Cast your net wide or narrow?

I could launch into a discussion about the pros and cons of marketing to niche or targeted markets vs. broad-based marketing but I won't. I'm just glad Woodie cares enough about us to offer sugar free fudge.

Happy Independence Day to my U.S. followers.

Brand debate: Are people brands?

Check out the debate at www.BrandStrategyInsider.com.

The Secret of Marketing in a Recession (guest post)

The Secret of Marketing in a Recession
by Boyd Blackwood

Though it seems to make sense to cut expenditures in lean economic times, 80 years of data proves that cutting marketing to save money is a losing proposition.

Way back in 1927, the Harvard Business Review published a report tracking 200 companies from the 1923 recession on. The results were clear. The companies that didn't cut back on marketing - those that advertised the most during that period - enjoyed the biggest sales increases.

Another later study measuring the effects of business-to-business advertising looked closely at the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961. In these tough times, sales and profits dropped for companies that reduced their advertising. In addition, when the recovery came about (as it always will) those same companies lagged behind those that did NOT cut back.

That was proven again by McGraw-Hill Research when examining the financial performance of 600 companies in 16 industries during the recession of 1981-1982. The report, published in Laboratory of Advertising Report 5262, showed that sales for companies which aggressively marketed during the recession rose 256% over those that cut back - and stayed growing for up to three years AFTER the economic downturn.

A Cahners Publishing Company study in 1980 and a Center for Research and Development study in 1990 both concluded that those companies which maintain or increase their advertising during recessionary times stand to gain the most market share during that period (an average of 1.5 points.)

Coopers & Lybrand and Business Science International put it this way in their joint report published by Penton Media in 1993: "Businesses that maintain aggressive marketing programs during a recession, outperform companies that rely more on cost cutting measures. A strong marketing program enables a firm to solidify its customer base, take business away from less aggressive competitors, and position itself for future growth during the recovery."

There is a book of such research findings entitled Advertising in a Recession by Bernard Ryan, Jr., published in 1999. But these examples will probably suffice to tell the story.

The word "recession" has its origins in the Latin for "move backward." In an economic recession, when those around them "move backward," smart marketers do just the opposite. They STEP FORWARD.

Boyd Blackwood, Longtime creative director and marketer

Free resources for marketers on a limited budget at my blog: Smart Marketing on Any Budget http://www.smartmarketing4.me

Tweet me @bb_smart

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Boyd_Blackwood http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Secret-of-Marketing-in-a-Recession&id=2472619

Get off the Google AdWords Crack

Hubspot is offering a free webinar, Marketing Detox: How to Get Off Google AdWords PPC Crack - Free Webinar that promises to discuss ways to bring traffic to your site beyond just PPC using Google AdWords. The webinar on June 26 promises to discuss:

Why SEO is a better long-term strategy than Google Adwords PPC (pay-per-click)and how to balance the two

SEO basics to optimize your website on your own

Inbound marketing strategies to generate leads efficiently

How to combine SEO, blogging, and social media for exponential results

Best of all, the webinar is free but registration in advance is required.

Book review: Escaping the Black Hole: Minimizing the damage from the marketing-sales disconnect

Fellow Virginian Schmonsees effectively describes the disconnect between the marketing and sales functions and why this disconnect exists in the first place. He then prescribes the cure.

The cure is contained in his conceptual framework of managing core intellectual assets much like Work In Process in a manufacturing environment. Imagine if you will defining every benefit, every value statement and every bit of information about your products and services in bite-sized chunks and keeping these in an inventory silo. Then imagine being able to pull, combine and deliver these assets to prospects and customers at the very moment these assets are best able to demonstrate the value you can deliver to your customers -- and doing it all in the most compelling way based on how each specific customer prefers to make purchasing decisions. Marketing creates the customer value and creates all the supporting materials and arguments in an a la carte, standardized and sanctioned fashion and then combines, compiles and delivers these materials to Sales exactly when and how they need them to make the most compelling case of how your firm will deliver value to your customers. Part marketing, part branding, part sales, part information technology, part inventory management but 100% focused on delivering value to your customers in a systematic way.

That is the essence of this book.

This is an invaluable resource for managers and executives in all mid- to large-sized companies. I highly recommend it.

Do Sales and Marketing need to sleep in the same bed?

Are the sales and marketing functions really so different that they need to sleep together in order to understand each others' perspectives?

Perhaps there needs to be better communication and better understanding of each others' metrics, but I'm not so sure that the sales-marketing alignment gap is so broad that these two functions don't at least understand the importance of the other's objectives--even if they are slightly different. Sure, marketing and sales each have their own charters, planning time horizons and compensation models but does that mean they have no empathy or care for the other? Does that mean that one will pursue its own agenda without consideration of the other reaching its objectives?

If the larger goals of the organization are not understood and adopted by every functional department then I suggest there is a much deeper management failure rather than a simple sales-marketing gap.

Does this sound like any organizations you know?

According to research,

70 to 80% of the leads generated by marketing are never followed up

Only 29% of a salesperson's time is actually spent selling

80% of sales support experts are regularly used inappropriately

80 to 90% of marketing collateral is considered useless by sales

Salespeople typically spend 30 to 50 hours per month searching for information and re-creating customer-facing content

80 to 90% of customer-facing content created by salespeople is inaccurate and dilutes the brand

More than 80% of marketing and salespeople cannot consistently and effectively articulate their value propositions

If this is true, how are companies addressing these issues to correct this problems? More importantly, do companies even recognize that these issues exist? Obviously these facts represent a huge waste of resources and greatly reduce marketing and selling effectiveness.

