Stereotypes Are Bad! Or Are They???

It is generally known that stereotypes are bad. We are taught as young children and we teach our children that stereotypes are bad. As an undergrad at Keene State College, I majored in Social Science with an emphasis on Sociology. As you can imagine, I spent many semesters trying to understand the root causes of many stereotypes and how they were unfairly and unjustly applied to individuals and groups of individuals. It wasn't until I was in my fifth semester of my MBA program that I realized that the use of stereotypes were not all bad.

From my sociology days, it was apparent that stereotypes are largely true. Stereotypes are society's way of grouping (fairly or unfairly) people. There are many stereotypes that we use everyday. More importantly, stereotypes are used by businesses in almost every decision made. Auto insurance company charge a higher premium for certain drivers and even certain cars. Consumer Packaged Good (CPG) companies target certain products to certain groups of people, for a certain purpose. Marketing is notorious for using stereotypes. McDonalds is aggressively targeting the African-American population with recent ads by using a Rap song to promote their new Mango and Pineapple Fruit Smoothie (the stereotype that all African-Americans listen to Rap).

Stereotypes provide marketing people with a foundation of individuals that could possible be interested in their products. A value is then assigned to that group of people (based on the size of the market, economic demographics, spending habits, etc) which translates into how much a company thinks they can sell, or Expected Commercial Value (EVC). Many of our business processes would not exist if it were not for stereotypes. We wouldn't be able to target advertising to a specific group of people without using stereotypes. Although many stereotypes have changed, the majority of them have stayed the same. Take the recent commercials for Swiffer Duster. One commercial shows two women as dirt and mud on a kitchen floor waiting to meet the love of their life (a mop) and be swept off the floor. Another show a man as dust in between keys on a keyboard. Pretty clear where these two stereotypes are. How successful is the use of stereotypes? P&G shares rose 130% in Swiffer's first year.! P&G is the largest CPG company and reported $78 billion in revenue last year - I would say that is pretty successful.

Because of the negative connotation that goes with the word "stereotypes" it is politely relabeled as "Market Segmentation" in the marketing world. In Business-to-Consumer (B2C) as well as the Business-to-Business (B2B) markets segmentation is hugely important. Marketers are rewarded and more valuable depending how much knowledge they possess about their markets. This starts with getting a deep understanding of who your existing customers are:

• What do they buy 
• Why do they buy 
• What are the motivators (drivers) for purchases 
• How do they buy (bulk, on credit, impulse, planned and evaluations) 
• When do they buy (seasonal, life-events, delegated) 

The answers to these questions (and there are thousands more) are extremely important. These answers are then applied to existing stereotypes that are common in the market and products are marketed to those groups of people that fit the buying habits as well as the stereotypes. Get these wrong and your new product will not be successful. This is a huge challenge for marketers. A challenge that extends to new product innovation (NPI) as well as advertising and product launches.

Even before a product makes it to market, millions of dollars are spent on a concept that marketing is saying customers (or potential customers) want and R&D is saying is feasible (see my post in InnovAAAAAtion!). Add on millions of dollars in marketing, test case, product positioning strategies, graphic designs, packaging, distibution and many other complex functions of launching a product to the wrong market - you'd better get your resume ready!

Make no mistake about it, marketers are masters at understanding and using stereotypes to position products to the right groups of people.

Facebook is Bigger Than You Think -Part 2

In the last article I talked about the difference between advertising your business via "Traditional Media" versus "Social Media".

So...now what?

Well, one thing I learned from the the young entrepreneurs in Kenya is that they use Facebook to tell stories about their lives. Pretty much the same thing we all do with our profiles. We all post photos of our kids, our birthdays, our vacations, our new cars...everything! We talk to people and comment on their posts. They comment back. So why wouldn't we promote our businesses the same way?

