http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog en 1@lubicom.com Copyright 2011 2011-04-05T15:57:01-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/what_do_berets_bolt_cutters_and_books_have_in_common/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/what_do_berets_bolt_cutters_and_books_have_in_common/#When:15:57:01Z The internet has revolutionized our shopping experience, but some things just look better in person. Indeed, no matter how free shipping is, nothing will ever beat the in-person dressing room experience. How do you know if that perfect cashmere sweater doesn’t have a small red dot unless you see it in person? How else could you find out if that sweater you like fits your neck properly? Because we all know what happens when you stretch out a sweater… (I apologize to all non-Seinfeld fans). Similarly, stores like the Home Depot and Lowes, places where people buy tools, paints, carpeting and other large, bulky, and very non-digital accouterments, tend to attract a high level of walk-in customers. Clearly, people like to see these items with their five senses and not just on a screen, regardless of how high-def the resolution may be. As with clothing, and perhaps to an even greater extent, hardware retailers have an edge when it comes to drawing the in-person traffic. So you say, berets and bolt-cutters have something in common, (although you probably won’t ever find a person sporting both at the same time) but what about books? Well, as it turns out, books are a popular accessory to both. With the recent bankruptcy of Borders and the declining sales at Barnes and Noble, in store book sales are looking grim. Publishers, especially those proffering more obscure authors and subjects that are unlikely to be featured on major online book retailer sites, are rapidly searching for outlets to advertise and sell their literary wares in stores that still attract live human traffic. By teaming up with both small and large clothing retailers and hardware stores, publishers have found a new venue to attract customers. With cookbooks near the kitchen appliances section and thriller novels alongside the soft knitted socks, printed media has found an unlikely partner in retail.  In this case, out-of-the-box thinking was able to save a small segment of the publishing industry, for how long though, is anyone’s guess. Sometimes the best ideas come from thinking not in the box or out of it, but rather about the box itself. Take for example Idea Paint, a paint that turns your office walls into a whiteboard. Cheaper, more efficient, and longer lasting than a traditional whiteboard, Idea Paint is versatile in its usage, as it can help in the classroom, office, and even at home. Ideas like Idea Paint turn the notion of thinking outside the box on its head; it’s not so much about getting out of the cubical of life as it’s about being able to make that cubicle a more efficient and fun place to be. Good ideas spur interest and thought, but great ideas expand the imagination beyond where we would have ever thought it could go. 2011-04-05T15:57:01-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/making_lemonade_out_of_lemons/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/making_lemonade_out_of_lemons/#When:14:23:00Z You almost expected it. As soon as the furor would die down about the terrible mismanagement of BP, they would mount a campaign to cleanse their name. So it should come as no surprise that a man with a Southern drawl is all over the airwaves talking about just how great things are on the Gulf of Mexico. In less than a minute, he is employed once again, tourists are welcome, and the Gulf has been totally cleaned up. You might say that with this ad, BP sought to address the three major issues that haunted them for so many months. The environment. Oh well, they got that totally cleaned up and you can take a deep breath and smell the fresh air. Industry? Well, tourism is a major part of industry in those parts and with clean beaches and great resorts, why not welcome everybody back. That leaves only employment. So here is this guy who seems to be gainfully employed and pretty happy with his life. This approach was a natural sequence to the initial crisis management where the key officials at BP promised to do all the things that the man is now saying was actually done. It would not surprise me if the third stage already had testimonials from people enjoying the beach this summer and even people who are buying homes. BP is clearly on a mission to clear its name, not only in the US but worldwide. It is addressing some of the fundamental; concerns of legislators and others about preventing such a disaster in the future. That’s for their lobbyists and high priced consultants to deal with. This is about winning back the hearts of the common man and woman. No business can afford to have sustained bad will, even if you are one of the largest energy companies in the world. It has always been an important imperative in marketing to develop and maintain a positive image. It was considered the prerequisite to successful branding. But what happens when disaster strikes like it occasionally happens to some of the most successful brands? That’s when the expression of turning lemons into lemonade comes into play. What that actually means is to take those issues that caused you the grief and turn into a positive, which is precisely what BP is trying to do. Now the trick is to make you believe it! 