The best stories are those that illustrate the point you set out to make. But more importantly, they must be YOUR stories involving either you or the company you represent. You lose the plot when you tell someone else's story - so war stories of Google and Coke don't really resonate (unless you work for them, of course).
It's all about being authentic. In a business environment, you're normally talking to peers or prospects. And this audience relates to your stories precisely because they have faced the same situations themselves some time or the other. So your story of challenge and resolution will only be credible if you can make your story real and personal: What did you feel? What were the doubts that beset you? How did you manage the stress? How did you take people along?
You can't provide this depth and color unless the story is yours.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
How do you rebuild trust in a brand once it’s harmed?
Your brand is in harm’s way every single day. Products and services fail, customer support may be having a terrible day, an employee may misbehave, accidents can happen - the list of potential disasters waiting to happen is endless.
The question is, what do you do each time this happens?
If you are seen as a company that acknowledges the problem and puts corrective action in place quickly, people will continue to trust you.
How do you do this? Obviously, the CEO downwards must practice what they preach. And very importantly, the company must communicate this philosophy and practice clearly and vigorously both to external and internal audiences through press releases, interviews, TV, blogs, newsletters and so on. Over time, everyone gets the message that this is a company that has the will and the processes to recover from a stumble.
The question is, what do you do each time this happens?
If you are seen as a company that acknowledges the problem and puts corrective action in place quickly, people will continue to trust you.
How do you do this? Obviously, the CEO downwards must practice what they preach. And very importantly, the company must communicate this philosophy and practice clearly and vigorously both to external and internal audiences through press releases, interviews, TV, blogs, newsletters and so on. Over time, everyone gets the message that this is a company that has the will and the processes to recover from a stumble.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Can you really brand a nation?
All branding is mental short cut and in that sense countries do get branded whether you like it or not. For instance, think India these days and you think cheap, geek, and exotic. Different facets of the brand will resonate differently with various audiences. Outsourcers may like cheap and geek, tourists may like exotic. Of course, you'll discover there's more to the country when you start studying it but the branding made you aware of it in the first place.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Isn’t marketing at startups too important a function to be outsourced?
Yes, but only when you are talking about marketing with a big M - that is, when you use marketing to research the market and use the feedback to design or fine tune your product/service/price for the market.
But most startups – in IT services at least - do not use marketing for this purpose since they know exactly what they intend to offer to the market.
In such cases you are really talking about marketing with a small m - to build your story and take it out to the market through branding, positioning, advertising, PR, analyst relations, tradeshows, social and online media, and so on.
Marketing with a small m is can definitely be outsourced. I’d even go a step further and say that at such companies you should even outsource the CMO. The modern CMO is like a ringmaster managing a network of content creation folks, external agencies, web designers and so on. And since a full-time CMO is expensive to hire and difficult to retain, outsourcing the CMO and large parts of the marketing function enables a startup to access high quality professional expertise at manageable cost.
But most startups – in IT services at least - do not use marketing for this purpose since they know exactly what they intend to offer to the market.
In such cases you are really talking about marketing with a small m - to build your story and take it out to the market through branding, positioning, advertising, PR, analyst relations, tradeshows, social and online media, and so on.
Marketing with a small m is can definitely be outsourced. I’d even go a step further and say that at such companies you should even outsource the CMO. The modern CMO is like a ringmaster managing a network of content creation folks, external agencies, web designers and so on. And since a full-time CMO is expensive to hire and difficult to retain, outsourcing the CMO and large parts of the marketing function enables a startup to access high quality professional expertise at manageable cost.
Friday, October 9, 2009
How effective is social media as a marketing tool for entrepreneurs?
I'm not a big believer so far in social media for small companies or startups. Sure, it’s nice for creating awareness among a niche audience but in my experience, it just takes too much time and effort to cultivate meaningful conversations. That's because in small organizations, it is only the CEO or function heads that can hold these conversations and they have many other commitments on their time.
Done insincerely, social media marketing is worse than not doing it at all. There are companies that outsource their CXO blogs - and then get into a tizzy when it is time to respond to reader comments. Who responds? The CEO or the ghostwriter?
Small companies are attracted to social media because it is free. But that is true only if you consider senior management time to be free.
