The Many P's of Marketing: Perseverance

Weeble Wobbles (Photo credit: m kasahara)

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Perseverance:  Have ever noticed that some people are like the old children's toy Weebles.  No matter what life throws at them, they may wobble a bit, but they always end up upright and still with a smile on their face.  These people seemingly brush life's challenges off as if they are nothing but a little lint and keep moving forward, with their positive mental attitude intact.  As the ad says: Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.

There are some brands like that.  No matter what happens to the company or its people, the brand remains unblemished in the public's eye.  These are the brands we should all be jealous of.   I think that is a direct product of a brand's loyalty, or perseverance, to its key message.  Coca Cola has invested so much into its brand image that they could withstand the missteps that surrounded the launch and retraction of New Coke.

With what used to be called reach and frequency, brands like Coca Cola built market share AND mind-share by relentlessly marketing themselves and dominating the relatively few media options with their brand.  The main order of marketing a brand like Coke was to make sure it was everywhere we looked.  Let's call this form of perseverance "budget perseverance."  You can buy it.

These days, with a highly fragmented media and much more sophisticated, media savvy and participatory audiences, you need a different type of perseverance.  You need brand and message consistency.  Your message needs to be consistent and must fit with all the other messages surrounding your brand.  In this media world of retweets and repinning, posting and sharing, no marketer can control where his message goes or who sees it.  No marketer can control what message one segment of the target audience sees versus another segment.  Hence, all of the messages related to a brand must be consistent.  Consistent with the brand and consistent with the other messages.  Let's call this type of perseverance "message perseverance."

Most often, companies fail on message perseverance in the difference between the paid messages they send out and the messages sent by the service they deliver.  Consider the example of the bank who advertises that YOU are important to them, but when you call them you only get a complicated, impersonal series of recorded messages.  Or when you visit the bank branch, you have to wait a long time to get service and then the tellers are unpleasant.  Also consider the Mercedes dealer who gives loaner cars to their best customers, but the loaner cars are Hondas.  I don't understand why a car dealer would expose customers to another brand.  In addition, it seems to me that they are sending a subtle message that the Honda is a reliable car (it is not in for repairs) that you can use while your finicky Mercedes is being fixed.  Not really consistent with their promotional messages.

On the other hand, consider the now famous case of the Tylenol tampering.  Bottles of Tylenol capsules was found to have been tampered with and containing cyanide.  Within a week of the first death the company had pulled every bottle of Tylenol, more than 30 million of them, from store shelves around the world.  McNeal Consumer Healthcare, the parent company that owned the Tylenol brand then pioneered tamper proof packaging.  The rapid and decisive response by McNeal, strongly supported their message claims of caring for their customers.  Their actions cost McNeal millions and millions of dollars.  But it did not cost them market share.  When Tylenol returned to the shelves, customers returned to the brand.

Or consider the story from UPS that they have invested in routing software that helped their drivers make more right turns, increasing their efficiency and shortening delivery times.  This story, while at first somewhat amusing and farcical, actually meshes beautifully with UPS message "We Love Logistics."

Budget perseverance isn't as realistic as it once was.  No matter how big its budget, no company can dominate all the media the way Coca Cola once did.  When some of the most influential media are virtually free to use (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) having a Big Gulp sized budget doesn't help.  The smart marketers are instead focusing their resources on getting out a variety of messages to the variety of media, all of which support and are consistent with the brand of the product or service.  Resources should be focused on message consistency and pervasiveness...the reach and frequency of 21st century.

To achieve success in consistency and pervasiveness you need...you guessed it...perseverance!

The Many P's of Marketing: Personal Philosopher

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Personal Philosopher:  I think that there is value in having one or more people who act as your personal philosophers.  These people serve as touchstones or measuring sticks in your career.  They serve as philosophical sounding boards to help you work through decisions.

In my mind, personal philosophers are different than mentors.  Mentors help you out with the day to day navigation of your job.  If they are internal mentors, they tell you where the bathrooms are and where you can get the best coffee.  If they are external mentors, they give you examples of what others are doing in their companies and strategies for dealing with day to day issues.  They work with you on how to do your job.  A personal philosopher, on the other hand, is someone whom you use a guide as to why you do your job.  They provide the moral career compass.

The handful of people I use as my personal philosophers are people who work in the same or similar industries as I do.  I know them and their work well enough to be inspired (and somewhat awestruck) in what they have accomplished.  Two of my personal philosophers are people I talk to regularly.  One is someone I have never met personally.  All three are people who are transparent enough and open enough about how they approach their work and why they do it that I can learn from them.  None of them know that they serve this role for me.

I would equate the way I "use" these personal philosophers as being similar to the way some Christians use bracelets and posters emblazoned with WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) to help remind them to live a spiritually centered life.  I use my personal philosophers to help me rationalize how to approach certain marketing/PR/communication challenges and to help me set career goals and targets that are realistic and appropriate.

It is great to have a team to bounce ideas off of.  Maybe one day I will let them know they are on my team!