I'm going to use muffins as an example again because I love'em. What can you do if you own a muffin shop? Come up with a new flavor and post it your Facebook page. Get someone to take some nice photos of your store and some of the muffins on the shelf and put it up. Offer a baker's dozen for the price of a dozen. Believe me, I will go in and buy a dozen muffins for a free one. You get the point. You can start being creative with your offers and updates.

The best thing that can happen is a little conversation with a customer. If I loved your muffins so much I'd become a fan and even might post something on your wall (or on my wall) about your muffin shop and how its the best thing to hit planet earth since the invention of the muffin itself. Now, if I post something like this, I'd like to hear back from you. And it doesn't have to be much. Just a "thank you for coming in" will do just fine.

I'm not going to lie, maintaining your Facebook page takes time and effort. It's grassroots marketing on the digital level. Truly. What you put into it, you'll get back. This also means that your business is "all out there". For everyone to see – good or bad.

We've looked at the good. Now what about the bad? This was one of the only questions the young Kenyans had. They told me there are "jokesters" out there who will just write bad things on your wall. This definitely, might possibly, could very well happen. Maybe. But it probably will. As I told them, you can do one of two things:

1.) You can delete the post.

2.) You can hit it head on.

It might seem crazy, but number two is your best bet. Someone is going to go into your muffin shop and have a bad experience. Who knows? Maybe the person at the register is having a bad day. Maybe someone accidentally put salt in the muffins instead of sugar. Maybe the customer was having a bad day and the muffin just wasn't enough to turn it around. So he or she goes back to the office and posts your worst nightmare.

"New muffin place on the corner...worst muffin of my life. Don't go there."

This is an opportunity to turn that customer around. Comment on his or her post, offer them a free muffin or cup of coffee. Ask what was wrong. Get that customer back. Put yourself out there. It's not impossible. Believe it or not, this is the kind of thing that particular customer is looking for. You know your muffins are the best thing on the planet. Don't let one bad experience bring it down.

A good friend of mine became the social media director at a fairly good size business. In the third week she was there, a customer had a bad experience at a particular branch. He immediately posted about how bad it was there and that he didn't want any part of going back. She got wind of this and took action - within 24 hours. She simply asked him what happened, apologized and let him know that they cared very much for his business. He responded immediately as well. He couldn't believe a business that big listened to him and responded to him so quickly. He posted his gratitude, took back what he originally said and even took the time to write a positive email and send it to corporate, which eventually reached the CEO.

Now thats the ultimate turnaround. That guy is probably still telling his friends to go there. There is no advertisement in the world that can make that kind of impression.

In the world of media, the best and biggest form of advertising is, and always has been, word of mouth. Today we live in the digital world, and social media gives everyone the biggest platform the've ever had to say whatever they want. Even on a global scale.

And who knows...they might be commenting about how good their muffin was this morning.

What the (bleep) does "Business Development" actually mean?

I recently read and participated in a discussion about the difference between Business Development and Sales executives. Although I responded, I did so in passing and did not really take the time to lay out what a clear definition is for each of them and how they integrate and overlap. I stated quickly (bad grammar and all) that "Business Development develops business and sales closes business." Seems simple enough I guess. But I think everyone would agree that there is a hell of a lot more that goes into Developing Business and Closing Business.

Even companies that enjoy recurring revenue from existing customer (I have heard of companies northward of 80%), have to to find new customers. There is only some much you can sell existing customers. In a perfect organization there are three types of activities that have to happen in order to obtain new customers. To obtain new customers you need to:

1. Understand your markets and the needs of non-customers 
2. Develop new relationships and become a trusted adviser to new prospects 
3. Close new deals! 

