Easy as X-Y-Z

By Wendy J. Miller

The basics of marketing are simple. Take a product or service, which we’ll call X. Anticipate what potential consumers want, Y. Align X with a promise to deliver Y to produce the client’s goal, Z – be it trial, positive perception, or brand loyalty. Repeat.  Here’s the rub: to be successful, the formula needs to ring true in reverse too: product/service X + trial/perception/loyalty Z needs to deliver on brand promise Y.

The formula works wonders with concrete brand promises, which marketers make when a product is different in a meaningful way from its competitors. For example, Apple makes a new computer. Recognizing consumers’ frustrations with their PC’s knack for crashing, Mac creates a series of ads poking fun at its counterpart’s inadequacies. The message resonates with Steve, so he goes and buys an iMac. It doesn’t crash. Steve tells his friends. Some, encouraged by his testimonial, buy one too, and tell their friends. The story practically writes itself, especially advertising supports what you friend has already told you.  It’s a “true” confirmation of the message you need/want to hear.

But when a product is materially similar to its competitors’ (like in the soft drink industry), marketers often need to make intangible brand promises to differentiate the offering. Ultimately, their goal is to link their brand with a highly desired feeling or esteemed value so that consumers have something to buy into – a perceived reason to favour one product over another.

In the past, this has been accomplished this through traditional advertising. For example, Coca-Cola has been selling “happiness” for decades through cinematics.  First there was “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” (and, of course, that would lead to world peace) and now there’s “Open Happiness” which continues to market Coke to the world.  But these days, people are much more media savvy and reluctant to drink the corporate Kool-Aid, er, Coke. 

So rather than just tell consumers through traditional media that Coke is happiness, Coca-Cola has begun to show consumers how great Coke-flavoured happiness can be by bringing it to real people, and then sharing it with others through social media as a form of brand testimonial.  This act makes an abstract brand concept more concrete, more tangible, more real.

Does it make everyone want to run out and buy a Coke? Probably not. But that’s not what it aims to do. It is intended to increase positive perception about the drink and support its brand promise – happiness – so that you, and your friends, can share a global feel good moment, courtesy of Coca-Cola. 

Twitter or Fritter?

By Pam Hadder

Have you gotten the jump on social media? Personal or business, do you use Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube? How about LinkedIn and other networking sites? There's no denying the presence and the influence of social media in our lives today.

In a business context, social media is often "sold" as a low-cost or no-cost tactic to generate and sustain awareness about a company, product, charitable cause or event. Social media can support these objectives, but it is not a stand-alone solution, and if you do the math, it's not FREE - and it is really low-cost?

We are living in a time of rapid change, but one facet remains constant: time is MONEY. Given the undisputed value of time, consider that many organizations pay staff to set up, maintain and stoke the coals of social media machinery. What does an entry level or part-time employee cost, factoring in a modest salary, applicable taxes and benefits? Likely, the cost is at least 30k - 40k per year - a significant sum for most small to mid-size companies.

Many marketers like the idea of being able to easily supply a bundle of stats, served up in many variations to support the use of social media tactics. But do these numbers translate into TRUE VALUE, particularly when balanced with the amount of time spent maintaining the social media vehicles?

Research shows that as soon as the user eases up on the volume of social media posts, their followers rapidly decline. Interestingly, if the user is too prolific or salesy, this also will cause a lemmings-to-the-sea type of exodus! Yet another pitfall can be the dreaded automated tweet scenario - those seeking true networking value, fresh perspectives and noteworthy tidbits will quickly grow disenchanted with canned, repetitive posts. The kicker: there is no control over who will follow you and for how long - social media truly is a crap shoot with many variables affecting outcomes.

And what is the value of a follower anyway? How can that be measured with integrity? What is really achieved with our fleeting bleeps into the virtual void? Have you considered that the social media providers and developers might skew report data to build the case for use? Consider the recent scandal with Groupon's fairy-tale reports of huge profits, while in reality they were bleeding $$$.

As we grow more comfortable with the various social media applications, it becomes clear that some control needs to be executed to keep Twitter and friends from becoming time frittered with "friends"! Social media can become the one-armed bandit of your working and leisure hours, just one more tweet, one more post, one more link - someone will get what I am saying; we'll make a profound connection and the numbers will explode!

