When Self-Publishing Falls Down: A Real Example

Do you want to learn how to do something better from someone who has failed?

“They” say to celebrate our failures and to learn from our mistakes. Last night I read an article in the American Marketing Association’s marketing news 2.29.12 titled: “Content Creation” by Kirsten Korosec. It was a great article about what Deere & Co. has done to generate valuable content for their customers by focusing on the “you, you, you” and I recommend you take her suggestions to heart if you are in the B2B space.

In 2011, Nudo set forth an effort to better understand trends in the design industry and focused on specific segments such as Restaurants, Education and Healthcare. We hired an amazing firm in Pipeline to help us generate content and improve our overall SEO efforts. It was a journalistic approach not focused on the efforts of Nudo but rather nuances and directional changes in the materials world.

Nudo’s primary tactic was to develop Industry Trend Reports. We then proliferated the awareness of these reports through direct email efforts, case studies and changing our signature line. It is incredible what a few, relatively small changes can do to improve your performance.

Our goal was to focus on the “you” by providing valuable content to the designer while also gathering data and improving our overall search engine optimization. It was a win for everyone and it was working; we saw our visit numbers increase and, more importantly but less quantifiable, the quality of our conversations improved.

So, how did Nudo fail?

Funding. Priorities. Resources. Sound familiar? As Nudo got further into the year changes needed to occur. By no means am I questioning the changes because as they say, “Sometimes life gets in the way.” That is just the way business operates. So priorities shifted and with it went the funding and resources to continue to self-publish content.

Nudo’s brand, like any other in a similar situation, is damaged. Our target audience had developed a new level of expectation. And then we took it away from them. Now, let’s not be dramatic – this is not irrevocably damaging to the point beyond repair. But it is a lesson for those that are thinking of or are designing a self-publishing strategy. Develop a publishing schedule upfront and commit to it for the full period. Generate more content early and save it for later use if that is required. Or, as described in the AMA article “Content Creation”, ‘create content that can be used and reused in different’ ways.

Nudo will get back on this horse and, having learned from our mistakes, will launch a stronger program in 2012.

“Story”line: It’s All About Me (and maybe some advice for you…)

Normally I focus on business challenges and solutions. But, on this occasion I wanted to share some advice that could probably fall under “Personal Branding” – but really relates to self reflection.

I had a tremendous 2-hour cup of coffee with an Industrial Manufacturing Business CEO – and hopefully a new friend. The course of our conversation was diversified but carried a common thread of market growth, business dynamics and job potentials. We spoke about networking and LinkedIn and how we connect with each other.

At one point, my new found friend paused and said, “To connect, you need to tell a short story.” It was that simple.

This CEO went on to describe three additional traits of successful networking which included: 1) Be specific about what you want; 2) Make sure they follow up or do what they say; and, 3) Ask how you can help.

But “tell a story” stuck in my head.

So I gave it some thought. I understand that Blaise Pascal said “I did not have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one” (think Twitter here!) I reflected on what my story was. In review of my 15 years of professional experience here is my quick story in order to help you think about yours.

What do you do?

I transform companies by leading organizational change or shifting firm strategy. In multiple instances I have managed teams to successfully evolve their functions, process and performance. I have done this through leadership in action as example and by tying activity to organizational goals and objectives. I have shifted strategy by understanding market analytics and aligning resources to better target opportunities. I have transformed organizations by seeing the bigger picture and creating tactical actions for a greater monetary return and overall brand experience for the customer.

This short, quick synopsis is who I am – and, quite frankly, who I want to be to any firm.

Know your story. Don’t be afraid to tell others about it. There isn’t much that is more interesting than learning about others and connecting with them. The “story” helps make that connection quick and easy.

Marketing’s Secret Weapon: HR

In the past I have blogged about the importance of the people component of an organization. But the true weapon of marketing is hidden in the human resources department. The trouble is “they” don’t know it.

