(The following is the first in a two-part blog-exchange I’m doing with Stephen Denny, author of Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry.  Because Steve and I are among those teaching the upcoming Marketing Profs University course, Marketing Your Small Business, we decided to address retailers’ issues and opportunities in these posts and focus specifically on small businesses.  

The following are questions I posed to Steve, his answers, and my follow-up.  My post will appear on Steve’s blog next week.  Steve kicks off the MPU course next week – so register now and use my coupon code BRANDASBIZ to receive $200 off!)

Denise:  How are small businesses uniquely suited to win “in the last three feet” of retail?

Steve:  Small businesses win in the last three feet by understanding that there’s always time left on the clock. By not going away, in other words.

Giants, by their very nature – from their rewards systems to their staffing plans – are built for the “start” and rarely for the “finish.” They’re great at throwing agencies and dollars and fluff into the air, but they’re also on the hook for the rest of their quarterly objectives. Executives in giant companies don’t stay to the end. Executives – and founders – of Giant Killers do, because it’s their life’s work.

How do small businesses win in the last three feet? They spend other people’s money. They take the foot traffic or the eyeballs that were purchased at great cost and recognize them for what they are: qualified prospects, courtesy of someone else’s marketing budget. They don’t make the false assumption that they’re brand converts unwilling to hear about another solution.

Does it always work? Who knows. But if you can turn what was once a slam dunk and turn it into a jump ball, the possibilities for growth are endless.

Denise:  How are mobile and other retail trends making winning in the last three feet more challenging?

Steve:  Augmented reality, the quick merging of online and offline and the built-in disadvantage of having to pay for a brick and mortar presence all loom pretty large over this conversation, don’t they? And Amazon’s price checker app certainly hits this nail on the head pretty hard.

If I had to pick the one most significant structural shift I’ve seen in the “Winning in the Last Three Feet” world, I’d pick the technological one – specifically, the smartphone in your pocket. The rise of the ubiquity of the mobile internet and location based services have created a self-service culture very comfortable with on-the-fly purchase decisions, often – as in the case of the Amazon app – while the customer is face to face with the physical product in someone else’s storefront.

Is this “against the rules”? Yes! Dirty as hell. And Amazon can do it, so it will. Last I heard, Amazon wasn’t in the business of installing that 72” flatscreen – but I do hear rumblings that they might be looking at opening retail stores of their own.

Denise:  QR Codes — Is there something here? What are we to do with this opportunity disguised as utter confusion?

Steve:  QR codes are the modern day El Dorado, unfortunately, as most marketers don’t know quite what to do with them and virtually all consumers ignore them, so the evidence today suggests. Many marketers much more knowledgeable that I am on this subject declare the jury to be out, which really is too bad – I want this to work because it seems to be such a wonderful opportunity for people to stop what they’re doing and watch the video I want them to watch. With regret, “compliance” isn’t always a first reward of marketing anymore, is it? This may be the reason QR codes are still in the dark, frankly.

But I’m not giving up hope. The one project I’m working on today puts QR codes and mobile-friendly videos they point to in the hands of in-store retail evangelists so that the newest of new schools is supported by the oldest of old school techniques: the original “social” media, meaning real live people. Using QR codes as the in-person double-click – aided, in this case – is a step that makes sense in this particular case. More on this as it develops! It’s still in its early phases.

Denise:  I really like your answers, Steve, and see a common theme running through them – that is, the need to think different – to zig while others zag. Whether it’s focusing on the “finish,” breaking the rules, or using technology to provide more personal service, there’s always value in doing what others don’t!

related posts:

• how to succeed in small business
• six best practices in retail

I never tire of hearing Guy Kawasaki speak, so his recent address at the NRF’s INNOVATE 2011 Conference was a delight to attend.

He demonstrated a spirit of service and humility as he offered the audience the option of hearing a couple different presentations — and then indulged our urgings and delivered both of them with gusto!

Guy speaks with a passion and authenticity that few professional speakers do – and he keeps his audiences laughing as he offers wise insights about business, marketing, and life. In a word, he enchants his audience, and so he’s the perfect author for a book with Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions as its title.

