This article from Trend Hunter caught my eye.  As a marketer, branding in the context of visual pollution is interesting at the very least.  

DebrandedHome.com produces stickers or labels for people to put on their personal care product containers. They are out to reduce “visual pollution” and “lessening brand presence” in the home. Why clutter your bathroom with products in various colours and shapes? Use your own plain containers and make them look great with their labels."

Lessening brand presence?!  Clutter?!  Our precious brand assets, shunned. How does that happen?  Maybe because it reeks of marketing, and people don’t always like feeling marketed to.  Like any marketing element, packaging design can be subject to many masters along the value chain:

Brand Team: Drive equity; stand out and sell on the shelf; support product news for sales

Sales Team: Give me better news to sell to retailers (new, innovative, cheaper, etc.)

Retailer: Give me exclusive; protect the product (theft, damage, etc.); fit in on my shelves 

and finally… 

End User: Make it about me (help me, indulge me, give me better value, save the world, make it pretty, etc.)

From the top down, you might end up with quite the loud marketing mish-mash.  You’d probably hide the end result too, that is if you even bought it in the first place.

The organization must have the forethought, incentive and determination to rally around what drives the end user first, and lead the value chain in developing cohesive solutions to that end. That’s all everyone in this chain wants anyways - they just prioritize different ways of getting there.  If the idea starts with a clear vision of the consumer, maybe marketing won’t feel so much like that marketing stuff. And packaging may answer consumer needs instead of getting in the way.

(By the way, I only used the DeBrandedHome.com product to make a broader point; I actually think it’s a pretty good idea.)

Like his books, Seth Godin’s blog is a must-read for any driven marketer.  He recently re-published this insightful hit list:

What Every Good Marketer Knows:

• Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
• Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
• Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
• Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.
• Marketing begins before the product is created.
• Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.
• Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency.
• Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
• Products that are remarkable get talked about.
• Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
• You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
• If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
• People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
• You’re not in charge. And your prospects don’t care about you.
• What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.
• Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
• Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.
• People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
• Good marketers tell a story.
• People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
• Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
• Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.
• Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
• A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.
• Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in an conversation-rich world.
• Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.
• Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.
• Good marketers measure.
• Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.
• One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.

• In the googleworld, the best in the world wins more often, and wins more.
• Most marketers create good enough and then quit. Greatest beats good enough every time.
• There are more rich people than ever before, and they demand to be treated differently.
• Organizations that manage to deal directly with their end users have an asset for the future.
• You can game the social media in the short run, but not for long.
• You market when you hire and when you fire. You market when you call tech support and you market every time you send a memo.
• Blogging makes you a better marketer because it teaches you humility in your writing.

Obviously, knowing what to do is very, very different than actually doing it." 

There are certainly more principles I like to keep top of mind.  Here’s a quick few:

• Price should never equal perceived value.
• The cost to trade up current customers is almost always more efficient than investment in new customers.
• Marketing should engage all members of the value chain (internal, sales force, retailers, distributors, etc.) as customers in order to effectively reach the end user. [Similar to the B2B insight from Seth]
• Ideas happen when brand truths and consumer insights converge

 Don’t be shy - add your marketing hits here.

I recently attended my first "plant swap" event with my wife, where like-minded local gardeners get together and trade their earthly delights the old fashioned way.  We went to the local park, set up a table among the group and showcased the excess goods from our yard: some mint plants, daffodil bulbs and bags of red wiggler earthworms which are ideal for composting kitchen scraps.  People simply wandered from table to table, found items of interest and proposed a swap from their plant bounty.  Here’s the trick: no money was exchanged.  

It reminded me of a basic principal in marketing I feel is often forgotten: Creating value outside the context of dollars and cents.  Sure, when you’re selling a good or service, pricing is at the core of the equation.  But cost shouldn’t necessarily equal value.  It’s an important distinction.  One that might cause you think beyond the coupon or price sales, which can erode value instead of creating loyal customers. 

The plant swap was a fun exercise for thinking about value vs. price.  How much value does one find in a bag of composting worms?  Sure, they were unique to the plant swap, upping product value right away.  What if you throw in some personalized directions on how use them? Then pile on some fun anecdotes about the joys of composting.  Even sprinkle in a genuine smile.  Suddenly it’s not just about worms - it’s about a valuable customer experience.   

Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee (which I think is bitter at best); they sell something more valuable which centers all parts of the Starbucks experience around the customer.  Their brand is built on adding value, from the customer service to the in-store environment to the website, which launched a personalized coffee matchmaker recently.

If you removed price differentiation from the equation, what would you identify as valuable about your brand and its product or service?   The answers may surprise you.

Is pretending to care better than not caring at all?    Seth Godin argues it is when it comes to your approach for customer service, hoping it’ll lead to something authentic.  And rare.  Caring shouldn’t stop there - it impacts your total brand experience which is more important than ever.  

Customer loyalty is elusive in times of economic distress. Makes sense, right?  Fewer dollars means more discerning consumption.  More channels and competition means it’s easier for customers to exercise choice for their select products and services.  What can we do to maintain consideration when all expenditures are under the microscope?  Add value at every turn - or simply show a little care.  It’ll go a long way in creating a differentiated and memorable brand experience. 

Advertising and web presence aren’t just about selling, but extending specific information to enhance specific customer lives. Understand how people live and make it easier.  Also good to keep in mind for packaging and new products.  Added-value means you care.