Source: Escaping the Black Hole: Minimizing the Damage from the Marketing-Sales Disconnect by Robert J. Schmonsees

Great quotes on building powerful brands

"Funding tactics without maximum return almost ensures failure. Achieving alignment from vision to tactics across all stakeholder groups results in a strategic advantage for brands. This alignment affects everything that touches customers in a way that helps them understand the value of the brand."
- Blueprint for the Brand, Rowe, Franck and Lang, Medical Marketing and Media, New York: Feb. 2006, Vol. 41, Iss. 2.

"A good brand planning process relies on four internal objectives:

1) Building transparency and visibility into assumptions and the decision-making process

2) Developing a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics

3) Grounding assumptions in the product life cycle and

4) Using ROI to drive tactics selection and to monitor performance."
Copyright Haymarket Media, Inc. Feb 2006

Capitalism and Marketing

Capitalism frees the human spirit to achieve, allows individuals to directly benefit from their own hard work and enables entire societies to self-regulate themselves and protect themselves from an oppressive or autocratic ruling class.

Capitalism upholds the right to private property and believes that individuals should be free to decide where to invest and what to produce or sell and what prices to charge with only minimal limitations. As marketers we understand that this also means that our customers get to choose how and where to spend their money, giving them the freedom to spend elsewhere whenever they want.

There is a growing movement throughout the world and in my country (the U.S.A.) to try to demonize the capitalistic, free-market system. Detractors point to greed and exploitation of resources--both natural and human resources--as the underlying fault of capitalism.

People who rail against free market capitalism often point to the relatively rare but high profile cases of excessive corporate greed and malfeasance as evidence that the whole economic system is a dismal failure. They propagandize about inefficient utilization of resources to demonstrate that capitalism is evil. They talk of unfair profits and price gouging.

The truth is that these practices of corporate greed and malfeasance simply cannot be maintained in a system of true economic individualism or capitalism.

The capitalistic, free market system is solely responsible for some of the greatest advances that mankind has ever known and has seen my nation grow from birth to lone superpower in the world in little more than 230 years, a mere blip in terms of world history.

The capitalistic, free-market system has proven time and time again that not only does it encourage people and entire societies to reach unparalleled levels of prosperity, but that it can also topple tyranny and protect against widespread corruption. Capitalism allows people to prosper and reach levels of success limited only by their dreams and imaginations.

The free market system drives people to achieve their highest potential and encourages them to be fair and ethical. If they are not, a competitor will seize the opportunity to compete for that share of the market because there will always be a competitor with a better cost structure, cheaper selling price or better business practices that consumers view more favorably.

Put in simple marketing terms, we consumers choose to do business with those brands and companies that we like and trust. We choose to reward brands that deliver value to us and that behave in ways that we see as acceptable. We don't reward companies and brands that don't measure up.

Unlike most other economic systems, there is no room for excessive greed, long-term price gouging and exploitation in capitalism. The system is self-correcting.

To be sure, there is a dark side to the human psyche and some managers succumb to the temptation to cheat, exploit or otherwise take unethical short-cuts in order to gain fame, money and profits.

Instances of managers behaving in such a manner underscore the weaknesses and frailties in people, not the economic system in which they operate.

The free-market system is actually the cure for unethical business behavior as capitalism will not tolerate such behavior in the long-run.

Consider the following:

If a company is operating in an unethical manner in the marketplace, consumers will flee from that company as soon as there is a better option. Consumers also understand that sometimes not purchasing anything at all is the best option.

The free market system encourages entrepreneurs and business managers to develop better alternatives as soon as they see an opportunity to compete for any given market.

Capitalism encourages seeking and creating the cure for corporate greed and malfeasance.

What does all this have to do with your marketing function?

Everything.

If you as a marketer do not believe that a high sense of moral responsibility and ethical behavior is absolutely critical to your long-term success then you are in trouble.

If you as a marketer do not believe that customers will flee from your company and your brands as soon as there is a better alternative then you are in trouble.

If you as a marketer do not believe that earning the highest profit the market will allow is the fuel that drives innovation, and that profit is the foundation that allows you to constantly deliver increasing value to your customers and that it supports a higher standard of living for all concerned then you are in trouble.

If you as a marketer do not believe that the best way for you and your company to do any lasting good in this world is to first earn enough profit to stay in business then you are in trouble.

You and the head of your marketing department must understand capitalism and fully embrace its tenants and accept the awesome responsibilities that go with it. Once you do, your business will have a mindset that will allow it to soar to unprecedented levels of success.

Build your business brands to prosper in a free market environment and you will be focused on enduring business success based on offering your customers superior, unique value that is continually enriching to both you and your customers.

# # #

This article is an adaptation from the free report, "5 Secret Marketing Tactics That Will Increase Your Revenue." Dave is also author of the e-book, "How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in sickness and in health)."

Is Direct Marketing Relevant Anymore?

http://connectdirect.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/is-direct-marketing-relevant-anymore/