Scott Moroney

Greatest Product Survey - Do You Prefer an A or B Hole?

Hardees launched a product survey that is brilliant in terms of making us laugh and clearly sets the stage well for their product.  You all remember the Coke vs. Pepsi wars of a few decades ago.  Well this could have been a very memorable campaign as well.  I don't recall seeing it much so my assumption, false or not, is that it was too edgy.  Please let me know if I am wrong. 

I love edgy commercials.  They stand out on TV.  How will advertisers get your attention online when the standards for acceptable content are so different online vs on TV?  This is a new arena for advertisers, but will the FCC step in and find a way to legitimize itself when we all continue to accelerate our dwindling television viewing habits?  In any scenario, media is evolving and it will be very, very interesting to be a part of it.  Are you an A or a B hole?  Take a look.

2009 - Year of Opportunity or Regret?

What a terrible year.  What can you learn about marketing from a year where so much fell apart?  Plenty.

Marketing is all about opportunity.  Finding the nugget of opportunity is what marketers should be doing.  We research and scan for ideas and read and observe potential markets and customers.  We do these things to uncover what our competitors have not noticed or realized.

2009 was a year where opportunity was everywhere.  As banks were crumbling, other bankers were scooping up assets.  Why?  They were listening to marketing teams about how these weakened assets may be utilized for future gain.  Take a stock that was down below the $1 mark, but looked to have historically good financials.  A marketer (aka, institutional investor in this case) is looking at how they can find the best opportunity to make some money from it as the market rebounds.  As the investor researches the company and stock potential, this is marketing.  It is not called such very often, but it is marketing.

Other examples are in real estate.  How many real estate brokers scooped up cheap properties?  Why?  They did their homework (or at least I hope they did) and used their marketing skills to anticipate the future sale price/profit to be made.  All marketing.

What other examples?  Look around you.  They are all over the place.  2009 was a year that I will not forget for many reasons.  Marketing is all about opportunity.  I will look back on 2009 as a year where I missed the biggest opportunity of my life.  I hope you did not.  Best of luck in 2010.

Where Do Marketers Find Ideas?

Marketing is not always original.  It isn't always legal, in terms of ripping off something.  So where do marketers find ideas?  They can be right in front of you.  Ask yourself who spends the most money to sell you something?  Consumer goods companies.  Frito Lay spends millions and millions every month to sell you more Lay's Potato Chips and all sorts of other goodies.  Are they the best chips around?  Depends on who you ask, but I can say for certain they are likely the best known chips.  Why?  Frito Lay spends all this money to make sure you don't forget them. 

Take a look at any of their campaigns and you will learn something.  I noticed today a sign on a truck that stated "Let's do Lunch"...if I recall it correctly.  "Let's do lunch" is a pretty cool phrase and leaves a good feeling with you.  This campaign is hoping to remind you how well Lay's chips go with your lunch.  You'll have something missing if you don't "do lunch" with Lay's.   Clever.

Look to these campaigns and ask yourself how you can spark some ideas.  Keep it simple like Frito Lay.  People remember simple things.  It is also the reason product names should be easy if they are mass market goods.  They may be a bit clever or unique if the product in fact is the same. 

How could you apply "Let's Do Lunch" in your business?  Answer for yourself what it is you really are good at and why people come back to you.  With this you can find those clever slogans that people can remember, and more importantly connect that emotion ("let's do lunch") with a need your customer has at that time.  Be honest, don't trick people.  Frito Lay kept it simple and genuine. 

The Simple Sale

The great products in the world are born of simple ideas.  Why?  They are the ideas that connect with the simple needs of people.  The simple needs, when met with a simple solution, are those sales that just seem to happen without complicated marketing.  Getting there is all about knowing your customer or those people that would be interested to learn more about what you have to offer.  Do your homework (called research if you are an actual marketer) and understand your market (called people if you are not an actual marketer).

Best of luck. 

Marketing Matters

Marketing matters in how you position your product for customers to spend money (generating revenue for you to keep your business running and hopefully growing).  If you don't do the appropriate marketing, you can never be sure you have put the product in the right "position", meaning you did not find the customer need that you can fill...and you can't "position" your product to fill it. 

The idea of "invent and they will come" has been dead in most cases for a long time.  The innovation levels are changing in many markets, leading companies to find new ways to reach customers.  Thais is where marketing comes in.  It is that difference maker.  So why marketing?  In part, marketing is helping companies act in a new media world.  Where a tradeshow was the place to show your next big thing, it is now a requirement to be more immediate with web product launches, webinars and social media to name only a few new media channels that are replacing the traditional media.  Marketing is also responsible for educating the customer to meet the needs they now have.  The bar has been raised with the greater availability of information.

