MarketUP Thoughts :: Donna's Blog

03 Jan, 2006

Ah, don't you love the smell of a new year? Crisp, clean - full of starch.   (More)

31 Aug, 2005

As Katrina’s toll worsens, how do you let someone know on the other side of the planet that their home is lost?

Images of devastation: houses turned to stick piles, overturned big rigs slammed into tottering hotel lobbies, millions of people homeless - many of them needing rescue from rising waters...sights all too familiar following the horrendous tsunami just eight months ago. But now the disaster is not in a far away place on the other side of the world. It’s hit close to home, striking one of the most uniquely beautiful, historic cities in North America.

OK. So we’re all watching the round-the-clock news coverage. But what if you are one of the people directly impacted? What if you are on vacation when this happens - in a remote area with limited telecommunication access - in fact, very close to where the tsunami struck? How would you get information about your home, your pets, your friends and family? Where would you go for help?

A good friend of mine is in this awful predicament. And I wish there was something I could do to help. We’ve exchanged a few emails - he’s carrying his Blackberry, so gets some information. He’s keeping a positive attitude and hoping by the time he and his wife return in two weeks that waters in New Orleans have subsided, allowing them to begin recovery.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like to face the possible loss of everything I own. And then there are the increasing health risks that are coming up by the hour.

Scary stuff. Since I can’t get on a plane or in a car to head to the area and help (bailing water?), I’ve followed my heart and the urgings of many responsible citizens and donated to the Red Cross. They are attempting to save lives, provide shelter and take care of people’s basic needs. Looks like we need a Live Aid event of our own - to save New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Now that I live near Atlanta, _maybe I’ll write to fellow sometime-citizen Elton John to see if he’ll organize a charity concert. Or keep urging y’all to make your own donations. Do whatever you can.

Donna

03 Jan, 2005

While I still want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, it is more with hope than celebration. We’re starting out 2005 with huge challenges and sobering images. Easy to feel overwhelmed, even helpless.

Not so. Easy to do something - really.

1. Please donate SOMETHING to the tsumani relief efforts. Choose from dozens of professional organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Oxfam, or the Red Cross/Red Crescent.
   
   
2. Resolve also to donate quarterly to charities working to rebuild areas that will take years to recover.
   
   
3. Find at least one person nearby who is struggling with a personal crisis, and give them a hug. Offer to clean their house, babysit their children or cook them dinner.
   

What does this have to do with marketing? The world IS the market. Interconnectivity effects everything. Marketing gets the word out. Marketing urges action.

MarketUP donated to Oxfam. Now we’ll get back to work, which will allow us to help wherever we can.

Donna

30 Nov, 2004

How do you know if marketing activities are helping a company to grow? Simple test: Look at your client list and think about how you met each person, whether or not you know them, and why they bought something from you. Chances are, you’ll start to see the light.

As a member of the American Marketing Association, I try to keep up with what’s happening in my biz by perusing ezines, articles and the Marketing Power website once in awhile. Sometimes I miss something - like the “new” definition of marketing that was agreed to by the AMA in August of this year:

”Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

That’s kind of, well, a marketing phrase. Full of lots of words trying to pack in meaning. The one that seems most important is almost smack in the middle: VALUE.

All the research, communication, clever campaigns and search engine marketing in the world won’t matter if it doesn’t cause something to happen, which would be to create value or increase business.

Short story: It so happens I was looking at a list of contacts - or leads you might call them - for a current client of ours just last night, in preparation for an email blast. Since they have used other marketing services prior to ours, the contacts were generated from many sources over time. But the important part to me was that they WERE generated. By marketing activities. Sometimes by purchasing access to information, but still sorted, filtered and massaged by a marketer. What was conspicously absent was ‘just happened to come looking for us and signed a big contract’.

Yes, yes, yes. I know that can happen - but usually AFTER marketing your brand. Even if you ‘do it yourself’. It’s still marketing. Even a sales person cold calling or writing intro letters is acting in a marketing capacity - setting a first impression and expressing value to potential customers. ¶It’s a good thing to remember, at least for me.

Now I have to get back to adding value.

Donna

19 Nov, 2004

I just read something a little depressing - at least to my inner child. According to Fast Company columnist Chuck Slater in  “They’re Not Playing Around” (Dec 04), WalMart is poised to topple long time children’s world champion Toys “R” Us.

Unthinkable. Unimaginable (and unimaginative). Unfair even.

