Friday Quotes

Happy Easter everyone. Here are a few great quotes to send you on your weekend. The first has guided my approach both professionally and personally. One the eve of Easter, I thought the second was particularly appropriate.

Check back next week for more insights...

"Luck is the residue of desire and design" - Rene Descartes

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life." - Albert Einstein

The Death of a Bear (and Brand)

The sale of Bear Stearns for $2 per share to JPMorgan Chase is another example of greed run amok. Bear’s exposure to subprime investments spelled its doom.

The interesting question is whether this most recent collapse irreparably damages the Wall St. brand. London, fueled by its every powerful British Pound, is increasingly being seen as the new global financial capital. And the Middle East is soaring from its oil profits.

While I believe that New York still has a big role to play in the global financial markets, its days as THE leader have passed. Too bad. Greedy, short-sighted executives have driven their companies off a cliff with poor (or non existent) risk management controls. And these decisions have not only killed their companies, but damaged the Wall St. – and US – brand.

New Friday Tradition - Brand and Personal Relationship Quotes

I am starting a Friday tradition today. By now you have read the commentary and advice in Monday – Thursday columns. I hope you have found them insightful. Of course, your comments are always welcome.

Friday will conclude with the weekly “Brand Quote” and “Personal Relationship Quote”. After all, business is about relationships – relationships with customers, colleagues, and constituents. No matter what type of product you sell, business is still about people. So I hope that you find inspiration – professionally and personally – as you check “BRANDom Thoughts” every Friday.

Brand Quote

The primary focus of your brand message must be on how special you are, not how cheap you are. The goal must be to sell the distinctive quality of the brand. - Kerry Light, Brand Strategist

Personal Relationship Quote

Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships. - Stephen R. Covey

Airlines Break Trust and Lose Altitude

First it was JetBlue. Now Southwest. Two of the most successful airlines in recent years are losing altitude. Why? They’ve broken one of the most fundamental rules of successful brands – trust.

JetBlue's ill planned expansion and rerouting plans stranded passengers over the summer during a series of weather “events”. Passengers were stranded in airports for days. They missed business meetings. They missed get-togethers with loved ones. This from an airline that built its brand around great customer experiences. It’s hard to fix a problem when it torpedoes your brand promise.

Southwest’s problems are more serious. Can “low-cost” airlines remain low-cost while still flying safe planes? With the leader in the space cutting corners, can it be long before we see other airlines doing the same? Flying airplanes with cracks in the fuselage is a dangerous risk.

This apparently conscious decision has hurt 30 years of focus, brand building, and success by breaking the trust it built with customers. It may also have broken the law.

The lesson for marketers? Brand building is a never-ending journey. It is built on trust and consistency. And when mistakes are made that undermine those efforts – even by the most successful brands - it is very difficult to rebuild what has been destroyed.

The Sustainability of Sustainability

Sustainability is pervasive in global business. And its implications are tremendous. Leading brand owners and their retail partners are making sustainability a key factor in their purchasing decisions. Of course, Wal-Mart has been the leader in the field.

What surprises me is that many companies don’t equate sustainability with innovation. Sure innovation is an overused buzz word. But it is a requirement to drive change of products, technologies and services that enhance environmental friendliness. Unfortunately, too many companies, particularly b-to-b suppliers, shape their communications as is they were writing for regulatory agencies.

Sustainability is not a fad…it’s a fact of business. And those companies that can position themselves as truly innovative business partners will create tighter business partnerships with key customers and prospects.

Avoid Commoditization by Leveraging Your “Universe of Value”

From advanced telecommunications gear to raw chemicals, the “commoditization” of products continues unabated. Two factors have contributed to this trend. Fierce competition has led many companies to compete only on price. Economic conditions are also enabling buyers to extract even greater concessions from sellers.

How can companies differentiate themselves? Unfortunately, many companies have cut back on one tool at their disposal – marketing. Commodity-based companies often view marketing as an unnecessary expense. This strategic miscalculation perpetuates, and even accelerates, shrinking margins and smaller profits.

Strategic marketing programs that focus on promoting your “Universe of Value” will create greater awareness of your company’s differentiators to help you gain a competitive edge and increase profitability.

Identify your “Universe of Value”

Your “Universe of Value” is more than quality products. Quality is a given in business today. Instead, it extends beyond product to encompass the total value that you provide to customers. “Universe of Value” includes benefits that improve customers’ buying experiences, eliminate administrative burdens and improve operational effi ciency. These benefits are delivered at every point-of-contact with customers.

