Gut Instinct Is Not Good Enough
Our friend Jeffrey Henning, CMO at Affinnova, was recently featured in an Inc. Magazine article entitled Why You’re Doing Customer Research All Wrong.
Divergence between gut and reality
Jeffrey talks about some of the reasons why companies attempt to circumvent the market research process. Because they are limited in the number of ideas they can test with traditional focus groups or market surveys, they know they have to limit their brainstorms and invariably base the ones to test on their gut instinct. Unfortunately, these gut instincts are often wrong for a number of reasons –
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Timing – they trust what they’ve learned from their own interactions with customers. Yet, market conditions continue to change and what once was, may no longer be.
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Personal preferences – some substitute their own preferences for an average customer and assume them to be the same when in fact they could be miles apart.
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And, what we’ve often seen - an unwillingness to spend the money or a lack of appreciation for the market research process – “we already have the answers and know what to do”.
The stakes are particularly high in B2C
Jeffrey mentions two interesting examples where the appropriate market research consulting provided valuable insight and avoidance of potentially expensive mistakes on the part of the brand managers.
Philip found a similar story in a New York Times Magazine article - How Companies Learn Your Secrets - about the Proctor and Gamble brand Febreze. The marketers had assumed that their prospects were smokers and pet owners looking to solve a bad odor problem, when in fact those same prospects had become habituated to the odor and didn’t think they had a problem. When they went out and talked to homeowners they learned that there was great potential in positioning the product as a reward to a house well cleaned. Who knew?
And one that hits close to home for us as a strategic marketing team. We engaged with a services company that was founded by a group of tech-savvy twenty-somethings who believed that their demographic was just like them, and were ramping up significant marketing spend against new media plays like BzzzAgent.
We immediately initiated some primary market research. Through this process, it became apparent that the demographic was 45-60 year olds with far more disposable income to spend on the service. The best medium to reach this target? Drive time radio.
Don't assume!
Market research has an image of being complicated, expensive and taking a long time. Not necessarily true. With today’s social media capabilities and some smart up front planning about how to ask the right questions, a little money spent on research can avoid costly mistakes in the long run.
We Agree - Content Marketing is NOT a Hot New Trend
Content Marketing is Not New
Jon Thomas, Communications Director at Postadvertising has a great perspective on content marketing. He notes that the term content marketing may be only a few years old, but creating useful or entertaining content (or both) for a brand's audience has been a proven marketing technique for centuries.
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He cites a few good examples in the B2C space:
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The Michelin Guide - a free publication offering useful travel advice to encourage tourists to travel
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The Guinness Book of World Records - superlative facts and answers for the general public to make the brewery's name synonymous with notable human feats
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Jello Recipe Books - giving salesmen Jello recipe books to distribute free of charge to give customers a variety of ways to use the product (now that's sales enablement!)
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Social Media is Simply a New Channel
The point being content marketing is not a by product of social media. In our view, social media did not enable content marketing, it simply facilitates its distribution as a new channel.
Read the full article - Content Marketing is NOT the Hot New Trend
Jon's examples are B2C so far. Have you seen any relevant examples of similar approaches in B2B marketing over the years?
Content Marketing Report to Share with Your Strategic Marketing Team
Companies increasingly outsourcing content marketing
This is one trend in particular that we follow. This study found that
- Over half (62% of respondents) use outsourcing for at least a portion of their content marketing activities, a significant increase over last year.
- On average 25% of their content creation budget is spent with outside resources such as consultants and agencies.
- Larger companies are 24% more likely than smaller companies to outsource content.
As an outsourced strategic marketing team, we've seen companies outsource for a whole host of reasons including not having the skills in house, lack of bandwidth on the part of the marketing team, etc. The best results we've seen is when companies take a proactive stance, and bring in outside consultants or agencies to work alongside the internal team to incorporate a fresh perspective, new ideas and a customer focused view.
Need help justifying outsourced content marketing?
We've always believed that its a good idea to bring some outside in marketing to your content generation activities to assure engaging, relevant, compelling content. Some of the key stats in this report may help your leadership and marketing teams to build support for such an initiative - leveraging your internal know-how with some experienced content marketing consultants.
Content Marketing Institute Study: Interesting Facts
Came across a great study focused on the Content Marketing Explosion. Validates that quality content is the foundation for search and social media success, and marketing's importance to the organization.
We see tremendous momentum in this area - and are increasingly seeing job specs circulating with the title Content Marketing Manager for companies who choose to have a dedicated in house resource. Others are outsourcing or contracting to get the expertise and focus. All good for marketers.
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Highlights from the study that should be of interest to you:
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And, most importantly - "Creating content isn't enough. It's EXCEPTIONAL and UNIQUE content that stands out. Great content is rewarded by users and search engines alike."
