by Next Wave Team | Aug 8, 2010 | Practical Marketing 101
With the tough economy we have a lot of new entrepreneurs starting up. Many worked for other people and are getting their first taste of how business really works.
I highly recommend reading The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, which spells out the difference between a business and a job.
We’ve been getting a lot of “beginner” questions lately- and so I thought I’d share some answers:
As to the question in the title of this post- just having a website doesn’t bring customers anymore than having a business on a side street. You still need to advertise, marker, or beat a drum. Building a reputation requires continuous action and reaction.
SEO be damned- even turning up first on Google isn’t anymore of a strategy than being listed first in the yellow pages- even if your name is really “Aardvark.” Although turning up in Google somewhere is mandatory- but, a quick trip to places.google.com can solve that.
“I want to buy a bunch of email addresses and send out a newsletter to get them to my website so they’ll buy.” Sure- and what do you do with e-mail that comes from strangers? Do you read it all?
“Call the paper and find out why they didn’t write a story about my new business.” Right now newspapers are having a hard enough time writing real news- and getting people to read it. Some have a “press release submission” page on their site- and post everything. When was the last time you went and read it?
“My prices are the best in the {pick one: City, State, Nation, Continent, Planet, Universe} why aren’t people buying from me?” If you are planning on using price as your main marketing tool, get out of business now. It’s hard enough competing with price comparisons a google click away.
Here are some bits of wisdom for all new entrepreneurs:
- People do business with people they like. Do thinks that make friends- online and offline, and then work like hell to get your friends to talk well of you.
- Trust is the most important currency in business today, don’t play games with prices, people, or promotion. Mean what you say- stick to your word and under-promise and over deliver and you’ll be fine.
- Branding does matter. If people are going to talk about you- they need a name to talk about. If we print it on a t-shirt for our employees- will customers want to buy the shirt from you to wear around town? That’s the quick way of figuring out if you have a brand people like- or not.
- In this economy there are no “safe” moves. Don’t do things like your competition- do things that make them want to be like you. Being flamboyant is cool again- be it with constant self-promotion via social media like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook- or, driving a billboard. Don’t be shy- it’s not going to get your name out there.
- As a warning- many of you will find that working for someone else isn’t the same as working for yourself, you thought you got rid of your old boss- now every customer is now your boss. The idea that when you own your own business you can take a half day off anytime you want- the correct answer is which half, the first 12 hours or the second 12. Young businesses are like babies- they need a lot of attention.
- Banks aren’t lending like they used to. Be warned, credit cards aren’t your friends. Learn quickly the value of cash- and never forget it. It’s probably the least pushed part of small business accounting in business school- but, cash is king- you heard it here first. With cash- drive a super-hard bargain every chance you get- and try to get your vendors to finance as much of your business as possible- then they have a real stake in if you will succeed or not.
And if you still are wondering where the customers are- you can always call a good ad agency who can help you find them and deliver your core message. We’re available btw.
by Next Wave Team | Jul 28, 2010 | Future of advertising, Practical Marketing 101
There is a reason we’re not “The Next Wave Advertising” or even say we’re an ad agency (unless forced into a corner so that people know what little mental box to check off). It’s because back in 1988 we knew advertising was already dying.
What they taught us in “marketing” and in “advertising” was that it’s all about deliver a product to match up the consumers needs with our products and services. Only one small problem in our eyes- consumers who had unlimited choice and the entire globe to buy from- and an abundance of information aren’t rational- they are emotional.
The nice science of the “4p’s” didn’t work. It wasn’t Product, Place, Price, Promotion” - it was what makes me happy. Selling was out- stories were in. People activated when charismatic leaders put on great performances- just look at what Steve Jobs did with Apple- and has refined over the years.
That Apple computer had a position called “Evangelist” was the writing on the wall- not a VP of sales- but a fracking Evangelist. Which would you rather have on your business card?
We thought the most cogent explanation of business to date was one from Peter Drucker- that business only had two tool- marketing (in the broad sense) and innovation- hence our name.
But our methodology was all Apple- it was style with substance. It was stories and sales. It was more about “In Search of Excellence” - the first mega-business best seller book by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman, than about marketing and advertising- we wanted customers to delight in the process of buying things.
One of our hero’s is still David Ogilvy, the founder of Ogilvy advertising- and even though he died in 1999, with the epitaph “I’d like to be remembered as a copywriter who had some big ideas” his firm lives on- and is still generating big ideas for big clients.
Recently, they posted their new take on the 4ps- which they believe as given way to the 4E’s- and we concur:
from Product to Experience
from Place to Everyplace
from Price to Exchange
from Promotion to Evangelism
EXPERIENCE Discover and map out the full Customer Journey on your own brand – in your own country.
EVERYPLACE
Develop your knowledge of new media and channels the way a chef masters new ingredients. Try new things – do something that doesn’t start with TV or print.
