Posts Tagged ‘Marketing Trends’

Marketomics in Stormy Waters

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Thinking of starting a business?  Or investing more into your existing small business?  Tough call.  In the current economic climate, starting or investing in a small business can be a scary prospect.  The rising cost of inputs are substantial - think food, fuel, etc.. 

Some businesses are more recession proof than others.  Any professional service can remain relatively immune to economic downturn because these businesses tend to have low overhead costs and shorter value chains (resulting in more profits).  Another type of business that remains succesful would be trades based operations like plumbers, electrician and contractors.  People will continue to need specialized work to keep their homes operational despite economic decline.

So what’s the point?  Well, when costs rise and recessionary factors are in play - entrepreneurs and businesses alike begin cost cutting measures as the first method of protection.  The first thing to go - immediate ‘expense’ items like marketing.  Big mistake. 

With economic uncertainty comes opportunity.  Marketing should not be viewed as an expense but rather a sound investment to bolster sales in the future.  Focus on low cost, highly effective marketing vehicles (think online, social media, word of mouth, PR) to create opportunities.  While competition cuts back or eliminates its marketing spend - think of ways to increase yours.  It will help you win in the long run.

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Posted in Business: General, Marketing Execution and Tools, Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Why Marketers are the Ultimate Word Creationeers and Why Sometimes That is OK

Friday, July 11th, 2008

One of my closest friends has a tendency to use words that don’t actually exist. When I occasionally call him on this, his response is invariably, “I’m in marketing; I’m supposed to make up words.”

Really? Is making up words actually in the job description?

Typical wisdom says that buzz words are bad. But what about non-words? Shouldn’t there be a distinction between words used correctly and incorrectly? There are no absolutes, no categories that are always bad or always good. I do, however, have an opinion as to where certain categories of words might fall on that scale of good to bad.

Word UpReal words used well: The best of all possible situations. Language, when used appropriately can evoke emotion, and perhaps more importantly, action. Great writing uses real words well.

Real words used correctly: Even if it’s not the St. Crispin’s Day Speech, there is a lot to be said for choosing the appropriate words. Stay buzzword free, and you’ll automatically be ahead of the pack.

Buzzwords used correctly: This happens when an overused word actually gets used in the correct context. It’s OK to use the word ‘leverage’ if you’re actually talking about compounding effort to take advantage of something.

Real words used incorrectly: This is far more common than you think, mostly as a result of the easy access to online and word processor thesauri.

Buzzwords used incorrectly: The dreaded result of trying to take what you really mean and make it sound more impressive. Stop. It sounds worse. It’s not OK to say ‘utilize’ when you mean ‘use’ (they are not synonyms). It’s not OK to say ‘revolutionize’ when you mean ‘adjust’ or ‘change’.

Non-words: Typically coined by bloggers, these words are the business equivalent of ‘Brangelina’. No, massclusivity (exclusivity for the masses) and brandscape (the landscape of brands within a market) are not words. They’re non-words.

Word Continuum

The place that marketers CAN excel with non-words is when they’re branding.  Neutron LLC’s most recent Steal This Idea discusses the 6 naming styles for brands, and the neological style (putting together morphemes to create new words with particular attributes) is essentially the creation of non-words. Non-words used well become new words, and then we’re back at the beginning of the spectrum again, evoking emotion and action from our audience.

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Innovation- Is it IN you?

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, what size of company you have, or whether you offer services, sell products or have a mix of both; with the market becoming bigger and more competitive, if innovation isn’t one of your top priorities, it soon will be.

Innovation- a term that revolves around coming up with new things, should by no means be a new term to you. Depending on the company, innovation can mean different things. To a bank, innovation may mean coming up with a new way of providing banking services to their customers. To a manufacturing plant, innovation may mean coming up with a new process to produce products quicker and at a lower cost. To a CPG marketing team, innovation may mean coming up with a new or improved product and then thinking up a unique way to market it. No matter how you define it though, after talking to some of the worlds most innovative companies on the subject, there are some commonalities regarding innovation:

  1. It has to make sense- There is no point in offering something new if it conflicts with the company’s image or goals.
  2. It has to be profitable- Innovative ideas are suppose to help the company become more valuable, not go into the red.
  3. It has to be feasible- There are hundreds of ideas out there, but not all can be implemented. If you don’t have the resources or capabilities at the moment, it is probably not a good idea to try to bring the idea to market. Don’t toss the “bad” ideas, other ideas may emerge from it or the barriers preventing it from being implemented may be removed in the future.

Most importantly, just as you need more than 1 piece of wood to build a yacht, you need a more than one tool to remain innovative. In order to stay afloat in today’s world and catch that “big fish” or a net of small ones, a company needs:

  1. Culture- You need the right weather and water conditions to survive on the water.
  2. People- Once you know what kind of boat you are going to build and the steps you want to make, you need to either hire or train people to work the ship. Can you partner with others? If you are hiring people, are you looking for characteristics of leadership? Teamwork? Personal drive? If you are training your employees, is the training available to everyone? Is it occurring regularly? The answer needs to be yes.
  3. Tools– Without the right toolkit, it’s hard to build and fix a boat. Tools which may help a company be innovative (which are used by the top companies) include both internal and external tools, such as intranet sites, brainstorming rooms, allocating employee’s time to be innovative, and innovation labs.

Finally innovation shouldn’t be limited to internal work. Look at best practices used by other companies. Use your stakeholders- customers, partners, internal staff etc- to help think of new ideas. Bring in consultants to give a fresh perspective. It’s not stated anywhere that innovation has to come from the C-Suite. Several of the largest, most innovative companies look to others to come up with a pool of ideas.

So is your company ready to be innovative?