September 24, 2005
Another Ugly Marketing Secret: The Senseless Death of Trees Confirmed
Anyone in marketing for any length of time has seen dozens (if not hundreds) of skids of printed marketing, collateral, disclosure and IR materials tipped into the dumpster due to things such as changing industry or government regulations, fluid product specifications, and re-envisioned sales channels, as well as plain old bad planning and stupidity. But apparently that's just the tip of the iceberg. According to the The American Marketing Association's CMM Forum as much as 90 percent of the materials marketing creates for sales goes unused in the field. Even more amazingly, this study claims that over 97 percent of these materials are irrelevant to the customers they were intended to attract.
Frankly, I'm astounded. I know many corporate marketing departments resist the push to quantify and measure performance, but this is ridiculous, even if it's off by 50 percent. Let's all say it together: The purpose of marketing is to sell our (and our clients) products and services. More of them to more people more often. Not to protect turf, or to create self-congratulatory designs that look great but are worth less than the trees which were destroyed to create it. The point of what marketers do is to inform, educate and motivate their audiences. Pretty tough to do if you have no clue what you're trying to accomplish...
Any marketing Touchpoint - print, verbal, web, personal, retail environment, etc. - is a COMPLETE WASTE unless it is created with a) an understanding of what customer issues (want, need, desire) it is addressing and b) it successfully removes real barriers to progress, driving them through the sales process and the Customer Relationship Lifecycle, turning prospects into customers, satisfied customers into loyal customers, and loyalty customers into advocates.
How do you figure this stuff out? Pretty basic. Know your customers. Know your competition. And know your Lifecycle. And after this is figured out, then find the most cost effective way to communicate, and track it. Maybe you do to have to kill a tree or two. But at least let them die on the cross of increased sales and informed customers...
Comments (2) | Posted by at 8:05 AM | Permalink
September 16, 2005
Brand Experience: “Survivor” as Financial Literacy
A couple of days ago $435 Billion banking powerhouse Wells Fargo announced a new dimension to the traditional brand experience for financial services institutions. Welcome to Stagecoach Island. (Da plane! Da plane!). In a strange way, this makes total sense. Noting that over half of U.S. high school students graduate without knowing the basics of banking, checking, budgeting, credit, and investing while 70 percent of U.S. college students play video games, Wells Fargo may have scored a hit with the "young unbanked" as they move from an allowance economy to being productive members of society. According to CMO Sylvia Reynolds:
“Stagecoach Island is a contemporary platform where we can
educate young people about one of the most important topics to
their future success -- their finances -- in a highly
interactive, comfortable and fun environment.”
And the best part is, once these young people move past online MUD’s and into their first jobs, marriages, and into retirement, they’ll quite likely remember in that emotional part of their brain, the firm that once showed them the fun of spending money (jet skis, hip cafes, dance clubs, trendy shops and skydiving) will be there to lend them more.
Comments (0) | Posted by at 8:41 AM | Permalink
September 15, 2005
Welcome to Brand Perspectives
Welcome to Brand Perspectives. As we launch this blog we wonder: are we late to the party? Is blogging “so 2004”? According to Technorati, they’re indexing over 16 million blogs, with over a million “real” posts a day.
Yes, the first wave does appear to be cresting. But with over 100,000 new blogs being created each day, we’re guessing that blogging is here to stay. And with that, our entry seems to be not only reasonable, but timely.
Our goal with this blog is to discuss the things we think about every day in our professional roles as brand and marketing consultants. As it says on our website, MCorp. is a Strategic Brand and Marketing Consultancy. The contributors to Brand Perspectives are our partners, associates and friends.
Though we’ll do our best to avoid promoting ourselves, we’re sure that some of our expertise and points-of-view will make their way into this dialogue. After all, we’re marketers at heart. As the scorpion said to the frog “it’s my nature…” We’ll subtly provide more info on us as the Blog progresses.
In the meantime, we’re not sure where this is going to go. A lifetime of carefully crafting each thought, message and word long before they “see the light” is about to take a sharp turn down a road less traveled. We’re just hoping we don’t hit a tree. So if there’s anyone on board with us, we hope you enjoy the ride.
Comments (0) | Posted by at 9:09 AM | Permalink