Recently I had a casual dinner with an executive human resources professional from a global “electronics” firm. He was inquiring about my preferences between sales and marketing – unbeknownst to him I do not separate marketing out from sales, or any other role in the organization for that matter. So, I quickly turned the tables on the conversation and asked him how he impacted marketing.

The response was the common misconception of “Well, I help to identify and hire the right candidates for the department and then help to integrate them through training and coaching.” Partially correct. Although this is a function of the HR department it is by no means the goal. Human Resources, as a component of marketing, is MUCH bigger.

In all honesty, I never really appreciated the importance of the HR department until I was about two years into my role at Schneider Electric. I began to understand the criticality of a solid human resources manager – and so should you.

The secret weapon which is HR demonstrates its power through an understanding of the firm’s goals and objectives and then works with the individual departments to not only create alignment but then identify the right skillset and personnel to fit the job.

Remember two critical statements:

• Marketing is the process in which to provide a good or service to a targeted customer; and,
• The customer experience can be no greater than the employee experience

So how do we simplify this from the human resources perspective? Let’s break it down individually.

The process. Structurally the firm must be organized from top-to-bottom, start-to-finish to provide the good or service. Variations will depend on the firm’s size and function. I know manufacturing so lets go there. The supply chain – starting with procurement – is essential to success. Do you have the right number of people with the right skillset and knowledge base? Then operations – what does the factory floor look like? Number of shifts? Can you get the product out of the door? On time? Do you have enough promotions people to properly target the customers? What are the sales people selling? Are they selling the same story? Is finance helping to set the right terms? Is customer service capable of handling all of the support calls? I think you get the idea. The point here is that human relations is integral in the establishment of the process.

The employee experience. My HR friend was correct in his approach to hiring, training and integrating people into the organization. But it is even more than that. HR plays the part to develop a culture where people are excited, yes excited which is critical to success, to work. This, in part, is the hiring process such as identifying the right candidates; but, it is also about establishing engagement and a sense of worth in each department. In a touchy-feely way (not something said lightly in an HR context) this is about feeling as though the employee makes a difference every day.

B2B Packaging Opportunity: QR Codes

Earlier this week, Tom Insprucker, VP Marketing, WW at Schneider Electric posed the question “Is anybody working on QR codes n large B2B companies?” I wasn’t but it got me thinking about the application.

So here is a thought – free to you and comments are welcome.

With the steady increase of smartphone adoption, QR codes provide a vehicle for quick access to relevant information. QR, or “quick response”, codes are similar to a barcode but shaped in a square.

 

The codes have been adopted in use with mobile technology to access information or receive data.

In the Business-2-Business environment, information is a critical component to the brand. Often product or service adoption and use is dependent on accessing information. For instance, in the building materials industry two of the most requested pieces of information are “technical data sheets” and “installation guides.” Often products will NOT be utilized if this information is not readily available from the manufacturer.

What if QR codes were added to the packaging? Installers or users of the product could quickly access relevant information. The communication could be a variety of topics and in a number of different formats from video installation demonstrations to warranties to customer service helplines.

Furthermore, QR codes could replace non-essential information often included on packaging as we know that real-estate holds a premium. Obviously there are certain industry requirements that must be maintained but there may be creative ways to provide the information which product management and operations deem necessary without detailing it all on the package.

Much like social media, QR codes should not just be a fad you blindly adopt but rather part of a well-designed strategy – if they make sense! So, if you have other thoughts on how B2B companies can or are using QR codes, I am certain that Tom would love to hear about them.

Having Trouble Enabling Your Sales Force, Try Integration

I just finished reading Michael Krauss’ article “Sales Enablement Is a Marketing Priority” in Marketing News dated 12-30-2011 (as of this writing the article was not yet posted online.) It is well written and conveys some great points, namely that Sales Enablement:

• Aligns messages, reduces distractions and builds common ground between sales and marketing
• Is deterred because CRM software is essentially one directional and needs to be flipped around
• Is an organizational problem

Where do you get started enabling your sales force?