Read the research findings to learn more - in particular Tactics Used by B2B Content Marketers.
Does Your Website Reflect a Healthy Marketing Communication Strategy?
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Many of our strategic marketing consulting engagements come about because a prospective client is looking for help to re-design a website. For us – these requests are akin to a patient going to their physician with a ready-made diagnosis looking for a brand name medication promoted by a new ad-driven blitz promoting the latest cholesterol reducing drug or the inevitable little blue pill.
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In many cases, the initial request for a site refresh appeared quite specific, but pulling back the covers during an initial website assessment soon revealed the greater underlying problems to be solved.
Like a good physician, we take a methodical, objective approach to understanding what each specific ache or pain might mean for the general health of the patient, and what red flags will help us address more serious organizational issues that must be tackled to make a site refresh successful for the long-haul – a sustainable web health maintenance plan, if you will.
As an outsourced marketing firm we have been asked to develop sites from scratch – finding an effective way to develop and tell a story when the message (and market) had not been fully understood. In one case, we were tasked with helping combine the web content of three distinct organizations that were merged through acquisition – and had to work through the sudden retrenchment of several key members of the project team before the task was complete – essentially playing the role of EMT to transition the project (alive and kicking) to a new administration that was still formulating a joint messaging strategy.
The Benefit of an Outside In Marketing Diagnosis
In another case, the desire for a refresh was prompted by a change in executive leadership – with a much larger underlying need to bring the external message in line with the core internal mission driving the business. The pressures of perceived new competition had pushed the company’s external positioning away from the essential values that had made it successful in the first place. Our “outside-in” methodology revealed a simple truth – “Go back to basics to position your company as distinct from the competition – the pioneering legacy you have developed still sets you apart in the marketplace”.
The newly revitalized site focused more on industry leadership and differentiated market needs, not just engaging in a broad, never-ending cycle of technical spec one-upmanship that can easily silence the trusted voice that communicates actual benefits to the customer.
What Symptoms to Look For on Your Site?
Here are some of the symptoms we look for as a strategic marketing team assessing the health of a prospect's website:
- Who in the organization is driving the website refresh - and why?
- Is the desire for a change aesthetic or functional?
- Are the needs of the customer real or hearsay?
- Are there clearly stated goals and success metrics in place for the existing site that are understood throughout the organization?
- Are there baseline analytics and historic performance data against which to assess the performance of the new site?
- What is the sustainable content development plan for the new site?
- Do the subject matter experts within the organization understand their obligation to support site content – will they blog?
- Is there a part of the organization that feels pressured to jump on the social media "bandwagon" – which, and why?
- Do sales and marketing agree on the role of the site in supporting lead generation programs?
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If you’d really like to dig much deeper into some actual metrics around site re-design, Hubspot CMO Mike Volpe has some great research data measuring a wide range of drivers and success criteria in his webinar - The Science of Website Redesign
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So - get some exercise, eat your veggies and take a look at your website with the objective eye of a good diagnostician. Your site is a key public face of your organization. What is it telling the outside world about the marketing health of your company?
Inside Out or Outside In?
Many of our clients know that my mantra is one of “Outside In Marketing”. What is Outside In Marketing?
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To me, it’s looking at the business through the eyes of the customer, understanding their pain points and the value they have derived, and then using their words to develop marketing content so that it’s relevant and resonates with future prospects. When I googled Outside In Marketing, I was pleased to find several other marketing consultants preaching the same message which is reassuring.
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Inside Out Marketing: the default approach
Surprisingly, many B2B technology companies, a segment we spend a lot of time with, are the biggest offenders of the opposite approach - Inside Out Marketing. Smart engineers build great technology with lots of bells and whistles. Product managers load up the marketing arsenal with features, features, features. Corporate marketers host an internal messaging workshop with a team of people guessing at what might be of interest to the customer. Web content and other collateral gets written. Products and programs are launched to the market. Sales is left to interpret and guess what the benefits to the customer might be, so they develop their own pitches and presentations and there is no consistent message. No one along the way thought to talk to a customer.
Hard to see the forest for the trees
It can be challenging for marketing organizations to employ an Outside In Marketing approach for many reasons. They may be too close to the process to take an objective view. They may not have the resources. They may not know how or where to begin or even who to talk to. There may be trust issues on the part of the customer, or even the sales force who could broker the conversation.
The path to Outside In Marketing
Organizations who do it best, work with a neutral third party who knows how first to engage with the sales force, establish a relationship and earn their trust. One who knows how to structure a discussion with the customer and ask the right questions to uncover the true customer experience. And who can translate the key findings into useful and actionable messaging.
