It’s Not about having a Great Product or Service.

It’s about having a great product or service and repeatedly convincing many people that you do. How you do that depends on your particular product or service, your target, your specific marketing goal, and your budget. It also depends on how visible, likable, informative, engaging, creative, memorable, and smart your message is.

Examples
Results

The past decade saw a seismic shift in marketing communications as blogs, podcasts,  online video, and other forms of Social Media led the media evolution. It’s an exciting time. And yet, with this evolution, the focus on “message” has, too often, been lost. In many cases, the over-reliance on new media and technology, has sacrificed the focus on development of a compelling, creatively engaging, message.

The most successful companies and organizations (Apple, Google, Team Obama, etc) work with marketing experts to help them develop and maintain a strong brand message realizing that the media and technology is only a tool — a tool to help them get their important message out.

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“G-Cred“, a term coined by John Follis in ’05, has become part of the Web 2.0 vocabulary. What exactly is it, and why must every product, service, and professional have it?  Right click to download. Read the ADWEEK article.

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When logo design prices range from 50 grand to 50 bucks (for a cheesy prefab logo) it’s no wonder business owners are confused about logo cost. The answer lies somewhere in the middle with independent designers and design firms offering logo services for every price range. So, the question besides price is: “What’s a ‘good’ logo?”

For many business owners that answer is: whatever floats their boat. However, a truly good logo must be right for your business from a marketing/communication standpoint. Some key considerations are:

<> It must be a simple design.
<> It must work equally well in both color and black & white.
<> It must look good small.

Most importantly, it must represent your business or product and communicate your “brand essence.” So, what does that mean? Check out these examples.

Tis better to risk ruffling feathers than risk being ignored.

If your advertising/marketing doesn’t grab attention, and possibly even ruffle some feathers, it may not be that good. Because, as everyone knows, about 90% of people are numb to about 90% of ads. And, if your message gets overlooked you’ve just wasted your time and money. Not that an ad has to be controversial to be effective, but, those that are — if also truthful, on strategy, and highly creative — often generate the best results. Like these:

Controversy: The minister initially rejected it believing that it would offend some church members. But he also understood and appreciated what we were trying to do. When the ad finally ran, many conservative church members were offended.

Results: Younger, non-church members (the main target audience) loved it and the provocative campaign helped increase membership over 30% by the 2nd year. It also got positive press in The New York Times. The minister later informed us that many people told him that, of all the ads, this was their favorite — and the most memorable. The campaign is featured in Prentice-Hall’s Principles of Marketing and this Fall marks the 11th consecutive year of the nationally recognized campaign.

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Controversy: Daffy’s Off-Price retail message is that you’re crazy to pay retail. Yet, some hated this ad so much they actually picketed in the streets. The Alliance for the Mentally Ill insisted that the ad was very offensive.

Results: Major press in The New York Times, etc which fueled sales and helped add to a 25% dollar volume increase. Clearly, many others disagreed with The Alliance. (See other Daffy’s ads)

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Controversy: Picking on Smuckers Jam is like picking on Mom and apple pie. Yet, to make our point we believed we had to do it. Fortunately, our savvy client agreed eventhough he knew that Smuckers might try to sue his pants off.

Results: A 90% sales increase the first month, a featured article in Forbes, and no lawsuit. Because what we said was true. In fact, the results were so dramatic that our client doubled his media spending the following month and the campaign went on to become a case study taught at Harvard Business School.

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Controversy: Our original client rejected the ad fearing negative feedback. So, we found another client — one who believed in the message enough to run it and stand behind it.

Results: A month after the print ad ran we got a request from the client for 1000 posters because so many schools, social workers and protective care agencies were requesting copies of it. Our agency later received the first ever United Nations Humanitarian Award for an ad.

To view some of our less controversial work, visit:
http://www.follisinc.com/theads.htm

Hear John Follis talk about the campaigns that built his award-winning ad agency and explain why most small business owners need therapy. (Download MP3)

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1) They don’t fully understand it.
Perception: Marketing is advertising.
Reality: Marketing may not even include advertising.
Perception: Marketing is an expense.
Reality: Done right, marketing your product is the best investment you can make.

2) They rely almost exclusively on Word-of-Mouth.
Even if you have great word-of-mouth you can’t afford to sit back and wait for customers. You must be proactive.

3) They think they can’t afford it.
This ties in with the perception/reality issue where people hear marketing and think traditional advertising that’s expensive and often ineffective. Effective marketing involves a smorgasbord of very cost-effective, non-traditional, creative options and executions.

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Bad Production is a Cred Killer.

Content may be king, but if the content is not presented professionally, with quality production,  it’ll kill your credibility.

Bad (and good) production applies to all marketing material, from business card to podcast. For example, a business card printed on a cheap or thin paper stock is a subliminally bad message about your company. All company print material has to look, and feel, top shelf.

Same with broadcast. For example, I just listened to an informative podcast that was severely compromised by terrible production. The audio levels were so bad that I had to listen with one hand on the volume control for the entire interview. Not fun, especially while driving. Had they done a simple audio check first, the audio levels could have been easily corrected. Now, it’s circulating cyberspace branding that business as “unprofessional.” I’ve also seen bad production on websites via busted links, non-loading or poorly shot video, or very annoying 30-sec flash intros that either use loud annoying music or constantly replay.

You get the idea. Now, be sure you’re not guilty of it.