Carefully identify your real-world strategic differentiators. Don’t rely exclusively on sales personnel for feedback from the field. Survey customers to determine the real benefits that you are delivering.

An open dialogue with customers provides two main benefits. Communication can enable customers to realize the benefi ts of “built-in” or bundled value that you provide. Honest feedback from customers can also help you to more accurately identify your most valuable services. Let your customers help you see the forest through the trees.

Ultimately however, it is your responsibility to relentlessly promote the benefits that you deliver to customers.

Do you have differentiators?

… of course you do.

Perhaps your company has an online ordering system. The value to your customer is that it “significantly reduces inefficient administrative tasks to lower order processing costs”.

Making customers aware of this intrinsic value can help to relieve pricing pressures.

Your technical services may provide another marketing opportunity. In many cases, these services are provided as added value to product sales. Failure to effectively market these services can diminish their inherent value.

Innovative packaging may also be a differentiator that adds value to products. Let’s use rock salt as a product example. Very little difference exists between different rock salts. But companies that incorporate “easy to carry handles” into bulk packaging can drive preference for their brands.

This simple, yet powerful packaging modification can create greater demand from merchants, distributors and ultimately consumers.

These are just three examples. Scrutinize your business offerings, quantify the value delivered to customers, and communicate them to market.

Brand Your Differentiators

Once key differentiators have been identified, brand them. Simply branding for the sake of brand awareness is worthless (think about pets.com). Brands must be inextricably linked with your “Universe of Value” to generate customer demand.

A strategic branding program can help you more effectively communicate value to customers. Don’t simply look for products to brand. An innocuous service that is providing substantial help for customers is a strong candidate.

The goal is not to simply develop new names and design creative logos. Brands represent your company. They convey value. And most importantly, they can help to promote the benefits that your products and services deliver to customers.

Driving Brand Sales

Focused marketing support programs can effectively position your company as a preferred solutions provider. Promote your differentiators through strategic publicity, advertising, direct mail and trade events. Use testimonials to demonstrate how customers achieved specific results because of the value provided by your brands. Other users will want to reap similar benefits gained by the customers featured in your case histories.

Commodity-based companies should heed one key principal – market brand value.

Market your “Universe of Value” to begin to differentiate your company from the competition. Customers will begin to see that the services you provide are more valuable than the penny discount they typically ask for.

Spitzer’s “Positioning” Problem

Beyond the immorality (and potentially illegal) issue of Eliot Spitzer’s involvement in a prostitution ring, there are lessons in the branding and positioning of “Eliot Spitzer”. He was the new sheriff of Wall Street. He was the antidote for the backdoor operations of New York government. There was no middle ground with Spitzer. He was the solution to all problems because he ran on a platform of unquestioned ethics.

And there in lies the problem. He left no middle ground for shortcomings. He positioned himself as moral beyond reproach, instead of just a visionary leader with great ideas. Now his moral shortcomings are coming home to roost.

Positioning of any candidate or business is often critical to success. Good “product” alone will often not win. So when considering proper positioning, ask yourself these simple questions:

• Does our positioning create differentiation?
• If we fall short of our brand promise, does it have the potential to leave our brand irreparably damaged?
• Are we making promises that are unrealistically sustainable?
• Can we live and breathe our brand promise?

Mistakes in politics and business are inevitable. Bill Clinton survived the Lewinsky scandal (albeit weaker than before). But he never positioned himself as the moral leader of the party – or country. Spitzer did and now leaves himself with little room to re-position his “brand”.

Most importantly, proper positioning will never eliminate the need to make proper, ethical decisions in business or politics.

The Web is Watching!!!

To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You, NY Times, March 10

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10privacy.html?hp

Does this really surprise anyone? Any person with more than 6 months of internet experience knows that data is being collected. They just don’t know how.

What surprises me is that many business-to-business companies still don’t have a reasonable web strategy. In the Information Age, data is gold. Instead of simply putting up a flat website that “pushes” information, companies need to spend time thinking how to get visitors to provide information.

Take the lessons of b-to-c companies and apply them to your business. Sure, many of them aren’t applicable. But you can bet that there are some great ideas and business practices that can create new business opportunities for you.

Follow the steps below and you can be sure that the web will be more than just a brochure.

