7 posts tagged “strategy”

This article was written by Poa Jonas

Tough times call for tough measures is the mantra, which comes out of boardrooms, press conferences and marketing departments.

Budgets are slashed, layoffs are looming and even production lines are being put on hold.

As everybody is tightening the belts in the eye of what some describe the worst economic crisis many marketers have decided that doing nothing or less of the same is the best strategy to weather the storm.

But doing nothing or less of the same will bring with it only one
inevitable result; insecurity, disillusionment and the loss of
customers.

What is needed is new thinking that opens new ways to attract,
engage and retain customers.

It’s simply not enough to rely on standard solutions be it in the
choice of media or in the choice of how you approach existing
or potential customers.

Consumers want to be inspired, empowered and reassured and
that counts for the good times but especially for the bad once and
this is why brands need to step out now and be bold.

Bold in providing solutions, bold in offering support, bold in
delivering added value, bold in working for the community, bold
in designing new products and bold in exciting their audiences.

Bold brands (large or small) will seize the day and come out
stronger than ever before leaving competitors stranded and
struggling to catch up once the crisis is over and for those
who have hesitated it may turn out to be forever too late.

But how can one be bold in a climate where cash is tight and
fears are high?

The answer is simple, be smarter, focus on the little things,
show leadership and above all have the guts to try something
new!!

Have the guts to dismiss the inflationary prices peddled by
media owners and look for partners that for a fraction of the
costs provide real access to your target audience.

Ask your colleagues, agencies and friends to think out of the box
and imagine cost effective ways that could make a real impact and
help your brand to rise above the rest.

Involve your customers and call on them to suggest improvements
to your products or services and respond with quick simple actions.

Convert each touch point into engaging experiences and make sure
they all leave positive and lasting impressions.

Go out and meet your customers, create opportunities where you
can inspire, enchant and engage them. Surprise them with your
vision, your products and your genuine desire to involve them.

Make things happen and you will see your audiences will respond
despite the crunch and you will get returns that will surprise even
the most cynical amongst you.

If you want to survive this economic tsunami doing things the way
you’ve always done them is not an option.

Be bold, think different and above all enjoy the journey!!

Brands need to be bold now!!

In this excellent article Professor Kenneth Alan Grossberg puts forward his views on marketing in the great recession of 2009.

Dr. Grossberg earned his Ph.D at Princeton, started his  academic career at Harvard and Boston College, but in 1980 turned to the private sector where enjoyed successful career. In July 2001 he became the first non-Japanese professor to be granted tenure at the International Management (MBA) program of Waseda University in Tokyo, and in 2002 he founded the Waseda Marketing Forum.

Introduction

All preconceived notions about what the future will be like economically were radically shaken during 2008. The almost giddy wave of consumption that swept both developed and emerging economies during the past decade has come to a grinding halt so dramatically as to herald a rare paradigm shift in the psychology of consumers worldwide. We are not just witnessing changes of degree, but of kind. What are the elements that contributed to this consumer panic and altered expectations, and what do they augur for marketing in the coming era? Consumerism has not died, but it has been reborn, and what follows is a brief analysis of the forms it is likely to take over the next few years.

The Domino Theory
A cascade of financial and business catastrophes during the last quarter of 2008 made obvious to all what the data only showed in the final days of the year: that the world was in recession. That was nothing new, but the question remained how severe and widespread this economic trough would turn out to be. The first series of dominos to fall in quick succession and in overwhelming numbers was in the world of international banking and investing. That resulted in financial gridlock which spurred the governments of the advanced economies to move in a variety of ways and at different speeds towards policies aimed at relieving the paralysis. Bankers, reacting true to their stereotype, refused to lend to those who needed to borrow, which in this instance included most other banks as well as their usual corporate and individual clients.
It became very clear very quickly (if anyone needed to be reminded) that credit is the universal solvent of consumption and production, and industries from mining to automotive brought production to a screeching halt at the turn of the year as they either found it impossible to get funding for working capital or experienced a drop in orders from those who could not. Since this slowdown was all based on anticipated derived demand, it was not long before the global consumer began to panic after downsizing moves - and hiring and spending freezes - spread virally throughout the world’s largest economies. What resulted was the largest number of firings in recent memory. Because lending seized up everywhere almost simultaneously, borrowing became harder for institutions which had only a week before been considered among the safest of gilt-edged credits.