2011-03-21T14:23:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/good_press_vs_bad_press/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/good_press_vs_bad_press/#When:16:19:00Z When it comes to getting the word out about a product or service, proper press placement has always been imperative. However, the real question is whether it is just a good thing or an absolute necessity? Recently, several large and small fashion industry businesses have taken previously taboo steps to drum up press, even negative publicity. Indeed, one business took this to an extreme, focusing solely on negative press as a medium to increase web site presence on search engines and hence bump-up Internet based sales. Yes, this is part of the all-important SEO (Search Engine Optimization).The question is, to what extent should a business take on a rouge campaign with inherently mixed results? The answer may surprise you. As featured in major media outlets back in December, decormyeyes.com, a Brooklyn-based eyeglass merchant, deliberately offended dozens of customers over the span of three years to increase his placement on search engines. Indeed, the more customers he offended the more negative reviews about his business were written, which in turn led to a higher placement in Google’s search results algorithm. Antithetical at first glance, this businessman was actually making money from bad customer service. This strategy was working so well that Google took notice and promptly changed its algorithm to distinguish between negative and positive reviews. It didn’t help that the proprietor was arrested on an assault and stalking charges against one of his former customers. More recently, in an effort to generate a buzz about its new spring line of apparel, Kenneth Cole drew on the current situation in Egypt posting on Twitter that, “Millions are in uproar in Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available.” The Tweet drew criticism from around the greater social media world and was promptly taken down and replaced with an apology. However, it is safe to assume that viewership of the Kenneth Cole Twitter account and website spiked immediately following the incident and its subsequent press coverage. So, while one incident made light of American-supported Egyptian protesters and another involved criminal behavior, both businesses made use of contrarian thinking to gain social prominence. Compare this to the old school of public relations and you may find that perhaps the change is not all that dramatic. A professor once told a marketing class I was in that “it does not matter what they write about you so long as they spell your name correctly.” Sounds familiar? Sure, that same professor would counsel against “negative publicity,” but then again he used to speak in terms of managing the negative publicity. Social media is a great opportunity to extend the old “word of mouth” to a whole new level. It can instantly extend to many mouths and then some. For people who have something to sell and really do have a good product or service, it is simply a great medium, and much less expensive than classical media. A client who has only recently begun to use social media said: “I feel like I finally found a professional and effective way to shout!” Do you hear him? 2011-03-08T16:19:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/winning_market_share_can_be_a_great_win/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/winning_market_share_can_be_a_great_win/#When:20:34:00Z Marketers use the term winning when it comes to market share as if it were some kind of competition like sports. By the same token, there is the possibility of “loosing” market share which is often as devastating as losing a major competitive event. Market share is that significant! Kellogg’s recently recalled some 28 million boxes of cereal because of an odor in its packaging. Marketing analysts were immediately assessing whether the recall would affect its market share, concluding that its world wide positioning would help carry the icon brand beyond the recall without any loss in market share. Cereals is one of those categories where market share was always a key factor in the fight for the coveted # 1 position with such competitors as Post and General Mills. Market share directly relates to the positioning of a brand. Having the largest market share means leadership. It is the best evidence that a product is the leader in its category, which in turn can affect many other important variables: stock prices, profits, sales, valuation, and future mergers and acquisitions. Market share in many companies is like winning a presidential election. The country is divided into regions and staff working for a candidate in each region is expected to win the lion’s share of votes (market share). The whole issue of market share for large businesses is in a way much like the electoral college in a presidential bid. The companies make a concerted effort to be the leader in the large cities because cumulatively they add up to the largest concentrations of consumers. How companies fare in large markets is also important in the overall positioning of a company. The battle for having leading market share occurs daily in communications, food, technology, and in so many other categories. When a company actually “wins” market share, it usually means that it has successfully deposed a competitor. At that point a key imperative is to stay in the leadership position. For the