Marketing Autopsy Blog » marketing campaign

Scaling Back or Stepping Up Marketing in a Recession? Maybe It’s the Wrong Question

Cuong Huynh — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:14:56 +0000

So you have 3 choices: reduce, maintain or increase your marketing in this recession. Obviously the answer lies in the budget that is available for your operation. But more importantly, and independently of the budget, your marketing program needs to be a lot smarter than what it used to be. This means doing more with less, working smarter and harder (not smarter than harder,) focussing on your strengths and putting aside nice-to-have stuff.

Considering that people still need to purchase products and services in order to live their lives, regardless of market condition, here are some typical market-in-decline realities that may help shape your new marketing strategies:

Consumers are still buying, though they may be searching harder and longer for cheaper alternatives or products.
Used product sales are on the rise, including pre-owned cars. It’s all about getting the best deal for a given amount of money paid, and cars with 1-3 years of age are the best bargains.
Sales at goodwill industries are booming. These have their own industries because the markets are big. There are quality items to be found, and smart consumers know this and want to take advantage of it.
Comfort foods are selling. While consumers do cut back on eating out at high-end establishments, they still look for cheaper ways to enjoy a meal once in a while. Home-cooked style and no-frills eateries with great value and fulfilling foods are the best.
Do-it-yourself is now the superstar. Homeowners come to the realization that the roofs over their heads are still the best thing they own, so it make total sense to spend what little they have to spend on this large investment. And do-it-yourself (DYI) is where you get the best bang for the buck.
DIY fitness is more popular. Recreation is another area where people as a creature cannot do without. And fitness is one of the most fun and best value people can do with the least amount of money spent. Expect products like running shoes, bicycle helmets, etc. to take a leap in sales.

Of course these are not meant to be a complete list. Rather they are illustrative of the type of market conditions and consumer behaviors you need to understand right now to help redirect your marketing strategies. The real question is not about whether or not you should scale back or step up your marketing effort. The real question is how do you implement effective marketing campaigns that put your best strengths forward to address the current new market demands.

Here are 3 practical things you can do right now:

Analyze your offerings and focus on your key products and core customers. Place heavy emphasis on your key products that are relevant to core customers. Nothing else matters.
Acquire insights from experienced colleagues and take advantage of the experience of those who have survived through previous recessions. This alone is one of the most overlooked affordable secret weapons that you can find.
Just as important, know where to make cuts (if you must) and where not to make cuts. Smaller budgets are a reality. It’s how you prioritize your marketing activities that will determine how you will recover when the market picks up again.

With a sharply focussed marketing strategy, it doesn’t matter if you scale back or step up your efforts. What matters is you understand your new market forces and meet its demands with the lowest cost and most effective tools you can find.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Scaling Back or Stepping Up Marketing in a Recession? Maybe It’s the Wrong Question

Buy One, Get One Free Electronic Coupons: Mobile Marketing at Work

Cuong Huynh — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:05:46 +0000

Updated 02-20-09. I took part in a mobile marketing campaign without realizing it until later. I just used an electronic coupon straight from my iPhone the other day. In the transaction I got what I wanted quickly and conveniently, and the merchant made a quick sale because the business took to online marketing. It’s cool, easy and simple, and I think companies will do more of it.

Whether or not you’re a fan of the restaurant Souplantation, you have to love their “Buy One, Get One Free” coupons. I must admit that we only go there when my wife finds a coupon in the mail. There are times when our cravings for soups and salads had to be overcome with some other alternative because we didn’t find a coupon that week, or didn’t have one on hand – I assured my wife that we’re not the only ones doing this.

Anyway we signed up for their Club Veg membership and now we receive special offers directly in our emails. So on a mid afternoon the other day while we were out on some errands, on a whim, she wanted to get some soups and salads. I remembered receiving something from Club Veg a few days ago, so I pulled out my iPhone, checked the email and guess what, there was a very nice looking coupon staring back at me, with bar code and everything!

