Casual Fridays

An actor looks for events in the scene he/she is playing. Events are changes. Could be a revelation of knowledge, a burst of anger because of careless words, or a number of other elements.

I was directing two actresses this week in a training exercise. The scene began with one sitting on the couch for a moment before the second actress enters the room. The first actress sat fairly still until several moments after the other (playing her sister) had entered the room. I asked them to run the scene again. This time I asked the first actress to change her body position as soon as she realizes her sister is in the room. It worked much better. Her reaction doesn’t just add to the believability of the scene, it draws the audience’s attention to the event… the change.

Do you look for events as you market? Do you pay attention to the changes that precipitate customers buying from you? If you sell office furniture then you should be looking at moves, expansions, remodeling projects, new business starts, etc. Do you get information from the city’s building permits department? Maybe you should partner with moving companies, telephone system vendors, electricians, building contractors, and/or banks to cooperatively market together. Do you draw your “audience’s” attention to these events? Do you notify them that they need you when they move, expand, remodel, or start a business? If you attach yourself to the event strongly enough, then the event becomes your lead generator.

Events are changes. As Seth Godin notes, we pay attention to changes. So, if you want people to pay attention to you, pay attention to events.

Here’s a great example of marketing mystery. The box below was sent to owners of ISPs.

Inside was a fortune cookie with the URL “whatsmyfortune.com” imprinted on its slip of paper.

No salesheet.

No business card.

No fancy graphics (yikes! designers).

How mysterious.

By the time you go to the website, you’re committed to find out the rest of the story.

Relationship

In his book Audition, Michael Shurtleff gives twelve guideposts for actors to follow in order to “get the part.” The first guidepost mentioned is relationship. Shurtleff stresses the importance of understanding your character’s relationship with the other characters in the scene. He encourages actors to ask themselves “feeling questions” about their emotional attitude toward other characters. Do you love him? Do you hate him? Do you resent him? How much? Do you want to help him? Do you want something from him? He emphasizes that these are the most important questions you can ask. They will allow you to function in the scene.

Do you ask these questions about your company/service/products? Do you understand your relationship with your target market? Do they love you? Do you love them? Shurtleff urges actors to “always say yes to the question of love.” Without love there is no attraction. Without attraction, what keeps the characters on the stage? Similarly, Saatchi & Saatchi promotes the idea of Lovemarks as relationship.

Lovemarks reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without. Ever.

Take a brand away and people will find a replacement. Take a Lovemark away and people will protest its absence. Lovemarks are a relationship, not a mere transaction. You don’t just buy Lovemarks, you embrace them passionately. That’s why you never want to let go.

Do customers love your company/product/service? If you can’t answer “yes” to that question, then your brand is in trouble. What do they want from you? What do you want from them? (greater than their money, you’d probably want their undying loyalty) What is the attraction? Maybe love is there, but it’s not obvious. In a scene where love seems absent, Shurtleff recommends considering all the various distorted and perverse forms of love. As a parent scolds a child, their love may seem absent but it may be found in concern for the child’s safety. Find your customer’s love for your product, even if it is slightly misguided.

Relationship is also valuable in understanding your placement in the market. What is your relationship with competition? Higher quality, lower price, friendlier customer support? How does your target market feel about your competition? If they have a great relationship, that makes your job harder.

Many of these questions can be answered with a little bit of customer research. Create some simple spreadsheets with these questions. Ask your customers and fill in their answers. Pay attention to patterns, because that’s probably where the truth probably lies. Look at relationship issues and find ways to address those issues. Maybe you’ll need a counselor (marketing / branding consultant) to help with this. Or maybe it is common sense after you take the time to step back and evaluate.

These could be the most important questions you ever ask. The answers will help you to function (and hopefully thrive) in business.

Dustin Staiger

I’m sitting at my desk with a stack of industry pubs intimidating my lineup of project folders. I have a perennial backlog of marketing advice and business tip emails clogging my inbox. There seems to be an endless sea of blogs devoted to marketing and branding, some better than others (ahem). I have over five hours of TV recorded and waiting for me at home. The weekend newspaper is half-read. I have three unfinished books to read and am starting a fourth. My eyeballs are in high demand these days, and I’d wager they’re not alone in such popularity.