EXCHANGE Appreciate the value of things, not just the cost. Start by calculating the value of your customers – and what their attention, engagement and permission are worth to you.
EVANGELISM Find the passion and emotion in your brand. Inspire your customers and employees with your passion.
via The 4Ps Are Out, The 4Es Are In | Ogilvy & Mather.
The reality is that even the best advertising only brought customers to your door- you still had to do the final sale. The best ad agencies in the world now tell their clients- we’re not only going to do your ads- but we’re even going to tell you how to ask for the sale- how to answer the phone. It’s why Burger King has finally found an ad agency in Crispin Porter + Bogusky that’s delivered the kind of growth that BK hadn’t gotten out of the traditional agencies they’d worked for previously. Pull through the drive thru- and the voice on the speaker will say “nice order” after you finish. Crispin has even helped with product development- typically not a part of what an ad agency does.
The move from a media creation and buying agency to one as partner and consultant has been difficult for many agencies and clients alike. With the overload of media and messages that the typical customer experiences everyday- there is one thing that will always outperform any ad: an amazing experience with your product or service.
So before the next meeting with your ad agency- instead of asking what the next ad is going to look like- maybe it’s time to discuss what the next customer should experience- because that’s where the money changes hands if it’s done right.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 4, 2010 | Careers in Advertising, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Practical Marketing 101
Art & Copy DVD cover
The number of “students” who come through this small agencies door, drawn by the work on this site is truly amazing. Many are about to graduate from 2 or 4 year programs that specialize in Advertising, Graphic Design, Marketing, Business or even the new buzz-degree “new-media.”
With the economy being what it’s been- we’ve also seen a lot of “seasoned professionals” in the market. People who’ve been going through the motions for 5, 10 and even 20 years- turning out what they believe to be “advertising” and “marketing” materials.
The sad thing is, most may know the tools- page layout, illustration, webdev- but, few- understand the why of what they do. I make everyone here at The Next Wave read, at a minimum, “Ogilvy on Advertising” or “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” so that they understand the reason behind thinking before putting ideas on paper (or in “new media”). I’m seriously thinking of making them watch this too:
ART & COPY introduces the cultural visionaries who revolutionized advertising during the industry s golden age in the 1960s by creating slogans to live by and ads we all remember. You may have never heard of them, but pop pioneers Lee Clow, Hal Riney, George Lois, Mary Wells, Jeff Goodby, Rich Silverstein, Phyllis K. Robinson, Dan Wieden, and David Kennedy have changed the way we eat, work, shop, and communicate often in ways we don t even realize. From the introduction of the Volkswagen to America to the triumph of Apple Computers, ART & COPY explores the most successful and influential advertising campaigns of the 20th century, and the creative minds that launched them.
via Amazon link Art & Copy: Inside Advertising’s Creative Revolution: Doug Pray: Movies & TV.
An hour and a half of listening to the greats of this business- discussing what makes real advertising work. It’s the real thing, baby- from the genteel West Coast cool of Lee Clow- to the NY Bronx attitudes of George Lois, you get the feel for the business the way it’s supposed to be practiced- with guts and gusto.
Lois steals the show, with his straight forward comments about most contemporary advertising- which is missing as he calls it “The Big Idea”- but, while he’s put on a pedestal for growing Tommy Hilfiger from a no-one to some-one with one gutsy ad- the clear hints in the film about how he basically stole his own “I want my Maypo” to “I want my MTV” show how in advertising originality isn’t always the golden egg- effectiveness is.
If you are a student of advertising and you haven’t seen “Art & Copy” it’s time. If you are an advertising professional, and haven’t seen it- maybe someone should question what profession you are really in.
Because, as is alluded to in the film- we’re all students of public perception, desire, trends- and this film helps us understand how that process evolved from the beginning of the “creative revolution” started by Bill Bernbach, to today.
And if you want more good stuff to further your education, try our booklist.
by Next Wave Team | Apr 16, 2010 | Practical Marketing 101, Product and Service Naming
No, I’m not talking Naomi Cambell or Heidi Klum. We’re talking about the nomenclature of your products.
When Acura first came out they had two models- the Legend and the Integra. People started talking about their car model name instead of the brand name and Acura soon switched to numbers and letters ala Mercedes Benz, BMW, Jaguar et al.
Giving your brand top billing is great, but- make sure customers can actually identify your product clearly. With cars- it’s pretty simple because they have brand name, model number and model year. When it comes to computers and peripherals, cameras, hi-fi equipment and other stuff- most companies fail.
