How Marketing Can Go Beyond the 'Make It Pretty' Syndrome

by Laura Patterson

At a recent conference, Sylvia Reynolds, chief marketing officer for Wells Fargo, asked, "When did Marketing become the make-it-pretty department?" Reynolds then reminded conference participants that the fundamental role of Marketing has always been about the customer.

Essentially, Marketing's role is to find, keep, and grow the value of customers. So what does that mean, and how does a marketer get beyond the "make it pretty" syndrome?

We can use the American Marketing Association's (AMA) definition of marketing as a guide. The AMA defines marketing as "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."

By using this definition, we can see that marketing is more than a creative function; rather, it about a set of four critical customer-focused marketing processes.

Creating Value

Marketing sits in the space between the company's capabilities and what the customer wants. By understanding the core capabilities of the company, and then matching it with customer wants and needs, marketing drives value creation.

This means Marketing must fully understand the customer. In this capacity, the marketing organization serves as a driver of an organization's value chain by insuring products and services are shaped by customer expectations and demands.

Communicating Value

To be the chosen supplier for your customer, you first have to be on your customer's short list. To be on the customer's short list, you need to know what the customer values so that you can communicate how your company and its products/services deliver on this value in such a way as to create preference for your company and its products/services over alternative options.

Every customer touch point affects the customer's decision and action; therefore, every touch point needs to tied to and communicate the value proposition.

Delivering Value

By establishing a strong link between customer value requirements and the major value-producing activities in the company, Marketing is in the unique position to enable the company to deliver on customers' value expectations. Marketing can then use these value expectations to drive customer preference and stimulate purchase decisions.

One way to think of this is that at every customer touch point—whenever a customer will be affected by a decision or action—the people involved in that touch point need to understand and deliver on the value. In some organizations this is known at "moments of truth."

Marketing is in the unique role of being able to look across all the touch points and monitor whether the value is actually delivered. Through constant monitoring, Marketing can help determine whether it is delivering on its value promise and whether the value proposition needs modification.

Managing Customer Relationships

We need to think beyond technology when we think of customer relationship management (CRM) and instead realize that CRM is a business philosophy in which the customer plays a central, critical role in all business activities.

Though we can debate who "owns" the customer, Marketing is in the ideal position to be the centralized point for aggregating, segmenting, and analyzing customer data. This ability to create a single view of the customer comes with responsibility—to take a leadership role in the creating and managing the processes associated with the company's customer relationships.

* * *

For organizations to grow, the leadership team relies on Marketing for more "than just the pretty stuff." It should be able to depend on Marketing to develop marketing strategies that create and deliver superior perceived customer value.

With this emphasis on increasing value, Marketing can help the firm achieve growth by penetrating existing segments, developing new markets, and creating new products and services.

Accordingly, marketers should be willing to own and be accountable for these four processes if they want to serve as growth champions within their organization and leave the "make it pretty" syndrome behind.

See Laura in person at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Driving Sales: What's New + What Works. Catch Laura's session on "Proving Marketing's Value: Tangible Tools and Metrics for the 21st Century." Sign up for the event and use promo code ESPK08 to save $200 on the registration fee (save $350 if you sign up before May 19).

Laura Patterson (laurap@visionedgemarketing.com) is president and cofounder of VisionEdge Marketing, Inc. (www.visionedgemarketing.com) and author of Measure What Matters: Reconnecting Marketing to Business Goals and Gone Fishin': A Guide to Finding, Keeping, and Growing Profitable customers.

Published on May 13, 2008

Marketing after a merger

The goal of delivering a better product should dictate what brand is used - and how

by Bernadette Johnson
page 1

Most people agree a successful marriage takes work: Among other things it calls for communication and commitment.

It's not unlike marrying companies or brands. Consolidation can lead to greater efficiencies, better products - stronger companies overall - but it requires a thorough integration strategy and marketing plan to convince shareholders, employees and especially customers that the move is a good one.

Studies have shown that a high percentage of mergers worldwide fail to create value; in some cases they even destroy it.

"The challenge is that more fail than succeed," says Nancy Helstab, managing director at marketing consultancy BrandEdge of Toronto, citing a Canadian Business study, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, that showed 60% of the large Canadian mergers over the past decade (among publicly traded companies) underperformed their sectors and actually destroyed acquirer shareholder value.

"The ones that succeed," she continues, "are doing it not strictly for growth reasons but because they think there is some added value they can provide; combining forces to deliver something better. That's what should motivate [a merger]...and dictate what brand will be used, and how."