What happened to the ballyhooed continuing shift in marketing/sales from “mass merchandising” to increasing customer segmentation to fill specific needs? And the even greater-hyped move toward ‘experiential purchasing’? Or is it really, as the venerable Kellogg’s b-school puts it, a  “Tiffany/Walmart” world?

WalMart doesn’t even ATTEMPT to provide the magical experience that Toys “R” Us has mastered. The mega-toy dealer, IMHO, really “gets” kids - and even parents - by organizing merchandise in logical ‘theme’ areas. They also go to pains to keep stores attractive, well-stocked and well-oiled. They’ve translated this satisfying experience to the web as well, partnering with Amazon to make finding and buying just what you’re looking for really really simple.

BUT - this is the crux apparently - BUT, are they TOO  experiential? Being a ‘destination’ store, where people go to enter a world of youthful imagination, they are not capturing what WalMart is capturing: the impulsive and convenience buyers.

Personally, I can’t walk into a WalMart. Or a KMart. They give me an uncomfortable, itchy feeling. Now Target, I can manage. Because they pretend to be hip and do have Issac Mizrahi designing for them now - which even Oprah likes.  AND they have really cool shopping cart escalators!

Alas. If WalMart just continues to out-sell Toys “R” Us with millions of Bratz dolls and Spiderman action figures, there will be no place to go to dream (and reminisce).

Donna

08 Nov, 2004

What an intriguing sort of title, and really quite literal. I’ve spent the last five hours running search after search online in order to uncover precious market information for some of my clients. Fortunately, it’s something I usually enjoy - though as time passes, it seems to become more difficult to actually find what you’re searching for.

When I was a little girl, I used to ask my father - an amateur astronomer - how many stars were in the night sky. It’s the kind of question a parent has to dance around, make up a colorful myth, or flat out admit “I don’t know”. But today a similar line of difficult-to-answer questioning might run like this:

• ”How many websites are there?”
• ”How many pages are added every day?”
• ”How many can a search engine index?”
• ”Where do they all COME from??”

And the reason this matters... is the sheer volume of responses returned when running even a fairly detailed search. Maybe it’s my imagination, but the responses from my longtime trustworthy Google appear to be less relevant than I’m looking for.

It’s probably the fault of all those clever folks doing SEO. Yep, they’ve gummed up the engines with their vying for positioning.

Oops. Did I say that out loud?

Donna

10 Oct, 2004

The Era of Bloggers has arrived. It is no longer a novelty, engaged in by dedicated netizens and cyber junkies at 2 a.m. Nor even by experimental marketers looking for new communication outlets. It’s now a widespread activity, touted as the end of  MSM (Main Stream Media) and  Marketing.

I never considered that I might end up being part of a sometimes frightening-sounding group dismantling the world as we know it. Media reporters on television clearly pronounce the name “Bloggers” with fear, in the way they used to talk about “Them” (mysterious, unnamed enemies during the Cold War). I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard various anchors, pundits and interviewees blame “The Bloggers” - who brought CBS to its knees... or unduly influenced the outcome of the election polls one way or another... or disrupted just about anything.

Like most things feared, blogging has been blown out of proportion. A blog is simply this: freeform expression on the web. It only has the power given to it by the readers. Perhaps it is a new communication art form. Perhaps that too is an overstatement. It is interesting that The Bloggers have been given so much attention at a time when the media outlets use it as a medium themselves. I wonder how they categorize someone who is a reporter AND a blogger - would that be a Replogger?

If you have something to share with the world, join the Blogosphere . You too can beome one of “Them” - “The Bloggers”. Feel the power!

Donna

12 Sep, 2004

I have a horrible confession to make: although I am female, I have had a life-long aversion to the color pink. It just seemed so girlie and weak, or that’s what my tomboy mind argued. But I’ve been slowly coming around and have a new-found respect for pink. Today it stands for many things powerful and beautiful in a way not associated with a lipstick color.

You can see pink everywhere. In press coverage gearing up for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In print magazine ads from major corporations supporting the Komen Race for the Cure. And in women’s activist groups like Code Pink, a group dedicated to promoting peace.

So, after years of sneering at my sister’s Barbie collection, where the world was enveloped in pink, I’m embracing the shade that has come to represent feminine fortitude. Ironically, Barbie’s creator Ruth Handler  was a breast cancer victim. And lest you think this is “just for girls”, check out Ford, the rugged, All-American male icon.

In a world where we spend millions of dollars to imprint images and colors in people’s minds for the sake of BRAND, hats off to the men and women who have organically transformed the perception of PINK. Now, go add some rosy hues to your life, for a good cause.