The answer lies in integration. The marketing department and the sales department are often considered separate. If marketing is the process of developing and delivering a good or service to a targeted customer then isn’t sales part of the process? Integration aligns the objectives and capabilities of the organization with the needs and wants of the customer – and achieving success where there is overlap.

Sales enablement is powerful as it puts control in the hands of those who are closest to the customer. Furthermore, it creates a vehicle for communication back to the organization on the needs, wants, trends and desires of the market. But, and this is often where the conflict between sales and marketing exists, the organization is often not prepared to meet the demands of those customers – and the voice of the firm is typically the marketing department.

Therefore, integration is a mapping of the firm’s objectives to the demands of the customer through tools provided to and through the sales force. In Krauss’ article he speaks about “multicolored sales folders containing all of the messages and plans that our marketing team developed” and, although this is an extremely common practice, where this often falls down is through a lack of integration of those objectives and the customer demands. The sales force needs to understand the reasoning the firm put that collateral together. AND, marketing needs to understand the demands of the customer – and work with sales to provide the right tools when it maps back to the capabilities of the firm.

Not all firms are able to deliver on the needs of the customer. When a promise is made to meet those needs and they are not met the brand is damaged. Through marketing-sales-channel integration a clearer customer experience is possible.

Focus on the Media and not the Social

Does Social Media still confuse you? Or better yet, does it still scare you?

The difficulty that I have seen expressed by B2B companies with Social Media is too much focus on the “Social” aspect and not enough on it as a “Media.” Many companies initially shied away from Social Mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and countless others because they were too closely affiliated with a younger generation- who didn’t have experience in the business world, and frivolity. Furthermore, with so many social mediums coming onto the scene seemingly overnight most businesses had a knee jerk reaction to say that this was just a “fad.”

Being in my thirties, I do not remember the invention of the radio, TV, Pong, and barely remember growing up with a Macintosh in my home; however, I often wonder if the introduction of Social Media is not in the same vein of conception. It was new. It scared businesses – because we didn’t see the true potential nor what it could do for our businesses.

Clearly we should be able to agree that this is a true revolution of digital media and communication. No one can argue the grandeur of the numbers of people online in various ‘Social Media Communities.’ This then leads to chatter of “customer advocacy” and “going viral” which perpetuates the ‘strategic’ discussion on Social Media.

The chatter. Isn’t that the problem?

By focusing so much on the social aspect of Social Media we have a tendency to forget that it is still a medium through which to communicate. Social Media should fit the strategy. Social Media should not be leapt into because a business feels that they just need to jump on the bandwagon. There is tremendous upside as it relates to this medium but there are pitfalls along the way if a course is not plotted.

Two challenges B2B business’ face are 1) Social Media was not truly defined for a business play; and, 2) Legitimate concerns still exist in the metrics of Social Media (also see what advertisers are doing to better justify costs in the space.) The be-all-end-all of this blog is that you need a strategy and most likely you need outside help.

Specifically, in the case of Social Media, understand how the vehicles will help you achieve the goal and then find those who are experts – yes, in most instances this will require you to find an agency to help. I believe that the single, greatest attribute of a successful manager is appreciating the strategy and then leveraging the talents available to achieve the goal(s). This typically means that the manager should understand enough to be dangerous but use those who are experts.

It is unfortunate that it was not coined “Media Social” – because the emphasis would help those of us focused on the business side of this communication revolution. Therefore the challenge we face is keeping the emphasis on how to best communicate to our specific, targeted audiences with the right medium. This is not a new concept in marketing just a new tool.

The Case for Case Studies

Have you ever needed a good sales tool to help you sell a new product?

