Are Marketing’s Contributions Valued By Your Company/Client?

Mon, 05/12/2008 - 01:00 — admin


It’s All About Performance

It’s frustrating to feel that your hard work isn’t appreciated.

But maybe your hard work isn’t valued because there’s no clear link between your work and improved business performance, i.e. revenue growth.

A recent post in Search Engine Watch reminds web analysts that their job is to provide information that helps the company maximize business performance, not simply to create comprehensive, complex databases. It reminded me that every individual in the organization, including marketing, needs to ensure their contributions result in enhanced business performance for the company (or their client.)

Sales and marketing functions have been forced into separate silos in many companies for so long that lots of marketing folks have forgotten that selling is the point of marketing. Too often generating sales is assumed to be the sales department's responsibility alone when it should be viewed as an organizational effort.

Can you explain how the brand strategy you’ve painstakingly created, the results of the focus groups you’re contemplating, increased ‘engagement’ or new creative will ultimately contribute to increased sales?

If not, reexamine marketing strategies and tactics to ensure they meet the business performance objectives of your company or client.

Brands: Liz Claiborne Stumbles for Lack of a Brand Portfolio Strategy

Tue, 05/06/2008 - 04:00 — admin

During the 1980’s the Liz Claiborne brand rode to success on the backs of working women who appreciated the versatility and affordability of the fashionable label.

Fueled by their success, and looking for opportunities to expand, the Liz Claiborne Company (NYSE:LIZ) began purchasing up and coming brands, eventually acquiring a portfolio of some 3 dozen.

But without a clear strategy to position and manage them, the brands faltered and the flagship Liz Claiborne brand began to lose its cachet---one writer recently even characterized the label as “stodgy.”  Ouch.

Profitability suffered and eventually the company was forced to divest itself of eight labels, closing down two, licensing one and folding two others into existing company names. (Brandweek)

So, what happened?

According to CEO William McComb, who was brought in to oversee a turnaround of the company, “While Claiborne really pioneered the multibrand portfolio model, it never got the idea that it was OK to sell, exit or divest a business…Good portfolio management, to me, is looking at what you're incubating, what you're buying, what you are milking and what you're getting rid of. [The company] didn't have a portfolio management strategy." He's right.

Every brand needs to have a positioning strategy to be successful. But when a company owns brands within the same vertical they must develop an effective brand portfolio strategy as well that not only specifies individual brand positioning, but defines the brand ‘job descriptions’---the roles and relationships of a company’s brands to one another that are critical to the success of company brands inhabiting the same vertical.

Lack of an effective brand portfolio strategy causes customer confusion and a creeping ‘sameness’ and commoditization across the portfolio---the kiss of death for any brand, but especially fashion labels whose success is dependent on the image it communicates to and about the wearer.

Can the Liz Claiborne brand resurrect itself? It's a tall order for any brand, not to mention a 30 year old fashion label. Creating a solid brand portfolio strategy is  a very good start.

Related:

Liz Claiborne Inc (LIZ) holdings reduced by Becker Capital Management Inc

Liz Claiborne courting designers for overhaul

Brand Commoditization: 6 Ways to Prevent the Death of a Brand

Retail Trends: “The Precision Shopper” and the Demise of ROBO

Mon, 05/05/2008 - 01:00 — admin

ROBO was a term coined by Yahoo to describe those shoppers who ‘research online buy offline,’ a phenomenon increasingly documented by marketers who want to understand how to balance online and offline advertising.

Increasingly, the term “Precision Shoppers,” is being used instead of ROBO to describe these  online consumers who utilize online information resources to “ discover and evaluate products, compare them and find where they can be purchased."

So, what does this mean to retail marketers and business owners?

If you’re not utilizing your online channel to promote offline as well as online sales, says eMarketer, you’re missing a sizable revenue opportunity. Now is the time, if you haven’t already done so, to begin incorporating cross-channel strategies into your marketing mix. 

Business Tools: Schedule Meetings Without the Hassle

Fri, 04/25/2008 - 01:00 — admin

One thing that’s a worse time waster for busy marketers and entrepreneurs than (useless) meetings is trying to schedule a meeting. Especially when you’re trying to find a time for a large group of people, each of whom just has to be there. It always takes way more time and energy than it should, and then just when you think you’ve got it solved, someone says they can’t make it, and it starts the email avalanche all over again.

Fortunately, there are several free services that can make swift work of juggling calendars to find that perfect date and time. A sampling of these services is below.

Timebridge

TimeBridge is a free ‘Personal Scheduling Assistant’ designed to help busy people find a time to meet. The free web application works across calendaring systems, (including Outlook) companies and time zones.

The Personal Scheduling Assistant enables you to select attendees, propose meeting times and send a meeting invitation. TimeBridge collects everyone's availability and selects the best time from invitees' responses and alerts you if a meeting cannot be confirmed or responses are not received. Everyone gets a confirmation once the meeting is set.

Timebridge also keeps meeting attendees posted on changes, holds and clears proposed times on your calendar and avoids errors and conflicts.

Attendees  need only a web browser to respond and no registration is required.

Source: TimeBridge, via Techcrunch

Jiffle

Jiffle™ makes scheduling appointments and meetings quick and simple by enabling users to selectively and securely share your online ‘Available’ calendar, and eliminate back and forth emails and phone tag to schedule appointments. It also enables you to synchronize with Outlook or your Google calendar.

Jiffle offers free and paid plans.

