The latest trend today is to “go green”. That is good. Don’t really know if that help us avoid 2012, but well, we do what we can.

So, thought I seen it all, until I saw this – Organic Cotton BABY WIPES. I am a little too old for this, but it did bring out the giggles. I fully understand the motivation and the attraction of the idea, don’t get me wrong here. But well, baby wipes?

Used to be that Organic Marketing had a totally different meaning. Now, new term like Sustainable Marketing and Triple Bottom Line are beginning to become common. Will it every become mainstream enough that you will not need to Google it to figure out what it means? Who knows.

Will you be on this band-wagon?

How do you increase sales revenue? There are only 3 known ways to increase your business legally:

1. Get more customers
2. Increase price
3. Get existing customers to buy more

Usually, most companies focus on #1 – Get More Customers. This is intuitively the first reaction that any business person will think of. If I have more customers, I will make more money. Simple, straight-forward logic.

#2 – Increase Price seems to be the Freddy Kreuger of most busineses. No one dares to even think about it most of the time. Other times, this is entertained as a nice fantasy before getting on with the real business.

#3 – Getting existing customers to buy more is probably one of the most desired outcome for many business owners. Buy two get one free and other bundling offers is the epitome of this strategy. It is a good strategy, even though it does compromise margins, you make up for the shortfall in the bottom line by increasing the top line numbers. It could work in some cases.

The harsh reality is this – it is really hard to get more customers. It is easy to lose customers. This is food for thought. Let me ask you a question:

“Why does everyone prefer to think about how to do business the hard way?”

We have been taught that it is hard to succeed at business. So, if getting more customers is hard, then it must be the best way to improve business. There is no way that you can improve sales if you do not have customers. That is a given. However, once you are over that initial hump, do you really need to increase your customer base?

Getting existing customers to buy more is a no brainer. That will certainly increase revenue. Because they already buy from you, they KNOW that you provide a good product/service and they are willing to pay for it. They proved it once. They will do it again.

There is one sure way that we can increase price and ensure that customers buy more from us – provide a true and abundant value.

Giving more value than the customer expects is not about giving up margins. It is about buying good will. If we can learn to meet, and then exceed customer expectations, we will increase sales.

The problem is, how?

Here is an interesting one – how do you think out of the box? More importantly, how do managers and business owners get their people to think out of the box?

Whether you are in marketing, sales, or operations; the ability to think out of the box is very important, right? Wrong.

Our entire education has been geared towards putting us INTO a box. We are taught the Laws of Physics, we are taught the Rules of Grammer and we are taught there is only one right answer – the one that scores the marks during an examination.

When you first start working, you are taught to toe the line, that your boss is always right; my way or the highway…

Suddenly, you are asked to think out of the box. Sure, you can do it, just tell me… which box?

That is the irony of it all. Bosses want employees who can toe the line, be team players, not rock the boat; then, when the going gets tough, you suddenly want these self-same people to think out of the box?

“Yes, Sir! Certainly Sir! What box might that be sir!?”

Creativity, initiative and so on is not a one-time exercise. It has to be part of the work culture, part of the value system. Nurture is important.

If you want your people to think out of the box, the easiest way to achieve this is as follows:

Don’t create the box in the first place.

Isn’t it interesting that “marketing” and “measuring” are such poor bed partners?

Accountability is an area of management that is looked upon by many as a necessary evil. You see, these people are usually employees. Measuring simply adds another list of things to do. After going through all the sweat and toil, they now have to write reports, do up some charts and be accountable.

Marketing is one area that is notorious for a lack of accountability. It is hard to measure. To some extend, it is true. But to a large extend, it is an excuse. Now, when times are bad, economy is slowing down and there is a “crisis”, suddenly, everyone wants to know how well they are doing.

It is perfectly possible to measure your marketing results. You just need to use the right methods to fit the right objectives.

Quantify your objectives, decide how you will measure them, collect the data that you need to meet the objectives, establish a baseline, gain commitment to the measurement plan, and, finally, measure.

Quantify your objectives

You must be able to state in a measurable format, your objectives. For example, “We want to get more sales lead” is not a good quantification. The word “more” is ambigous and unclear. A better objective would be “We want to have 200 people sign up for our newsletter”.

What and How you will measure

When you measure, you must pick a measurement that is going to be relevant to your business. Following up from the above example, how will 200 people subscribing to your newsletter affect your business? If it has minimal impact, why measure it at all? It is difficult for marketing campaigns to be linked directly to sales, but it is possible. For example, discount coupons can tell us who made a purchase as a result of which promotion. The method of capturing your data is important. Coupons can be counted, but not always reliable. But discounts are accounted for through the sales receipts and will be an excellent way to counter check.