Now normally you’d print the coupon out and take it with you. But I said let’s just go straight there since I wasn’t going to stop anywhere to print the darn thing to save a few bucks. I reasoned that they should be able to scan the barcode off of the iPhone if they must, or they can always key in the coupon numbers by hand. No big deal.

When presented with my electronic coupon, the guy at the register froze for a moment, then said he’ll have to check with the manager. When she came over, I showed her my coupon on my iPhone screen. She immediately approved the transaction. I paid and we were off to our table. My wife was very happy.

This is one perfect example of why mobile marketing should be in your company’s marketing mix. When executed correctly, everybody wins. The customers win with convenience, instant gratification and on-demand savings, and the merchant wins with quick sales resulting directly from their marketing campaigns targeted to customers’ real needs and demands.

I guess there is one loser in all of this mobile marketing excitement. Eventually, the U.S. Postal Service will see their business fall off even more as people find more ways to do business electronically.

Here are a few quick and easy tips to get your organization on the mobile marketing bandwagon quickly:

Keep your message simple, relevant, timely, and take advantage of and exploit mobile behaviors. The offer and call to action must be clear. Try this quick 1-2-3 approach in your message:
1. State what the offer is, clearly and quickly,
2. Explain how to get the offer immediately from the mobile devices in their hands, and
3. Suggest that they share the deal with their friends.
Start with quick download or coupon offerings because they are simple and easy to implement, and satisfy the need for immediate gratification.
Use short deadline offers to drive consumer action. Do daily deals, hourly deals, etc.
Never take the mobile marketing medium for granted. Assuming you did the proper front-end opt-in process to ask your customers’ permission for mobile communication, you must continually respect their time and privacy, and never abuse your mobile messaging privileges.

So have you experienced or been involved in mobile marketing in some capacity, from either business or customer side? What is your favorite mobile marketing campaign you’ve seen? Share with us in the comment below.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Buy One, Get One Free Electronic Coupons: Mobile Marketing at Work

Beware the Marketing Creeps

Cuong Huynh — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:36:29 +0000

Most of us recognize a marketing creep when we see one. But not many are willing or equipped to deal with it.

What’s a marketing creep? Marketing creep is comparable to feature creep in web development, or design creep in engineering. In whatever name or industry, marketing, feature or design creep refers to unforeseen requests for additions and changes that are outside the project scope. Generically it can be called scope or requirement creep, but again they all mean the same thing: You’ll run into trouble if you’re not careful.

Why is this important? We all have our own way of dealing with marketing creep in a traditional marketing, but with online marketing, the problem can be much more easily compounded. New features can creep into the project at any time, therefore strict project management and control is crucial.

The fact is, features are normally agreed upon with the client and formalized in a contractual agreement at the beginning of the project. Considering today’s communication options are available in many forms including voicemail, email, text, instant messaging, even through social media channels like Twitter and others, ideas being kicked around in these remote communication methods can easily become a new, undocumented feature or requirement without a formal agreement. Over time the list grows uncontrollably and can spell trouble for your marketing project or campaign. SEO itself is especially vulnerable to feature creep.

Kevin Lee writing for Online Marketing for Marketers touches on this issue in his article “Learn How to Say No to Dumb Ideas“. He suggests to deal with the issue by paying attention to these 4 things:

Beware “Pet Projects”
There are always plenty of tasks and projects on any road map or agenda, many of them with a high likelihood of success. Otherwise those tasks and strategies wouldn’t have made it onto the roadmap (assuming the team putting the roadmap together was competent). Yet it isn’t unusual to see a strong personality on a team or outside supervisor suddenly derail a highly profitable project plan with some pet project…

Remember: You’re Being Paid For Your Expertise

Sure, saying no feels dangerous. And there’s still a decent chance that a superior or client will override your objections. In reality, once you become a search marketing professional, your opinions (backed up by experience and expertise) are what you get paid for…

Fully Analyze the Cost of Changing Directions

The question becomes how do you present your case when you think a campaign is about to go off track due to a “pet project” inserted by a well-meaning senior manager or a client. The first method that can be effective is the pros and cons discussion…