There's no blueprint for success, no one common strategy. Rather, pundits point to several different formulas employed by the likes of Telus-Clearnet, TD Canada Trust, Rona-Revy, Chapters-Indigo, Sun Life-Clarica, and even the newly named Conservative Party.

Over the last year, Montreal-based Rona has actively sought to solidify its brand across Canada, says senior national marketing director Michael Brossard. In the West in particular, the home improvement chain completely rebranded its Revy (Revelstoke) stores, which it purchased in 2001, under the Rona banner.

"It was important for us to own a brand name out West, but the Revy name was so well-established that we decided to keep both brands for a while, and [ease into the] integration."

The transition was spurred on by a successful integration campaign (print and radio), that featured then Revy spokesperson Bob advising consumers that while the name was changing, the brand promise and heritage would not. In fact, Brossard adds, that campaign achieved top-of-mind-awareness of about 50%.

Similarly Rona's most recent Ontario campaign, produced by Montreal agency BCP, stars the Building Box's (now Rona Home and Garden) Hammerhead mascot shedding his suit in an effort to explain the change to consumers. While its Building Box and Revy stores have all been consolidated under the Rona banner in Ontario, the company still maintains sub brands Lansing and Cashway, both purchased between 2000 and 2001. These banners have a very strong brand equity among their key trades people and contractor targets, Brossard says. "We want to maintain that heritage."

Consolidating its banners is a wise move for Rona, says retail consultant Ed Strapagiel of Toronto-based Kubas Consulting, adding that it is tough to sustain - and rationalize - several brands that hold the same promise: Each brand is serving a similar need in the marketplace, so there is not an awful lot of difference.

"They're likely going to increase the efficiency of their advertising, and of their presence in the marketplace, by being known as one thing," he speculates. "Trust in uniformity."

Rona's consolidation is also an example of a regional-to-national strategy, adds Helstab, whereby a company that wants a national presence will buy up local or regional brands, much in the way Telus moved East by acquiring Clearnet. In such cases, she adds, the parent brand will almost always keep its name/positioning, or at least incorporate it over time.

The latter should also hold true in cases where a company purchases another organization in an effort to further its industry growth and/or market leadership, she adds.

When Montreal-based pulp and paper firm Domtar purchased four paper mills from Atlanta-based Georgia Pacific in 2001, it effectively doubled its size - becoming the number-three player in the category. But it realized that its plethora of brands could overwhelm the consumer, says Scott Townsend, director of strategic marketing initiatives at Domtar.

"We went from 54 brands to one brand, which is Domtar," he says. "Product names have become sub-brands, and they are phased out if they are too confusing."

The approach has permitted Domtar to deliver a consistent marketing message. Everything from its lifestyle-oriented advertising by New York-based agency desgripped gobe group to its newly developed packaging, featuring silhouettes of people at work, links back to its positioning, "a different feel."

But there are instances where the acquired company's name and positioning can be leveraged.

In early 2002, when Sun Life purchased Clarica, senior folk from both companies got together to determine the fate of both brands. According to Peggy Jarvie, EVP customer knowledge and branding, many different options were considered: one brand vs. the other, a co-mingled brand, and a completely new brand. In the end, with the help of focus groups and a brand assessment, they elected to use Sun Life as the corporate brand, but maintain use of the well-known Clarica brand to continue to target its retail mid-market customers.

"We put an enormous amount of effort into communicating to our customers and employees and advisors what the relationship was going to be," says Jarvie, pointing to the two waves of cross-country advertising Sun Life did at the time of the merger to allay any customer concerns.

Jarvie says they've been tracking consumer response to the Clarica brand since it launched in 1999 (pre-merger), as well as perceptions of other brands in the market. And though there have been some fluctuations over the last few years, her sense is that they haven't been impacted by the merger.

Toronto-based Chapters too has maintained separate identities for its Indigo, Chapters and Coles brands mostly due to the brand equity behind each one, says Sorya Ingrid Gaulin, director of PR and regional marketing. In fact, she adds, the book retailer has made the selection across both of its superstore formats (Chapters and Indigo) very similar, however, the perception from the customer is that they are getting something different. Coles' mandate, meanwhile, remains one of convenience (because of its mall locations) and community (customers tend to be voracious readers and visit the retailer frequently), she says.

"We want to be respectful of those different perceptions. The key for us is not so much amalgamation - it is making our stores as relevant as possible to the customer. And that to us means drilling down to the selection and the customer experience," says Gaulin, adding the retailer now has a new inventory system to help it do exactly that. Eighteen months in the making, the system will eventually allow it to tailor the inventory in each store across the country based on spending patterns, among other things, and help it further its goal of being relevant, she says.