Source: Jiffle, via Techcrunch

Tungle

Tungle is a free meeting coordinator that lets people:

Share your availability
View the availability of friends, colleagues or business associates before sending them a meeting invitation.

Coordinate meetings with anyone
Create Tungle Spaces - temporary web sites for coordinating meetings with anyone, including people who don't have Tungle.

Use your existing calendar
Get started in seconds, using your existing calendar, including Outlook, across firewalls and organizations.

Source: Tungle, via Techcrunch

Brands: Doing Well By Being Green - Innocent Drinks, Inc.

Thu, 04/24/2008 - 06:30 — admin

I learned about Innocent Drinks in a recent post by Mack Collier on Viral Garden. The UK  beverage company manufactures ‘Natural Drinks That Taste Good and Do You Good” --- aka smoothies made from 100% natural fruits and “traditional/homemade recipes."

The highly successful Innocent Drinks sells $2 million smoothies per week across Europe, building a 72% market share in the 8 years since they were founded in 1999.  The brand is infused with curiosity, fun, and compassion, contributing 10% of their sales to charitable organizations.

One popular public relations program, “The Big Knit,” enlisted people to knit tiny caps which were placed on bottles of Innocent Drinks. The company then donated a portion of every purchase of a capped bottle to an organization that provided warm clothing to elderly citizens.

The company positioned the program as multi-generational by showing one of their younger employees take knitting lessons – yes, Innocent Drinks actually made knitting cool. In 2007, the campaign went viral across Europe: “…more than 400,000 hats were sent in, while customers posted photos through photo sharing site Flickr and met up through online communities.” The program generated a significant contribution to the charitable organization and resulted in a 100% lift in increased sales.

Click on the video in our left sidebar to highlights of this wonderful program. (If the video isn't visible on this page, you can view it here on YouTube.)

So, what are some of the brand strategies that have contributed to the company’s success?

First and most importantly, Innocent Drinks provides a healthy, good tasting product that focuses on benefits that people are actively seeking. Natural is a key component of their positioning, but it’s a feature of the product that provides a reason to believe/support to the positioning rather than a benefit. In general, benefits resonate more strongly with customers than features because they link the product to customer needs.

‘Green-ness’ is a core value of this company. Many would-be green brands are so focused on telling a ‘green’ story that they forget that ‘greenness’ isn’t, in and of itself, a benefit, no matter how sincere or authentic their brand may be. The smart strategy is to first make sure that you have a product that your target audience wants to buy, and then communicate how being green contributes to its benefits.

It takes the combined efforts of every area in the company to ensure the strategy is a success Everything the company does reflects their vision to leave the world a better place. Their completely natural ingredients, sustainable packaging, carbon neutral energy practices, etc. are authentically green right down to their fruity core.

Success isn’t without its challenges. When Innocent Drinks tested its products in McDonald’s stores in the UK it angered some avid brand users who accused the company of selling out.  Company officials assured them that was not the case and provided opportunities for ongoing dialogue, illustrating that the more successful a company is in facilitating a brand’s development; the more engaged they will be with brand followers.

Images: InnocentDrinks.co.uk

Trends: Virtual Social Media

Thu, 04/24/2008 - 06:15 — admin

If the Internet is about facilitating connections, then anything that enriches those connections by making them more personal and multi-dimensional will be attractive to users.

Nothing can take the place of, say, my brother, my sisters or my parents, sitting across from me at my kitchen table, or being able to hold my youngest niece on my lap. But a web cam, for example, although imperfect, adds another dimension to the connection between us and makes it seem more ‘real’ that simply hearing their voices on a phone or reading text messages on a screen.

That’s why I find the emergence of companies like ExitReality exciting. According to their website they are “a new social media platform that aims to improve your online experience with an enhanced 3D, multi-user, immersive messaging environment..”

You can create virtual photo galleries for you and your guests to walk through and discuss, post video clips that “transform into 3D flat-screen TVs that you can enjoy watching with your friends,” and “see and interact” with your friends while chatting with them online.” How cool is that? 

I'm curious to see if it can be used to facilitate online meetings and conference calls - could be a great option if the software isn't time consuming to learn to use.

ExitReality works with leading global social media sites Facebook, MySpace, Fraudster, Hi5, Rout and Bebop and is currently taking beta applications. They plan to launch “soon.”

ExitReality, via Techcrunch

Brand Strategy: The David Ortiz ‘Curse Shirt’ and The Power of a Good Story

Mon, 04/21/2008 - 23:59 — admin

Suppose someone walks up to you on the street and holds up the skanky-looking David Ortiz jersey in the photo here and invites you to buy it. Ugh. Even if you’re a Red Sox fan, how fast do you think you would walk away from the person trying to sell it to you without actually running?

Now let’s say this person tells you that whatever you pay for the shirt will go to a reputable charity. Maybe you’d shell out a few bucks because you’re a nice person, but you still wouldn’t touch the thing with a ten foot pole---literally.

Okay, what if you knew that this David Ortiz jersey was actually buried in concrete at the Yankee Stadium by a construction worker and “diehard Red Sox fan” who wanted to “curse the Yankees”? And when the Yankees found out, they had the jersey dug up and given to The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to be auctioned off on eBay. Now how much would this shirt be worth? Try $72,200 at the time of this post---and that’s with three days of the auction to go.

So what do great brands and this jersey have in common? A unique and authentic story that engages the consumer and convinces them to pay a premium for the product. Key words here: unique, authentic (as in believable) and engaging.

What’s your brand's story?

UPDATE: Curse Shirt sells for $175,100.  

Photos: Listing on eBay.

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