Posts Tagged marketing
Dilbert on customer feedback
Posted by Sam Kale in Random Musings on May 15, 2011
A tongue-in-cheek commentary on how marketers often can’t resist the urge to over-survey.
8.5 billion? DOLLARS?
Posted by Sam Kale in Product Marketing on May 10, 2011
New is breaking across the interwebs of Microsoft’s purchase of VoIP provider Skype, the audio and video conferencing tool that has always had a hard time defining a truly profitable business model.
Much of the commentary I’ve read thus far is either very critical of MSFT paying that much for Skype, fearful that MSFT will do to Skype what it does to, well, everything they make (MS Windows Vista Ultimate Home Small Business Premium Deluxe anyone?), or that MSFT will make Skype proprietary/paid/non-free.
The more interesting question, I think, is what does MSFT get from the deal? Andy Ihnatko has a good take on the different reasons “Very Big Tech Company A [buys] Tech Company B.”
Microsoft makes operating systems, business software, and consumer hardware and Skype helps them out in all three of their businesses. Now, Windows can offer its developers a videoconferencing toolkit for enhancing pretty much anything they’ve got going; Microsoft Office now has fundamental tools for business conferencing and online collaboration, and the Xbox becomes a phone network.
As Kris pointed out before, good marketing and good business are much more than just good ideas; they’re all about the execution. Unless you can turn those great ideas – and in MSFT/Skype’s case, the great potential – into flawless execution, then you’re just stacking up scribbled-upon cocktail napkins … which is fun, right up until the point that you run out of money.
Hopefully MSFT and whatever remains of the Skype team (assuming that the MSFT lawyers negotiated their payout clauses correctly) can turn the potential into some good execution, because I for one would love to see them actually deliver on the promise.1
- As an avowed Apple fan-boy, you might read some sarcasm in this sentence … I can assure you that there is none. I honestly am looking forward to what MSFT can do if they can just get out of their own way first.
More than just a good idea
Posted by Kris Kaneta in Marketing & Branding on March 15, 2011
In the fall of 2009, I spent 2 days in a meeting where some of the brightest minds in my business came together to discuss the shared need of a new solution that addressed a known but unmet need in the marketplace. A new solution that we all had talked about around the water cooler so to speak, but didn’t quite know how to pull off. The exact nature of the business idea is irrelevant. The bottom line was that we knew it to be the right thing to do for our business and for our customers. After an intense dialog we left feeling good about ourselves and concluded the meeting with a commitment to follow-up with clear plan of action.
Fast forward many months later – not a single follow-up had taken place, and in darkened corners people still spoke about the opportunity we were potentially missing out on.
Fast forward again to the present day, and while not a whole has changed in the market, the new solution is now prominently featured as part of our long-term growth strategy. So what has changed? Let me say that what we did wasn’t rocket science. But in very complex organizations, it takes more than just great ideas to move the needle. It takes data, resolve and, quite frankly, a little bit of luck.
1) Quantify the opportunity. While anecdotally we all knew there was a need, it wasn’t until we quantified the opportunity and expressed it in actual dollars that ears actually perked up.
2) Validate your assumptions. After we quantified the opportunity, there was still the question of how we’d address that opportunity. We resolved that through some simple market research on our target audience. While we didn’t learn anything we didn’t already know – I believe it was the tipping point that gave us the confidence to move forward, mitigating the risk of a miss in our offering.
3) Assign a single point of operational accountability. Determine who will, post conception, be responsible for the operational mechanics of the offering, This is essential because without that, 12 months goes by and you’re still left with just an idea. And if the business potential warrants it (as it did in this case), this person should be responsible for operationalizing as a full-time role, otherwise business as usual inevitably gets in the way.
4) Timing is everything. I mentioned there’s always a little luck involved, and there’s something to be said about being at the right place at the right time. Ideas just take time to be absorbed and comprehended. In the meantime, be prepared to defend your idea should the opportunity present itself.
