Marketing 101: Managing Marketing Information: An Overview

Now that we have finished our overview of the Marketing Micro-environment, it's time to begin looking at Managing Marketing Information.

Why do we care about marketing information?  Marketing Information allows the Marketing Manager to do their job; it allows them to make real strategic decisions involving a business's brand, it's products, and the messages communicated to it's Publics.  Marketing Information provides a business with data about it's customers needs, the marketing environment, and it's competition.  A Marketing Information System provides data to key partners and suppliers in the Marketing Micro-environment.  Marketing managers usually need more information, they need the right information.

Over the next few weeks during out discussion of Managing Marketing Information we are going to cover:

- Assessing Marketing Needs
- Developing Marketing Information
- Marketing Research
- Analyzing Marketing Information

Assessing Marketing Needs
A good Marketing Information System balances the information you would LIKE to have with the information you NEED to have.  Remember, you don't need more information, just the RIGHT information.  Your responsibility as a marketing manager is to interview your staff to find out these needs.  Sometimes they may ask for more than they need, and they may not ask for what they really need because they don't know they need it.  Some managers won't ask for certain types of information because they feel they should already know it.

Sometimes it's not possible for your business to provide the information you need, because it is not available, or it is not capable because of your current Marketing Information System's limitations.  Always consider that the costs of obtaining, processing, storing and delivering marketing information can quickly become prohibitive for many business's.  You must decide if the benefits of having more information are worth the costs of providing it to your staff.  However, this can be hard to assess.  Remember that information doesn't itself have value.  What gives data value is how you are using it and the results it is providing your business.

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Data: Knowing How Your Customers Use Media

I can't say this enough, so I will say it again:  It's all about Data.

Another illustration: today the Pew Research Center released the results of a recent survey, stating that less than 10 percent of people are using social media for up-to-date news.  So what does this mean?

I think we can gleam a few points:

1) This shows that your customers are probably using Facebook and Twitter for other types of information.  Social media is a losing proposition and a waste of resources if it isn't used properly.  Know where your customers are looking before releasing any type of news.

2) Press releases and other types of media announcements should not be on social media as a primary method of dissemination.  Social media should be a part of the whole information release strategy.  As with any properly constructed strategic marketing, a variety of communication methods should be used.  Social media may be cheaper to use, but it's going to cost you real dollars through lost sales if you're not getting information out via the proper channels.

3) Social media's value is in it's ability to give marketer's a more direct, personal connection with their customers.  Press releases and product information don't build customer equity.  Personal, meaningful connections with products and brands build customer equity.  Social media gives us one of the best avenues ever to build equity with our customers.

As always, armed with the right data, our jobs as marketers becomes much easier.  Don't waste your company's time or money.  Arm yourself with the right data so you can use the tools available in the most effective manner.

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Media Consumption In A Digital Age: It's One Big Experiment

In the past, there was a silver screen, a few broadcasters, and a lot of paper.  If you wanted to watch something, you sat in front of someone's television or a theater screen.  If you wanted to listen to music, it was on a stereo - home or portable.  If you wanted to read something, or take something with you, it was most likely printed on paper.  You were in your home, in a movie theater, picked up the mail, or you went to a store to purchase your entertainment.

A few large companies controlled the publishing and availability of the media you chose to consume.  Prices were pretty much the same everywhere you went.  Competition was non-existent.  That's the way it was.  Then this "thing" called the personal computer appeared.  Then the internet appeared.  Everything changed, and it still is.

Last year Time, Inc. hoped to take advantage of it's multiple consumption and distribution publishing model. Time Inc. was attempting to bundle "digital" media with a traditional print subscription under an "All Access" strategy - which would have eliminated print-only subscriptions in the process - and would have allowed Sports Illustrated to raise its price to $48 from $39. Sports Illustrated reversed course in January.  Said Steve Sachs, Executive VP of Consumer Marketing and Sales, "That price, we found, was higher than the market commanded.  Monica Ray, the Executive Vice President of Conde Nast, commented, "The whole industry has the opportunity to redefine what a subscription is."

What kind of subscriptions do consumers want?  Is a "subscription" model appropriate anymore?  How do I find out?  The only way you can find out is by collecting data.  Without data, you're making decisions in the dark, you are walking around blind.  Since the way consumers consume media is changing, we need to be collecting data and study how our customers are using our media products.  If we don't adapt, if we aren't willing to constantly evolve our model of media delivery, we will forever be stuck in our traditions, and more media institutions will perish.

