Sterling Performance

Once upon a time, I was Mr. Flash for P&G, which was better than being Mr. Fairy. Since then, I have moved on and so has marketing. Here are seven trends which are changing the world of marketing:

The grey pound is getting stronger. And it wants something other than advertisements for stair-lifts and walk-in baths. Average net household wealth for the trendy, funky media target of 25 to 34 year olds is a measly £950, and going down towards negative territory. Boring old farts aged 55 to 64 have net household wealth of £149,500, according to David Willetts. The wrinklies have the money — are you getting your share of it?

Online advertising is already larger than TV. But, TV still counts. In 2008 Brits and Yanks still spent an average of 28 hours a week glued to their TV sets. TV may have fragmented: it is now the big herd of multiple channels rather than the Big Beast of one or two channels. In 2009, however, media spending on internet overtook media spending on TV. And still the top advertisers (like the government and P&G) have not worked out yet how to harness the internet. It is time for them to go figure.

The revolution is here, but only for some of us. Marketing is changing at very uneven rates. The life assurance industry is still in the Stone Age. When you have clients signing up for 25 years, there is not much urgency to change. Meanwhile another ancient industry – publishing – is about to hit the revolution. Already, Amazon has over 50 per cent of the book market. The arrival of e-books gets the industry away from dead tree syndrome. No one yet knows what the value proposition, pricing or format of the new world of publishing should be. Someone is going to make a fortune (and we will all say it was very obvious how to succeed, after the event). Many more will get burned. Where will you be when the revolution arrives in your sector?

The three Cs and four Ps of marketing are dead. Long live the four Cs and five Ps. Marketing is becoming more financially aware. We have to add costs to the old formula of channels, customers and competition. And profit belongs somewhere amidst product, price, promotion and place. Marketing for profit counts as much as marketing for share.

Market research is on the move. Research used to be about opinions and attitudes, which are as reliable as a ouija board. If you want the truth, watch the feet, not the mouth. Research behaviour, not attitudes. This already happens online, because it is easy and it works. The off line world is catching up, slowly.

From features and benefits to hopes and dreams. As the person who put the blue speckle in Daz I grew up in the world of features and benefits. But even I can see consumers want and buy more than that: they buy hopes, dreams and identity whether it is a bottle of Fairy Liquid or an off-road car. Focus on the buyer’s hopes and dreams, not on the wonderful features of your new product.

The world is your shrimp. As Arthur Daley proudly announced. Globalisation of markets, competitors and supply chains is real and creates unprecedented risk and opportunity. Learn to ride the globalisation tiger – then you can eat your shrimp and mangle your metaphors.

(Pic: Nesster cc2.0)

Software-to-search engine giant Google has slipped in terms of brand identity with the 1,700 business professionals participating in the eighth annual top 500 Business Superbrands Survey, from first to fifth. This is the first time the brand hasn’t had the top slot in two years and the relegation must be all the more galling to have been replaced by one of its rivals, Microsoft.

What could have tarnished Google’s brand so much in the eyes of business users? It’s possibly a symptom of companies that go into overdrive when expanding into new markets that people feel less sure about what their brands stand for.

On the other hand, spats with highly respected business leaders like Rupert Murdoch over who gets revenue for content it’s search engine links out to could have lessened respect for Google. Similarly, the climb-down in France over the distribution of digital versions of published books amid allegations Google is appropriating copyrights legally established by third parties may have muddied the brand’s value. (more…)

Three years ago, I was contacted by a marketing representative of a large European company to write a white paper describing my vision for social media within businesses. Now that the social media boom is looming, I have decided to revise and update my recommendations:

1. Communities are important, but not every brand has one. Communities are built around a common interest and the need for people to help each other. Just because some people are merely buying products doesn’t mean that they are part of a community. Companies need to foster community feelings before thinking of orchestrating a community. For detailed tips on how to foster communities refer to Hagel and Armstrong’s “Net Gain“.
2. Don’t confuse comments with collaboration. Collaboration is about working together and from the bottom up. This includes encouraging people from the shopfloor to come forward and letting clients talk to one another. Not all companies are prepared for this, and it may take a while before they are. (more…)
   Yann Gourvennec is head of internet and digital media at Orange Business Services. He is also one of the few European members of the blog council.

   Share your tips with Yann.

2010 is going to be the year of social media and those who know how to use it will really start to see it becoming a central part of their strategy to reach out to customers online. Those who don’t will start regretting it.

