You may have seen a commercial recently for Nationwide Insurance, where the female spokesperson does a short demo of the Nationwide iPhone app. It’s designed to be used in case of an accident, and according to the commercial, functions include:

-a flashlight

-a form for getting the other driver’s information

-a button that, when pressed, figures out the street address/location where the accident occurred

There were a few others, but those were the ones I remember. Taken individually, or even collectively, those features are cool, but aren’t game-changers. Nationwide has an iPhone app - and…?

This is a clear demonstration to their customers (and prospective customers) that they (a) are up-to-date with cool tech trends, and most importantly, (b) they use new technology in ways that BENEFIT THEIR CUSTOMERS.

This would work for any number of companies. Design an app that makes life easier for your customers. Whether it enhances a service you already provide through other channels (Nationwide, I’m assuming, already provides customer claims service via phone and maybe even online), or is a totally new offering, this is the type of effort that can pay huge dividends for your brand and your customers’ connection with it.

This is also why some companies are reaping such big rewards from social media. They don’t use Twitter or Facebook as tools to ram marketing messages down their customers throats; the best companies use it as a tool to enhance the customer’s experience with their brand.

Sorry, you children of the sixties…the answer to this question is NOT “absolutely nothing,” despite what you might be singing to yourselves now.

Listen to any marketing, PR, HR or customer service consultant these days, and they will tell you that social media is the wave of the future. You better get on board, because your competitors (and, more importantly, your customers) are! They’ll trot out case studies of companies that “get” social media - Whole Foods, Ford, Comcast - and point to them as self-evident examples of the absolute importance of social media in the strategy of any organization.

But if you really want to see a social media “evangelist” sweat, just ask him/her, “Why?”

Why does social media matter?

What can it do for my organization?

How will it help me make money?

First of all, let’s frame expectations. Social media is not the be-all, end-all miracle cure that some people make it out to be. Traditional tools for marketing, customer service and HR are vital and social media is not a replacement for them.

Here’s what social media does EXTREMELY well, when applied correctly: it helps companies build brand awareness and strengthen brand loyalty.

Tools like corporate blogs, Facebook and Twitter enable companies to connect with their customers - and when companies offer compelling content (exclusive discounts/offers, or even news and product announcements), their customers broadcast that content to the members of their network. Some marketers call that “viral marketing,” and that’s basically what it is - content getting passed from person to person until millions of people have watched the goofy video of the guy blending his iPhone.

These tools also help organizations foster loyalty among their customers by helping them feel “connected.” People who are “fans” of an organization on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, feel invested in that organization and have essentially opted-in to receiving personal, relevant communications (NOT just marketing messages).

And, when they follow or become fans of an organization, they know there’s a real person behind those communications they receive. This is especially helpful if a company (*cough Comcast cough*) has a negative customer service history. In an article in the New York Times, a Comcast customer said,

“It’s one thing to spit vitriol about a company when they can’t hear you…I immediately backed down and softened my tone when I knew I was talking to a real person.”

So…if you want a relatively low-cost way to build awareness of your brand, while establishing direct lines of communication with your customers and improving their perception of your organization (and by extension strengthening their brand loyalty)…THATis what social media is good for.

Marketing “Home Automation”

Control 4 manufactures a complete line of affordable wired and wireless home automation products. In just six short years, Control 4 has become the leader in ‘affordable’ home automation.

 

I had the pleasure of speaking briefly with co-founder, Eric Smith. When I asked him what makes Control 4 different from similar companies, he said “We’re more affordable and much easier to install.” Smith went on to say, “Most home automation products that are currently on the market require extensive wiring. Because our components communicate with each other wirelessly, they are much easier to install in existing homes.”

 

With dealers in over 33 countries distributing their products and a 45% growth rate last year, Control 4 is definitely doing something right.

 

The three keys to their success are:

 

1. Creating a product that is superior (and already has a built-in differentiator).
2. Knowing how to introduce that product to the marketplace and communicate its strengths.
3. Innovating to keep up with trends and stay ahead of the market.

Control 4 focuses its marketing efforts on appealing to resellers. This includes industry tradeshows and advertising in targeted trade publications. They also have a heavy focus on PR and have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wired Magazine and on Oprah.