Since the merger though, the retail chain has focused its marketing (mostly print ads supporting national campaigns) around its large-format brands - often positioned together since most of its offers apply to both brands; and always listing the integrated Web site www.chapters.indigo.ca. However, she says, in the year to come it will turn its attention to the Coles brand.

This month, it launched a promotion called Bag-a-bargain that actually extends across all formats and will include all of the brands in its print ads, which it sometimes does if the offer is not brand-sensitive. Gaulin says: "It's value- and savings-based, so it is relevant to all our customers."

- with files from Lisa D'Innocenzo

Focus Groups 2.0

By Jack Aaronson , April 18, 2008

While we've talked for over a year about how social networks may alter the landscape of retailing, many companies are finding another use for social networks: as modern and more interesting, focus groups. Whereas focus tests were out of reach to smaller companies with tight budgets, social network-based focus groups (which I'll call Focus Groups 2.0) are a significantly less expensive entry into the world of focus testing.

Traditional focus groups work like this:

• Your company (or a third-party provider) contacts a number of users in your target demographic and offers them a small amount of money to participate in a focus group.
  
  
• The focus group company (generally, experts in the field) works with you to create a list of questions and topic areas.
  
  
• A trained facilitator runs the focus group while the client (you) watches behind a mirror.

On the downside, this "town hall" type group can fall victim to bullying. One loud participant can sway or intimidate the others from expressing differing opinions.

Focus groups organized and run by professionals are invaluable, and I'd never say the current social networking version can completely replace them. But real focus groups get expensive, and there are many benefits to Focus Group 2.0.

Focus Groups: A New Approach

Smart companies are creating new, ongoing dialogues with their customers via social networks. Most use them as another promotional channel, but some are really taking an interest in their customers and their opinions.

At Shop.org last week, I sat down with Jordan Nasser, who's in charge of online marketing and creative at H&M. He created the H&M social networking pages on Facebook and MySpace. Each site has a different look and feel, owing to the different audiences on the two platforms and the technical limitations of each platform.

The H&M pages are wildly successful, with over 83,000 friends on MySpace and over 67,000 "fans" on Facebook. Because H&M doesn't have an online store in the U.S., they use social networks to increase brand awareness and help create dialogue between H&M fans. This has organically grown to also include H&M employees, who regularly contribute to the message boards. Where some companies would fear allowing their employees to have an open platform on which to directly interact with customers, H&M sees the benefits of empowering staff this way.

On the H&M sites, Jordan (and others H&M staffers) routinely answer users' questions. While one might worry these forums would turn into another customer service channel, the forums are littered more with questions about store openings, store events, and general brand questions. Oh, and lots of testimonials about how much people love the brand.

While this direct dialogue with real consumers (not just people fitting a demographic in a focus group) is great passive feedback, H&M and other companies also take a more active approach to conduct focus testing with this group of customers. Even if the customer doesn't get the answer they wanted, they express how grateful they are to talk to a human being. Consider how much more connected they must be to the brand because someone like Jordan is talking directly with them, versus how they probably view more "anonymous" brands like Sony (where it's nearly impossible to speak with a human).

Last spring, H&M put 50 user-submitted T-shirt designs on their MySpace page and asked visitors to vote for their favorite. Within four weeks they had over 5,000 votes and a clear winner. They mass-produced the shirt and put it in over 20 stores. The shirts sold out almost immediately.

The social networks also solicit user feedback in this manner. When Facebook decided to redesign its pages, it showed users a preview and asked for feedback. Retailers launching new functionality on their sites could easily do this via these social networks. Online polls, surveys and message boards are a quick and easy way to get feedback from real-world users in a comfortable environment.

One problem with real focus groups: participants often try to be smarter than they are, or project what they "think" everyone would want onto their own needs. Online focus groups (which are so informal the users don't really think of them as focus groups at all) most likely generate more honest feedback. Moreover, these customers actually spend money with you, they're not "demographic fits" that may or may not care about your brand. If indeed your brand is how people see it (to paraphrase a familiar quote), the knowledge gained from these people (who are living and breathing your brand) is invaluable.

An Alternative, Not a Replacement

Focus group companies truly are the experts when it comes to asking a group of people the right questions. But one-to-one interaction devoid of a group mentality is probably more honest and interesting than group testing. Social networks allow this to scale in a way traditional focus groups can't. Plus, it's significantly less expensive to throw a few questions up as on online poll and see what the response is.

Taking a lesson from H&M and other retailers, the first step is to create social networking pages on the various networks that people like and with which they want to interact. Next, go through the same steps you'd take when creating a traditional focus group questionnaire, but tailor it to the online experience. Add interactivity, especially in cases where you're asking about possible new features and functionality.