dethroned entity, it becomes a challenge to recapture its former position. This was always the case not only with the cereals companies, but with the highly heralded Coke -Pepsi wars and also with the automobile manufacturers. At first it was the US manufacturers fighting for market share amongst themselves and then it was the Europeans who muscled their way into the leadership position in the US. The US auto manufacturers are one of the bright stories to emerge from the recent recession. On the brink of bankruptcy and bailed out by Uncle Sam, they are in the throes of an unprecedented comeback. While leader Toyota was embroiled in a myriad of quality issues, the US manufacturers actually are producing a much better product and it is not going unnoticed. It will be awhile until they are once again locked in a battle for the leadership in market share with the Europeans, but many observers say that it is in sight. While market share is most often associated with major brands, marketers say that it can be applied to almost any business situation, even for the local cleaners or restaurant. The upshot is that having the largest market share most often spells being the leader.  Being the leader with significant market shared directly relates to many characteristics of the brand, first and foremost is quality. When the majority of people in a given market prefer a certain brand, they are reaffirming that they consider the product the best value for their money. They are attesting to the fact that the product has an edge over competitors and that is worth its weight in gold. But not always is winning market share synonymous with being number one. Cutting into the market share of a leader is considered to be a major coup for brands trying to compete in a given category. Gaining percentage points of share from a leader is considered to be a formidable achievement for a product or brand. Many readers will remember when Avis and Hertz were vying for market share. While Hertz claimed that it was the leader, Avis came up with a slogan “We Try Harder.” In essence Avis was conceding the Number One slot but pointing out its formidable position in market share. Being second in market share or even third may for some brands be as important as it is for some brands to be the leader. Marketers say that Avis was actually hoping that its honest We Try Harder would catapult them to Number One. I recently read about a number of power drink companies that are cutting into market share of the large beverage companies in an age when the power drinks are preferred by many young customers. The marketing director of one of the brands wrote: “Every customer that we wean off Coke and Pepsi is a major shift in market share. The battle for market share is with every purchase.” The quest for market share is so vital in the marketing arena that almost every brand ultimately defines its success or failure by looking at its market share. A shift of even a percentage point or two can have major implications for the bottom line of a brand. 2011-01-11T20:34:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/angst_over_a_brand_that_lets_you_down/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/angst_over_a_brand_that_lets_you_down/#When:20:32:00Z I read with interest several articles and comments by marketing executives who were assigned the task of branding British Petroleum (BP). There seems to be a sense of betrayal and disillusionment that a brand that they thought could never fail actually let them down. It seems that many marketing executives look at branding as more than a professional exercise. It isn’t just that they built a brand that was highly successful economically. It is an affirmation of perfection and even of doing good for the broader society. BP no doubt touted its multi-faceted programs at helping communities, the environment, cleaner energy, and helping the disadvantaged, all of which made the marketing professionals look good as well. The stakes for the marketer in a branding effort are extremely high, particularly if the brand becomes a national and international icon. Those who worked on Exxon prior to its disaster and more recently on BP are asking themselves how they could possibly protect themselves from a brand that falls from the highest summit. If you think that this discussion is well out of reach of common everyday business practices, think again. As marketers, we are always subject to the assurances of the client despite our own due diligence that their product or service is brand-worthy. In fact, many agencies today demand proof about a claim of a product’s quality. The fact that they will be paid well may not be enough to persuade the agencies to take on the account. They may be concerned about the long-term viability of the brand, but they will also want to be assured that the brand will live up to its name. The power of branding is such that it is much more than a name, symbol, or logo. Customers actually become emotionally attached to the extent that they really do wear it on their sleeves. Wearing a brand is to many consumers not an ancillary item. It becomes very much a part of their persona. They really do take “you are what you wear” to a different level. But oddly this emotional attachment is not reserved for customers only. Officials at marketing agencies become equally as attached. Working on a brand account is somehow not only a sign of success, but it also becomes part of their persona. So whether it