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One of the paradoxes of marketing and sales is "monetizing relationships."
We typically hate to be sold. The harder the sell, the more we hate it. However, we typically like to buy. Any person who has had an experience of spending their own money knows this. Many of us have been blessed to be able to buy something from someone we found ourselves liking.
This is no accident.
On the other side of that transaction, the sales person has to build trust, rapport, peer-to-peer credibility, some level of personal connection. An emotional connection. A relationship, if you like. That goes triple for the B2B complex sale, where a company is buying big-ticket, high-risk items from another company. (I believe that it's also true in many other types of sales where the stakes are much lower.)
We who are selling stuff want people who are in the market to buy to be confiding their problems to us. Unless they trust us to let us in on those problems and help them solve those problems, nothing is going to get bought. At least not from us.
Why would a buyer trust me [a marketer, sales person, company PR representative, executive leader, etc]? Because he or she believes at some level I am willing and able to act in their interests as well as, and possibly even counter to my own (at least in the short term). There's some human vulnerability going on. They tell me what's really going on, and I tell them what I really can and can't do to address their situation. Because we have a relationship.
Now, in addition to all of this, the sales person is also on the hook to monetize that relationship.
How can I maintain your trust (which implies vulnerability) and still do things that move you toward buying something from my company (which implies control)?
If you've ever wondered why so many startups fail, it's because selling is a lot harder than it looks. Most startups are not run by people who can sell. And sales (including repeat business from happy customers) are what keep companies in business.
If you ever wondered why great sales people make a lot of money, it's because the ability to monetize a relationship is worth a lot of money.
Showing posts with label ROI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ROI. Show all posts
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Self indulgent personal statements are not marketing.
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People ask me all the time why I think marketing should be invisible. Here's one of those examples.
Did you see the 2008 Microsoft/Seinfeld ads? (If not, time for a quick trip to youtube.)
This campaign illustrates why many innocent young creatives go into advertising: to get their personal creative statements funded.
Now, the agency sounds reasonably intelligent and businesslike when talking ABOUT the campaign.
But just look at the ads. Pick someone who you think represents their target audience for those ads (say, a colleague in your office or a friend's college-age kid). Ponder the actions the company probably wants the audience to take. Contemplate what Microsoft wants us to believe about their company and products.
After seeing the ads, what do you think Microsoft achieved?
If you answered, "Awareness," who discovered Microsoft's existence through this campaign?
Here's what I think. Either Microsoft has nothing interesting to reveal, which I doubt, or Bogusky (the agency's creative leader) failed to understand Microsoft and their mojo, which I suspect. Perhaps Microsoft could not get behind a clear message strategy. Perhaps Bogusky's people failed to execute.
But I think the agency's responsibility to make the value of a company more visible through the marketing it creates. Or to bow out.
If Microsoft had spent the $30 million on direct response ad testing with niche markets, niche messages, and niche media where they think they have growth potential, would they have come out ahead? Maybe.
People ask me all the time why I think marketing should be invisible. Here's one of those examples.
Did you see the 2008 Microsoft/Seinfeld ads? (If not, time for a quick trip to youtube.)
This campaign illustrates why many innocent young creatives go into advertising: to get their personal creative statements funded.
Now, the agency sounds reasonably intelligent and businesslike when talking ABOUT the campaign.
But just look at the ads. Pick someone who you think represents their target audience for those ads (say, a colleague in your office or a friend's college-age kid). Ponder the actions the company probably wants the audience to take. Contemplate what Microsoft wants us to believe about their company and products.
After seeing the ads, what do you think Microsoft achieved?
If you answered, "Awareness," who discovered Microsoft's existence through this campaign?
Here's what I think. Either Microsoft has nothing interesting to reveal, which I doubt, or Bogusky (the agency's creative leader) failed to understand Microsoft and their mojo, which I suspect. Perhaps Microsoft could not get behind a clear message strategy. Perhaps Bogusky's people failed to execute.
But I think the agency's responsibility to make the value of a company more visible through the marketing it creates. Or to bow out.
If Microsoft had spent the $30 million on direct response ad testing with niche markets, niche messages, and niche media where they think they have growth potential, would they have come out ahead? Maybe.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
To know us is to love us - right?
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Awareness is a common goal of marketing.
The assumption, of course, is to know me is to buy from me. Image advertising. Being funny, memorable, businesslike, serious, whatever we think will help the customer remember us.
You know the textbook example of great awareness/brand marketing? Movie marketing for Snakes on a Plane. It went viral months before opening day. It had incredible word of mouth. Heck, half the movie was designed by the target audience. Prelaunch estimates projected box office earnings in excess of $100M.
The problem, of course, is that awareness did not translate into sales. Actual U.S. box office? $34M. If you account for both production budget and marketing expenses, the franchise broke even at best. A spectacularly successful failure.
That leap of faith between awareness and sales doesn't play well for marketing teams in tough times, either. How does marketing show me the money?
First, here are my assumptions:
- Your company doesn't already have a century-old storied brand.
- You don't have money or time to build one.
- You are under the gun to drive sales this fiscal year.
- You understand your customers well enough to talk to them in a manner they will consider directly and actionably relevant, or if you don't you're willing to roll up your sleeves and figure it you.
If those are your parameters, then the marketing answer, in my view, is two things.
Thing One: Strategic coordination between operations, marketing, and sales.
Someone is driving the conversation internally and externally so that your company is able to make promises it can keep and live up to the promises it does make. This isn't about perfection or even operational excellence. It's about understanding the reality of your operations, having some clue of your customers' mindset and needs, and being able to put your company in a relevant position between the two. If your marketing message makes either your operational delivery team or your customer facing sales people cringe (let alone complain openly), do some more work before you take it to market.