Done correctly, you might just find a treasure trove of user knowledge you always thought was too expensive or difficult to obtain.

Questions, thoughts, comments? Let me know!

Until next time...

Jack

Client 101: How to Write an RFP, 2008 Edition

By Sean Carton , April 28, 2008

Way back in 2001 I wrote a guide to RFP-writing for clients. It was intended to be a helpful checklist and also (selfishly) a pre-emptive strike against getting any more byzantine RFPs (define) that took weeks to complete and resulted in bids so wildly divergent that clients often had to turn to haruspicy or other ancient methods of divination to make a decision.

Recently I got a letter from a reader who found the column helpful but had a simple question: what's changed since 2001? It got me thinking: what has changed? After all, that column was written seven years ago. Something must have changed since then, right?

Yup. A lot's changed since those dot.bomb days. We've seen online advertising take off to heights that few had predicted back in 2001. Social media has arrived and taken the world by storm. Heck, Facebook, MySpace, and Del.icio.us wouldn't even exist for another couple of years. Online video shot into the stratosphere in the intervening years, spurred on by the launch of YouTube in 2005. Broadband's gone past the tipping point, online gaming's become a multi-billion dollar industry, and more and more people are moving away from traditional media and heading online for all their news and entertainment needs. Yeah, things are a little different now then they were back then.

Even so, a lot hasn't changed, at least when it comes to building online presences for companies and working to get the word out about them. Everyone still needs a Web site, though in most cases now it's about redesigning sites rather than putting them online from scratch. Even so, many companies are still challenged by the tasks of integrating their online and offline businesses and many still are challenged by simple questions of who's going to maintain the site, how content's going to get there, and how much of the budget should be shifted to online operations.

Regardless of the hype spun by many Silicon Valley wags and tech-press boosters, my experience over the past seven years tells me that a lot of companies and organizations are still making the transition to fully dealing with how the Web has changed how they do business. While nobody asks why or if they should have a Web site anymore, many still aren't sure what to do with it once they have it.

I see a lot of this ambivalence reflected in the RFPs that cross my desk just about every day. One major change since 2001: most concerns I deal with involve operations and marketing and not technology. I don't get a lot of RFPs written by the information technology department anymore (e.g., RFPs that ask obsessive questions about server platforms and development languages). However, I get a lot of RFPs written by marketing folks who seem clueless about the day-to-day work it takes to keep feeding the beast that's the Web site or how to change internal practices to make the switch from old ways to the new. A lot of the new requests I get are big on branding and image issues but awfully light on requirements for content management and database integration. They're also pretty light on understanding how most consumers use the Web now, often spending lots of time worrying about the "experiences" they want to create rather than recognizing that people go online to get stuff done.

So yeah, a lot's changed since 2001. Here's how to deal with the new realities if you're trying to find someone to redevelop your old site or build a new site from scratch so you can get responses that allow you to judge your new potential developers:

Budget. As in "how much do you have to spend." Unfortunately this is one thing that hasn't really changed much since 2001. If you want to get bids that you can actually compare, you must give some sort of budget range in your requests for proposals. Not putting in a budget is like going to a bunch of different homebuilders and asking them to build you a house. One might come back with a proposal for a mansion and another might come back with plans for a bungalow. They're both "houses" but comparing them is an exercise in futility. Thinking that developers just "make up" prices to match budgets is absurd. How much "stuff" you're going to get depends on your needs and on how much you're going to spend. It's a much more useful exercise to compare what one company will give you for $100,000 versus another company.

Content and content management. If you have a content management system you're happy with, say so. If you're planning on developing the content yourselves (or need someone else to do it), say so. Probably the biggest stumbling block for most Web projects is the content that's going to fill the site. Before you start looking for someone to build a site for you, you'd better know how you're going to deal with your content issues. Likewise, if you have specific content management system requirements, say so. Otherwise, you might end up with bids specifying systems that could range from zero dollars for open source solutions to many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Be specific!

Timeline. Be realistic with your requested launch dates. Just about everyone puts "ASAP," but doing so is a recipe for disaster because "as soon as possible" is about as subjective as you can get. If you do have a specific launch date in mind, be specific about that too. Be realistic in your expectations. Redeveloping a site (even a small one) isn't going to happen in four weeks, unless you want a crappy site. If you have specific benchmarks or events that you have to shoot for (tradeshows, product launches, board meetings, etc.) say so. It helps a developer to know what to propose to meet your deadline.