was Exxon, BP, Toyota or Tylenol, the professionals working on branding pondered the key question of “how could it have happened?” Mistakes and accidents are simply not supposed to be a part of the branding effort, which is what makes them the brand. But as we have all learned in the recent past, brands are not invincible and when they fall it is from a much higher plain. But brands are said to have yet another advantage which is why they are so coveted. They most often have the ability to recover when other products and services faced with the same calamity simply fold. BP presumably designated $20 billion for amongst other things compensation and damages to people living in the Gulf area. It obvious takes a BP to commit that kind of money to survive, but not only to survive, to resurface with the brand intact. Over the past half century, several airlines have either had to fold, merge, or change their names after an accident. Safety is so paramount in the psyche of consumers that recovery is difficult unless the public is lead to believe that the brand is no longer a factor, one way or another. Or, as Tylenol did when its product was tampered with, create a tamper-proof bottle to essentially promise consumers that the calamity cannot repeat itself. It will take a lot more than the $20 billion for BP to prove that they have taken the necessary steps to assure the public that an off-shore drilling accident like what happened in the Gulf of Mexico will never happen again.  Toyota is still busy trying to convince its customer base that its automobiles are safe. They are on an intense campaign to convince the public that gas pedals will not accelerate on their own and that brakes will stop when prompted. Marketers agree that the public expects nothing short of perfection when it comes to brands. The professionals too want to feel that they are working on a product that exudes success. It is perhaps the dream of many entrepreneurs to develop a product that turns out to be a brand. Needless to say, the rewards can be enormous. In the late ‘90’s a young man with an electronic testing gadget for physicians (and for home use) was convinced that he had the ultimate new product. He had an exclusive with the producers in Asia and had managed to raise a considerable amount of capital to market the product. As a first step, I suggested distributing the product (retailing at $249) to at least 10 physicians to make sure that the product lived up to its hype. The entrepreneur thought that it was a waste of time since it already had been tested and marketed in Belgium.  He wanted this gadget to become a national brand or the “next Apple,” as he termed it. Seven out of the 10 physicians reported problems with the device including not working properly in sunlight.  Needless to say, his dream fizzled.  Like the marketers involved with BP, I was glad that I did not become emotionally involved with a product and potentially a brand that was less than perfect. 2011-01-11T20:32:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/a_snow_job_seldom_works/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/a_snow_job_seldom_works/#When:20:30:00Z Picture yourself in the following situation: You’re a CEO of a large successful company and have every expectation that “the system” (whatever the system might be) works. If you are the head of an airline, you go to sleep at night believing that people handling reservations are doing just that, pilots are flying your planes and mechanics are fixing them. Prudent and wise CEO’s never take anything for granted, making sure to check and recheck the systems to make sure that they are indeed performing according to plan. But what happens when you discover that the system is not working as per expectations? What should your reaction be if there was indeed a breakdown of the very system that you had the utmost confidence in? It may indeed be a system that not only you had every reason to expect was working, but indeed the public as well. That’s what happened to New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the aftermath of a blizzard that all but shut down the Big Apple in the midst of its busy holiday season, including the presence of hundreds of thousands of tourists. Bloomberg must have realized that something was amiss when citizens all over the city began to complain about unplowed streets, passengers stuck on trains, ambulances that could not respond and so forth. I have no doubt that his advisers were early on telling him that the cause was the ferocity of the storm and not a breakdown of “the system.” Unlike neighboring locales and states, the Mayor did not declare a state of emergency and instead reassured New Yorkers that the city was going about its normal life and the “system” was working. Even when it became apparent to everyone that the response by the Sanitation Department was uncharacteristically dismal, the Mayor reluctantly stuck to the script of “don’t worry, everything is fine.” Comparisons to the 1969 fiasco when Mayor John Lindsay was blamed for totally ignoring the borough of Queens are a stretch. There, Lindsay for whatever reason decided that Queens can wait; here, the Mayor trusted a “system” that had totally broken down. He did not decided to teach the city a lesson as it was later said about Lindsay and Queens. There is a significant lesson in marketing here. Bloomberg could have been spared the criticism and ridicule if only he said: “My fellow New Yorkers. Like