Today’s society is bombarded with information. It’s everywhere, much of it is free, and more of it is likely being read less and less. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, circulation among 814 of America’s largest newspapers dropped by nearly 2% during the 6 months between October 2004 and March 2005. That was before the issues with Newsweek’s koran-flushing story. Couple that with the high cost to print (compared to publishing online) and it is obvious that traditional newspapers are in trouble. They’re capturing fewer and fewer eyeballs.

When I was in high school, I had a crush on a certain girl of popularity. One day I worked up enough courage to ask her out on a date. I fidgited around and stuttered through my proposal, which was a very plain “Would you like to go out?” She responded that she was dating someone else at the time. Of course she was dating someone else, she was popular! She dated several guys. Was that the reason she rejected my offer? Probably not. I did very little to earn time with her. I didn’t even tell her what we would do on the date. Go to dinner at a nice restaurant? Go to see an incredible movie? Also, I showed no creativity by asking the same question that she probably had heard from many other guys. “Wanna go out?” (Of course it may have helped if I were more popular in high school as well, but we can’t all be homecoming kings)

What are you doing to capture eyeballs? Do you assume that by just putting out any information about you, your company, your services, or your product that you will warrant the attention of those two extremely popular orbs floating in someone’s head? What are you doing to invest in eyeballs? Does your website express enough value to garner time with my busy baby blues? Does your marketing campaign give enticing information that romances eyeballs or are you just asking “Wanna go out?” Sure, you may not be the star quarterback or the homecoming king, but with a little creativity and the right substance maybe you might just get that date.

Dustin Staiger

Ever feel theatrical as you conceptualize a 4×6 postcard? Like the Denzel of direct mail or the Kidman of campaigns? Maybe you should because, whether you know it or not, you’re using some of the very same principals for your marketing as Hollywood uses in acting. That may sound silly to you, but why wouldn’t that be the case? Yes, Hollywood is primarily entertainment, but most T.V. episodes and movies can boil down to a message to an audience. Heaven forbid that we actually entertain our target “AUDIENCE” as we communicate our marketing message to them.

The main difference between marketing professionals and the entertainment industry is our entertainment has to boil down to a message more clearly and quickly. Today’s studios seem to concentrate on entertaining through special effects, humor, drama, stories, and plots. Meanwhile the message can often times seems secondary. Honestly though, some of the best movies contain a very strong message. They just don’t spoon-feed it to the audience. I wouldn’t recommend spoon-feeding in marketing either. Our message should be number one, but we cannot forget to entertain in order for our message to penetrate. A definition Webster gives for entertain is to keep, hold, or maintain in the mind. To receive and take into consideration. Fail to entertain your prospects, and they may refuse to entertain your offer.

We’ve seen quite a blend of advertising and marketing with entertainment over the years. Commercials have become quite entertaining. Many people proclaim they are more interested in the commercials than the Super Bowl each year. The problem with entertaining advertising is it’s not always effective. But, some very crafty advertisers have blended themselves into the entertainment itself. Sears has cleverly attached itself with the hit TV series, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They “donate” their appliances, tools, electronics, etc. to help turn people’s homes into dream houses. You can’t Tivo it out or dare to mute the ad, because it is part of the programming… part of the entertainment.

Hopefully now you can see the value of understanding a little about Hollywood’s processes in order to create powerful and persuasive marketing. So, how do learn from the entertainment industry? We need to look at areas in which they learn. Not everyone has the time, money, or availability to take acting classes in order to become a better marketer (I would still recommend it to many, though). There is a great book of advice to actors that really hits on the heart of the acting trade. Audition by Michael Shurtleff contains advice to help actors understand how to get the part they always wanted. Many consider it the actor’s Bible.

My previous post, Marketing Mystery, used one of Shurtleff’s guideposts - mystery and secret. I’ll be incorporating more of these guideposts in this series of articles “Don’t Act Like a Marketer, Market Like an Actor” over the next several weeks.

Dustin Staiger

Grrr for Honda
Peeing Baby for Mark’s Work
Pac Man for Saturn
Cashmere Cow for L.A. Country
Crash Text for Toyota

No, this isn’t some sort of crazy Internet swap list. It’s the titles of last week’s most popular ads on adforum.com. I receive an email each week from adforum with a listing of screenshots with similar titles. I’ve trained myself to ignore the titles as best I can. It’s not easy though. Once you go to their website, the titles are in the menu you use to navigate to the other ads.