Customer/audience profiles. Who is this thing for? What are they like? How do they interact with your company now and/or how would you like them to interact with your company. Knowing whom the site's for makes it a lot easier for a potential vendor to tailor its solution to the needs of your organization and customers. It's not necessary to include multi-volume psychographic profiles. But knowing that you need a site for 18 to 35-year-old men is a lot different than a site for pre-teen girls.

Spec work. Don't ask for it. It's rude and wastes our time as well as yours. If you want to know what someone's design capabilities are, ask for portfolios and case studies.

Your goals. Why do you want to redevelop your Web site? What's so bad about the old one? What market (or internal) forces are driving the project. How will you measure success? Knowing all this ahead of time and letting your potential vendors know is key to getting a solution that will help you reach those goals.

Your internal style. This may sound a bit goofy, but take a good look at your internal work styles and let potential vendors know so that they can give you realistic bids for project/account management as part of the proposal. Is there a single person who can make decisions? Is there a group that needs to reach consensus before a decision is made? What's the path to take something from concept to approval? Providing this information means that a vendor can tailor its project management costs accordingly. If a vendor ends up losing money during the project because every step needs a series of meetings before approval or because nobody can make a decision, it will probably start charging you more or answering the phone less.

Technical requirements. Unless you're contracting for some hard-core custom development, you don't need to spend a lot of time on technical requirements besides providing a description of the platform you currently use. If you don't care and plan on throwing everything out, say so. If you do care and you're bound by internal policies or the need for a particular technology that can be maintained internally, say so and be clear about it.

Hosting and maintenance. Do you care where the site is hosted? Are you planning on maintaining it yourself? What kind of ongoing relationship do you want to have with a vendor? If you're one of the many who's gotten burned by long-term "relationships" forced on you by a Web vendor, make sure you tell potential vendors you don't want to have any ongoing costs. On the other hand, if you want to outsource everything, make sure you tell them that, too.

Social media. Think hard: do you really need to have a blog? If you do, that's fine. But don't just start asking for things you don't know how you'll maintain or don't need. Social media has transformed the way the Web works but it's also a major commitment. Make sure that you know what you're getting into and whether or not what you want is going to be strategically necessary or just "cool." Not that there's anything wrong with cool -- as long as you understand what you're getting into.

Rebranding initiatives or other major changes. If you're about to embark on a 12-month project to rebrand your company, please say so! If you're about to change everything, I would recommend not redoing your Web site until you know where you're going. Don't think you'll get a "two-fer" by using the Web development project to drive the rebranding of the company. You'll just end up with a lot of internal hassles and additional costs.

KISS. Finally, keep it simple. Don't demand multiple printed copies, odd bindings, or whole bunch of documentation that you're not going to read. You can always get that stuff later on if you need it. What you're looking for is a concise description of what you're going to get plus verifiable evidence that the company you're going to get it from is right for the job. Get references and call them. Ask for case studies that detail both design and results. Look at work done for similar companies. It ain't that tough, but if you follow the "keep it simple" rule and ask for the things I've detailed here, you're going to end up with proposals you can compare objectively and quickly.

Client 101: How to Write an RFP

By Sean Carton , December 5, 2001

One of the biggest disadvantages of being in the Web biz is that we're all still figuring out how things should work. Even though the business has matured somewhat over the past five or six years, the practices still aren't anywhere near as cut and dried as they are in, say, the traditional advertising industry. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the Web development request-for-proposal (RFP) process.

In the ad biz (or construction or chemical procurement or just about any other business that's been around for a while), the whole RFP process is fairly standardized. Companies looking to hire a vendor for a project (or for a long-term relationship) generally know what questions to ask so they can get the data they need to make their decisions. Vendors, knowing that they're being asked the right questions, know how to respond in such a way that the potential clients get the information they need. Sure, there are always plenty of creative showdowns, and backroom politicking is inevitably involved, but generally everybody knows what to expect. Because they know what to expect, they're free to expend their energies on being creative.

But when it comes to Web development... watch out! Because clients don't know what to ask, they often don't get the answers they need to make intelligent decisions. Because the potential vendors don't get enough information, they're forced to guess, and they come up with responses that don't help the prospect. The result? Everyone goes home unhappy, and clients end up with vendors that are too expensive, too inexperienced, too mismanaged, too big, or too small for the job. In the meantime, all the vendors who bid on the job and didn't get it wasted inordinate amounts of time responding to something they had no chance of getting.

What to do? The answer will come from understanding -- clients understanding what Web developers need to respond, and Web developers understanding the needs of their potential clients. Better understanding equals better responses equals better matches equals happier clients. It's a simple equation that equals "win" for everyone.