My take is that in small companies, a focused effort through conventional marketing tools such as advertising/ PR/ direct marketing/ events etc. will deliver far better ROI on marketing dollars than dedicating time and people to social media.
I know people quote several examples of social media marketing successes such as Tropicana changing their packaging due to internet pressure and companies using social media to test out product ideas. All valid and all good, but these are B2C situations that are not relevant for the typical resource-crunched B2B entrepreneurs that I deal with.
Done insincerely, social media marketing is worse than not doing it at all. There are companies that outsource their CXO blogs - and then get into a tizzy when it is time to respond to reader comments. Who responds? The CEO or the ghostwriter?
Small companies are attracted to social media because it is free. But that is true only if you consider senior management time to be free.
My take is that in small companies, a focused effort through conventional marketing tools such as advertising/ PR/ direct marketing/ events etc. will deliver far better ROI on marketing dollars than dedicating time and people to social media.
I know people quote several examples of social media marketing successes such as Tropicana changing their packaging due to internet pressure and companies using social media to test out product ideas. All valid and all good, but these are B2C situations that are not relevant for the typical resource-crunched B2B entrepreneurs that I deal with.
How do you keep a blog current?
When I started this blog in Dec 2008, I had a couple of things to say that I deeply cared about. So I researched the topics, crafted the entries, and posted them (see Outsource your CMO and Why CMOs perish early).
And then I posted nothing at all for nearly a year.
It wasn’t as though I had nothing to say. As my consulting business caught traction, I was having plenty of conversation with prospects, clients, and peers about branding, marketing, and communication. I was generating content in personal meetings, on email, in online discussion forums – and I was conversing on a far wider range of topics than if I had crafted unilateral blog entries on my own.
I just didn’t realize that much of this conversation was ideal blog material. When realization dawned, I posted the entire lot on my blog in one shot in Oct 2009. But this is stuff that I’ve been conversing about over the last several months.
Seems to me, this is a great way to keep my blog current. I intend to just clean up and post the many conversations I will undoubtedly have at work on marketing and communication – I probably will not get the gravitas of my initial two posts but I will get short bites at a range of topics that are relevant and current in my work. And if this buffet of entries can generate discussion, game on!
And then I posted nothing at all for nearly a year.
It wasn’t as though I had nothing to say. As my consulting business caught traction, I was having plenty of conversation with prospects, clients, and peers about branding, marketing, and communication. I was generating content in personal meetings, on email, in online discussion forums – and I was conversing on a far wider range of topics than if I had crafted unilateral blog entries on my own.
I just didn’t realize that much of this conversation was ideal blog material. When realization dawned, I posted the entire lot on my blog in one shot in Oct 2009. But this is stuff that I’ve been conversing about over the last several months.
Seems to me, this is a great way to keep my blog current. I intend to just clean up and post the many conversations I will undoubtedly have at work on marketing and communication – I probably will not get the gravitas of my initial two posts but I will get short bites at a range of topics that are relevant and current in my work. And if this buffet of entries can generate discussion, game on!
How do you build a brand that becomes generic to the category?
You need lots of money and muscle if you're hoping for world dominance (think Coke, Microsoft and IBM in an earlier era).
But even more important are two must-have attributes. One, it helps to have an absolutely clutter-cutting, so-far-ahead-of-the-pack product that customers use it and say Wow, where were you all my life? That's what Google did to search.
Second, it really really helps to have a fantastic people story around the product. We bond emotionally with the early Bill Gates legends, the Michael Dell and Texas college dorm stories, the geeky HP engineers stories, the Andy Grove and Intel saga and so on and so forth. It’s hard to go gaga over a mere product. To connect emotionally with large masses of consumers, you need stories and legends about your product and people that get passed on to become the stuff of great brands.
But even more important are two must-have attributes. One, it helps to have an absolutely clutter-cutting, so-far-ahead-of-the-pack product that customers use it and say Wow, where were you all my life? That's what Google did to search.
Second, it really really helps to have a fantastic people story around the product. We bond emotionally with the early Bill Gates legends, the Michael Dell and Texas college dorm stories, the geeky HP engineers stories, the Andy Grove and Intel saga and so on and so forth. It’s hard to go gaga over a mere product. To connect emotionally with large masses of consumers, you need stories and legends about your product and people that get passed on to become the stuff of great brands.
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