Back in the day, there was a good reason that the saying “No one ever got fired for buying IBM” existed. The fundamental reasoning was that it was a proven product and that IBM stood behind it. But that didn’t make IBM’s product any smaller, faster or better. It just made it easier to sell. Truth be told: you may have that smaller, faster or better product but no one really wants to be the first. Getting the first use is up to you but here is a tool that helps you gain momentum as well as improve your search engine optimization: the case study.

Today’s case study should be simple. In particular, if your sales force is going to use it in the field then it is even more important to keep it to one and no more than two pages. The point of the case study is to demonstrate future performance based on past success with other clients. It sets the decision maker at ease. It delivers the “success” in very quick fashion.

What are the components of a case study?

Case studies should be broken down into three components:

1. Problem or Challenge. The problem or challenge section quickly highlights the situation that the “decision maker” was faced with. It is important to quickly bring to the forefront the key need to be addressed. Although you may initially feel challenged, every situation has a uniqueness to it regardless of the application and product; find that specific challenge and emphasize it to the reader.
2. Solution. This is not an independent, third-party provided write up – the reader knows that you are pushing a certain solution. So get to it! The opportunity that you have here, besides the obvious product feature and benefit information dump, is to bring to life the process that was used to reach the decision. What was the driving benefit? How specifically did the product fit the need of the situation? Who all was involved?
3. Result. This is a broad brush stroke which takes a step back and returns to the environment that was being addressed to begin with. How satisfied are the occupants, employees, or facilities managers? The result explains the net gain through the successful implementation of the product or service. If you can tie an ROI to the result, even better, but this is not a necessity.

One last benefit of the case study can be those who contribute to it. Don’t let your cases live in isolation – let those that have used your product successfully become your advocates! Let those firms promote the sales tool that you have just created; their business can benefit from the promotional aspect of the case study as well as they can become an active resource for others in the future.

What Travel Teaches Us About Brand

You ever have one of those ‘ah-ha, so that’s what they mean’ moments?

Well, I made an association today. It is hard for me to complain because I have not had a lot of travel issues as of late so I took the opportunity to learn from one today. Traveling from O’hare (ORD) to Denver (DEN) today on American Airlines (www.aa.com) – who I think, in general, does a tremendous job given the amount of volume they have, I was delayed. The trouble was I wasn’t delayed just once but five times based on the number of text updates I received. And yet therein lies the challenge. The experience I received at O’hare was way behind what technology presented to me; meaning, I would receive texts or check my AA app and receive updates quicker than I was receiving from the gate at ORD.

American Airlines missed an opportunity to improve my experience through lack of information communication. Their electronic gate board was not working. There were no announcements by the gate personnel. The departure board was behind schedule. I clearly recognize that there are “things” that come up which create a wave of problems down the pipeline. What I refuse to accept is the inconsistency of information flow from those who should know.

So what does this teach us about branding?

If you are anyone who has read my blog in the past you know that I am a firm believer in that brand equals expected experience. The realization that I had today was that maybe we are not doing a good enough job communicating issues with our customers. No one likes delivering bad news – I get that! However, I would prefer to know and discuss my options as a customer than finding out from another source (an app or a text…or a truck that shows up without product, etc.) So how do I right the ship that is non-complete shipments or delayed shipments because we are out of material? I call my customer and let them know ahead of time. The reason this is important is not just to let the customer know, it is so that the customer can take action down the pipeline and talk to their customer about their options.

On the flip-side, lets learn from a positivie experience.

In Denver, I checked into the Embassy Suites downtown (www.embassysuites.hilton.com/denver). I have stayed at the Embassy Suites in the past (never in Denver) and have never been overly impressed other than the rooms are often bigger than what I am used to. I haven’t stopped being impressed since I have arrived. The personnel that greeted me as I stepped out of the cab immediately began helping me with my bags as well as with information to improve my stay in Denver (places to go, things to see, etc.) Hospitality is a tough business but the decor to the front desk to the room have all been impressive, clean and a worthwhile experience.

So how do I learn from the positive experience?