Why would I ignore the titles? Because they can be spoilers. Sometimes they give me too much information and they ruin the experience for me. The title can sometimes destroy any sense of mystery an ad may contain. Honestly, it may not be much of a loss though. Not that mystery isn’t important, but many advertisements and marketing pieces just aren’t very mysterious to begin with.

How many movies based on love stories follow the exact same pattern? Boy meets girl. Girl hates boy. Boy hates girl. Girl falls for boy. Boy falls for girl. They make up and… happily ever after. I think I’ve seen that movie hiding under 50 different names. Once I realize I already know the ending, I lose interest. What’s that old saying, why buy the cow when the milk is free? Same goes for marketing. If you want someone to finish reading/watching/hearing your promotion (buy your cow), then don’t give them the milk right off the bat.

Ever watch a movie or TV show begin and you ask, “What in the world is going on?” You’ll probably continue watching until you have some idea of what is going on. The writers and directors didn’t cause you to ask that question because they did the same thing so many others have done. They did something different. Novel idea, isn’t it?

Well, how many unopened envelopes are in your trash right now reading “0% INTEREST FOR 6 MONTHS!” “NO PAYMENTS UNTIL 2005!” or “90 DAYS SAME AS CASH!”? The same old messages. You know how those end, and you have 0% interest in their offers. Build a little mystery into your campaigns. Make them want more. Give them a reason to call. Don’t be too vague, but don’t give away the milk either. Maybe you’ll sell more cows.

Dustin Staiger

In our last article, we discussed the longevity of a product affecting how that product is promoted and sold. Art Kleiner wrote an interesting article for Strategy&Business concerning a product’s death cycle. Kleiner laments the decline of product quality since the 1980s. As quality declined, so did durability, and so did expectations. Kleiner cites lower customer satisfaction ratings for Hewlitt-Packard (surprise, surprise) and even at GE. These results may be even more concerning knowing that consumer expectations are lower now. Now, we buy a $40 DVD player and expect it to break eventually. An interesting result of the cheaper products is repairs now cost more than a new DVD player. We’ve made it a disposable product.

Products are designed for obsoletion. Razor blades become dull, diets are fads, sports-themed video games are tied into the year they’re produced. The razor blades are a quality issue, the other two products do not cease to work, they are usually replaced by products that seem better. Kleiner points to experts who suggest the solution to the quality issue may arise through competition and innovation. Competition pushes companies to create better products and services in order to survive, but it may also tempt companies to allow commoditization and lower prices. Innovation creates “purchasing lust” within potential buyers. Innovation is the most viable alternative to cost cutting and quality reducing measures. It is the path traveled by diet fads, video games, Apple, JetBlue, and even by regional fast food chain Sonic Drive-Ins. As these price and quality wars rage, we’ll see if Tom Peters’ adage, “Innovate or die” is true. I have a feeling his proclamation will be the epitaph of many companies’ headstones.

Dustin Staiger

A startup has burst onto the scene with an incredible innovation! Regiats Electronics has created the GE killer. In a press release this week, the electronics and manufacturing startup announced the creation of the perfect light bulb. Coined “Reluminate,” the new bulbs will never burn out. The problem with a bulb that never burns out is that once you buy bulbs for every bulb socket in your house, you no longer will buy anything from Regiats Electronics. So what’s their plan? Regiats has decided to use a subscription-based business model. Each bulb has a wireless chip within it that broadcasts a signal to local cellular networks. This signal is distinct to each bulb, which has a monthly subscription price based on the wattage and size of the bulb. As long as the subscription is active, then the bulb’s status is enabled through the wireless signal. So, if you live outside of wireless phone coverage, the bulb will be disabled and you’re out of luck. If you stop paying your subscription, you’re stuck with an unusable bulb.

