Brew-Ha-Ha

While many of us were hunkering down to survive the Late Great Recession of the 21st Century and were focused on day-to-day operations, the world of marketing completely changed. Forever.
Yes, the latest economic bust made it official. Digital media has taken the lead in reaching customers, local and afar. According to a new report by research firm Outsell, U.S. companies shifted $60 billion out of traditional advertising venues such as TV and print and spent it on their own website development.
So it makes sense that digital age advertising is the only marketing category that realized growth in 2009. Says an article in BtoB Magazine, that’s 91% growth for small business – a pretty noteworthy figure that shows why this matters here in Merced. Just wait until your future prospects hit the market. They will, no doubt, only respond to emerging media. (Texting, anyone? Yes, it’s officially a verb now, and SMS is a growing marketing technique.)
Websites have been the hottest category of digital marketing for well over a decade. There are now 215,675,903 total websites with domain names and content on them (and still counting), compared to just 18,000 websites in August 1995. If I did the math correctly, that’s a 12,000% increase in just 14 years.
If you don’t have a basic online brochure-style website, you better get one. The web is where most people seek information, compare costs, and read reviews about products and services before making the buying decision. If you already have a website, it’s time to take it to the next level. And I mean marketing level – with serious consideration of the quality of your content – both the message and the image.
There is more to creating a great website than development, and I’ve seen quite a few businesses mistakenly depend upon their web developer for a marketing presence. Most developers promote website “design”, but have no real training in important skills to make your website a great marketing tool. It takes a combination of skills to do it right, including writing, design and strategic thinking.
After you have an effective website that is optimized for search engines, your next digital marketing efforts might include email marketing, social media and mobile applications. This will move you into Web 2.0, where visitors can leave a review, comment or somehow participate in your web presence. But only use these media if you’re actually going to use them.
By the time you get those systems in place, it will be time to change your strategies again. Web 3.0 is already on the horizon with the emerging Semantic Web technologies, which will streamline the way we use the web to find information. And this just in: Mobile web, meaning the little gadget in your pocket, will overtake desktop web access very soon. And it’s going to be big. According to an in-depth study by Morgan Stanley, it will be twice as large and create and destroy even more wealth than previous tech cycles thanks to the convergence of social media, video and 3G network technologies.
So get with it! Get your digital presence going if you haven’t already. Or update it. By the time you read this, it may already be too late.

Fly-fishing is an art that takes smart strategy, skillful techniques, and the right fly for the conditions and fish you’re after. But it’s the finesse in laying the line and reeling it back in – the tactics used to execute your strategy – that get the fish to bite.

It’s a lot like getting new business. Just like fly-fishing, there is no single formula that works every time. Each cast is unique. There are days when you do everything right, but come home empty-handed. So there’s an art to having the right combination of tactics – and always a bit of luck at being in the right place at the right time.

Still, if you don’t prepare yourself for a successful fishing trip, your chances of any return on your casting efforts are greatly reduced. You still need to have the right tackle, the right bait, the right technique, and you need to know the habits of the fish you’re after. Execution of the tactics is everything, and that’s where I’m going to walk away from this fishing metaphor.

If you’re like most small business owners, you probably put most or all of your marketing and advertising efforts into attracting fresh customers. That certainly makes sense, at first, because it’s all new business until a customer comes back for more. But once you have a customer, it’s time to consider the balance in your marketing strategy of three key tactics: attraction, conversion and retention.

The tactics entrepreneurs most commonly use to attract a brand new customer are often the most expensive, yielding the lowest return on investment of both time and money. These tactics include cold calling, networking, and all the traditional advertising media. Executed well, they are still highly effective and necessary for brand-building and creating awareness.

Back in the late seventies, “the threes of advertising” was a research-supported theory that stated it took an average of three impressions in your media mix to get someone’s attention. Today, as we are bombarded with more messages from even more channels, it’s taking an average of seven to ten impressions to achieve awareness. And that doesn’t even close a deal.

Small business owners usually don’t have deep enough pockets for pure brand-building, except maybe community event sponsorships, the church newsletter or the high school football program. Even local newspaper advertising is relatively expensive because of the frequency required to be effective. So small businesses often add a conversion tactic to turn prospects who are now aware of your company into actual customers. That could be a special trial offer or a timely solution to a specific problem.