you, I am very disappointed in our city’s response to the storm. This is not the system that has been in place for years and indeed worked so well last year during two major storms. I have ordered the city’s attorneys to mount an investigation when the plowing has concluded. We will not tolerate such a breakdown in the greatest city in the world.” Not only could Bloomberg have avoided the wrath of citizens and the media; he would have been lauded for his honest and no-nonsense approach (President Ronald Reagan fired air traffic controllers when the strikers ignored an order to return to work.) Indeed, rumors continue to circulate that sanitation workers purposely slowed down the system to make a point in connection with pending layoffs in their Department. The Mayor instead relied on the fact that the breakdown is probably temporary and that whatever the problem was would be “fixed” quickly and thus there was no need to cry foul. The year 2010 seemed to have been full of such “snow jobs.” There was BP trying to sell the public that it knew what it was doing in plugging the catastrophic leak. Apple made believe that an antenna on its phones was not a problem. There was Toyota that seemed to be hiding when the brakes on some of its vehicles weren’t working. Johnson & Johnson kept recalling over-the-counter drugs without admitting that it had a problem. In each case, the companies faced a PR nightmare simply because someone convinced them that the problem would somehow go away or in Bloomberg’s case melt. This is a dangerous approach for any institution that depends on the goodwill of the public. In the Mayor’s case, it isn’t about consumers buying a product, but a nasty footnote to an otherwise laudable career as Mayor. Marketing and public relations experts always counsel taking the honesty approach. The public has demonstrated time and again that it will forgive someone who says “I made a mistake,” and will have no pity on officials or anyone else who tries to “pull wool over their eyes.” People understand that to err is human, but they do not forgive people who are trying to preserve their legacy or protect the bottom line to avoid telling the truth. Many political and organizational leaders as well as business executives, irrespective of the size of the entity, face similar dilemmas occasionally and wrestle with what kind of spin to put on a problem. I have been retained on numerous occasions to help guide an individual or company with a specific PR problem and have heard the argument that “the public will not find out,” which I always find ridiculous in an era of unprecedented open communications. Looking back at some of these clients, I can say without reservations that those who took the honesty trail ultimately fared well, as opposed to those who preferred the “snow job.” “Right, Mr. Mayor?” 2011-01-03T20:30:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/acquiring_new_customers_the_new_way/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/acquiring_new_customers_the_new_way/#When:20:29:00Z It was just another store in one of the newer malls in Florida. The sign in the window already gave some indication of the store’s approach to winning over their customers. “Welcome New Customers,” the bright red poster read. Once inside, the sales staff was quickly all over each customer, “Is there anything I can help you with?” This was an offer that they kept repeating almost every 3-5 minutes as we were browsing. What was noteworthy was that it did not seem rehearsed, a fact not lost on customers. After checking out at the register, the sales clerk handed us a $25 gift certificate that we were asked to fill out, but it was not to be used by us, but rather by a friend. The sales manager said that he estimated that at least 40-50 new customers a week come in with the certificate that was given to them by a friend. He also said that the average purchase was $250 and well worth the $25 discount. Acquiring new customers for any business is a lifeline for its future growth and development. Marketers have long argued that the best way to attract new customers is via word of mouth. This essentially means that a customer who will have a good experience will no doubt pass this on to someone else and so it goes. The important point is to never let your guard down on offering good service, counsel the marketers. But in today’s highly competitive business environment, marketers are constantly introducing new ways to attract new customers. They argue that customers have so many choices that word of mouth is just not good enough anymore. A Midwest fashion accessory company regularly sends “specials” to email lists he acquires. In the email he writes: “The attached offer for the antique bracelet is yours if you send this e-mail offer to ten friends with the following code. Should any of your friends order $100 or more, the attached bracelet is yours.” Another Florida appliance store offers points for every recommendation of a potential customer. Each recommendation earns 5 points with special free merchandise if 100 points are reached. Many other retailers have adopted the “frequent buyer’s club,” earning members points and many prizes. Marketers suggest that the best recommendations are those from satisfied customers. That is why many retailers often court these customers with regular communications, newsletters, special offers and favorite customer deals. One marketer calls them “the priceless customers.” It is why