Facebook Instagram X Youtube
    Latest

    Marketing

    Brand Strategy Workshop, Part 2.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    So yesterday I outlined part one of my (in-development) brand strategy workshop. In it I’ll provide a data and information dump to attendees and have them underline all the “proofs” of marketing success they come across. Part two will see them take the 30 or so pages of proof and do something smart with it. 

    For the allotted 30 minutes, attendees will be instructed to read and reread the underlined items.  The goal of this “reading of proofs” is to begin to organize them into groupings.  Ideally at the end of the exercise, I’m going to see it they can find 3 discrete groupings. There may be two or four and there will certainly be some outliers, but three is the goal. This is the beginning of brand planks.  The groupings we’re looking for are extreme customer care-abouts or brand good-ats.  At the really expensive business consulting companies these groupings are called clusters. Clusters that computers and data analysts array.  In our workshop, the brains of attendees will do the work.  

    Tune in Monday for Part 3. The Claim.

    Brand Strategy Workshop, Part 1.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    I’m thinking about developing a brand planning workshop around the part of my practice devoted to “proof.”  I’ve spoken before groups on numerous occasions but those speeches tended to about theory.  Presentations include “Social Media Guard Rails,” some others about marketing plan development, and others sharing planning tips and tricks. But I have yet to do a participatory workshop. That’s what people want. A workshop where they learn by participating.

    So my idea is to create a big dump of reading, maybe with some picture and video, about a company or product. It might include a piece of topline research and trade some press articles. The lion’s share would be interviews with customers and stakeholders. The dump will offer about 45 minutes worth of reading.

    I’ll explain that their task is to underline the proof. Proof of value. Proof of superiority. Proof of “good-ats” and “care-abouts.” Not marko-babble…tangible, understandable value.

    Tomorrow, I’ll share with you what we’ll do with that proof.

    PEACE in Syria.

     

    Pop Up Magazines.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    Rich Battista was just made the chief executive of Time Inc. He has been charged with creating a growth strategy out of a business anchored to magazines, the flagships of which are Time, Sports Illustrated and People. Most everyone agrees that the future for Time Inc. is digital.

    Here’s my take.  The weekly, bi-weekly (or is it semi-weekly) and monthly magazines should stop publishing and become digital.  News is hourly and most of these properties need to have websites that reflect so. Magazines still have a place, but I’m afraid they are better as mementos and commemoratives. The Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue is one example. Think of these as pop-up magazines. They can also be created for more limited, targeted audiences. Also events. And as such will be better advertising vehicles.  Time, for instance, might put together a print magazine on the state of space travel. These would offer an even more in-depth look than would be available in a weekly effort. As “keepables” these magazines aren’t as likely to offend conservationists. I see Time Inc. as having some print but it will be pop-up print. 

    Setting up this new organization will be like herding cats though. That’s the challenge.  That’s why Mr. Battista is paid the big bucks.

    Bold? Yes. Today? Yes’er.

    Peace. 

     

     

     

    Good-Ats and Care-Abouts.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    “Preservation is one of the highest forms of good citizenship” said the late John Belle, partner at Beyer, Blinder and Belle, the architectural firm that renovated Grand Central Terminal. Words to live by, also, in the branding business.

    We want to preserve in the minds of consumers a brand’s “good-ats.” And we want to maintain the linkage of those good-ats to consumers’ most strenuous “care-abouts.”  Good brands start with good products. It’s simple really — build a product that is good at something. Make sure it’s something customers really care about.  Then work your ass off to preserve the product good-ats over time.  

    One definition of branding is “identity + reputation.” It’s a nice definition but doesn’t take into account product — or should I say core product value. Good-ats and care-abouts.

    So when you are spending a quarter of a million dollars with a big branding firm, make sure your strategy and tagline have a product component to it. Otherwise, your brand strategy firm may not be good-at branding. Peace.

     

     

     

    Culture and Product.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    I just received an email from Nobl a really smart, forward thinking consulting company. The email suggested that the most important advantage a company can have is its culture.  People, products, technology, customers come and go, they say, but a tight culture holds a company together. I’m not so sure this is the most important thing. It is an important thing.

    For me, a great product or service is the foundation upon which a good company is built. That’s what people shell out their hard-earned for. Culture may facilitate and create mastery over a product or service but it’s not why money exchanges hands. Culture is people centric. Brand design is product or service centric. When selling a service (as oppose to a product) the lines blur a bit but I find it always better to focus first on product and service — and the people and culture will follow.

    Now let’s go to the neighborhood bar and get an ice cold draft of culture.

    Peace.   

     

     

    Product Is Value…in Tech.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    I used to say “People who talk about ROI aren’t, getting it.” Today, I amend to say company “CEOs who talk about shareholder value aren’t getting it.”  Look at HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise). They divided from HP, sold off their services business, are selling their software business and tightening the company compression shorts to make themselves even more attractive to shareholders. Consolidations of this sort are focused on Wall Street. But in technology you need the best product not the leanest business. 