In this way, the gridlocked financial world, accompanied by stock market crashes of historic proportions, threatened in a matter of weeks to balloon into a dangerously enfeebled global economy. The subsequent panic selling put in motion price destruction that will inevitably impact almost every good and service on the market for years to come. What few seemed wise or brave enough to consider is that the freeze on spending and hiring which became overnight orthodoxy among firms large and small on every continent can lead inevitably to just one result – the dramatic loss of revenue and income for all consumers and producers without exception. Panics and bubbles, of course, do not result from rational, cool headed leadership and decision-making, and this was simply one more example of commercial folly running its course. Companies were quick to learn, to their chagrin, that none of their actions is without consequence, and employing a beggar-thy-neighbor policy is not limited in its impact to the economy where it is introduced. The spectre of universal protectionism in the guise of autarchic hoarding of precious resources now emerged as the greatest threat to global economic health.

Decoupling is a Myth

One good thing has come out of this crisis - the debunking, once and for all, of the myth of decoupling which had gained considerable currency during the first decade of the new millennium. This myth became conventional wisdom within the European community and the rapidly expanding Asian economies, who misinterpreted the true causes of their nations’ newly won prosperity and felt that they could now wean themselves from the American economy yet still continue to thrive as before. This erroneous assumption was based on the false notion that their prosperity did not in some fundamental way depend on the extraordinary volume of consumption generated by the United States, and there is currently no other nation in the world which can step in to replace the Americans as everyone’s consumers of last resort. It has finally begun to dawn on these nations that the United States is a necessary link in the chain of global consumption, and that decoupling is very much like cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. That is why the Obama administration must succeed in priming the pump of the American consumption machine or this slowdown will last a very long time, and will exact much higher costs from all nations. Though it will not take on the same grave qualities of the Great Depression of the 1930s it could yet become the Great Recession of the 2000s.

The Great Recession of 2009

Hopefully, we will not see one in four members of the workforce unemployed as happened in the United States during the 1930s, but we may well see 25% of American, Japanese and Eurozone workers under-employed for extended periods of time. The paucity of full-time jobs will translate directly and painfully into smaller paychecks, which will mean that discretionary income by the great bulk of potential consumers in the developed world will evaporate. The exuberant consumption of the past decade in the United States and (to a lesser extent) Europe, and of the past five years in Japan, depended primarily on the existence of ample discretionary income and that essential fellow-traveler – glowing consumer confidence. But in October 2008 American consumer confidence posted its lowest reading since the Conference Board began doing the  survey in 1967.[1] At the same time, Japan’s consumer sentiment index, influenced by the global financial turmoil and the worsening employment situation, also fell to its lowest level since the government began the survey in 1982.[2] There is room to judge consumers in both countries overly pessimistic, but whether their fear and extreme reaction is justified or not, we are witnessing a sea change in the attitudes of individual customers that we have not seen since the middle of the last century. The American Marketing Association gave it a name: austerity marketing, which is defined as marketing to consumers who don’t want to spend. This involves creating incentives beyond the discounts and coupons which already flood the marketplace, and making very clear to the consumer why offerings are worth the money and how they are relevant to the purchaser’s needs or desires.[3]

A corollary of austerity marketing is a tamping down of the conspicuous consumption that was so ubiquitous just a year ago. A specialist at The Luxury Institute, Milton Pedraza, commented on the trend towards a more subtle extravagance by saying that “It’s not that you do not want…the benefit of luxury among your peers, but you want to be more understated in public.”[4] In Tokugawa Japan, wealthy merchants were in constant fear of the shogunate seizing their wealth if they flaunted it too openly, so they would wear plain-looking kimono lined with the finest silks that could not be seen. Perhaps modern affluent consumers are adopting a similar sort of brand-invisible extravagance. The psychic rush of having something costly may be enough, as it was to the Japanese merchant, without the need for anyone else to know about it. A new kind of appeal might be constructed in luxury offerings to cater to this new attitude on the part of affluent consumers. As things get worse before they get better, a new etiquette of consumption may become popular, characterized by understatement and consideration for those who have less than you. As the owner of a wedding planning business said of the new more modest wedding parties being requested,”They don’t want to look ostentatious. They say, ‘Make it simple.’ You don’t want to be there promoting your wealth to people who don’t have it.” This is in sharp contrast to the flaunting and conspicuous consumption that only a year ago was common for wedding parties. Now it is considered perfectly acceptable to wed technology to parsimony by hooking up an iPod to a speaker system instead of paying for a live band. ”[5]

