The ripple effects of losing an event like Indy will be detrimental to our City.
Vancouver didn’t know what they had until they lost it—and the same might end up happening to us if we’re not more cognizant of that fact. The only difference is we will never—ever get it back if we lose it. Vancouver’s kung-fu grip will be tight. They’ll never let it go a 2nd time. That being said, if (and that’s a big ‘if’) Edmonton gets 1 last chance at making Indy über-successful in 2011, the following is a list of 21 things that must be done in order to have any hope of a shot at Expo2017.
1. Create a shared vision, purpose and strategy.
Instead of a bunch of disjointed events, create 1 major event, with a central theme running through all supporting events. This gives Capital Ex (under a new name), A Taste of Edmonton, The Edmonton Indy, as well as shops, restaurants, pubs and bars a shared purpose and an aligned strategy. More importantly it gives the customers something to rally behind.
2. Establish ownership by all stakeholders.
Accountability rocks! Wouldn’t it be awesome to see all of the companies involved in running the event put their profits on the line? If it’s a success, you reap the rewards. If it’s a flop, sorry pal—no pay cheque. (This only works if everyone is on board and we don’t have dead weight).
3. Articulate innovation as an organization/event-wide commitment.
Without innovation and a sense of “nowness” you’ll have bored, uninspired staff. This trickles down to bored, uninspired customers.
4. Think long-term.
What do we want this event to be 3, 5, 10 years from now? The short-term, ‘year-to-year,’ ‘go with the flow,’ ‘take it as it comes’ attitude is so “Edmonton.” Let’s get our stuff together. Seriously.
5. Focus on the customer experience—the brand; rather than the internal processes.
Otherwise you are just going through the motions.
6. Focus on challenges of the future rather than successes of the past.
Unless you’re in the business of selling Transformers or the Rubik’s Cube, you cannot build a profitable business on nostalgia.
7. Evolve or die.
Be willing to change when your platform is burning. Even more important—be self aware. Know that your platform IS burning!
8. Leave politics out of it if-and-whenever possible.
Politics can open a lot of doors, but in many cases it leads to sustaining the status quo in order to support entrenched, misguided and conflicted interests. See #7.
9. Reward crisis prevention rather than crisis management.
10. Get rid of any hierarchies that exist.
Inspire. Undermanage. Constantly review new ideas.
11. Fund new ideas in the wake of kiboshing current underperforming efforts.
12. Kill any initiatives that are not succeeding, especially ones that are funded and staffed.
13. Think critically.
Fear of criticizing current practices and commitments is a high-risk activity.
14. Make decisions with your heart.
Addiction to left-brained, analytical thinking (“data is God”) is corporate crack. People are emotional and heart-driven beings. Data is no longer the advantage it used to be.
15. Ideate-collaborate-deviate.
Adopt a more user-friendly idea management processes.
16. Find people that understand (and more importantly care to understand) the customers.
17. Be willing to acknowledge and learn from past failures.
Why is this one so difficult? It shouldn’t be. Own up to your mistakes and move on.
18. Make innovation part of the performance review process.
This goes for every single company/stakeholder/employee/volunteer involved. “How much did we/I innovate this year?” “Did we/I raise the bar?” If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.
19. Create room for more “spec time” to develop new ideas and opportunities.
Good ideas take time. The best ideas might take longer.
20. Coach innovation and creative thinking.
I’m serious. Just as execs would bring in coaches/trainers into the office for their staff, Indy should do it too. This is after all a business (or at least it should be).
21. Create reward and recognition programs for every portfolio.
People like to know that their hard work means something.
That’s next year’s headline. I’m calling it right now.
No, I’m not an oracle, and no, I don’t have Zoltan in my basement. But I can show you why we’re going to lose what could be—should be—a world-class Edmonton event.
Do you know why? Because we haven’t been given a reason to care! There’s no public buildup of excitement. There’s no celebrity endorsement. There’s no branding to turn the Indy into a can’t-miss experience.
I have to be honest: I’m a little embarrassed to be an Edmontonian right now. Our city was awarded an amazing opportunity! The Indy should be a world-renowned event, even more attractive than the Calgary Stampede (racing vehicles at mach speeds is a bit more exciting and relevant than racing chuck wagons). But the powers that be are completely squandering the opportunity.