 

In the coming years, Eric indicated that the company plans to begin marketing its products directly to the end consumer and “do-it-yourself” homeowners. They also have designed several modules that control a home to be more energy efficient. The trend to conserve energy and improve the environment is an expanding market that will give them even more of an edge over the competition.

 

To learn more about Control 4, visit their website at www.control4.com

William James said, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”

 

As a marketing consultant, I’ve seen lots and lots of complicated stuff:

• Statistical graphs and papers explaining complicated consumer patterns
• Focus groups analyzing brain waves
• Case studies involving years of research
• 200-page business plans

Not to mention, just to keep up with technology, you have to know about the latest social networks, websites, marketing software, articles, fads, trends… through your Blackberry, email, twitter account, rss feeds, facebook, myspace page… It’s exhausting.

 

I have literally spent months training myself not to obsessively-compulsively check my emails every three minutes.

 

Of course, email is important. Keeping up with technology is important. Following industry trends is important. BUT there is so much that is unimportant or just gets in the way of progress.

 

Here’s an exercise that you can do with your company to vastly improve your marketing results and simplify your life:

 

Hold a meeting with the important top executives/marketing decision makers at your company. Let them know the meeting is going to last for 60 minutes and they are not allowed to have their cell phones or any kind of electronic device for the entire 60 minutes. Their assistants are also not allowed to come in with notes or outside messages (unless it’s a matter of life and death).

 

Then ask this question, “What are 5 things we could be doing as a company to bring in more sales?”

 

Then have everyone write down their answers. Tell them that all five of their answers should fit on less than one page. Give them 5 minutes to do this.

 

Then go around the room and have them all share their 5 ideas (give them each 3 minutes to do so). Don’t let anyone else give feedback at this point. If the group likes the idea (by raise of hand), put it on a whiteboard or ‘master paper’. Your “master idea list” should be limited to the top 3-5 ideas.

 

After everyone has given their ideas and the ‘master idea list’ has been composed, spend the rest of the time simply addressing these four points for each idea:

1. What is the step-by-step process and who is responsible? i.e. step 1: Julie researches online for companies that may be interested in our services; step 2: Julie puts the information in our CRM system; step 3: Julie sends them an email about our services; step 4: Brian calls the companies and sets up an appointment with those interested; step 5: John goes to the appointment and does a need analysis…. and so on
2. What goals do we expect to achieve? i.e. we expect to gain 50 new leads a day, set up 1 new appointment per day, and close 1 per week.
3. How are we going to track it?i.e. we are going to have a report that tells us the number of new leads, calls, appointments and sales that were achieved every day - and Joe is in charge of following up on it with the team.
4. What needs to be in place for this to work smoothly? i.e. we need to have an email template designed that Julie can send out; we need to have Brian set aside 4 hours per day to make calls; we need to have our CRM ready to run the right reports; etc.

 

Don’t get bogged down with detouring details. If the meeting goes off on a tangent, bring it back in line.

 

Everything you write down should be obvious common sense. And all steps should be easy to follow and explain to your team.

 

When you are finished - you should have a very simple plan outlining exactly how you are going to bring in more sales.

 

The tricky part then becomes ensuring that your team is following the plan… more on that in the next post…

What is the difference between and offline and an online brand?

 

 

Now that we are in the “age of the internet,” it is crucially important for companies to understand how to successfully launch a digital brand.

 

But before we cover digital brands, let’s look at branding in general.

 

According to Wikipedia, “A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artefact or entity.”

 

The idea of branding is to create certain emotions in the minds of your consumers. In other words, when people think “Nike,” ideas of quality, performance, living the dream (like Michael Jordan) and athletics enter your mind. This is not by accident. Nike has spent years building it’s brand of “authentic athletic performance.”

 

The purpose of a digital brand is no different than an offline brand. There are, however, some differences that you should be aware of.