Here are the 10 points Guy highlighted from his book:

1. achieve likability
“No one has ever enchanted someone who wasn’t likable.”

To become likable:

• Use a genuine smile – French physician Guillaume Duchenne identified two distinct types of smiles. A smile which in which you contract both the zygomatic major muscle (which raises the corners of your mouth) and the orbicularis oculi muscle (which raises the cheeks and forms “crow’s feet” around your eyes), and a smile which involves only the zygomatic major muscle. Many researchers believe the former, which they dubbed the “Duchenne smile,” indicates genuine emotion since most people can’t voluntarily contract the orbicularis oculi muscle.  (Guy definitely practices what he preaches!)
• Dress for a “tie” with the people you’re meeting (aka “equal dressing”). (Love that Guy, a titan of an industry ruled by CEOs in hoodies and Chuck Taylors, preached about dressing appropriately for your audience!)
• Shake it – check out this “formula” for the perfect handshake:

2. be trustworthy
Trust is a sequence; it’s not a chicken or egg thing. Trust others before they trust you. It’s no surprise some of the most loved companies — Amazon, Zappos, Nordstrom – have generous return policies – they trust their customers. Life is not a zero sum game. Default to a “yes” attitude – think: how can I help others?

3. get ready
Do something; create something great.

Follow the “D.I.C.E.E.” acronym of great products:

• Great products are deep – they have lots of features – e.g., Reef sandal with a bottle opener built in.
• Great products are intelligent – e.g., the Panasonic flashlight which can run on 3 types of batteries, the Ford “my key” feature which enables users to program the maximum speed for a car (useful for parents of teenagers!)
• Great products are complete – they are created for the totality of the user experience – think service, support, etc.
• Great products are elegant – they have an elegant user interface and brand messaging that’s short, sweet and swallow-able.
• Great products are empowering – they enable people to be more productive, more creative.

Also, conduct premortems. Postmortems are conducted too late – everyone’s emotional, people are scattered. Instead, before shipping your product, spend time predicting all the possible reasons it could fail and then eliminate those reasons.

4. launch
Tell a story (nuff said).

Plant many seeds. With old fashioned marketing, you used to have to suck up to a select few oracles whose pronouncement on your product dictated its success or failure. With new marketing, you don’t know who is going to make your product successful so you have to plant many seeds. Guy sent his Enchantment book to 1500 bloggers including Betty, the Beauty Blogger, because you never know…

Use salient points. Talk about the things people care about. For example, instead of promoting how many gigabytes a music player has, talk about the number of songs you can load on it.

5. overcome resistance
The more innovative your product, the more resistance you have to overcome. Here’s how:

• provide social proof — e.g., the white cords of headphones drove the success of Apple’s iPod because people could see “proof” that you owned a cool product.
• find a bright spot — e.g., Jerry Sternin went to Vietnam to address malnutrition. By examining the children who were larger and healthier than most, he discovered important differences in their eating habits and diet. So he helped spread the ways the better-nourished families cooked and ate, and achieved great success in the fight against malnutrition.
• enchant all the influencers – e.g., at the premiere of his movie, Justin Bieber’s manager went out into the parking lot and gave tickets to a few fans. The good will this gesture generated was golden. (see Guy’s post on American Express’s OPEN Forum about “What We Can Learn from Justin Bieber” )

6. endure
Evolve – e.g., While other musicians try in vain to prevent piracy, The Grateful Dead actually sets aside place at their concerts for people who want to record them.  (Leave it to a 50-year old band to demonstrate the importance of adaptability!)

Invoke reciprocation. It’s not about using money, it’s about relationships. When you do something for someone and they thank you, be sure to respond with “I know you would do the same for me.” This tells them you’re an honorable person – and it, and sets them up to pay you back some day.

Build an ecosystem. To promote and distribute his book, Guy is creating an ecosystem of user groups, blogs, resellers, etc.

7. present

(Guy’s well-known advice for killer presentations):

• Pitches should follow the 10/20/30 rule — 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font size.
• Customize the introduction for your audience.
• Sell your dream.

8. use technology
Technology should be used to provide information, insights, and assistance. Be aware of technology speed bumps (features like Captcha which frustrate the user and make it difficult to communicate with you.)

