City of Paris

I had a somewhat disturbing conversation with a marketing manager last week. She was charged with revitalizing a waning product line—mature market, commoditization price pressures and unsuccessful competition for sales time. Unfortunately, the briefing took the form of a list of tactics that she had envisioned, and the list consisted of the usual suspects such as update brochure, enhance website and develop webinars. That same week, a colleague told me about a brand manager friend of hers commiserating with her about his agency, which of late has been coming up with creative concepts that miss the mark. What was puzzling to my colleague was that the agency is well respected for its work. As they spoke, my colleague realized that this was a classic case of a substandard brief that was a product of too many sources of input, a long, drawn-out but not thought-out process that resulted in a compromise. So when I saw Scott Davis’ CMOs, Regain Control of Your Destiny it seemed especially relevant. Davis cites a recent study by Prophet (the consulting firm led by David Aaker) and the Association of National Advertisers that, among other things, found that the majority admitted to spending most of their time on tactics such as budgeting and “being guided by a short-term marcom plan.” Quoting CMOs from leading corporations across a number of industries, Davis’ advice boiled down to (a) partnering with other members of the management team to help champion marketing’s role, (b) bringing insights to conversations with senior management (which of course requires taking time on a regular basis to think strategically), and (c) thinking and speaking growth not marketing, which parenthetically also means less reliance on marketing speak. On this last point, I couldn’t agree more!

As to my “all tactics” client, I got the buy-in of the director of communications (Davis’ advice [a] above) to spend some time taking a look at the market and speak to the stakeholders within the company and with key customers before delving into the relaunch. That will enable me to offer my client, the marketing manager, some insights she could perhaps share with her management—advice (b) above. And, last but not least, to me, thinking about growth means thinking broadly about the business and challenging not just the promotion facet of the marketing 4Ps, which was my initial assignment, but looking at defining specific segments where the product line has the highest chance for success and reassessing the channels to see if they are appropriate for today’s needs.

While pundits debate the valuation of Facebook, Twitter and other high-visibility social media sites—some wondering if there is a viable revenue model somewhere to be discovered—LinkedIn has been quietly profitable since 2007. Not bad for an Internet business born right after the bubble, in 2003. As Reid Hoffman, founder and chairman, explained in a recent interview, LinkedIn’s strategy is founded on two core tenets: unflinching focus on the needs of the target audience (the business professional) and a diversified revenue model. While other social media sites look for ways to keep their users on the site, LinkedIn understands time limitations for the business professional, and looks for ways to help people get what they need from the site as quickly as possible. But that does not preclude LinkedIn from actively accumulating details about its audience (e.g., through quick polls), which in turn improves its advertisers’ ability to fine-tune targets and messages. As to the diversified revenue model, I spend more time on Twitter, but I shell out $195 a year to be a member on LinkedIn.

My favorite marketing idea of the week:
Estee Lauder Gets Women Ready for Their Social-Media Close-ups: Cosmetics Giant Offers Makeovers and Professional Photos to Use for Profile Pictures

Excellent example of social media in healthcare:
How Hospitals Are Quietly Leading The Way With Social Media

If you are looking for statistics (also ideas for presenting numbers in a not-so-boring way):
From The Economist: Did you know?

Oh no!
Pharma Drops Search Advertising After FDA Warning
Sponsored Links Fall 84% Following Dressing Down for Violating Marketing Guidelines

Last but not least, look before you tweet:
Short Outbursts on Twitter? #Big Problem

Lately, I’ve been fielding questions from a number of young companies at various stages of business planning, fundraising, product development or commercialization. The founders/entrepreneurs usually express communication needs in terms of naming (company or product), logo design, generating awareness through press releases and, most gratifying to me, honing their messages. Another common thread is spending money wisely, since budget is limited (whose isn’t?).

When should we start thinking about names and logos? It’s good to have a company name from the get-go. It’s a rallying point for potential employees, customers, partners, collaborators, advisors and investors. Logos are a nice-to-have at this stage. I would save my money to have professionals develop a corporate identity system when there is adequate funding. A simple layout for critical items such as business cards, letterhead and PowerPoint templates will suffice for raising seed capital, planning the business or testing concepts. Focus on functionality. Product names can wait until you are ready to plan your first product launch—unless a good idea comes along serendipitously. I would advise spending a little money on trademark searches if you have a company or product name that you are planning to keep. It costs much more to undo later.

What about branding? Branding goes beyond names and logos, and it’s never too early to think about your corporate brand. In fact, this should go hand in hand with business planning, as you begin to define your vision for your company, the value your company will bring to your customers and other constituencies and how you want to conduct business. Sitting down with the stakeholders, if possible with a brand consultant, to articulate and map out your vision for your corporate brand will pay dividends many times over—but only if you do this when you feel you are ready and if you and your management team are willing to commit to following this road map. All of this will lay the foundation for developing the corporate identity system when the time comes.

