Medios Marketing Blog

Go to Tom Fishburn.com for excellent marketing cartoons.

“What people want is to … “ If another pseudo marketing expert starts a sentence like that I am going to punch them. The most recent candidate for a clobbering was the new sales rep of a client. I had heard the story before from all the other reps I deal with at one time or another.

The problem with the sentence that starts with your declaration of what you know to be true is that it is exactly that. A declaration of what you know. We all tend to focus on our own frame of reference rather than facts at hand.

In this particular case the genius giving me his sage advice is adamant about which sports I should sponsor and how the kids eat up everything that these sports stars wear. The facts that he were ignorant of are;

• That the client does not view the particular brand as key to its strategy.
• The client has a limited budget
• The sports that he wants to see sponsored has little exposure to the key audience
• Sponsorship on its own is ineffective, you need back-up from social media, branding, events etc
• His knowledge of how the kids communicate is out of date
• The kids in question are more savvy then he gives them credit for
• Many of the brand’s competitors followed the same strategy with little success

Truth is few of us, experts included, know what people want. People themselves don’t know what they want. It is the nature of the zeitgeist. Viral and popular cannot be manufactured. It like the Beatles said, “Can’t buy me love.” Except in this case can’t buy me love for the brand.

Branding is the same. You have to ply your wares, present your offering and make sure there is something in it. Be clear and honest and then rely on those who have benefited from your product to tell their friends.

Of course you can’t just put it out there and hope someone does the work for you. You have to use the platforms, ask the market, punt when you can punt, be respectful when you can’t. You have to see the opportunities, add the value where possible.

It all comes back to the opening statement. To know what the market wants you have to ask them. Engage.

So pretty please with sugar on top, don’t say you know what the market wants.

If gold were plentiful it would be worthless. These days experts on every topic imaginable are plentiful.

The problem is that these experts contradict each other. It makes it difficult to gain insight into the issue in which you seek the expert advice in the first place. It also makes it obvious that the expert is dispensing advice not in pursuit of the truth or knowledge but rather in pursuit of their own agenda.

Take global warming. We follow the debate quite closely because we have a client to whom it is relevant. On the one side we have the humans-are-burning-too-much-carbon-and-causing-a-greenhouse-effect camp and on the other side you have the its-all-part-of-the-earth’s-natural-cycle-and-anyway-volcanoes-do-more-damage camp.

Both point to the other camp’s motives for optimising their findings. Finger-pointing and the reasons for adapting the results or doing the type of research that will give the results they seek is not relevant to this blog. Suffice it to say that neither side is untarnished.

At least there are still some barriers to entry for scientists. They need some academic credentials. Not so for social media, marketing, business, human nature, relationship, pet psychology and a host of other experts. For many of them the barrier to entry is setting up a blog and a Twitter account. I promote myself as an expert. All I have to back up my claim is four years of study and 15 hard years in the trenches, some awesome mentors and a few clients who have benefitted from my advice.

We live in the reality TV version of experts. People are famous for being famous. Similarly we have experts who are experts on being experts. The bar for entertainment is so low that we will people clean other people’s houses. Similarly, the bar for expert advice is low. We are taking advice from anybody that can critique the status quo in a harsh enough voice and generalise the problems of one industry so it sounds like a global business catastrophe.

Many of the experts I see giving business advice on how social media will double your business have not been in business long enough to know the true meaning of a customer’s need.

So where to from here? The fact is that we do need experts. The level of specialisation required to function dictates that we cannot be expert at everything. We need input from people who have more experience in fields that we are less familiar with.

To me the only way to get reliable advice is to get it from many sources, understand the basis of the advice and to measure it based on the experience of others who have used the same resource. Fortunately the web and social media means that everybody can be compared, measured, reviewed and analysed. The disadvantage is that there are so many different points-of-view that it can be hard to tell who is right and who is wrong.

As always the solution is customised. Here is a four-step plan to choosing your expert.