If you’ve got a great idea, remember that it takes time to change an organization. Don’t get discouraged. Instead, think about what you need to influence the right stakeholders. Depend on more than just passion and anecdotal evidence to make your argument. Bringing a new product or service to market should never be about taking your word for it. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, we went live with the new solution last month.
Pursuing Perfection? Why bother?
Posted by Kris Kaneta in Marketing & Branding on September 23, 2010
Pursuing perfection? Why bother when good enough will do?
Now those of you who have been reading this blog for a while might think, wait – doesn’t this contradict a prior blog I wrote last year? To some degree it does but there’s an important distinction between a business that’s good enough and a deliverable that’s good enough. It’s here that I’m talking about the latter. A business that’s satisfied with being ho-hum will eventually be squeezed. But a business that is focused on world domination, sometimes has to settle with delivering product that’s just good enough.
Take this blog for example. If I were to focus on writing an absolute masterpiece, let’s face it – it would never post. I would deliberate for days on end and probably can the thing when it was all said and done. When Apple developed the iPhone I have to believe they knew of the connectivity issue that got so much press earlier this year. But even with that flaw, was it good enough to launch? Steve certainly thought so. And most iPhone users I know say that it was, if for no other reason than they don’t normally use it as a “phone”.
As a colleague of mine points out, sometimes being good enough vs perfect can make or break your first mover advantage. So as you deliberate the minute details of your new new thing… ask yourself if waiting to get it just right will make it the old new thing.
More than that, I believe most of us just need to get better at executing. It’s easy to criticize and agonize and idea-ate but it takes a whole different skill set to deliver, or as Seth Godin says, to just “ship” it.
Learn to deliver, learn to fail and then learn to do it again.
And then you will die (and other Seth-isms)
Posted by Kris Kaneta in Random Musings on September 21, 2010
Last Thursday I had the unique opportunity to spend a day with Seth Godin. Now poke fun and call me a fan-boy (see picture for Exhibit A – my autographed Godin action figure) but it was an incredible day. We discussed taking action, deciding when to quit, the acceptance (and need) for failure, and being remarkable. What made the session so great was the intimate audience where just about everyone who wanted to was able to ask a question or two of Seth. I just wanted to post some of my notes from the day…
“Discounting is the last refuge of the marketer when there’s nothing left to do.” I think we’d all agree discounting is a slippery slope that can be habit forming for your customers and devaluing for your product. Seth also makes the important distinction that “Free is different than charging a penny… sampling brings permission to talk to them”.
“Find products for customers and NOT customers for products.” I don’t think anyone would disagree. I just like the way he phrases it.
On ROI – In my world we spend a lot of time talking about ROI. Both in terms of what we spend our marketing dollars on and also in terms of the ROI our solutions deliver for a clients. Seth’s response to the question of ROI – “That’s not the real question being asked. ROI is just an excuse to say no”. Bottom line, we as markters need to be better story tellers, not ROI givers. Don’t marginalize what you do down to an ROI number that can be poked and prodded.
“Start a tribe. Ship something every day just to connect with other people who care.” He uses the word “ship” but he’s talking about creating something at the risk of failure or imperfection.
“It’s a mistake to present in a conference room where they’re trained to say no”. Couldn’t agree more. Change the context of the conversation, change their mindset and maybe you’ve got a shot.
“Get laughed at every single day. You can’t be a genius and not fail. So go be a failure”. In the US – The Self Storage market is about $6B. We just don’t like to give up on things. We talked extensively about failure and knowing when to quit. He also provides a great discussion of it in his book “The Dip”, which I highly recommend. Bottom line – we need to learn when to quit on things so we can move on to something that won’t keep us going in circles. If it’s not going to be remarkable, why put any more effort towards it?
“The devil doesn’t need an advocate, he’s doing just fine on his own.” His emphasis here was sometimes we just have to do it. Don’t make it perfect, because then you’ll never do it. The devil’s advocate is the tiny part of your brain sending off waves of fear and self-doubt.
