The Science of Marketing

Raise your hand if you’ve received marketing "advice" lately from someone who’s not in marketing.  Come on, don’t be shy…get em’ up there.  Yeah, I thought so.  I see a lot of hands out there.  Oooo, I even see a few scowls!  You guys must be in high-tech marketing!

The thing about marketing, especially if you’re good at it, is that it looks easy.  Tell some stuff to some people.  Write something.  Build a presentation.  Buy some ad space.  Send an e-mail. Pick some colors.  Shoot video.  These things all look easy.  And, hey, some of them are.  Not only that, some of them are down right fun.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when someone outside the marketing realm offers their opinion on the way things should be.  That press release should have focused more on this product.  The image you chose for an ad had nothing to do with our company.  Our web site is hard to navigate.  All things I’ve heard from non-marketers.  And all annoyed me at the time.

It’s a lot easier to look at these comments in retrospect, and cut people some slack.  The way I deal with it is to think about it this way:  All of these know-it-alls care about making the marketing effort better.  Now, they may have no idea what the implications or budget requirements are for their request, but at least they care. 

I look at the Everyone’s in Marketing Phenomenon (EMP) as an opportunity to listen to what’s on people’s minds, but then I let it go.  Because I know that marketing is not always easy.  I know that marketing is not always fun.  And I know that not everyone can do marketing well.  That’s how I deal with it anyway. 

How do you deal with it?

Now even auto dealers are finding ways to leverage the social medium of blogging to make their businesses better.  On NPR’s "The Bottom Line" segment, Herb Chambers – who owns the largest string of car dealerships in New England – discussed how he is using a blog called herbcares.com to help give his customers a voice – and his bottom line a jolt. 

Here’s how it works.  Customers buy a car or have some work done at one of the many Herb Chambers dealers, after which they are encouraged to share their experience on Herb’s blog.  They visit the web site, key in a little information about themselves and their activity with the dealer, and they’re off and running.  They can type anything – positive or negative – and when they click submit it shows up unfiltered on the site.  Herb requires that his dealers answer all negative postings directly and quickly, offering solutions to customer issues and returning Herb’s reputation to good standing.  The customer walks away feeling empowered, probably willing to deal with Herb in the future.  Herb gets a living case study for his dealers’ customer service prowess, and leaves a string of satisfied customers in his wake.  A win/win.

Looking at what Herb Chambers is doing, I can’t help but think – if a car dealer can leverage social media to strengthen its relationships with customers and help its business in the process, we all can do it.  So what’s it going to take to put you into a new blog?  Why don’t you think it over, while I go ask my manger if I can give you a deal.

Did anyone else see Barack Obama’s address to Congress this week?  Whether or not you agree with this president’s politics and policies, you have to admit that there was a lot of substance behind his words.  In discussing enerygy, education and the economy, Obama talked at a level of specificity that we haven’t seen in Washington for some time- leaving me with the impression that, good or bad, he has a plan for leading this country through some tough times. 

Obama’s speech got me thinking about my recent experiences marketing high-tech B2B products, and how the more substance I included in a campaign, the better results I achieved.  Some marketers believe that in building awareness it’s better to keep things general than it is to dwell on the details.  After all, you have to cast a wide net if you’re going to catch a lot of fish.  But here are a few reasons I think it makes sense to err on the side of substance:

• There are a lot of choices out there- so prospective buyers need substance to hone in on the right product for their needs. 
• Information is everywhere- so consumers will do their own research to find the details fast. If they can’t get the information they’re looking for directly from your company, they’ll find it elsewhere- and chances are they’ll stumble upon information that is outdated, innaccurate or less than flattering in the process.
• Details drive perception- so proving that your company is more than an empty message will send the impression that you have a plan (much like Obama accomplished in his speech).

As one of 350,000 New Hampshire residents who lost power in last week’s ice storm (and one of 25,000 without power 9 days later), I’ve re-evaluated my definition of urgent needs.  Where cable TV and a good prime time lineup was once near the top, it’s gotten bumped down a peg behind more basic, primitive needs- like heat, running water and WiFi. That’s right, WiFi.