Evolving a marketing organization from Inside Out Marketing to Outside In Marketing can be done, doing it successfully just takes some "Outside In" expertise.
Think about your own company. Are you Inside Out or Outside In?
Is Online Video Part of Your Company's Inbound Marketing Plan?
Our friend Phil Greenough at Greenough Communications has posted a great video clip example (embedded below) that highlights how some of their clients have begun to add video customer testimonials to support their PR and communications strategy. It is now easier than ever to shoot, post and host smart video clips that help to cut through the clutter to deliver customer testimonials that resonate.
Have you thought about how video could help you boost your inbound traffic? In fact, this is a simple way to leverage your existing customer testimonials and customer case studies for maximum impact as part of an overall inbound marketing strategy.
Update
Our friends at VideoLink recently posted a guest article by Paul Wolfe of OneSpoonataTime.com further highlighting the benefits of Video Content Marketing:
- Video Can Be Syndicated More Effectively
- Video Establishes Your Personality Faster
- Using Video Differentiates You From The Competition
- Sometimes A Picture IS Worth A Thousand Words
- Video Plays Better On Mobile Devices Than Text
Are You Really Ready to Engage PR?
- When is the right time to engage a PR agency?
- How do I get the best return on my PR agency relationship?
- PR is not working, should I change agencies?
We are often asked these questions by our clients, in particular by CEOs. There is a sense that they need to “do PR” to increase visibility but selecting an agency and committing to a monthly retainer for the first time can feel daunting. We’ve seen as well, many situations where we are called on the scene to help right the ship or lead an agency search when “PR just isn’t working” but they don’t know why.
Every business can benefit from PR.
If done well, at the right time, with the right resources behind it. Many companies, however, feel they need to engage with an agency or change agencies without truly understanding what they need to bring to the table to be successful. It’s a partnership, not a one way effort. The agency can execute best when the proper planning is done, the company generates frequent and relevant content in the form of verifiable customer success and business momentum, and that proper expectations are set around what PR is going to deliver.
Timing is everything with PR.
So is preparation and planning. And content. We encourage our clients to not engage until the ducks are in a row and the arsenal is loaded with the proper ammunition. For example, a crisp positioning and messaging platform, an array of customer case studies, testimonials and willing references to speak to the media. As well, to align the proper resources in the organization to support the effort – who will support the blogging efforts, who are trained and available to speak to the media on certain areas of expertise. PR is not just the work of the marketing department, but a coordinated effort of many subject matter experts across the company.
We’ve seen what works well - have you?
Let us know how you have succesfully planned the transition to a new PR agency or campaign - what has worked and what you would differently next time.
Is It Time to Rebrand?
As strategic advisors to our clients, we are often asked by the CEO - “should I rebrand my company”? They may have a nagging sense that their message isn’t fresh. Or, changes in the landscape – ie, new competitors, have challenged them to take stock. Or their VP of Marketing is pushing strongly for funding for a rebranding effort.
Our answer is always the same. Maybe, maybe not.
Never believing in branding for branding sake, we always suggest an “outside in” assessment to bring perspective to those internally who may be too close day to day. The answer after this process is not always the same. Sometimes, it’s yes. Sometimes, it’s no. Sometimes, it calls for a positioning and messaging evolution, not a revolution.
Not so fast.
One client truly thought that with a new CEO at the helm, little change in positioning in the six years since it launched and a major competitor encroaching, that they needed to rebrand. The assessment showed that there was incredible brand equity among their customers, that they were the leader in the space they had created, and that the perceived competitor was actually a potential partner. Rebranding would have negated all that good work to date.
Message to all stakeholders.
Another client was finding increasingly that IT was showing up late to the game and disrupting the sales cycle believing that they had a better, corporate standard solution. The assessment confirmed that the business buyers would always consult IT, but they had no message for these important influencers. Not losing the heritage in their specific niche of the market, they kept the top line positioning the same, but including white papers, webinars and a track on the web site specifically for IT enabled the sales people to more confidently approach and sell to IT earlier in the cycle.
Smart decision.
One CEO who values the importance of solid brand and positioning left one IT security company to head up another and called us to help rebrand the company. He recognized that the IT security marketplace places high value on professionalism and credibility and couldn’t in good faith hand out a business card until they were at par with their competition marketing wise. A one month intense and collaborative effort really forced the issue to define the essence, value proposition and image he wanted to portray entering the new market. A worthwhile (but frantic!) exercise to get it right.
We've also seen long, expensive brand overhaul projects - new logo, new look and feel, new web site - all because companies thought they needed to "rebrand" when really all they needed was to take stock and shore up their positioning and messaging. What have you seen?