How did this happen? (Please circle the best answer.)
a. Many years ago the City awarded an exclusivity deal to Northlands to market and manage all major events (whether penned or implied is irrelevant)
b. Corporate greed, laziness
c. Politics
d. All of the above
If you chose “d,” awesome! You get a gold star.
Exclusivity promotes laziness, complacency, short-sightedness, and greed.
Don’t believe me? How inspiring and memorable is the “Make it your Indy” campaign? Laziness brained it, and laziness approved it. What you see in this campaign is the business model of “let’s do the least amount of work possible and still get paid.”
I’m sorry, but that doesn’t work for me. Organizers should be going above and beyond to make this one of the most memorable events in Canada. Northlands isn’t working hard or getting creative because they don’t have to. They’ve got the job. They’ve got all the jobs. Why put any effort into creating vibrant and exciting events that tell the world that Edmonton is the place to be when you don’t have to?
Northlands is not a marketing or branding company.
Northlands’ business is to provide space and coordinate the logistics of events (and they do a really good job at it), but that’s it. They are not a marketing company. They have failed to generate buzz and excitement around events and draw the throngs of people that should be attending because that’s not what they do!
That’s right. The wise decision makers in our city made an exclusive arrangement to market events that could draw who knows how much tourism with a company that isn’t a marketing company. While this might not be killing Edmonton, it’s definitely holding us back.
Instead the City should award the contracts for creating buzz around events and attracting large crowds to branding and marketing companies. (Earth-shattering idea, isn’t it?) Then they should hold those companies accountable. The current zero-accountability situation simply doesn’t work and is a waste of taxpayer money.
What would happen if accountability existed? For starters, the marketing of the Indy wouldn’t be left up to the sponsors, as it seems to be now. This is ridiculous and something no professional marketing and branding company would do. When sponsors are solely responsible for marketing, they aren’t getting the potential value out of the partnership. No wonder they’ve had an impossible time trying to secure a title sponsor and must find new sponsors every year. I wouldn’t renew my sponsorship either.
Make us care, and we will show up.
We are blessed with a many great cheerleaders in this city. @MasterMaq, @CaryWilliams, @ChrisLaBossiere, @KenBautista among others are all doing their best to help Edmonton evolve into a world-class city. But I’m worried that they too will one day give up, (Please don’t. You guys are awesome!).
Edmonton city council needs to start acting like a business. That means caring about its customers and creating brand experiences that we love and are proud of. Like any business, Edmonton must give the people what they want; otherwise, we will suffer the consequences of our customers’ choosing the competition. Vancouver is our competition. Calgary is our competition. Right now, they have much more to offer our customers.
I find it odd that Mr. Mandel is scoping Shanghai’s World Expo right now. It’s great that he’s taking the initiative, but I find it a little presumptuous. We can’t even manage a little Indy event properly. Does anyone seriously believe that Edmonton could land Expo 2017 if we were to lose Indy? And if we did, what impression would be left at the end of it?
Enough is enough. Quit killing opportunity. Quit killing creativity. Quit killing evolution. We need some new players—people and companies willing to do all it takes to make Edmonton a world-class city. The exclusive arrangement with Northlands has to stop if Edmonton is ever going to have a chance.
I bet the Indy will be pulled from Edmonton’s portfolio within the next year. Perhaps it will be given to a city that actually gives a damn about evolution, creativity, and inspiring its residents to live there. Vancouver—you’re well in the lead. Calgary—you are a close second. Edmonton—you are the dark horse I am rooting for.
Although I’ve never been there, I’ve always held a special place in my heart for Iceland. They devote so much time and government spending to the arts, they produce amazing musicians (Sigur Ros and Bjork anyone?) and it’s just a damn beautiful looking place with beautiful looking people.What’s not love?! I’m also married to a travel agent and as a result have seen my fair share of tourism campaigns…some great, some terrible. That’s why it was so great to come across the Inspired By Iceland tourism campaign.
Lately Iceland has been hit pretty hard. The global recession lead to some of their major banks collapsing and as if the threat of national bankruptcy wasn’t enough, in the last few months a major volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, erupted causing wide spread flight cancellations and massive damage to the country’s rural areas. So much emphasis was placed on the impact the volcano had on European air travel that people seemed to forget that it severely impacted Icelanders way of life.