 

Word travels much faster now:

It used to be that you could launch a company slowly. Start on a local level and then go regionally and then nationally and then even internationally. With the internet, that has all changed. The market is not nearly as forgiving. If you have a concept that becomes popular online, it can spread like wildfire. The pro to this is that you can build a brand VERY quickly. The con is that your brand can fail just as quickly. If you mess up, the whole world knows about it and won’t touch you with a ten foot pole.

 

The Online Experience:

Digital branding is very dependent upon existing technology to provide an “experience.” Many companies miss out on the idea that their website and online material must function in a way that supports their brand. For example, check out Wal-Mart’s website - the experience of browsing through it is much like perusing their store. It is to-the-point and functional, there are many categories of products you can choose from, and you can shop by price which is very important to the Wal-Mart brand.

 

Now check out Gucci’s website. It feels luxurious. It functions well and a lot of effort has been put into the way the site responds and transitions to new screens. When you click on a product category, the products are displayed beautifully as if each one is a treasure. This is all a part of their brand. If Wal-Mart tried to create a luxurious site, they would lose customers because that is not what Wal-Mart customers value. Gucci customers value luxury, feeling glamourous and buying “the best” (at a price). These companies are two polar opposites and their digital brands express that.

 

A Level Playing Field:

It used to be that the “big players” in the business world were those with lots of money. They were the businesses that could spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns. That is not the case anymore. The internet has made it so that even start-up businesses with a shoestring budget can make a large impression and attract many customers. Because of the internet, big companies have many small competitors that can establish just as much online credibilty. This means that your online brand and image matters more than ever.

A big challenge in the digital marketing / digital media world we live in now is a false assumption.  It’s the assumption that cool new ways to reach an audience have changed the rules of marketing and branding. The internet is the greatest message delivery mechanism yet invented. But it’s important the message being delivered be guided by age old, time tested marketing principles.

 

These marketing principles, at their core, boil down to branding through differentiation – through your position in the market, your brand message, and the way the message is “dramatized”.  It’s creating the perception in your customer’s mind that your product or service is the one to meet their needs.  It’s clearly stating the difference, the reason that your product is better than your competitors.  When your customer’s perceptions cause them to choose your product over the competition’s, you’re well on your way.  The key to all of this is perception.  It’s less a question of whether your product really is better, and more a question of whether it’s perceived that way in the marketplace.

 

Most companies are convinced that their products are the ‘best’.  The issue is whether or not your customers – potential and actual – perceive it that way.  That perception is affected by branding… how the message of your product’s differentiation is “dramatized”.  That can occur through advertising, public relations, word of mouth – and increasingly, the internet, in its various forms, is the best choice for all three of these methods. 

 

But it’s easy to get caught up in the medium – at the expense of the message.  The message needs to do its job, no matter what medium it’s carried over.  And the job of the message is to clearly differentiate your product.  To give the customer the reason, in short, that they should buy yours instead of theirs.

 

This may all seems obvious, but mistakes abound in following these simple rules of the road.  And on the information highway, it’s easy to get lost in all the clever things that can be done with the latest, greatest Web 2.0 delivery mechanisms.

 

Example of what doesn’t work:  Heinz comes out with mustard… in a bottle shaped like their catsup bottle.  (You haven’t seen it, it flopped.)  The reason it flopped is in the customer’s mind – their perception, in other words – Heinz equals catsup. 

 

Example of what works:  Toyota spends one billion dollars in R and D, and rolls out the Lexus.  Not the ‘premium Toyota’, but the Lexus.  It becomes one of the most successful products in history.  In the perception of the customer, Lexus is a separate product from a Toyota.  It has it’s own category (Premium Luxury Car – Japan.)  Toyotas are reliable.  Lexus is luxurious.    

    

 Currently these kinds of messages (brand messages) can be communicated to the marketplace in a nano-second through digital media. Digital media is fast, powerful, everywhere at once.  So it’s more important than ever that the customer’s perceptions – the ones that exist now, and, just as critically, the new ones - that you are influencing – are carefully taken in to account.  Digital media is powerful, but it amplifies everything.  So mistakes (Heinz mustard) and successes (Lexus premium luxury cars) are amplified.

 

The bottom line – use the powerful new digital tools, and follow the lessons of the wise old men of marketing and advertising.  Proper attention paid to both creates the perfect approach to building your brand.

