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Changing the way you operate:
They say that “Change is the only constant” and in the world of marketing this concept is the basis of planning the kind of work that any organization will undertake.
Various companies start with a goal in mind but have to change their paths because they understand the need to diversify (read change). Those that fail to do so, mostly end up dead. In fact, out of the companies that featured in the Forbes 100 in 1917, only 18 could stay there till 1987. The downfall can, in part be blamed on their obstinacy of not bringing about a change in the way they worked.
Bringing about a change in the organization may be easier said than done. The top management should find a way to blend in the changes they plan to introduce into their organization. A change in the way an organization works is feasible only if the benefits to stakeholders outdo the risks and costs of bringing in that change. Employees may resist change and it is up to the top management to align the vision and mission in order to implement the change, keeping in mind the concerns of the people who matter.
Nokia a major mobile device producer did not start out to produce mobile phones instead it started out as a paper manufacturer in 1865. Established by Fredrik Idestam on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids, Nokia moved from producing paper to hydroelectricity before starting to manufacture mobile devices. Nokia has, over the years, proved that change is what gets you moving.
The rate of change inside the organization should exceed the rate of change in the industry, only then can a company can prosper and stay alive.
“God, give us grace to accept things that cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other”
-Reinhold Niebuhr
Branding
A few days ago, I was contemplating whether to buy a Mac or a normal windows PC. The question would have been less baffling if I had less money or if I had no choice :D.
Think about how easy would it be for you when you walked into a barista and asked for a coffee, no need to answer if you wanted it black or with milk, sugar or no sugar, cream or without cream. How good would it be if they gave you everything and you used whatever you wanted to :D.
The question made me think about a very important concept of marketing called “Branding”.
We are all familiar with the term Brand but little do we know that everything around us has a brand value, even ourselves. There is one thing that differentiates one person or thing from the other which may be exploited as the thing/person’s brand value.
All cars cannot be a Ferrari!!!
When talking of Brands, it is also important to know how to keep the brand alive. It is important, hence, for brand managers to think of what extensions to give to a product/product name. Should it be a line extension of launching a new product in the same category, should a company go for a brand extension of introducing a new category or should a company foray into the unknown territory by moving into a totally new industry? While it may be a good idea to extend the line of existing products a brand manager should be careful because the new product can bring about a decline in sales of the older products while may not bring in additional profit. Line extensions make sense when the company can benefit from customer loyalty.
Brand Extension and Brand Stretch are a riskier and trickier. I may like to wear a Benetton t-shirt but would I like to buy laptop that goes by the same name, not really! Also the question of renaming the brand comes up when it comes to brand stretch that explains why Levi’s named its cotton trousers Dockers rather than calling it Levi’s cottons. So why did Levi’s do it, because it gave them the opportunity to establish a new brand image.
Quality is no longer a discriminating factor; it used to be, not anymore. It may create a tad bit of a difference but not enough to get a firm grip on the market. It is the after sales service, customer relationship management and USP of the brand.
Finally, a brand does not sell because of less cost, better quality or higher costs of the competitor. It sells on goodwill and customer retention. Try to work out how you get you can do that, and you’ve got yourself a “BRAND”.
P.S: I bought the Mac
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Think about how easy would it be for you when you walked into a barista and asked for a coffee, no need to answer if you wanted it black or with milk, sugar or no sugar, cream or without cream. How good would it be if they gave you everything and you used whatever you wanted to :D.
The question made me think about a very important concept of marketing called “Branding”.
We are all familiar with the term Brand but little do we know that everything around us has a brand value, even ourselves. There is one thing that differentiates one person or thing from the other which may be exploited as the thing/person’s brand value.
All cars cannot be a Ferrari!!!
When talking of Brands, it is also important to know how to keep the brand alive. It is important, hence, for brand managers to think of what extensions to give to a product/product name. Should it be a line extension of launching a new product in the same category, should a company go for a brand extension of introducing a new category or should a company foray into the unknown territory by moving into a totally new industry? While it may be a good idea to extend the line of existing products a brand manager should be careful because the new product can bring about a decline in sales of the older products while may not bring in additional profit. Line extensions make sense when the company can benefit from customer loyalty.
Brand Extension and Brand Stretch are a riskier and trickier. I may like to wear a Benetton t-shirt but would I like to buy laptop that goes by the same name, not really! Also the question of renaming the brand comes up when it comes to brand stretch that explains why Levi’s named its cotton trousers Dockers rather than calling it Levi’s cottons. So why did Levi’s do it, because it gave them the opportunity to establish a new brand image.