Of course this isn’t true. The majority of people will not change to subscription-based light bulbs in the near future. If a “perfect light bulb” were invented, we’d probably be more open to usage-based bulbs than subscriptions. I believe that most people have an inherent aversion to subscriptions. We don’t mind subscribing to services (phone services, Internet access, cable TV) or publications. These have become traditional subscription items. So, an even greater obstacle than the aversion to subscriptions is the established traditions. And as Seth Godin states, traditions rarely change quickly just because the alternatives are better. This is the hurdle that Napster-like services have to overcome. Their effort would not be as daunting as the fictitous Regiats’ (which is my name, Staiger, spelled backwards), but nonetheless they have to overcome not only the traditional CD purchasing routine, but the standard alternative which is Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

Management and marketing gurus will tell you to focus on what differentiates your company from the competition. The key is to recognize that difference may be a hurdle for your customers to overcome as well. Making a light bulb that never burns out sounds great, but changing the product also changes the business model (which may or may not be so great).

Dustin Staiger

In this BusinessWeek Online article, Gerry Khermouch makes some good points concerning small business branding. I enjoyed the article quite a bit, but felt it was too myopic. The focus was consistently placed on logos and graphic design. I don’t mind that since I began my career in design. The problem is the implication that your brand is encapsulated in your logo, stationery, literature, and packaging. Most of the article followed the message of the paragraph below.

All of these businesses used clever thinking — and not too much cash — to develop a stand-out look designed to appeal to their would-be customers. Then they made sure that image was deployed consistently on everything from press kits to business cards to Web sites, hammering home the image they’d chosen to project.

Either Khermouch miscommunicated his intended message, or he overlooks elements of branding that he mentions as merely sidenotes. This paragraph is one of the only areas that something other than design is mentioned:

Sharps reinforces its image with targeted promotions. Sweatman spends two or three days a month pitching about 30 editors at men’s and style magazines. Sharps also holds “shave parties,” where barber-school trained employees give haircuts in old-fashioned barber chairs. They’re held in buzz-inducing venues such as the window of Barneys New York and at a New Line Cinema premiere party in Los Angeles. Sharps even inked an agreement with MTV (VIA ) to get its products included in the gift bags given to celebrities at parties. All the effort is paying off: Sharps is found in hipster hangouts such as Fred Segal as well as more mainstream outlets such as Sephora.

Still, it is a good reminder to small businesses that a cohesive and unique effort toward branding pays dividends.

Dustin Staiger

At the Milken Institute Global Conference, Safeway’s CEO gave his reasons for reducing the company’s responsibility of health care coverage for employees. Interestingly enough, he referrenced the airline industry as a warning of where his company was headed without such a change.

“I would say we were six to seven years away from becoming an airline.” said Chief Executive Steve Burd.

In previous union negotiations, Burd mentioned that Wal-Mart’s low, non-union benefits were a reason for reducing Safeway’s benefits in order to compete.

“I’m a big fan of universal coverage, and Wal-Mart is somebody that doesn’t have the same kind of coverage that we have and it’s all about price,” he said. “We would love to have the playing field a little more level.”

It’s scary to hear the CEO of a major food chain say, “. . . it’s all about price.” Yes, he’s talking about health benefits, but it’s also about the bottom line. Basically, Burd is saying that Safeway cannot compete with Wal-Mart without lowering their overhead. Is it really all about price? I don’t think so. I think it is about value. Price is a stationery benefit. It is found in your product (if you’re a retailer). Value is transient. It is found in your service, your accessibility, your entertainment, or even in your eccentricities.

Maybe Steve Burd could learn something from Jim Bonaminio, an independent grocer in Cincinnati. Bonaminio’s “Jungle Jim” store is famous for its unique shopping/entertainment experience. Bonaminio is also concerned about Wal-Mart’s entrance into his market, but there’s no sign he’ll be cutting prices. Instead, he has opened a garden center near the front entrance and leased space to a bank, the post office, and Starbucks. He just broke ground on a shopping center adjacent to Jungle Jim’s. He understands that price is not the only reason people shop at Wal-Mart. They also want to buy most of their needs within arm’s reach of each other. The combination of Jungle Jim’s idiosyncracies and the convenience of finishing your shopping and eating nearby give him a great shot at success.

So, what’s the bottom line here? It is whether or not people are willing to pay for what you offer. If you’re in business, you’d better hope you offer more than just products. If you don’t, there’s a Wal-Martesque company out there just waiting to crush you.

Dustin Staiger