Search Engine Reps Will Never Have Your Unique Expertise

Interestingly, as a search marketing expert, your responsibilities include protecting the marketing budget and campaign from outside influences who promote projects that have a low expected return…

Jacob Gube also offers some excellent ideas in “Eight Tips on How to Manage Feature Creep” in his post over at SixRevisions.com. Based mostly from his own experience, you may find them useful below:

1. Accept that feature creep will happen.

Feature creep is a natural part of any project-based work. Acknowledging this eventuality will allow you to be prepared when it finally rears it’s ugly code-retrofitting, design-wrecking head. Anticipating unforeseen changes in your plans forces you to be more adaptable, and promotes the development of a solution that’s flexible and malleable to your client’s ever-changing needs.

2. Commit enough time to requirements-gathering.

Easy and fairly common sense. Just don’t rush the planning phase of projects.

3. Giving a hand might cost you your arm.

If you constantly give in to changes, you might be get more of them in the future. Try to set boundaries of what is and isn’t appropriate to revise, this not only prevents unneeded requests for changes, but gives the project strict quality-control guidelines.

4. Be the devil’s advocate when changes are requested.

You were hired and assigned to the project because of your knowledge and expertise. Don’t be afraid to contradict unwise feature requests by providing well-formed reasons that the project should proceed as originally planned.

5. Be task-oriented, not vision-oriented.

Be clear on what it is, exactly, you’re developing for the client. Don’t promise a grand, exciting, but ambiguous/ambitious end result.

6. Shed the “Customer is Always Right” mentality.

You, more often than not, are a more qualified judge of how things should be developed. You’re not working to get a big tip at the end. Don’t feel pressured to do something that isn’t in the job description or something you feel will lead to a less desirable end product.

7. Research before committing.

If you think the budget and timeline can handle a modification in plans, research thoroughly on what the change actually entails before committing.

8. Realize that feature creep is a two-way street.

Clients and employers aren’t (purely) evil. They don’t intend to make our jobs more difficult. Oftentimes it’s our desire to please, to prove our worth, and our perfectionist mentality that can be, in part if not equally, to blame. If feature creep happens, it’s only because we allow it to.

So how are you dealing with your own marketing creeps?
What would you do if you realize, way deep into a project, you now have a long list of features that were regretfully accepted verbally?
And what do you suggest the best ways to bring feature creep back to the negotiating table?

Share your experience with us.

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Beware the Marketing Creeps

For Marketers: This Is Not The Time To Retreat!

Cuong Huynh — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:47:48 +0000

This economy is not getting better any time soon. I think most people by now would agree, whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist. In fact it does not matter which side one’s on, because being either is not going to change current situation. There are only two things that matter: the external market conditions which you can’t control, and us ourselves which we can control.

Markets have always been cyclical. Adding on top of this are external unforeseeable events that either cause the market to go up and down, to improve or worsen. Lots of theories and analyses will be explored for many years to come. For me I like to keep it simple. Let’s get to the core of a marketer as an individual.

First, understand that it will get better, then it will go down again, then again it will improve, and so on. We can’t worry too much about this. We do need to keep an eye on it however. Meanwhile our energy must be directed toward improving business. To me this last statement is true in both good times and bad times.

So during this tough time, let’s not retreat and take the ‘wait and see’ stand. Out job is to help our clients/employers take products and services to market. People will always need products and services. Even with “luxury” things, there are always people who can afford them and/or want them. As smart marketers, we need to recognize the changing market winds and readjust ourselves. This means learn new tools and techniques, be more creative and innovative, and work harder.

It just makes sense.

How about you, what are your thoughts? Do you have a different perspective? What are some other good advice for a marketer in this environment?

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

For Marketers: This Is Not The Time To Retreat!

Don’t Get Into Social Media: The “Pepsi 25″ Social Media Rebranding Campaign.

Cuong Huynh — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:07:34 +0000

So here I am talking/blogging about the new Pepsi logo. It’s really what Pepsi wanted in the first place.