Anyways, it’s great to see something as positive as the Inspired by Iceland campaign come out of all this hardship. It really shows how beautiful and optimistic the country is. The campaign successfully integrates beautifully shot videos, web marketing and interactive features like user generated stories and galleries. The Inspired by Iceland video is fantastic, showing off the amazing landscapes and the fun loving spirit of its people (beware…tiny bit of nudity…not unlike a Sigur Ros album cover. *blush)
The Website is fantastic looking (Although I do have to say the background images weren’t big enough for my 27” monitor…but that happens sometimes) and has a ton of great content and links. I love that they included a “Book a Flight” link in the top corner, capitalizing on people being absolutely awestruck by the imagery. The user generated content is a great place for people to add photos and stories about why they loved their trip to Iceland and the live video feeds of various locations around the country are a nice touch.
I love that Inspired By Iceland understood that tourism is more than generating sales for local businesses. It’s about creating a memorable and emotional connection with the visitor, one that they will never forget. All in all a really great campaign that raises the bar for other countries looking to market their destination.
One of the latest controversies to spin its web around the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver deals with sponsorship or better yet the lack their of. Many large corporations have been selected to play and pay the part to be the financial back bone of these winter games; altogether forking over $750 million that goes directly towards the VANOC budget. The issue lies with the “me too” businesses who want to capitalize on the patriotism, tourism and increased spending that comes with hosting a sporting event such as this.
What Exactly is Ambush Marketing?
According to Wikipedia the definition sits as such:
Ambush marketing is a marketing campaign that takes place around an event but does not involve payment of a sponsorship fee to the event. For most events of any significance, one brand will pay to become the exclusive and official sponsor of the event in a particular category or categories, and this exclusivity creates a problem for one or more other brands. Those other brands then find ways to promote themselves in connection with the same event, without paying the sponsorship fee and without breaking any laws.
The Rules of the Game
After reading what it felt like volumes of what not to do I have summarized it all with one list. If you are not considered a sponsor then legally one must steer clear from depicting anything that resembles winter sport, competition or mentions any of the following terms (on their own as well as combined) such as:
Olympic
Podium
Medal
2010
Vancouver
Winter Games
Rings
Inukshuks
The Chosen Team & Those Warming the Bench
At this point you might have to claim to be living under a rock if you did not know McDonalds, Coke and Hudson’s Bay Company had something to do with the Olympics. RBC or Royal Bank of Canada is also within the same league but it is truly those that were not picked to be with the “elite” that are the ones to watch for. These are the companies who don’t have a lot to loose if they can find a way around the tight restrictions set forth by VANOC; and they have. Roots, LuLu Lemon and Scotiabank are the three causing the most uproar with the two former launching their own clothing lines themed around a “certain” sporting competition that just so happens to be taking place in Bristish Columbia this winter. LuLu Lemon has even gone as far to name their line “Cool Sporting Event”; which cunningly omits all the terms (i.e. Vancouver, 2010, and Olympics) deemed unusable or treading on VANOC‘s turf. Scotiabank, in an effort to tag onto this new found love for Canada has also been tightrope walking VANOCs guidelines with their “Show Your Colours” campaign that conveniently runs the same dates as both the Olympic as well as Paralympic games. And despite the pleas from Vancouver’s governing Olympic body for these businesses to play “fair” it makes one wonder if is even fair to begin with.
Penalties (If Enforced)
At this stage in the game, almost halfway through the Olympics, both sides are pushing to see if one will make a move over the other. If found guilty of copyright infringement these businesses in question could be fined up to $1 million dollars and face a maximum 5 year prison term. The grey component with this is for VANOC to win the battle in court they must prove that the company (or individual charged) is creating a uncertainty among the public about who is an actual sponsor and who is not. And relying on the said public to agree one way or another is not something either party wants to bet on.
Player Backlash
Sponsors hate it because it creates confusion in the minds of consumers and worse yet choice.
Vanoc and the BC government see it as a direct hit to their profits.
The Own the Podium group considers it to be their main source of non-government funded income so any reductions to this directly affects our athletes.
Unchosen suppliers feel that it leaves the smaller businesses, who cannot afford to hand out $200 million to participate, left out in the cold.
Media have taken the stance that strict standards set early were too tightly governed and essentially created this clash.
Spectators and Commentator Reaction
And the consumers? Well that is up for you to decide… does it matter that the sponsors determine what you can eat, drink and bank with for 16 days? Does it bother you if the big players like McDonalds or unheard-ofs like Olympic Pizza are making profits during the games? If given a selection of items could you tell those that have been given official licensing and those who have not? Do you think it is fair that Own the Podium gains financial backing but Right to Play does not?