There are no longer a few ways to consume media.  Now there are many publishers, many screens, and the vast majority of them are portable.  Oh ... there still is some paper too.  Because traditional publishing methods have changed drastically from decades of old, traditional media publishers are walking around blindfolded, feeling their way around a media consumption environment that they no longer control.  Today publishing in a digitally dominated ecosystem has become one big experiment, and understanding what will work for you is all about knowing your customer ... and that requires data.

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Marketing Strategies: An Overview

In my relatively short career I've met a lot of people and worked with a lot of organizations.  There are a lot of people who truly know what marketing is, and how to conduct it.  There are also a great number of people who believe that marketing is sending a flyer, an email, or is "just too expensive to do right now".  Many people think they know what marketing and branding are, but in reality, they don't have a clue.

There is a science to it, and more often than not, you need data to determine your strategy.  I'd like to spend the next few months continuing to discuss the basics of marketing.  Today I'd like to start to discuss Marketing Strategy.

Marketing Strategy.  Strategic Marketing.  What is it?  Marketing with a strategy?  Using strategy when you market?  I mean, it seems to define itself.  It seems so logical.  It's a bit more complicated than that.

Marketing strategy is a process that allows an organization to focus it's resources on the best opportunities to grow sales and maintain a competitive advantage.  Let's attempt to break this definition into digestible pieces.

It's a Process.
Marketing, and developing the strategies you are going to use, are part of a process.  It's not quick.  It's not fast.  If it's going to be effective, it takes time and data.  Don't rush.  Strategies are a fundamental part of marketing plans.  You can't even develop your strategy properly until your environmental scan is complete.  

It's centered on an Organization.
Marketing strategies are meant to help the organization meet it's goals.  They don't exist to meet your personal or departmental goals.  A key component of marketing strategy is to keep marketing in-line with a company's mission statement.  

It's all about Focus.
Marketing strategies are focused.  Focus comes from data.  Data helps you construct your multi-year plans.  That's how you achieve your goals.  When you stray from your focus, your strategies fall apart, and you start to bleed dollars from your marketing budget. 

Marketing requires Resources.
Marketing doesn't just involve the VP of Marketing & Communications.  It involves resources from all over your organization.  It's not just dollars (though you really do need the proper amount of them).  It's people.  It's staff.  It's ideas.  It's a team effort.  

It's about the Best Opportunities.
Creating marketing strategies allows you to focus on the best opportunities to grow.  Notice that I didn't say all opportunities, or some opportunities, or the easiest ones.  I said the BEST ones.  Just because you can do something, or spend your budget towards a certain media buy, doesn't mean you should.  It if doesn't directly fit the focus of your marketing strategy and your multi-year plan, then you shouldn't do it.

Marketing is supposed to help Grow Sales.
Marketing is worthless if it doesn't lead to sales.  Some of us don't want to admit that sales drive your business. Sales feed the company bank account.  Sales create cash flow.  Sales allow you to keep your job.  Never ever forget this.  If your marketing strategies aren't growing sales over a defined time frame, then it's time to change.  Remember, marketing strategies are supposed to have the ability to be dynamic and interactive.

Marketing should give you an Advantage.
Effective marketing gives you a competitive advantage.  You should always be differentiating yourself from your competitors.  You should always be selling your competitive advantage.  If you're not, then you're just blending in with the rest of your market segment.

Are your marketing efforts focused?  Are sales growing?  Are you working with your team?  Are you chasing after every opportunity and wasting precious marketing budget dollars?

Maybe it's time to reconsider your strategy.

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Using Online Communities to Create Brand Awareness - Part 2

This is Part 2 of my thoughts on Using Online Communities to Build Brand Awareness.  Last time I discussed how online communities help you build credibility and general awareness about your products and brand.  This time I want to discuss how online communities help you create SEO-aware content, and how they can help you build customer satisfaction.

Many marketing directors don't realize that as you are building awareness through your community posts, you are also creating SEO-aware content.  All posts and comments are index-able.  Search engines such as Google are able to look through and "store" your posts from an online community.  Because these posts are on a website other than your own, Google gives this content more weight, since it considers content about you on other websites more relevant.  As a result, your brand name and product information move up in ranking within relevant search results. 

Google also looks for links back to your website.  Make sure to put the address of your website in your signature.  This insures that your website's address is always displayed with every post, and that it is indexed as many times as possible when a search engine crawls the online community's site.

As you post more searchable content, it becomes easier for existing customers to find information that may help them solve problems.  Online communities are a great way to get involved in the first steps of basic customer service issues.  You can use the posts of others as an opportunity to acknowledge issues with your product.  You can also show your willingness via the public domain to serve the customer and create a positive brand experience.  However, remember that people tend to be more vocal on the internet, because it's a more anonymous experience.  You must always write posts that are calm, clear, and emotion free.  Use positive language, but never "beat around the bush" when a clear acknowledgement of a problem is best.

