You're Mad -- What Are You Going to Do About It? (Reflections on Landesman's Speech)

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions in the post below are solely my own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of any institution I am employed by.

I count myself lucky to have been among the two hundred people that NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman addressed at the national new play development convening at Arena Stage on Wednesday, January 26, 2011. If you are interested in viewing the entire speech, it can be viewed here.

His speech caused a swift and emotional response from bloggers and media alike. Some of the more interesting responses are below:
Dear Rocco Landesman, We Don't Want Your Theater Death Panels, Arts Dispatch
Landesman Comments on Theater, The New York Times
Fighting Words from Rocco Landesman, Arena Stage Blog
On Rocco Landesman, Theatre Ideas

In his speech, Chairman Landesman said "there is a disconnect that has to be taken seriously — our research shows that attendance has been decreasing while the number of the organizations have been proliferating,” He continued by saying "You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.” I must say that hearing those words spoken by the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts initially struck me pretty hard, but then I decided to reflect upon them. Landesman isn't the first person to suggest that the arts are over populated. His partner on the stage that day, Diane Ragsdale, previously of the Mellon Foundation, had a few days earlier written a blog entitled "Overstocked arts pond: fish too big & fish too many" with a very similar argument. In fact, yours truly wrote a blog on the same subject matter on November 17, 2008.

A couple of hours after his speech, outrage over his comments took over social media platforms. The tone was frighteningly homogeneous--how dare the NEA Chairman say that we have too many theaters! However, I would challenge everyone to momentarily set aside your emotional reactions to a statement that rocks who we are as artists just long enough to look at the data and ask if his conclusion, although painful, might be rooted in logic. Study after study shows an environment where supply exceeds demand, from the National Capitalization Project to the Americans for the Arts National Art Index to local reports like this one from DC's Helen Hayes Awards.

The data shows that at this moment in time, there is too little demand and too much supply. That is fact, not opinion. Where I believe Chairman Landesman drew sharp criticism was at his suggestion that we have to decreased supply, because we can't increase demand. Many marketers, such as HowardW, immediately went on the defensive, stating that of course we could increase demand (it is the job of marketers to create demand for art, right?). I respond by saying if you could increase demand to meet the current supply, then why aren't you? This isn't an acute symptom we are discussing, but a chronic trend. Marketers are not super humans. We cannot on our own create an infinite amount of demand to meet the skyrocketing numbers of non-profit arts organizations. The data shows that we are out of balance, and whether we want to admit it or not, we can only live out of balance for so long before outside pressures will return the system to stasis. Don't get me wrong. There is nothing I want more than to prove Chairman Landesman wrong, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

From a motivational sense, what Chairman Landesman has done is remarkable. There is nothing that unites artists like telling them they can't do something. By nature, we are counter culture. We like to swim against the current. We need a challenge. Well, Landesman has thrown down the gauntlet. He has said that in his opinion supply will have to be reduced to meet demand. So, if you so passionately believe he is wrong, my question to you quite simply is--what are you going to do about it?

What Are the Top-10 Marketing Books?

There are literally thousands of marketing books available today. A handful of them stand out as most influential on the art and science of marketing. But which books should be in the top-10 list of "must read" marketing books?

To get an answer, I conducted a quick survey among the 17,000+ members of the B2B marketing community on LinkedIn. After collecting and analyzing hundreds of your survey responses, here is the "ultimate" top-10 list:

The Top-10 List of Marketing Books

1. Crossing the Chasm
   (Geoffrey A. Moore)
   
2. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
   (Al Ries, Jack Trout)
   
3. Marketing Management
   (Philip Kotler, Kevin Keller)
   
4. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
   (W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne)
   
5. Inside the Tornado
   (Geoffrey A. Moore)
   
6. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
   (Al Ries, Jack Trout)
   
7. The New Rules of Marketing and PR
   (David Meerman Scott)
   
8. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
   (Robert B. Cialdini )
   
9. SPIN Selling
   (Neil Rackham)
   
10. Confessions of an Advertising Man
    (David Ogilvie)  

Other suggestions by the B2B Marketing Community that didn't make the top-10 include:

Competitive Strategy (Michael Porter) | Marketing High Technology (William Davidow) | eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale (Ardath Albee) | Groundswell (Josh Bernoff, Charlene Li) | Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (Chip Heath and Dan Heath) | Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance (Paul Farris, Neil Bendle, Phillip Pfeifer, David Reibstein) | All Marketers Are Liars (Seth Godin) | Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah) | Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged (Michael A. Stelzner ) | Product Strategy for High Technology Companies (Michael McGrath) | The Leaky Funnel (Hugh Macfarlane) | Word of Mouth Marketing (Andy Sernovitz) | Influencer Marketing (Brown and Hayes) | The Chasm Companion (Geoffrey A. Moore) | Diffusion of Innovations (Everett M. Rogers) | Marketing ROI (Jim Lenskold).