chains like Bloomingdale’s open some of their stores an hour early occasionally for the preferred shoppers and even assign special professional shoppers to attend to them. To curry favor with customers, many retailers now empower their “associates” – new name for sales people – to engage their customers in what they call “a farewell conversation.” You may have experienced this on the phone or in person. “Have I satisfactorily answered all your questions?” “Have I been helpful to you?” “Is there anything else I can help you with?” A new era of friendly talk by salespeople in the hope that it sufficiently registers to make you a repeat customer and more importantly to make sure that you are an ambassador of goodwill to the next group of customers. The marketers who have been pushing this approach the most also believe that it is important to introduce such a culture in a business. Every employee must fully buy into this way of thinking for the program to succeed. More and more companies include this brand of marketing in their in-staff training and offer rewards for successful integration of the new customer program into their jobs. The appliance company has even introduced a version of this program in its repair division. Repairmen are routinely trained to promote new products at the location of the repairs. They offer customers specials on new wiring, automated timers for their appliances, “free” inspection of other appliances and so forth. The company says that this approach alone has generated more than $1 million in new business. Some companies have adopted programs that laser in on attracting customers in specific neighborhoods or people in like circumstances. A letter might read: “We recently provided roofing services to a house on your block. You may have seen our grey striped trucks on your blocks. Call us for a free estimate on your roofing needs.” A supplier of fishing apparel is able to secure lists of people who have adopted fishing as a hobby. A wedding photographer offers a newlywed couple that used his services a free beautifully framed portrait for recommending a friend that goes on to sign up the photographer for their wedding. He says that he gets 3-4 jobs a month that way. Even companies that have structured marketing programs, including advertising, promotions and special events, are still urged to focus a part of their program to new customer acquisition. They may be even more successful because they invest into branding. Ironically, I often find companies that are fully involved in this activity, but don’t consider that part of marketing. It takes a bit of convincing, but in the end I am sure that they realize that not only is this an integral part of marketing, but it is probably one of the most important activities of the marketing mix. So where is your next customer coming from? 2010-12-20T20:29:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/communications_is_the_key_to_a_good_marketing_marriage/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/communications_is_the_key_to_a_good_marketing_marriage/#When:20:28:00Z Did you ever notice that some of the nation’s leading brands don’t stop talking to you. They are forever telling you how special you are and how much more they’d like to do for you. The more you are perceived to be a good customer, the more you’ll hear from the brand. Some brands will “special” you almost everyday in the hope of retaining your business. You are invited to participate in specials, are told that you are special, and urged to enjoy your special status. Some of the messages are not designed to sell any product or services; just to convince you that they are compassionate and concerned, something you are happy to identify with. The recent enclosure with bills from National Grid, for example, asked the question: “Do you need help paying your energy bills?” While there no doubt are people that are not paying their utility bills due to hardship in this ongoing recession, it is also designed to impress those that do that National Grid cares about the less fortunate. More and more marketers are calling this “a new age of communications” between brands and consumers. One even compared the staying in touch phenomenon as similar to a marriage where good communications is essential to maintaining a healthy relationship. There is increasing evidence that the more the marketers talk to you, the more you are likely to be brand loyal. Said one marketer: “You simply cannot talk too much in marketing; it’s simple and effective in your face marketing.” Good communication programs are essential for any business or service. I have often written how businesses somehow take their existing customer base for granted and do not stay in touch often enough. An even more fundamental “sin” is not being in-your-face with customers who may have, for one reason or another, left the company. “Everyone likes being courted,” suggested a marketer, “even past customers.” There is nothing like making a customer feel like an insider. Of late, many communications indeed begin with, “Dear Insider.” Who does not enjoy being an insider, especially if here and there it is accompanied with an offer reserved for insiders? An insider’s message is particularly effective if there is something new like a product or even a change in the company. United Airlines went out of its way to make their insiders feel that they are privy to some important information about their acquisition of Continental. Some say