How to Boost Marketing Message

What is the major reason a customer makes a purchase that most advertising misses?

Ask that questions of any sales, advertising, PR, Promotion and marketing person you know. You'll hear price, convenience, timing, need and more, but the answer is almost always perceived or real benefit to be received. Will it make us healthier, sexier, stronger, faster, look better and so on?

The failure in most marketing communication is a focus on features not the benefit. This should be as obvious as the nose on your face. It is commonsense. It is too rarely used.

Don't forget the benefits!

Make Customers Want to Keep Your Ads - Smart Marketing Move

This week’s Smart Marketing Move goes to Campbell’s!

Everyone knows they make soup, soup is soup right? In one of their advertisements they included a recipe. Along with a picture of the final product and the product that makes the recipe, Creamy Chicken Soup.

This is a great way to move more products that might not sell as much. Most people know to use cream of mushroom in recipes but might not think of Cream of Chicken.

So nice work Campbell’s, you’ve taken your advertisement to the next level! This is now something that your customers will KEEP.

Lesson Learned: Think of a way to get your customers to KEEP your advertisement, even if it is just for a little bit. It could be a coupon that expires in 2-3 months, it could tips on your business topic, and like Campbell’s it could be a recipe.

Small Business Call In 1

Enhancing Your Brand with a Celebrity - Smart Marketing Move

This week’s Smart Marketing Move goes to Geico.

They’ve had a lot of good ads in the past, even one that they attempted to turn into a TV show, the cavemen. But this time they went a different direction, rather than going with a mascot like their gecko, they had a TV commercial that featured a country music star.

I don’t listen to country, so I don’t really know many or any of the stars. While I was doing laundry at the Laundromat, they had on the Country Music Awards and right before the opening segment Geico had this 30 second commercial run.





I thought that’s funny, someone who plays the fiddle, that got my attention. Then as the CMA’s started, the same guy came out and jammed out a song. I’m not sure if this part was planned, but he was wearing the same thing in the commercial as he was at the awards. Immediately, my mind went back to the Geico commercial. So Kudos Geico! You did a nice job integrating your commercial into a very large event with a very large audience and it stuck to someone who wasn’t even a fan!

Lesson Learned: Celebrities can really enhance your company or brand’s stickiness. Although Geico definitely has money to invest, think about your local celebrities on the radio or on TV. Approach them with an idea of how you want them to represent your company/brand and see your brand recognition soar!

The Art of Being Succinct in Business

Years ago I attended a Toastmasters meeting where I was asked to describe what I do in 5 words or less. Try it, it's not easy!

My answer was "I help people work smarter." As a business owner, or marketing CEO, you want to develop what is called an elevator pitch, usually less than 90 seconds, that gives a more in depth description of your business. When communicating in print, short and to the point is usually more powerful and effective than a paragraph of elaborate descriptions. Think about good billboard advertising, it usually makes the company's point in less than 6 words. Also, remember quotations are popular with people because they deliver a powerful message succinctly.

You might want to review your advertising and ask yourself, and others, whether you are communicating verbally and visually succinctly.

Communicating from the Right Perspective

What is the one subject that your target audience is most interested in? 

Themselves!

Thus you need to be communicating from their perspective, not yours. What "message" impacts sales of your products or services more than anything else? Is is Price, Features, Benefits? It's the latter, whether they are real or perceived benefits, they are the points that need to be communicated to answer the question - What's in it for me to become (or stay) your customer?

Smart Quote and Thought - Lee Iacocca

{A "Smart Thought" (quotation) is a succinct way of stating a powerful point. How one interprets that point impacts the actions one takes.}

Quote of the Week: "Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people." - Lee Iacocca

Smart Marketing Thought: Motivation in business creates inspiration that generates perspiration from the efforts of those exposed to it, thus delivering positive results.



If you have a Smart Thought you'd like to express with your interpretation email MarketingSmartly@aol.com, with the subject line SMART THOUGHT SUBMISSION. At the end of each month, we'll choose one for a small but stimulating prize.

Integrity and Reputation

These two words - Integrity and Reputation - are locked together; they are permanently intertwined and cannot, nor should not, be separated.

Over the last few years the business community has gotten pretty well beat up due to the behavior of some big players. Does that mean all business people are dishonest? Absolutely not! But there is a fact of business life that holds true today as it did a hundred years ago. It takes far longer to build a good reputation than it takes to lose one. 

It is not only imperative, but a smart marketing move to ensure all aspects of your business is ran with integrity and transparency because when you do it will pay big dividends in customer retention and profitability.