I am sure there are many of your favorite marketing books missing here (there are simply too many good ones out there). What are your personal favorites? Please share in the comments section below.

Taking the next step...

Greetings!

As we quickly approach the last week of January...its time for us all to take inventory and get ready to take-- the NEXT STEP!

What is the next stet?

It is...

• Evaluating the 1st three weeks of your year
• Ensuring you are on pace for your 12/31 goals
• Taking inventory of your social media strategies
• Measuring the "true alignment" of sales and marketing at your institution
• Taking stock of your internal communications

It is all about making sure you incrementally are checking in on your progress and doing small tweaks instead of mid-year -- or later -- finding yourself well behind the 8-ball!

Here's to a great week!

Cheers!

Bruce

Perception is Reality: Managing Underperforming Productions

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about managing success. Since that time, I have received several e-mails asking me how to manage in times that are not so successful. Non-profit arts organizations should be taking risks, and sometimes those risks pay off, and sometimes they don't. In times they don't, a marketer's job becomes focused on managing perception. The truth may be that there is very little demand for your current product, however there are several techniques that can be used to create the perception that a struggling product is actually quite successful.

1. Avoid mass public discounting if at all possible. Nothing sends a message that you have an unpopular product more than a mass public discount. Not to mention, it also upsets customers who have purchased earlier often at a higher price. GroupOn, Goldstar, Living Social, TicketPlace and TKTS are all examples of mass public discounting outlets. There are ways in which these outlets can be used successfully, but you have to have a very well thought out strategy. At some point in time, every organization will need to discount for one reason or another. However, discounts are best applied in one to one communications with limited abilities to forward on. In this case, viral marketing campaigns are not your friend. Here are some one to one discounting methods that I have used successfully:

• Cross-selling at the Box Office. Particularly in cases in which you have multiple venues, if one venue has a hit and the other doesn't, why not offer a very attractive discount to the less popular venue to all those who are purchasing tickets to the more popular venue? In this case, the discount offer is offered over the phone or in person and it cannot be forwarded. It also creates more multi-buyers which should increase the likelihood that they will respond to a subscription offer in the future.
• Robocalls. Before I say anything else, make sure you have the permission of those you call before you attempt to use a robocall. However, a short (30 second or less) robocall from an opinion leader (artistic director, celebrity, etc) with an attractive offer can be very successful.
• Direct Mail and E-mail. An organization can create a specific offer for a very segmented list, which will allow you to get an offer in front of people who are not subscribers, haven't purchased and are likely discount buyers with no history of purchasing full price tickets. If you are sending out an e-mail campaign, make sure to disable the "forward to a friend" option.
• Reward Sponsors. Offer a special discount to the employees of an important sponsor. The discount has to be significant enough to feel like a "reward." Often times, your primary contact will post the discount on a company message board or forward to department heads for distribution. This technique will help you fill the house, and will engage corporate sponsors.

2. Make sure you properly dress the house. When you place single tickets on sale, make sure you hold back certain inventory so that the house dresses itself from front to back, and from bottom to top. That way, when patrons take their seats even in a house that isn't full, the only thing they see in front of them are full seats, with the empty seats behind them. As patrons will be looking forward a great majority of the time, it creates the perception that the house is full. Some theaters are easier to dress than others. The easiest theaters to dress are proscenium houses with balconies. If the demand doesn't warrant it, then don't open the balcony and push all buyers to the orchestra. The orchestra will fill up, and you can close off the balcony. Seriously, how many people will stand up and turn around just to see if an upper balcony is full?

3. If you need to comp tickets, then make the comp tickets work for you. Ok, things are really desperate and you have found yourself in a situation where even discounts are barely working. You need to get some butts in seats, and your boss is telling you to just fill the house. In this situation, it is very important not to look desperate. Like everything else in life, you need a plan for dispersing complimentary tickets. Whatever you do, don't just throw out a comp ticket offer to a large group of people (i.e. listservs, message boards, etc). Like discounts, comping tickets is best done as a one to one activity. Use your comp tickets to:

• Reward your best customers first. Comp tickets can be used to thank new subscribers, reward donors for increasing gifts, to remedy customer service issues, etc. Even though you can't sell these tickets at full price, they still have value--make them work for you.
• Incentivize additional purchasing activity. Offer comp tickets to a poorly performing show as an incentive for additional purchases or upgrades.
• Reward your staff. Offer additional comp tickets above and beyond your normal policy to staff members as a way of thanking them for their hard work.
• Promote the production. Comp tickets can be given to media outlets, cab drivers, concierges, librarians, teachers, interest groups, convention and visitors bureaus, etc. in order to raise the visibility of the production and your organization.