For the present, high-end merchants are running scared and are not waiting to make deep discounts in the asking prices for discretionary luxury goods.[6] As Stephen Sadove, chief executive at Saks put it, “I don’t think any of us anticipated that high-end customers were going to fall off as dramatically as they have.”[7] In any case, these new consumer attitudes will require creative marketing approaches, whether they are called austerity marketing or value marketing or given some other label. It has been suggested that one strategy which could work is to bifurcate the appeal to affordable luxury by either competing on price for traditionally high-priced products, such as what Coach does against Louis Vuitton, or by raising the quality of low-priced products to justify a higher price (e.g., a Starbucks coffee).[8]

The approach which calls for emphasizing the steak rather than the sizzle this time is certainly a valid gambit for some classes of consumer goods, but what if the consumer does not want steak or cannot afford it, or will settle (metaphorically) for egg salad instead? If that is the case, and preliminary evidence would indicate that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift and not just a dip in consumption, then this will not be just a question of changing the appeal to purchase.[9] It will become a much bigger challenge for businesses. Companies keep talking about knowing their customers, but they will have to know them better than ever in order to sell to them successfully in the emerging penny-pinching and guilt-ridden environment.

Indulgent Parsimony - The Wave of the Future?
In the consumer markets of the United States, Japan and Europe, one approach which holds promise of being successful is that of indulgent parsimony, or parsimonious indulgence. This entails searching for satisfaction and fulfilling those motivations which fill the upper strata of Maslow’s needs pyramid by consuming less costly goods and services that nonetheless still manage to make the heart sing. People whose stock portfolios and pension funds have lost a third of their value in the course of two months are in emotional shock. They are at that point when they have less than they counted on for sheltering their future, and ironically are in even greater need of comfort and relief from stress. This could present shrewd marketers with an opportunity rather than be just a stumbling block, but they will have to do more than merely change their appeals in order to stimulate purchase.

To clinch the sale, what will they have to give the customer? What is it that customers need more of? Reassurance that all will be well? A sense of comfort and well-being despite the shock of sudden impoverishment? More personalized service and hand-holding to compensate for a sense of insecurity about the future? Commiseration on being handed a raw deal by the fates of Wall Street? All of the above? Obviously, a range of appeals to the consumer can be telegraphed as part of a marketer’s offering message. Denny’s restaurant chain decided to tap into the considerable anger of ordinary citizens at the government’s rescue of the large banks by launching a campaign with the tag line “Who’s Bailing You Out?”. And Procter & Gamble, in a response to the new cautious consumption, started to use a value message in their adverts for diapers, detergent and shaving cream and re-emphasized in-store promotions more prominently than before. As P&G CEO AG Laffley put it, “(In) a more recessionary type of environment, more decisions are made in the store, so we have to be competitive in the store.”[10] In other words, consumer guilt, uncertainty, and fear all conspire to postpone the purchase decision until that “moment of truth” when the purchaser is staring at the merchandise on the store shelf.

The right approach to capturing these shell-shocked consumers of course depends on what product or service is being offered. You cannot offer coupons for designer apparel and accessories, but you can do the equivalent by instituting shockingly large discounts on luxury goods or offering generous financing options for loyal customers, both of which were used this Christmas season by Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney’s and other high-end American clothiers. This “slash-and-burn pricing” has merchants worried about a paradigm shift, and one boutique owner was quoted as saying that “everybody is paralyzed wondering what people want, what they’re willing to spend, what’s going to dazzle us into not being able to live without certain items…It’s all going to be very Darwinian.”[11]

For even standard merchandise, marketers will now have to devise programs that emotionally empower their target customers to indulge parsimoniously – and without guilt or buyer’s remorse. This may take a recession-friendly version of the “I’m worth it” type of personal appeal that L’Oreal used so profitably years ago, but this time the approach must be sanitized of its previous narcissistic flavor. Narcissism, as everyone will realize very soon if they do not already do so, is an artifact of the exuberant go-go years that abruptly ended in 2008, because even wealthy consumers now feel embarrassed (if not guilty) by conspicuous consumption. Is there such a thing as consumer narcissistic guilt? The wedding planner’s observation quoted above seems to indicate that it now exists, at least in some contexts. We may yet see this become an influence on product promotion strategy. A popular newspaper columnist recently called the shopping mall ‘a den of iniquity’ because “immoral shopping” takes place there, which she defined as “people buy(ing) things they don’t need with money they don’t have and may never have.” She confessed (note: expiating her consumption guilt) that “I was a mall rat at one time….I loved going to the mall and hunting for sales. But then I had an epiphany. (my emphasis)..No matter how much of a sale you find at the mall, you are not saving money. You are spending less, but you are not saving…..So, I’ll confess (again, relieving her consumer guilt) I’m not terribly troubled by all the retail failures or store closings. I’m a wee bit happy that the ‘mallworld’ is collapsing.”[12]