Establish baseline

A baseline is important so that you will be able to tell whether you are doing better or worse over time. If you already have a baseline, good. If not, you need to create one. For example, if you have 5000 coupons redeemed at the last promotion, that could become a baseline. Or you can have an average over several promotions and you know that any marketing that falls below that is “below average”.

Gain commitment

Everyone must be committed to measuring your marketing success. If the sales people feel that it is not important, they might not bother with the coupons, or they might not submit the subscription forms. Worse, everyone is doing their best, but the boss ignores the efforts.

Collect Data

Collecting the data is as simple as establishing a procedure by which it can be done. Once this is briefed and everyone is trained, it is then up to the whole team to make sure that the data is duly collected and used.

Marketing is all about results. Everyone knows that. But until you start to measure it, then anything and everything you say is nothing more than words.

More reading:
http://www.marketingprofs.com/8/tackling-marketing-accountability-patterson-kushner.asp?adref=znnpbsc598

This is like Atlantis. Everyone has heard of it, but no one seems to be able to find it.

I really want to clarify something. You see, I have been hearing many people speak of Zero Cost Marketing; and that is so very wrong. By all the laws of nature and of commerce, how can there ever be anything of value for free? There is no such thing as Zero Cost Marketing.

Having said that, you must also know that there is such a thing as Zero Dollar Marketing. You see, it is possible to get things done without spending a single cent. How is this different from Zero Cost?

Your time, your staff’s time, talents and efforts – these are all “costs”. To get anything done, you need to spend time and effort. You might not need to spend dollars. In that sense, it is possible to have Zero Dollar Marketing, but certainly not zero cost marketing.

Why is this interesting?

As more and more corporations move towards greater accountability, Marketing Metrics have become more important. Measuring the returns on your marketing efforts is the new cool. You can no longer hide behind the “… it won an award” thing to justify your campaigns.

More and more, managers and business owners look at performance. They try to measure what is spent vs what results are generated. Simply put, an ROI model that divides results by marketing dollars spent will look fantastic when the dollars are very low. And as you Maths teacher would tell you, it will “tend to infinity as it approaches zero”.

Zero Dollar Marketing is even more important today because:

• Marketing is now more accountable than ever before for solid returns
• Marketing is under more pressure than ever before during this economic downturn
• Marketers need to demonstrate positive contribution
• Companies and businesses need to save every dollar they can

Do you or your company employ Zero Dollar Marketing techniques?

If you have been in advertising for more than a day, you must have been involved in some kind of branding argument.

The most common, ulcer inducing phrase that you will ever hear must certainly be: “… make the logo bigger.”

There is just something about companies and their logos. Seems like many of them have a one-to-one direct corelation between their logo and their brand. For many companies, that is actually a sad truth. The only element of their business that is recognisable and distinct from the competition is their logo.

Is your brand just a logo? Your brand represents the total experience of who you are, what you stand for and how you are percieved by your publics. In this context, the logo is but a small part of your brand. In fact, when you create your brand properly, you can be identified even when no one sees your logo. Walk pass any McDonald’s, or Pizza Hut. Before you even see the logo or if you somehow missed the logo, chances are, you will still be able to identify them. The layout of the restaurant, the color of the tables, chairs and the overall design already communicate sufficiently to identify them. Think of the BMW “grill”, the Harley Davidson “growl” and many others; certainly the logo is not the only defining factor for a brand.

I just read this really interesting article over at Forbes. Title was “Beyond the Logo” and it makes for a really interesting read. But branding at that level is really limited to the top of the branding tree. Until and unless your brand is “ubiquitous”, I doubt if you will have the same results. But there are elements that we will all do well to take note of.

I find it really sad when people are not able to fully leverage every aspect of their business to support their brand. Usually, small business owners try to save money by cutting off the “fluff” and just getting the “essentials” done. What they fail to realise is the incredible amount of branding that they are missing out on. Very little incremental costs, but a lot of long term effects. Even big companies are guilty of this. Especially when they have just spent a few million dollars on a campaign, many managers mistakenly believe that they have done all that they need to do.

Branding is not about your logo. It is not just about advertising. It goes beyond mere marketing. Think about this.

Many small companies do not think that they need a brand. Actually, this topic has been covered by many speakers and writers who talk about branding.

Mostly, everyone is saying the same thing – you need to brand yourself. And of course, there are a ton of reasons why that is a good thing. So, if you are running a small business, how should you brand yourself and is there really a benefit to spending money on branding?

Paying a few thousand dollars to have a brand guru come in might not be the best option, especially for small businesses.

Before I go on, I want to make one statement – don’t be fooled by the big guys.

You see, many of us look at the big brands and we can understand why they do branding, advertising, marketing and promotions. Then we turn around and look at our little print shop or deli and wonder how that is relevant to us. And we think we do not need branding. After all, Jack comes in every morning for his coffee and Mary takes her bagel, with cheese; and they don’t really care the color of my logo. Actually, I just want to suggest that they do care. But maybe not in a way that you would like them to care. And in many case, you don’t care. And that makes it a moot point, doesn’t it?

