The Power of Connection

Posted on | September 3, 2009

Sixth in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

According to Forrester Research, only 6 percent of American consumers agree with the statement: “Companies generally tell the truth in advertising.” No wonder Word of Mouth (in its many forms) has become the marketing rage of the recession.

Word of Mouth marketing, or WOM, is made up of countless subcategories that include viral, social, grassroots, cause, buzz, product seeding, and insider (or influencer) programs. A key tenant of WOM is that content or commentary is generated by the consumer rather than the marketer, thus the perception that the information that is shared is more credible. That information is shared consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-marketer.

It goes without saying (so why do I feel the need to say it?) that WOM works for you, or your organization, when you offer something people want to talk about. The more “talkable,” the faster communications will spread. By its very nature, the great power in WOM is the fact that it is exponential; i.e., I told two friends, who told two friends, who told two friends… . Keep this strategy in mind as you build your communications program, and add WOM components to it.

Start here: To whom are you talking? (It’s an ages-old consideration.)

But then things take a bit of a new turn. With whom does he/she congregate? Where? What is it that links them? What is the basis for their shared interest? What do they talk about? What do they do?

Of course, many of these new communities are digital, so opportunities to intersect are endless. Just be sure you intersect with something that is “talkable,” and provide tools that make it easy for them to share their opinions. Then motivate your advocates to spread the word.

There is a new frontier out there, and it is fueled by interesting conversation. Go bravely toward it.

- Cathy Monetti, Riggs Partners
cathy@riggspartners.com

The Power of Purpose

Posted on | July 7, 2009

Fifth in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

In recent months I’ve made many, many trips along the same I-95 route. The need to “grab a quick bite” has sent me into a number of fast food restaurants, and the service has been so outrageously slow that when I finally had one decent experience, I started a “good exit” section in my sketchbook.

I tell you this story because it demonstrates two things: (1) the power of purpose in meeting consumer need, even when that need is very basic; and (2) how important it is to deliver what you promise.

Of course, building and sustaining a brand is difficult and delicate work with thousands of considerations. But its foundation is quite simple:

Our customers need (fill in the blank), so we (fill in the blank).

Now is a great time to reconsider this equation. The economy has forced a redirection of energy toward goals that are extremely short-term and relationships that are much more transactional. Take the time to remind internal stakeholders why you provide the services or products you do. Give your employees a reason to come to work every day, aside from collecting a paycheck. How are they contributing value to the lives of your customers?

Then make sure your purpose is clear in all external messaging. Customers are reevaluating old shopping and purchasing habits every day. Make sure your company is on their radar.

- Cathy Monetti, RIGGS Principal, Executive Creative Director
cmonetti@riggsadvertising.com

The Power of Humanity

Posted on | June 4, 2009

Fourth in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

One of the most thrilling aspects of my work is the opportunity to speak daily with leaders I respect in fields that cross the business spectrum. I never pass on the chance to ask how the economic recession is affecting their business and what they see happening in coming months.

Each answers differently, but together they form a chorus. Of late there has been a song in a slightly different key.

“It’s still tough. But people have grown tired of the recession. I feel movement again. I am hopeful.” Like these professionals, many of whom are entrepreneurs, I feel my own optimism is at work. I am deeply ready for things to change.

And yet I caution us all. We must remember nearly one in ten Americans is out of work and millions more have had their salaries cut. Uninsured rates are skyrocketing, and record numbers of people are behind on or unable to pay their mortgages. (AP’s
Economic Stress Index Map gives a recession stress score for every county in the United States.) The reality of daily life for countless families is a painful one, and a cavalier attitude by marketers who simply lose patience will result in marketing’s greatest peril: a recognition by the customer that the marketer is out of touch. It’s a chasm that can never again be forded.

Instead, really listen to your customer. Uncover a need that may well have developed—or at least moved to the forefront—in the most recent weeks of this downturn. Then find a way to meet that need with an evolved product or new service. (Be open to the possibility that what your customer needs right now is quite elemental.)

As we move into the New Reality of this Great Restructuring, brands that are both intentional and grounded in the human condition will survive and ultimately flourish. (TM’s new Nationwide work is a great example.)

- Cathy Monetti, RIGGS Principal, Executive Creative Director
cmonetti@riggsadvertising.com

Up Next: The Power of Purpose

The Power of Control

Posted on | May 12, 2009

Third in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

A recent article in MONEY magazine says it all: It’s finally sinking in: No one is looking out for you but you.