And use technology to engage “fast, many, often” – fast: within 24-48 hours; many: with a lot of people; often: with frequency. In today’s business environment, social media is core, not context. Use it.

9. enchant up
How to enchant the people you work for:

• Drop everything at once – your boss is your customer. (Again, a refreshing contrast to the prevailing entitlement mentality of many from the digital generation, doncha think?!)
• Prototype fast – “don’t worry, be crappy.” It’s OK to ship first, then test.
• Deliver bad news early — never let a problem become a surprise – just tell your boss what happened and then tell her what you’re going to do to fix it.

10. enchant down
How to enchant people who work for you:

Give them what they really want – M.A.P.:

• mastery — show them how you are increasing their skill set
• autonomy – give them freedom
• purpose – connect what they’re doing to a greater cause

Suck it up — be willing to do the dirty work. Never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.

Involve them. Guy crowdsourced the image on the cover of his book, and got a butterfly named after himself in the process. He closed his talk by proudly showing off the “Kawasaki Swallowtale!”

related posts:

• future of marketing
• stuff that matters
• insights and soundbites from seth godin

After hearing Forrester analyst Diane Clarkson talk on “Customer Service Is the New Social Marketing” at eTail last month, I just had to ask her to share her insights here.

Diane’s work at Forrester focuses on online customer service and she’s become convinced ”social media and customer service are no longer flirting — they are getting serious.”  Take a listen to this interview to hear Diane:

• define what is social customer service
• explain the business benefits of doing it, and
• describes ways to ensure its successful implementation in your organization

You can learn more about Diane and access her research reports here.

Also check out my recap of eTail.

other interviews:

• jonathan salem baskin on the history of social media
• john gerzema on how to connect with today’s consumer
• andy beal on social media and brand building

Thanks to my column-writing gig with QSR Magazine, I recently got an insiders’ look at a remarkable company, Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.  You probably know them as Souplantation, the 110+ unit salad and soup buffet concept, or Sweet Tomatoes, the name they operate under outside of Southern California.

I’ve always loved their restaurant concept and so I appreciated the opportunity to take a look behind the curtain.   What I found was a fun team, a smart business approach, and some fresh takeaways for all companies:

1. When it comes to corporate personnel, don’t underestimate the value of front line experience.

Many of the people on the corporate staff at Garden Fresh started their careers on the company’s restaurant floors.  Co-president Ken Keane got his start as a Souplantation restaurant manager, for example, while a couple of restaurant dishwashers worked their way up to roles as the company’s Culinary Director and Vice President of Business Development.

Not only does such a track record produce a deep passion for the brand and the distinct wisdom which results from longevity with the company, but also an intuitive understanding of what customers want and a careful eye toward in-restaurant execution to shape every decision.  The organization seems nimbler and more focused because it’s run by former front-line employees.

2. Understand the difference between a product and a brand.

The company just introduced a new restaurant concept (read a great write-up about Souplantation Express by my QSR Magazine editor Sam Oches.)  The way the company developed the concept reflects their understanding of the difference between a brand idea and a product offering.

The new concept, in which a customer points to the ingredients he or she wants while an employee builds the selections into a salad, is a departure from the signature all-you-can-eat buffet set-up of the chain.   Souplantation Express was inspired by the many you-pick-we-make salad QSRs which have grown in popularity in New York City over the last several years and are now popping up everywhere.  But as CEO Michael Mack explains, “Salads are products; other restaurants don’t have a concept.”

The company is using Souplantation Express to reinforce – and to grow – the company’s brand identity in “choice.”  To that end, they offer over 30 salad ingredients to choose from as well as five soup selections.  Plus customers are not limited to a certain number of ingredients and they’re not charged by the weight of the completed salad, common practices among most salad restaurants.  All of these factors increase operational complexity and are likely to wreak havoc on food costs, but the company believes delivering their brand identity, not simply a product, will make the business a success.

3. Use social media as a business tool.

The way CEO Mack explains it, social media is a like a “mirror image.”  It reveals what you really are, how you’re really perceived – and the company embraces that sometimes harsh reality.