Step one: Choose an expert whose advice relates to problems you personally experience. The expert’s advice and experience must mirror your needs. I run a smaller business. For me to take Tom Peters’ advice as gospel is useless. His clients are multi-billion dollar global enterprises.

Step two: Each expert will have detractors and fans. Look at who they are. See if you can determine the balance of opinion. Look at who more closely resembles you – the detractors or the promoters.

Step three: Follow your gut. If the advice makes sense, follow it.

Step four: Be a cynic. Pay for the advice on a benefit to your organisation-basis rather than on a per hour basis. Check the research they quote and always, always have them commit to timeframes and ROI.

So there you have expert advice on how to choose an expert to give you advice. Whether you should trust my advice or not I will leave up to you.

Alan H. Meyer once said, “The best ad is a good product.” Nothing could be truer, especially in the age of social media.

The proof came when I conducted a simple research study for Selected Energy. The goal of the study was to show which lead source was most likely to produce leads that lead to sales. The winning lead source turned out to be current customers. In other words, good old word of mouth was still the best way to sell systems.
Selected Energy distributes Solahart solar water heaters. Without wanting to sound like I am punting my client’s product, Solahart geysers are very good systems. The customers who invested in them were all very happy with the product’s performance. As a result, they talked about their experience.

The key concept to note, however, is that word of mouth or customer endorsement only works when people share values. In Solahart’s case, this is ideal. The product is more expensive because it is of higher quality and lasts longer. Those who appreciate these values are most likely to share their Solahart experience with others who share those values. Those who hear about Solahart from peers are most likely the same people who can afford Solahart.

Good products have always generated good word of mouth. If you had a smart marketer, your marketing would highlight the attribute or unique selling proposition (USP) most likely to be talked about by your customers. This way, word of mouth would become an endorsement or verification of your advertising message. The assumption is that our customers as a target audience all share some values, hence the reason for the effectiveness of word of mouth.

With social media, the word of mouth dynamic has changed. The audience is much larger and they share fewer values. This means your USP is becoming more important.

Social media has changed the way word of mouth works in four ways:

1. Whoever speaks of your product has a much larger audience

2. Many who receive social media product reviews may not have seen any of your marketing

3. The endorsements are likely to vary and be for attributes that are not necessarily mentioned in your marketing

4. The reward can be much faster

5. Potential customers will actively seek reviews before they commit to a product
Make the most of the social media endorsement by following these tips:

1. Publish you ranking on your website

2. Use the input. If the reviews highlight an attribute you never considered as your USP, think about matching your marketing to the feedback. A word of caution here, don’t do this lightly. Do it only if an overwhelming majority of reviews laude a USP other than the one you promote.

3. Use the reviews to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO). The keywords in your positive reviews are the same key words you should use in your SEO

4. Use the reviews to identify your niche audience.

In his book What Would Google Do? the author Jeff Jarvis describes the new web as a collection of niche markets. In such a large audience it’s likely that your product will find a niche, or a fan base. Your job is to make sure you start the conversation with them to find out why they like your product.

Posted by Jacques van den Bergh for Medios Marketing Communications

We all make mistakes. Opening a blog with a horrible cliché like “We all make mistakes” proves my point. Over the past two years, I have written many, many letters of apology (on behalf of others. I’m not that dreadful!). Although the events leading up to the letters differ, all letters of apology share certain traits (an apology, for instance). Should you find yourself at the sharp end of the disciplinary stick, follow these guidelines to write a kick-ass letter of apology. You can also download the Wordsmyth letter of apology template here.

1. Understand the drama

It’s often easier to know when someone’s upset than it is to figure out why they’re upset. In a business environment, the aggrieved party is usually peeved because you’ve cost them money. Make sure you understand how and when you’ve inconvenienced them and how it affected their business before writing the letter.

2. Make sure you agree

Once you understand why the recipient of your intended letter is upset, make sure you agree that you have erred. If you don’t agree, change the angle to a letter of explanation. Use it to point out that you weren’t responsible and chuck in a few niceties to smooth things over. If, however, you agree that you were wrong, proceed to step three.