You see- I am self employed, and in the business of high tech marketing doing good work for my clients requires a working Internet connection.  So after the first few days of scrambling to procure and connect a generator, I quickly turned my attention to my next urgent need: getting online.  And as it turns out I wasn’t alone.

During one of a thousand trips to the gas station I discovered it- an oasis at the side of an icy road.  Not too far from some down power lines, I encountered the simple chalkboard sign you see above.  My local coffee shop was lucky enough to have their power and Internet connection restored, and they were promoting it well.  So I went home, grabbed my laptop, and prepared for a bit of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic situation.

When I stepped inside the coffee shop, I realized just how urgent the Internet has become, and how effective a simple sign could be.  The place was packed- every table was taken, every inch of counter space was filled.  Everyone there had a laptop and a hot cup of coffee.  The place was like a refugee camp for working professionals, and almost everyone looked happy (including the owner).

Even though life is a little out of the ordinary right now, I wanted to leave you with a little something about marketing this week before I go feed the generator…again.  This week, my thoughts are on those urgent needs we all have, and how companies can deliver and promote solutions that restore a sense of normalcy when problems arise.  What are your customers’ urgent needs?  What’s your WiFi? And where’s your chalkboard sign?

Once a year it seems, something in advertising baffles me.  Last year it was Rachael Ray and Dunkin’ Donuts during football games.  This year it is those four times an hour CSX radio commercials.   While they are cleverly messaged – one gallon of gas propels a stock car once around the track while the same gallon moves ten tons of turpentine ten miles – I keep asking myself  "why are they telling me?"  and "what action do they want me to take?"  We can’t go to the store and chose between turpentine that was hauled by rail versus road, can we?

I’m not alone here.  I found a forum on Trains.Com, where people from all over the country are wondering the same thing: why the commercials?  There’s a lot of speculation on the target audiences: regulators, shippers, investors, potential employees and general brand awareness (i.e., everyone).  But, no one seems to get it.

I may be off track, but in this new age of conversation where communications are personal, I think CSX could make better use of their marketing dollars by targeting their audiences with a little more precision (or spend the money hauling the turpentine another ten miles on a gallon).

How do you feel about this?

The other day, I was absent-mindedly flipping through a magazine, The Numismatist, published monthly by, what else than, The American Numismatic Association (coin collectors).  The magazine is filled with member-written articles on history and economics and how they relate to money.

It is also filled with advertisements for coin dealers and others providing services to the hobby.  Most of these advertisements consist of a bunch noisy words and I fly right by them.  But, my page turning stopped abruptly when I saw this advertisement.

What caught my eye, was the simplicity of it all. Really just three lines (and two pictures): Wishful thinking. Sure thing. Insist on PCGS.

[If your not familiar with the concept, PCGS, is a third party grading service for coins.  For a fee, they authenticate, grade and encapsulate coins.  The value of this is that the encapsulated coin is now liquid with most people in the hobby accept a PCGS (and a handful of other grading service) grade as a sure thing.  The difference in value of an ungraded and graded coin can be enormous regardless of what the owner might wish.]

Of course, to those in the hobby, the advertisement need not be explained; it portrays a simple problem/solution value proposition and a company name.

OK, Jeff, I’m not a coin collector, so what’s this all got to do with advertising in the high tech B2B space?

The answer is simple, take a look at 90% of the advertising you see in one of your industry’s trade publications.  A majority of the advertisements are filled with noisy words. The PCGS advertisement reminded me that B2B print advertising is not necessarily about selling and it is certainly not about getting the spec sheet for your product out there.

What B2B print advertising is about is page stopping and branding – getting the audience to stop, even briefly, and recognize your message and name.  This is best accomplished with simplicity, just like PCGS.

Ask any author and I’m sure he’ll tell you – it’s not easy giving birth to a book.  Now multiply that by 237 and you’ve got The Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It.  Throughout the monumental task of finding all these authors, getting their releases signed, chasing down their chapters, editing their work and weaving it all together; Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan have made it look easy.  And now, about nine months after kicking off this project, I’m told that Gavin and Drew are going into ‘ahem’ labor and putting the finishing touches on the book.  We even have a due date – October 25!