Garden Fresh doesn’t simply use social media as a way to interact with guests – although it does have over 15,000 followers on Twitter (three times as many as Burger King, which has 10 times the number of units), and more impressively the company follows over 15,000 people (for most QSRs, the number of followers dwarfs the number of people they follow.)

The folks at Garden Fresh see value in using social media to round out their other market research efforts and to increase transparency within the company and with the outside world. Social media enables the company to “get more well-rounded information, it puts everyone on their best behavior, and it ensures everyone has the same information.”

—

It’s difficult to determine the impact of these principles on business growth and the bottom line since Garden Fresh is a private company.  But, chain-wide sales have been reported at $300MM, which translates into a $2.6MM+ PSA (Panera Bread’s is around $2.1MM).  They haven’t closed any stores recently and in early 2009 they reported annual same stores sales had increased 3.2%, which is pretty impressive given the chain’s concentration in California, a state hit hard by the recession.

So from what I can tell, Garden Fresh’s approach is, well, fresh, and worth learning from.

other impressive companies:

• herman miller, a business lab disguised as a furniture company
• six best practices in retail
• love the moosejaw madness

The Founder and CEO of Brand Value Advisors, Mike Kelly, joins me to talk about what’s hot, what’s not, and why in the restaurant industry.

Mike should know.  Brand Value Advisors is a marketing and branding advisory firm which private equity and VC investors call upon to provide brand strategy, brand valuation, and sales and marketing implementation.

They’ve worked for the folks behind Epic Records and Cannondale bikes.  And of particular interest to me is their work with restaurant concepts like Sbarro and Hooters.

In this interview, Mike:

• explains why the investor class he works with is very interested in the QSR and fast casual category
• describes the game-changing trends and concepts in the industry
• highlights several concepts which are doing it “right” – and one which causes him to pause

Take a listen and then share your questions and feedback with me and/or Mike.  Mike can be reached through his firm’s site – www.brandvalueadvisors.com .

P.S.  If you’d like to see me cover a person or a perspective in an upcoming interview, please use the comments section to let me know.

other interviews:

• jonathan salem baskin on the history of social media
• doug stebbins on the retail outlook
• dick lynch on the turnaround at popeye’s louisiana kitchen

Late last year, 60 marketing experts shared their visions of the future of marketing through a “micro-conference” run by Sam Rosen of thoughtlead.  It found it fascinating on several levels.

First the “micro-conference” is a really neat format.  It’s a podcast-type audio event in which each person has only 60-seconds to speak.  Sam initiated the format with The Influencer Project, billed as “the shortest marketing conference ever” and featured thought-leaders on the subject of increasing your online influence.

In just one hour a “micro-conference” gives listeners a broad range of perspectives – it’s a little random, and by design, there isn’t a lot of depth, but nuggets of wisdom emerge throughout.  It’s kind of a buffet for the brain.

Also the types of thought-leaders who participated in the Future of Marketing were interesting.  There weren’t any real surprises in the speaker list – it included the expected experts (e.g., Guy Kawasaki, Charlene Li, Steve Rubel, and more), popular business figures (e.g., Scott Monty, Tony Hsieh, Alex Bogusky, etc.), and the authors everyone has read (e.g., David Meerman Scott, Brian Solis, Chris Brogan, etc.)  No real academics, no one from outside the field of marketing, and no celebrities (although Alex Bogusky might have as many fans — and critics — to qualify for that designation!)

I’d guess the speakers’ average age was around 40 (with Barry Schwartz representing the top end of the scale at 65 and Frank Gruber at the low end at 29).   Only 15 of the 60 speakers were women; only 6 were people of color.  All the speakers were U.S.-based.

I’m reporting these stats not to pass a judgment on who was/wasn’t included, but rather to paint a profile of the type of person who is leading the marketing profession these days.   And that profile — white, American middle-aged male marketing leader with an established platform — was another of the things that fascinated me about the event.

tag cloud of transcript from Future of Marketing

Finally the content itself was fascinating but even more so was the types of topics discussed.  I did a quick classification of the topics mentioned and my tally showed:

25% focused on social (social media, social commerce, social search)

Amber MacArthur talked about “the idea that more and more people are going to different social networks to get recommendations for products and services they buy versus is going to traditional search engines like Google.”