So, dear client, what do we developers need from you to make sure you are comparing the proverbial apples to apples (as opposed to those dreaded oranges)? Here are 10 humble suggestions that'll make everyone's life easier:

• Budget. Yes, budget. Money. As in, "How much you got?" In about 90 percent of the RFPs I get, there's no indication of how much the client wants to spend. The result is a little like playing "Battleship." The developer guesses blindly as to the client's needs. The client responds with a "Hit!" when the number is somewhere within the magical range or a "Miss." when it's too high (proposed budget numbers are rarely too low).

  Why does this happen? Many clients have the mistaken perception that since Web development doesn't involve a tangible "product," the price is infinitely variable and that, given a number, all developers will inflate their prices to reach that number. Baloney. Things take time. Software costs money. People have salaries that need to be paid. You'd be surprised at how similar most companies' rates are. The only way to have an understanding of how much stuff to propose is to know how much money the client has to spend.

• Scope. If you don't feel comfortable saying how much you have to spend, at least take the time to sketch out the scope of the project. To use the old hackneyed analogy, we're like homebuilders. If you tell us you want a house, we'd at least like to know if you want a shack or a mansion. And if you don't know the scope, that's fine, too. Make a requirements phase the first item on your wish list so that the company you pick can do some research to tell you what you need.
• Speculative creative. Yes, this has been standard operating procedure in the ad industry for years. It sucks. Let's learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeat this onerous practice. First, it degrades the value of design. Secondly, it forces the better shops (those that routinely take a more strategic focus) to create design without any knowledge of you and your customers. The result? Design for its own sake. Decisions based purely on aesthetics are usually bad ones because of their subjectivity.
• Technical requirements. If your company has a religious commitment to Microsoft products, say so. Likewise, if your company worships at the altar of Linux, be open about your preferences. If you need database integration with a certain back-end database, tell us what kind of database system you have. It doesn't do anyone any good to play the technical requirements guessing game. If you let your potential vendors know what you need, you'll be sure to get answers you can compare.
• Marketing versus IT. Which is more important? If your IT department has the upper hand in picking the vendor based on technical expertise, say so. If the marketing department is running the show and wants a more strategic focus, make sure that this is something that your potential vendor knows -- and one you know yourself. Self-knowledge about this issue is vital in putting together the short list of vendors: Don't ask systems integrators that focus on back-end issues to bid against high-end, flashy design shops. You'll have a very hard time comparing the responses.
• Content and content development. Do you plan to reuse all the content on your existing site (basically just doing a face-lift to your current site), or do you want to start from scratch? Are you looking for a Web developer that can write the content, or are you planning to do it yourself?
• Maintenance and a long-term relationship. Who's going to keep the site up and running once it's launched? If you're planning to maintain content, are you interested in a content management system? If you want an agency to work with you on a long-term basis, how do you want the relationship structured?
• Third-party software. Where do you stand on third-party software? Do you want custom applications or off-the-shelf solutions? Do you own licenses for the software you want to reuse? If you don't want custom apps, say so. It doesn't do anyone any good to guess about this. If you don't mind custom apps, do you want to own them outright or license them?
• Partnerships. Where do you stand on partnerships? Does the company you pick have to do everything in-house? Many companies these days are specializing in one aspect of development or another -- some do back-end integration work, others focus on design, some do consulting, and others may just do content development. Do you care if that's all done by the same company? If you do, please say so, and let your potential vendors know that in-house capabilities are a condition of the contract. If you don't care, make sure you find out who their partners are and who to contact if things go south. Make your primary vendor ultimately responsible.
• Know thyself. Finally, take a good hard look at your company and make sure that you communicate any idiosyncrasies that you may have. If you know that any development process will involve a lot of time in committee meetings, don't be afraid to say so. If you know that certain key dates have to be met (board meetings, conferences, etc.), lay them out so that you can get a development schedule proposal that works with your dates. You'll end up with responses that address your issues and schedules that work with your key dates.

How to Create Marketing Demos That Sell Products

by Amy Gesenhues

One of the biggest challenges that marketing departments face is producing marketing tools that actually get used by the sales team.

If you are like many frustrated marketing professionals, you spin your wheels trying to create effective marketing communication materials that are left unused; or worse, you give up hours and hours fine-tuning your product's messaging to communicate key features and benefits, only to hear each salesperson giving a different pitch.

You want to create marketing tools that help sell products, not collateral that sits on a shelf. So how do you do it? How do you create a marketing tool that not only gets used but also can reinforce your marketing messaging so that everyone is speaking the same language?

