I’m not interested in discussing the merits of the bill, but how he presented – or marketed – this particular issue. He started out just fine. Stated what it was about and that the reason it was important was because, according to his sources, people do not report crimes to 911 because the recordings may be heard through the media. The DJs questioned this pretty strongly because the information is still available as public record so was it really the media coverage that caused the problem? Now here is someone who obviously felt strongly about his cause, but couldn’t articulate his arguments. First he said if a person is worried about retaliation, they are less likely to report a crime. In fact, a professor at a local school reported a crime and that night received a call from a group of people calling from the front yard of his apartment building to let him know they knew who he was and that he made the call. The bill-sponsor was then asked if the individual a. reported that incident (no) and b. was his 911 tape played through the media somewhere? (no). So that lost his point.

He then went on to say that “smart defense attorneys” get the 911 calls, give the information to their clients and then the client’s friends make sure the witness won’t testify. So now, not only did he not persuade a voter in this state that he is spending his time wisely, but went on to insult every defense attorney in the state of Ohio! I don’t know many defense attorneys, but I am willing to bet many of them are very good people who would never intentionally put someone in harm’s way. To say that “smart” defense attorneys do this, was just completely upsetting to me. And thereby absolutely lost any hope of me paying attention to his cause, argument or probably things he says in the future.

So where did he go wrong? First, he didn’t understand the problem his “product” was solving well enough. He clearly wanted to solve a bigger problem but his product doesn’t do that so he came off foolish at best. Second, he bashed someone else in a very broad stroke. We’ve all heard “don’t bash your competition” but it is an easy thing to do. If he hadn’t made all defense attorneys out to be bad people, I would have tried to listen to him more. Third, while he did a gutsy thing going to the media to help raise awareness for his cause, he wasn’t prepared for them to be a little defensive about it and ask the tough questions. He seemed caught off guard that they were concerned.

And now the lessons – first, know the exact problems your product solves. If you solve just a small piece of a bigger issue, know that up front and be ready to answer why you can’t address the rest (in this case, the Constitution is a great fall back for why his bill doesn’t address bigger issues). Second, DON’T BASH YOUR COMPETITION. It is just tacky! Not to mention you don’t know who knows whom, what they think of your competition or what they think of you. If a customer does it, they are welcome to do so and thank them for the information. But don’t jump on that bandwagon. It isn’t going anywhere good. Finally, know your audience. When you are talking to someone, know what their company does and how. Understand their industry. Don’t just go in and figure they’ll see the benefit without doing your research. And remember, everything can be a marketing opportunity!

Product or Service
Strong Company Brand
Strong Personal Brand
Established or Create the need
Long or Short Sales Cycle
Known Industry
Established vs. Startup
Tech Savvy Customers

At each step, we analyzed the company and the customers to make sure we understood who people think we are, who we know we are and who we want to be.  That is the core of a good marketing plan.  And while no one knows your company better than you do, there are many details that have not been put into words.  That makes a huge difference when trying to target marketing.  The last thing we want to do is throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks!

We’ve talked in the past about buyer personas and that is really the next step to your marketing plan.  Create 5-7 characters in your marketing story that are typical of your best customers.  What are they like?  What do they do in their spare time?  Married?  Children?  Where do they live?  Give these characters as much dimension as you can.  Then, when reviewing marketing options, ask “does this attract Scott” or is “this answering Mary’s concerns”.  Since you know so much about the characters, you should be able to answer the questions.  And we all know what my answer will be if you say you don’t know your customers that well. GO ASK.  If you are local, go sit down with them and if not, get everyone in your company together and put together what you know.  Then, the next time you talk, find out what’s missing.  Otherwise, you will not be able to tell if that new technology is the best thing to use or if traditional advertising works better.

Your marketing plan is vital to know how to steer your ship in 2010.  Many people are forcasting changes to social media this year with a tightening of networks and more depth in relationships.  If you have a strong plan, you will be able to adapt to those changes as they come and handle them immediately.  Bring on the plans!

Product or Service
Strong Company Brand
Strong Personal Brand
Established or Create the need
Long or Short Sales Cycle
Known Industry

Both established companies and start ups have unique challenges when trying to build their marketing plans.  If an established company is in a known industry, they will have a very difficult time overcoming current perceptions – their brand is out there.  But, a startup has to find people willing to take a chance on an unknown quantity.  Either way, a good marketing plan is key to achieving the goals.

Being an established company means you have experience from which to draw.  This is great news because there is no better marketing than your customers. Build a portfolio of testimonials, case studies and stories to use in every media and conversation you have.  Spend as much time talking to your current customers as new ones – you want people just like your current customers, right?  Really understanding their needs, wants and challenges allows you to connect with new clients faster and easier.  If you don’t know today what is keeping your clients up at night, find out. Now. And that doesn’t mean guess – you should KNOW.

A start up company doesn’t have the luxury of calling on those stories and experiences.  Instead, you have to focus on what’s wrong with the current market and why you started the company. What needs weren’t being met?  What needs to happen to get things done right?  The best marketing angle to take in this case is “one of you”. As “one of you”, I recognized the following problem with…. If you were a frustrated customer just like the people you are appealing to, they will listen.  If you have hit one of their true frustrations.  So how do you know if you have?  Again, you need to talk to people.  Connect with people however you can -LinkedIn, Blogs, local Chamber organizations, etc. to get a chance to have a conversation.  Be sure to listen more than you talk and find out what the frustrations are. Then, as soon as you get that first success, capitalize on it.  I worked for a company at one point that made a point to let everyone know who the first 5 clients they had ever had were and we were to treat those people even better than the rest.  They had retained all five for 10 years when I moved out of the area and left the company.  Pretty impressive!