Goofy puns aside, this effort really is about the children, with proceeds from the book benefitting Variety: The Children’s Charity- an international organization dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world.  The first edition of The Age Of Conversation raised well over $11,000 for this worthwhile cause.  This year, we’ll look to do even better.

I know this process is a ton of work for Gavin and Drew, but it’s a labor of love and they’re doing a great job.  Hats off to them for all their hard work.  I’m really rooking forward to the special delivery (from Amazon) next month.  In the meantime – would someone please go get some ice chips – stat?

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I love looking at Google Analytics.  I do it every day for both this blog and our corporate web site looking for patterns, insights and clues to help increase eyeballs and hopefully business. One of the areas that I focus on is referring sites – how visitors got to our web site.  For each referring site (including direct links), Google Analytics lists visits, pages/visit, average time on site and bounce rate (percentage of visitors that exit on the same page they enter). Here’s some statistics and observations for our corporate web site from the beginning of the year until now.

Visits

• 39% – direct link (someone typed our URL into the browser)
• 35% – search engines
• 26% – other referring sites
• Of the other referring sites, 9% were from this blog and 5% were from LinkedIn.

Pages Per Visit

• 6 – direct link
• 4 – this blog and LinkedIn
• 3 – search engines

Average Time on Site

• 7:45 – direct link
• 3:01 – this blog
• 2:33 – LinkedIn
• 1:47 – search engines

Bounce Rate

• 23% – LinkedIn
• 38% – direct link
• 44% – this blog
• 53% – search engines

The conclusion is that social networking sites:

• Generate additional visitors
• Produce quality visits (more time on the site, more pages per visit, lower bounce rate) as compared to search engines

So, why not beef up your social networking efforts?

Here’s a follow-up to a post I wrote in late August.  You remember – the one about marketing communications activities that happen in sequential stages to be most effective.  Since then, I’ve been talking to peers and keeping an eye on the blogosphere to get a feel for how others feel about a phased approach to marketing communications.  The result: it seems that the days of trying to do too much with a single tool or program are quickly coming to an end. 

Most marketers are no longer swinging for the fences with marketing communications – they are thinking through their marketing goals and mapping out phased communications strategies that get them there over time.  They are walking before they run, dating before they marry, and establishing a dialogue  before they sell.  Here are a few examples of progressive thinking in the area of marketing phases:

Marketing Experiments Blog: Writing Headlines that Don’t Sell — But Get Much Higher Conversions

Startup Hustle: Acquiring, Engaging, Retaining and Monetizing Your Customers

Marketing Interactions: B2B Websites Need to Focus on the Long Term

Drew’s Marketing Minute: Are You Expecting too Much From your Marketing?

I’m a big believer in marketing programs that don’t sell or try to do too much, but instead happen in phases and focus on long-term success.  I’m glad to see that others agree.  What do you think?

One of my favorite marketing books is The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk (Al Ries, Jack Trout).  Each chapter is a few pages, gets right to the point and gives a real-life example.  It’s easy to pick up and put down without forgetting what you’ve read before. My favorite law is #13: The Law of Sacrifice.

You have to give up something in order to get something.

Ries and Trout point out that there are three things you can sacrifice: product line, target market and constant change.  They give several examples of companies (Fedex, Smucker’s, Staples and others) that sacrificed one of these three things to increase revenue, improve margin and gain market share.

I think there is something to be learned here for high tech start-ups.

High tech companies are almost always started by engineers; and engineers can do anything – and often do.  Most of the technology that high techs introduce to the world could be applied to a number of problems.  And, it probably can.  So, what usually happens is the it-can-do anything technology is thrown at the wall like spaghetti to see what sticks.  The spaghetti approach, while perfectly understandable, can cause problems:  lack of focus, unfinished products and features, employee chaos and market confusion.  While the first three are internal challenges that can be sorted internally, once the market is confused it is hard to unconfuse it. So, while it’s OK to have long term vision and a five year road map; make some sacrifices in your outbound communications and make sure your messaging is simple, consistent and focused on one (or a small set of) problems and markets.   If you tell the world that you do it all, you probably won’t be believed. What have you sacrificed lately?