What about press releases? Before sending out the first press release, take the time to think through a public relations plan. If you cannot afford the time or the resources to plan properly, it might be wise to wait. You don’t necessarily need a big and elaborate plan, but you do need to answer some simple questions (e.g., what do we want to accomplish with these press releases, who is our target audience) and some more elaborate ones (e.g., what are our key messages and what do we have to support and substantiate these messages). You’ll also need to have the basic elements in place—a media list, a press kit, internal FAQs for fielding questions, internal and external spokespeople and their respective roles, etc. Don’t shoot from the hip!

How much should we spend? How much to allocate to communications is a business decision. The important thing is to align budget with goals and expectations. Do a few things well if your budget is limited. If your budget does not allow you to hire professionals to do the job, at least recruit professionals to give you counsel and guidance. Correcting misperceptions is far more expensive than getting it done properly the first time.

The consumer decision journey, published in McKinsey Quarterly, challenges the traditional metaphor of the decision funnel and suggests a more complex model powered by (you guessed it) the exponential rise of new interactive communication channels and nuances in customer loyalty uncovered in a study of “almost 20,000 consumers across five industries and three continents.” For those of us who work primarily in the B-to-B realm, the new framework offers gems of ideas that we should consider as we develop our communication plans.

One important proposition of The consumer decision journey is that the decision process is not necessarily represented by a funnel, whereby purchasers narrow down their choices as they get close to the buying decision. Rather, as they start from their initial-consideration set (which is, largely, the fruit of investments in brand building), they are very likely to expand the number of brands being considered in the next, active-evaluation phase. The takeaway is that (a) brands cannot take their position in the initial-consideration set for granted and (b) there is an opportunity to interrupt the decision-making process even if your brand has not made it in the first cut. Whichever category your brand may fall into, the key is to be communicating with your target audience as they enter this next phase, with information that is relevant to the current business context. New regulatory or policy guidelines, current socioeconomic forces and competitive dynamics are just some of the factors that can change the decision-making dynamics. The consumer decision journey cites Hyundai’s offer to allow buyers to return their cars if they lose their jobs as an example of a game-changing tactic to break into the active-evaluation phase.

A second point that I gleaned from this article is how we may have to rethink peer groups. Healthcare professionals and scientists have always placed a great deal of weight on peer review and recommendations in purchasing decisions. Just as in the consumer world, new media that accelerate the dissemination of user experiences and opinions, both favorable and unfavorable, are amplifying this reliance on friends and colleagues. What is also interesting is that new media have leveled the playing field to the extent that they have given voice to more people—you don’t have to wait to post an opinion—and therefore the bar is lower for aspiring influencers or “experts.” A brand that is actively engaged in this open dialogue—as a participant, facilitator or sponsor—will improve its chance of being in front of the prospective customer when buying decisions are being shaped and, better yet, have a proactive role in shaping those decisions. Hint: Your communication plan had better have a strong Internet component.

A third takeaway for me is the identification of two types of customer loyalists: the true loyalists (what the article calls “active loyalists”) who will keep buying and recommending your brand and the “passive loyalists” who are staying with you out of inertia (e.g., a long-term purchasing contract) but can be coaxed into moving away from your brand. Clearly, the two distinct groups call for very different communication strategies.

GM’s decision to feature Chairman Ed Whitacre in advertising sparked some debate and numerous raised eyebrows in the advertising community. Advertising Age quoted several industry pundits, none of whom showed much enthusiasm for the concept of the executive spokesperson. It boiled down to four key reasons:

• The rising power of digital tomato throwers in this age of digital media
• Current social bias against senior executives
• Risk in associating the company with one person with no track record
• Difficulty in making an impact with a tired concept

All of this reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.

“If a client moans and groans, make his logo twice as big,
And if he is still refractory, show a picture of his factory,
But only in the dire cases, should you show the client’s faces.” David Ogilvy

Realistically, though, the chief executive—for public companies as well as startups—has always had a public role as a company spokesperson, even if few subjected themselves to advertising stardom. And, before the days of digital media, they were more able to select their audience as they directed their comments to specific groups such as the business and investment communities. So, for healthcare communication professionals today, it’s not a matter of whether or not we use the CEO as a spokesperson, but how best to deploy him or her for specific communication objectives.

• Defining a role: What is the most credible role for the chief executive? Should he/she be a product champion, like Fred Perdue, who made his chicken famous because of his distinct and befitting mannerisms? Can he/she play a credible role as a corporate visionary along the lines of Lee Iacocca or Richard Branson?
• The right media: While few can achieve stardom in 30- to 60-second commercials, most chief executives can find their voices in the host of other media options available today. Chief executives who are thought leaders but not necessarily charismatic public speakers like Steve Jobs can Twitter, blog or otherwise write commentaries. Many can be trained to become polished speakers in one-on-one interviews or panels.
• The message and living up to it. Today’s digital content “feast” breeds extremely discriminating audiences who need to be actively engaged with relevance, newsworthiness and the authenticity of the message and its delivery. Now more than ever, a combination of public skepticism as well as powerful archiving and, more important, search capabilities makes it easier for audiences to hold the spokesperson to his/her words.

Please post your comments and share your experience helping senior executives craft, deliver and manage their messages.