Where does this leave you then?  Marketing is a basic requirement, and has been for several decades.  If you were not aware of it, take a look at some of the most successful companies that are examples of marketing excellence:  Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mary Kate and Ashley Olson (Yes, those girls are brilliant marketers), Hannah Montana or her alter ego -brilliant, Micheal Jackson, etc...  The companies that understand marketing have a distinct advantage.  It is no guarantee of course that good marketing will make a company successful, but I do feel strongly that a company cannot be truly successful without good marketing of some sort. 

What are your thoughts? 

Why are You in marketing?

If you have to think about the answer for more than a few seconds then your
in the wrong line of work.  Why ask the question?  Too many people assume they understand marketing...and don't.  It is not complex, it is not "rocket-science".  It is simply understanding that it is a way of working to understand who your customer is, what need you may be able to fill for them, all at the right time, place and price.  How you do that is the magic of marketers. 

BackNoise Your not ready for this...or are you?

Back Noise is the next generation in employee engagement and listening.  I can't take credit for turning you on to this new tool.  I learned about it through a LinkedIn group and Chad Rothschild in his post on the new tool.  Take a look.  He explains it well and has a link.

Is this the onset of a mutation of Twitter?  In the right hands this can be very powerful.  Take what Comcast has done with their Twitter account.  They are listening and acting.  How about they take it one step further and promote their BackNoise "conversation name" and let it rip.  This expands their audience and encourages people to tell them how to improve their business.  Where else but in social media can you get your customers, those that tend to know more and mater most to your business, to help you serve them better.  Check it out and tell me how businesses...and of course the thick-skinned celebrities, can use this new tool.  I have some ideas.

Check it out.  I opened a conversation about Comcast.  Jump in and try it.

Twitter is a Marketer's Research Dream

You all know Twitter.  You may think of it as Ashton's playhouse, Life of Shaq or some other celebrity "love me because I am famous" log.  As a marketer, the growth of Twitter brings up a new arena for what is happening with your customers and prospects in many markets, but not all just yet.  Here are few ways you may not already be using Twitter but should ...

• Listening to what the Twitterverse is saying about your products or company
• Understanding the current dialog on a subject related anything (shoe style trends)
• Predicting the upcoming trend for an upcoming shopping season
• Uncovering a yet unfilled need in some application (how do I solve some technology application gap)
• Searching for a better job

This is just a quick list of five.  There are endless possibilities now that Twitter has the user base that has "tipped it" over the underground usage.  Twitter is mainstream in many markets. 

So how do you untapped the gobs and gobs of information out there?  Twitter Search.  You can be simple and use the search at the Twitter site or a host of tools out there like Tweetdeck.  The key is to sift through what people are saying and asking.  It is out there for many marketers.  Go get it.

It's Not All Free...For Good Reason

I believe the next wave of discussion/activity will be around how we all take the sea of social media/marketing/network tools and integrate those that will meet our business objectives. Social Smart is one company that is on the tip of this trend. It won't be free, but many things that are truly free aren't always worth what you put into them.

"We are increasingly seeing  companies and marketing agencies looking at ways of leveraging social media for themselves or their clients. A lot of companies are both looking at, and asking questions about, how to monitor the conversation, or how to measure results, how to avoid bad PR, should they be using this tool or that tool – how, what, why, when, where – that is what everyone wants to know. There is also a lot of confusion out there. They all know they should be ‘doing something with social media’, a few dabble with it if it doesn’t cost them anything – like ‘being on Twitter’. But few are prepared to spend money on a properly planned out, strategically integrated social media presence – which of course is what they really need to do if they want to successfully engage with social media. I know – its the economy. That’s fine – we’re all in the same boat. In the meantime though, companies looking at social media need to understand one thing – every company’s requirements will be different – there are no ‘off-the-shelf’ answers – you are always going to need a solution that is customized to your own particular needs."

To read the full post visit the Social Smart Blog

via socialsmart.wordpress.com

Twitter Stats Don't Tell the Whole Story

One of the most startling statistics to social marketing practitioners is that most of the Twitter traffic is generated by a very small number of users, many of which are the aforementioned "social media experts".  Sure this can seem like a rouse perpetrated by a group of people trying to make a living by creating some hype.  The reality is in fact that they are actually creating the framework of how people, brands and ideas can proliferate their message in a new communication medium.  I like to view it much like any other technology development/introduction.  When Cisco plans to introduce the first wireless routers for use in homes a critical part of the product development is testing.  They push the limits over and over of the product to see what it can handle. 

What is happening with Twitter right now is not much different.  Social media experts and the like are pushing and testing the tool to see what they can do for their clients.  Look at Dell and Comcast.  They are do well as early adopters of the technology.  Why?  They jumped in early and are doing their testing on the fly.  This is a bold move that most companies were not willing to try. 

Next time you hear that Twitter is just some marketing people promoting themselves, think again about how it is just the tip of an iceberg that will be/is a new communications medium just being tested.

Image:  Bindermichi