it was a brilliant stroke of genius to still keep the Continental logo as a sign of stability and keeping Continental customers engaged. Department stores have long since adopted special sales for insiders. Bloomingdale’s opens its door an hour earlier for insiders and it is truly amazing how many people actually come to the store before the doors open to the general public. Barnes & Nobles, the icon book chain, is undergoing a great deal of change. An increasing number of its customers are switching to reading books electronically through such devices as the Kindel. The book chain is hoping that many of its loyal customers will not give up the special environment they offer. But they are also introducing educational toys to attract younger consumers with children. The chain has stepped up its communications with its customers . There are some that argue that the new wave of communications is actually counter-productive. They say that the constant bombardment of messages by companies is actually making customers resent the invasion of their space. There is some truth to it, but the evidence is that the brands that are “guilty” of this “bombardment” are precisely those that are showing the best results. So long as the message is clear and well-written, there is no down side. So here goes my personal message to my readers: Dear Insider: If you feel that this is a message you have seen before, you may be right. It was probably covered in the article on branding, customer retention, and returning old clients. If you’ve actually read my suggested message, you’re right again. During some of my earlier articles, I actually gave examples of the type of letters to write. I most likely stressed the importance of drafting letters that use proper grammar and deliver an effective message. I also most probably cautioned against messages that are confusing, offer little, and speak down to the customer. If all this sounds familiar, I’ve just succeeded in communicating the importance of communications in marketing. There is a lot to be gained from effective communications as you attempt to build brand loyalty. If you are a seasonal business, make sure that you are communicating well before the season. Air conditioner service companies should begin communicating in February and perhaps earlier to be successful in the Spring and Summer. Successful marketing is all about effective communications. If its sounds like marriage, it is! 2010-11-22T20:28:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/the_lesson_of_the_tea_party/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/the_lesson_of_the_tea_party/#When:20:26:00Z Anyone who has ever studied American history knows the story of the Boston Tea Party, when in 1773 the colonists yelled “No taxation without Representation” and dumped British tea into the sea rather than pay tax for the tea. So here we are in 2010 and the Tea Party is suddenly back in the news, having an enormous impact on the recently held mid-term elections. One can argue that the name had nothing to do with the frustration of voters, many of them conservatives whose stomachs turned at many government initiatives to bail out the economy, more specifically the banks. These were also people that simply cannot get past Obamacare (the term used for President Obama’s new health care laws). I am absolutely enthralled with the genius of the idea of creating a label for a body of voters that may have been lost in the two-party system, particularly in the Republican Party. It created the right identity for disenfranchised voters even if they weren’t from the ranks of the core dissidents who are dead set against government intervention in a free market system, even during a deep recession. In short, here was an old and stale product that suddenly got new life simply by changing the label. The Tea Party phenomenon is an everyday challenge for marketers. What to do when an established brand shows regression? With broad awareness and a long history, dumping the brand is obviously not an option, although not unheard of. The question then becomes how to create the impression that something has changed when in fact it may have changed little or not at all. There are some marketers that constantly caution that one should never allow a brand to go stale. They suggest constant updating and refreshing so that it does not lose out to newer and fresher brands that capture the attention of consumers, particularly younger ones. Even the Cokes and Pepsi’s of the world do not take their iconic status for granted and are constantly tweaking their image and their message so that they not lag behind their competitors. Some companies have a great deal of success with re-introducing a product or brand as “New and Improved.” The assumption by the consumer is that something was done to the product to make it better. For those that are loyal to the product, it may prevent them for trying something else and for those customers that were never there, it is an opportunity to at least try the product. In marketing trial leads to awareness which hopefully leads to brand loyalty. The retro approach used by the Tea Party people has also worked for many who have tried to re-invent themselves or the product. By identifying with something that is clearly historic or at least lingering somewhere in the conscience of consumers, it actually freshens the image. The down side for the Tea Party people was that many natural adherents would yawn at something that may not be clearly relevant in contemporary times. They made sure to instantly position the relevance and they benefited from adding a face to the concept in the person of Sara Palin. 