The worst thing you can do when you have a poorly performing production is to take actions that make you look desperate. Like sharks, your patrons will smell blood in the water, and it will quickly kill an already under performing show.

Interestingly, a local theater company advertised that a recent production was one of the most successful shows in their company's history. However, for the entire run of the show, I kept seeing discount offers for tickets to that production all over the place, which led me to believe that the show was struggling. In this case, if it indeed was one of their highest grossing shows, in my estimation, they snatched defeat from the mouth of victory by creating the perception that the show needed to be discounted.

To wrap up, marketers are the masters of perception. It is our job to create and impact public perception for products that are popular and not so popular. But if we have done our jobs well, at the end of the day, our patrons won't be able to tell the difference between the two.

Facing adversity, win or lose.

A Welsh proverb states "Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge wisdom."

Obstacles, challenges and even tragedies are all part of life. Sometimes unavoidable. But lessons learned and shared from real-life experiences can help us, and others, in our personal and business lives. In order to win in your personal or business life, adversity has to be faced, fought and defeated.

Overcoming adversity is never easy. Sometimes no matter how hard you fight, you still don't win. Even in losing, lessons are learned. It's up to you to turn those low times into lessons to learn from and share with others.

Share your adversity with others and they will learn. Listen about how others overcame adversity and you will learn.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Internet Marketing Quick Tip: Optimize Your PPC Efforts With Site Targeting

If you're finding that the Yahoo, Google or Bing universe is too broad and vast for your niche products (or ad budget), consider testing a campaign on smaller pay-per-click ad networks such as Miva.com, Kanoodle.com, Avertising.com (formerly Quigo.com) or AdBrite.com.

Each of these networks allow PPC site targeting as well as have specialized publishers/websites in their network. In my experience, since their universe is smaller than Google or the other 'top 3' search engines, you find yourself the big fish in a small pond - increasing your click thru and conversion rate and reducing your overall cost per lead (CPL).

Of course, it goes without saying that having great copy both in the text ad and landing page is crucial to success in most ANY ad network. Advertising.com, for instance, has some heavy-hitters intheir network, like major cable and broadcast new channel websites. Since the universe is smaller, you will likely have less competition, thereby a lower bid price.

This will help you stretch your ad dollars longer than on a more competitive platform such as Google Ad Words. It's worth running a test: take the same ad and pick the same keywords, yet run the campaign in two different ad networks such as Google and Advertising.com. After 2 weeks, review the results. You may be pleasantly surprised!

[Editor's Note: To learn more great ways to save big with online advertising, click here now!]

It's a Numbers Game...

Throughout this year you will send multiple messages to customers or members utilizing various mediums. So how can you increase your response to each of these marketing messages? … get a better list!

Remember better doesn’t always mean bigger! Simply updating your list with correct customer or member information can go a long way to expanding your reach.

This year, try starting off the year with a campaign or sales initiative to grow your database. Starting with a clean database help to make the rest of your 2011 campaigns/marketing initiatives a success. Whether it’s emails, addresses, phone numbers, followers, or facebook friends, the larger your list, the more people you will reach. And, of course, the more people you reach, the greater response you will receive!

Best,

Jamie

I have a dream...

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...

I was born in the same year that Dr. King was assassinated.  I never saw or heard him outside of film clips and audio sound bites.  One thing that I do know is that he personified hope and determination delivered with a reverence and motivation that inspired people to act.

To borrow a quote from Dr. King...I have a dream...

I have a dream that...

• banking resolves its identity problem
• senior executives finally realize the power of marketing
• the customer experience becomes king
• banks and CUs focus their attention to the outside threats to the ENTIRE industry
• margins increase and LLRs decrease

Here's a tip of my hat to Dr. King and a wish for everyone to have a tremendous 2011!

Cheers!

Bruce

Award winning creative, in the making!

Well, we just compiled and entered 3 awesome creative pieces in the 2011 AAF-Dayton Hermes Awards. Now we wait for judging and awarding. We have entered a number of pieces in the past and won a number of awards but for some reason I have a really good feeling about these 3 entries.

When working with MarketMatch you have access to our Creative Director plus a full team that brainstorms, works on developing and puts together the next award winning creative. There were hundreds of pieces that were developed in 2010 and it took us awhile to really pick out the pieces we thought were the most creative.

So here's to the clients that allow us to work outside of the box and sometimes out of their comfort zone but with full explanation and reasoning from MarketMatch they allow us to move forward.