The objective for the next few years should be to encourage guilt-free (and altruistic) gratification by one’s customers. A potentially successful gambit could be “I’m worth it…because I’ve examined all the alternatives and this one gives me the best value for something I really do need”. In troubled times, all of us crave things that make the heart sing, but it does not have to be a luxury automobile or a Hermes Birkin bag. A Neuhaus or Godiva (or even a Hershey’s) chocolate bar, a Krispy Kreme doughnut, a Starbucks double latté, a day trip carrying a picnic lunch to the mountains or to the seashore using public transportation instead of the car - all of these can answer the need for affordable indulgence.

Darrell Rigby, a partner at Bain & Co. management consultants expressed the phenomenon simply: “Economic downturns have a way of turning consumer purchasing hierarchies upside down. Self-actualization and esteem-building don’t seem nearly as important as taking care of basic needs.”[13] In actual fact, people may need even more support for their self-image and esteem-building because they are not yet that close to subsistence that they would adopt the attitudes Maslow describes at the bottom of his consumption pyramid. Rather, they are frightened more than penniless. We have entered an age of anxiety about material culture that will have the deepest impact on the largest demographic segment of affluent consumers – the baby boomer generation. They have suffered the greatest paper losses so far in personal financial and real assets and must confront an unexpectedly austere old age. All businesses must ask themselves what will get these shaken consumers to buy under such straitened circumstances.

What will work? Overt snob appeal has lost its power over the majority and will not soon return in the same form we have experienced it during the past decade. Excellent quality will still be able to capture customer loyalty sometimes, though even here there will be an erosion of dependable and loyal brand groupies. Great value is – as the marketing profession is trumpeting – a more likely way to capture the hearts and pocketbooks of millions. And at the end of the day marketers will have to include guilt-free parsimony as part of their appeal. Christmas 2008 witnessed Macy’s peddling hope, telling its customers to “believe.” It is an emotional and almost anti-materialistic approach to promoting shopping.

Among the losers we can count most residential real estate and its fellow-traveler the consumer durables industry, for at least the next two years. The exception is the situation where a vendor can offer attractive low interest (or even no interest) and no down payment financing. A carriage trade emporium like Saks Fifth Avenue launched a promotion called the “gift of time” where loyal SFA charge card-holding customers who spent more than $2,000.on a single shopping trip to the store were given twelve months of interest-free credit. The SFA credit card holders are a core customer group for Saks, and 44% of Saks’ last fiscal year sales were made on the proprietary card, so it makes sense for Saks to try to retain this cohort.[14] Retailers are justifiably nervous about falling sales, and not just in the United States, but Japan and Europe as well. High-end apparel and furnishings appear to have had their day for the time being., which tells us that a paradigm shift is in the works. And you can forget about deluxe vacations and cruises. This time most middle class travelers will be sitting on the dock rather than on the deck. Overpriced restaurants will also fail. There is a good reason that McDonald’s has had a strong showing across the globe because what they offer is affordable to families and singles alike.

Given the abundance of losers, who will still be a winner in this changed environment? Health care related marketers – especially generic drug companies – will continue to rack up sales. People still get sick and need medication, and governments and insurers want to control the cost of those medicines by mandating that physicians prescribe generics whenever possible.[15] Privately held means of public transport like commuter bus and train lines will also enjoy a boom now that people want to save on the cost of fuel (even though the price of gas has dropped from its extreme highs). The fear (or reality) of unemployment leading to a sudden drop in income will encourage them to economize on private driving by relying on public transportation where they can. Unfortunately, few places in the US are well served by public transit networks, which could be an opportunity for some entrepreneurial organizations to start bus lines in areas that have not previously had them.

Value restaurants and fast food establishments will capture greater market share, though here there will be attrition accompanying the increasing competition of feuding brands. And in the same way that consumers choose inexpensive fast food like McDonald’s over more expensive alternatives, discount retailers like Wal-Mart will benefit from the flight to cheap merchandise at the expense of the department stores. The new buzz word is value. Target moved away from its positioning as affordable chic during the 2008 year end shopping season by highlighting gifts that cost less than $25, and even matched Wal-Mart with some toy offerings priced at less than $10. Their new TV ad slogan was “A new day. A new way to save,” Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel put it bluntly: “We are emphasizing value in all communications with our guests,” Wal-Mart countered with TV commercials that promised “economic solutions right around the corner” in a clever take-off on an oft-repeated bromide from the days of the 1930s Great Depression.[16]

Another area that will continue to thrive despite the Great Recession of 2009 is one segment of the total education market - private schools that cater to the wealthy. [17] This segment will have better fortune than private schools whose many clients come from the upper middle class.[18] The fact that many school and university endowments have been hard hit by the stock market crash will only make it more critical to attract the wealthy to their banner as customers (students) and patrons (donors).