For those not familiar with this marketing event, just Google something like “pepsi 25 new logo marketing” and you’ll have plenty to read. In a nutshell, Pepsi recently released a new logo on their cans by sending out 3 individual packages to 25 select members and thought leaders of the online social media crowd. This Pepsi’s innovative new campaign is being dubbed by many the “Pepsi 25″.

Darryl Parker over at Parker Web Marketing is keeping a list of who actually received the packages, and then blogged about it. Apparently only Pepsi knows who the 25 are, so the identities of these bloggers have to be pinpointed manually,

I would expect that, if you’re one of these 25, there is no obligation on your part to participate. It is not known if they were compensated other than receiving the packages. In fact receiving any compensation would all together defeat the purpose of this whole campaign, so therefore I think it’s safe to say that if any one of these folks blog about this event, then Pepsi would have achieved a successful viral marketing campaign.

Here are what a few other bloggers say about this:

Pepsi Cooler at FriendFeed.
Jennifer Laycock’s The Choice of a Social Media Generation.
Mack’s post over at his The Viral Garden.

I think this is a bold move on Pepsi’s part. Let’s pick it apart shall we? First off, many bloggers feel that Pepsi should target the smaller, more relevant group of Pepsi evangelists instead. But I tend to disagree. By choosing the supposedly biggest 25 marketing bloggers, Pepsi is shooting for the largest potential spread of viral marketing. Why go small when you can go big. This takes guts but it was a strong business reason.

Furthermore, if only one blogger decides to say anything about this, then Pepsi would have a success. By the very nature of social media, the selected “experts” cannot NOT blog about it. By the very nature of viral communication, the selected “experts” cannot by themselves find out who’s who, then agree among themselves not to blog about it. This is the beauty of social media. Even in the case of Mack’s post, where he absolutely refuses to mention the brand or company name, it’s hard to hide what he’s talking about. His post even made the list of 25 kept by Darryl Parker at Parker Web Marketing.

In the end, this is actually only part of a much wider, longer campaign that Pepsi’s running. According to AdAge, Pepsi finally seems intent on regaining its share. Its strategy involves three years; $1.2 billion; a complete packaging, merchandising and marketing overhaul of its soft drinks. So this is only the beginning.

Pepsi is a very large company with a very large marketing budget, and they will do what they need to do. Large corporations have done great marketing before, and creative marketing have been achieved way before social media arrives on the scene. This is another example that big corporations are making an effort in the social networking arena. And it’s refreshing to see Pepsi finding a good way to mix it up with their marketing push.

If you’re not approaching social media like Pepsi does, with bold creativity, detailed planning, clear goals, high intelligence and most importantly, utmost respect, then don’t get into it at all.

So what’s your take on Pepsi’s approach?

Post from: Marketing Autopsy Blog
© 2009 Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Don’t Get Into Social Media: The “Pepsi 25″ Social Media Rebranding Campaign.

About Marketing Autopsy

Cuong Huynh — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:53:32 +0000

Thank you for visiting Marketing Autopsy Blog.

Marketing Autopsy Blog is a place to collect, share and discuss the good and bad marketing ideas, with special attention on enterprise social networking, new media, inbound marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. It’s also a place to collect new thoughts, tools and trends about the ever changing marketing world.

It is undeniable that in marketing it is critical to keep up with techniques, ideas and tools that are continually developed and made available. Learning must be unrelenting so that we can effectively serve our clients/employers in any business climate. There’s nothing like a great marketing campaign executed efficiently, with innovation and creativity, on time and budget, with measurable results and buzz, all while achieving established goals and our client reaps the benefits.

Today online marketing strategy is even more critical as inbound, social network and viral marketing give a whole new set of challenges and opportunities. In this environment, it is important to understand what to do as much as what not to do in inbound marketing and SEO marketing.

Critiques, suggestions and ideas are always welcome. Please subscribe to Marketing Autopsy Blog if you haven’t done so already. Also follow me on Twitter @cuonghuynh.

Cuong Huynh

Marketing Autopsy Blog » marketing campaign

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