Retention tactics help you keep those customers. Because of the drive for new business, retention is frequently neglected in small business, though the easiest tactics to implement. This is how you keep you in touch with customers, increase repeat business and add to your sales leads with referrals. Included are newsletters, personal phone calls, thank you notes and special invitations.

Adjusting the balance of your mix of attraction, conversion and retention tactics will help you keep a steady stream of new business in any economic climate.

Inspiration was the keyword of the day when our First Lady made her historic and memorable visit to Merced last month. In an indirect way, the event inspired me to write about what makes a good tagline and how to approach writing one.

The topic choice was sparked by a brochure the city published for the first-ever Cap & Town event. It had the newish, theater-tower Merced logo paired with a tagline that proclaimed our city was “Inventing California’s Future” in teeny-tiny type that most people probably didn’t even notice. But a good marketer notices these things because a tagline is a very important and powerful element of marketing.

A tagline is the slogan partnered with your logo that states a clear, meaningful message or promise about your brand. A good tagline enriches your identity by stating something essential that will make a lasting, memorable impression on all of your audiences.

Just do it. The Uncola. When you care enough to send the very best. We try harder. Fly the friendly skies (a tagline I believe was mistakenly dropped in the 90s. Then again, maybe dropping it reflects how flying isn’t so friendly, anymore). These classic lines made you think of their associated brands: Nike, 7-Up, Hallmark, Avis and United Airlines. Somewhere in your memory banks, you have dozens more just waiting to resurface and remind.

Often, taglines are clever, but it’s not necessary to be clever. It’s more important to be clear than clever, and you heard that from a marketing creative. Cleverness does not equal creativeness in the communications business. Even Samantha’s magically-created ideas to help out her husband Darren on the TV series Bewitched were relevant to their purpose.

Taglines come in all shapes and sizes and styles. Some are timeless. Some are out-grown over time. Sometimes they are very direct. Sometimes abstract. They can help change your positioning in a category or communicate a new benefit. They may identify a unique function or character, or just state a desirable outcome. Whatever purpose the message serves, a good tagline should positively affect the perception of your brand.

Like all communications, the simpler the better. But getting to the few simple words that will resonate with your market and stakeholders is an effort of hard work and perspiration.

You start with the answers to the essential questions for all good communications efforts: Who are you and what do you do? What are your goals? What core values guide your actions? What makes you different than the competition? What is your brand promise? What are your strengths in your category? Who comprises your entire audience? What are the hot buttons? What needs can you satisfy?

Then decide what will make a tagline “the one” for you. What criteria will you use to determine which taglines work and which ones don’t? Deciding the parameters from an objective, strategic frame of mind before venturing into brainstorming will help keep you from being swayed by a very clever, but off-strategy choice. Be sure to give the process some time so you can sleep on it.

Here are some suggested guidelines for writing a good tagline:

* Develop a long list of ideas; don’t throw anything out.
* Don’t try to force-fit a keyword for your category.
* Focus on the concepts, not how many words it takes.
* Look for inspiration everywhere and anywhere, even unlikely places.
* Be absolutely clear to the market niche you are serving.
* Be sure to reflect who you really are and what you’re about.
* Create a message that is uniquely your own.

To take it to a more advanced step, look at how a tagline you’re considering might speak to your market, to your partners (suppliers, distributors, sales channels) and to your own staff (internal communications are often forgotten, but build valuable teamwork). Your tagline won’t convey the same meaning to each audience; we all bring our own perspectives. But the best lines speak to all customers and all stakeholders in one way or another.

Which brings me back to the inspiration, “Inventing California’s Future”. It’s a nice aspiration for Merced, but perhaps a tad overreaching. Is it who we really are and what we really do? In the context of our city’s brand identity, does it ring true to our guests? To ourselves? To all of our community stakeholders?

Sweating your way through the process of creating a tagline for your business, or municipality, is a worthwhile investment that will help clarify who you are and what you do, making all of your marketing communications exponentially more effective.

That’s the power of a good tagline.

Last weekend, I found myself sipping a cold one in San Francisco and thinking.