Last but far from least is the “sweet spot” of indulgent parsimony - that cluster of industries which cater to our various cravings for sweets, alcohol, tobacco, and entertainment. Chocolate, snack foods, beer and wine, cigarettes, movies and the internet will continue to exert a pull on consumers. Actually, that pull will increase as people search for affordable ways to indulge in an attempt to lessen the stress of worrying about a job about to end or already lost, a mortgage about to be declared in default, or a lack of the wherewithal to continue life as it was during the years of ebullient material consumption. Even here, though, there will be a separating out of products and brands that cannot compete, as has occurred in the videogame industry. Long relatively insulated from economic turmoil because of the inexpensive entertainment they represent, the current climate has made retailers more selective about stocking only the top game titles, which has caused downsizing even among the strongest players like Electronic Arts.[19]

And this makes it clear that, although indulgent parsimony can be a savvy strategy for some companies to use to attract business, it will not end the Great Recession of 2009. Since so much industrial consumption, including both manufacturing and service industries, depends on derived demand from ordinary consumers, if the typical customer defers purchases there will be no one to manufacture for – except the government. This is, of course, a real and growing possibility, since priming the economic pump in the USA, Japan and Europe will of necessity make government the consumer of last resort. The bail out of the American automakers GM and Chrysler will make the federal government the owner of last resort, and that would bring us full circle. The sub-prime mortgage disaster originated in part because of a policy motivated by social engineering goal: to make homeowning more widespread by granting mortgages to people who could not afford them. This mandated lending to borrowers who were high risk, and the financial engineers then created ways to disguise that risk so it would be more palatable to large private investors who bought the paper that securitized those risky mortgages. And we all know what that led to. So let us hope that the government as investor, lender and consumer of last resort will have better luck than private parties have had recently. Indulgent parsimony is not a stratagem likely to work with the government, however. But it should help many companies survive the current downturn until the winds of change again begin to blow through the global economy and bring in their wake another paradigm shift in consumer behavior.

This article was written by Tokyo based Professor Kenneth Grossberg, who also holds all copyrights. If you want to learn more about Professor Grossberg, visit his profile at Waseda Marketing Forum

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I found these three excellent marketing education opportunities. I realize that many will claim that their company currently is facing some tough times and therefore are reluctant to put emphasis on your continued marketing education.  Read on for more.

Well, in my opinion, you should focus on obtaining new knowledge, get inspiration from people in the know and flat out look for better, cheaper and more effective ways to market your product.

Having been lucky enough to speak at many marketing conferences and marketing seminars in more than 15 countries, I have often been excited about the feedback conference participants have provided only weeks after attending.

It turns out, that often attendees are able to put the knowledge they acquire at a conference or seminar to good use immediately following the event. In other words,  time and money spend are often payed back many times over within weeks after attending.

Here are the three excellent marketing education opportunities I mentioned:

1. EADIM - The European Academy of Direct & Interactive Marketing - A certificate rewarding program founded by Drayton Bird in association with FEDMA

Established by the world renowned direct marketing guru, Drayton Bird, EADIM was founded in 2008. It is the first certified course in direct and interactive marketing to be offered to the European community as a whole. The EADIM certificate was granted official recognition after a formal review in Brussels in 2008 by The PEACC Committee of the Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing Associations (FEDMA).

Now EADIM is ready to bid the next group of marketing students ready to join their 2009 course. The inaugural course had students from all over the world attending. And they were ecstatic about what they have experienced so far.

This is an excellent one year on/off campus programme designed to help you excel in direct and interactive marketing. Faculty includes a handful of the worlds foremost thinkers and practitioners. Go learn more.

And there’s more: It is increcible cheap. No. Really it is. You get one year of quality training for the value of two conference days. And. You can save £ 400 if you book your place before January 15th. 2009.