If I am smart, I learn from the little things. What else can I recommend to my customers to help their business? I am not suggesting alternative ways to increase share of wallet but rather how do I understand their business better and improve my service to create added value for the customer? Do I need to refresh my brand?  Overall, how do I become a “place” that my customers want to return to, or select, other a multitude of other options in the market?

So, a day that started out with frustration has become one full of insight and questions. I believe that we need to challenge the experiences we face in our daily travel lives and determine how we can benefit our own brand. If you do not travel often, ask to, as there is value to be gained from observing the activity all around us.

Travel safe.

Assessing Channel: A Matrixed Approach

Need a framework for determining if you have the right channel partners?

Confused about how you should focus your efforts with channel partners so they sell more of your products or services?

If you answered yes to either, or both, of the questions above then this article might be able to help. If not, then you can spend your time more appropriately somewhere else OR keep reading for intellectual stimulation.

The following framework can be as simple or complex as you want to make it. The challenge that most firms face is collecting enough data to make the output worthy of critical decision making. (If you would like to know more about research and data driven decisions just post after the blog or email me at: dsmith@sight-consulting.com) I would recommend building a matrix driven by two critical factors. The critical factors can have multiple variables that are either weighted or non-weighted (this is usually the function of the amount of available data.) For this example, let’s choose PERFORMANCE and CAPABILITIES as our critical factors.

Performance factors can have variables such as sales dollars, days outstanding on payables, inventory dollars, mix of product, and much, much more. You need to determine what is most important to the business from a performance perspective. I tend to treat the Performance factor on the vertical axis.

Capabilities, on the other hand, has variables which are impacted by customer satisfaction, training completed, equipment available, personnel, and more. Some of these variables can be a little soft but if you put in place the right tools then the data can harden. Capabilities rest on the horizontal axis.

Now you have a four quadrant matrix. As you plot your data you will develop a resource to make decisions about how to better leverage your channel and further the relationships you have with them in the market. Here is what each quadrant would represent in decision making for this example:

1. Low Performance / Low Capabilities. This is the bottom of the barrel. I would seriously question why you have any of these players as channel partners. If they are no- or low-cost, meaning you don’t spend any resources to service them and they continue to sell your product then you can think about keeping them. Otherwise, get rid of them.

2. High Performance / Low Capabilities. For some reason this group continues to perform (let’s say based on sales dollars) without the right expertise. This is a great opportunity to establish a training program or bring in some experts to elevate the potential of the group.

3. High Performance / High Capabilities. These are your All-Stars. Make certain that there is a strong relationship between provider and channel partner. Form a committee where you can gather the feedback of the group OR ask them to share their success-tactics with non-competing channel partners.

4. Low Performance / High Capabilities. Like #2, this is an opportunity to understand why a highly capable group is not achieving success. More often than not this is a strategic discussion centered around targeting the right markets and creating a stronger brand. Help them understand how others are having success because clearly the potential exists.

One critical note: You may want to get the buy-in of your channel partners at some point, if not the beginning, of the process. Help them understand that you are assessing the market and the greatest way to create success for all engaged.

If possible, this is a tremendous exercise to begin understanding competitive channel partners that you may want to target in the future to promote and sell your products and services.

Last, the above is just a simple example. However, you may want to add complexity or utilize the tool for various services you expect your channel to perform.

Bringing Order to the Chaos of Launching

The role of marketing operations is to evolve strategy to customer demand creation and measure the return produced. The following is a marketing operations process to effectively generate higher ROI due to alignment of strategy, objectives and priority.

Each of the 5 stages is important to the process. Each of the four “gates” is critical to its success. One important note is to clearly define a communication system in order to minimize any delays associated with key gate-stage approvals.

Obviously good practice calls for regularly scheduled stage-gate events; however, based on firm performance or market activity, it is sometimes necessary to accelerate the process. In order to avoid skirting the system, a reactionary, or “emergency” team or process should be designed.