Quality is no longer a discriminating factor; it used to be, not anymore. It may create a tad bit of a difference but not enough to get a firm grip on the market. It is the after sales service, customer relationship management and USP of the brand.
Finally, a brand does not sell because of less cost, better quality or higher costs of the competitor. It sells on goodwill and customer retention. Try to work out how you get you can do that, and you’ve got yourself a “BRAND”.
P.S: I bought the Mac
Utility Marketing: Usefulness Creates Connections
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Utility marketing certainly isn’t a new idea. In fact, André Michelin launched the first Michelin Guide in 1900, less then 10 years after the inflatable tire was patented. What began as a simple marketing ploy to get Parisians driving more (thus buying more Michelin tires) has grown into a global business, spanning more than a century.
But in the last couple of years branded utility has truly come of age. More and more, we see brands providing useful tools and services to forge connections with consumers. Additionally, the penetration of web enabled devices and the massive popularity of iPhone apps are playing substantial role in this new maturation – elegantly illustrating how branded utility can foster an ongoing relationship with people.
By providing frequent, helpful interactions with consumers, these applications can quickly become a meaningful part of their daily lives. This regular contact can be a supremely potent way to establish trust and build brand loyalty.
The mindshare these often small, simple utilities garner can offer a tremendous return on investment. This is not lost on deft marketers with increasingly tight budgets.
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Utility marketing certainly isn’t a new idea. In fact, André Michelin launched the first Michelin Guide in 1900, less then 10 years after the inflatable tire was patented. What began as a simple marketing ploy to get Parisians driving more (thus buying more Michelin tires) has grown into a global business, spanning more than a century.
But in the last couple of years branded utility has truly come of age. More and more, we see brands providing useful tools and services to forge connections with consumers. Additionally, the penetration of web enabled devices and the massive popularity of iPhone apps are playing substantial role in this new maturation – elegantly illustrating how branded utility can foster an ongoing relationship with people.
By providing frequent, helpful interactions with consumers, these applications can quickly become a meaningful part of their daily lives. This regular contact can be a supremely potent way to establish trust and build brand loyalty.
The mindshare these often small, simple utilities garner can offer a tremendous return on investment. This is not lost on deft marketers with increasingly tight budgets.
5 Shocking Marketing Statistics
Shocking Junk Mail Statistics & Environmental Damage
Marketers say they use junk mail because it's cheap. But this begs the question - "cheap for whom?"
While taxpayer subsidies to the logging and fuel industries might indeed allow advertisers to stuff your mailbox for mere pennies on the pound, the fact is that junk mail exacts a heavy cost on Americans' quality of life and on our environment.
1.Junk Mail Kills 2.6 Million Trees Every Year. I assumed each piece of "standard mail" was junk mail (this is only about 50% of the total volume of US Mail) and assumed that junk mail uses 2 sheets of paper (1 envelope and 1 letter), found the number of sheets of paper per tree, and did some math. Of course some junk mail is only a postcard, but some is a catalog. And some does use recycled paper. But I did not factor in any of the damage caused by all those trucks burning gas to deliver all the mail either.
2.Every US Household Gets 6 Pieces of Junk Mail Each Day. I took the total volume of junk mail and divided by the number of households and the number of mail delivery days and got the answer, which is 6.3.
3.In 5 Days We Produce Enough Junk Mail to Reach the Moon. I took the width of a business envelope (8-7/8 inches) and multiplied by the number of junk mail pieces and divided by the number of inches to the moon, and saw that we could reach the moon 61 times per year with our junk mail. If you divide the number of mail delivery days by 61, you get 5, which means every 5 days we could reach the moon again with our junk mail.
4.Junk Mail Produces 1 Billion Pounds of Landfill Each Year. If you take the 2.6 million trees killed each year and convert that into pounds of paper, you get roughly 2 billion pounds. Even if you assume half of that is recycled (I saw an estimate of 45% on Wikipedia) you still have 1 billion pounds of paper going into landfills
5.Junk Mail Weighs Almost Double the US Military's Tanks. Our junk mail weighs nearly twice as much as all the US tanks in the world, combined. If you take the average US tank at a weight of 67 tons (a ton is 2,000 pounds) and divide the total weight of paper from junk mail by that number, you find that junk mail produced each year weighs the same as over 15,000 tanks. According to Wikipedia, the US military has about 8,000 tanks. By the way, a tank weighs about 40 times more than a standard car.
