball were it lies. What’s your plan for 2010 and 2011? Do you know what your competitors are doing? Who was weakened by the recession and who became stronger is important marketing intelligence. As the dust settles, where do you stand or do you even know?

A return to the pre-recession competitive landscape in 2010 is unlikely. The mammoth adjustments necessary for survival changed the playing field. You and your competitors were not affected equally and new options, most likely driven by technology and the web, are available to your customers and prospects. In every segment of the economy customers are beginning to look at products and services through a new, post-recession lens. How visible are you?

John Donahoe is CEO of eBay and to summarize what he said,

“It’s not about battening down the hatches and waiting for the storm to pass anymore than it is about betting big in the vague hope your hunches will pay off. Instead, it’s about executing what you do well better than ever before, making improvements, seeing the potential in new opportunities and, most importantly, having the vision to see beyond the immediate situation and taking action…“There is more market-share shift in turbulent times than there is in good times — more of an opportunity for a strong company to gain ground.”

Donahoe is right. You can’t stand over the ball forever. At some point you have to pick a club, commit to the shot and make an aggressive best swing. Are you going to play another round defensively, trying not to shoot over 100? Or are you going to play aggressively in hopes of breaking 90? It’s your choice. Take the shot.

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About 24 percent more firms moved from the back of the pack to the front in the 2001 recession compared with the subsequent period of economic calm (in terms of) net profit margins and sales growth.

Southwest Airlines is a good example. With a strong balance sheet and some cost advantages, Southwest grew sales and market share, while the other airlines, their larger competitors, cut personnel and capacity, Southwest grew and took share by increasing their marketing investments, lowering fares and retaining all their employees, a move that kept their labor force motivated and and loyal for years.

The results were astounding. Southwest increased its fleet 51 percent in the following six years and is still the only airline to be profitable since its inception. Wal-Mart offers another example of investing during a recession. They used the 2001 recession to launch their “Everyday Day Low Prices” slogan. It proved was such as success that they’re doing something similar today, you could say it's their recession-based marketing strategy. 

This time Wal-Mart is using the current downturn, as well as the demise of Circuit City, to enter consumer electronics and, potentially, challenge Best Buy. In addition, they are remodeling their stores to make them more open and consumer-friendly, more like Target’s. These are big investments. Does Wal-Mart know something most companies don’t? Does their success allow them to do what others can’t? Or are they successful because they had the knowledge and courage to act on their goals and aspirations while their competitors responded to their fears?

On Wednesday's post, The Shot, we’ll discuss tactics.

Steve

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1. Grab your reader's attention. Begin with an interesting fact, important question, comment on a current event or something personal, such as congratulations for being named Person of the Year.
2. Then transition your reader into the purpose of your letter - introduce your company, request an appointment, or a free offer, for example. Be sure to connect your request with your grabber from (what will be) paragraph one. Your transition is key, it must be both smooth and brief, people are busy. See next bullet.
3. In today's hurry-up, get-to-the-point world, many people switch the first two bullets of their outline. they begin letters by coming right out and stating, "The purpose of this letter is to request a 30-minute appointment to..." and then write their grabber. I prefer a subtler approach but will use the direct approach if I know the reader well.
4. Insert numbers or testimonials that back up your claims next. A list of indented bullets works well for either. People like reading lists of tightly written facts - summaries.
5. Your fourth section/paragraph is your call-to-action. Tie your attention grabber or your reader's self-interest into the benefits of responding to your solicitation. I don't sell actual products so I often use mutual gain as my call-to-action: "I propose a 30-minute meeting to better understand your business objectives, review our capabilities and determine if we can help one another achieve our  goals..."
6. Your final outline point let's your reader know that your letter is one of a series of contacts, that there are more to come. Explain that you will be following up by voicemail, email or both. Basically, you're telling them "you're not going away, so let's have our conversation and see where it leads."

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