2010-11-08T20:26:00-05:00 http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/why_tweaking_a_logo_could_backfire/ http://www.lubicom.com/marketing_blog/why_tweaking_a_logo_could_backfire/#When:20:24:00Z It is considered good marketing practice to tweak a logo so that it is more up-to-date in terms of its overall look. Tweak, of course, does not mean a complete redesign and overhaul, so much so that it is not recognizable. It means tinkering with the font and perhaps with the color and shape to project a more contemporary look. Major beverage companies like Coke and Pepsi do it periodically, always careful not to loose its basic look which really is its identity that spells customer awareness and brand loyalty. Marketers were stunned last week when the Gap, a leading fashion brand withdrew its decision to update its logo four days after announcing that it was planning the change. Although it was perhaps more than just a tweak, the reaction from consumers was instantaneous and pointed enough that the company did an about face. According to marketing publications the popular clothing company switched out its traditional blue box with tall, white letters for a logo sporting a white box with black letters and a small, blue square positioned in the top, right-hand corner.  What the Gap and many other major brands often attempt to do is to reinvent themselves. They desire to make themselves more current, particularly with younger customers that often tend to support brands that appear to be more in sync with their generation. Some major brands desire to be proactive, fearing that a competitor, even one that may not yet be on the horizon, will make them look stale, outdated, and less relevant. While Gap may have been following the book in seeking an overall change in its corporate image, it apparently was not fully aware about the strength of its logo. True that the company felt it needed to make the change to recapture its former positioning of being a leader, it may not have had the benefit of advanced market research to know exactly how its target audience feels about the proposed change.  In 1984, the Coca Cola Company introduced New Coke and quickly learned that marketing based on a whim was bad marketing. Other companies too learned the hard way that producing a product that the company “thinks” the customer wants is no replacement for what the customer “really” wants. I have always admired the way Amtrak reinvented itself in an era of increased air travel. It redesigned its logo, its image and its message. Amtrak virtually became more of a transportation company than just railways. Its Acela Express campaign was an attempt to reposition train travel as quick, efficient, and comfortable at a time when air travel became much more of a hassle. The net result for Amtrak was an unprecedented surge in rail travel. The Amtrak example is perhaps a good test case. Their attempt to reinvent themselves was necessitated by a competitive reason, air travel. There was lost market share to consider and above all the need to position air travel as a good alternative to traveling by air. The Gap may have been motivated by its own competitive headaches. Sales at the chain’s 3000 stores have been in decline, losing market share to several competitors. It will likely move to strengthen its brand by remaking its ads and even redesigning its stores as it fights for market share of younger consumers. Many companies never get to the stage of reinventing themselves or do not recognize the need for change until it is too late. They coast with an image that may be outdated but never have the luxury of actually stopping the clock to examine their own positioning. They may be late like the American auto industry which was virtually knocked off its own turf by foreign automakers. Good business practice means constantly evaluating the position of the business in terms of who the customer is and very importantly who the competitor is attracting. Watching younger consumers place their loyalty with competitors is probably what set off the alarm bells at Gap. No one knows for sure whether a new aggressive marketing program sans the new logo will reverse the trend, but one thing is for certain: the status quo was certainly not the answer. It goes without saying, as I have so often written, that there is no replacement for knowing your customer well. Some businesses do receive early warning signals only to ignore them. They may experience a down season in a particular business but typically ascribe the reason to a variable that may have no bearing on the truth. I have seen many entrepreneurs blame the economy for a failing business when in truth it really was something else. That is why it is important to do the forensics on a business periodically so that changes are not made too late. About a year ago, I counseled a not-for-profit organization to update a logo that was first designed in the 1960’s. The organization was trying to make inroads with younger donors and had received feedback that their logo looked old and tired. A year after redesigning its logo, they were much more successful with younger donors. The executive director admitted that he should have embarked on a program to reinvent the organization “a long time ago.” 2010-10-18T20:24:00-05:00