Last Things First

Recently, the world lost Steven Covey, a remarkable writer who is famous for authoring "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I remember picking it up on audiotape and listening to it during my commute time. I marveled at the simplicity and common sense messages he packaged so neatly. He really had a way of getting to the nuggets of truth inside human behavior and teasing out simple strategies for making us more effective people.

Among those habits was "Start with the End in Mind." I like this one the best because, as a marketing strategist, it is a mantra I have always promoted with my employers and, today, my clients. Whenever someone comes to me and says "I need a brochure" or "I need a marketing plan," my first question is always "what is your goal?"

By starting with the end in mind, we can save ourselves a lot of time chasing down rabbit trails that will take us nowhere. If I know that I want to increase my sales of widget A by 10% in the next 90 days, then I have a nice, specific target to go after. It refines my thinking. It keeps me on task.

Whether you are creating a new website or a business card, try starting with the end in mind. You will get a better result just by thinking through what you hope to accomplish. Because another favorite saying of mine is "if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

How to write a Marketing Plan

A lot of businesses are wary of the “Marketing Plan.” Too often, they envision it as a big binder stuffed full of useless data collected to impress people. In this vision, there is a complicated chart filled with dates, names of responsible people, milestones and gibberish about CPM, gross ratings points and Nielsen ratings. They dismiss the need for a plan because they have a few sitting on the shelf collecting a thick cover of dust.

So I developed a more streamlined version - one that takes up just 2 or 3 pages and is made up of bullet points. No charts, no spreadsheets, no executive summary. For me, and for my clients, it is a far more useful and workable document that quickly outlines where we are going and what we are going to do to get there. 

Here is a brief rundown of what goes in to the average marketing plan:

Background summary - this is a one paragraph description of why we are doing this. It includes a brief history of the situation and why the plan is being created.

Goals - it is imperative to list out what you are hoping to achieve. Be specific, create those SMART goals that will keep you accountable.

Target Audiences - who is it that you are trying to get to take action? Are there internal audiences, too? Think about vendors and any stakeholder that should be considered.

Key Messages - what are the 2 or 3 things that you want your audiences to know and remember.

Strategies - in a broad way, how are you going to approach this and reach your goals. Are you going to create a series of events, or create a website or develop a multimedia campaign? Think 30,000 foot level here. Make sure your strategies link directly to your goals and that you have at least one strategy for each goal.

Tactics - what specific things are you going to do to achieve your goals. Here is where most people start, unfortunately - but this is where things like print ad campaigns, podcasts and brochures belong. Make sure you have developed at least one tactic for each strategy, although typically you will have several. This is the task list and it really isn’t possible to create it until you’ve done the other things first.

Budget - how much are you planning to spend? How do you want to apportion that among the strategies.

Measurement and Evaluation - how, specifically, will you track results? How will you keep you and your team accountable for results? Will you do a survey, count noses at a special event, track media coverage?

That’s it. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to think through it if it is your own business. But if you need some help, just contact me and I would be happy to work with you to create your business marketing plan. E-mail me at Kim@DeppeCommunications.com.

Lose the "One and Done"


So, this whole starting your own business thing is pretty imposing! I am finally done with all of the legal things (I think) and got all the systems and processes in place to do the back end work. I think. I reflected the other day that I am playing a lot of roles now - not just president/ceo, but also the chief financial officer, chief marketing officer, HR, IT - well, you get the picture. I'm head of marketing but also procurement, business development and janitorial services. Whew, no wonder my head has been swimming.

And, of course, like the cobbler's children who went without shoes, I've neglected my own marketing. Of all people, I should know better, right? I guess it is a good sign, in part, that I haven't had the time or felt the need in a pressing way.  It means I am working and that's a good thing. But I also know that marketing is a long-term investment and you can't be "one and done." That is always something I fought against in the corporate world, and that I try to impress upon my clients today.

One and done. It's the soft underbelly of marketing, a place where initial success can spell resulting failure. Because when the first campaign rolls out and brings in a lot of business, some companies think that's all they need to do. They expect the business to just keep on rolling in without the need to sustain the marketing efforts. I can't tell you how many times I have witnessed a company discard a campaign that is really working because - well, because it is really working. It is a short-sighted vision that ultimately leads to lost market share.

I have also seen companies that bounce around from one strategy to another, never satisfied with what they've got and thinking there is always something better around the corner - even when the current strategy is delivering results. The idea of consistency seems dull and boring to them, repetitive in a negative way, and the powers that be insist on changing things up.

This is a bad idea, as my fellow marketers know. The next shiny thing is not as effective as the dull, boring yet effective campaign you have. Consumers want to know what to expect from you as a company. They want to know that they will get the same products, the same level of service and the same basic pricing from you every time they walk in your door. Your marketing is the window through which the consumer sees your company. If you have a revolving door instead of a window, it makes it that much harder for the consumer to understand what it is you are doing. If you constantly change the location or the color of the window - to extend the metaphor - you are just confusing the heck out of your customers. They won't know who you are anymore, or what you stand for.