Remember that today being a part of online communities is necessary when marketing digitally, because it gives you a direct opportunity to build credibility, build awareness, create SEO-aware content, and address customer service issues.

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Using Online Communities To Create Brand Awareness - Part 1

We should always endeavor to connect with our customers.  Isn't that one of the great goals and mysteries of marketing and branding?  What is the best way to connect with our customers?  How should we convince them to purchase our products?  How can we spend AS LITTLE MONEY as possible doing this and still make a profit?

It seems that many small businesses, and even large ones, still have not discovered the online community "gold mine".  Being a part of online communities is necessary, because it gives you a direct opportunity to build credibility, build awareness, create SEO-aware content, and address customer service issues.

Online communities give you a direct way to connect with consumers and build credibility.  Online communities allow you to present yourself as a subject manner expert.  By answering consumer's questions and helping them solve their problems in a friendly, non-pressured manner, you present yourself as a credible and knowledgeable, even though you are somewhat biased towards your product as a solution.  With a good attitude, and a friendly, clear writing style, you can present your product and brand as the wise solution to their needs.

As you are helping community members meet their needs, you are constantly building awareness.  Your participation helps to show others their potential need for your product.  Also, your participation helps to inform others of the existence of your product who may not have known about you.  Online communities also provide you with a great opportunity to receive feedback about your product.  If you are an advertiser in that community, you can also build awareness by posting news releases about new models and product updates.

Next time we will discuss using online communities to create more SEO-aware content and help create positive brand experiences via customer service.

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What Are You Doing To Create Awareness Today?

Did you do anything to market yourself today other than think about it?

Marketing doesn't happen by itself.  You have to do it.

People don't find out about you on their own.  They won't bring up Google and search for you unless they have a reason to do so.

So what are you doing today to create awareness?

If you need a jump start, here are some ideas that might be relevant to your customers:

1. Offer A Discount
Sometimes the easiest way to drive traffic to your website, or to retailer locations, is to offer a discount or a coupon.  However, remember that spending money can be an incredibly emotional thing.  The right price, or discount, can drive a person to spend money "easily" without any thought.  5%-10% off might not be the ticket.  Don't be afraid to explore 20%, even 30-40% off.  If you're concerned about your margins, make it a limited or exclusive offer to a select group of customers.  Once they are in the door, they tend to buy more.

2. Hold A Product Demo Event
People love to research products, and price-shop online.  But at the end of the day, a consumer that touches the product, tries it, and likes it, usually ends up buying it.  Consider putting on a demo event in a location that contains your primary customer demographic.

3. Ask For Product Testimonials Via Social Media
Social media makes it very easy to connect with your customers.  It can be a customer service haven and nightmare.  One of my favorite uses of social media is testimonials.  It's as easy as this:  Ask users of your product to submit positive experiences of your product: video is preferred, text and pictures are great as well.  Incentives are a must.  Offer discounts off of new product, or free accessories to those consumers whose testimonial you choose to post.  Post one a week for 13 weeks - the length of a typical television or radio ad buy.

4. Participate In Online Communities
This fourth option can take the most work, but it can reap some of the largest gains for building your brand's credibility.  It's as simple as joining relevant forums and blogs.  Put your name and company in your signature.  Make it clear who you are.  Offer advice and sensible solutions.  However, you cannot blatantly advertise your product in your posts.  It's best to offer sound advice that may or may not include any of your specific products.  Over time you will see a few benefits:
- Community members will see you as an expert
- Community members will begin to explore your website and your product
- All of your posts will be indexed by search engines (like Google) and it will increase the amount of searchable, relevant content about you online.

It's a good idea to put one of your best PR reps or customer service representatives in charge of online community participation.  Your Social Media Director is a great fit as well.  You can take this a step further by becoming an advertiser in that online community.  This allows you to blatantly post about your product and any specials you may be offering.

These four things are simple, yet highly effective ways to increase Brand Awareness for little cost other than labor and time.  If appropriate, and if used in a focused manner, they are a great way to connect with current and future customers, and can provide a great ROI for a little marketing budget expenditure.

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The Department Store Finally Evolves

Well maybe it already did, through Kohls.  But I digress...back on topic.

Yesterday JC Penney CEO Ron Johnson announced sweeping changes in an effort to refresh the brand, and the department store "way" of selling product. 

It's about time. 

During Mr. Johnson's tenure at Apple, his team, "always parked at the department stores...because there 'weren't any cars.'.  You know you have a problem when people are using your parking lots to visit other retail locations other than your own.  Mr. Johnson, while noting that JC Penney was in it's 110th year, said, "I believe the department store is the No. 1 opportunity in American retail. And this isn't something I decided last June when I took the job. This is something I decided 10, 15 years ago."