    Look at Apple.  Do you think Apple’s people really care about shareholder value as they drive to work?  No, they’re thinking product. Product innovation. Product woosh. Today, The NY Times Farhad Manjoo dinged Apple for lackluster product design of the iPhone 7…and you know that had to hurt. From Tim Cook all the way down to the parking garage attendant. But Apple knows the design is good and they know what’s in the pipeline. Apple cares about product, not shareholder value. Leave shareholder value to the tech companies on the way down. 

    Peace.    

     

    Evidence over Soft Claims.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    I help companies build brands by combing their business for evidence. Evidence is also proof but doesn’t turn into proof until later in the engagement — when we know what it’s proof of. (The “proof of what” is called the claim.) So at What’s The Idea? the brand exploratory is all about evidence.

    If Kitchen Magic has remodeled 50,000 kitchens, that’s evidence. If Newsday provides more news coverage of Long Island than any other news source, that’s evidence. If Northwell Health delvers 42,000 babies that’s evidence.  And, if Trail Of Bits, creates a product that makes digital passwords obsolete, that’s evidence.

    Marketing and advertising is tainted and ruined by too much claim and not enough evidence. 

    When doing brand discovery I’m often inundated with generalizations. “Our kitchens are of the highest quality. We offer the best obstetric care. Our newspaper covers Long Island better than any other. We’re the leader in cyber security innovation.”  

    These soft claims don’t help. If we can drill down so the claims are supported by evidence, then we have a place to start.

    Peace.

     

    Take Your Child to Work Day.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    take your child to work day

    This is a story I have posted about before but it’s worth repeating. I worked as marketing director at an Ed Tech (educational technology) company a while back had to put together a talk for “Take Your Children to Work” day. The warehouse, call center, installers, professional development departments all had to do a few minutes on what mommy and daddy did. Close your eyes and imaging 60 kids sitting on a conference room floor listing to a discussion of HR. The kids were also going to tour the departments and walk through each part of the building.  A long, long day to fill.

    So how does one ‘splain marketing to a disinterested kid sitting on a floor waiting for recess or snack?

    “Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a lemonade stand?”

    “Marketing is all the decisions you have to make in order to sell the lemonade. Are you going to use a package mix or real lemons?  How are you going to keep the ice cold?”  That’s Product of the “Four “Ps” of marketing. “How much are you going to charge for the lemonade?  Twenty five cents or a dollar?” Price. “What should the sign say? And where should you put the sign(s)? How big should the letters be on the sign?” Promotion. And lastly, “Where should you put your stand? In front of your house or on the corner, near two streets?” Place.

    Always know your audience and speak to them in terms they understand.  Not in terms you understand.  Okay, it’s cookie time.

    Peace.

     

    Brand Strategy for Startups.

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    How do you make something out of nothing?  That’s the question for the brand planner when working on a startup. 

    When I was hire #1 at Zude as marketing director, brand strategy was one of my jobs.  I didn’t start brand planning in earnest for months while the CTO and CEO were building, raising and creating the physical business.  In previous blog posts I’ve suggested the first thing one must do when developing brand strategy for a start-up is “follow the patent.”  I stand by that. 

    Startups, as you know, are quite fluid. It’s product and code first, business requirements second. And what the build is one day it may not be the next. So when it comes to customer care-abouts, that’s the easy part – unless you are breaking new functional ground. It’s the brand good-ats that are hard.  There are none.

    So what does the brand planner do at this stage? Keep following the patent.  Have daily observation and update sessions with development team, even for a few minutes.  Insinuate yourself into the product development process in a positive way. Offer help as needed. Do not get in the way of the creativity. Provide marketing stim to the team — subconsciously, it can help.  And continue to play back (to the dev team) any recurring patterns that smell like good-ats.

    It’s a gnarly time. Work to enjoy it.

    Peace.

    The Big Data Oy!

    By
    Steve Poppe
    -
    0

    mount hood

    I worked at a web start-up a few years ago that offered users a free way to build web pages without code. It was called Zude. We had two rounds of funding, about $10M, and were often covered by Tech Crunch, Scobleizer and GigaOm and ReadWrite Web. The business monetization model was tied to advertising. An afterthought really. Let’s face it, in the web world advertising is everyone’s go-to monetization.

    There is an important competing force for monetization today in the start-up world and that is marketing data. Marketing data is not served, viewed, or clicked. It is sold. As behavior, demographics and proclivities. For future use.

    When What’s App sold to Facebook it probably assumed advertising would be in its future. It marginally may have thought selling data would be in its future. But, now, the time has come.

    Advertising is an opt-in thing. Personally data is not. Not really. Data will become more and more of a privacy issue. Millennials say “Go ahead sell my data,” now. But when they season a bit more, they’ll realize privacy is way more important than seeing advertising.

    Data vs. advertising is the new battlefield.

    If you put all the paper Americans receive in direct mail and catalogs in a pile, for one year, you’d create Mount Hood (I just made that up, please don’t fact check it.) Imagine what spam folders, robo calls, door knockers and TV ads will look like when data really catches on. Oy!

    ,

    1...424344...208Page 43 of 208
    © Newsmag WordPress Theme by TagDiv