2.The International Senior Management Programme in Direct, Interactive & Relationship Marketing, June 2009 in Madrid in association with DMA, ICEMD and FEDMA

4 days in Madrid, Spain in company with likeminded marketing professionals and no less than 14 leading marketing practitioners from around the world. Taking place at ICEMD, The Institute of Direct & Interactive Marketing, the June 2009 summerschool will cover these three main areas:

	how to communicate more effectively using direct and interactive media
	how to market more competitively through data driven, relationship focused strategies
	how to sell more profitably by understanding and integrating offline and online channels

I will definately be there. Will you?

Go read more about this exciting summerschool.

3. Permission marketing ABC - a DVD and handbook set developed to teach you all you need to know about permission marketing legislation in more than 20 countries. EXCLUSIVE

In fact, you cannot find this information anywhere else. FEDMA and Fokus Integrated produced this 5 module course with an objective to teach you important components you need to know about permission marketing.  The legal factpack covers more than 20 European countries. The course covers online as well as offline channels including one module providing hands-on input to your permission based email marketing strategy.

Buy the DVD + Handbook at a very low price now. You will not regret you did. Guaranteed.

Stay tuned for more marketing education opportunities - signup for the Meemoo2 Marketingboss Newsletter and get the free report Marketingboss Regrets 2007 and Resolutions 2008 - click here

Customer retention has always been one of the most cost effective ways to increase business revenue. According to the international consulting firm Bain & Company, you can increase profits by as much as ninety-five percent through increasing retention by as little as five percent. If organizations fail to focus their efforts on servicing current customers while spending excessive amounts on acquiring new ones, they are wasting their efforts and much of their revenue.

>>by  Bob Lucas

Most customers are look for good value for their money, especially in hard economic times. They are also attuned to product and service pricing. Even so, many customers are likely to pay a bit more to organizations that demonstrate a true concern for customer needs and a willingness to go out of the way to provide quality service levels. Certainly, providing service that differentiates your organization from others requires effort, training, and staffing, but the return on investment (ROI) is well worth it long term. You cannot expect to approach service with a “fix it and move on” mentality. Service a process, not an event. It requires dedication of time, money and resources and a commitment to provide whatever it takes to satisfy your customers.

Here are five strategies that you can use to enhance your organization’s customer retention:

1. Create brand recognition.
The most successful companies and those that stay in business for decades or longer, are the ones that spend time and effort planning and executing strategies to acquire and sustain brand recognition. This means creating a market presence where customers know who they are and what they provide. Think about organizations such as, Sears, JC Penny’s, Firestone, Ford, AAA, Maytag and Macy’s. When you hear those names, you know what they do and what to expect from them.

To establish your brand recognition, you must first identify what it is that you want to be known for, to whom you will market it, how your will market it, and ways to offer quality products and services at a competitive price. Once you establish these criteria, you can set out to spread the word through advertising, product and service sampling, strategic partnerships, customer acquisition, and effective service.

2. Get regular feedback from your customers.
You cannot address customer needs if you do not know what they want. A big mistake that many service providers make is that they look at articles and other sources that say “customers want…” and go on to list what all customers want. While such resources can be a good indicator, unless you ask your customers what they expect and want regularly, you are likely spending time and money providing the wrong thing to your customers. For example, in good economic times competitive pricing may not get people in your door or to your website. However, when money gets tight cost may become more important to your customers. Additionally, depending on the type of products or services that you provide, customer needs may be different. For example, for customers looking to buy construction equipment, safety might be an important concern. For someone buying women’s clothing that is not likely a big issue. Take your customer’s service pulse regularly in order to keep up with their changing and specific needs.

3. Make it easy for customers to provide feedback.
Do not forget to ask for feedback following a sale or service encounter. This is a big mistake. If you do not ask, most customers will not tell you. Some studies show that if customers are disappointed, they will not tell you. They will simply go away and then tell others about their negative experience. This can lead to the loss of that disgruntled employee while missing the opportunity to serve those who heard their story. You need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly related to how well customers perceive your service efforts.

Read the full article here

This article is sponsored by Return on Behavior Magazine published by TeleFaction.

I had the honor of presenting some ideas on the topic “How to find customers through new media” at EADIM’s first week of training in Brussels last week. EADIM (European Academy for Direct and Interactive Marketing) was founded by Drayton Bird. Yes - that’s right. Advertising legend the late David Ogilvy said he (Drayton Bird) “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world. His book about it is pure gold. His speeches are not only informative, but hilariously funny.”
I only spent 2 days in Brussels. But I learned a lot. And a lot more than I expected. And I am going to share what I learned. For now, I am going to sum it all up in 5 important learnings. These learnings are important IF you really want to get ahead in the game of marketing.