Thing Two: Direct marketing.
Direct marketing teaches us to question anything that (1) can't be measured, and (2) doesn't lead to revenue.
Run campaigns which intend to get a carefully identified set of persons to take specific actions to move through their buying processes. Measure what actually happens. Then tweak your approach based on prospects' behavior and feedback from sales people.
Awareness building tactics that help you gain credibility with your target buyers and influencers can help. But you should be able to draw a line from those awareness tactics to a step in your demand generation process or in your sales cycle, and identify some evidence of lift. Even if it's anecdotal.
The meat of your marketing budget should go into getting buyers and influencers to take concrete, measurable steps toward you, which lead to other measurable steps, which lead eventually to a sale.
Awareness is a common goal of marketing.
The assumption, of course, is to know me is to buy from me. Image advertising. Being funny, memorable, businesslike, serious, whatever we think will help the customer remember us.
You know the textbook example of great awareness/brand marketing? Movie marketing for Snakes on a Plane. It went viral months before opening day. It had incredible word of mouth. Heck, half the movie was designed by the target audience. Prelaunch estimates projected box office earnings in excess of $100M.
The problem, of course, is that awareness did not translate into sales. Actual U.S. box office? $34M. If you account for both production budget and marketing expenses, the franchise broke even at best. A spectacularly successful failure.
That leap of faith between awareness and sales doesn't play well for marketing teams in tough times, either. How does marketing show me the money?
First, here are my assumptions:
- Your company doesn't already have a century-old storied brand.
- You don't have money or time to build one.
- You are under the gun to drive sales this fiscal year.
- You understand your customers well enough to talk to them in a manner they will consider directly and actionably relevant, or if you don't you're willing to roll up your sleeves and figure it you.
If those are your parameters, then the marketing answer, in my view, is two things.
Thing One: Strategic coordination between operations, marketing, and sales.
Someone is driving the conversation internally and externally so that your company is able to make promises it can keep and live up to the promises it does make. This isn't about perfection or even operational excellence. It's about understanding the reality of your operations, having some clue of your customers' mindset and needs, and being able to put your company in a relevant position between the two. If your marketing message makes either your operational delivery team or your customer facing sales people cringe (let alone complain openly), do some more work before you take it to market.
Thing Two: Direct marketing.
Direct marketing teaches us to question anything that (1) can't be measured, and (2) doesn't lead to revenue.
Run campaigns which intend to get a carefully identified set of persons to take specific actions to move through their buying processes. Measure what actually happens. Then tweak your approach based on prospects' behavior and feedback from sales people.
Awareness building tactics that help you gain credibility with your target buyers and influencers can help. But you should be able to draw a line from those awareness tactics to a step in your demand generation process or in your sales cycle, and identify some evidence of lift. Even if it's anecdotal.
The meat of your marketing budget should go into getting buyers and influencers to take concrete, measurable steps toward you, which lead to other measurable steps, which lead eventually to a sale.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Attention B2B online marketers: one for the swipe file!
THIS BLOG HAS MOVED: CLICK BELOW TO READ THIS POST ON OUR WEBSITE. THANKS!
For you non marketers, here's a secret of the trade. Many marketers maintain a little box called the Swipe File. It's just a collection of marketing tactics we've observed that caught our eye as an example of a good idea, good execution, clever humor, whatever.
My tip for your swipe file: Tatum LLC. They have a fantastic email newsletter targeting financial executives. (Full disclosure: I have no relationship with Tatum except for being buddies with some of their current and former team members.)
Regardless of our profession, all of us will be spending more time helping financial executives understand why we want their money for our various game-changing, must-have, do-it-right-now projects and tools.
Wondering how the financial executive thinks? What they're worried about? What language they speak? How they define value?
Or, are you simply a hapless B2B marketing looking for ideas that speak to the executive reader?
Check out Tatum's website & go sign up for their e-blasts. (And it wouldn't hurt to go brush up on financial ratios and Net Present Value, too.)
For you non marketers, here's a secret of the trade. Many marketers maintain a little box called the Swipe File. It's just a collection of marketing tactics we've observed that caught our eye as an example of a good idea, good execution, clever humor, whatever.
My tip for your swipe file: Tatum LLC. They have a fantastic email newsletter targeting financial executives. (Full disclosure: I have no relationship with Tatum except for being buddies with some of their current and former team members.)
Regardless of our profession, all of us will be spending more time helping financial executives understand why we want their money for our various game-changing, must-have, do-it-right-now projects and tools.
Wondering how the financial executive thinks? What they're worried about? What language they speak? How they define value?
Or, are you simply a hapless B2B marketing looking for ideas that speak to the executive reader?
Check out Tatum's website & go sign up for their e-blasts. (And it wouldn't hurt to go brush up on financial ratios and Net Present Value, too.)
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Long-term impact requires short-term impact
THIS BLOG HAS MOVED: CLICK BELOW TO READ THIS POST ON OUR WEBSITE. THANKS!
Fortune 100 marketers admitted to Marketing Sherpa that long-term "brand equity" campaigns are largely bunk. If a campaign does not produce a short-term lift, there will not be a long-term lift, either.
This doesn't mean that brand power doesn't exist. In a world that's looking for more marketing accountability, though, visibility is not an end in itself. If you don't have a strategy for monetizing that visibility... then your marketing spend is about something other than business, which is about ROI.
Fortune 100 marketers admitted to Marketing Sherpa that long-term "brand equity" campaigns are largely bunk. If a campaign does not produce a short-term lift, there will not be a long-term lift, either.
This doesn't mean that brand power doesn't exist. In a world that's looking for more marketing accountability, though, visibility is not an end in itself. If you don't have a strategy for monetizing that visibility... then your marketing spend is about something other than business, which is about ROI.
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