Looking at your marketing plan with this in mind can also help figure out how to prevent the other guy from getting to your client.  If you understand the benefits a start up can bring, you can answer it up front.  If you know what the current providers do well, you can head that off before you get hammered with questions.  Either way the best defense is a good offense.

Next we will conclude our series with Tech-focused on Non-tech-focused clients.

Product or Service
Strong Company Brand
Strong Personal Brand
Established or Create the need
Long or Short Sales Cycle

The next item to review in determining your marketing plan is if you are in a known industry or not.  For example, if someone says they do carpet cleaning, we all know what that means. But, if someone says they are the foremost expert in biophysics, there’s a good chance only a few people know what that individual does on a daily basis.  It is important to understand that not everyone knows what you do every day.  And even if people think they know an industry, they may not truly understand what you do.

One industry that is interesting from this perspective is recruiting.  Recruiters are definitely misunderstood. Many people haven’t dealt with recruiters and therefore don’t have any idea what they actually do – they call them “head hunters” and generally assume the candidate pays them to find them a job.  This is absolutely the opposite of most recruiting offices.  Generally they are hired by the client to find a specific person and then have to employ many ways to find that perfect individual.  So in a case like this, a recruiter has a unique challenge to design a marketing plan as they not only have to get their personal message out there, but also educate the prospect on what they do.  Several industries share this challenge and Chiropractors are the first to come to mind.

On the other hand, there are industries that people don’t know exist.  We all understand the insurance industry but how many people have heard of long-term care insurance?  This isn’t like life or car insurance of which we all have a basic understanding.  This is insurance that provides for a time when we can’t take care of ourselves.  Not exactly something the average person wants to consider.  So the marketing plan to get the word out on that product is even more challenging as you have to educate, and then get over the concerns and emotional issues of the subject.

In a known industry, one must differentiate.  Going back to our carpet cleaning example, if someone comes to your home or office to clean your carpets, you have a set of expectations.  Some are built on past experience and some based on the results you desire. As a carpet cleaner, you have to get the client to understand why you are the best, and may not be the cheapest.  That is a very different message.

So it is important to know if people you are selling to have an understanding of your industry, have an incorrect understanding of your industry, or if they have no understanding.  In each case, the message must be delivered to deal with that situation appropriately and effectively.

Our second variable to look at is whether your company has a strong company brand. Strong company brands are obviously a help in marketing efforts because your clients know who you are. We consider a strong company brand one that is prevalent and correct.

For many clients, having a prevalent brand is vital. When you say the company you are calling from, a prevalent company brand means the customer already has a set of expectations and understanding of what you do. Typically a strong company brand is built through more traditional advertising as the message has to hit home often.

We say “correct” because there are times when a brand message is out in the market place but it isn’t the message the company wants. I once worked with a company that had a brand perception in the marketplace as “sleepy”. That was the word used to describe their over 50 year presence in their market space! Clearly this was not something they wanted their clients to say so we had to attack the brand message knowing we were counteracting “sleepy”.

If you aren’t sure if your company brand is strong, consider how people react when you tell them where you work. Do they immediately know what your company does, or do they look at you expectantly needing more information? From there, you need to determine what message you want with your brand. With that in mind, we are able to build a program to meet that objective!

Are you a product or a service company? Seems like a no-brainer. You either sell products or you provide a service. Duh. But how one markets a company depends on the answer to this question. Marketing a service is often marketing the intangible. You can’t touch a service, hold a service, look at it and judge it the way you can a product. That isn’t to say that marketing a product is easy, though. The product has to be in its best light and look as good as possible because a consumer will make a judgment just from a quick glance. So when designing your marketing plan, this is the first variable we consider.

Product Company
The first thing we identify with a product company is what features are obvious in the product (colors, textures, what the main purpose or function is, etc.) and what features are not obvious (other uses, features that aren’t used as often, etc.). This is so important because when communicating, you don’t want to assume anything. Just because a feature is obvious to the manufacturer doesn’t mean it is obvious to everyone. I once attended a Pampered Chef party and the person brought their pizza stone out of the oven using the oven rack that came with us. There were two of us in the room who had no idea that was what that was for and had been using it as a cooling stand. The designers at Pampered Chef would have been surprised!!! The lesser known features are just as important. I recently read an article where a woman mentioned that at 50-something, she had just learned there were tabs on the sides of her plastic wrap box to hold the roll in the box. Neither my mother nor myself knew this one either and boy, is that a help! If my brand didn’t have it, I would definitely have tried a different brand as it eliminates a lot of the frustration with handling plastic wrap. This kind of feature can help tip the balance between one brand and another if the customer feels they are identical.

Service Company
With a service company, we have to understand what the service is, why it is important, and why it is provided in the way that it is. The last thing a service company wants to do is set the wrong expectation for what will happen once a customer signs up. If I’m having my car serviced and I’m told part of the service is to get a ride back to the shop, I better get a call before 6:00 saying they are on their way to pick me up. (FYI – my service provider actually picked me up in MY car so I could test out the repair with a tech in the car with me. Nice.) Next, we’re going to have a long talk about what customers WANT and EXPECT. And if necessary, we’re also going to talk to customers to make sure that is what they want and expect.

If you are both a service and product company, you will want to look at each side separately and blend the marketing approaches at the end. The idea here is to get a handle on what you sell at the very beginning. Later this week we will discuss Strong Company Brand vs. Strong Personal Brand.