Your success is our success and our success is your success.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Tips from a frustrated bank shopper

Last week we conducted secret shops for a client and their competition as part of our strategic planning process. We walked into nearly 40 financial institution branches in 2 1/2 days.

After doing these shops for clients all over the country, it never ceases to amaze me how horribly wrong things can go with customers who walk into our branches.

Folks who walk in your front door are the hottest of all possible leads. They have made the effort to leave their home and travel to your branch - at that point, they have done all that we should expect of them. Yet, banks and credit unions across the country EXPECT the customer to read brochures to determine what's best for them AND to call back when they are ready to open an account.

Here are a few tips from a guy who's shopped hundreds of banks and credit unions:

• Get 'em talking: By asking some basic questions, you can learn about what the customer wants AND begin to build a rapport. Ask about their families, where they work, where they bank now, why they want the account. With a handful of standard questions, the conversation will flow.
• Listen before you talk: When someone wants information about your checking accounts, they don't mean ALL of your checking accounts. This isn't a test of your front line's product knowledge - they simply want to know which account is best for them. Unless you've hired a group of mind readers, the only way to determine that is to listen to the prospect.
• They came there for a reason: They drove to your branch once - don't make them come back until they're a customer. Ask to open the darn account now!
• Don't give up: If it's not convenient to open the account now, it's our job to follow-up with the customer. Don't expect them to be so dazzled by your brochure that they are compelled to pursue you. Ask politely for their contact information so you can follow-up. If they refuse, provide your business card and tell them the hours your typically there.

A little extra effort can go a long way. Take it from me - most of your competition is simply handing off brochures with no effort at all to begin a relationship or make a sale.

Good luck,

Eric

Put a Critical Eye to Your Website

How many times have you visited a bank/credit union website and leave the site without a clear sense of what about that financial institution is different from all other financial institutions? It’s a common problem that we see way too often. Take a look at your website. Is your brand infused into the design, copy, and functionality of your website?

Here are a few ways to optimize your website:

DESIGN – The website content should be easily navigated by customers in a user-friendly interface. As a general rule of thumb, customers should be able to find what they are looking for within 3 clicks. Also, the design and images/photography on your website should also convey your brand.

COPY – It is now recommended that your content be refreshed every 3 days in order to optimize search capabilities. However, this doesn’t mean to overload your website with content – keep content fresh and relevant, but not cluttered. Remember, not only does your copy need to easily read by human beings, but it also needs to be easily read by search engines too!

FUNCTIONALITY – Adding functionality will help to transition your website to become a value-added resource instead of a static website. The functionality allows for your users to interact with your brand. Each value-added resource should support your brand. Consider adding operational functionalities such as online account opening and online chat, but also consider including value-added functionality, such as customer updates, email newsletters and financial resources.

Users only have a 6-second attention span before they click elsewhere. Make sure you are clearly defining what is uniquely different about your organization in order to win them over!

Best,

Jamie

2011...

Greetings!

It's here...and quickly accelerating! 

2011.

We planned for it...we celebrated its beginning...and now we must maximize the opportunities.  For our bankers and credit unions marketers, the future is here now.  You have to turn on your energy, focus your team and realize the potential into real opportunity!

So where do you start??  Here are the top 4 ideas...

1. Bring the plan from the shelf to the front line- engage your staff in turning the plan into daily actionable goals, duties and accountabilities
2. Move forward- each day that you wait to launch your plans means one less day to make the results occur
3. Measure- everything! Pre-, Post- and during...to ensure your efforts are focused on the best source for success 
4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate- the more you share, the more broadly it is shared, the more everyone will be on the same page and in unison forward

2011 means opportunity...are ready to seize your share??


Cheers!
Bruce

What Does Customer Lifetime Value And A Hair Salon Have In Common? More Than You Know…

Sometimes business lessons can occur in the weirdest places and at the most unexpected times.

A few weeks ago, I went to my normal salon for hair coloring. I’ve been going to this place for over a year and consider myself a loyal customer. I have even referred friends and neighbors to this salon. The staff are usually friendly and attentive. And the atmosphere is comfortable yet sophisticated, similar to a New York hair salon, which originally had attracted me to them.

After showing my hair stylist (who’s also the owner) a picture of the color I wanted and reiterated the color should be in the same palette of 'bronze, copper, caramel, and amber', he proceeded to color my hair. Let me preface this by saying my natural hair color is light-medium auburn brown, but back in September my hair had gotten very blonde, so I wanted to go back to my natural color.