Marketing Vs. Sales
Sales and marketing jobs often sound very similar, but they’re very different disciplines requiring different skill sets. Find out what sets them apart and which career path is right for you.
By Kelly Burkart, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing jobs often sound very similar. You may even see crossover in keywords or categories as you search employment ads. So, does that mean marketing and sales careers are one and the same? Can you be successful at one as well as the other?
"Sales and marketing are two very different disciplines requiring different types of people with different skills," says Scott Zosel of Zosel & Co., a Minneapolis-based marketing consulting firm.
Sales: Building Relationships
Sales roles are about one-on-one relationships-from prospecting to closing a deal and all the phone calls in between. Wherever customers are in the sales process, salespeople convince them to take the next step. And, for salespeople, successful relationships help breed more business through referrals and networking.
Marketing: planning and tactics
Marketing is a business support function that paves the way for sales with promotional materials and an understanding of target audiences. Marketing plans, which may include sales strategies, are created at the executive level to guide more junior marketers in executing tactics, including ads, web pages, print brochures and more.
Choosing your career path
An entry-level career path in sales may include training from a mentor, but in general, you'll jump right into selling. On the other hand, marketers may start out with tactical or support roles and grow into more strategy, planning and consulting.
For mid-career professionals, "it's probably easier for a marketing person to go into sales," says Zosel. After years of executing tactics, marketing people may be attracted to the personal interaction and relationship-building of a sales job. On the other hand, Zosel says that "sometimes the top sales performer will be moved into a marketing management position, and it doesn't usually work. He or she may be too focused on the front lines and not interested or able to take on the responsibility of managing marketing tactics."
In the long run, "usually salespeople are the ones to advance to the top executive spots within a company. They're the relationship builders, while the marketers are more technical, analytical and process-oriented." Remember, you need to know your strengths and think about your career goals in order to choose between the two disciplines.
7 Esentials of Email Marketing
For those of you who are doing email marketing, and there are many of you out there,you belong to either of the two categories. You either use basics of email marketing : login, put together a newsletter and hit send.
Or if you're smarter, you take time to leverage the POWER of email marketing for their businesses.
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Or if you're smarter, you take time to leverage the POWER of email marketing for their businesses.
If you want to boost your revenue, it's time to take things to the second level, by following these easy 7 steps that make sense!
LESSON ONE: Segment Your Customers
(Do little boys (in general) like Barbie dolls for Christmas?)
Since your customers are quite diverse, sending one email newsletter to everyone is not the best way to reach them. Instead, carefully review your customers and then segment emails by a variety of criteria, including geography, zip code, product, by company, how someone has responded to email in the past, etc.
LESSON TWO: Measure Email Metrics
(If the audience doesn't laugh, is the comedian funny?)
After sending out newsletters, carefully measure the analytics of each email campaign by strategically to see how successful the campaigns are.
LESSON THREE: Consistency of Branding
(Ever wonder why every McDonald's all over the country and much of the world looks the same and serves the same basic food?)
While it's easy to send out emails that look one way one week and another way weeks later, it's best to have consistent branding so your customers (or whoever the recipients are) recognize your newsletter and it gives you a more professional look and feel overall.
LESSON FOUR: The copy you use is important
(Why do newspapers have copy editors?)
While you own your company, and are quite smart, you most likely are not a specialist in the "written word". You probably don't know how to most effectively write in a way that best causes the reader to do the action you want them to do.
LESSON FIVE: Email drives social media and web traffic
(Is the Super Bowl for the sport or for the commercials?)
Your business might be different, but the goal is going to be similar. You are sending an email to get the recipient to take some action. Social media is "cool" but you can use email marketing as a powerful tool to drive your audience to your social media feeds or whatever you would like them to do.
Although Twitter is great, especially for those of us, sitting at a desk all day and typing, many business owners are too busy on the phone, meeting with clients, nurturing their staff and doing 'real work' to read a Tweet. Email marketing is perfect for these busy business owners.
LESSON SIX: Online Marketing Gives You More Money
I'm sure that many of you who advertise use direct mail, Yellow Pages and other traditional means of marketing. While these methods have their place and can be useful in some cases, email marketing and overall online marketing will give you a MUCH bigger return on your investment.
LESSON SEVEN: How Frequently Should You Email?
(Do you call a new date every day?)
One of the biggest tips we learned was that you don't want to send your newsletter TOO MUCH, to be annoying but not TOO LITTLE so your customers forget about you. Above all, know your customers and know what's best for them.
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