Ideally, these three aspects should be separate roles and in some cases departments. For now, let's leave marketing out of this (refer to my post I Work in MARKETING, not Advertising!). Let's assume that we already understand points 1 and 2, ready to go to market and start creating relationships. This is where Business Development comes into play. Business Development professionals should be experts in four things:

1. Identifying the right people to talk to 
2. Making initial contact with executives and gaining their trust 
3. Navigating an organization and understanding its structure 
4. Finding hot button issues and common pains across the organization 

These are the ends. There are a million means. What is important to remember is that this is not time to sell! During the business developing part of the sales process the potential customer is not ready to buy If they were, they would have already contacted you (as long as marketing is doing their jobs). Business development is about doing the research, working with executives that now trust you to better understand your industry. These executive are busy but very smart. They are experts in their industry, not yours. A VP of R&D may be knowledgeable about the ERP industry, but not like you are. It is your job to help them to understand the landscape. Who you are, what you offer, who your competitors are (and for pete's sake, don't say "we don't have any")? The more information you share, the more they will trust you, talk openly about their pains, concerns, and more importantly, help you to understand and navigate their organization (steps 3 & 4).

Business development is not about selling your product or service. It is about selling yourself, your company and your industry. In today's complex sales' process, it is impossible to call someone and end the call with a commitment to buy. That should not be your goal. The call should always end with sending information and an agreement to follow up at a later date. If you get an appointment scheduled with the prospect one of two things has happened: 1) You pushed too hard and will waist an hour of time for him and your sales rep or 2) you got lucky and found some one that is ready to buy. The prospect should hang up the phone and think "that was good, knowledgeable and looking forward to their info!" This is the foundation that will lead to further understanding whether or not they have a need for your product or service.

Later on when the sales rep is trying close business, the work that business development has put into questions 1-4 will make it much easier to close business. Closing enterprise deals (6-7 figure deals) has only gotten harder. Now companies are more strapped for budgets, more people are involved and decisions are more political. Getting in good with the VPs and C-level employees helps, but doesn't seal the deal. Plus, with more competitors in every market trying to sell similar or the same functionality can make it a nightmare for evaluation teams. Companies now have more buying power than ever before (thanks to the internet) and usually have a preconceived idea of who you are before they even contact you. Sometimes you may be behind before you even start. Most companies have become great at portraying themselves as the leader in a particular market by spending more money on marketing than they do on their product. Not a bad strategy if you are finding deals 10-to-1 over your competitor that is spending more on their product and less on marketing.   In this environment, business development has to be the bridge between sales and market. Business Development does both, has to be involved in both and has to own the process of finding new customers and entering new markets. Sales should not being doing this - they should be closing deals that they have in their pipeline. Marketing should not be doing it - they should be creating killer content and quit honestly, most marketing people lack the people skills and determination to be on the front lines! 

Additionally, please do not make the mistake of compensating your business development people according to revenue contributions. This is unfair and isn't the right tool for motivation. If business development reps wanted to be compensated and judged by revenue, they would be in sales. Instead, pay them well and put a great lead scoring process in place and reward them for great leads. Give them bonuses when things close. Get them involved in the development of the content as they are the Voice of the Prospect. Get them involved deep into the sales process with the sales representative. This will provide them additional experience, knowledge and confidence about how to control a good conversation with senior executives as well as provide support the sales representative while he/she gets comfortable and builds rapport with the project champion.

Make your business development representatives the bridge between your sales and marketing groups. I guarantee you will not regret it.

Google's Solution for Non-Apple Users!

With the release of Google+, Music Beta and the ChromeBook, we the people that don't use Apple can rejoice.  Adding these products to the existing web-based and Android-based products all of us that do not use Apple for one reason or another (yes, there are people without an iSomething) could possible have a complete solution to manage our lives as well.  Integrating all of Google's products into one platform, has provided everyone a free way to manage the most important things in life - Friends, Documents, Calendars, Emails, Music and Pictures.  What else is there to ask for!