After touching up my roots then adding a ‘temporary’ wash color, he took the towel off my head and unveiled the results. You can see he was so proud of himself, which was very short lived. The expression on my face spoke a thousand words. “I hate it”, I said. “It’s not what I wanted…it’s not what was in my picture…it’s not bronze, amber or caramel”. My hair was almost plumb red. I mean, really, really red with no trace of a brownish color.

My stylist kept saying, “Let me blow it dry and you’ll love it.” The frown remained on my face and he finished blowing it dry. “Nope, I don’t like it”, I proclaimed. He then said, “Step outside with a mirror and see the real color in the sunlight, the lights in here are dim and making the color look darker.” So I walked outside with a mirror to the back alley behind the salon, looked at my hair, and the color was still plumb red ... just a brighter appearance with the sunlight above me.

I came back inside the salon and said, “Nope, it’s not what I wanted.” My stylist then added, “Well, it’s only a temporary wash in color, it will fade to the color you want in about 6 weeks.” To which I replied, “There’s no way in hell I’m walking around 6 weeks with a plumb red head.”

So he then said he could try and offset the redness and monotone color with some honey-blonde highlights (or 'foils').

Foils are done. Hair finally looked good. I was happy with the final result as the added highlights did reduce the drastic red color. And the highs and lows with the color looked beautiful.

Then I get the bill: Not only did my stylist charge me for the horrendous temporary ‘wash’ that he used which screwed up my hair, but he also charged me for the foils that were only needed to correct his initial botched up hair color job.

When I inquired about the charges, I was told that: (A) I actually got a discount on the foils because instead of getting charged for a ‘full foil’ I only got charged ‘per foil’ which turns out to be slightly cheaper and (B) that it was my option to get the foils as I could have just waited the 6 weeks and my desired color would have eventually shown through with oxidation and hair washings.

Needless to say that was the last time I went to this salon. In addition, I’m telling practically every person I know about this event and never referring business to them again.

But I left thinking, "Could this business owner be so short sighted that he couldn’t do the right thing and eat the cost of the foils? I mean, didn’t he ever hear of the saying, ‘the customer is always right’?"

And on top of that, doing the simple math and looking at the bottom line, is it really worth saving a few hundred dollars (the cost of the foils) in the short-term and losing a loyal customer as well as referral business – which will certainly impact my life time value (LTV) – in the long-term?

I could have easily spent thousands of dollars per year, every year, in this salon until who knows when.

What a dumb decision on his part.

As business owners it’s important to listen to your customers and do the right thing. Don’t be shortsighted. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Think of the big picture and life time value of each customer as well as referral business. Extending a little ‘good will’ can go a long, long way.

Here’s a great article I wrote a few years ago while I was VP of Marketing at Early to Rise that validates this very point. Happy Reading!

---------------------------------
The 5 Faces of Your Customer

By Wendy Montes de Oca
One of the most profound business books I ever read was Permission Marketing by Seth Godin.
The ideas in the book were very innovative at the time. The Internet and e-mail marketing were still young, and, like the Wild Wild West, most marketers and business owners were still trying to “wrangle it in” and figure out how to leverage the Web’s possibilities… and, more important, turn those possibilities into profits.

In a nutshell, the book explained “how to turn strangers into friends and friends into customers.” The principle behind this is to first understand the difference between cold (or interruption) marketing - like those annoying phone calls you always seem to get during dinner asking you to subscribe to the local newspaper… and permission marketing – where the prospect is actually giving you permission to contact them by “opting in” to receive your messages.

To help you get the most out of your Internet marketing, I have expanded on Mr. Godin’s “stranger/friend/customer” concept and added two key components: multi-buyer and advocate. And I’ll show you how you can leverage each of these segments to help grow your business.

Leveraging Your Customers Throughout Their Life Cycle

You may think that a customer is someone who buys from you – period. But that’s a very limited view. From the instant you “meet” your customer… until he’s become a VIP buyer who’s spent hundreds or thousands of dollars with your company… you should be interacting with him in different ways. Treating him properly every step of the way will create a true win/win situation. Your customer will continue to enjoy satisfying experiences with your company, and your company will enjoy the positive effect this relationship will have on its bottom line.

Here are the five stages a customer can go through during his life cycle, and how you can make the most of each one…

Stage 1: Stranger
The stranger or “prospect” doesn’t know you. Your job is to get her attention. You have only a few seconds to get her to react – whether it’s by asking her to click on your ad or open your e-mail message. Which means that your copy for the ad headline or e-mail subject line is critical.
Once you’ve captured her attention, your #1 goal is to have this stranger “opt in” to receive your messages, giving you a chance to continue to bond with her. This is also the time to start to build trust. Show your creditability. And explain what you can do for her (fill a desire, answer a need).