Many small businesses do not take their own branding seriously. They do not see how a small business like theirs can benefit from a brand. Branding is a way of telling your customers what you stand for, and therefore, what they are getting. You would be surprised, that when you close your deli, and the new owner sets up shop, Jack might no longer get his coffee and Mary no longer needs her bagel. Why?

For small companies, branding is not about big, glitzy campaigns. Branding is about providing a consistent level of service, quality and value – and doing it with a consistently recognizable “face”. That same cup with your logo (or name, if you don’t have a logo). The same brown, eco-friendly paper bag. The tinkle of the door bell when a customer enters. Yes, even your welcoming smile. It all adds up the the total experience of buying something from you. Over time, that becomes your identity. Over time, you would have established your brand, like it or not.

So, small companies do need to brand themselves. But maybe not in the same way as the big boys do. Do you know what you need to do? If you have no idea, you might want to start with a simple Quick Branding Package which you can do online.

I want to suggest that to have your branding strategy started, do a simple survey as ask:

- what your customers like about your products/services
- what they like about your company
- what your suppliers think about your company
- what your staff like about your product/service

Once you have an idea of what your “brand” represents, you will know the priorities and the choices you need to make in order to maintain it. No need for the big bucks if you are small, but that is no excuse for not doing a few simple things to ensure your brand is clearly and properly communicated.

Every morning, while everyone is still fast asleep, comfortable, warm and in bliss – the cock crows. Grumbling people get out of bed and go about their chores. Why?

You see, when the cock crows, everyone knows the sun is going to rise. Then, if the cock does not crow, or worse, there are no cocks where you live (get your head on straight); will the sun rise?

Sometimes in marketing, isn’t this how it seems to be? You see, we marketers have all these creative ideas, cool slogans and dazzling logos; our marketing {crowing} is irressitible. We hypnotise them with our witty copy, compel them with our TV commercials and of course, endorsements – who can resist when a movie star tells you which soap to buy?

So, it is not surprising, that just as there are some dumb cocks (no pun intended) who think that they are the ones who bring the sun up each day; we marketers sometimes feel that nothing succeeds without our brilliant marketing. It’s exciting stuff, this marketing.

What I want to say here, is that success requires teamwork. Any company that thinks that it can succeed with excellent technology alone, or products, or low cost, or great marketing – are delusional. So, we need great marketers; but these must complement a group of great engineers/cooks/designers…. you get the picture.

One final word on this. A smart aleck farmer hated cocks, so he assigned that crowing job to the ducks. I don’t know how successful it was, his farm is still dark, probably not awake yet.

Here is an interesting idea. Everyone knows that sunscreens are used when you are out in the sun.

Now, the challenge is, sunscreens are messy and they are psychologically associated with “good times on the beach”. But sunscreen is also a needed protection for skin, especially those with fair skin, to prevent skin problems. Everyone knows this, but, like a diet, no one seems to be able to make it a habit.

This company, launched by two concerned (and innovative) moms, seems to have identified an interesting niche – daily sunscreen. Their company, Screen, Inc., has a range of sunscreens that promises to be non-greasy, affordable, non-irritating and dermatologist-approved. They hope that this will encourage teens to use it on a daily basis.

This is quite smart. After all, teens are the ones who spend the most times outdoors, and they are most concerned about their looks. A face peeling from sun burn is not the most attractive, for sure!

One of the most “fun” part of marketing must surely be the logo. Whether you are using them creatively, trying not to use them or even coming up with a new one for your company or brand, it’s a lot of fun!

If you like logos, then you must surely check out David Airey’s Logo Design Love where there is an ongoing contest to vote for your favourite blog logo!

When we look at the giants, it is usually in awe. But once in a while, we stare in wonder and shake our heads at the strange spectacle of their self destruction.

Ever since Motorola came up with the RAZR, nothing else came out that was even close to the success of that range. Wondered why. Now we know. Over at Engadget, Ryan has written this post “Motorola insider tells all about the fall of a technology icon” – which publishes a letter by the late Geoffrey Frost’s personal adviser at Motorola; until Frost’s death in 2005, Numair Faraz worked under the Motorola’s former CMO.

This here is yet another lesson in leadership. It is hard to lead when you do not really know where you are going, isn’t it?

Sorry to have to get back to this topic again. But I just read this post about Burger King’s Inappropriate Commercial and I just had to heave that sigh… I wanted to say “I told you so!” but then, I would be lying.

You see, I have never met the marketing folks over at Burger King. If only they read the warning…

I would hate to repeat all that was said about this topic, so, do head on over to read what Eliza Ferree has to say about it.