Ekaterina Walter, Social Media Strategist at Intel, declared, “Revolutionary marketing strategies are nonexistent without social media nowadays.”

20% talked about a broader aspect of business beyond marketing

Sonia Simone, Chief Marketing Officer of Copyblogger Media, suggested, “Everything we do is marketing, from our supply chain to what our CEO says over drinks to how our support teams treat our customers.”

Innovation was Virgin America Marketing VP Porter Gale’s point:  “We tried to use the central part of innovation at the core of our DNA.  We looked at the product.  We looked at the guest experience. We looked at all of our marketing channels and made sure that we pushed beyond the traditional landscape and changed the game.  For us it’s plugs at the seats; it’s wi-fi in all of our planes; it’s food on demand; it’s mood lighting; it’s things that guests actually didn’t even realize they needed.”

10% focused on content

Victoria Harres from PR Newswire explained, “The role of the marketer will be to facilitate rich and useful content to that well researched audience. And that is what I mean by the future of marketing isn’t selfish.”

“Focus your marketing on helping other people,” was the advice from Michael Stelzner of socialmediaexaminer.com.  “Everybody wants access to great insight and have great people who can help them, so produce engaging content that meets people’s insatiable demand for how-to information.”

the remaining 31% ranged across a bunch of marketing tactics and approaches — from mobile to shopper marketing to email marketing and more

Here’s the most fascinating part: only 3 made the customer their main point

“The real best companies in the world and best marketers imagine the unrecognized needs of their customers,” declared author Chip Conley.

Chris Brogan encouraged marketers, “…to incorporate [listening] into both your lead development, your awareness, your sales, and your customer service.  Basically do more to understand your customers in a 360-degree way.”

Todd Defren at SHIFT Communications challenged listeners saying, “So many companies and marketers think about taking a content-specific approach where they put ‘creative’ at the forefront of everything.  Really what they should be thinking about in the social media era is putting relationships at the center of everything.”

and only 3 people focused on the brand as the future of marketing

Michael Margolis, President of GetStoried.com, said, “People don’t buy your product or your solution or even your idea.  What they’re buying is the story that’s attached to it, or more importantly, the story they tell themselves about what your brand means to them, which is why you need to give people something to believe in, a bigger story. When your brand stands for something larger than just a widget, a sale, or a transaction, you invite people to find the deeper meaning.”

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh spoke on his resounding theme, saying, “A company’s culture and a company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin.”

Jeanne Bliss of CustomerBliss.com explained that brand experience is driven by five things:

1. clarity of purpose: redefine your purpose from your customer’s point of view.
2. recognize that employees are the brand in so many interactions.
3. be human and real in your communications.
4. become a talk-able brand by delivering a reliable experience your customers can tell others about.
5. be there on customers’ terms and nurture your humility and your humility muscle in how you say sorry and respond to customer disappointments.

On the one hand, this breakdown is concerning – only a handful of marketing experts put customers or the brand in the center of their vision of the future of marketing, while over half are betting on social or some marketing tactic.  It would seem they’re forgetting the fundamentals of marketing.

But as I try to be open-minded and give these people (many of whom I respect a lot) the benefit of the doubt, I think I may understand their perspective.  Customers and the brand are indeed marketing fundamentals — the core of the discipline — and their importance is timeless.

But perhaps it’s the tools and tactics that are what’s changing. And they are ushering in the new marketing era.

related posts:

• five leading business ideas for 2011
• michael tchong on trends to pay attention to

]]> http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites/2011/02/08/future-of-marketing/feed/ 10 http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites/2010/06/02/michael-tchong-on-trends-to-pay-attention-to/ http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites/2010/06/02/michael-tchong-on-trends-to-pay-attention-to/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:15:49 +0000 denise lee yohn http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites/?p=3703

This month I’m honored to feature an interview with Michael Tchong.  Michael is a trend analyst who shares with his audiences insights into the present and future which can fuel breakthrough innovation.  Ever since I met Michael at a CMO Council summit a couple of years ago, I have enjoyed learning from him and really value his perspectives.