How LDSWA Founder Daryll Jonnson Turned Her Dream into a Reality

Latter-Day Woman Magazine

There are not many women in this world who are more sincere and loving than Daryll Jonnson. I’ve heard Daryll’s story many times, but it always inspires me. As said in her own words:

“I had been working for many years, in the corporate world, and although I enjoyed what I was doing, I did not feel a great deal of satisfaction. I felt that I wanted to really do something that would help others and that I was very passionate about.  Coming from the United Kingdom, I also had a desire to find something that would allow me to interact with other LDS women across the oceans…

… Then, in a quiet moment, while sweeping the floor of all things and feeling desperation because I was getting no answers, a strong impression and idea permeated my whole body and left me feeling “WOW…. where did that come from?”  Again, I prayed about it and received confirmation that this was the path I was to follow – to form a women’s alliance, the LDSWA.”

LDSWA launched its new online presence in July of 2008. Shortly thereafter, it launched Latter-Day Woman, its online magazine, and Our Ladies Room, its social networking site. Within only several short months, their magazine is already being read by women in over 48 countries.

LDSWA is an amazing company with so many things it’s doing right, but the thing that really makes it such a success is Daryll’s ability to tell a story that is remarkable. And the reason it is so remarkable is not only because it is different, but mostly because it is so relevant. Her idea has spread like wild fire throughout the LDS women’s community because there are so many women who didn’t have a place to congregate online. Daryll has provided this in a sincere, humble way.

When you can tell a story about your business that comes from the heart, it makes all the difference. It’s not about a slick advertising campaign. It’s about being sincere and tapping into a need (or want) that isn’t being fulfilled.

If you are interested in learning more about LDSWA, visit www.ldswa.com.

Is your product or service ‘on code’? Every culture has a “code” – for love, health, beauty, sex, family, obesity, home… even cars. Marriage, drinking, music, movies…. different cultures have different ‘codes’ for all of these important facets of life.

 

How is this relevant to marketing and branding? It’s important that when you advertise and promote your product, it’s ‘on code.’ An example of a product that was on code a few years ago was Chrysler’s PT Cruiser. Dr. Rapaille, a French marketing consultant that conceived the Culture Code, ran sessions for Chrysler and determined that the American code for cars is IDENTITY. Based on this, the design and marketing of the P T Cruiser reflected the sense of identity that Americans take in their cars, and the product was a smash.

 

Some brands are ‘off code.’ Although it was lauded in the press as an innovative way to market their firming lotion, Dove’s “Real Women” campaign is actually ‘off code.’ The American code for youth is MASK. In general, lotions and creams that are marketed to U S women should reflect that they will replace an aging, wrinkled look with a ‘mask’ of smooth, youthful skin. The more the marketing and the message reflect this ideal… even if it’s at odds with reality… the more it is on code. Dove’s real women campaign more or less promised women that they would look like every other real woman – very off code. What women want in a beauty product is to look like an ideal woman… to be provided with a mask that will immediately make them young and beautiful.

 

There are codes for every important part of life – and every important product or service. Determining the real reason people buy can have a huge impact on the success of your marketing program.

 

It Starts When They’re Young

Codes are formed most strongly in the early years. Children become imprinted with different meanings from infant to seven years of age.

 

In the seventies, Nestle was frustrated in their attempts to open the Japanese market for their instant coffee products. Utilizing the process of determining the Japanese code for coffee, it was determined that there wasn’t any. There was no imprint of any kind in Japanese culture for this product. Nestle concluded that they would have to start with the rising generation… and by introducing a line of coffee flavored sweets and candies (for kids), they started the process of imprinting a code for coffee in to the Japanese culture.

 

Our earliest memories and emotions stay with us well in to our senior years. More than we can imagine, they effect our choices and the decisions we make… whether we realize it or not. How we respond to the way a product is presented and positioned is heavily affected by these subconscious memories and codes.

 

To the degree that you can determine the ‘real’ code for your product and service, you can ensure that your message is on code.

 

(For more information on the ‘code’, contact us at VirtualMG or check out the book “The Culture Code” by Clotaire Rapaille.)