1. Create interesting content. Don’t just list product information. Provide value-added information that interests prospects and customers.
2. Don’t be afraid to have fun. Even the most savvy b-to-b buyers want an interesting experience. Crazy flash games don’t have to by synonymous for fun. Rich content that speaks to your prospects everyday experience can be fun.
3. Optimize. Search engine optimization programs don’t have to cost $5-$10,000 / month (unless you are generating huge volumes of revenue online). Call several companies to learn about their methodologies. Without disclosing any proprietary information, the knowledge gained through discussions with help you make better decisions.
4. Interactivity Rules. Social networking sites aren’t just for Facebook and MySpace. Think creatively about setting up a destination that customers/prospects can visit frequently. Yupo Corporation, a large manufacturer of synthetic paper, has created an interesting program called the Wally Awards. Check out the site – www.wallyawards.com

Most importantly, recognize the evolving power of the web and become involved. It must be a strategic initiative within organizations, not simply a task handed to someone that knows what SEO means.

Darwinian Marketing in Today’s Economy

Capital budgets are shrinking. Projections for growth remain conservative. Even the cheerleaders on “The Street” are not able to boost optimism as they once could.

Instead of adapting to change and seizing opportunities to strengthen market position, many businesses are committing one critical error – slashing marketing budgets.

Sure marketing is an easy target. Quick savings can be achieved by cutting programs. But in the haste to achieve these savings, businesses are missing big opportunities. To capitalize on these time-sensitive opportunities, companies need to quickly adopt a Darwinian approach to marketing.

What is Darwinian Marketing?

Simply put, Darwinian Marketing capitalizes on economic cycles and the impact that soft economies have on weaker competitors. During this period of vulnerability many companies lose focus.

But smart, focused companies seize this golden opportunity and develop aggressive marketing programs. And without an aggressive marketing campaign, companies will not fully realize the opportunity to boost profits and grow market share at the expense of key competitors.

Plan and Prioritize

Attacking large, horizontal markets is not the most practical strategy. Begin by identifying three market segments that present the most significant growth prospects.

Once these segments are identified and prioritized, budgets must be allocated. Do not simply pour money into additional advertising. An integrated mix of tactics, including public relations, advertising, direct marketing, Web marketing, and trade shows must be strategically utilized to promote key innovations and distinct value added services.

A slowing economy accelerates the search for products and services that will make businesses more efficient and productive. Companies are not seeking solutions that will “re-engineer the way they do business”. This is too disruptive. Instead, focus your message on solutions to support key prospect needs such as cost-effectively increasing output, streamlining supply channels or creating greater brand appeal on retail shelves.

In addition, re-assemble strong sales personnel struggling in under-performing markets into focused task forces that target priority market segments. This is an effective way to maximize talent within your organization. Don’t let sales personnel become under-motivated. Utilize talent to champion important sales initiatives and give them the tools to succeed.

”The 4-C’s of Branding”

Everyday consumers are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages. This is no different for businesses, and in many ways, the problem is even more acute.

Too often companies market myriad features of their products. These efforts tend to create more static and confusion among buyers. Instead, effective marketing programs will adopt the “4-C’s of Branding” to ensure the sales and marketing objectives are achieved.

The 4-C’s, which include Clarity, Consistency, Communication and Customer Value, should guide marketing decisions at all levels.

· Customer Value – The key to marketing success is to showcase the tangible benefits that your products and services delivers to customers. Don’t preach product features. If a new Widget rotates at 16,000 cycles/minute, tell buyers that they can “significantly increase productivity and minimize downtime with the new widget.”

· Clarity – Have you recently seen an advertisement and not understood what was being sold? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Businesses spend so much time with fancy verbiage and creativity in their quest to be different that they confuse target customers. Clearly spotlight product benefits as solutions to specific audience needs.

· Consistency – It takes time for customers to develop top-of-mind recognition of your product’s benefits. Don’t change marketing messages frequently. Develop creative ways to reinforce the same value proposition. Without consistency, brand awareness cycles will significantly lengthen.

· Communication – Don’t rely on word of mouth to spread your message. Develop focused, integrated programs that provide highly effective channels to buyers and specifiers. These programs can be well executed even without the multi-million dollar budgets of major corporations.

The time to act is now. Hesitation gives aggressive competitors the edge. Executing a Darwinian approach to marketing assures survival. Plus, it gives your business a unique, time-sensitive opportunity to capture new levels of growth while your competitors struggle to regain their footing.