Donna

17 Aug, 2004

I got a great tip from a friend and want to pass it on:
Change This, a site dedicated to presenting thoughtful argument through creatively designed manifestos. It’s fun just to THINK about the word “manifesto”, let alone SAY it or create one. Kudos to the team who conceived this and to Seth Godin for inspiring it. Go look around. There are some great topics.  “The Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki is a must read for entrepreneurs.

Donna

24 Jul, 2004

I read and hear an awful lot in a day that is hohum, repetitive and frequently disgusting, both in the news and in the marketplace. Once in a while something inspiring stands out.

I got an email from a friend about a new company launch.

”So what?” you’re thinking. That happens every day. True. But this company is called Lifewear, and it was started in response to a life-threatening disease: diabetes.

When founder, Chris Smith, was diagnosed with diabetes he was advised to wear a medical bracelet that would alert people in the case he was having a low-blood sugar episode or was unconscious. But the only ones he could find were not to his taste - a deterrent to wearing something that might save his life. We are all prey to feelings like this.

What’s different about Chris, and other people who channel their passions, is that he did something about the situation. He had a need, recognized others might have the same need, and found a designer to create a new medical bracelet that was functional and suited his style sensibilities.

Product development built on need, driven by passion = marketing a dream.

Doesn’t get any better than this. At least, that’s my opinion.

I am unrelated to Chris or LifeWear, but I have a child with special needs who can benefit from a medical I.D. bracelet. I think he’d like the one with a black leather band and green symbol on silver. You might know someone who’s in need of one too.

Donna

08 Jul, 2004

“DIRECT MAIL” has often seemed a misnomer to me - as most of what is termed “direct” ends up in the paper recycling bin without being opened or read, because while it may have technically come directly to me, the messages for the most part are not targeted at me. At least - that’s what USED to happen.

But there has been a noticeable change in my usual inbox pile. More personalized material that is more relevant to recent activity on my part. Someone is using their CRM databases to advantage. No sooner do I make a donation to  Biogems  online, than their parent organization, the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) mails me a thank you card, enclosing another opportunity to make a donation. Very efficient.

I’m sure I will still see a number of glossy postcards offering 50% discount for things that are really interesting to me, like pool services (I don’t have a pool). But I also expect to see more and more focused offers like the ones the credit card companies send that are even a little scary because they seem to know just what I’ve been doing, and luring me to do more of it. (Usually entails spending more money - not saving it.) Or catalogue distributors that buy lists including people who have purchased online - and exactly what they’ve bought, so they can offer something similar.

So, as the email marketing trials and tribulations continue, I’m personally taking another look at a maligned marketing tool for my own use as well as customers. There is a way to effectively get to someone directly. Just read their minds.

Donna

21 Jun, 2004

I just read one of the many informational email newsletters I subscribe to (in the vain attempt to keep up with what’s new and useful) - and was struck by the “negative” title: “What customer strategy is not”.

While that statement is certainly poorly worded, what bothered me more was that it really did only give a list of “It’s not just...” That list happened to be a number of discreet tactics, like ‘personalized email’ or ‘new sales training’ or the big buzz word ‘(audience) segmentation’. And instead of identifying these list items as TACTICS, the writer asked for submissions of definitions of good customer strategy.

HINT: Good customer strategy would be something that applies to YOUR business, your products/services and the PEOPLE (also referred to as CLIENTS or CUSTOMERS) who need them. It falls on everyone’s shoulders, far beyond marketing or tools like CRM. It might seem impossible, but companies have been able to develop customer strategies and build enormously successful businesses ages before there was any such thing as CRM databases or the World Wide Web.

Historical reference: the Dutch developed a strategy in 1602 to gain control of the lucrative spice trade, which involved forming the Dutch East India Company (the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC), an association of merchants meant to reduce competition, share risk and realise economies of scale. This gave them control over a market that was highly desirable, and guaranteed a great relationship with their customers - since they could provide what was wanted and valued. Shocking - I know.

It’s not uncommon for organizations to mix up strategy and tactics. I recall painful sessions of business planning at one company where it was very difficult to get across the idea that what was needed was a better overall customer relationship strategy, which included communications and an efficient means to deliver them. That of course required an updated CRM database, a DB manager, email templates, editorial schedule of content and many other tactics that all had to be planned and executed. But they were only a means to an end: customer loyalty and retention = business (sales).

Seems a little obvious, doesn’t it?

Donna

If you’re interested in the author of Not the Strategy, you can read more on SearchCRM.com about Martha Rogers’ recent keynote presentation.