Creative. Good, effective creative. Just what is it? And why is it valuable to any business, especially one short on marketing dollars?

So there I was, with a window view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Alcatraz glowed in the sunset light. Coit Tower silhouetted in the purple sky. I was savoring an especially tasty ice-cold Anchor Steam and a freshly steamed Dungeness Crab served with sourdough bread. And I realized I was enjoying a delicious San Francisco branding lesson, bolstered by years of marketing content featuring romanticized iconic images of the city. Tourism Marketing 101.

The connection to the city brand was galvanized with just a handful of details that identify Fisherman’s Wharf, a differentiator that is only San Francisco. Nothing else like it. Visiting family, first-time guests to the city, needed little explanation of where we were and what we were seeing. Fisherman’s Wharf. Quintessential San Francisco. Well branded.

Around the time I was getting a second beer, the bigger picture came into focus. Creative is how you call attention to your brand. It’s the skill set that defines the difference between two brands by distilling key selling points down to one relevant message. Relevant to the brand. Relevant to the customer.

On the drive back home (not on the same day the Anchor Steam kissed my lips), I admired the Apple iPod nano billboards – part of a multi-media campaign. Simple. Single message. There they are. Nine iPod nanos lined up in a neat row featuring the nine colors, dripping from the bottom of the product images like so many splotches of paint. And a brand logo. That’s it. The product feature of color options needs no words. The art direction is engaging. Thought provoking. You might even have thoughts about what color fits your spouse, child, sibling, … your friends. This is the personal music player that fits your personality, anyone’s personality, with color. There is no mention of the many great iPod features. Just one. One message will do. It’s conveyed by one seemingly simple image that’s used across every medium.

One more example before I get to the point. Another effective billboard I saw is from a campaign I don’t even like – for Geico auto insurance. But I have to admit, the billboard reinforces the message of the TV and radio very well. The visual is that silly stack of money with the jiggly eyes on top. The headline is straight from the campaign’s script: The Money You Could Be Saving. Then there’s a Geico logo. And that’s it. Good solid outdoor advertising with one simple message.

San Francisco, Apple and Geico – their marketing messages all have one thing in common. They tell the truth. Good, effective creative always reveals the truth. Despite urban myth, creative is not about cleverness, though sometimes it’s clever. It’s not about trickery, though sometimes it uses tricks. And it’s definitely not about fooling people. That would be called a marketing con, not marketing creative.

So just what is creative? It’s the simple communication that tells the story about what makes you unique in your field. Not just another insurance business, but the one that’s served the community the longest. Not just another florist, but the one with more flower varieties. Not just another shoe store, but the one with exclusive, desirable brands. Whatever makes your business “the one”, great creative delivers the message in a meaningful and relevant way. The truth.

Key Characteristics of Great Creative:

1. true to the brand identity and look

2. true to the brand voice and message

3. true to the markets the brand serves

Why is good creative especially valuable for marketers with small budgets? To start with, the same old approach, at best, will reap the same old results. More likely, a tired image and message will be ineffective and lost in the clutter. Another value to any marketer is that the creative process forces a conversation about your brand identity, your core values, your key markets, your strengths, your weaknesses, and even your relevance as a product or service. This leads to realistic goals, a focused message, a targeted strategy, and tactics that earn the best return. So you don’t waste good money on poor marketing efforts.

And that’s the money you could be saving – perhaps for an Anchor Steam at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Have you ever seen a poorly designed logo or advertisement, brochure or packaging, even a messy sales contract or PowerPoint presentation, and noticed how it impacted your impression about the business?

Even if you haven’t noticed, the way a company presents itself affects the way you perceive its professionalism. Look around with a keen eye and you’ll see plenty of candidates here in the Central Valley noteworthy for their “pathetic aesthetic”.

Perhaps someone had the brilliant idea to save money by letting a sister-in-law who used to like art in school create “the look”, instead of hiring a designer. Or maybe it’s just something that’s outlived its historical genre in design. Whatever the reason, at the core is an undervaluing of design and creativity, without consideration of the basic business measurement of return on investment.

“What?” you may ask. How do “design” and “return on investment” possibly go together in the same sentence or breath? Aren’t those literally from different schools of thought? The Institutes of Left and Right Brain?