But most of all do you care? This is the real question that everyone is afraid to ask because… consumers if you don’t, it makes this issue irrelevant and the idea of asking millions of dollars from a handful of sponsors ludicrous. Not to mention puts the pressure to fund these games back on the government and back on us. Or would it? One might think it would change the strategy of the game, the make-up of the teams and possibly the result.
I often get asked the question “What is marketing?”
While most people will instantly think of brochures, websites and ads, I believe marketing is listening. Plain and simple. And regardless of whether the company is a small ‘mom & pop’ or a large international corporation, for the most part companies do a pretty shitty job at listening.
Why don’t we listen?
In my 9+ years of meeting with countless business owners and corporate executives, a great deal of them view dialogue as unproductive. Employees should be ‘working,’ not talking. They would rather send a memo throughout the office, informing employees of the latest facts, figures and stats, hoping that the employees relay this information to their customers. Their thought with this approach is that information and logic will cut through the clutter. Instead what they find is it does the exact opposite; their customers end up more confused and less engaged.
When you think about it, how can this approach possibly work when the competition is doing the exact same thing? When a customer has too much information doesn’t it make it even more confusing for the them to decide what is best?
I feel it’s our job as marketers to simplify the consumer’s life. Messages should be so simple and so easy to understand that a 6 year old can comprehend them.
How do we listen?
The only way you can truly listen is to ask your customers what moves them. What are they passionate about? What makes them happy? What makes them feel accomplished? What makes them laugh? Cry? Angry? What can you do to help? Listening means you have to genuinely care about your customers; it means you have to be curious about what makes them tick. Forget the ‘corporate’ speak and what your company ought to sound like. Engage people with meaningful dialogue.
With the evolution of the web, people have access to more information than ever before. Because of the amount of information people have to sift through, consumers are now turning to peers, blogs, and online communities to make their decisions for them. You may have heard the term “Web 2.0,” which is the evolution of interactive websites that maintain themselves through user-generated content. Websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn & Digg, as well as blogs are exploding in their popularity because people are finding that someone out there in Cyberspace can help them make sense of all this information.
And while these mediums may be cool, they are only useful when they have a purpose. With a kabillion bloggers out there in the Blogosphere, many often forget what it takes to have a conversation. It involves listening. The better you listen (by probing and asking tons of questions), the more there is to talk about. Listening leads to conversation, conversation leads to meaningful long-term relationships; and in the end isn’t that all we’re trying to achieve with our customers – meaningful, deep, loyal and long-term relationships? Communities help companies shut up and really listen to their customers.
Being in the marketing industry I have obviously visited tons of “marketing” websites over the years. What still amazes me is that for every 1 great site out there there has to be about 20 monstrosities.
What makes them so scary?
Poor design, too much/too little information, misinformation, half-truths, cliché stock photos, and most importantly – not enough emotional connection.
There are so many self-proclaimed marketing geniuses are out there. Each have of course professed to have made hundreds of millions of dollars practicing “the secrets to marketing that they don’t want you to know about.”
First. Just who is “they” anyway?
I don’t know but I’m sure to get to the bottom of it. I just reserved the domain name whoisthey.ca. One of these days I will uncover the truth.
Second. There aren’t any secrets to marketing.
Marketing is listening. Marketing is teaching. Marketing is building relationships. Marketing is making deep and relevant connections with people. Yes, marketing is that simple, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. Making those connections can be pretty difficult, especially for those that don’t know how, don’t practice, or don’t have time; but I digress.
Third. We are emotional beings; not informational robots.
Another thing that annoys me with these “experts” is that they all say the key to marketing yourself is giving people information.
“Don’t use pictures – they are a waste of space.”
“Give your visitors as much information as possible and then they will buy from you.”
In the information world companies tend to market by going faster,making things brighter, and TALKINGLOUDER!
Billy Mays (RIP), the infomercial boob is a perfect example of this. HOWAREPEOPLEGOING TO BUYMOREOXICLEANWITHOUTBILLYMAYSYELLING AT THEM?!! I don’t know but maybe SlapChop guy can help us have a great day slap, slap, slapping our troubles away.