09 Jun, 2004

I’m sure I’ll get emails about my poor spelling, but instead I’m guilty of a very marketing-like activity: making up words. No, I did not mean to write “Servitude”. I did mean to play on it though.

From Webster’s 1913 dictionary Serv'i`tude - noun 1. The state of voluntary or compulsory subjection to a master; the condition of being bound to service; the condition of a slave; slavery; bondage; hence, a state of slavish dependence. 2. Servants, collectively. 3. (Law) A right whereby one thing is subject to another thing or person for use or convenience, contrary to the common right.

Recently returned from a heavenly trip to Paris (France, not Las Vegas as one of my offspring mistakenly quipped), I was delighted to find the Parisians to be so gracious, warm and SERVICE ORIENTED. Everywhere I went I was greeted with a musical, “Bonjour Madame!”, which I quickly became enamored of hearing. What was most refreshingly obvious was that “the condition of being bound to service” was not an ugly thing to them. This was contrary to my expectations. The Parisians changed my “brand” perceptions of them.

When was the last time you remember being the recipient of really great service? The deterioration of really good service, or more importantly “service attitude” in the States has bothered me for a long time. I will save more ranting about that for other times. But in relation to brand, I can’t think of a better way to build one - and a quicker way to tear one down - than through SERVICETUDE. You can either have a GOOD one, or a BAD one. Kind of like Dorothy’s witch.

Donna

21 May, 2004

Around 4 am nearly every morning, I have the (dis)pleasure of being awakened by a hopelessly enthusiastic trilling bird. It’s not that the bird is not there every morning - or at least I assume it’s always there - but sometimes I sleep through it. But that’s not the real point of this blog. Communications and timing is the point. The bird has particularly bad timing, though he/she is definitely consistent. And since I was awake, it made me start thinking about communications methods and timing, and suddenly Goldilocks popped into my head.

Yes, it is a stretch, but not that big of one. If I had a little more time and creativity, I’d like to write my own modern day fable because they have such a tidy way of delivering the moral of the story. But for now, I’ll borrow a familiar one.

Goldilocks boils down to ‘too much, too little or just right’. Oh yes, and not intruding where you’re not invited. Marketing has the same issues. How do you go where you have not been asked in? And are you providing information too often, not often enough or just right? Is it too hot - too cold - or just right? Too big - too small, too hard - too soft. You certainly remember the tale.

And to make it worse, the ‘too soft’ for some, is ‘just right’ for others. Mama Bear apparently liked her squishy bed, but Papa Bear preferred something sturdier. I won’t go further with that.

Since I’m an information addict, I prefer to get some news daily - while other kinds of prodding reminders are only useful, well, as reminders, usually to do something like pay the bills, or attend a webinar that I registered for, or catch the last day of a sale at Bluefly.

For myself and my clients, finding that comfortable ‘just right’ for stimulating action with prospects and customers is a never-ending experiment. I must admit that John Kerry’s  campaign seems to be doing a pretty good job of judging just when to send me a ‘keep up the good work’ message, along with an easy click button to help out just a little more. And Apple’s  New Music Tuesday emails invariably get me to purchase a couple more additions to my iTunes library.

So - that’s the goal. Try to get to the shores of Just Right and avoid the inhospital islands of Not Enough and Too Much.

Interestingly, I’m not the only one who worries about the Goldilocks Syndrome (though I have not asked any of these other authors if they were inspired by an operatic bird). For some other twists on applied fairy tales:
The Goldilocks Syndrome: Successful CRM often takes more than one try to get just right.
The Goldilocks Syndrome versus the Ubermeasure
The Goldilocks Syndrome: Getting Rid of the Bears in Your Life
Bush’s Goldilocks Syndrome
Goldilocks Syndrome: Finding a Mattress That’s Just Right

 

Donna

05 May, 2004

Today’s the day. And yes, I need to be an advocate for my client Pinch Me Films. But it is also for an extremely important cause - awareness among youth of the consequences of sex.

So - spread the word. Participate. Think of Cinco de Mayo as “Breaking the Silence of Sex” day, and log on to make a donation!

Encourage teens that you know to take the National Day Quiz.

MarketUP will be at the Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley tonight between 7:00-9:00 pm doing our part to promote open dialogue. If you’re in town, join us for a screening of the documentary “Silence Ain’t Sexy” followed by a panel discussion. Oh yes, and there will be young performance artists spreading the word.

That’s what we’re about. Spreading the word

Donna