In our talk, Michael shares about the trends taking shape which are characterized by consumers’ TBD (too busy disorder) and DWT (driving while texting — the “new DWI”) and how marketers are rendering themselves control-less — but there are countless opportunities for marketers to reinvent themselves and their categories if they are willing to listen to consumers and put their minds to it.

On his site, Ubercool you can learn more about Michael and get a sneak peak at his new book, Social Engagement Marketing, which is due out this summer. Also be sure to check out his blog, Ubertrends .

Enjoy this inspirational and provocative interview!

other interviews:

• jeanne bliss on beloved companies
• scott goodson on cultural movements
• ben mcconnell on employees as brand evangelists
• andy beal on the social web and brand-building

Andy Beal, an internet marketing consultant, award-winning blogger, professional speaker, and co-author of the critically-acclaimed book Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online, was kind enough to share a few moments with me earlier this week. 

Our talk covers topics like:

• how the social web is changing search
• the difference between brand and online reputation management
• noteworthy points about marketers and this year’s Super Bowl

We also discuss a cool company Andy founded, Trackur.  Trackur is an online reputation monitoring service that tracks what is said about you on the internet. Trackur scans hundreds of millions of web pages–including news, blogs, video, images, and forums–and lets you know if it discovers anything that matches the keywords you’ve indicated.  Fortune 500 companies, as well as small businesses, agencies, PR firms, etc. currently use Trackur as their “reputation guardian” and I think we’ll see even more uses and applications of the service going forward.  Check it out here.

You can reach Andy through his website:  www.andybeal.com .

I enjoyed talking shop with Andy and hope you enjoy listening in our conversation in the podcast below.

Right before the holidays, MarketingSherpa released its “2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report.”  The report indicated that “improving brand or product reputation” and “increasing brand or product awareness” did not rank highly in the list of social media objectives targeted and measured by U.S. marketers.  This confirms my own findings that companies are overlooking the importance of using social media tools for strategic, proactive brand-building.

MarketingSherpa found that only 20% of companies who they classified as being in the “trial phase” of their use of social media are using it for improving brand reputation and only 21% for improving brand awareness.  Although both of these numbers double to 54% for companies in the “strategic” social media usage phase, that incidence still seems quite low to me – particularly when compared to the 88% using social media for increasing website traffic and 75% for lead generation.

Perhaps that these latter objectives are more easily measured has led to their higher rate of implementation, but it seems companies are viewing social media as very tactical.

In a related effort, I audited over 30 organizations’ social media guidelines (including Sun Microsystems’, General Motors’, IBM’s, and even Yahoo!’s) and found another skew.  The most thorough social media guidelines encourage users to be responsible and respectful, indicate how confidential information should be handled, and reiterate the corporate rules of business conduct — but none indicate how the brand can and should be promoted with these new tools.

MediaPost recently asked me to write an article about this.  In it, I talk about the difference in between using social media for what I call “Defense” (protecting the company and its brand name) and “Offense” (promoting the brand.)  I ask,

“In recent years, many companies have cultivated the role of employee as brand ambassador.  Front-line employees in particular are recognized by many as critical brand touchpoints; “friends and family” discounts or coupons are often distributed through employees in order to generate broader awareness and positive impressions in the community.   Why not extend these efforts to the new social platforms and encourage and enable employees to use these tools to promote the brand?!”

Perhaps, as with setting objectives, taking a Defensive stance in social media is easier than adopting an Offensive one?  What not to do is certainly more obvious than what to do.  Understanding social media’s full brand-building potential and then figuring out the best ways to leverage that potential takes time and resources (budget, staff, and infrastructure).

MarketingSherpa observes that “the effort (time and resources) required of a social marketing tactic often trumps the effectiveness of a tactic in determining its use. The more effort required, the less likely it will be implemented.”  This “fast and easy” approach may be the first step in companies’ usage of social media, but to take full advantage of the brand-building opportunities in social media and networking, companies need to evolve beyond it.

My MediaPost article suggests that companies need Brand Guidelines to inspire and instruct employees how to generate excitement and interest in the brand.  I outline suggestions for specific content Brand Guidelines should include in order to address the usage of social media.  Please give it a read and let me know what you think.

related posts:

• brand impact in 2010
• brand value creation — learning and growth