It may be that social media is a sentence fragment, a loosely conceived script that never quite gets to the crux of things, a puff of smoke in a windstorm, and yes, a lottery of sorts where the right number at a precise moment may result in a bounty... or not.

Trust Your Gut

By Pam Hadder

Recently, SWJ was asked to respond to an RFP - not a big deal, we've responded to many RFPs and have won a number of new jobs and some long term clients in this way. What was unusual was how the process evolved into a meaningless exercise.

We should have heeded our inner alarm bells, but the referral came to us from a respected and trusted contact, so we quashed any misgivings and gave the RFP our full attention.

The good news, we over-delivered and felt great about our end result.The bad news (Part One) is that we didn't get the work. The even worse news (Part Deux) is that a publisher won the RFP! This publisher bills themselves as a "PR company" - not only is this untrue, they do not have a team with the skill-set to complete the items identified in the RFP.

Yes, a prickly situation - to be trounced by posers with no marketing campaign experience, no web development and programming ability; and with debatable understanding of PR! To say we were gob smacked by this turn of events is really an understatement.

Looking back, there were so many red flags - flaming red, actually: the group was slow to confirm the details of the RFP and delivery time lines, the meeting time was changed at the last minute; the re-scheduled meeting ran through typical lunch hours (guess who supplied a lovely lunch?); only two of the four expected guests attended the meeting, with one guest arriving late; and the latecomer had the audacity to mock our walls covered in advertising and marketing awards on his way out the door (???).

The moral of our tale - always trust your gut. Never get sucked in by the dine-and-dash crowd who ask for all of the flexibility on your part, but deliver little commitment on their end. Know your value and guard it with your life.

I think of our strategic marketing and advertising firm as a five-star restaurant with a wonderful, ever-changing menu tailored to the unique needs of our diverse clientele. Patrons of our restaurant can survey the menu prices and choose according to their preference and allotted budget. When someone orders everything on the menu and we deliver, as ordered, our expectation is that we will be paid for our work.

We are just lucky that all these pirates gobbled up was some of our time, our preliminary thoughts and a free lunch! Eyes bigger than your tum-tum, Buddy? Not a problem - we'll box it up for you in some award winning packaging "to go!"

The Popular Voice

By Pam Hadder

We are riding the wave of technological change -- no doubt about it. Apple's release of the iPad tablet in 2010 had us all thinking of the impact on how we do business, communicate, and share information. Starry-eyed and hopeful, we considered the ease-of-use and portability and where it could work for us.

And of course, before even purchasing the device, we immediately anticipated the next iPad version -- hoping it has some phone functionality, Skype aside! It was hard not to get a little App-happy if not with the iPad, with the zippy little iPhone, closely tailed by all of the wannabe "smart phones" that flooded the market in its wake.

Social media, combined with smart technologies, has allowed individuals to have their say, interact with others and generate a buzz, with immediacy and in real time. Some of the repercussions have not been positive -- consider crimes recorded and shared; cyber stalking, cyber bullying, over-exposure, and just plain old TMI (too much information); not to mention the annoyances of text-a-lot types on the commute, on the street, at the gym and in business meetings.

As with wine and chocolate, in Facebook, Twitter etc., not everyone has the ability or good judgment to know what defines a reasonable amount -- real addictions have been speedily acknowledged and treatment plans developed for those latched a tad too tightly to social media and their smart devices. And locally, laws were quickly passed to stop drivers from texting and phoning while operating their vehicles.

In the 1960's, Pop Art icon, Andy Warhol, spoke about the future as a time when we all would be "world-famous for 15 minutes" -- but Warhol never envisioned the power and speed of current communication methods, and he never said anything about the quality of our brushes with greatness.

The funny thing is that there still is a contingent that talks about quality, the appetite for quality and such, but as with social media, do the majority of smart-equipped folks have the ability to distinguish the gold from the dross? Or are we just hooked on hearing our own voices, seeing our own faces, and getting our two cents worth in at any cost? Does anyone stop spinning the dial long enough to consider the cost versus the true value? Is sheer volume of interest true value, just because you can measure it? Having a giant pile of something doesn't make it precious or necessary -- or does it?