I have never been an Apple person.  I am the hip PC in the Apple commercials.  I had an iPod for a while and it was nice. It was just another thing to carry around with me until I lost it.  I have always been a Google guy (as my wife calls me).  I am always on edge trying to figure out how to use Google's free products better.  I was using Google Docs about 3 years ago, and would not have finished my MBA program without it. Now with the release of Music Beta by Google I finally have a real (and better) alternative to iTunes.  I have had everything in my Google Cloud for years now.  I pride myself is my Googleness and brag about not having anything on my PC.  With the new ChromeBook, which I can not wait to buy, I will have a Faster way to access and use it to manage my multi-functional life.

It is very interesting to me that Apple and Steve Jobs are the poster children for Innovation.  Through out my MBA program, many people used Apple for their case studies on their ability to innovative.  My sense is that Google has always been much more innovative and slowly but surely setting themselves up for a larger technology revolution that is finally taking shape, without the psycho Steve Jobs leading the charge (Yes, I called Steve Jobs a psycho!).  Yes, Google has had some near failures (YouTube) and some complete failures (Google Wave) but all in all - Google works and works well!  They may not have always been first to market, but who is these days?  Apple's iPod was not the first MP3 player on the market, but it was better.  Google Maps was not the first website to get directions from (for those of you who do not know, it was MapQuest), but it was better.  Google has provided us all with innovative and free alternatives to costly products (MS Server, Sharepoint, MS Office and even CAD software).   And now they are taking on the 3 giants at the same time (Microsoft, Apple and Facebook).  What other company out there in the Silicon Valley has the resources, talent and BALLS to pick that many battles and succeed?  None!

Jeff Jarvis explains how Google is able to innovate so quickly and effectively his book What Would Google Do?   He makes that point that Google is the master at launching products that people need and want, and letting the users decide how to improve them - hence everything is Beta.  Having the idea or a framework of what a product is going to do is one thing.  Letting the users use it, report on it, and suggest improvements is something entirely different.  Marissa Mayer (VP Customer Experience) created this strategy and has changed that game for every software product manager out there.  We now have a new vision.  A new plan on how we should go about starting new initiatives.  Follow the Google approach there are no longer missed launch dates and  embarrassment of bug-ridden releases.  What is also gained in return is a group of faithful and eager users (numbering in the thousands or millions) that are dying to try and test the new Google product.  Customer loyalty at its best!

Jason Fried's  approach (Rework) is parallel.  Doing something is better than doing nothing.  Starting is is the most important and hardest step.  Making it great is the easy part!  Getting your users' feedback is essential in your efforts to give customers what they want and not selling your customers what you have!  These approaches creates an entirely new culture of employees that now have to fight the old guard to get better products and services to market - faster.  Many companies struggle with this new approach.  Many companies see that there is a need, a weakness or a better way to do something.  They know it is there, they know it has to be done and they have to resources to do it.  "We need to look at this further!" is the response.  Time is wasted and opportunities are missed.  Fried's message - do it, do it well, and be ready to adapt to changes to new market requirements.  This is the new approach to innovation!

It is clear that Google knows exactly what it is doing, the balls to do and the resources to make it successful.  And I couldn't be happier that I finally have an real alternative (and better) to Apple's products.  One that does not control your content, provides great functionality, flexibility and is COMPLETE!

Thank you GOOGLERS!!!

I Work in MARKETING, not Advertising!

It is almost without fail that when I tell people that I do marketing for a software company there are two assumptions placed on me; 1) I am a technical person and 2) I do advertising, and send out spam.  This could not be further from my realty - I am not technical at all :) 


So, I decided to set the record straight on what Marketing really is, as a profession!  Marketing is a very important function of business,  maybe the most important.  In small organizations, marketing is confused with sales and in large organizations it is confused with advertising.  There are a lot of overlaps, but according to James Henley  and the MARKETING CONCEPT AND PHILOSOPHY, marketing has a very simple focus - meet the customers' needs at a profit.  As such, marketing is truly a function of every function in business.  


