My Article from Business in Vancouver (Feb 7-13)

Keep your company’s brand from falling into the wrong rat hole 

 

It’s 2012; how is your brand or company unique? 
When I’m working with clients to help either define or refine their brand definition, “How is your brand unique?” is one of my favourite questions. It’s a challenging and critical question to work through. Having an answer to this and other brand-related questions lays the foundation for the brand story and sets up an organization for much marketing success across all marketing touch-points.
There are many places that a brand can look to try to answer this key question. That being said, the “unique” rat holes one can venture down are numerous and vast. Let’s explore some of those possible places, the associated rat holes and some tips.

Rat Hole No. 1: Who do I compare my brand to? Is it direct competitors? Indirect competitors? What if my category has yet to be established? For instance, take a new concept: raw and organic pet food. Does it look at organic pet food competitors? More mainstream pet food brands? Or perhaps owners who prepare homemade pet food for their furry friends?
Tip: Review your business plan and focus on where you have projected your growth and your source of business. Use that as a basis for defining your uniqueness.

Rat Hole No. 2: Consider the how. Many companies focus on trying to find a product/service-based feature or unique selling proposition.
This rarely exists, and if it does, it’s often obscure (see Rat Hole No. 3). More so, if it is any good, a feature-based unique aspect can be copied by your competition. Instead, take some time to venture into how you provide your product/service. This can be an untapped “unique” goldmine.
Tip: Consult with customers that have a good relationship with your brand and organization asking them what you are unique at.

Rat Hole No. 3: Steer clear of the obscure. Ensure that what makes your brand unique is customer-centric. Ideally, what you cite as unique should be relevant and important to your defined target group. Another area to avoid is dressing basic or green fees material in unique clothing. Example: “our people”; while I’m sure your people are fantastic and maybe this rings true, you need to dig a little deeper to unearth what about your people is unique. Is it the culture? If so what about? Is it the customer service process? If so what about?
Tip: Be sure to frame it up from a customer point of view.

Rat Hole No. 4: Aspects of history can be good. Being around since 1929 doesn’t count for much today. That being said, history can be a fantastic source for unique aspects. Some potential areas to look into: track record of client success, reputation and being in a nascent space for a relatively long time.
Tip: Make sure it’s relevant for today.

Rat Hole No. 5: Don’t go solo. Just as important as the answer is the process of involving and aligning various stakeholders within the organization. This is true not only on the “unique” question but other brand-based questions and marketing direction. How much involvement is needed? This depends on the corporate culture, size and the number of stakeholders. I find that people outside marketing have great input, appreciate being heard and enjoy participating. As a result they’re more receptive to the marketing output and marketing in general. Given that so much of brand experience happens beyond the marketing department, it’s critical that the other areas of the organization are onside and flying the brand flag high and proud.
Tip: Have a plan on how to involve those beyond marketing and manage their input. There are lots of rat holes and even a few rats in marketing. Being able as an organization to articulate what makes your brand unique, in combination with answers to some other key brand questions, goes a long way to providing focus and fuelling the successful marketing of your brand and business.

Leave the rat holes for your competition. •

My call to Monster Energy

Yesterday, I like many others were saddened by the news of the death of Sarah Burke and then shocked by the news of the $500,000 medical bill for which there was no insurance coverage.

I was following the story via various social media feeds and was angered by the reports regarding Monster Energy. Monster Energy was the sponsor of the event that Sarah was at and training for but also Sarah was one of their profiled and sponsored athletes. Apparently, Monster Energy was editing negative comments on their FB page, had not commented or acknowledged Sarah’s death or updated their website where Sarah’s photos, bio and videos were featured. I checked out their site and sure enough…nothing!

The were calls in the Social Media space for Monster Energy to “man up” and cover the uninsured medial bills. One FB post featured Monster Energy’s phone number, an extension number and encouraged people to call.

For whatever reason I called them up. I was amazed that the phone was answered.  When I said I wanted to talk about Sarah Burke – I got no comment. I told them that I worked in marketing/PR and that they were getting slammed big time in the social media space. I wanted to provide some free advice. Doing the right thing would be smart but at least do something! For starters, acknowledge her death, put something up on FB or better yet their website.  I was asked my name and was then given a cold thank you.

Not that it was my doing but Monster Energy finally later that afternoon put up the below “Ski in Peace” post with photo on their webpage and plugged it via facebook and twitter. This was a full 24 hours after Sarah passed on. 

Should Monster Energy pay those uninsured medical bills? That is an entirely different conversation. Should they have done something…anything sooner? Absolutely. Consider this. In the time that it took them to make the above post to their website . Fundraising websites like at giveforward.com below were set up and about $200,000 was raised…. With an average of $67 per donation, that means that about 3,000 people went and donated on line.  It really is amazing how quickly and slowly movement can happen! (this might correlate to the number of lawyers involved)

Monster Energy responded at glacial pace and came across as not respectful or remotely human. In my opinion they also missed out on an opportunity to step up and harness all the emotion and grief and do something special for Sarah, her family, friends and fans and in the process show everyone what the Monster Energy brand could be about.

The moment passed them. 

It is here - M-Commerce at Starbucks

It was a big day for mobile commerce at Starbucks Canada. Today was day two that customers were able to pay via mobile phone. Being a Starbucks fan, cardholder and mobile enthusiast I was keen to see what the experience would be like.

When I asked to pay by phone for my tall coffee the staff at my local Starbucks were giddy with excitement. This was their first time doing this…all three of them huddled around me. Wow.... they wanted to see the cash register, my phone, print and check the receipt. The whole transaction from every angle. These Starbucks people were into it and obviously had been well briefed.