Here are my top 10 tips for you to prepare for the Social Media tsunami to come this year:

1. Hold on to your code of conduct: As social media moves into the mainstream, there is going to be a temptation for traditional marketing managers to try to recycle old recipes which already stopped working a long time ago. At best, these traditional methods will be seen as failures to adapt to social media; at worst, there will be seen as attempts at infiltrating social media. More than ever, it is time to remind people of the fundamental rules of disclosure, of which Andy Sernovitz and SMBC are so fond. (more…)
   Yann Gourvennec is head of internet and digital media at Orange Business Services. He is also one of the few European members of the blog council.

   Share your tips with Yann.

Tiger Woods is facing a challenge he doesn’t often have to handle — avoiding the gaze of the media. Since the story broke about the mysterious car crash outside his own home, he’s been tight-lipped about the whole affair - only emerging to issue a statement of apology for his behaviour.

Well he might be, considering the amount of money he commands from endorsement deals like Gillette and Accenture, which curious stories about dodgy driving can’t do anything but endanger.

Woods is, let’s face it, one of the lower-key sportsmen endorsing products. I’d guess he’s been chosen by these companies to be their public face because he is just that — a steady, dependable guy who wins every time. When his wife starts destroying his car with one of the tools of his trade (to rescue him) Woods looks less like that.

It will be interesting to see, now that a part of Woods’ personal life is out in public, whether it will affect existing deals — or attract new ones.

So far, his sponsors have publicly stood by him, but it’s a lesson for people who set themselves up as the human face of a corporate organisation. They have to sacrifice some of their personal life to align themselves with the business, if they want the endorsement fees to keep rolling in, just as much as the business gets to align itself with them.

Of course, it may be that brand managers at Gillette and Accenture have been pleased their man has been in the headlines so much, by implication raising awareness of their companies — but probably not.

For a visualisation of the conversation Woods’ sponsors might be having, check out this post.

(Pic: First Daffodils cc2.0)

Modern management has been a child of the Enlightenment. Blame it on the apple which fell on Isaac Newton’s head.

That led to him formulating the laws of physics which seemed to unwrap the mysteries of the world. Suddenly, the hunt was on for the laws of everything. Charles Darwin did it for biology. Adam Smith tried it for economics.

And from observing the power of specialisation it is a short leap to the moving production lines of Henry Ford and the idea of Scientific Management, written by Frederick Taylor. Taylor was all reason and time and motion, so of course he was hated.

If you read the latest tomes from gurus and professors they are all in the Enlightenment tradition. They all claim to have found some formula for success. And we all want to believe that the world is like that. (more…)

The story about hotelier Chip Conley posting pictures of himself stripped to the waist, previously published on Bnet raises some interesting questions on how personal your online presence should be, if you are associated with a corporate brand.

Much as I love social media and the power it gives to ordinary people, I believe there is also a tendency to over-expose things on these platforms, which are of little or no interest and may even be abusive.

Sometimes this is the result of clumsiness but chances are, scandal mongering is a potential motive too. Twitter messages from people saying “Hello World” or even the recent October tweet craze followed by those who stated “I’ve just made love” and pinned their names on a map were innocuous examples of cyberbabble

Linking personal statements like these to a brand name is however not a good idea, unless you want to risk a scandal in order to raise your profile. In which case, this is buzz marketing at its best — risk included.

I’m not certain that this is what Conley had in mind, even though he did manage to get some attention. The main issue is not the burning man pictures of him half-naked, but the fact that they were linked to a corporate image. Now that the dust has settled, here are my two cents on the Conley story:

• Conley argues in his article that there is no double standard. Yet, if someone from his hotel chain were posting a picture of themselves at an S&M party while were wearing a company t-shirt, he would consider this as an issue. Assuming there is nothing illegal about that S&M party or anything that is in the picture, I would consider both cases to be similar. If Richard Branson were to post naked pictures of himself on facebook, people would rightfully associate these pictures with Virgin (as a matter of fact, someone did that on his behalf).
• As a rule, there is no need to share that type of content unless you’d want to shock or provoke. In this particular instance, it could be said it’s in line with Conley’s corporate culture, but if so, shouldn’t this culture be extended to employees also?
• The whole episode makes a good case for a formal social media policy. It’s even recommended for disclosure purposes. Education, trust and management aren’t bad either. Enforcing both is probably the best case scenario. People should also be given a chance to make amends. After all, this is what Conley did himself.

Brands are important and sensitive. Besides, an Internet presence is a powerful ingredient of personal branding. Associating non-professional content to a brand is not a good idea though.