That is not to say, of course, that you shouldn't freshen your marketing regularly. You must keep current with the trends in your business and respond to changes in the market. Occasionally you will even need to completely revise your marketing approach. But this should be something that takes place every few years, not every few weeks. Think of the big companies like McDonald's, Sears, Home Depot, Apple. They have a solid foundation of marketing messages that they deliver over long periods of time. I bet you can tick off in your head their current ad slogans, and probably a couple of older ones, too. And while the messaging may be tweaked based on the audience they are talking to, the underlying message is rock solid and consistent.

So fight against the urge in your company to abandon a perfectly good campaign. One and done is a waste of your money. 

How to invent, internet style

A few weeks back, I attended a banking conference in Chicago and had the good fortune to go to a session where I learned about Quirky.com. This is a very cool site on so many levels, but it says something to me about where we are going vis-a-vis product development and marketing. At Quirky, inventors or people with a great idea pitch their ideas. They are asked to write a brief summary of the idea, attach a sketch or photo, and pitch it to the others who frequent the Quirky site as well as market it to their friends on Facebook and Twitter. The idea is out there for comment and voting and the staff at Quirky will also review it. If the idea is chosen, crowd sourcing is used for refining and developing the idea further and judging its marketability. If it selected to go further, Quirky puts the idea out for pre-orders and, if enough are sold, then it goes into production and distribution. The coolest part is that everyone who "influences" or plays a part in the final product receives a percentage of the profits from the sales. If you influenced 5% of the final product, then you get 5% of the profits, in perpetuity.

Crowd sourcing as a model for marketing intrigues me. I'm fascinated by the Quirky model and, in fact, am using it to pitch an idea I had of my own - what I call a Patient Poncho (vote for it here: http://www.quirky.com/ideations/125855). I will be watching to see how the crowd sourcing model might be applied to marketing strategy in the near future. And, hoping that my cool idea gets chosen!

The Changing Consumer

I've had the good fortune to be part of the Marketing and PR professional community since the early 1980's. Back then, only the most forward-thinking companies were dabbling in computers. Most folks were dazzled by the "word processors" that eliminated the need for carbon paper and re-typing. Secretaries (you may remember those) were thrilled.

My first computer had no hard drive, just two floppy disk drives (the big ones that really were floppy!) and I had to switch disks back and forth to load programs and then save them. The screen was an eye-killing amber and I was ecstatic to be one of the few to have one.

Consumers were discovering CD's and walkmans and stereo TV. We reached them through broadcast and print media and direct mail. It was a very one-sided kind of marketing where you cast your net based on some generic demographic data. The only way you knew if you reached your potential customer was if they actually walked through the door and told you so, or happened to answer a telephone survey.

Fast forward 30 years or so and consumers are in a totally different position. They are managing the flow of information they get from advertisers. They decide where, when, how and IF they will receive messages. Traditional media still has its uses but the days of placing an ad in a newspaper to advertise a sale are over.

Today we have to track down the consumer and we must entice her to read, hear or watch our message. We have to understand what motivates her, how busy she is, and we need to know a lot about her. Fortunately, we have loads of data available to tell us that but, frankly, I am a little wary about how long that particular gravy train will be around for us to use. I wonder if consumers will get a little weary of marketers knowing everything about them. It wouldn't take much for them to start shutting the windows we have into their lives.

Of course, we won't go back to the stone age of the 1980s marketing tactics. But the plethora of messaging has its drawbacks. By one estimate, every consumer sees upwards of 5,000 messages daily. Some people put it at much more than that, but it is clear that communication overload is part of our lives. How long will we stand for that? I don't know, but I do think that while today's 20-something has less of an expectation of privacy than the over-50 crowd, I believe there may come a moment when that window does indeed start slamming down on our fingers.

So what will we do then?

What's Your UVP?

Every organizations I've ever worked for has pretty much had the same Vision statement and it goes something like this:
"We will be the premier (insert industry here) in the region, with the highest level of customer service possible."

Blah. Boring, and useless, if you are really trying to create a vision. How can employees see themselves in that? Lots of companies "strive for excellence" but every time I hear that phrase I think of Yoda ' "Try not. Do, or do not."

Your vision statement really needs to reflect your Unique Value Proposition - your UVP - because otherwise it is just another collection of fancy words. The UVP defines not only who you are as an organization, but what benefit you bring to your customers that they can't get anywhere else. Your UVP should be completely understood by all employees so that they can verbalize to your customers. It should be the underpinning for your entire marketing strategy, as well.

How do you find your UVP? For heaven's sake, don't ask your employees. They will have all kinds of ideas that sound reasonable but probably don't reflect your UVP. Instead, ask your customers. Ask the customers who left you, and the ones who aren't your customers. Ask why they chose you - or why they didn't. Ask them what it is about your company that makes you different. Ask a lot of them and write down their answers. If you are getting a lot of different answers that will tell you that your brand is not well established in the minds of your customers. It may tell you that your company hasn't distinguished itself yet as having a UVP. Either way, it indicates you have work to do in clarifying that vision.