Stage 2: Friend
The friend has demonstrated an interest in your initial promotion and has opted in to receive more information from you. This gives you an outstanding opportunity to introduce him to your philosophy, your company, and your mission, and to re-enforce how you can help him.
During this stage, it’s best to send a series of introduction e-mails (anywhere from 5 to 7) and withhold your new friends from your general mailing list. You don’t want them (the newest names on your list) to start receiving promotional messages BEFORE they receive some of your editorial messages.

I recomment to my clients to sent introductory e-mails (autoresponders) to subscribers. Each e-mail should be comprised of articles that present the core philosophies of the client. This gives subscribers a chance to “warm up” to the 'guru', expert contributors, as well as the format of the newsletter, and the topics typically addressed. Only after they are warmed up should you start sending promotional e-mails.

Stage 3: Customer/Client
The customer (or client) is someone who has bought into your philosophy and purchased a product (or service) from you. Many companies make the mistake of ending the customer relationship at this point. But after reading this article, you’ll know better… you’ll know that getting the customer is only the beginning. Keeping him is another story. You don’t want to put all your eggs into one acquisition basket while having few or no retention efforts. Good retention strategies entail ongoing communication (both promotional and editorial), outstanding customer service, quality products, and fulfilling your promises. Of course there will always be things outside of your control (like losing customers to market conditions). But the idea is to be proactive and not reactive. Keep the “80/20 rule” in mind – which states that 80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers.

Stage 4: Multi-Buyer
The multi-buyer is a customer who is tied into your brand and demonstrates product loyalty with your company. Multi-buyers have purchased several products from you, and are not afraid to spend money. These folks are your best list to roll out new products to or test higher price points. If you are thinking about creating a “VIP” or “Lifetime” product, you’re going to want to advertise to this list. Multi-buyers will have a high lifetime value (LTV) for you, and will likely purchase cross-channel. In other words, they will buy from you no matter how you contact them – whether via banner ads, e-mail marketing, direct mail, or telemarketing.

Stage 5: Advocate
This segment of your customer database is your holy grail. Your list of advocates is made up of the most satisfied and loyal of your customers – and contains your best “unpaid” employees. Advocates will do your advertising for you by telling friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances about your products and services. And in today’s Net-based environment, advocates are a major force in getting your name in the blogsphere and social communities… and spreading your marketing message virally.

So how do you create advocates? Well, advocates are not created, they’re cultivated over time. The advocate must, of course, believe in your products and services. But for this special group, the customer experience goes deeper… to an emotional level. The advocate feels personally touched by your service, product, or guru. Because of you, her life is changed – and she’s busting at the seams to help others as she has been helped.

Your advocates are people you want testimonials from. People you can invite to be in BETA test or focus groups. And people to get feedback from to help develop future products. Even better, this group can help you make more money in the future. Some of my best JV (joint venture) partnerships have been with my clients' advocates – people who understand their core values, respect their business, and have a company or product that’s synergistic to my clients.

You want to treat these folks like the VIPs they are and invite them to special events or let them be the first to receive discounted offers. You may even consider creating affiliate marketing or referral programs to “formalize” this group’s verbal recommendations.

Always keep in mind that the effort does not stop at the sale. Since it costs more to obtain new leads than to retain existing customers – now, more than ever – you have to know how to optimize the five stages of the customer life cycle.

Public Relations - Do you do it?

How well is Public Relations/Corporate Communications performed at your financial institution? Do you incorporate public relations into your marketing plan or just take advantage of it when something happens, good or bad? Maybe now is a good time to take a look at 15 elements of public relations that PRSA has identified that maybe you are not aware of...

• counseling - advising management
• research - determining attitudes and behaviors of the public
• media relations - seeking publicity with or responding to communications media
• publicity - disseminating unpaid, planned messages
• employee relations - responding to and informing employees and their families
• community relations - seeking to be connected to the community through actions, participation, and communication with community, citizens and leaders
• public affairs - developing effective involvement in public policy
• government affairs - relating directly to legislatures and regulatory agencies
• issues management - identifying and addressing issues of public concern in which an organization is, or should be, concerned
• financial relations - creating and maintaining investor confidence
• industry relations - relating with other firms in the industry
• developing/fundraising - demonstrating the need for and encouraging support for an organization
• minority relations/multicultural affairs - relating with individuals and groups in minorities
• special events and pubic participation - stimulating interest through a focused event or activity
• marketing communications - combining activities designed to sell a product, service, or idea

If you need help putting together a corporate communications plan we can help you, we have done that for other financial institutions around the country. Or, if you are interested in more information please do not hesitate to contact us.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Are you addicted to work?