So what does this new opportunity look like? 

First, it starts with a dramatically more realistic product pricing structure.  Consumers rarely purchase products at full price.  In any economy, up or down, consumers are more willing to part with their dollars when products cost less, ie: when they are on sale.  Mr. Johnson, acknowledging this, is leading JC Penney to adopt a "fair and square" pricing model.  It's this simple: If a T-shirt that usually is priced at $14 but typically sold for closer to $6, will be priced at $7. This puts it right in line with what a consumer was actually paying for that shirt.  If it's a featured product, it will be priced at $6. Clearance time: $4. This change alone should help to drive sales.  Why?  It allows JC Penney to sell product at prices consumers are willing to pay, instead of constantly holding onto inventory, and hoping to clear it out every quarter. 

The second thing Mr. Johnson is doing is completely revamping JC Penney's promotional calendar and spending.  Currently, JC Penney's sales year has 590 promotional events.  Mr. Johnson wants to reduce that to 12.  The reason: noise.  When you are constantly promoting promotion after promotion, it creates "noise" for the consumer, and eventually it all blends together and the consumer doesn't know what to focus on.  As a retailer, you become less relevant and harder to keep track of. 

To illustrate his point, Mr. Johnson had presentation attendees walk down a hall covered with old ads and circulars, calling it the "Hall of Hell." Promotional spending will also change; instead of $2 million per promotion, JC Penney will now devote $80 million a month towards entire product line promotion.

This is so refreshing.  To finally see a department store (or any big-box retailer other than Walmart) understand that their pricing structure and promotional model is so out of touch with consumer buying habits is amazing.  For that brand to make realistic ... frankly common sense changes ... is fantastic.  I sincerely believe that, if successful, JC Penney will force their competitors to re-brand and re-price.

Consumers will be the beneficiaries of these changes.  Products will sell for lower, more realistic prices.  Sales will increase, and retailers may begin to see the growth that they have been hoping for. 

I hope JC Penney succeeds.

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Organic Thinking

As we begin the new year, we often reflect on the past.  We think about our good and bad habits.  We think about what we loved, what we regretted, and what we want to change.  We sometimes spend a lot of time thinking, and very little time doing.  Maybe it's time to change the way we think, which in turn, may help us to "do" more effectively.

Have you ever thought about thinking organically?

Organic thinking is less organized and less structured.  Similar to brainstorming, organic thinking allows your thoughts and ideas to appear freely, without immediate evaluation or consideration.  Simply put, when you are organically thinking, you are allowing one thought to lead to another, and another, and another. Why would you want to do this?  Why would you effectively allow your brain to think without "thinking"?

The first reason is it makes it easier for you to be creative.  When you think organically, you don't constrain yourself with constant self-evaluation.  You don't hold back.  You suggest ideas as they come.  As with brainstorming, you must make sure you document everything that pours out of your brain.  Once you do that, then it is the appropriate time to evaluate and critique.

By holding back your critique until after an organic thinking session, you make it safer for you and your team to put any and all ideas out there, no matter how outlandish or "stupid" one might be.  What you will often find is a couple of golden nuggets of suggestions, solutions or paths that no one person on their own may have come up with if they are scared to be judged by someone else.  Often a combination of ideas will lead to a better solution.

The next time you have a problem to solve or a product to pitch, allowing yourself to think organically will give you and your team more freedom to explore any and all possible ideas.  You will also find that as a whole, you will be more creative as well.

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Number 1 2012 Marketing Resolution: Communicate Clearly

In 2012 we want to accomplish many goals:

- Sell millions in product
- Grow our brand awareness exponentially
- Achieve the largest marketing ROI for as little cost as possible
- Get promoted to, or hired as a CMO (I wouldn't mind that)

But before you can do anything above, or anything else, here's what you need to do from the first day of 2012: communicate clearly.

It seems simple, doesn't it?

In reality, communicating clearly involves a little bit of work.  Whether you're writing an email, or putting together a message for marketing, follow these steps, and you will be on your way to communicating more clearly:

1) Slow down.  When we rush, we make mistakes.  We say things that we don't intend.  We mix up our words.  Slowing down gives you the time to...

2) Think.  Think about the message you need to convey.  Ask yourself: Who is it for?  How will it be consumed?  What important information needs to be communicated?  After you slow down, think, answer these questions, and compose your message...

3) Review and edit.  You won't believe how often you will catch a typo here or there.  You may have reversed the order of your words.  You might catch a phrase or two that convey the wrong message, or potentially confuse the consumer of your message.

Using this three step method will help you communicate simple or complex messages more clearly and mistake-free.

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