Ya right. I don’t think so. Those outdated strategies don’t work quite like they used to. We are inundated with so many messages on a daily basis, that we have become much better trained to sift the good from the crap. (Although I do find Vince pretty funny. “Quit having a boring tuna, quit having a boring life.”)
Today we live in a much more exciting world that I like to call the ‘sensual world.’ People long for more in the sensual world, which is one major reason why social mediums like Twitter and Flickr have taken off. In the relationship-driven sensual world, faster, brighter, louder hit the wall real quick. For those of us that find our lives become increasingly more hectic, it will always be the sensual world that reigns supreme. At heart, we are emotional beings and the senses are the fast track to human emotions.
Our senses lead us.
They are direct, powerful, provocative, immediate. They are tough to fool and even tougher to override.
The senses speak to the mind in the language of emotions, not words. Emotions are more powerful than any word. Emotions alert us and tell us how important our senses are; not only to our well-being but indeed to our very survival. The senses interpret and prioritize and when we feel emotionally connected to something we say, “That makes sense.”
I do not consider myself an expert by any means so you don’t have to take my word for it but I say, lead by example. Be real. Choose the right words. Exploit great design to your advantage. Embrace white space. Have fun with color. Use great imagery. Excite the senses. Inspire the heart. Create emotion. Create cool.
It’s one of the most useful tools for creating desire,
one used in both the fashion and entertainment industries for years, and it sells more products than any other marketing approach: it’s called scarcity. Purposefully restricting supply so you can keep the demand strong and long term profitability up.
In Tokyo, Silas & Maria, a British skateboarding label, mastered the concept. Customers are let through the doors in groups of 20, while everyone else is kept waiting in a line outside by a guy behind a rope. After the current group of shoppers leaves, products are replaced on the shelves and the new gawkers are allowed in. This gives the store a rarefied atmosphere similar to what you’d find in a gallery than a run-of-the-mill clothing store.
Nightclubs everywhere live and die by the scarcity tactic. Who wants to go to a bar that’s empty? Conversely a bar that has a line-up that’s a block long surely must have something crazy going on.
Creating scarcity to build a following isn’t anything new…
Think about all of the limited editions of Nike sneakers, Coca-Cola pop bottles, Starbucks coffee mugs. Remember Beanie Babies in 1996? How about Furbies in 1998? Last year Apple’s initial release of the iPhone made it THE must have product of 2008.
This year Ferrari took scarcity to a whole new level.
It’s called the FXX. It’s a bit like the Enzo but it has over 800 HP. And even though it costs over $3 million, none of the 30 people who bought one have ever taken delivery! Seriously. You buy the car and Ferrari keeps it at the factory, only allowing you to borrow your car for the day on their approved racetrack. After your rip is over they take your car back.
Then there’s Budlight Lime…
I tip my hat to the marketing department at Bud. Regardless of whether you love, hate, or haven’t even tried the limey beverage, one thing is certain – you’ve heard of it. Even sweeter is that they probably spent very little in advertising. Most of the brand’s awareness was created by word of mouth. “What no Bud Light Lime anywhere in Canada?! This is a travesty!” (‘I must tell all my friends!’) Their word of mouth exposure was then amplified by all the media attention they received. The Edmonton Sun, like many other media outlets across Canada reported “Bud Light Lime flying off liquor store shelves.” The kicker is that this was completely free! You just can’t buy that kind of exposure. People want what they can’t have and this will probably go down as the most brilliant and well-designed brand awareness campaigns of 2009.
Deliberately limiting distribution to drive up demand works. But is it ethical?
What do you think? Is this tactic cleverly cool or shady and underhanded?
Are their lessons we can learn from the big guys? Should small and medium sized business owners use this strategy? Does it come with a risk?
Are you sure about that? Did you know that according to an article in Time Magazine nearly 40–70% of all e-mail, even legitimate ones, are getting blocked by spam filters before anyone has the opportunity to read them? I’m not sure what they define as “legitimate,” but regardless, that is a ridiculously high number.
Despite the failure rates, in my opinion e-mail is still an awesome marketing medium, but it takes a little bit of know-how and ingenuity to get your message in front of your audience. Spam filters are making it difficult for marketers to ensure e-mail gets to their intended targets, and this is a good thing.
Most spam filters search e-mails for words, phrases, and symbols that commonly appear in spam. If your e-mail has more than a certain number of these words, phrases, or symbols, the filter identifies it as spam and blocks delivery of the e-mail.