To further your career in marketing, you need to become a success at your present marketing job. Once succcessful, you will find yourself in a situation where better jobs will be thrown at you. That is - if you don’t decide to become self-employed in the meantime.

When time allows, I will follow up with more learnings.

But. First things first. Please do forgive my grammatical mistakes. I have only 30 minutes to write this article. So I am bound to make heeps of mistakes. Please do not shoot me.

5 learnings all marketers need to know about career development

1. Know thy audience
I have seen it again and again. Marketers “forget” to define the audience they want to engage and to stay focused on their target market. Most companies have not written a customer strategy - many companies don’t even know what it is. And what is worse; more often than not, we seem to “forget” to care about the needs, wants, dreams, problems and pains of our target group(s).  In other words, we all know the learning of the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard - yet we do not apply his wisdom.

In fact in Brussels I too made that terrible mistake. I prepared a presentation targeted at marketing people with 1-3 years experience. An hour later I knew that I should have prepared at presentation relevant to very smart and quite experienced marketing professionals. Because it turned out that EADIM students are just that. They are professionals who have made a smart move by joining EADIM with an objective to become even smarter.

I won’t make that mistake again. Ever.

2. The packaging has changed - but everything is still the same
Having been part of the internet marketing hype for some 12-14 years, I have often heard selfproclaimed internet marketing specialist utter statements such as “old school marketers don’t know jack-all about internet marketing”. And I am ashamed to admit, that I have often agreed with them.

Why?

Because sometimes I tend to avoid confronation. But if you ask EADIM teachers such as Drayton Bird, Malcolm Auld, Professor Srikumar S. Rao and others, they will tell you that nothing has changed. Becoming a succcesful internet marketing person requires a thorough understanding of direct marketing and the very basic principles that have proven themselves for decades.  Drayton Bird claims that even todays most successful internet marketers all consider one particular book (written many, many years ago) their Bible.

drayton-bird-direct-marketing-guru-and-founder-of-eadim.jpg

Interestingly, if you listen to the wise words of Marshall McLuhan, you will understand that many things have not changed, eventhough we would like to think so.

3. Continued education is the only guarantee that you will improve your results
It is true. And I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t been following that very important principle. You see, I got to a point many years ago where I thought I knew it all. And I know many others whom came to the same conclusion based on their seniority, status and what not.
But it is - of course -all wrong. If you want to continually improve your game, you need to practice. Well, we all do really. And practicing equals studying. Reading books, articles, white papers. Attending well produced seminars, conference, webinars. The fact of the matter is that you can’t know it all. You can’t test anything and everything yourself. That is the reason it is smart to let others inspire you. Awfully simple, isn’t it. Yet - why have so many of us forgotten to continually be open to new knowledge, ideas and innovations?

4. Writing is essential to anybody in marketing
My wife (who is a lot smarter than me) have often told me “Michael, read more. Reading will improve your writing skills”. Fact is, I love writing. I am not very good at it, but I still love it. According to Drayton Bird (who is a writer himself) - as a marketer you are at a great advantage if you are - or become - a good writer. And it makes perfectly sense, doesn’t it?
More than 20 years ago, I secured one of my first advertising clients (Fagor) because the CEO thought I was a good copy writer. But I wasn’t, I am sure. I wrote the copy for a brochure promoting some inferior washing machine only because no one else had the time. But he insisted. And while he debated heavily about every offer we made for various advertising/agency services, he paid handsomely for my copy writing.
I recommend reading Drayton Bird’s bestselling book Commonsense Direct & Interactive Marketing to learn what you can gain from becoming a better writer.

5. Testing is still friggin’ important
I live in a small country. Small countries are at a great disadvantage when it comes to testing. Nevertheless. Testing is more important than ever. So why don’t we prioritize testing. Lack of time? Lack of budget? Insufficient knowledge about testing principles?
I think it’s all of the above, or no less than a combination.

It is difficult to excel in marketing, if you do not apply testing relentlessly. And if you think about it, I think you will agree. The cost of testing is likely to be a mere fraction of your total investment in any given marketing effort. No matter your marketing instrumentation, testing will enable you to improve your Return on Marketing Investment.

Of course you knew all that, didn’t you?

Well, I thought I did too. Yet, in Brussels last week I made all these mistakes while addressing an exclusive audience of smart EADIM students from some 10-12 countries. People who travelled from far away places to learn more about direct and interactive marketing from a faculty including numerious highly respected marketing gurus.