Smart Quote and Thought - Charles Schulz

{A "Smart Thought" (quotation) is a succinct way of stating a powerful point. How one interprets that point impacts the actions one takes.}

Quote of the Week: "Life is like a 10 speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use." - Charles Schulz

Smart Marketing Thought: Maximize your full potential by using all the tools (and techniques) available to you.



If you have a Smart Thought you'd like to express with your interpretation email MarketingSmartly@aol.com, with the subject line SMART THOUGHT SUBMISSION. At the end of each month, we'll choose one for a small but stimulating prize.

What is Marketing?

Marketing means many things to many people depending on the perspective at which they are viewing the role they think marketing should be fulfilling, How would you define it? Is it advertising, public relations, sales promotion, merchandising, direct mail, telemarketing, special events, customer service, social media …how should it be defined?

Marketing can be envisioned either as mosaic or a jigsaw puzzle in which many pieces have to be joined together to create a visual image that presents the full picture of the integrated strategy necessary to achieve the desired results. Theodore Levitt, the marketing guru of the 70s, from the Harvard Business School defined Marketing as --

"All the exhilarating big thins and all the troublesome little things that must be done in every nook and cranny of the entire organization in order to achieve the purpose of attracting and holding the customer.'"

Written over 40 years ago the essence of the concept is probably more accurate today, with all the tools and technology available, than ever before.

Be Open to Change - Smart Thought

{A "Smart Thought" (quotation) is a succinct way of stating a powerful point. How one interprets that point impacts the actions one takes.}

It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date." - Roger von Oech

Smart Thought: Be open to change because the odds are your competition won't be.


If you have a Smart Thought you'd like to express with your interpretation email MarketingSmartly@aol.com, with the subject line SMART THOUGHT SUBMISSION. At the end of each month, we'll choose one for a small but stimulating prize.

Trust the Bow Tie - Smart Marketing Move

Everyone wants to know the weather, even if they can see it right outside of their window. They want to know what’s to come, and what damage has happened from the force of past wind or rain. So what channel do you watch for the weather? Is one really better than the other? Meteorologists are all looking at the same clouds, and mostly predicting the same outcome of weather. But there is one NBC station, located in Philadelphia, which recently started thinking differently about their weather guy.

Their weather man, Glen Schwartz, always wears bow ties. Since I can remember he’s worn these ties. It’s his thing. Before it was just something quirky he did and something everyone laughed about to themselves while watching the weather; now they’re taking advantage of it. This is the perfect example of thinking differently, and out of the box. They’re using this bow tied character to create loyalty to their weather than any other broadcaster’s with one simple phrase, “Trust the Bow Tie” and a simple photo of the tie in their advertising.

The bow tie has been staring NBC 10’s marketing team in the face for years, and it’s about time they use it the way they should! Maybe this only dawned on them after Glen Schwartz was named the 79th Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) in the country, in Oct 2005. He is one of the first broadcast meteorologists in Philadelphia to earn this prestigious recognition. Whatever the case, NBC10’s marketing team in Philadelphia gets the “Smart Marketing Move” Award, Jan 1, 2010.

Lesson Learned: You might be ignoring your best asset for your marketing efforts.

Are Ad Agencies Becoming Irrevelant in a Marketing Oriented World?

I was in a discussion with an EVP of a major New York Ad Agency regarding the increased importance of an integrated marketing approach. The goal was to ensure that clients would have the maximum benefits that come from combining, in an effective manner, the advertising, PR, promotion and all the other elements of the marketing mix to create truly measurable results. We had talked about creating a team of experienced professionals under the guidance of a Marketing Supervisor who oversaw the actions of the various disciplines to ensure they were properly integrated and reinforcing each other to maximize the business potential for the client. That discussion took place in 1973.

Do you think the time has come for agencies to reinvent themselves on a business model such as that? Do you feel it would be a Smart Move?

Let's hear your thoughts

Maturity's Role in Marketing Staff

What role does maturity play in the effectiveness of an agency or corporate marketing staff?

Experience is the basis for making good judgments but experience is learned from making bad judgments. Youth lacks experience because it lacks the time needed to hone one's expertise, build a network of beneficial resources and have an encyclopedia of actual experience to tap into. So why do you think so many marketing staffs of corporations and their agencies are so light on mature, seasoned staff? Is it strictly based on that young people are less expensive to hire and maintain? Does that inexperience have a cost to these companies and if so what and where?

Would a Smart Move be that all would be better off to have available an "Experience Advisory Board" to help those seeking guidance, with the positioning that those taking such action are showing their maturity in caring that the client (and/or the firm) benefit from the best thinking.

What are your thoughts?