Be Different or be dead

July 20, 2015

Why ‘servant’ marketing is way better than flogging products

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Why ‘servant’ marketing is way better than flogging products.

Flogging is about ME; servant marketing is about YOU.

My regular reader will know that I rant about the need to banish the flogging mentality in business; to move away from pushing stuff at people.

Flogging is ‘It’s all about me’, supply-oriented marketing where the focus is on what is supplied rather than on what people demand.

Flogging is ‘presumptive marketing’ where businesses decide what will satisfy us and will make us happy.

Because they have a supply mentality they presume to know what is best for us.

Furthermore, flogging presumes that products they create for the ’average’ customer will fit the needs of everyone.

The flogger has a limited life span.

People have more choice today than ever before. Their wants and desires are complex. They lead busy and varied lives. And they are looking to organizations to be responsive to their particular wants and desires.

They are empowered. If they can’t get their special needs satisfied by their current company they will leave them in a heartbeat for another.

Successful marketing tomorrow will be built from ‘It’s all about you’.

Marketing that serves rather than flogs. Marketing that seeks to discover what individuals want rather than presuming that what is produced for the masses will work for them.

With an abundance of choice it’s pretty obvious that people will go where they are heard and where they will get special personalized attention; where they are served.

To get on the serving marketing track, ask these three questions:

▪️Who am I paying attention to? — This is not about a mass market, it’s about an individual. You can’t effectively serve markets (too many people with diverse wants). You can only produce for markets. Serving requires that you look at each person separately. One size never fits all.

▪️What are the unique characteristics of this person? — How are they different? What makes them special? What are their secrets? Be prepared to invest the time to discover what makes them tick.

This is not a quick process. Earning trust and the right to know her at a more intimate level is not a wham-bam-thank-you-mam process.

▪️What personalized ‘thing’ can I create or do to for them to reflect their distinctiveness? — What is the specific thing I can do for them to make them happy? The key here is not to think about whether or not your thing applies to anyone else. It doesn’t have to. It shouldn’t.

Remember: serving and flogging part ways here. Flogging always tries to find a solution that applies to as many people as possible.

Serving, on the other hand, tries to deliver a unique solution for each and every person.

Serving increases the relevance factor.

It’s DiFFERENT.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.20.15 at 05:42 am by Roy Osing
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April 27, 2015

Why it’s bloody crazy trying to keep competitors out

Source: Unsplash

Why it’s bloody crazy trying to keep competitors out.

Traditional marketing strategy spends a copious amount of time focusing on how to erect barriers to competitive entry.
Unfortunately in my experience this doctrine doesn’t go far enough and it certainly doesn’t create a sustainable competitive position for an organization.

Worrying about the competition is not where energies should be spent.

Worrying about the competition is misplaced — Here are important reasons why this traditional business approach doesn’t work:

1. It’s not a particularly unique approach to the market — Most organizations seem to follow this approach to minimize competition in their business; if everyone pursues the same strategy, how can it result in a differential advantage for any one of them? The truth is, it’s a business school course and every student takes it and typically tries to apply IT when there are other strategies that work much better.

The notion is rooted in a more theoretical perspective and falls short of the practical need to show business people how to do it. It’s all very well to salute a strategy that is rooted in strong theory, but if it can’t be practically implemented in the real world, it’s of little value.

2. It’s a distraction — While an organization is consumed with trying to find ways to keep the competition out, it’s not spending enough time to ensure their existing base of loyal customers is taken care of.

And it spawns an unhealthy culture that is preoccupied with preventing market activity rather than doing whatever is required to beat the competition in the trenches where the customers are. Earning their business everyday should be the priority rather than erecting barriers to others coming in to compete with you.

3. It diverts marketing attention — Away from investing in value based offers for the existing customer base. Rather, marketing resources are employed on other activities — regulations, patents and government restrictions — designed to keep competition away.

4. It creates an illusion — That competition can be restricted. It’s futile in the long run because a hungry competitor will always find a way to gain access to your markets and your customers. You will never keep them out or restrict their natural market activities.

5. It tends to focus on artificial non-market tactics — To prevent more competition such as regulation and law rather than beating them by providing amazing customer service and unmatched value.

6. It’s an ineffective use of valuable resources — With an outcome that is inevitable. Back in the day, the incumbent telecom carriers spent an enormous amount of money trying to prevent competitive entry into traditional monopoly markets through a time-consuming and expensive regulatory process.

The competitive tsunami wasn’t deterred, however, and they should have been paying more attention to creating better customer service and a marketing engine that provided compelling and unique value.

I am not suggesting that you shouldn’t pay attention to the competition, existing and potential.

But don’t get obsessed about preventing them from doing what is reasonable given free market conditions.
If they have an opportunity with your customers, expect them to make a play and respond by shielding your loyal customers from the onslaught of their competitive value proposition.

If you feel that a certain non-market response is necessary, go ahead and do it. But don’t let it be all-consuming. Don’t let it gobble up all of your resources. And don’t let it drain the effort in executing a customer response to the threat.

Observe your competitors but ACT for your customers.

Make it so difficult for your competition to attract your customers away from you - by providing them with constant unmatched value - they will be frustrated and will have to endure so much pain, they will decide it’s not worth it. And they will retreat.

How can you hold them? — What are some of the actions you can take to keep your customers close to you and prevent them from leaving?