3. Identify the responsible party

In business, people rarely fly solo. If you’re writing a letter of apology, chances are that you weren’t responsible for the mistake. Make sure you know who was and decide whether you should apologise on behalf of your company, department or team, or whether the apology should come from the person responsible.

4. Apologise

Your opening lines should be an apology, containing the name of the responsible parties, the exact blunder and how it inconvenienced the affronted recipient. For example:

I’d like to apologise on behalf of Wordsmyth for setting fire to your fax machine. I understand the incident traumatised your staff, prevented you from sending or receiving faxes for three days and cost you a considerable amount of time and money.

5. Explain

In your next paragraph, try to give an honest account of the events that lead up to your error in judgement. You don’t have to explain that it was a mistake or accident. It’s usually implied in your explanation.

On the morning of the incident, I tried to perform a trick with matches, a lit match slipped from my hand and landed on the fax machine.

6. Accept responsibility

Don’t try to wriggle out of the fact that you slipped up. It’s cowardly and makes your apology sound insincere. Accept responsibility in the next paragraph:

I understand that it was irresponsible and unprofessional to perform a match trick in the office.

7. Offer a solution or compensation

While it’s very noble to accept responsibility, it’s meaningless if you don’t attempt to undo the damage. Think of a way to make the incident less painful for the injured party:

Wordsmyth would like to replace the fax machine and pay for damages to the carpet. Please send the invoice to our accounts department. I will also write a personal letter of apology to the staff.

8. Express a desire to move on

By the time you reach your closing paragraph, the recipient should understand that your are really sorry, that you understand the consequences of your blunder and that you’re willing to fix your mistake. Your closing paragraph should indicate a desire to put the incident behind you and continue your professional relationship on good terms:

I can assure you that this was an isolated incident. Wordsmyth looks forward to a continued professional relationship with you and your company.

9. Presentation

Like any other business letter, your letter of apology should be on a company letterhead. Remember to check your spelling and grammar. If you’re not sure, find someone to proofread your letter before sending it.

10. Enjoy!

While it can be difficult to admit that you were wrong, writing a letter of apology can be quite liberating. A sincere letter of apology will probably disarm the angry party and result in a happily-ever-after, or a happy-until-you-screw-up-again scenario. Win!

Posted by Kristia van Heerden for Medios Marketing Communications

Social media has become part of modern life. Active users believe social media is outwitting traditional marketing methods, while traditional marketers feel social media is too time-consuming.

More and more people register on social networks daily. Users spend a lot of time managing their online reputation on everything from desktop computers to cellular phones.

Social networks give the consumer a voice for the first time. Consumers have become the advertisers for brands. However, instead of focusing less on traditional marketing, businesses should let social media coexist with traditional marketing.

As a traditional marketer, I came to realise that social media can be used along with traditional marketing to find new clients and create more brand awareness. You just need to redefine your market and know where they spend most of their time.

After you have done this, look at what you have and incorporate the medium that works best. Traditional marketers should try and force the use of social networking and push brands into these channels.

The technology is part of our era and it is not going away. For businesses to survive today, sites like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr can breathe new life into those traditional, above the line methods.

Posted by Derik van Wyk for Medios Marketing Communications

In my opinion only two general laws of the universe are worth observing. The first is the law of averages, and it is very relevant to the topic of this blog: information overload.*

Don’t sigh. I know it has been covered to death, but if you read this one last article you’ll be able to lighten your load, promise.

The problem is the amount info available. If you’re reading this blog I don’t have to say any more on the Internet. The second problem is the amount of channels through which the information is distributed. Email, Twitter, your mobile phone, texting, magazines, journals, newsletters, seminars, meetings, books, e-books, websites… Make it stop! Make it stop!

Avoiding all the info out there is not ideal. You still need to know what is new in your industry. I make a living taking on what others choose to ignore “because it’s just too much”. The trick is simply to know how to work your way through the massive amounts of info available.

Making the most of the avoidable info without having your head explode in a somewhat artistic red mist is twofold. The first step is to take control of the channels that feed information. The second is to know the value of paying attention to the person selling the information – and they are always selling. Remember, no free rides.