It’s true. Self-security is the new entitlement, the article states, because we don’t trust anybody anymore. We’ve been flat-out misled by accountants, regulators, rating agencies, stock analysts, mutual funds, hedge funds, mortgage brokers, banks, and CEOs, it says. So much so that in a recent MONEY poll, half of the respondents said they don’t trust financial advisors.

I find that to be a startling statistic, and if you’re the marketing director of a financial institution, it’s one you should carefully consider. This is a pivotal time in the life of your brand as the health of your relationship with half of your customers is at risk. It’s also a time of unprecedented opportunity, since the same is true for your competitors.

Let’s consider “no one is looking out for me but me” for what it really is in marketing terms: a powerful consumer insight that speaks to a basic human need. How can you meet that need? An obvious path is to demonstrate that your company/service is looking out for the best interest of your customer. (This is a SHOW, not a TELL.) But here’s another direction that might be more relevant in this new economy:

Do what you can to give your customer a sense of control.

Give your customer a choice. By exercising choice, your customer will feel a sense of control over their environment. But be careful not to overwhelm. Two options can be plenty.
Let your customer talk. Open the door to two-way conversation, be it in-branch (or in-store), via telephone or online. Ask, and your customers will not only tell you what they need, they will feel relieved and more confident.
Give your customer something to do. Nothing replaces a sense of vulnerability faster than taking action. What if you offered a free seminar on local vacation planning? Budget conscious meal options? Online selling? (Note I’m not talking about traditional financial management topics, although they are an obvious option.)

Basic tenets of human behavior apply here. Give your customers a sense a certainty, as best you can, and they will repay you with their loyalty.

- Cathy Monetti, RIGGS Principal, Executive Creative Director
cmonetti@riggsadvertising.com

Up Next: The Power of Humanity

The Power of Simplicity

Posted on | May 4, 2009

The second in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

The Power of Need

Posted on | April 28, 2009

The first in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

In homes and businesses across America, decisions are being made with a heavy emphasis on “need” rather than “want.” This dynamic is impacting the marketplace so significantly it should be the first consideration in any strategic business decision, be it product development, realignment or marketing. What does this really mean? Begin every conversation in your organization with this question:

What does our customer need from us?

The answer must come from your customer’s point of view, which is—quite honestly—180 degrees from a corporate point of view. And if you haven’t conducted consumer research since—say, January—you can’t know the answer because I promise you, it has changed in the last four months.

Spend the money to work with a good researcher. It’s one of the most important investments you can make in your marketing program. Today’s great researchers engage the right people, and they do it in an environment or a circumstance that results in truly meaningful (and potentially differentiating) intelligence. (The days of relying on focus groups and telephone surveys are over, thank heavens.) This rather tall order requires working close to the ground, using new methodologies that result in honest and open communication uninfluenced by preconceived ideas or peer group dynamics. And it needn’t take months and cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Once you have hired the researcher, mined the insight(s) and put them in the proper context, begin every meeting with those realities in the forefront. Write them on the wall; make them a part of your organization’s vernacular. Then use the insights as your North Star as you develop new products/programs/promotions. You’ll wonder how you ever made a good business decision without them.

- Cathy Monetti, RIGGS Principal, Executive Creative Director
cmonetti@riggsadvertising.com

Up Next: The Power of Simplicity
The second in a series analyzing seven new economy trends

The Power of Seven

Posted on | April 21, 2009

I can’t think of a more interesting chair to sit in today than that of CMO of a financial institution. Every customer is in play, and that means opportunity abounds around every corner, at soccer games, and in boardrooms across the country. 

The surprising thing is—the response so many institutions have had to this turn of events is to hunker down, freeze the marketing budget and hope against hope things get back to “normal” before significant damage is done. Meanwhile, they’ve missed out on the greatest opportunity to gain market share in 20 years.

Instead, consider the reality of the new economy:

1. Brand loyalty is fragile.
2. The marketplace is quiet. Speak now and your voice will ring across the landscape.
3. Customers are looking for alternate solutions and will make a move if properly incented. (We’re not talking toasters here. It’s about meeting real customer needs in a time of economic uncertainty.)
4. The opportunity won’t last forever.

In the next seven postings on r-view.biz, we’ll dissect today’s seven hottest market trends and offer strategic counsel for how to best capitalize on them. I look forward to meeting you right here. (Or if you want a preview, drop me an email and I’ll send you the series in its entirety.)

