The Worth of a Professional on Your Project

Everyone thinks they can get the money without the hard work. This is no better illustrated than in the Marketing Efforts in business. I cannot enumerate how many times I have come across a small business or even a burgeoning business yearning to break out of their boundaries who have turned ther most important factor for growth and profits to their nephew or cousin named Jimmy or Danny who can, “Do things on the Internet.”

Sure! Why not hand over the engine that feeds your business; that moves people to become lifelong and loyal customers; which means the triumph or failure of all you have built up to an untrained mind that;s working and living out of their parents basement. To do such a thing is equivalent of doing a few rounds of Russian Roulette with all but one chamber filled with the “Mistake Bullet” that will snuff out your business.

I’m the frst to admit that oftentimes Marketing is like throwing wet spaghetti against a wall to see what sticks. However it takes a trained Marketing Professional to know which type of flour to use for those noodle strands to most readily adhere to the wall once in contact. It takes experience to know the throwing strategies and techniques to use to maximize surface coverage. Likewise, it takes a honed mind to know the ingredients to place in the water of Preparation used in making the spaghetti softened to stick.

Large corporations have found out that you must get those who have “been there and done that” when it comes to communicating their messages to thosw who will make the difference for their bottom lines. Marketing is the life blood of the business, the main mechanism that pumps into the company the new, the more, and the more profitable. Accounting makes sure things are stable, Fulfilment keeps Customer Satisfaction, but it is Marketing that keep everything alive and thriving.

The Profitable Question that faces every business large and small is; What Marketing Strategies and Tactics will get that Desired End Result? How Can we implement them? How can we measure our results?

Can Cousin Danny do that effectively? There’s a chance, that you can hit a home run off a major league pitcher’s fastball – heck, it’s possible you can even get a hole-in-one on a par 5. Sure there is always a chance an unexperienced relative (person) could stumble upon success – but it’s not bloody-well likely!

“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) You wouldn’t go to a welder to paint a da Vinci, just the same keep your nephew Jimmy at the yearly reunions and get a Professional for the Marketing success you want.

Newspapers Still a Viable Marketing Tool?

Recently a report came out (click here for link) detailing the circulation for the major metro newspapers are down, in some cases by double digits. This news comes on the heels of the ongoing news that more and more Americans and individuals across the globe are going to other sources for their news day.

The prowess, and the rates the large newspapers used to demand are no longer the norm. Many are near to completely collapsing their rate cards for their advertising. The ever powerful classifieds have now been usurped by the likes of Craigslist, and Google has been doing it’s best to cut into the long held belief that to gain marketshare, newspaper is an excellent way to accomplish that.

We pose the question once again, “Are newspapers still a viable Marketing tool?” The answer is … it depends. In times past it was a no brainer to add into your Marketing mix the tangent of Newspaper and the articles, ads, and classifieds. With this change of newspaper readership, it all now depends on which target audience you have in mind.

If you are trying to hit the trendsetter, the one who is the early adopter of a new product or someone under the age of 45 then do not rely on Newspaper. The Target Demographic is the older set, which sit down after a day at work, or in their retirement, and read their hard copy newspapers. Those who grew up watching their parents do the same, and have not had the influence of a computer in their workspace or lifespace, if these individuals are who you need to reach, by all means, hard copy newspaper is still where you can get to them.

However, if your demographic is not in that older set, in the older baby boomers group, newspapers are where you need to be, but only their Online Editions. People still go to a newspaper, and sometimes many times a day, but they do it Online. Getting the byline, or a Text Link, or placing an Ad on their home page is much more effective for this demographic than having anything hard copy.

This knowledge unfortunately places us into another question, “If not just newspapers then where are they going to get their information?” That is a question for each Marketing Professional gets paid to answer!

Marketing Design & Psychology

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. The things that come to the Marketing professional as naturally as breathing; alignment of graphics, copy formatting, the shade you place on the header of a keyword rich paragraph – the mechanics of the Marketing process may not come as easily to others as it does us lucky ones.

Yes, it may sound conceited, but it hardly takes a second thought for those of us who have finely tuned their skills to put together a vehicle of communication with words, or pictures, or a combination of both that is pleasing to the eye, and easy with which to connect.

Take the selection of colors… yeah the selection of colors! As a Designer, no matter what the Marketing vehicle, a billboard, a direct mailer, an online ad, or a whole web site, there is a whole ‘nother level to getting the message to your intended audience. If you were targeting motorcycle enthusiasts, you wouldn’t be using pastels, or fluorescent colors. Use colors that those you target would connect with… even better, use the colors that would evoke the desired feelings, the deeper emotional connection, the psychological tie they have of the color. In the instance of a motorcycle enthusiast, if you use the combination of black and orange in your design, you will be able to connect psychologically with the hard work that Harley Davidson has done over the years with their branding of the colors.