More specifically, there are a  number of activities that the marketer people have to be able to do - effectively:

1. Know who the customers are
2. Know what they want
3. Know what you can offer (products or services)
4. Know what you and the customer can afford
5. Communicate that you understand 1 through 4 in a way that adds value and gains attention

This is the core function of marketing, in its simplest form.  For each of these activities there are a lot of people and even professions that only focus one or two of them.  The most important aspect of marketing for any company is 1 and 2.  If you are a sales person an executive or anyone else and do not know who your potential customers are and what they want - FIND OUT and fast.  This knowledge it priceless.  You have to know your markets. 

David F. D'Alessandro makes a very clear point in his book Career Warfare.  To be indispensable, at any company, make sure that you poses some knowledge about how to do something that no one else knows how to do as well as you!  What else is more valuable than knowing who your potential customers are and what they need.  That is information that the CEO, VP of Sales, Chief Marketing Officer, R&D people and other functions in a company will want to know. If you play your cards right, they will ask you what you think! 

Going back to "advertising" for a minute. Advertising, Pay-Per-Click, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and email marketing (spam) are all functions of communicating what customers want.  Imagine if the customers desired a new widget that did ABC and you spent millions on a TV spot, a new website and a Facebook page offering DEF... would you sell anything?  NO!  

Marketing is simple and it is not spamming people.  Marketing helps the R&D and Innovation groups understand what people want.  Marketing is not responsible for selling people things they don't want or don't need.  Marketing is the most strategic of functions, making sure that the company is going in the same direction as their potential customers.  Understanding what people want is hard work.  Making sure that you can offer them what they don't realize they will need in 5, 10 years is even harder.  


The solution, learn who your potential customers are and what they want.  Learn it well, and communicate it even better!  Be the Voice of the Customer!

Facebook is Bigger Than You Think -Part 1

A few months ago I took a trip to Kenya. It was part of a state-sponsored trip with the University of Connecticut to mentor young entrepreneurs. I went with a crew of highly intelligent and educated professionals from all over Connecticut. Some of them have studied multiple languages and indigenous tribes, some of them are top level professors of masters programs, some have traveled to other third world countries and started organic and fair trade divisions for their product lines and some are even involved with homeland security for our nation.

Me? I graduated from Keene State College with a Bachelors of Science degree in Graphic Design.

For some reason, some genius decided that it was a good idea I go along with all these over achievers and run a seminar on social media marketing as part of the 4 day required course for the young entrepreneurs. To put it into perspective...Was this a joke?

I knew nothing of Kenya. I'd never stepped foot out of America, unless you count Canada, which I think is just the actual North America with better strip clubs. I had to find out more.

I knew it was a developing country. I knew it was in Africa. But I didn't know if teaching a course on Social Media Marketing would make any sense at all. Did they have websites for their businesses? Did they have marketing budgets? What kind of businesses are they actually running? Who is going to be at the seminar? Did they even have access to the internet? Questions and more questions flooded my mind. I'd never given a lecture to anyone, other than in college for a project.

Well, we had a week to visit some of the businesses in the field before the actual seminar got under way. Some of them were in Nairobi, some were farther out in the country. One guy had an internet cafe, which is where most of them check their email and surf the web. Electricity is hard to come by in Kenya. We had rolling blackouts at our hotels every night. So you can imagine there are not many power lines roaming the landscape. Therefore, there are no internet lines following those power lines. It all helped to develop my part of the seminar. Trying to understand just how they thrive in business down here when resources are so limited.

I just kept asking as much as possible until I got my answer. Cell phones. Everything is wireless, including the internet. The majority of them don't have credit cards. They have cell phones that trade "credits" to purchase items. Want a stick of gum or a bottle of water? Whip out your cell phone. They all have cell phones. And more importantly, there were all on Facebook.

It was astonishing. They could all keep in touch on Facebook through their cell phones. This is a country that is going to skip a few levels of infrastructure, simply because they don't need it. They'll go solar before somebody ever thinks of spending the money for power lines. One of the businesses going on down there was actually selling a small solar panel with a light and a switch as a package for homes. They're not powering up mansions anyways, so it makes sense.