Here is a list of 11 ways to get schooled by spam filters.
1) Send bulk emails, especially if your customers use Shaw or Telus addresses
2) Use caps in your email, especially in your Subject line
3) Overuse punctuation!!!!
4) Don’t provide an “unsubscribe” link
5) Start your subject line with “Dear…”
6) Use your PC as a server
7) Send emails without checking to see if you are on a Blacklist
8) Use the BCc or Cc feature to send your emails
9) Overuse “Marketing Phrases”
10) Use the Priority option in Outlook
11) Don’t provide a text-based version of your html email
Don’t waste your time.
Using your email client to send mass emails to your customers is too risky. There are so many things that can go wrong, not to mention managing subscribers and unsubscribers is an absolute nightmare. And from a marketers perspective, how can you determine the success of your campaigns? You can’t!
There are a lot of really cool and inexpensive automated programs you can use to send emails. They are 100% legitimate, they come with ‘spam-o-meters’ so you can determine the level of spamminess of your emails; you can track your traffic, click-thru rates and article popularity; plus they automatically manage your lists.
What is the biggest marketing issue facing companies today?
Some might say it’s developing new approaches as the traditional mediums become increasingly obsolete.
Others might say it’s demonstrating marketing’s ROI.
While others might even say that given today’s economy it’s simply a basic need like keeping a job.
All of these are great arguments but in my opinion there is one that’s still bigger.
Marketing people at many companies, (especially the larger ones) are hostages of their own profession.
In working with some of my larger clients, one of the bigger challenges I am usually faced with are the silos of organization. The org charts tend to slow down decision making and it makes it difficult (sometimes impossible) to reach an agreement on critical issues such as brand values, communications strategies, new offers, and messages.
The silo—the disconnect—often exists between marketing and other functions, such as finance, HR, sales, and operations. Yet there are even silos within marketing itself—usually between research, communications, and creative. Sure the ads look pretty but if they missed the mark they’re useless and they’re a complete waste of time & money.
As an outsider with fresh eyes, the results are usually obvious to me, as the organization proclaims different messages based on different strategies from its various groups and functions. Corporate management, public relations, advertising, sales, and investor relations each tend to create messages that address their respective audiences, but they generally fail to take the extra step and marry them with common themes that best reflect the value and essence of the business in its totality.
The result is that companies rarely speak with one coherent voice. And the consistency of the brand—one of the key drivers of value—is undermined.
And marketers, assigned with the task of developing and executing clear positioning and communications, end up spending an enormous amount of time struggling against the many voices within the company, often begging and pleading with everyone to agree.
How can we solve this problem?
The solution to this problem can be found first by recognizing the need to have a coherent message. This unified voice creates the perception of leadership that naturally allows others to gravitate towards.
Through the course of communications, be it public debates, speaking events, press releases, social media, etc. messaging can being taken to a dynamic and more strategic level through better research techniques. Rather than testing messages in isolation on variables like appeal, current and potential messages can be tested in head-to-head comparisons against current or potential opposing messages. Then after being exposed to the pro and con messages, respondents can then be asked to choose one—an approach that gives a vastly more accurate and precise picture of public attitudes.
By flushing out a number of view points simulating all the expected paths the issue might take, the company is then in a better position to see how client/prospect attitudes will play out, often before the first message ever comes out.
So what is the structure and process that makes this approach successful?
I am by no means a political expert, but an example of a successful approach can be drawn from politics. (Yes politicians have managed to do something right!) In a well-run political party, there is “the communications team.” The communications team includes people from advertising, speech-writing, PR, strategy, management, policy, and research. They all sit at one table to decide the strategy then decide how to execute on the strategy in the most effective way using each of the different communications channels as a tool. Everyone at the table accepts the reality that “everything communicates,” which means they have to agree on one message.
This consolidated organizational structure for managing communications is intimately involved in the research process itself. Everyone on the communications team can, and is encouraged to, suggest strategies and messages—and that full range of perspectives is put into the research, in an open and transparent process. That way, everyone gets their ideas tested and, when the research comes back, they know what messages won and lost; and—most importantly for attaining buy-in and agreement across the group—they know that their ideas had a full, fair, and objective chance.
The results are powerful, crisp communications that have an enormous impact in projecting competent leadership, building reputation, and enhancing brand value.
Our self-imposed Catch-22.