The first step is easy. Split your personal communication channels from your business channels. Stop direct access and filter information through channel managers like Google Reader and TweetDeck. Dedicate time to looking at information and ignore information coming outside of that time.

The second part of the solution depends on how much you think you know. If you are a twenty-something it’s probably less than you think. Look at your seniority in the organisation where you work. If you are the boss chances are that your attention is worth more than the intern’s.

The information out there is like training. If you are short on experience and knowledge you need a little more than someone else. Adjust the volume you expose yourself to.

Those who sell information do so because they fish for leads. They hope that you will return to their site, submit a question, take part in a survey, and communicate with them.

Information sources that value your attention will post valuable, relevant information. Look out for people who try to build a reputation as a supplier of valuable content. Allow these people to filter the online noise and deliver distilled information to you.

Now for some practical advice:

Understand that information won’t get stale in a half an hour. In other words, you have time to read it at your leisure.

If you miss something, the information isn’t gone. Businesses want you to visit the website.  By the time you read an article someone else has written about the same topic. It is the point of information overload. There is no shortage.

Find the few you trust. Follow them and read their stuff. Rotate some of the others. Delete information sources you don’t get around to reading, even if they are valuable.

Seek new sources and delete some of the old ones.

If someone’s message becomes monotonous, can them.

If you receive contradictory information from the same source, get rid of the source.

A little humour and some entertainment value go a long way.

Use the tools like Google Reader and TweetDeck.

Find sources that give you synopses of what everybody else is saying. If there is a topic you think you need to know about, the info will be out there.

Read reviews of books. Sometimes it will save you having to read the book but still tell you what you need to know

I hope this blog helped. Remember not to cut me from list of regulars and visit my website. I need the leads, man!

Cheers

Jacques

*The second is: All clichés are true. Not that relevant to this week’s post, but now you know.

Posted by Jacques van den Bergh for Medios Marketing Communications

The Godfather is one of my favourite stories of all time. I’ve read the books and seen the movies umpteen times. After every encounter I am a little more in love with it. I generally love that whole in-the-name-of-honour thing; I love the depiction of immigrant societies; I love the traditions and the sense of family, the religion, the composed and civilised meetings followed by incidents of extreme and ruthless violence. It makes me feel like that level of coolness can one day be mine. We all have our little illusions.

My latest re-watch made me realise that The Godfather is full of useful advice on running a business. Here’s what I got:

1.            Family comes first

“Fredo, you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.”

If you hope to make a success of your career, you have to be loyal to the company you work for. Just like a family, someone will piss you off at some point – whether it’s your boss, colleague or subordinate. However, you eventually forgive your mother for not understanding why you’re in love with the tattooed, longhaired biker. You don’t have to sit down and decide to forgive her, it just sort of happens. You can yell at her today, and be over it when you meet the guy with the funny nose.

In a company, you will get pissed at someone. It’s inevitable. You can complain to your other colleagues, you can yell and scream, but you never, ever use a disagreement with a colleague to discredit the entire company.

2.            Bloodshed is expensive

“I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m a businessman. Blood is a big expense.”

Disagreeing is constructive. Firing a valuable person due to a disagreement is a bad and expensive business decision. If an employee has been with the company for a number of years and suddenly becomes a problem child, it is most likely the symptom of a bigger disease within the company. It’s better to negotiate and keep an experienced employee than running the risk of appointing and training someone who ends up being a terrible fit. The devil you know, and all that.

3.            When in doubt, ask the Godfather

“Mr. Corleone is Johnny’s godfather. To the Italian people, that is a very religious, sacred, close relationship.”

Think of your boss as your Godfather. You might not always agree with or even like your boss. However, the odds are your boss is your boss for a reason. You can always learn something from your superiors, even if it’s just how to manipulate your way to the top. If that’s how people get ahead in your company, chances are it’s a skill you’ll need at some point. Also keep in mind your productivity is beneficial to your boss, which makes bosses a little more sympathetic to your cause.