A professionally produced product demo can do wonders for your marketing initiatives. It can accelerate your sales cycle and generate qualified leads. You can leverage it on multiple platforms and within various campaigns, from your site to your tradeshow booth, on marketing CDs and in email marketing efforts. And when done right, a great demo can get everyone speaking the same language.

Four Questions to Ask Yourself

Before you begin building your demo, you have to answer the following four questions:

1. What's your demo's objective?
2. What type of demo will best fit your needs?
3. How do you build a demo so that it gets the maximum return on investment?
4. Do you have the resources to build your demo in-house, or should you outsource it?

Producing an effective demo that gets used on a regular basis can be an overwhelming task—but it doesn't have to be. Once you go through the following four questions and corresponding answers, you'll be able to start your demo project with confidence and end up with a marketing tool that sells your product.

What's your demo's objective?

Just as with any project, a clearly defined objective is mandatory. Do you want to generate more leads from your Web site? Do you want an engaging, dynamic tool that pulls prospects into your sales cycle more quickly? If you are selling a software product, do you want to shorten your sales cycle? If you have a Web site, do you want to increase registrations?

Know your objective so that your product demo's content is aligned with your goal.

Your demo's objective will help you select the visuals that you want to use and the script that you will write.

For example, if you're a marketer for a retail Web site and your goal is to encourage more users to purchase products online, build a three-minute demo using actual screen shots of your site with a voiceover that tells users how to buy online as it shows them.

Put the demo on your homepage, provide links to it in emails and in online newsletters. Give the link to your demo to the customer service department so that they can email it whenever they take a call.

What type of demo best fits your needs?

In the world of product demos, there are two schools of thought: product-centric demos and conceptual demos. Which one you use depends on what you are selling. A product-centric demo focuses primarily on your product, offering up visuals of what it looks like and how it works. A conceptual demo is more animated and often leverages more graphics and marketing language.

If you have a product that does not immediately resonate with your prospects, then you will receive the most benefit from a product-centric demo. People don't buy what they can't see or don't understand.

Any complex product that does not render itself recognizable by name alone can be well served by a product-centric demo because it offers prospects the chance to see the product. For example, if you're selling a software product, showing prospects your software's top three key features in action does a lot more than giving them fading bullet points that tell them what your key features are.

A conceptual demo can be thought of as more creative than a product-centric demo, because you don't have to show the product. Conceptual demos work best when prospects have a profound understanding of what the product is.

For example, if you're selling a car, you can be more conceptual by using graphics and creative language that touches the buyer's soft spots when it comes to purchasing a vehicle. Obviously, you'll show pictures of the car, but you don't have to go into detail about how key features like the brakes or power-locks work.

How do you build a demo that it gets maximum return on investment?

ROI—the three-letter acronym that marketers live (and die) by. For your demo to receive maximum return on investment, you have to make it easily accessible and leverage it across the board. Live demos are great for prospects already deep into your sales cycle and ready for a 40-60-minute overview of your product.

But for prospects who are still in the research or evaluation stage, you need to offer a 3-6-minute automated demo that can be accessed from your Web site. Hit the highlights quickly, be clear and concise, and make it easy to find. Use technology with high user-adoption rates. Flash is great tool for automated demos. Whatever you do, don't rely on applications that have to be downloaded and don't force a prospect to use a plug-in.

The demo needs to stream instantly and deliver your message in five minutes or less. An automated demo can be used throughout your site, looped at tradeshows, linked to in an email, and placed on laptops for your sales team to use on the road.

The more ways you can deliver your demo to your prospects, the more cost-effective it becomes.

Do you have the resources to build your in-house or should you outsource it?

You have a full marketing department: copywriters, designers, flash experts. But do you have the right resources to build an effective demo that looks professional? And does your team have the time to turn the project around quickly?

A great demo is the result of blending a well-crafted script with expertly selected visuals. Outsourcing your demo to a demo-development firm may be your best bet to create a professional demo using a minimal amount of your team's time.

If you choose to outsource the demo project, select a firm that specializes in product demos. Make sure it has a defined process and pricing structure without any hidden fees. Check out the client list and view samples before you start working with the firm.

If your budget is too tight for a demo-development firm, tools are available that allow you to create your own demo. Just remember, your demo may be a prospect's first impression of your product. You want to put your best foot forward; the more professional your demo looks, the better your product looks.

* * *

A great product demo puts your product in the best light. It gives prospects an immediate understanding of what they are buying so that they come to your sales team already interested. Not only does it serve up qualified leads, it reinforces consistent messaging by getting your internal forces on the same page.

