Where Are The Goal Posts? Where Is Your Team?

Imagine yourself the quarterback of a football team. You understand the game. You know what the goal looks like, and how to score.

There's only one problem. You don't have any idea of where you are on the field.

You could be on your own 30-yard line. On the other hand, you may be within ten yards of your competitor's goal.

What should your next play be?

Should you rush up the middle?

Should you try for the long forward pass?

Should you call in the place kicker?

Truthfully, you can't answer this one. If you tried, shame on you. You're gambling the future of your team without any idea of where you are or where you're going.

Navigating Without Landmarks

I was recently discussing this tendency of business owners to “shoot blind” with Wizard of Ads ^© partner, Michael Keeseee, who directed me to the February 19 issue of Fortune Magazine, and an article titled The Pepsi Challenge.

“Nooyi also gave a pivotal presentation to the board in 1998 - just as the heat from Coke was becoming unbearable - that dissected the rival's business model and made a persuasive case that its double-digit growth was not sustainable.

"It was a tour de force," says Enrico, who is convinced that "at that moment the PepsiCo board understood Coke's business model better than Coke's board did." Four months after the presentation Coke stock peaked at $88 and began a long downward slide.”

Can you imagine knowing your competitor's business so well that you could predict how that competitor will react to various changes in the marketplace? What might Coke do if the price of corn syrup went up by 10 percent? Could Pepsi know which preemptive moves to take for that, or for any other business eventuality?

Based on their stock prices since 1998, the answer appears to be, “yes.”

But, if you're not one of the big guys...

OK. Granted, the world's a different place for two corporate behemoths who can afford hundreds of analysts each to do nothing but gather business intelligence and study each other.

But, I remember a weekend in 1979 in which the general manager of the company I worked for took the entire management team away for the weekend. Our mission? To presume the next Presidential election's possible outcomes, and to predict our competitor's actions under each scenario.

I don't believe it was coincidence that over the next two years we grew 17 percent and 22 percent respectively.

How well do you know your competitors? Do you know where your goal is? How accurately can you gage your own field position?

Can you afford not to sequester your key employees for a weekend of brainstorming?

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Chuck McKay is a marketing consultant who works with professional practices and owner operated businesses. Questions about obtaining business intelligence and eventuality planning may be directed to ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com.

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Blenders, Marbles, and i-Phones

Its hard to believe that a dozen years have gone by since Jeffrey F. Rayport of Harvard Business School coined the term Viral Marketing.

A viral message replicates itself through voluntary participation of the recipients, spreading an idea through preexisting social networks, much like a pathological virus spreads through a population.

The self-replicating part is what excites marketers.

A popular video clip which is shared through the Internet or camera phones is known as viral video. Popular examples include the Evolution of the Dance or the Star Wars Kid (which has been viewed more than 900 million times).

Imagine the possibilities. People circulating your video, for free? But, wait a minute. These videos have high entertainment value. Not too many carry any company's advertising message.

Humm.

How does a company use viral video to promote its products?

You do something, or say something, that makes people want to share the video clip with their friends.

Take Blendtec, for instance.

Blendtec is an appliance manufacturer. They make a pretty good food blender. How does one convince people to talk about kitchen appliances, and more importantly, to promote the Blendtec brand?

You show the power of the blender.

Blendtec spent an average of $50 each on their "Will it blend?" series of videos. Anyone could have blended food. Blendtec got attention by demonstrating their blender's ability to turn anything into dust.

Tom Dickson, Blendtec's CEO, stars in all of the company's videos. Google "Blendtec" to watch Tom (and his blender) pulverize such items as marbles, hockey pucks, and even crowbars.

If that wasn't outrageous enough, Tom successfully pushed his company's awareness levels in the public consciousness over the top, by turning a $600 i-Phone into powder?

Some viral strategies work better than others.

Blendtec's strategy is brilliant on two levels.

• First, the shear outrageousness of blending hockey pucks and crowbars is likely to get people to talk about the power of this blender – which focuses on the attributes the manufacturer wants you, the consumer, to remember.
  
  
• Second, people don't usually Google search “marbles,” but you can bet that with the highly publicized launch of the product they did search for “i-Phone.” Over six million visitors hit
  Blendtec's web site in the first ten days following this video's release.

Remember, getting noticed is only part of the equation. Being remembered for something which promotes attributes of what you're selling is the other part.

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Chuck McKay is a marketing consultant who works with professional practices and owner operated businesses. Questions about producing viral video may be directed to ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com.

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The Soccer Mom Myth

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put two experts on your favorite topic together and let them discuss the topic? Would you have Robert Allen and Carlton Sheets exploring nothing down techniques? Or would you prefer Milton Friedman and Steven D. Levitt hashing out the social repercussions of school vouchers?

Me? I'd have Holly Buchanan and Michele Miller talk about marketing to women.

Michele's Wonderbranding and Holly's Marketing to Women Online are required reading on the subject. They've been sharing the stage in speaking engagements for a couple of years. I've been looking forward to their co-authored book, The Soccer Mom Myth, for most of the last year. Its been worth the wait.

Buchanan and Miller use examples we've all observed in real life to illustrate their points. They tell a story, for example, of a disagreement between their friend Heather and Heather's financé. “From his perspective, the argument was not a big deal. In his male communication style, conflict is a normal part of how couples communicate. Heather, in her more female communication style, came away with a totally different interpretation of the argument. She looked at it as a breakup of the relationship.”

Then they apply this observation to business: “Believe it or not, this same scene plays out with companies and brands, not just fiancés. She has a bad experience with your company or product. You think, “It was just a customer service call, she couldn’t get her questions answered and had to wait ten minutes to get a live person, that’s just a blip.” But to her, it’s a relationship ender. What to you may seem like small things can be huge to her.”

Men and women communicate differently. No surprise there. But Buchanan and Miller note that there are times when one gender's communication style is actually more effective with all customers. (Think men's instructions and naming preferences with women's categorization and navigation). By picking and choosing between gender specific tendencies, both genders will have a better shopping experience.

And thats a critical point The Soccer Mom Myth makes: improving the purchasing experience for women automatically makes the experience better for men, as well.

There are companies who are thinking they should market to women. This book will help them make giant strides in that direction.

Other companies recognize that the phrase “marketing to women” is already redundant. They simply call what they do “marketing.” The Soccer Mom Myth will help them refine their technique and establish a major head start over their competitors.

The Soccer Mom Myth, $19.95, 232 page hardcover, ships March 10. This book should be a part of every marketer's library.

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Chuck McKay is a marketing consultant who works with professional practices and owner operated businesses. Questions about marketing to women may be directed to ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com.

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If Stephen King Wrote Advertising Copy

Last month a new Stephen King book was published by Charles Scribner's Sons. It's called Duma Key: A Novel.

Duma Key: A Novel is the story of Edgar Freemantle and his recovery from the terrible nightmare-inducing accident that stole his arm and ended his marriage.

Care to predict whether this will be a profitable book?

But wait... it's 592 pages long.

Do Stephen King fans find hundreds of pages intimidating?

It appears not. 50 of his novels have reached bestseller status. Enough fans buy his books to make his net worth over $200,000,000.

And yet, its a safe bet that someone in his past said “This is too long. Nobody will read this many pages.”

Obviously, people who enjoy King aren't concerned with the word count. And (critical point here) the opinions of non-fans DON'T MATTER.

So, what's the marketing parallel?

People who aren't in the market for what you sell don't get an opinion in how long your advertising copy should be.

'Nuff said.

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Chuck McKay is a marketing consultant who works with professional practices and owner operated businesses. Questions about optimal copy length may be directed to ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com.

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