Finally – FEAR THE DEER. More people are killed by deer than by sharks, but we have this visceral fear of Sharks. “Unless the worse case scenario ends with ‘and then I die’” you should tell that little voice in the back of your head to shut up.
Like this:
Let the dataset change your mindset
Posted by Sam Kale in Data Visualization on August 31, 2010
As someone who spends a decent amount of time creating and updating Powerpoint slides, I sometimes struggle to find the most effective way to present data. In one circumstance, a simple table of numbers might be sufficient to get the point across in the proper amount of detail. In another, a 2×2 matrix might do a better job conveying the interplay between 3 or 4 different variables.
There’s a great TED Talk given by David McCandless about visualization of very large datasets. Its an interesting look at how to “[squeeze] an enormous amount of information and understanding into a small space.”
As we continue to compile and sift larger and larger datasets, its up to us as marketers not only to distill the key messages from those data, but also present those key messages in an effective and compelling way.
McCandless goes through a few short examples in the talk and details even more in his books. I highly encourage you to check them out.
[NB: YouTube version embedded. You can also check out the original on TED.com]
B2B is so 1999
Posted by Kris Kaneta in Marketing & Branding on August 11, 2010
I remember the first time I heard the term “B2B” – I was a senior in college. Any company that made the slightest reference to it was being touted as the next big thing. Looking back on it, I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about and before I had time to stop and think about it, the millennium came and went. Now here we are, 10 years later and I still hear people referring to it like there’s some mystifying secret to it.
Let me shed some light on the matter…
There is no esoteric meaning behind the term because there is no “B2B”. B2B IS DEAD! PEOPLE (not businesses) buy from other PEOPLE (not businesses). And while I don’t think anyone would openly dispute that, there are still those trying to market to businesses!!!
If you were a sales person, you might start with a business target in mind, but you don’t just walk up to the entrance and talk to the bricks on the building wall? So why as marketers would we target businesses?!?!
Don’t get me wrong, to engage in a conversation we need to start at the business level, but we also have to go deeper. There’s the question of who is the decision maker (VITO) that will ultimately decide whether or not to conduct business with you. And then there are your key influencers, who, being among VITO’s most trusted advisers might be someone who could influence on our behalf. This might be a person within the organization or it might be a particular external thought leader, but either way it’s about a person.
It’s about touching individuals – which means talking to them as individuals, NOT as businesses. Everyone has their own motivations, and just because something is good for the “business” doesn’t necessarily make it good for the individual.
So don’t be a B2B marketer. Be a “people” marketer and always keep in mind what’s in it for them!
The best marketing is data driven
Posted by Sam Kale in Marketing & Branding, Random Musings on August 9, 2010
This morning I was in a cross functional team meeting, with representatives from product engineering, operations, and marketing (among others). Before the meeting I introduced myself to someone, who upon hearing that I was with marketing quipped:
Oh, I’m with operations … I deal with the real world. You know, numbers and stuff!
Now, I should start by saying that this person was most definitely kidding. To her joke I gave a wry smile and a nod … and then proceeded to walk the entire room through a somewhat complicated excel model that analyzes resource allocation against strategic goals across a large part of our business.
Later this afternoon I met with someone interested in some other analyses I had recently done. As we walked through the data, we discussed some of the nuances that can be used to separate these data from those, making adjustments to the excel file right there in the room. It was a great discussion with some great ideas exchanged, none of which would have surfaced if the data hadn’t been right there in front of us.
So what’s my point?
My point here is that the best marketing is data driven. We can each argue in favor of our personal beliefs, but its only when we have the data (the right data) that we can move beyond what we think and into what we can prove.
It might seem obvious and trivial, but having the data gives you almost instant credibility. But the data – or the associated credibility – isn’t the end game either.
The end game is to use the proof to construct tangible actions that lead to measurable outcomes (read: revenue).
