Earning Customer Loyalty (Strategic Tuesday/People)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and today is Strategic Tuesday. I recently saw a Hyundai automobile company online advertisement that made me think about customer loyalty.

There is an expression “loyalty can’t always be explained, but it explains a lot”.  Loyalty means your customers are very devoted to your brand.  We don’t always understand why, they just go out of their way to seek your brand and become your brand lovers.

What prompted this discussion is the fact that J.D. Power and Associates ranked Hyundai number one in customer loyalty this year.  Capitalizing on that, Hyundai created an advertising campaign targeted at college football fans called Show Your Loyalty Sweepstakes. Fans show off how they are loyal to their team for a chance to win a car or trip to a football game from Hyundai.

In this clever campaign Hyundai is matching the fact that they are the car company with the most loyal customers with fans loyal to their college teams.  That is a nice integration and a great idea.

The strategic question is what can you do to increase the loyalty of your customers?  The simple answer is that you give them what they want.  However, to achieve true loyalty you must create brand expectations and deliver on that promise.  Then customers will begin recognizing what your company is all about, they will gravitate toward your brand and use your product.  Over time they will become loyal if they like what you are delivering.

That concludes Strategic Tuesday.  Join us tomorrow for Action Wednesday.  If you need any branding or marketing support, please contact me to discuss an online or onsite service engagement. You can always find that information at the end of this video.  I'm Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we will see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

The Product Life Cycle and Your Marketing (Smart Monday/Product)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Smart Monday and we are going to take a look at the classic product life cycle and how that impacts your marketing.

It's interesting to note that 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.

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

Next is growth.  Sales are climbing, consumers are adopting the product and the company is beginning to make a profit.

In the maturity phase the product has been on the market for a while.  Sales are still climbing but profits are declining because competition has now entered the market.  Other companies like the original product so they are emulating it and taking away market share.  This is the point in time before the product starts going into decline and marketers have to consider how they are going to remarket this product.

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

The product life cycle requires that you take a long-term look at introduction through decline for your product.  It's important to know that you can alter your marketing anywhere in the process 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.

It is crucial to understand that the product life cycle for every product is different.  Some may rapidly go up and then decline and others might take longer so you have to be the expert in analyzing your own product life cycle to determine the marketing strategies that you will use.

That concludes Smart Monday.  Please join us tomorrow for Strategic Tuesday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

Be Selective with Your Social Media Campaign (Digital Friday/Process)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Digital Friday and we are discussing why it’s so important to be very choosy when you start your first social media campaign.

Social media is growing fast, which makes it difficult to keep up with all the potential sites available as an outlet for your marketing message.  I know from my own experience with Once a Day Marketing™ that you want to be everywhere but you really can’t.

A fellow consultant, Jan Zimmerman, says when it comes to social media it’s either your money or your life.  Meaning that you spend a lot of your money to launch a social media strategy or you spend a lot of your time to make it happen.

I highly recommend that you do have a social media presence for your business.  If you are considering moving into this channel, it’s important to determine which social media site is the best fit for your business and reaches the audience you want to target.  Research the various choices, talk to colleagues, read blogs and look at what similar businesses are doing.  Select the best option, then design and launch your campaign.

Start with one or two social media sites to begin with.  This approach will get you started and allow you to learn the process.  Leveraging social media will also enhance your search engine optimization.  Lastly, I recommend that you really perfect your involvement with one social media site before you move on to the next.

That concludes Digital Friday.  Join us next week for Smart Monday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

Managing Your Marketing: In-House or Out-Sourced? (Recon Thursday/Process)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Recon Thursday and we are starting a new series around assessing your own branding and marketing efforts to determine whether or not you are doing a good job or if it may be time to seek outside support.

I know branding and marketing but I certainly don’t know automobile repair.  When it comes to my own marketing and branding I do that.  But if my car breaks down I certainly don’t fix it myself, it’s just not my core competency.

Now that you are beginning to understand what branding and marketing is, you should evaluate the results of your recent branding and marketing activities and determine if you are achieving your goals and attaining the desired results.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when considering whether or not you should be doing your own marketing or having it out-sourced:

-          Do you have a marketing plan in place?
-          Are you implementing that plan?
-          Are you being consistent with that implementation?
-          Do your target customers now have a clear understanding of your brand?
-          Are you satisfied with your creative material (website, ad copy, brochures)?
-          Are your customers responding by calling, buying your product, visiting your website, etc.?

If you are honest in your assessment, then you know if your in-house branding and marketing is working or whether you should bring in a professional to support your efforts.  If you decide to hire outside assistance who should that be?  When should you bring them in?  What should you have them do?