When sales, customer service, and all else who interacts with your customers, are offered a dynamic marketing tool that gives a voice to your marketing messages, everyone starts speaking the same language. Before you know it, your product demo will become your most popular marketing tool, because it will sell your product for you (and your sales team).

Amy Gesenhues is the Director of Marketing for Autodemo LLC (www.autodemo.com), a developer of software and Web site demos. She can be reached at amy@autodemo.com.

Published on April 22, 2008

How to Make Email Marketing More Mobile-Friendly

by Andrew Osterday and Chris Lovejoy

Mobile technology continues to develop. The number of consumers with mobile devices capable of retrieving and viewing email continues to increase rapidly. The early adopters of the Blackberry have given way, in numbers at least, to those using what are fast becoming fully functional internet-ready devices.

With multiple mobile platforms on the market and mobile phone companies vying for the sale of not only the devices but also the data plans that supply the bandwidth, these "mini-messengers" are in the hands of millions of consumers.

Could your email be more mobile friendly?

Are your email messages ready for the move to mobile? They had better be: Over two-thirds of B2B emailers regularly read your emails on their mobile device.

If you haven't tested how your emails are rendering across multiple handhelds, you might be very surprised, and not in a good way.

Here some things to think about when considering email on mobile devices:

• Communications that rely on image-heavy content, special font treatments, tables, or other advanced coding will not translate well without optimizing the message for the mobile user.
• If sending mobile campaigns, be sure to be honest and very personal. Use the name of a real person if possible.
• HTML links can be used but should be used sparingly and only if the call-to-action link is also enabled for mobile devices.
• If your communication boasts a lengthy terms-and-conditions section, it may be better rendered as a mobile-formatted landing page for the user.
• Opt-out rules still apply. One-click opt-out works best.

A few basic formatting rules for mobile devices:

• Coding fonts may or may not work on the user's device. Most mobile devices allow the user to select a preferred default font. Although the link to the mobile communication is actually a web link, simple (default) font coding or basic fonts are best. Font size consideration: Keep it small. Work with your messaging provider on the appropriate size.
• Screen size is limited. Design for easy word wrap. The list should be kept short (in regards to width), as odd wrapping will occur on the smallest of screens.
• Keep the message short and keep your call to action in the top area of the communication. Being "front of mind" for users, even if they do not view the entire message, may prompt them to save the message and view the full HTML version when they get to their computer.
• Simple black text with color action links work best on smaller screens and make it easy to view and navigate.
• Images should be small and few. Depending on the connection speed of the device, images may take some time to render. Small logos for brand recognition or small but viewable images that support content should be used, if at all, sparingly.
• Do not replicate your website navigation in email. Place it at the bottom of the message if at all.
• Use full images, not sliced. Sliced images will wrap and appear jumbled.
• Design in columns and plan for content to wrap after a couple of hundred pixels.
• Include a click-to-view-online link and take users to a mobile-optimized landing page.
• Include a click-to-call link, if applicable.
• To test rendering across different handhelds, download a free tool at Opera (www.opera.com).

How to start: Use email to promote mobile marketing

So you've made your emails mobile friendly. Now lets look at marketing via SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia message service)—aka mobile marketing.

Using wireless networks to reach consumers on personal phones and mobile devices has come a long way over the past few years, and consumers are warming up to the emerging technology.

But how do you start?

What better way to introduce the mobile option than through an already established email relationship? Email is the perfect vehicle to introduce your audience to an alternative form of communication such as SMS or MMS.

Permission is just as important in mobile marketing as it is in email. Rather than starting from scratch or purchasing lists, build your mobile list organically: Engage your current base of email subscribers who have already requested a relationship with you. Provide a choice to receive mobile communications where it makes sense, especially for timely messages.

Mobile campaigns are great for the following:

• Same-day reminders
• Special events
• Meeting confirmations
• Product delivery confirmations
• Flight status
• Financial alerts
• Data collection

Use your primary email template when introducing the mobile option to your users. This helps maintain familiarity and instantly establishes trust. The copy should be brief and personal and should direct your customers to a landing page where they can submit their mobile phone number. You can also include the option on the registration page so they can sign up for mobile messages right from the start.

Not ready to jump head first into the mobile arena? Then optimize your email messages for handhelds, as described above. Or simply include a link at the very top of your email to "View on Handheld." Then link the user to a mobile-optimized landing page of your message. Use rich text to be safe.

There are many ways to approach the growing propensity of mobile users to engage with marketers' messages. Experiment now and find the right fit for your business.

Andrew Osterday and Chris Lovejoy: Andrew is solutions director of eMarketing at Premier Global Services (www.premiereglobal.com); Chris is eMarketing strategic services account executive.