Music is a great teacher.

The Grateful Dead informed us on how to create a unique competitive claim.

You don’t want merely to be the best of the best. You want to be the ONLY ones who do what you do — Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead

And The Eagles’ Hotel California declares the impossibility of patrons leaving.

You can checkout anytime but you can never leave — The Eagles

The message is cool. It’s mysterious. It’s haunting. It’s foreboding. It’s dramatic. It’s scary. It’s suggestive of a clandestine move.

Here are 8 actions you can take to prevent customers from ‘leaving your hotel’:

▪️Don’t be concerned about what the competition is doing; focus on the action that YOU need to take to enrich the stickiness of your products or services;

▪️Action to prevent leaving must be taken quickly. The time it takes to get to check-out and leave the building is short; rapid innovation of offerings your customers love is mandatory;

▪️Abandon the conventional; take risks with out there solutions;

▪️Give ‘em something more. Move ‘em to ‘another room’ with added value. Transform them into another world where a new reality intrigues them to stay;

▪️Intercept them as they make their way to check-out. Don’t follow up after they have left. Have your spider senses ready to know they intend to leave and disrupt their intentions;

▪️Give them a new experience that makes them want to stay. Give them something so dramatic that it will take their emotions to a new level;

▪️Make it personal Speak to them specifically. What works for Mr. Smith won’t work for Mr. Jones;

▪️SURPRISE! SHOCK! JOLT! AMAZE! FRIGHTEN! them to stay. Do whatever it takes.

Too much attention is given to the threat of others taking guests from our hotel.

If you want to worry about something, worry about the door closing behind them

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.27.15 at 04:34 am by Roy Osing
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April 13, 2015

Is a really cool marketing brand always the best one to have?

Source: Unsplash

Is a really cool marketing brand always the best one to have?

When should an organization consider changing its brand?

From a creative point of view, some brands are cool and clever, but unless you know what the business is trying to achieve you have no way of knowing if it is a good or effective brand. What is the overall business and communications strategy of the organization?

To evaluate a brand you need strategic context

It is important to take guidance from your strategy to provide specific direction on communications tactics and programs. In the same way you need strategy clearly defined before you can decide on the appropriate tactic to employ.

Many organizations today wallow in tactics without a strategic rudder. The problem is their business doesn’t translate into performance because they don’t have the strategic metrics to guide them.

A decision on your brand requires a clear understanding of the strategy you want to employ. Alternative brands are then evaluated in terms of how well each serves the strategy; how well each expresses it to your target customers.

A brand is intended to convey your value proposition in a clear and compelling way. The debate within an organization should be around this issue and not be based on personal bias and emotional criteria (which ends up to be the case most of the time).

Conversely, if you want to change your brand it should be for one of two reasons: either your current brand doesn’t reflect your current strategy as effectively as it should, or, you have changed your strategy and need to reassess your brand accordingly.

You shouldn’t be changing it because it is stale dated or it isn’t sexy or cool enough. If you do, you run the risk of confusing your customers who may just presume that you are now something else - an outcome you didn’t intend.

Don’t change your brand unless it is no longer satisfying the strategy of the organization.

Here is the process to create an appropriate brand.

▪️Develop your business plan to clearly articulate your strategic goals;

▪️Ensure your competitive claim is clear and concise;

▪️Determine your communications strategy to serve your game plan - WHAT you say to your customers must be congruent with what you strategically intend to achieve;

▪️From your communications strategy, create the message you intend to send your target customers;

▪️Lastly, look at a number of alternative creative executions to deliver the message, and select the one that best serves your strategy.

Forget about cool and sexy. Ask whether or not your brand is achieving your business plan objectives before deciding to change it.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.13.15 at 07:37 am by Roy Osing
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March 14, 2015

6 easy ways to get more revenue from your existing customers

Source: Pexels

On a recent radio interview I was asked:

“Do you think businesses spend too much money on trying to get new customers and not enough on keeping the customers they currently have?”

My answer: ABSOLUTELY!

Most marketing efforts that I observe are dedicated to growth prospects which typically translate into acquiring new customers. Nothing wrong with this, but it leaves a huge vulnerability in your current customer base which may very well be viewed by your competitors as their growth opportunity.

Organizations ignore their current customer base at their own peril.

It’s perverse logic really. It requires substantial more investment to get a new customer than keep an existing one and the economic returns are higher as well.

Here are 6 ways growth can come from investing in your loyal customers.

1. Market more solutions to your existing customers. Show them additional value they can get from you and make it easy for them to get it.

2. Sell your line of value based solutions to customers where your customer share position relative to you competition is low. Grow your wallet share at the expense of your competition.

3. Perhaps some of your products and services are priced below the value they provide and where you have indications that price-demand is relatively inelastic. In these cases consider increasing prices.

4. Create new offers for you current customers. Discover new problems they have that can be solved bu you in a way no other competitor can.

5. For every new customer gained, repeat the above steps.

6. For your most influential customers, step up the service levels you provide them. Get them talking about you to others. Force viral marketing to happen so additional demand starts knocking at your door.

At the end of the day, you want to leverage your existing customer base to grow your business.

Not only does it work by using the trust relationships you have already invested heavily to maintain, it will point to new customer possibilities that have already been qualified.

Give it a try. You have nothing to lose, and growth to gain.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 3.14.15 at 01:35 pm by Roy Osing
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