PR isn’t just about getting a product message out, but showing a side of brand that makes a meaningful stand and backs it up.  Like Dove and the campaign for Real Beauty.  Adding value shows you care.

Customer service isn’t just about moving along the transaction, but creating a connection.  Maybe even treating customers like people.  Like Starbuck’s was known for and is trying to bring back; adding value makes a difference. 

Employees are people too.  Caring starts from the inside - how do you show your people you care?  

Making an effort to encourage caring may be the start of something special for your brand.  Maybe we’ll realize it isn’t significantly more difficult than the alternative, and a golden rule for marketing too. 

I hate to see integrated marketing potential go down the drain.  Often it’s a case of medium constipation.  The product is great.  The consumer is clear.  The idea is set, and the message ready to explode.  But then, whether it’s budget, fear, timing or something else, the activation is then limited to one or two disparate executions.  Breakthrough potential is limited in the noisy marketplace.

Or, the opposite happens and the effort still falls short.  A solid product and activation investment are there, but the idea doesn’t necessarily flow from a cohesive place. This humorous post from Marketing Profs describes the continuity issues with Cottonelle’s current integrated campaign. 

We have to think through each touch point and evaluate it against the desired customer takeaway.  If it’s confusing or unclear, the peer critiques are the least of concerns.

This post from Zatz Not Funny!  cracked me up.  It’s about another attempt at making disposable DVD’s a viable consumer proposition. The DVD works when you open it, and then it magically de-reads itself after 48 hours. Kind of like the whole Inspector Gadget this-message-will-self-destruct-in-60-seconds thing. Ready for the rubbish bin.

It’s a bad idea for a number of reasons: It’s not a new idea, which has failed in the past; DVDs are turning more old school by the day; there are cheaper, more convenient alternatives. And as eco-friendly gets more mainstream, is this really positioned for success?

Good marketing first starts with a good product. You can’t replace that. And then it’s about crafting a memorable, relevant message: the story matching consumer need and product benefit. It really is that simple.

Activation is the tricky part. You have to think about how the person will receive and process your message at every touch point, which in this case, would include timing of this disposable product press release… right in the middle of green Earth Day mania.

It did get me thinking about disposable media I might want. Ever fired off an emotionally-charged text message or email? Self destructing might come in handy. It exists for email with KaBlooey Mail though I haven’t tried it. I bet a lot of the Facebook folks wish they could take back some of those college party pictures…

There’s nothing quite like word of mouth when it comes to accelerating adoption of your product or service.

And WOM marketers are always trying to facilitate and maximize the viral path by targeting influencers - people who are in better position than most to influence others. Social media is certainly being discussed as a hotbed for such viral activity. Logic might state the more friends you have, the more influence potential. Right? Or, the more readers, links, comments and so-on your blog has, the more clout. Right?

Well a survey from Pollara in Canada disputes the notion that popularity on the net = influence on purchase behavior:

IN THE WORLD OF SOCIAL media, so-called "influencers" might have less clout than some marketers think.

According to a new study from Canadian research firm Pollara, self-described social media users put far more trust in friends and family online than in popular bloggers, or strangers with 10,000 MySpace "friends."

Of more than 1,100 adults polled in December, nearly 80% said they were very or somewhat more likely to consider buying products recommended by real-world friends and family, while only 23% reported being very or somewhat likely to consider a product pushed by "well-known bloggers."

"This shows that popularity doesn’t always equate to credibility," said Robert Hutton, executive vice president and general manager at Pollara. "Marketers might have to reconsider who the real influencers are out there."

 

The next big thing in building brands? Service. Surely you’ve read that more and more often in the past year. Or few. So, if we’re getting the message, why does it seem our customer providers aren’t?

In today’s crowded marketplace, I firmly believe that any point of contact with your customer is an opportunity to differentiate your brand. Advertising. Packaging. Charity. Retail… Well, customer service is no different. In some cases, service interaction can go further to creating a lasting impression. Hopefully good. Sometimes bad. Even the best intentions can actually go the other way. Just ask Starbuck’s, always a leader in the service experience, taking measures in February to right the ship.

Perhaps you’ve have heard the old PR saying "there’s no such thing as bad publicity." If you ever believed that, you may want to rethink. Customers have more choice, access and power to communicate than ever. While successful brands will encourage a two-way conversation with customers, there’s also the added responsibility of delivering good products and beneficial experiences at each point of interaction. The world is listening, so leave no stone unturned.

Execution is everything. Customer service is no different, as I was recently reminded by HP. We had some issues setting up my all-in-one color printer, and we called the service center. (Still didn’t work, but that’s not the point). We received a surprise follow-up call to ensure call-center satisfaction - good idea. Delivered at 8:03 Sunday morning - bad impression. Someone didn’t think this through. It was a good intention turned sour and only exacerbated the fact we originally spent 4 hours on the phone, fighting through difficult accents and transfers, trying to get a product to work. Frustration does not sell.

Of course, in their defense, the call came from someone living in a 7:00 pm time zone. 24-hour customer service - good idea. Outsourcing beyond basic understanding of how their customers live - bad impression. Disrespect doesn’t sell either.

Do you have any customer service stories that made an impression - good or bad - on you?