As marketers and creative people we all tend to work long hours from time to time. Some of us may even be labeled as "workaholics". If you go to bed at night thinking about your job and wake up in the morning thinking about your job or maybe just don't sleep at all thinking about your job...you might just suffer from workaholism.

Its easy to define, and I am sure all of us are guilty of over-working at some point in our lives. Face it - it's easy to do. There are a few ways to keep yourself in check and not fall into being a workaholic:

• Learn how to earn to live and not live to earn. Easier said than done right?...we all want that pie in the sky and will work our fingers to the bone to achieve it. Not so much...living to earn can be stressful and it deprives you of enjoying your life to the fullest. When you become a workaholic, you are obsessed with work and miss out on life’s great moments. Earning money isn’t the only thing that matters…finding time to spend it is also important.
• Don't work on your vacation or on your days off. You need to realize that your body needs relaxation and leisure to perform efficiently. No matter how important the work is, spend your vacations and days off as a day to revive and reset, not as working days.
• Waste time, from time to time. If you think that spending some leisure time is a waste, then you’re mistaken. The times you chill and enjoy help you get ready for upcoming stressful hours. Considering the heavy and complex work nature of marketers, idle time is sometimes a must. Spending time enjoying and relaxing, not only diverts your worries, but also increases you productivity.
• Don't neglect loved ones. Remember you're not alone in this world. No matter how important your work is, never compromise your family or friend time. You are making money to fulfil your family requirements but in the end, if you don’t have enough time to spend with your loved ones, it's not really worth it. When you are with your family or friends…make an effort to be really there...not off in the clouds thinking about deadlines.
  
• Don't be a perfectionist. Let’s face it, nobody’s perfect and never will be. Before committing to any project, you must contemplate on whether it is possible or not. Taking on projects with unrealistic deadlines makes you a workaholic. Always think before you leap and never jump the gun on a project that is outside your realm of abilities without having the time and resources to achieve the end goal. Remember you aren't going to please 100% or people 100% of the time, that is just the way it is.
• Set your own restrictions. Always remember, no one can control you more than yourself. The most important thing you need to do is to set restrictions on yourself. Restrict your working hours in a way that you get time for others and most importantly yourself.
• Step away from the computer. Not only will it help you ease your mind but also save you from going blind or forever being cramped into a desk seated position. Sometimes, it is important to step into the real world and update yourself with the activities going on around you. Go out to lunch, run to the gym or the store - step away.

Until next time,
Jeremy

GET FIT in 2011

It’s hard to turn on the TV, check your email, or listen to the radio without being bombarded by the over-saturated message of ways to lose weight in the New Year. If you are setting forth a resolution to live a healthier lifestyle in 2011, consider carrying over that resolution to your work life. For instance, you can remove excess from your marketing budget by adjusting tactics that aren’t providing your enough exposure or return.

Let’s take a look at three easy ways to ‘trim the fat’ in your marketing efforts that will free up money that you can put to better use!

1 – Revisit Sponsorships. Instead of pursing a sponsorship with minimal exposure, consider asking for more unique and exclusive ways to draw attention to your brand. Only follow through with the sponsorships that will provide enough return to cover your investment.

2 – Minimize Phone Book Advertising. As long as your locations and phone numbers are accurately portrayed in the yellow pages, people will find you. When was the last time you heard of someone choosing a bank or credit union based on a yellow pages ad? Just about any other advertising medium is a more effective use of your money.

3 – Renegotiate Contracts. We have seen many clients with overpriced advertising, creative design, or research contracts. Contracts are almost always negotiable, especially in this economic environment. If you can’t get a discount, ask for a quote from another vendor to make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

This year, “trim the fat” in your marketing budget so you can put it to better use.

Best,

Jamie

The Top-10 B2B Marketing Trends for 2011

Happy New Year! It is January and time again for the obligatory 2011 predictions. Many marketing experts have strong opinions on what they think will happen in 2011.

Instead of coming up with what I think is going to change in the B2B marketing world in 2011, I decided to ask you and tap into the combined wisdom of over  17,000 marketing professionals in the B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn. I asked you to rank the marketing areas you think will become more important in 2011.

Here are the key trends that B2B marketing professionals think are shaping B2B marketing in 2011.

1 - Integration of social media into lead generation programs
2011 will be the year social media evolves from the experimental stage to become an established marketing tactic. Social media will be more tightly integrated into traditional tactics such as email, webcasts, and content assets as another channel to broaden the reach of messages and drive conversions. This also means that more stringent demands for proof of ROI and revenue impact will be placed on social media investment.