So when my seminar came around it was all about getting your business up on Facebook. It made the most sense for them and after roughing out a lecture minutes before I gave it, it made sense for any business any where. For these entrepreneurs it was all about access and funds. They have no money for a marketing budget. They have no money or knowledge to build a website. In fact, the first part was asking about "Traditional Media."

"Traditional Media" is what we first think of now. For example, print ads in magazines and newspapers, billboards, radio spots, tv spots and building a website. Now let's just say we want to advertise in the daily paper. Because we're a small company, we can only afford a small ad toward the back of the local section. That ad might cost $250 for a one time shot. Let's say the circulation of the daily paper is 50,000. So, 50,000 people are set to receive this paper. That doesn't mean it goes to 50,000 mailboxes. Stacks of these papers go into the boxes on every street corner, sometimes the return is high. Lets say that 30,000 people actually receive and read this paper. That's 60%. You're a local business and this paper is statewide. So let's say that your immediate area for your business is 8,000. Sixty percent of your area is 4,800. Of these 4,800 people, 2,000 read the whole paper, 1,000 of them look at all the ads and coupons. Lets hope 10% are interested in your ad. Out of the 100 people that have seen your ad let's figure 2% will take action.

So, for $250 we got two new customers. Not bad. However, that's $125 per person. Is there ever a scenario where you would spend $125 to sell a $2.50 cupcake to somebody? I hope not, you'd be out of business pretty fast.

This is where social media comes in to play. It's free to set up an account for your business on Facebook. How many friends do you already have on Facebook? One hundred? Most likely, the majority of those friends are interested because they know you already. Let's just say 30 of them tried your business and 10 actually liked it. Enough to share it on their Facebook walls. Maybe they each have 100 friends. That's 1,000 people that just saw somebody say something good about your business. Let's be honest, sharing something on your Facebook page is the same as a recommendation. Now, using the same 2% from the newspaper return, that's 2o people that came in and tried your business. From this point it's up to you and the quality of the product to keep them coming back.

On Facebook, for no money at all, you've advertised, captured some testimonials, retained a pretty good customer base and, the best part, the word is still spreading around to even more people.

The Right to Win!

A while back I read an article by Booz & Company called The Right To Win.  Although this company, website and magazine is geared towards business, I thought that this was an interesting concept for personal application as well.  Similar to Cheshire's point in his last post - Anonymity  - The Right to Win is more about being relevant and a leader than it is about winning.  The idea of marketing ourselves is not a new one and it is a skill that everyone has (or needs to develop).  Without it, none of us would have the jobs that we currently have - we sold our skills, experiences and personalities to the hiring managers of where we work.

The Right to Win theory goes a lot further.  When we compete against other businesses, applicants, or any other form of competition for that matter, the best product or person doesn't always win.  Remember back to the SuperBowl XLII.  Sorry everyone, The Giants were not the better team.  They played better that day, but were not the better team.  Their strategy going into that particular game, coupled with their flawless execution gave them The Right to Win that day, the only day that mattered.  (Yes, I am a Patriots fan)

Gaining The Right to Win takes vision, determination, strategy and flawless execution.  Knowing where you would like to be in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years helps you to work on gaining the skills you will need to place yourself in the best position for success.  A lot of people believe that they already have this right due to some sort of entitlement from birth, or a specific degree from a specific institution   Although these things do help to achieve goals and increases your odds of winning, they do not entitle you to The Right to Win.  In this global economy The Right to Win can only be achieved by matching your skills perfectly  with what someone is looking for.

This is true on a personal and business level.  Your product can only have The Right to Win is you find a potential customer that has the exact features your product offers.  This does not mean that you should add more features (or personal skills), but instead it means that you should focus your features and skills on the exact market that is looking for exactly what you have to offer.  Remember, the essence of strategy is lies in what you don't do..... This gives you The Right to Win!