Now I know I need to get back in the game, but differently this time. So I hereby declare to abide by these rules:

1. I want to understand my target group and their needs before doing anything else. If I do not understand whom they are, and what they need, how will I be able to effectively convince them?
2. I am going to trust what others have learned before me; the basic principles of direct marketing still apply even if the media or medium is new.
3. I will continually educate myself by reading books, articles, attending seminars, conferences and such.
4. Even if I am awfully bad at it, I am going to force myself to write more, blog more, comment more on other peoples thoughts and ideas.
5. I am not God. Therefore I need to test my marketing in order to decide which approach will work best.

23 and me is a highly innovative new concept. It introduces the first Personal Genome Service, which allows you to unlock the secrets of your own DNA.

23andme.com is a web-based service that helps you read and understand your DNA. After
providing a saliva sample using an at-home kit, you can use their
interactive tools to shed new light on your distant ancestors, your
close family and most of all, yourself.

I personally find the idea very interesting.

Learn more directly at the 23andme.com site

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Three of the world’s major music companies and a large number of
Danish music companies are part of TDC’s new music service called PLAY,
which launched at midnight on April 1, 2008.!

TDC’s and YouSee’s broadband and mobile customers - with the
exception of a few subscriptions types - will be able to download more
than one million tracks from artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers,
REM, Ida Corr, James Blunt, Anne Linnet, Bruce Springsteen, Outlandish,
L.O.C, Robbie Williams,TV2, Szhirley and many, many more.

"When our customers wake up tomorrow, we will have changed their
everyday lives. They will experience that through PLAY they are
suddenly able to download all the music they wish as a part of their
subscription from TDC or YouSee, legally and without extra charges,"
says Jens Alder, President and CEO of TDC.

At present, TDC has entered into agreements with three of the four
largest international music companies, EMI, SONY BMG and Warner Music
Denmark as well as many Danish independent labels including the MBO
group, DIGIDI, Artpeople, Clockwize, House of Scandinavia. The
agreements cover both new and catalogue releases.

Free downloads only for subscribers/customers
Under the terms of the deals, the ability to play the downloaded
tracks will expire automatically if the customer terminates their
subscription. TDC will also offer music fans the opportunity to
purchase their favourite tracks for 8dkk (approx. €1) per download.

"It took the right combination of scale and innovation to make such
a pioneering idea a reality. TDC has this combination, but fortunately
we also met people in the music industry who have also been able to see
the possibilities for PLAY," says Jens Alder.

Jens Alder explains the rationale for the launch of PLAY with the
fact that both the mobile and broadband market are more or less
saturated, and that there is a need for new thinking for telcos to
attract more customers.

"Today it is not enough just to offer a smart cell phone or a fast
broad band access line. Therefore, we are investing in making music
available to our customers, and we believe that we will benefit from it
financially and get more satisfied customers," he says.

PLAY is a unique concept and rumours about PLAY have lately been appearing in the international media.

"PLAY is the most important strategic move for TDC in many years. We
are setting a new course for the broadband and mobile industries, as we
offer our customers unique access to digital music this is an important
step in the fight against piracy that has troubled the music industry
for many years," says Jens Alder.

Further comments:

Michael Wermuth, General Manager, EMI Music
Denmark, says "It is one of our most important missions to make it as
easy as possible for the Danes to access our artists’ music. PLAY is a
fantastic initiative which adds even more possibilities to the music
palette".

Jonas Siljemark, President, Warner Music Nordic,
says "By offering the PLAY service as part of their mobile and
subscription packages, TDC will offer a highly innovative way for their
customers to explore and discover music from our local and
international acts. A service of this nature has the potential to
connect our artists with audiences across a vast spectrum of musical
taste and consumer behaviour".

Niels Bak, manager of KODA, says "Much has been
said and written about making music flow like water through ‘pipes’ -
TDC is the first telco however to create a music service which makes it
easy and legal for their broadband and mobile costumers to enjoy music
without extra cost. We are happy to be part of the project and proud
that we have succeeded in giving TDC access to a majority of the
world’s music in one agreement. It is noteworthy that TDC has made a
significant effort to include the Danish music, which will be
beneficial to those many thousands of Danish artists who are members of
KODA".

Henrik Daldorph, General Manager SONY BMG MUSIC
ENTERTAINMENT DENMARK A/S and chairman of the Danish ifpi: SONY BMG
sees PLAY as a fantastic initiative for both music lovers, artists and
music labels. Play will undoubtedly strengthen the digital distribution
of music and bring Denmark at the forefront of development of a new
music market".