- Cathy Monetti, RIGGS Principal, Executive Creative Director
cmonetti@riggsadvertising.com

Coming April 28: The Power of Need

Knowing the Known and Unknown, Unknowns

Posted on | April 14, 2009

Oliver Blanchard, in an article that appeared this month in The Economist entitled, (Nearly) Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself, argues for the necessary distinction between what he calls the “known unknowns” and the “unknown unknowns” of an economic downturn. He warns us—with a certain warmth in his syntax—of the near crippling effect that mass uncertainty can have on an economy. Apparently, this is all closely associated with something he refers to quite mysteriously as the “unknown unknown.”

So this all sounds somewhat nonsensical. (Even Microsoft Word has an objection here. Delete Repeated Word? It asks.) Perhaps my computer has a point: If something is known how can it also be unknown? Furthermore, how can we not know what we already don’t know anymore than we don’t already know it? Yikes. This is cumbersome. Let’s stop here in the mire.

There are a few things worth understanding about Oliver Blanchard before we unpack this theory of his, not the least of which is that he is the IMF’s (International Monetary Fund) chief economist, he received his Ph.D. in Macroeconomic Theory from MIT, taught economics at Harvard University for nearly a decade and is currently on the faculty at MIT where he teaches and serves as the Chair of economics. In short, the man is a walking textbook, as serious as a heart attack, and usually wears a cool piercing expression reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in the preliminary moments of a gunfight.

One of Blanchard’s specialties is in a field of economics referred to as “Self-fulfilling Macroeconomic Crises.” Essentially, this is similar to the idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy, except it is applied to entire groups and compounded by thousands of interdependent variables. (I assure you that Blanchard is no mystic.) In this context objective uncertainty makes up the “known unknowns” that produce the theoretical situation where people are willing to take risks and thus, the economy works. Subjective uncertainty creates the “unknown unknowns,” which are characteristic of a pervasive “bad feeling” or paranoia that can’t be connected to any one source but just simply “is.”  The unknown unknowns leave us feeling peculiar, restless, and powerless.

It is this strange “feeling” that currently defines and motivates the behavior of the new economy consumer. In a time of uncertainty people want to experience a sense of control, even in the little things. Unbundling products and letting consumers make more informed choices is just one way of allowing them to know and manage something in this culture dominated by unknowns.

What else can your business do to utilize the restless energy of the new economy consumer? Is your brand being drawn into the oblique “unknown”?

- Nathan Poole, RIGGS Copywriter

1. Oliver Blanchard, (Nearly) Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself, The Economist, Jan 29^th 2009

Tell Me More

Posted on | April 6, 2009

It’s hardly news that everyone is spending less. There is a new normal, and it involves each of us being more mindful of what and how we spend. From vacations closer to home, to house brands, to buying locally grown food, we’re making more deliberate, smarter choices about what and how we consume.

These more informed choices require more information.

Recent legislation requires that grocers tell us where our produce is grown. Yet the smartest most successful supermarkets go much further. They tell us not just where our asparagus comes from, but how to prepare it. Recipe cards are offered alongside samples cooked at a station in the produce aisle.

Whatever your business, you need to do the same. Far too often, service businesses —healthcare and banking in particular — fail horribly at this. Few HMOs or hospitals offer adequate information about the doctors in their networks. Although research clearly shows the most important component of healthcare delivery is not what, where or how, but who is delivering their care. Banks push rates and products despite the fact that their customers crave relationships, advice and counsel.

This is an easy fix. Don’t shy away from explanation, particularly on the web. Instead of mortgages at 4 percent shown alongside a banker’s contact information, include something personal or philosophical about the person offering the mortgage. In the past, a doctor’s office wall filled with diplomas told us something about the doctor. We need that information (often delivered digitally) now more than ever.

It pays to get back to basics. The split-second decision-making that drove expensive image messaging is over. Take the time to communicate completely with your customers. Those who do will do more than emerge from the current economy intact, they’ll find themselves with a fiercely loyal customer base that will ensure their prosperity for years to come.

- Kevin Smith, RIGGS Principal
ksmith@riggsadvertising.com

Can “branding” survive the new economy?

Posted on | March 30, 2009

It is absolutely, positively, unequivocally true that the speed with which our business is changing has accelerated unmercilessly in this recession. And the crescendoing client roar cresting the hilltops is both Wonderful and Terrifying:

T: We don’t need no stinking branding!
W: Let’s sell product!
T: Sell! Sell! Sell!
W: We’ll go digital!
T: Digital is cheap!
W: And measurable!
T: And fast!
T: And transactional!
T: Digital is the answer!