Well, for those who doubt that great design is “all that” for a business, there’s an eye-opening phenomenon reported in an online post at MarketingProfs.com by Ted Mininni, president of a metro New York brand design consultancy. Our upcoming crop of MBAs may need to pass a design course to get that business degree.

According to the article, some leading business schools – big brand names of academia like Harvard, Georgetown, UC Berkeley and Northwestern – are adding design and creative thinking courses.

Stanford University is even creating a new Institute of Design to teach design strategy to both business and design students. Design schools are getting on board by adding business courses for graduate level design students.

Many industry leaders already embrace a design-centric approach to their business, products and marketing. Procter & Gamble, Samsung, IBM, Harley-Davidson, BMW, Apple, Disney and Dell are among them. In a recent Fast Company interview, Alan G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble explained,

“We want to design the purchasing experience …We want to design every component of the product; and we want to design the communication experience and the user experience. I mean, it’s all design.” Business Week’s editor-in-chief, Steven J. Adler, has tagged this trend as the “rise of the Creativity Economy.”

So how does the “Creativity Economy” relate to business in Merced? We are not immune to significant trends or the tangible and intangible effects of creative execution. Just choosing the wrong photo or using the wrong word can impact a business’s image. So can that logo designed by the untrained sister-in-law in 1980.

Keeping abreast of major trends helps generate fresh ideas that achieve better performance from marketing tools, product development and even business strategy. So a little mash-up of analytical and design skills can improve customer experiences and create stronger brand loyalties that take full advantage of the brand equity. When you nurture both rational and emotional connections to your brand, you’re a rock star of your business niche.

As markets get tighter and competition gets stiffer in the months ahead, the businesses with the best image and message will gain market share. It’s a predictable cycle. Those that value great design and quality creative execution – the ones that spend marketing dollars on the thinking and the look of all their communications, not just the production – will fare better than those that don’t. For all the intangibles of design and marketing creative, that’s a very tangible return on investment.

There’s a television commercial that really gets on your nerves. You know the one. It’s so dumb and annoying, you swear you’ll never buy that product. Ever. And you wonder why such a major brand name would waste so much advertising money on something so stupid.

It might be a spot where the guy with the right beer label attracts the attention of the ladies at a party. Or maybe it’s that late-night commercial schlepping videos of teenage girls cutting loose on Spring break. Or perhaps it’s the credit report service with a jingle that’s now stuck in your head, repeating the website address (also the brand name) over and over again.

If those brand messages are not really connecting with you, it’s probably not a wonder. And probably not a worry for the advertisers. You’re simply not the targeted young, male demographic they’re trying to reach. Research has determined this audience offers these brands the greatest opportunity for new customers. So the images and messages have been carefully developed by creative teams to appeal to this specific group.

As much as it can be measured, even in this day of social media and data base marketing, it’s the intangibles of the creative that make the emotional connection and becomes the basis for a relationship with those customers. And even though it’s not science, it’s also not magic or some stroke of genius. It’s hard work. Creative development is a process of problem solving to achieve strategic goals with the right message delivered in the right manner to reach the right people. It’s what breaks through the clutter, delivers the key selling points, and stays true to the brand’s personality.

So whether you hire professionals or try your own hand at it, starting with the basic elements of a Creative Brief will help you get to where you want to go:

• Know your audience. Who, specifically, are you talking to? The more precise and detailed the better. Go beyond age and sex to include demographics and psychographics, if you can.

• Know your objective. What do you want your targets to think, feel, or do? Are you trying to achieve a direct response, or are you building your brand image?

• Know your message. What’s the single most important thing you can say to achieve your objective? Then add other major points in order of relative importance to your targets. Don’t expect to tell all the messages at once. Too many messages add up to no message at all.

• Know your touch points. What are the rational and emotional reasons to believe your message? How will it improve the lives of those you’re trying to reach?

Though simplified, these basic guidelines are the essence of targeting your prospects and defining your message. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to reach consumers or other businesses. Investing in good creative helps you express a compelling message in a compelling way, and your marketing dollars will get a much greater return than just spending more and more money on advertising and other marketing tools.