When you have a problem, talk to your boss about it. Trust that your boss will attend to the problem, and if he/she doesn’t, go higher up. Eventually someone will see your point or convince you that the alternative is better for everyone.

If you hate the corporate world or your job, get out. It’s counterproductive to take your frustrations out on another person.

4.            Keep a lid on it

“Never tell anybody outside the family what you’re thinking again.”

Never discuss what’s going on in your business with your clients or competitors. It’s not only disloyal (refer to point one) but it can be to the detriment of the entire company, including you.

5.            Be kind

“Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But uh, until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.”

If you want to be benevolent, become a volunteer or a nun. If you want to do business, you have to give a little to get a little. Any service, no matter how small, will eventually benefit you. Be sure to give what you can.

6.            Indulge your kids

“I have a sentimental weakness for my children and I spoil them, as you can see. They talk when they should be listening.”

If you’re a boss, you need your employees. Don’t be a dick. You’re there to guide, not bully. Like the Godfather, you should indulge your kids a little. Give them an opportunity to develop in the business environment. You are more experienced, but you should give others the opportunity to gain experience by disagreeing with you and bumping their head. Of course you should intervene when you start losing money, but there’s no point in sweating the small stuff.

6.            Be polite

“Neri, take a train to Rome. Light a candle for the archbishop.”

If you’re upset, say so. There’s no need to insult, yell or swear at anyone. You achieve just as much (if not more) by saying that you’re unhappy than by throwing a tantrum.

7.            Eye the competition

“My father taught me many things … keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Know what the competition is up to. You have to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry. This means identifying your competition and keeping tabs on what they’re doing. Did they just launch a new advertising campaign? Do they have a new website? Do they blog? Are they moving into different technologies? Do they offer new services? If you want to compete, it’s wise to know whom you’re competing against.

8.            Cut your losses

“Fredo, you’re nothing to me now; not a brother, not a friend. I don’t want to know you, or what you do.”

While it’s important to keep valuable employees through difficult times, it’s just as important to identify who will benefit the company and who won’t. Not every type of employee will be suitable to your business. Know what you want and get rid of the dead weight.

9.            It’s only business

“Otherwise, who can say how long your stay with us will last. It’s not personal, it’s only business. You should know, Godfather”

Disagreements in a business environment stay at the office. When you grab a drink after work, leave your grudges behind and bond with your colleagues. Who knows, that might solve some things.

Posted by Kristia van Heerden for Medios Marketing Communications

Hubspot, RainToday, Forrester, Jeffery Gitomer, CMS Wirenews, and may others send me thousands of words on marketing every day. The sheer number of marketing and sales specialists giving advice via blogs, newsletters, web sites, webinars, whitepapers, podcasts and just about any other means is staggering.  Their combined volume of advice is enough to make you feel insecure about your own marketing plan.

Should you be on Facebook? Should you blog? What about Tweeting? Are you neglecting print? Is radio still alive? Should you spend the extra money on that internal marketing campaign they say you cannot do without? The volume of advice can leave you shell shocked and more confused than before.

What is the solution? Should you ignore advice, stick with one guru, or simply trust your own instincts? The answer is all of the above. But it need not be as tiresome and time-consuming as it sounds.

All you have to do is scan, glean, filter, and get the jist of what you’re reading.  Don’t be too concerned about missing out on the next big trend. Big trends don’t pass you by that easily. Remember your need to implement is not as great as their need to sell.  Contrary to the implication your business will not fail tomorrow if you do not buy the book and seminar today.

The idea is to understand who speaks to your needs and which trends you need to consider.

The savings that company XYZ experienced when they started Tweeting will not be lost to you because you deleted one mail or missed a newsletter. If one guru writes about the next big thing you can bet that the rest will also cover the topic if it really is the next big thing.

Sit back and relax. Think about what you need, what type of business model you have and whose advice is most relevant. Keep an eye on the trends and investigate those that you think will make a difference. As for the rest, hit the delete button. Your inbox will be full again tomorrow.

Cheers

Jacques