Through old habits, fear of change, and inertia, most companies have their marketing people using aged techniques. They still judge messages against historical, and largely irrelevant, benchmarks. As a result, the CEOs and other senior executives, lacking accurate and reliable information to guide their decisions on messaging, are (rightfully) reluctant to make the organizational and process changes needed to let the marketing team own and guide the full spectrum of the communications agenda.
We need to adopt the latest and most effective research techniques and in making the commitment to align communications around research results. Better research and organizational changes are the 2 inter-related keys that would allow marketing to escape from its silo. If companies, and marketing organizations in particular, implemented these 2 simple techniques, they would find their organizational cultures far more focused, effective, and respected; and brand communications would realize its full potential.
8. Look to “low-hanging fruit” technology to become more efficient and more productive.
Many of us may not be using technology to its fullest potential. Explore ways to use your tech investment to help drive down other costs and accommodate more sales without having to hire more staff. Look at free or nearly free technology from the Web, such as Google Apps for business. No matter what size of company, we recommend Google Apps to all of our clients because it is a cost efficient way to stay connected. Consolidate all of your email, calendars, communications, and information sharing without compromising control and flexibility.
7. Consider outsourcing.
Why have everyone in house? Unless employing people is the most-cost efficient way of getting the job done, outsourcing is usually a great alternative. In many cases, outsourcing is an excellent way to make better use of time and energy costs, to redirect or conserve energy, and to make more efficient use of land, labor, capital, information technology, and resources. Outsourcing is a great method to extend your organization’s capacity and help bring a fresh perspective to light. Couldn’t an outsider’s point of view be a huge business advantage over your competition?
6. Re-examine every one of your operational services.
Sometimes we use business services for years without realizing there may be substantially cheaper – and better – options on the market. Look at your telecommunications, your computer network, and your hardware. For instance, you might want to evaluate services like Skype, VoIP or wireless phones with calling circles to save on telecommunications costs. Even look at things like your insurance and your travel suppliers to look at ways to cut other operational expenses.
5. For start-ups, start selling something asap.
Cash flow is crucial. If you run a start-up, don’t wait until your product is perfect. And if your main products are big-ticket items with long sales cycles, come up with some lower-priced items to sell pending the big sales closing. Negative cash flow is the big “gotcha” for smaller firms — you don’t want to run out of cash before you are out of the gate.
4. Cut existing staff only as a last resort.
Most small businesses don’t have much staff to begin with. So cutting staff often means losing a vital lifeline and can sometimes be a surefire way to business suicide. With every forced cut it will probably have a demoralizing effect on the remaining staff. “Am I next?” syndrome can sweep over the office and your employees may find work elsewhere as a desperate act of self-preservation. I’d rather ask people to take temporary, across-the-board pay cuts, or eliminate some benefits, than lay people off… unless pushed to the wall.
3. Focus on customer retention instead of customer acquisition.
In any economy it is ALWAYS tougher to gain new customers than it is to keep existing ones. Now is a great time to re-evaluate what you are doing well and what needs improvement. Unsure? Ask! Start a “listening lab” – a listening lab is one of the best marketing projects you can undertake. It shows your customers you are committed to keeping their business, and it helps you make the important decisions to streamline and improve your service. If you have to make a choice, focus on relationship marketing and building the relationships with your existing customers versus new customer acquisition.
2. Don’t cut marketing.
For some reason when times get tough, many business owners cut funding to the one area that is designed to keep business coming – marketing. Cutting marketing means cutting your business off at the knees. When customer spending slows down, make sure it’s your competitors’ sales that slow, not yours. Instead of cutting down your marketing spend be more aggressive and more creative at marketing than your peers. Believe it or not you have been given an opportunity; a recession is your chance to gain customers and help grow your business. When the economy turns around you will be miles ahead of your competition.
And the number 1 way to help your business weather the recession is…
1. Don’t cheap out on your accountant.
Now is the time to have a kung fu grip on your business numbers, more so than you’ve ever had before. Your accountant is your sensei. Bow to your sensei! Cash management, and management of accounts receivables, will make or break you during tough times. Weekly – even daily – attention to your numbers will give you early warning of issues and buy you more time to adjust.
Edmonton City Council - Please Approve the EAD
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Edmonton Loses the Indy! (Part 1 of 2)
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Another thing that annoys me with these “experts” is that they all say the key to marketing yourself is giving people information. 
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