Digital is only part of the answer in this difficult economy. Much more important is the message. We preach it every day to our clients, who range from local retailers to major healthcare systems to national B-to-B companies. One client, in particular, has maintained a comprehensive, layered marketing program with significant dollars invested in what we used to call (way, way back. . .oh, last summer?) branding. Would you be surprised to hear this client is in the financial services industry?

Here is the truth our client understands:

When people are fearful and times are uncertain, nothing is more important than knowing what you stand for. Clarity of purpose gives your employees a reason to come to work in the morning, your managers a destination toward which to steer and your customers a light in the darkness. Give them all a beacon they can see.

Re-articulate your purpose internally. For many organizations, a focus on mere survival has redirected energy toward goals that are extremely short-term. Unless you are an organization that’s purpose is to “sell whatever we can to anybody we can,” you must remind internal stakeholders every day why you provide the services or products that you do. What human need are you meeting in the marketplace? What difference does their work make in the world? Don’t let this important message disappear from your internal communications program. It is food for the employee soul.

Be sure your purpose is clear in every bit of external messaging you do. I’m here to prophesy there will be a big fat swing back to “branding” in the months ahead because transaction-based relationships simply cannot last long term. Of course branding will take new forms that are more relevant in this new world, particularly from a media consumption standpoint. But purpose messaging will once again take the lead in the most successful marketing programs.

Stand for something your customers can believe in. Be sure your purpose is aligned with a real customer need in this new economy. (We offer lots of examples in other articles in this blog.) Our banking client promises “you don’t have to go it alone” and backs it up with the offer of a no-cost, no-obligation Business Review—which includes debt restructuring counsel—whether you are a current customer or not.

It’s a vital question that needs to be answered in conference rooms and board rooms, and in break rooms, across the country. Why are we in business? How do we make life better for our customers? Then get out there and shine that light brightly enough for your customers, and potential customers, to follow it straight to you—be the path virtual or physical.

- Cathy Monetti, RIGGS Principal, Executive Creative Director
cmonetti@riggsadvertising.com

« go back — keep looking »

Bookmarked

Sears combines DYI trend with need to compare for its Craftsman line. -Kevin

Two years of declining consumer spending yields permanent shift in habits and values. -Kevin

Frugal fatigue leads to practical consumerism. -Kevin

New Year doesn't usher in new habits. -Kevin

Budget cuts have cities selling sidewalk space to advertisers. -Teresa

A happy holiday for online retailers. -Ryon

Ten dollars to the box office? Or one dollar to the Box? -Cathy

Five good buys that make shopping at Walmart worth it. -Sammy

Blame the battery-operated hamster for low holiday sales. -Kevin

Are your employees in it for the long haul or just sticking it out until employment rises? -Tom

As U.S. downturn deepens, repair business thrives. -Tom

Food Marketers take safer course in recession. -Cathy

Recession has more of a profound effect on marketing industry than predicted. -Cathy

Beer no longer recession-proof. -Cathy

Cheapeats: Yum, yum give me some and save me some. -Jason

Economies of abundance. -Tim

Not so ordinary ways to recycle. -Jason

Arguments whether to buy local or not. -Ryon

Instead of buying, design, craft, build, and re-use. -Elias

So, which car for you? -Tim

Getting smart with groceries. -Elias

Top 5 Consumer Holiday Spending Trends in a Dismal Economy -Kevin

Learn to live the Not-So-Big Lifestyle -Tim

No assembly line. No factory floor. -Elias

Stay away from fast food and the center of the grocery store and you can live longer and cheaper. Healthy and Cheap -Tim

The solar systems' largest nuclear fusion reactor stands ready to save you money. -Tim

A rediscovery of, and intentional support of, all that is available where we live, work and play; an embracing of the diversity and options we hadn't noticed; a return to family (redefined); a focus on "home"

A distinct and intentional move away from excess, although not counter-cultural; the casting off of that which is superfluous; a focus on purity, essence; making-do, but with high standards for aesthetic design and functionality

Supreme homage to value, redefined; every action an investment, whether time or money; the death of impulse / birth of comparative study; choice as a primary concept

Self-empowerment(!) creating a markedly different sense of control; an attraction to that which is experiential (and valuing the experience); creativity, renewed; the anti-immediate gratification movement

Riggs Partners

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