The price of being a thought leader
Posted by Kris Kaneta in Communications & Social Media, Marketing & Branding on July 20, 2010
Attending a recent social media “bootcamp”, the discussion of content sharing came up. Working with a collection of my organization’s thought leaders, we discussed content creation and strategy. And a question was raised that I feel is worth revisiting.
How much content do we give away? At what point are we showing too much under the hood, sharing too many of the ingredients in the secret sauce, giving away too many of those delicious CostCo food samplers… well you get the idea.
There’s no easy or 100% steadfast rule to this, but I believe that there’s a price to being a thought leader. That means putting something out there can be potentially mimicked or copied. In my business we see it all the time… where competitors suddenly find themselves spouting the same messaging and value proposition that we’ve been communicating for months. And to that I say “THANK YOU!” Mimicry is the best compliment and only reaffirms our position as thought leaders.
Now obviously you don’t want to be giving away secret algorithms or confidential intellectual property, but there’s nothing wrong with a “how-to” that’s based on your own deep expertise.
I’ll use as an example a good friend who recently remodeled his bathroom. After reading up on all the right things, he decided he could tackle the DIY project himself. Half-way into ripping out the bathroom tiles, he realized that he was over his head. And then he called in the experts that originally advised him on his DIY endeavors.
Moral of the story is that delivering solutions is hard… and just because you have the playbook doesn’t mean you can execute. It requires expertise that can’t be stolen from a blog. It’s actually quite the opposite… that content can only serve to set you up as a thought leader.
So get out there and FREE YOUR CONTENT!
Is doing what you promised enough?
Posted by Kris Kaneta in Marketing & Branding, service marketing on July 12, 2010
I have been a Rhapsody music subscriber for some time. I love the idea of music on demand and never paying for individual tracks. I love downloading a new artist and then later deciding if I like them without incurring any incremental cost one way or the other.
What I don’t like is the fact that Rhapsody has not figured out an application for the Blackberry. I can either play music on my Rhapsody compatible player or on my laptop. Rhapsody has apps for both iPhone and Droid but no blackberry and while I’d love to switch to either, I’m bound to a standard corporate issued blackberry.
Before this comes off as just another rant, let me say this post was prompted by an interesting thread going on in the Rhapsody community. It’s interesting from the standpoint that there are a lot of annoyed, loyal Rhapsody subscribers out there waiting for a blackberry app. But even more interesting is some of the arguments being made both against and in defense of Rhapsody.
The argument against: This app was more or less announced last year as coming in “early” 2010. Hmmm… well clearly, they missed that one. There’s supposed to be a beta coming out but I have not heard of anyone being chosen, so I can only assume its not out yet. People are waiting, people have expressed a want / need, and Rhapsody has more or less failed to deliver on this. This in turn has prompted some customer defections.
The defense: One writer makes the point that when we signed up for Rhapsody, a blackberry app was never part of the deal (unless you signed up with the expectation that the app was coming). We willingly signed up or continue to subscribe despite alternatives out there, so really it’s not like there’s a real disservice going on.
So if you buy the latter argument, I ask this question…
Is it enough to provide exactly what customers signed up for (and nothing more)?
Is it enough to justify the disappointment being expressed across a broad community of blackberry / rhapsody users? To me, the answer is like everything in marketing, and that is “it depends.” Here’s my thoughts on when it’s enough….
1) When you’re the only game in town. That’s pretty obvious, and in this case we all know Rhapsody is not the only game in town.
2) When you… um…. well, ok, there’s really only one reason.
I guess you could say there are ways to better communicate value, to create community, and all that jazz. But at the end of the day, when customers have expressed a need that can be met by a competitor, continuing to do just what you say you’re going to do isn’t enough.
So the only question remaining is, why am I still with Rhapsody? Like so many on the referenced thread, apathy – a powerful attribute which will keep customers around for a bit (think cable and phone) but sooner or later that goodwill will run out. The irony is that rather than spend the hour or so to switch services, I instead chose to write this blog. So obviously, I haven’t reached that tipping point yet, but I’ll let you know if we get there.
Kris
Sam
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