What Exactly Do You Do?
April 27, 2010
No matter how many conversations or interviews I find myself engaged in, I am always amazed at the confusion, or better yet, the lack of understanding as to what marketing management is and does.
Okay, folks, listen up.
Marketing management is a process—sometimes multiple processes—through which messages, information, strategic plans, are created and implemented in order to promote a product, service, or business. I like to call it a road map for the sales department: it has a starting point, destinations (customer base) and most importantly, offers the best route(s) to take.
The “management” element includes every part and parcel of your company that is visible: logo, tagline, packaging, ads (ALL media including SOCIAL), Website and blogs, Internet (Twitter, groups such as LinkedIn, etc.), collaterals (promotional materials), and anything/everything referencing your business.
“Image isn’t everything; it’s the ONLY thing…” is a strong statement with a lot of validity. Branding takes this “image” and gives it both depth and purpose. The only way this can successfully occur is absolute consistency—your message must be universal across all channels. If it isn’t, you will have confusion and create instability that can be fatal to both product and company.
Coca-Cola isn’t the least expensive cola on the shelves, but based on sales volume it’s obvious that price isn’t the defining factor. Coke has successfully branded its product on a global scale—and consumers are willing to pay extra.
One of my favorite expressions is, “Just DO it!” And of course, I refer to that as my “Nike Principle.” Nike continues to communicate powerful emotions between athletes and its shoes hoping to transfer these feeling to its consumers. Based on company sales, I’d say it’s working.
So. Marketing management coordinates and drives an infinite number of decisions and actions within your business. How well your company and/or product is received or rejected, is a direct result of multiple factors:
• Logo. Does it fit? Is it everywhere?
• Brand. Is your branding message clear? Does everyone in your company embrace it? Communicate it?
• Consistency. Reproduce your logo and images consistently. All blues are not created equal. Develop standards and adhere to them.
• Tagline. Remember Goldilocks: get it “just right!” Not too long, not too short, make it relevant and meaningful. Don’t have a tagline? Get one!
• Loyalty. If you develop your brand carefully, consistently, market it thoroughly and wisely, you will create customer loyalty.
Craft and nurture your brand carefully, invest yourself so that others will want to as well. Remember: If we build it, they will come. ~ “Field of Dreams Philosophy”
Debra D. Kujawa
President/CEO
Ki-Neckted, LLC
Hail Mary Strategy in Marketing
April 9, 2010
In football, nothing brings the stadium crowd to its feet faster than watching the gazelle like moves of a great running back or the powerful arm of a skilled quarterback as he hurls a perfect spiral with pinpoint accuracy 50 yards downfield to a heavily guarded receiver. And while we definitely recall those heart racing moments as pivotal to the game’s outcome, we tend to overlook the quick 4 and 5 yard passes along the sidelines the team used to move the ball down the field quickly—converting their first downs and conserving the clock by stepping out of bounds after each completion.
In marketing, there are times when it is wise to shift focus from long term goals to immediate or short-term opportunities—an option play , if you will. The tricky part, is timing—determining exactly when to change course, what the new/immediate goal will be, and most importantly, what it’s going to take to get there.
Case in point: consumers and the current recession.
With limited exception, few saw this past year’s economic disaster coming. And those who did, admittedly could not foresee the financial devastation—which many economists have likened to the Great Depression of the 1930s—producing a global impact unlike any ever seen or experienced before. Thousands of businesses—including some major corporations—closed their doors forever, putting nearly a half million workers on state unemployment rolls.
What’s this have to do with marketing? Plenty.
Marketing is largely a numbers game. Determine your market. Zero in on your target. Map your strategy. Implement. Track the results. Tweak your strategy. Implement revised strategy. Repeat. Review. Revise. And so on… Then came 2009 and the marketing world was turned upside down.
Suddenly, all of the numbers changed. And to echo the immortal words of the late Carl Malden…“What will you do?”
In business, not unlike football, marketing options must be evaluated carefully and often times, quickly. There’s only one opening kickoff/product launch: several variables have to be in the correct position and at the precise moment for everything to coordinate. If there’s a stumble or two during the initial phase and you’re unprepared or worse, unaware, you and your client/product/company, could be headed for disaster.
Strategy, while generally planned well in advance, must ALWAYS have the “if/then” option: IF plan “A” doesn’t bring about the desired results in the time allotted, implement plan “B.” Which means: you MUST always have a plan “B!” Trust me when I tell you most of American businesses are operating on plan “B” right now. In fact, there are probably more that are much further down the alphabet.
The automotive industry in America had to quite literally scrap all of their planned marketing strategies and campaigns during the height of the recession. We all remember the common thread of …“if you buy a vehicle and lose your job, don’t worry! We’ll work with you! Please continue to buy our products!” Ok. A bit of liberal paraphrasing, but you get the picture. Interest rates on car loans went down to zero—or practically zero— and most leases no longer require signing fees. The plan-of-the-day has become incentives—many of which are still being implemented.