The way it works is that you sync Starbucks card/account info onto the updated Starbucks app. When you go to pay you present the card view of the Starbucks app, they scan it and instantly you see the updated balance on your phone. It is pretty cool.

   time to reload the SBUX card! 

                                                           

That all being said. How much more convenient is this really? If I am on my phone emailing or surfing the web while I am waiting in line to order or pay – am I going to want to switch over to my Starbucks app, pay and then switch back to finishing what I was doing… it might be easier to pay by my Starbucks card or old school cash.

One benefit, besides not needing your wallet or card, is tracking your Starbucks rewards. I personally believe that Starbucks has missed about 100 of my visits as I only have 11 stars… I should be double gold level!!!

Starbucks is another example of a company moving mobile commerce forward. When I talk to clients and potential clients who think that mobile commerce is a ways a way… I remind them it depends on what type of mobile commerce - lots of people pay for parking by phone and now this… all baby steps towards Google wallet, Paypal, Smart type card readers that insert in iphones and NFC based mobile commerce which all are gaining steam fast. It might not be right for all brands and businesses but mobile commerce will be for many.

Nothing like controversy in marketing

The below video "We are the Future (Marketing)" was recently shown at a marketing conference I attended. I found it quite thought provoking and exciting for what the future of marketing could be. I searched for it on your tube and learned it was produced in the UK earlier this year by media agency phD and used at a conference also.

The video on youtube seems to have gotten a different reaction than at the conference. Most of the comments on youtube were quite negative. There was 370 likes and about 1800 dislikes
Probably the negative comment writers were not marketers.
They probably were not provided any context either.
What do you think?

Ranting about Optimization

The proliferation of mobile and smart phones is driving unprecedented internet usage via mobile. In the UK, the BBC recently reported that 45% of all UK internet use is from mobile. I know we are “behind” here in the US and Canada, but not by much and the IDC predicts by 2015 majority of internet use will be by mobile. Another interesting data point to note, around 350 of Facebook’s 800 Million users access FB via mobile.

All marketers know that mobile is hot and “gosh I better do something…” Unfortunately too many are too quick to jump on the iphone “app” tactic train.

                                                             Another Fisburne classic

While marketers are out kicking app tires, their brands mobile website sits neglected and is merely a mini version of their website. It is not optimized for mobile and so consumers on smart phones have to zoom in and around, tap or click and squint to use the site. Think about it, consumers have to suffer through design and IA that was intended for a 15 or 20inch screen all scrunched up on your mobile phone screen. A simple example, many restaurants and cafes offering free WIFI - their “connect and agree to terms” page is not mobile web optimized.

                                                     Always Optimized - Starbucks

From Google Think Mobile this year in London, apparently 79% of Google’s largest advertisers don’t have a mobile optimized website (April 2011). Shocking when you think that mobile internet use consists for the most part of search, local, social, and augmenting shopping experiences.

So Optimize it. You want more motivation to optimize. I’ll bet your Google analytics report will provide some strong view counts coming from mobile - enough to justify doing some simple optimizing. It might not be as sexy as an iphone app but it is the right early mobile step to ensure a positive mobile brand touch point and experience for your customers.

Hackgate Strikes...sort of

I am just back from a few summer days away with the family and while away I learned that my twitter account was hacked into. I am pretty sure that I clicked on something I should have known better not to click on with my iphone. Being on by mobile I couldn't see the full landing URL I was on.

The worst part, I was without my computer and a decent 3GS signal so I could not do anything about it or see the extent of the hackage. My imagination ran wild...my password and settings surely had been changed and there were inappropriate tweets, photos, and material being blasted around the tweetasphere every minute from my account. It would be a complete nightmare to manage and right.

When I return home and plugged back in, I was rather disappointed to see the extent of the hackage.

Rolex. Diets. Earning money online. Wow! A few benign tweets - I had gotten off easy and learned a lesson.

The short form of Facebook and twitter which often contains a link (for twitter about 1 in 4 tweets contain a link) it can be easy to get duped. Combine this with proliferation of social media use on mobile and it is even easier to get lulled into clicking on something that kicks off spam or compromises security.

I thought that this infographic was interesting - especially the stats at the bottom which show complexity of password and time to hack it.

So as Captain Frank Furillo said on Hill Street Blues (all those years ago)... "hey - let's be careful out there."

We are open - yes really we are?

I have been doing marketing and business development for a DVD rental kiosk company. Yes there is still plenty of shelf life left in the DVD/Blu-ray market. It has been fascinating learning about the size of category in the US versus Canada. In the US there are over 45,000 DVD rental kiosks with key player Redbox dominating with about 30,000. Each of these kiosks are reported to do about $40,000 a year in revenue. Do the math. It's big business. Just have a look at this info graph from Fastcompany on Redbox.

In Canada there are probably less than a 1,000 kiosks with no real key player...just a bunch of smaller ones. The kiosks, locations, placements and movie selections are all pretty poor in Canada.

My related new favourite spectator sport is watching and hearing about Blockbuster and Rogers Video stores shutting down. It is amazing how fast this is happening - I am losing track of the score. For the stores that are actually still open they need to let their customers know...or else...well they will be shutting down too. I don't know how that makes potential customers feel. A topic for another day.

So how do you let people know you are still open for business?

Below: Sign at Blockbuster on Main Street, Vancouver:

And a slightly grander version at Blockbuster on Lonsdale, North Vancouver:

Remarkable.

I will let you know more about the video kiosk rental machines when they are up and running in Vancouver. In the meantime, if you see any Blockbuster or Rogers - yes we are open signs - take a pic - post them up or email to me.