The Many P's of Marketing: Privacy

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Privacy:  I like to think that I can use the Internet to fuel my obsession with the old TV shows "My Mother the Car" and "Cop Rock" (for the uninitiated, two creative, very short-lived TV shows) without having that obsession broadcast across my Facebook page, my Google+ site, or anywhere else I go.  I like to think that but I would be wrong.

It seems lately that not a day goes by in which we read about one tech giant or another who mines data from our emails or our app purchases or our searches to sell that data to advertisers who then use it to place ads that show up later in our email box or next to our apps or when we use search engines. On its face, this seems innocent enough.  These sites are searching what you spend time with so they can connect you with marketers who have something that matches your interest.  Facebook, Pinterest, and email, are all electronic formats which makes it relatively easy to mine content. That is how the boy and girl geniuses at Facebook and Google see it.

Many people, however, see it as an invasion of privacy.  Thinking of email like mail from the Post Office, many people expect the same privacy when an email or IM is addressed to them as they get when a letter is addressed to them.  It is common to see stories of a politician, teacher or other public figure who forgot that nothing is really private on the Internet and posted or tweeted or otherwise made public pictures or personal peculiarities that they meant to keep private.

I believe that privacy will be a currency of distinction between marketers in the next decade or so, just as specialization and personalization of messages were the currency of distinction in the 90's and early 21st century.  The marketer that figures out a way to keep customer information truly safe (or at least get us to believe that it is) will gain a significant advantage.  The marketer that figures out how to make her customers feel "data secure" will be able to collect more data and more unique data than her competitors.  The marketer who can make his customers and prospective customers feel safe sharing their personal information, will see fewer customers leave to try competitors, will enjoy greater customer loyalty and will have less need to sell customer information.

Some companies seem to have already identified privacy as important issue to customers, although I haven't seen any that are using privacy as a competitive advantage.  Rather they are using lack of privacy as a competitive weapon, charging lack of privacy against their competitors.  For example, Microsoft now tells us we will get "Scroogled" if we use Google for our email, citing Google's practices of mining emails for content.

One question that remains is how will consumers react.  To date, we have reacted to privacy issues much like we have responded to gas prices.  Everyone talks about how out of control the price of gas is as they fill the gas tank of their giant SUV.  Privacy issues have caused some tempests in Facebook's teapot, but hasn't really impacted the number of people who log onto the site in an almost religious fervor.  Perhaps more ads like Microsoft's will have some impact.  Perhaps not.

Regardless of whether they use it as a competitive advantage or a competitive weapon, regardless of whether consumers revolt or stay put, I believe we will hear more and more about privacy from companies in the coming years.  I think privacy will be one of the ways small and mid-sized tech companies will be able to squeeze out a competitive advantage against the giants in the industry.  I believe creating true data privacy and security is and will remain a truly sustainable competitive advantage.

Just don't tell anyone that I'm going to go watch Cop Rock!

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The Many P's of Marketing: Pennies

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Pennies: When I got an iPad a while back, I spent the first few weeks learning about the whole "iCulture" created by Apple.

I am talking particularly about apps.  To a Windows boy, born and bred, apps seem an awful lot like programs and software that you could purchase and upload to your computer.  Except that apps are REALLY easy to install and many of them are free or cost mere pennies to purchase.

The success of smart phones and tablets has created a whole new app-based economy.  For literally pennies you can have access to a seemingly endless array of tools, games and features, both utilitarian and frivolous, that can fill your devices memory, and the hours of your day, with "things to do."

The thing that I think is so amazing is the ubiquitous nature of it all.  Long before I had an iPad or smartphone, I knew about Angry Birds and CT5K (couch to 5K, for the uninitiated) training app.  I lusted for apps that I couldn't get with my non-smart phone and Apple-less and Android-less existence.  

The brilliant thing about this app-based world is the ease of entry.  Many apps allow you to try a basic form of the app for free.  You get hooked and then forking over the $2.99 for the upgrade is a no-brainer.  And even though they make just pennies per purchase, the sheer volume of these small purchases has helped some small time developers to make a decent income, at least according to this Newsweek article.  The continued success and eager adoption of each new version of the Apple Operating System (iOS) would seem to indicate that this trend is continuing.

There are two thoughts to ponder for those marketers who don't work for Apple.  The first and more generic thought is the age old axiom that you can deal with only making a few pennies profit per item as long as you can make it up in volume.  The Internet provides an effective and efficient way to reach a huge audience, if you can figure out how to capture peoples imagination.  And their pennies.

The second thought is that it seems more and more important to figure out a way to "app-ify" your marketing plan.  Because smart phones and tablets have become more popular, an increasingly large portion of the marketplace are using these devices as their go to venue to interact with the electronic media.  In 2011, it was estimated that 35 percent of all US adults had a smartphone (83% had a cellphone).  That forecast was up to 45% for 2012, which I think shows the incredible growth of this industry/product/media.