Starting with the initial stage, Identify, let’s look at the specifics of the process.

Identifying the opportunity and its relevance to the firm is the critical first stage in the process.

Critical components of this opportunity include the following:

1)      Market Opportunity (from high level to granular)

2)      Target Customer(s)

3)      Value Proposition

4)      Feature / Benefits of Offer

5)      Price

6)      Channel Impact

Detailed analysis is required for each of the components. In most instances there is a champion who is driving the review of the market and of the opportunity. The champion must trust in the team to produce the best option – which is not to be confused with the best “liked” opinion. In these instances, factual data proves invaluable for describing customer behavior and market reaction.

Without Executive Management support, you mind as well forget the effort and move on to more impactful activities. This support guarantees alignment with the firm’s priorities. The Executive is also helpful in garnering resources in matrixed or misaligned organizations.

Once all of the critical components (as identified above) have been compiled, a gate-stage meeting needs to occur. A Gate One meeting typically involves the Champion and Executive Management. One of the roles of the Champion at this time is to represent the entire body of work by the team but it is usually unnecessary to involve everyone due to scheduling. Executive Management either supports the initiative and formally (by putting ink to paper) approves the project to the next stage or rejects the project with direction to either further flush out the opportunity or kill the project outright and focus the teams resources on other priorities.

Stage Two is about further Developing the plan of action to capitalize on the opportunity identified in Stage One. The main concept is to develop a program plan and support materials from which the entire team agrees will have the greatest impact on the market opportunity.

Three critical deliverables in this stage include a creative brief, a timeline and the assignment of responsibilities to specific individuals. This generates accountability and a platform from which all operate.

The program plan is the roadmap for achieving all of the milestones necessary to reach the goal. It is the guide from which all parties and actions are determined. This plan is comprehensive and usually very detailed in nature. A few examples of components of a program plan include:

• Internal materials
• Inventory requirements
• Price positioning strategies
• Distributor Tools
• Customer materials and touchpoints
• Communications plan and timeline
• Measurements

The decision, again, is a “Go / No Go” but now includes the approval of specific budgetary dollars necessary for creation. This is not approval for launch but certain monies are required to build in the next stage.

In Stage Three actions are accelerated. With the approval of certain budgets, Marketing Communications can thoroughly engage the necessary resources to generate concepts and take direction on audience-facing deliverables. Databases are purchased and/or readied for deployment. Internal communications are flushed and set in place for launch; the same is the case with external communications and partner / channel communication plans. Metrics on who, how and when are finalized.

One best practice is development of a channel communication plan. This clearly spells out the actions and dates necessary for channel partners to move inventory and adjust pricing schedules. It involves those impacted and gets them committed early so that no one is left scrambling at the last minute.

A Gate Three review is then conducted. At this point, a “Go” decision by Executive Management is the decisive, no return commitment to launch. On the other end, a “No Go” decision will send the team back to program development, with the realization that a significant amount of time, energy and potentially dollars had been wasted.

Stage Four is all about action! A staged roll-out is ideal:

1)      Internal

2)      Channel (if appropriate)

3)      Customer

At this point, push the generation of sales and monitor the impact of each tactic for effectiveness. Now is when the rubber meets the road as customer-facing programs, advertising, websites, direct mail and all of the other tactics reach the market.

But wait, there is still another review. Gate Four occurs for an official program termination. Even if it is a new product which will persist in the market an autopsy of the implementation needs to occur in order to capture best practices and identify areas for improvement. This is usually a less formal meeting but still one that should be taken seriously.

Stage Five is about analysis – both qualitative and quantitative, depending on the agreed upon metrics. In this final stage the team collects point of sale (POS) data, customer testimonials such as success stories, and more. In conclusion, this is where the final report of results is produced and the budget is closed out. It is of importance to note that a final communication should go out to all impacted parties thanking or revealing the results of the program.