Stay tuned for my future blogs in this series where we will discuss the different type of professional support and answer those questions for you so that you will have enough information to make informed decisions.

That concludes Recon Thursday.  Join us tomorrow for Digital Friday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

Make Your Product Easy to Buy (Action Wednesday/Place)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Action Wednesday and we’re taking a look at what you can do to make it easier for your customers to buy your product.

It’s nearing year-end, the economy seems to be turning around a bit and the holidays are approaching.  Now is a great time to consider what you can do to bolster sales.  One item to focus on is making your product easy for your customers to find.

There are a few things I want you to do for Action Wednesday.  First look at where your products are being distributed now.  Are you able to increase their presence in those distribution channels?  Are there new channels you can implement in the fourth quarter?

If you are retailing your product online, determine how to display it on your website so it is very easy for customers to buy.  If you are selling through retailers and distributors, consider how you can assist them to enhance the placement of your product.

When your customers have finally decided to buy a product and, in particular your product, you want to make sure it’s very easy for them to find.  If they have to look very hard they may accidentally discover your competitor’s products and might just buy that instead.

Ensure your product is very visible.  Make that purchase easy for your customers and enjoy the enhanced sales you will have by the end of the year.

That concludes Action Wednesday.  Join us tomorrow for Recon Thursday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

Targeting the Hispanic Market (Strategic Tuesday/Promotion)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Strategic Tuesday. An article I read recently in the New York Times is prompting the discussion of whether or not you are targeting the Hispanic market as part of your marketing strategy.

There is a growing trend right now to target the Hispanic market in mainstream advertising.  Let’s look at the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine.  Daniel Craig as James Bond graces the cover; however, on the back cover you will see an entirely different Rolling Stone.  Latino artist Pitbull is featured and all the text is in Spanish.  A special section includes 15 pages of articles that are in English and Spanish, even advertisers are getting involved, targeting the Hispanic market.

In the past you would find Spanish ads almost exclusively on Spanish radio stations, in a Spanish newspaper or on a Spanish television station.  Now advertising in Spanish is going main stream.  Rolling Stone magazine is a prime example.  17% of their readers are Hispanic.

What you will see in this special edition are articles that are in Spanish and English as well as ads that are in both languages.  In particular Proctor & Gamble with products such as Charmin, Gain and Bounty is advertising in both languages.  P&G says that the growth of some of its brands is directly attributed to the Hispanic market.

Use of the dual-language advertising is a reflection of the fact that acculturated Latinos are speaking both English and Spanish at home and outside of the home.

The strategic question for you today is to consider what you are or should be, doing to ensure that your product or services are properly aligned to target this market.

That concludes Strategic Tuesday.  Join us tomorrow for Action Wednesday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.

Time of Consumer Adoption of Innovations (Smart Monday/Process)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Smart Monday and we're going to take a look at Everett Roger’s diffusion of innovation model and how it will assist you to understand your customer’s adoption patterns for new product innovations.

An innovation is any new product, service or idea perceived by your customers as new.  According to Roger’s diffusion of innovation model, the length of time it takes consumers to adopt a new product is represented by a bell shaped curve.  This tells us that people differ in their desires to try new things and the length of time it takes them to buy a new product varies widely.

The model breaks consumers into five groups.  Innovators, who comprise 2.5% of consumers, are adventuresome; they like and seek out risk and are the first to buy new products.  Early adoptors, 13.5% of consumers, are opinion leaders and once they make a decision to buy typically others will follow suit.

The largest group is the early majority who make up 34% of consumers.  This group is very deliberate but they chose to follow the early adoptors when making purchases.  Next, the late majority also at 34%, tend to be skeptical.  When they see other consumer getting on board, they will also seek out a new product.

Finally we have the laggards who comprise about 16% of consumers at the tail end of the curve.  This segment is very traditional and they need to know that a product is well proven before they will buy.

Understanding adoption patters for your customers is important to accurately target your advertising.  Once you categorize your customers into the various groups of adoptors you will be able to leverage demographics and psychographics to determine media characteristics and create a compelling advertising message for each group that will resonate specifically with them.

For instance, when marketing to innovators you may use a line such as “be the first”.  This will generate excitement with that group when there is a new product available.

In contrast, addressing the laggard group you might say “a proven product withstanding the test of time”.  Increasing their comfort level with your product.

That concludes Smart Monday.  Join us tomorrow for Strategic Tuesday.  To discuss an online or onsite service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and we’ll see you next time.

© 2012 Once a Day Marketing™.  All rights reserved.