The music industry seems to have done just this.  It wasn't that long ago that if you wanted to purchase a particular song, you had to buy the whole album (really a CD but I am glad we still call them albums.)  Maybe, if you were lucky and the song was released as a single, you could get the song a bit cheaper on an EP.  Now, songs are available for purchase individually.  Your cost to get a particular song you are fond of has gone from $17.99 for the CD to $1.29 or less.  This has had some interesting consequences.  According to an article in Digital Trends, music sales overall rose from 2011 to 2012, but album sales are down.

How a company responds to the app-ification of the marketplace will depend on a lot of factors.  How their decision impacts the company, will depend on the marketplace.  Will we all be rejoicing about pennies from heaven or scratching for pennies?  I don't know for sure.  The crystal ball app I downloaded needs an upgrade to get me the answer.

The Many P's of Marketing: Perfection

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Perfection:  There are few things I enjoy more than a perfectly ripened peach.  It is firm yet juicy, sweet and tangy, an adventure to eat and simply delicious.  It is fruit nirvana!  The problem with peaches is that they are perfectly ripe for such a short period of time that is almost impossible to experience this state of perfection very often.

Despite this, farmers still grow, harvest and ship peaches.  Grocery stores still stock them and sell them.  And I still buy them, hoping for that rare occurrence of a perfect peach.

The point is the great peach infrastructure isn't letting the difficulty of delivering their best, get in the way of delivering good.  They do not throw in the towel because they know only rarely will a piece of fruit hit the table at the perfect time.  Instead, they work to get the peaches they sell as good as they can.  And then they sell them.  Voltaire stated this more simply in his poem La Bégueule or The Prude Woman:  "The best is the enemy of the good."

In marketing terms, this means that there is an opportunity cost to waiting for perfection.  An imperfect ad that is placed in the media always generates more sales than the "great idea" that is still on the drawing table.  A product that is in the market, being purchased, used and tested by consumers will outsell the product that never gets released because the designers or the engineers or the factory "just can't get it right."  You can read more about this in a blog I wrote last summer, titled "Don't Wait For Perfection" here.

We have all read countless articles and blogs about the late Steve Jobs' obsession with perfection.  I would argue that even Mr. Jobs realized that perfection is the enemy of the good.  Eventually, Apple released the iPhone, the Macbook, the iPad.  They put each item out on the market and learned how they could make it better and did.  If the iPhone had been perfect when it was first released, Best Buy would not be selling iPhone 4, 4S and 5 right now (with another version right around the corner!)

I am not saying that you shouldn't strive for perfection.  Every marketer should.  But like growing peaches, if you wait until you have perfection before you go to market, you are probably going to be too late!

The Many P's of Marketing: Perspective

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Perspective:  YOU know how many hours, days, weeks and years you spent designing and crafting the product.  YOU know how you sweat every detail so you could deliver the service just so.  YOU know how hard you have worked to design and deliver a solution to the problems or needs of your customers.

So why aren't THEY (your customers) standing in line to buy what you have to offer like its the latest iteration of the iPhone? 

Perhaps it is because from their perspective, you don't have the product, price, packaging or promotion right.  Perhaps it is because from their perspective, you addressed needs they don't have any more, or at least don't care about any more.  Perhaps you haven't looked at your product, and the rest of your marketing P's, from the perspective of your customer.  

Apple does and they stand in line for the iPhone.

The Many P's of Marketing: Photography

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

As I explore the diversity of P's in Marketing, I felt it was worthwhile to explore a diversity of perspectives as well.  I have asked a handful of people I respect to select a P of Marketing and write about it.  Today's blog on Photography is guest written by Robin Pendergrast, the owner and President of  Robin F. Pendergrast Photography, Inc. and Robin F. Pendergrast Production.  Thank you Robin!

Photography: The professional photography or imaging world doesn’t have a day go by without an inquiry about the multiplicity of changes that have taken place since the introduction of digital imagery. 

Thoroughly understanding the capabilities of the equipment and the ability and the creative opportunities that can unfold with this new technology takes constant attention to changes in both hardware and software.

As a professional, the challenge is in knowing how to address the almost daily “can you do this?” question.  And while the answer most of the time is yes, part of the response requires a continuing enhancement of the knowledge of just what the possibilities are.

Digital photography puts very little in the way of imagination on hold. When you compound the digital hardware with the software that is available, a whole new creative world unfolds.  Since my evolution into 100% dedicated digital imagery approximately five years ago, every day is part of an exciting and, naturally, challenging imagining process for clients. 

The conventional capture of images for events, activities and specific assignments for individuals or corporations will always exist.  But the unfettered capabilities of digital imagery allow the photographer to cover new ground in these conventional assignments and help us meet and exceed the communications and marketing imagery needs of a client.  With digital photography, my photography can now more closely match the imagination of my clients!

                                                                             

The world of professional digital photography is exciting.  And challenging.  The passion to learn and to accept the challenge keeps the world of photography, especially to the digital photographer, an exciting world in which to operate.

You can learn more about Robin and Robin F. Pendergrast Photography at http://www.rfpphoto.com/ 
You can see some of Robin's photography at http://pinterest.com/rfpphotography/