Each one of us has psychological connections to colors. For us who grew up in the ‘70’s the combinations of green, orange and brown plaid have special memories, as well as the rainbow colors on suspenders. Depending on each target audience (age group, hobbies and interests, etc.) each has their set they are tied to, each with their own set of “color codes”.

To have success in Marketing, it is essential to address of psychology of design, the perspectives of purpose, and branding. Colors and color schemes are a big part of this equation. When you as a designer can closely tie the target audience’s experience with your company together with the deep near subconscious positive emotions of that targeted individual, then is when you have created a loyal client.

Sounds like brainwashing doesn’t it? Over the years since the ability to broadcast over large areas was in effect, those who are in business large and small have attempted to brainwash…er, I mean, create a loyal customer to their services, products and brand.

In reality, it really is not brainwashing. Every one of us wants to feel pleasure, comfort, and safety in life. If a product or service that your company provides brings true pleasure, comfort or safety, this in real time, in perpetuity is fact, not fallacy that would constitute the need for brainwashing.

It is the exact opposite rather; when your design brings into view the essence that is most appealing about your brand which would satisfy the needs of your clientele; by getting them to feel certain emotions, which creates avenues for thoughts of how your company can satisfy those particular needs and drives them to act upon those thoughts with your company, products and services.

That’s what is called “Marketing’s Utopia” – when you have a product that matches up to all the hype and circumstance that it was created to satisfy – and the underlying effect that you can portray can be encased in the right colors used in the messaging, packaging, and presence online.

This psychological factor plays large in the proper Marketing to the multi-leveled Millennials. As mentioned, these individuals have been surround and bombarded by advertising all their waking hours since becoming aware of their environments. Their brains have not only been wired to filter out extemporaneous “white noise” but also have been trained to recognize the nuances of a smartly put-together Marketing campaign.

Colors are a large factor in this. In the American environs red signifies an alert, a high response, action… perhaps even agitation. You’ll find that blue and all the shades of it are most common in logos, packaging, backgrounds, and of graphics in general because it elicits confidence, calm, and trust. It is a preferred color of corporate America.

Even the lesser-used colors, the greens, and purples, the yellows and even the shades of black all carry with them connotations to those you target. When you understand whom your target market comprises of, and the segments within those targets, you will be able to match up the correct color schemes to them.

Don’t quite believe how important colors are? All of this just the rantings of an overly worked design simpleton? Try this test for me… Google – Corporate America, or even something more generic… business, for example… and take a look at the colors that are used. Look at the first 10, then google Women’s Issues or even something more generic than that… womanhood is good… and take a look at the colors being used on those types of sites. Even as elementary a demographic as Male and Female, colors play an integral part in getting the message, as I call it, as psychologically easy to be received as possible.

Of course, there are many other factors to consider, and to include when you are putting a Marketing piece together. To know which ones, in which order, and which not to include is what we Marketing Professionals like me get paid the big bucks to do. Suffice it to say here that we who truly care about what we represent, and the messages we place into the public general, are finely honed message machines looking to speak to the essence of the real you.

So the next time you’re asked which color are you, perhaps your answer will have a deeper, more meaningful significance for you than it had before.

Verizon’s Example

Verizon is doing the right and smartest thing they can do in times as these. The talk of this economic downturn has gotten all in a tizzy. Businesses large and small are near paralysis in which move to take next. The usual indicators that companies, their CEO’s, and boards have used to guide their moves of business have been found to be faulty. Billions, and yes that’s with a big capital ‘B’, Billions of dollars and market value have been “lost” through unsound business leveraging, over-extension of solid financial positions, and Ponzi schemes.

Through the name of fairness a.k.a. a Socialist agenda, the Feds have created and sustained as long as possible a currency bubble upon a credit bubble upon a housing bubble which was set up to mitigate the natural peaks and valleys of the American economy cycles through.

On the home front, being an employee is more tenuous than ever: businesses and banks are failing, thousands being laid off, budgets being cut or put on hold. All prognostications, depending with whom you talk, point toward in the least a long recession and at worst a deep depression of the world markets. Individuals from coast to coast are being directly affected by this bleak news and the onslaught of market corrections that are in process of a reset.

Although this house of cards looks like it may crumble at anytime, the free market system must move forward. Capitalism, that has built a nation as great as America moves on. Businesses risk being left in the wake of such economic waves to sell off and close their doors, or to trudge onward by keeping on with the Marketing and Advertising that made them successful in the recent past.