2 – Focus on content marketing (content mapped to personas, buyer's journey, vertical, etc)
Content marketing is going mainstream in 2011. If you are not thinking about (and implementing) a strategy that puts your buyers (with their persona and industry driven pain points, preferences, and buying stages) in the center of your marketing efforts - and create compelling content as the currency of your engagement with buyers that influences decisions along the buying process - chances are you will get left behind by more content savvy competitors. With content moving to the center of attention, marketers often struggle to create magnetic content in the right formats and quantities. Sophisticated marketers will apply systematic ways to re-purpose existing content, create bite-sized content for the short attention span executive, and design an efficient content waterfall that accelerates production times, quality, and consistency.

3 - Focus on new business generation & revenue
With many markets making a modest recovery, which is expected to accelerate somewhat in 2011, marketing focus turns away from cost cutting and customer retention and towards growth and new customer wins. Marketing will be expected to show how it impacts new revenue generation. "Last click attribution" alone won’t cut it anymore and will need to make room for more comprehensive ways to show the combined impact of marketing tactics on buyer decisions.

4 - Focus on lead quality
In the past, marketing focus has often been on generating increasing quantities of leads. It was difficult to tell lead quality and impact on sales pipeline, so in the absence of real quality indicators, more was considered better. This flood of leads overwhelmed sales and distracted from the selling part of their jobs. And marketing received the blame for creating poor leads and wasting valuable selling time. Now, with the emergence of marketing automation tools and lead scoring technologies on one side, and tougher requirements for demonstrating program ROI on the other side, look for lead quality to become a critical performance metric in 2011.

5 - Focus on sales enablement
The best leads and nurturing strategy, however, doesn’t help much if sales can't close the deal. Our B2B marketing community agrees that providing sales with not only the right leads, but compelling content, sales tools, and education is going to be more critical as a competitive weapon in 2011. Your competitors are catching up on the latest lead generation and nurturing tactics. And all other things being equal, an educated and motivated sales force and their consultative selling skills will be the ultimate differentiator.
    Tom Pisello added a great comment to our B2B Technology Marketing Community, highlighting that a recent survey by IDC found that 24% of B2B buyers found that the sales reps are not prepared for presentations at all, 30% indicate that they are somewhat prepared , and only 29% indicate that they are well prepared. An empowered buyer means that the role of sales will dramatically be impacted, requiring sales enablement and marketing to help redefine and drive a new breed of value selling professional in 2011.

6 - Focus on pull/inbound marketing tactics
This reflects the continued power shift of buyers moving firmly into the driver’s seat, initiating, and controlling the buying process. As traditional interruption style marketing techniques are being blocked and filtered out by buyers, marketers need to shift to inbound tactics using magnetic content that enables buyers to educate themselves about the nature of their problem, available solutions, vendors, and products long before the first personal engagement with a vendor takes place. You want to be the source buyers are flocking to for this high-value content.

7 - Focus on customer retention
Customer retention has provided the much needed revenue stream that enabled many companies to survive the recession as new customer wins dried up. While the economy is slowly improving, many markets are still anemic and it remains critical in 2011 to nurture and grow existing customer relationships.

8 – Focus on marketing intelligence
Marketing automation, online marketing, and CRM systems create tons of data that is revealing buying patterns, customer preferences, and insight into what is working and what is not. Let's put this data into insight and action with better marketing intelligence in 2011.

9 – Focus on marketing automation
Marketing automation is going mainstream in 2011 as companies are taking their online campaigns, lead scoring, and email automation to the next level and integrate social media with traditional tactics. It will be interesting to watch how the decline of email usage by buyers and overall lower conversion rates will impact marketing automation effectiveness going forward.

10 - Focus on branding and awareness
Branding and awareness tactics took a backseat to marketing programs that could demonstrate an immediate and direct impact on revenue. This is slowly changing as budgets are improving and a long term view is taking hold again in 2011, recognizing the importance of a strong brand to influence buyer preference.

What marketing areas are less important in 2011?


As telling as the areas of increased focus are the areas B2B marketers consider less important in 2011:

• Marketing cost reduction (is there much more to squeeze out of marketing without cutting into substance and choking off growth?)
• Outsourcing (along the same lines as cost reduction, and can we afford to outsource even more without losing core competencies?)
• Lead quantity (see increased focus on lead quality in the top 10 list)
• Push marketing tactics (see focus on pull marketing in the top 10 list)
• Marketing asset management (while still important, many marketers have solved this problem with asset and content management tools)

What are your thoughts? Does this reflect the reality in your organization going into 2011? What of these focus areas match your priorities, which don’t?

Thank you for following and contributing to this blog. I hope the new year will treat you well and that you have much success in your B2B marketing efforts in 2011!