Computers should be easy- because you can turn them on and there should be a screen that has all the info. Apple has it under the “About my Mac” where you can copy the entire spec sheet. But- what if you CAN’T TURN IT ON- and are trying to identify it? Frustration sets in. This is critical for customer support- this is critical for the resale market (and never ignore the resale marker- because the value of your used goods is the best indicator of the value of your new products). Serial number look ups are great- if they are readily available online- but, then again- please don’t make it microscopic (Apple- are you listening?).
Recently trying to sell some old Pantone swatch books on Ebay I was having a hard time identifying what year each book was printed. For a company that likes to claim that you should buy new swatch books or chip fans- annually- shouldn’t the product date be on EVERY page you print?
When you look at the myriad of offerings from companies like Dell- compared to the simple product matrix from Apple- how do customers really choose between the 7 different 24″ monitors with different price points- and know what model does what? Did you make your product matrix and nomenclature too complex?
Customer frustration isn’t a good branding strategy. Think back to the early days of Sears & Roebuck: Good, Better, Best- and make sure the numbers and letters work in some kind of logical order (Hello Canon- 1D, 5D, 7D which is best? Most expensive? ARGH!).
by Next Wave Team | Nov 10, 2009 | Marketing As a Service, Practical Marketing 101
There has been a movement to “marketing as a service”- where the customer is rewarded for their attention instead of bothered by it.
Good advertising makes fans/friends, good service makes customers for life.
Google decided to spend their marketing money giving customers something that is useful: free WiFi at airports (note- at least two on the list already had free WiFi- Las Vegas and Jacksonville).
When you’re traveling this holiday season, you can enjoy free WiFi at 47 participating airports and on every Virgin America flight. Just bring a WiFi-enabled laptop or mobile device and stay connected to family and friends for free while you travel now through January 15, 2010.
via Free WiFi - A 2009-2010 Holiday Gift from Google.
The real question is why most airports haven’t realized that business travelers, who are their bread and butter, would tell you that WiFi is more (or at least equally important) as toilet paper in the bathroom stalls. In the hyper-competitive market for business travelers there is no excuse for not having both free WiFi and plenty of charging stations/power outlets for the power traveler.
What can your business give away to build goodwill? What information could you provide that makes you not only the expert in your field, but invaluable to customers? Make every interaction with customers one where you give them value and they will value your business relationship.
by Next Wave Team | Jun 8, 2009 | Advertising humor, Practical Marketing 101
Guy Kawasaki once wrote that “Advertising is the plastic surgery of business,: a procedure to make ugly and old products look good” in his book Selling the Dream
However, the business of business has become corrupted by charlatans practicing what can only be called some kind of voodoo economics- be it in banking, insurance, or even selling cars. We’ve started taking our own economic buzzword driven drivel and packaged it into arcane business models- ones that suggest that selling “Credit Default Swaps” is actually business instead of grand theft.
I recently questioned if Venture Capitalists, as they practice their craft now are anything but parasites. With the casinoization of Wall Street- where stock prices can drop by half, even when a company hasn’t changed it’s products- business model or suffered from any change in demand (Google during the current financial meltdown), is there any reality attached to the very real and tangible ways to define and guide business?
Either you have solid financial goals, objectives and strategies- with real products and services that fill a need, or you don’t. Back in the dot.com bomb of 1999-2001 we had VC backed online companies opening only to go out of business the next day (www.bigwords.com ended up at a local liquidator- the breadth of the offering was amazing- Amazon like, when all indications that laser focus is the key to most online success).
I lay the blame purely on the shoulders of Wall Street and Bull Speak. You know, the ability of CEOs with no “skin in the game” who are able to “push the envelope” inventing new “ecosystems” for “profit optimization through….” while forgetting the basics of business, which is providing goods and services that fill real needs.
So, I was ecstatic to find this:
Bull has become the official language of business. Every day, we get bombarded by an endless stream of filtered, jargon-filled corporate speak, all of which makes it harder to get heard, harder to be authentic, and definitely harder to have fun. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
via Fight the Bull - Why Business People Speak Like Idiots.
Which besides having the book: Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter’s Guide
Also comes with a downloadable BullFighter software program, which allows you to analyze your Microsoft Word document for a BS quotient. If there is one thing that stops advertising from being able to do its job- making the “ugly and old products look good” it’s the clients inability to clearly describe the market, and the product without lapsing into bull speak.
Copy god, Howard Luck Gossage once famously said “people don’t read ads, they read what interests them- and sometimes it’s an ad.” If you try to read some of the horse hockey coming out of our corporations, talking about “making paradigm shifts” when what they really mean is we can’t clearly tell you why we do what we do, but you should still believe our CEO is worth $2K an hour- and we’ll be lining up for a bailout from the Federal Government as soon as we figure out how to explain what we’ve been squandering our stockholders money on.
Business and advertising both are easier without bullshit. So go get your Bullfighter now- and lets work together on selling stuff.
We won’t confuse you with anything that won’t directly impact your bottom line (translation- make you money).