So. How does this have anything to do with marketing a hamburger, new cell phone, or a furniture store? Plenty. Marketing is designed to tip the competition scales in favor of our client’s product and/or business. It is our responsibility to immerse ourselves so totally in our markets—to ‘read’ the signals from the competition as well as the consumer so, just like the best quarterback; we can change the play to increase our chances of a more favorable outcome. While the “Hail Mary” pass produces the dramatic hold-your-breath-moment when it’s the closing seconds of the 4th quarter and your team is behind, it still remains a last-ditch shot-in-the-dark effort, which usually doesn’t pan out. The “Hail Mary” strategy in marketing is one that should NEVER be in your play book.
Marketing isn’t nearly so black and white as it used to be, but that’s part of the excitement as well as the satisfaction in producing campaigns and solutions that work. Some quick reminders:
- Do your homework: research the competition, review the plan, remember to focus
- Be flexible: even the best plans can fail—if it doesn’t work—use your alphabet [plan “B”, etc.]
- Listen: to the client, the market, the competition, the focus group…
- Allow yourself to be persuaded: sometimes our ideas are so “good,” they mask important information and variables that we should consider—see “Listen” above
- Use your intuition: creativity and intuitiveness often go hand-in-hand. More often than not, your “gut” is on target.
Go ahead. Create your long-term marketing strategies and goals, but remember: always include solutions for the unexpected, un-forecasted, and unimaginable. “Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.” ~Pauline R. Kezer
Market wisely…market well.
Debra D. Kujawa
President
Ki-neckted, LLC
Some New Rules in the Marketing Game
November 5, 2009
To say that marketing has evolved over the last half century is like saying Albert Einstein was just an average guy. Like a tsunami descending upon a sleepy island paradise, the viral marketing avenues introduced through our new central nervous system—the Internet—have completely changed the way we think and do business. But there is a huge caveat here: the basic principles, concepts, and message of marketing remain unchanged. What has changed is the delivery system—the way we communicate with the customer and the public.
Less than twenty years ago, portable communication was restricted to a small portion of the population: those who could afford car phones, then “bag” phones, radio phones and pagers. Then “cell” technology changed the game. Suddenly, phones and portable communication became reasonably affordable for the common masses and in the past five years or so, cell phones morphed into BlackBerrys and iPhones; giving us the ability to connect instantly practically anywhere in the world!
Satellite technology coupled with Smart phones and laptops have made doing business globally as easy as walking to the corner store. It’s all about communication. And communication simply delivers a message and, hopefully, elicits a response. Back and forth. Pretty simple concept.
In the past 25 years letters have evolved into emails; phone calls have been reduced to text messaging; and IMs and Web cams, etc., etc., the list goes on. But no technology can, will, or should ever take the place of building customer relationships—enter marketing.
To best understand what marketing is, you need to know what marketing isn’t:
- Marketing isn’t advertising—it is so much more
- It is NOT sales—the two terms are related but very different
- Marketing isn’t about winning awards, it’s about winning business
- Marketing isn’t complicated, but it can be complex
- While solid marketing principles do not change, marketing must be flexible
Marketing determines not only who your audience is, but how best to reach them and what to say. The message MUST be central to any marketing plan and the manner of delivery [the way the message is sent] has to be determined by the target market/audience. Marketing is as much an art as a science—a blend of creativity and empirical methodology—balanced carefully and executed appropriately.
Are there really new rules for marketing? I don’t think so. New and exciting ways to get the message out and more accurate ways of tracking response and productivity? Absolutely!
The Savannah area is teaming with “growing” businesses and organizations which encompass the entire spectrum of products and services. Most of these are financially lean with management and sales often the responsibility of the same individual. Marketing management is often overlooked and many times lumped into sales. Ki-neckted, llc was created to help alleviate this problem.
Ki-neckted, llc provides high quality marketing management through strategic planning and development; implementation planning; project, process, and vendor management; and leadership assistance and management. Every situation is approached individually and specifically crafted so that each marketing strategy is designed to maximize revenue and profit based on a thorough understanding of the customer base as well as current competitive position in the market.
Using traditional methods of qualitative marketing research [focus groups], quantitative marketing research [statistical surveys], experimental techniques [test markets], and observational techniques [on-site] ki-neckted, llc then creates a comprehensive marketing plan which utilizes many of the newer marketing tools including viral marketing, online media, blogs, podcasts, and social media. These are implemented according to the plan and monitored carefully for results.
Ki-neckted, llc will connect you and your business to the people and places that will help your business succeed. Give us a call and we’ll get started!
Debra D Kujawa President Ki-neckted, llc