If you are getting consistent answers, that tells you that your brand is understood. You may not be happy with what the brand is, but at least you know where you are starting from. If the results don't define your company in the same way you do, then you will need to do some gap analysis and figure out how to get there.

Your UVP is out there, somewhere. Finding it is your first step but then you must refine it and make it the basis of all you do whether that's writing a new Vision statement or creating a new ad campaign. Until you know your UVP, you may just be wasting a lot of resources in your marketing.

Clear the Brush from your Marketing Plan

If you work in a corporate setting, like I do, you can get bogged down in what I call "brush." That's the day in, day out stuff we do routinely - newsletters, updating brochures, putting on employee events, flyers, etc. It can take up all your time just keeping up with the regular stuff and before you know it, the plans you had for creating a big, creative and innovative campaign are still sitting on your mental shelf - and they're dusty.

Do you have a strategy for clearing out the brush so you can get to chopping down those big trees? How do you stay focused on the big rocks in your jar - the big ideas that will really bring change to your organization (or client). Here are my top 5:

1. Set aside time in your week to do that. Calendar it. Block it off and protect it the best you can. It can be difficult to be creative on demand, I know, but if you at least make a space in your week to do it, that can help.

2. Make a list of your brush items - and your brush fires. I find that if I clear out the little things, take care of what is suddenly urgent, then I can tackle bigger things. Brush can consume you and keep you from wading through the forest to get to the path you need. Clear it away first.

3. Commit to a time frame for completing your big issues. In essence, by assigning them a place on your task list with a timeframe, you create an accountability. Make it part of your work plan.

4. Talk to your boss and let him know that you have a great idea, but need some time to work on it. If your in box keeps filling up with more brush, you may be able to negotiate with your boss to let some of that slide while you work on the bigger issues. You'll need to win her over, but if your boss buys in to your concept, you can probably get support.

5. Use your time wisely. I don't mean just be efficient in how you use your time, I mean choose the time of day when you are most creative and use that for your big idea work. For example, I am most creative early in the morning. So I try to set aside any writing or proof reading or creative work for that time of the day. By day's end, I'm less creative so I leave Email, invoices, and other less mentally taxing tasks until the end of the day.

Those are my top 5 - I'd like to hear yours!

Did Online Kill Old Media?

It is trite to say that marketing is part art and part science. As marketers, we must use metrics, ROI, behavioral analysis and other scientific, concrete tools to deliver and measure campaigns. But what we do also requires creativity - writing, design, a "gut" feeling for what will work. We have to understand our audiences at both the logical and the psychological level, then figure out how to meet them at both places at once.

CEOs are looking for the results - what did we accomplish, how much did it cost, did we reach our goal. As marketers, we have to put those questions at the top of our lists, too. Where the struggle can come is in focusing only on the immediately measurable results. As we move into the age of online, on demand marketing we gain the ability to have near instant results on our marketing activities. That's an advantage we haven't had before. 

The temptation, of course, is to discard all the traditional media we have used - outdoor, print, tv, radio, etc. - in favor of something that can be precisely measured. But those "softer" and less measurable media have an important place in the marketing mix. They provide the opportunity to tell a more complete message, or to create an emotional response, even to make people think, cry, laugh. That's hard to do in a search engine ad or a 140-character tweet.

Building your brand requires a consistent, multi-faceted approach to explaining who you are and what you stand for. Over and over and over. It cannot be one and done, or you will lose whatever investment you made. Yes, you can definitely build brand through online marketing. And yes, you can do some amazing targeting online to reach out to your prospects and customers. But don't overlook the fact that not everyone is online, that everyone responds to different media in different ways, and that there's no substitute for meeting your customer where they are in that moment when they need your product or service.

Surviving the Herd

There is no handicapped parking in the jungle.

I heard a comedian say this on the XM Radio today and it really struck me. Not just because it was funny - it was - but also because it is true. There's no pass for being different, no leeway for the wildebeest that can't keep up. Run, or die. If you are wounded, surround yourself with the herd for protection. Don't strike off on your own, especially if you are not the fastest or the strongest.

And while I do see the truth in this, I also see the lie. What makes us powerful as marketers is our ability to push beyond the safe and drive our companies into iffy territory. Marketing really must drive the marketing strategy and push those new and scary ideas ahead of ourselves.
CEOs like risk. At least the ones I've known do. But they like a calculated risk with some high level of expectation that success is on the other side of that wooden slat bridge. Yes, we might fall into the deep gorge below, but if we make it across then the rewards will be great.

But if marketing is the wounded member of the herd, then it is highly likely that there will be no protection from the rest of the herd. The herd, of course, is filled with jackals just waiting to tear you to shreds. They eat their own young, and they will have  you for breakfast, too.

I wish I could say that brilliance or creativity or perseverance is the answer, but that is not true. After 25 + years in the trenches, I can honestly say there will always be people - completely unqualified people - who believe in their heart of hearts that they know better than you about which marketing strategy you should follow.
For heaven's sake, ignore them.