Once a Day Marketing: January 2017

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Marketing 101: the 7Ps of Marketing - Place (Knowledge)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, "That Branding Guy" for Once a Day Marketing™. Today we’re sharing Part II in our series on the fundamentals of marketing using the 7Ps with a discussion of Process.

When it comes to marketing, there are two aspects of process; internal and external. A great internal process ensures that management and employees understand the company’s branding and marketing objectives and are working together to accomplish those goals.

External process is everything you are doing to get products to customers and generate sales. To evaluate your external marketing process, review the various channels through which customers seek information about your company or buy your product; include online, telephone, mail order and in person.

Look at all the touchpoints from the customer perspective. Ensure processes are efficient, provide an enjoyable experience and all interactions along the way generate positive feelings about having engaged your company. Focus on the following process elements:

Purchase – buying your product should be easy and convenient for the consumer
Customer communication – whether direct, indirect, social media or inbound marketing, ensure it makes customers feel good about doing business with you
Follow-up - ensure the customer is happy with their purchase. If they are not satisfied with their purchase, provide a prompt exchange or refund
Ask for feedback so you can improve your process in the future
Branding - is perception of your brand what you want it to be? If not, launch a branding campaign to begin aligning the brand image in the mind of your customers with the brand identity that you want them to have.

Effective internal and external processes enable consistent customer experience and are one of the keys to the success of marketing and branding. A great customer experience enhances perception of the brand in the mind of the customer and increases the likelihood of them buying your product or service again in the future.

Once a Day Marketing™ inspires clients to brand bold. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at11:00am (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

ARVRUS: a 360 Virtual Reality Platform (Strategy)

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: ARVRUS Virtual Reality Marketing Platform

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we discussed branding and marketing of a startup virtual reality platform company.

Joining us on-air was Elan Colello - CEO of ARVRUS. Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ARVRUS is developing a multi-channel marketing platform for virtual reality (VR) content. VR files are extremely large due to the 360° experience and today distribution is difficult. Elan and his team investigated the need of this channel and created ARVRUS to solve the challenges of distribution.

To name the company, Elan conducted extensive research. ARVRUS includes “AR” standing for augmented reality (like google glass); “VR” for virtual reality and “US” because virtual reality is for everyone.

Virtual reality has been influencing our world since the 1960s. At that time the technology was not advanced enough to keep up with innovative ideas. Now large investment by Facebook and Google is changing VR usage.

Currently VR is being used by architects and home builders for modeling which provide customers with a 3-D perspective and demonstration of conceptual ideas. Stores are beginning to sell VR headsets, companies have dedicated VR services and even the ABQ International Balloon Museum has a large VR display. Future applications of VR technology include providing virtual medicine, education and other services to remote areas.

Elan described VR as providing a taste that can pique a viewer’s interest in vacation spots, filming locations, museums and non-profit activities. When used for marketing it increase website hits, viewing time and Google ranking.

Elan’s marketing goals for ARVRUS in 2017 include direct marketing to people who are already producing VR content. They are also seeking New Mexico investors however it has been a challenge since the VR technology market is not developed in NM yet.

ARVRUS’ biggest branding challenge is having a target market outside of New Mexico. To mitigate this, Elan and his team are differentiating themselves as thought leaders in the industry.

Enjoy the show!

Once a Day Marketing™ inspires clients to brand bold. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11:00am (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Marketing 101: The 7Ps of Marketing – Place (Knowledge)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, "That Branding Guy" for Once a Day Marketing™. Today we’re beginning a series on the fundamentals of marketing using the 7Ps with a discussion of Place.

One of the key questions every business has to consider is where to distribute their product, or, which are the right places to be selling their product in. There are many outlets to sell products including direct sales, brick and mortar retail, online and catalogs. The sales process might be centered around trade shows in the Business to Business environment.

To identify the right places to focus sales efforts, start by consider which channels are currently leveraging today to make your product available to customers and potential customers. Seriously evaluate all the ways your customers can buy your product.

Then consider these strategic questions:

Are products being distributed everywhere they should be?
Which channels are generating the best results?
Which channels are providing the lowest sales?
Do you need to make changes to how you distribute product through existing channels?
Are there new channels your company could be taking advantage of?

Monitor results by distribution method on an ongoing basis to ensure customers are finding your product where they want it to be and you are achieving the results you expect. If a particular channel is working for you, then keep pushing product through it. If another channel has poor results, consider shutting it down.

Also research what your competition is doing. You may be able to identify an interesting practice that you can emulate. Seek best practices from a broad perspective as well, there may be a company doing something creative with respect to how they are pushing their products through a channel and you can do the same thing.

Lastly, you can always ask your customers which distribution methods best meet their needs. Again, the goal is to be where they want to find your product, not necessarily in the channel that you prefer.

Monday, January 16, 2017

How Product Lifecycle Influences Marketing (Knowledge)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, "That Branding Guy" for Once a Day Marketing™. Today we are discussing the classic product life cycle introduced by Raymond Vernon in the 60's and how it still impacts marketing in 2017.

Products evolve a lot like people. They are born, grow, mature, age and then pass on. There are four stages to the classic product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

During Introduction an idea is transformed into a product that is introduced into the market place. Production and marketing costs are initially high at the outset and profits may be low.

Next is Growth. Branding and marketing are driving a sales increase, consumers are gaining awareness and adopting the product; the company is beginning to make a profit.

In the Maturity phase the product is established in the market place. Sales are still climbing but profits are declining because competitors have now entered the market. Other companies latch on to the original product and emulate it, resulting in reduced market share. In this phase, before the product slides into decline, marketers have an opportunity to remarket the product by focusing on differentiators that make the customer feel great about using it.

During the Decline stage, when sales and profits are falling off, a business has to evaluate whether they want to reinvent the product or retire it and bring a new innovation into the market place.

You can alter your marketing strategy anywhere during the stages based on the marketing mix that is required at that time. At introduction perhaps you employ more promotion strategies and later on move into leveraging pricing strategies.

Remember that the life cycle is different for every product. Some offerings may see sales rise rapidly and then decline while others may be slower to rise and fall. You have to be the expert in analyzing your own product life cycle to determine the marketing strategies that are the best fit for each phase.

Once a Day Marketing™ inspires clients to brand bold. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11:00am (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.