Keep spending on Marketing and Advertising? As you did before the bottom of the economy fell? Isn’t that irresponsible of a company to do that?? For some odd reason most in charge of a company’s bottom line feel that the lifeblood of a business, the actions that bring in new business, and maintain profits as proper Marketing Strategies do, are expendable and the first to be curtailed, cut off, deferred, in light of the money crunch being felt by the company.

I’ve never understood this, why stop bringing in new business, why hamper or stop the processes that would keep the doors open? Why would you tie up or cut off the hands that are feeding you? To stop your Advertising and Marketing efforts is to do just that!

One fine example of what to do in these turbulent times is Verizon. In a highly competitive industry with Sprint, Alltel, the iPhone and Tmobile they have maintained their spending on advertising on television and radio as before. However they have been uber-smart with the way they have been creating and sustaining their presence online as well. I am one who is primarily online, ya know because of what I do, and as I search my Ad Recall, Verizon is the one that stands out to me as the one who is doing it right. Their ads using the voice talent of Jim from the Office and of Chuck from Chuck with their spotlight of satisfaction that can be achieved using their network are hitting on all cylinders. They have balanced video 30 second commercials in the right places with the banners they scatter across portals and web sites that their target market frequent.

It doesn’t mean they with continue to, only means they are doing it now. Compare this to Tmobile. They nearly have no presence online for two months now, they do the static banners here and there… but for those active in video streaming… Tmobile is dropping the ball.

Another example of this principle in a dire time was Ford vs. Chevrolet back in the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Ford had dominated the market since the Model T. They being so big, so widespread, and so highly sought that their executives at the time as 1933 rolled in they stopped doing any advertising as a cost saving measure. Surely, they could float for a while on what they had done in the past. It was like every 1 in 5 cars on the road was a Ford, how could they not remain dominate? Along comes Chevy, who took the aggressive approach to make a name for themselves, while Ford rested on their haunches. They went to town on their advertising… on radio, in newspapers, in catalogs and in the movies. By the time WWII rolled around, Chevy was poised to overtake Ford as the leading auto manufacturer in America, having won over the American people because they had been in front of the public more than their competitors.

Whatever the company, Chevy… Verizon… or Mom and Pop’s Shop on the corner of Center Street and Main… Learn the timeless lesson, just because there is a downturn in the economy, doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a downturn on the demand of your product or service. Online sales don’t dip significantly because it is any less convenient now than it was before the downturn to buy from you.

That much the harder and more frequent you need to be in your Marketing efforts in times that we now find ourselves in. Just be smarter about when and where you place your messaging and have in place before the start of the Campaign the measuring sticks that you can see right away if one medium or message is working or not. If so successful, you can ramp it up and do more of, and if not, you can turn it off and move to another medium or message.

So what company are you, the one that wants to try to eat their crumbs with the stubby ends of their arms, or one that will delicately pluck out each morsel it can with their proverbial fingers? It’s your choice if you want to remain in business through all this or to close its doors, and become a greeter at the local Mega Market!

The Quills in My Quiver

What Makes Up an Effective Integrated Marketing Communicae

People I know, people who want to know more of what I do keep asking me, what is it that I actually do (Good Question) and what strategies and tactics (even a better question) I use.

Without giving away the Top Secret answers, in which I would have to terminate you for, I have decided to us the metaphor of a Sous Chef. Now from my days in college as a waiter of a country club (tips were horrible thank you) I will piece together what I do for businesses large and small.

A Sous Chef is the guy in charge in the kitchen, he decides what is being prepared, what is the special of the day and how it will be cooked and served to the public who walk in the doors. He orders the food from the wholesalers, and directs to the others how to prepare each dish. He takes from the myriads of ingredients that are available for him, and according to the dish desired by the Customer, creates a masterpiece on china (or in most cases Corelware). Packaged in such a way to gestate salivation upon sight of the dish. These pieste de resistances (please excuse my French) are then devoured by those who you have targeted to frequent your fine establishment. And paying you handsomely for it.

In today’s world as a business owner you have to be balanced in your approach more than ever. If you use too much ‘spice’ or ‘overcook’ the entree then it can be ruinous to the Marketing dish. You must know (which only comes thru experience) how to make it the best each time you put it on the ‘to go’ surface for your waiters.

Modern business dictates that you mix in what has been viewed traditionally as modes of operandi to gaining clientele, with the electronic, the new and the not-so-much-understood-but-everybody-uses contraptions. Strategies for regular business can be mixed in with heavy eBay shops, and MySpace networking. Just as a hypothetical of course…. yeah that’s the ticket!

Mostly, what I do, and have a knack for is understanding the Customer who you would like coming thru your doors and sitting at your tables. This is more apparent by clicking onto http://www.averagejoecitizen.com/marketing.html some of which I have contained in the Archive page here.

Stay tuned for more exciting stuff on Marketing, like your business depends on it, because it really does!