My advice is never to associate your brand with strong content or feelings. Keep them separate and create another account under an assumed name or a nickname and avatar that people can’t recognise. Even in the web 2.0 world, there is still such a thing as private life.

If, on the contrary, you feel like starting a buzz marketing campaign, don’t follow my advice. Just go on unabated. However, remember that what celebs can get away with, you might not be able to survive. Not everybody is an iconic entrepreneur; middle managers are more exposed to risk.

(Pic: Ed_45 cc2.0)

Internet retailers will be preparing for their busiest season with mixed feelings this year. Traditionally Christmas has been a boon for internet shoppers wishing to avoid the crowds on the high street and possibly bag a bargain too. This year, internet shopping activity could well be slowed down by disruption to postal services, which struggle to cope, even in the good years.

However, research from eBay Advertising predicts 85 per cent of consumers will do the same internet shopping they did last year, or more. Entertainment is unsurprisingly the top category, but apparel is now purchased by 67 per cent of the survey. Grocery has shown the biggest growth in the last six months, with 47 per cent of shoppers increasing their supermarket shop online over the last six months.

In a conversation with eBay director of advertising relationships, Philip Rinn, he made some interesting observations about how internet advertising needs to change in time with the continuing maturity of the channel.

The research showed 60 per cent of online shoppers responded to ads on ecommerce sites, but that as internet shopper demographics materialise, a one-size-fits-all approach to advertising will have less relevance.

He contended that shoppers are now using the internet to shop for different things in different ways and that some sites which drive traffic won’t necessarily get a good response if an ad is placed on it.
Rinn concluded the survey identified three types of shoppers: (more…)

At the launch of Small Business Week 2009, BT presented the results of a massive survey of SMEs. A sample of over 7,000 business people revealed 20 per cent were using social media in some way to promote their businesses.

I had some questions for Mick Hegarty, strategy director at BT Business, who heads up the telecoms behemoth’s own social networking tool, Tradespace.

BNET: One in five using social media is quite a surprisingly high number, considering the size of the sample. Why do you think so many have embraced the new technology?

MH: For small businesses word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways of attracting and retaining customers, business social networking is now taking this online and enabling them to extend their networks and thereby the power of word of mouth.

Are social media projects quantifiable in any meaningful way or is it merely a nebulous profile augmenter that can’t really be judged a success or failure?

We have seen through the extensive feedback on our own business social networking site that small business are seeing real benefits. Some of our members, such as Lyn Hill from Hedgepig have cited a significant increase to their monthly turnover – in this particular case 20 per cent.

It is also important to remember the impact that social media content has on the search rankings of a business and their ability to manage an effective digital marketing campaign with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

[BNET notes: Googling 'Lynn Hill' and 'Hedgepig' results in a BT Tradespace link coming top, so SEO not working entirely for the user's benefit in this particular instance then.]

What three tips would you give a SME looking at using social media?

• View social media as a way of not just getting noticed but also building your online reputation, there are tools now available as part of business social networks that help you take advantage of communities and give you a means to build up a online fan base.
• Look at video as part of your digital marketing not only does it allow you to offer a unique perspective on your business but also can help you climb the search rankings andstand out from your competitors.
• Updating content and keywords will ensure that you continue to get noticed and enabling you to compete on a more level playing field with even your largest competitors, this doesn’t need to be complicated there are simple tools available to let you blog, podcast and update online content yourselfwithout being a techno wizard.

(Pic: oskay cc2.0)

Despite high-level commentators wringing their hands about a W or even VW economic recovery, UK small businesses are a fairly chipper lot. According to research from BT Business, launched to coincide with the commencement of Small Business Week, 35 per cent of small businesses predict an upswing by within the next three months. Three quarters say it will have happened sometime in 2010.

The report, culled from 7,200 respondents, reveals a striking amount of optimism, with 45 per cent of them saying they have become better businesses as a result of the recession.

Small Business Week 2009 is supported by ACCA, BCC, BT Business, Business Link, Everywoman, Growing Business, and NatWest. The event was kicked off with a business leadership panel at the BT Tower.
The panellists, Lord Digby Jones and Dragon Peter Jones, along with BT Business strategy director Mick Hegarty, BCC Director General David Frost, Conservative Party shadow business spokesman Mark Prisk and Sara Harvey, ACCA small business committee vice chair, agreed things get even tougher for SMEs to survive coming out of a recession than they do going into one. Here’s some advice that came from that event: (more…)