Conversation Starters: Differentiation, Pricing, and Presentations

I. Differentiation vs. Branding

Yesterday, I returned from a trip to Seoul, Korea, where I was speaking at the Global Golf Marketing Conference, attended almost exclusively by Korean golf facility executives. The conference organizer requested that I speak on differentiation. It seems there is no Korean word for branding and I was asked not to use the word. Not only did I have to re-write my branding presentation, I had to re-think the terminology I use.

This got me thinking (maybe too much) about branding and differentiation. Are they really the same thing or different marketing disciplines? So I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my copy of 2001's Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin (a recommended read). An argument could be made that the book could have been titled Brand or Die, although it doesn't quite have the same ring. Chapter 2, "Whatever Happened to the U.S.P.?" could be "Whatever happened to the brand promise?"

Questions: Is "Branding" just a marketing jargon word? Is there really a difference between differentiation and branding? Or am I catching a case of Marketers' Overthink?

II. The Ryanair Pricing Model

A couple of weeks ago I had a golf course owner tell me that he has substantially lowered prices on his green fees to compete in an overbuilt industry during a tough economy. He intends to make up the revenue by raising the prices of items not included in green fees. His reasoning? He says that people will call and ask "How much are your green fees?" but they never call and ask "How much is your beer?" He called it the "Ryanair pricing strategy."

Ryanair is the Ireland-based airline that is famous for it's low-price, no-frills flights. I've never flown Ryanair, but from what I hear, you get what you pay for and nothing more; a seat on an airplane. If you want more, you pay for it. Ryanair has used this pricing strategy to become the world's largest international passenger airline, and Europe's most profitable airline.

Questions: Is pricing really the most important factor right now in consumer decisions? Should we forget about branding or customer service? What's marketing's role in all this?

III. Presentations and the Customer Experience

During my trip to Korea I read Carmine Gallo's new book: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (a recommended read). Gallo dissects and analyzes Jobs most important presentations, then uses them as a platform to teach good presentation skills. The book is divided into three sections or "Acts": Create the Story, Deliver the Experience, Refine and Rehearse. I think this is also a good marketing formula for delivering a customer experience.

Create the unique story about your business, deliver a remarkable experience, then refine the experience and rehearse it with your employees until they deliver it flawlessly. If you are a marketer or small business owner, you are also a presenter. Every day you are making presentations to your customers. Business owners would be wise to read this book and develop a presentation on their customer experience.

Questions: What do you think about teaching employees presentation skills? Could you make a presentation about your customer experience that people would want to watch?

Feel free to discuss.

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Conferences, Networking, Social Media and BlogWorld

(Note: I’m in Seoul, Korea this week speaking at the Global Golf Course Marketing Conference on differentiation and the customer experience. I’m keeping my marketing eyes open for unique ways to differentiate and present your brand, then tie that in to a cool customer experience. I’ll post this week before leaving Korea)

Last week I was a guest on Matthew Ray Scott’s Marketing Story Podcast. Matthew couldn’t make it to this year’s BlogWorld and New Media Expo, but I did, and he wanted the scoop. We discussed:

- Social Media effectiveness and it’s future in marketing.
- My top three BlogWorld takeaways.
- Networking at conferences and conventions.
- The ‘panel’ format that is now popular at conferences.
- The lost art of the speech.
- You have to make time to get away from your business!

I like that Matthew injects his own personality into the production of the podcast, he creates a different and off-beat feel. But, he does live in Portland, after all.

Take a look and a listen here: Marketing Story Podcast w/Jay Ehret

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The Marketers Roundtable - A Discussion of Current Marketing Issues

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Episode #41 of Power to the Small Business podcast.

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Hear ye, Hear ye! Interested citizens of The Internet, you are invited to the second gathering of the Marketers RoundTable.

Whereas marketers like to congregate and discuss marketing,

And Whereas I am a marketer with a podcast,

Therefore, let them gather at The Marketers RoundTable to discuss marketing issues for all to hear on Power to the Small Business.

Guests:
Al Lautenslager – Author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days
Stephen Denny - President, Denny Marketing
Connie Reece - Chief Community Officer, New Media Lab
Jay Ehret - (Host) Chief Officer of Awesomeness at The Marketing Spot
Length: 34 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers - If you don't see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #41 (for personal use only)

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call the audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Marketers' RoundTable - A discussion of current marketing issues:

Selected quotes from the show:

ON MARKETING PLANS:

AL LAUTENSLAGER: “People want to plan it out just right, get it perfect. I have an old saying: “Done is better than perfect."

STEPHEN DENNY: "Very often it’s just more important to get something going than it is to be absolutely, positively, 100% that you’re absolutely, positively right.”

JAY EHRET: "There are no tactics that are right for everyone."

ON SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY AND LISTENING FIRST:

STEPHEN DENNY: "So much is social media centers around this idea of listening and dialog, and interestingly I’ve found that it’s the other way around that makes more sense.”

JAY EHRET: "Can you imagine Jesus sitting down with the 12 disciples and saying: “Ok, tell me where you think I should be on this issue."

CONNIE REECE “It’s useless to talk or listen, if you haven’t decided what your business is at its very core. Know thyself. That’s just fundamental."

ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:

JAY EHRET: "Social media marketing, while I like it…I think this notion that it’s better than all other forms of marketing is unproven. There’s no data to back it up."

CONNIE REECE: “It’s one tool in the arsenal. I don’t ever think anybody should say, ‘oh, we’re just going to do social media marketing. It needs to be a compliment to the traditional marketing you’re doing."

STEPHEN DENNY: "Blogging, social media, Facebook, Twitter, whatever you happen to be engaged with is almost as much a cultural decision as it is a business decision.”

AL LAUTENSLAGER: “The ‘I’ in ROI is free, but time is money."

ON MARKETING OF BOOKS BY AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS:

AL LAUTENSLAGER: “I’ll take that risk every time of over-promoting a book…Because people will sometimes just buy the book, take you home with them and put it on the bookshelf."

STEPHEN DENNY: "The marketing starts before the book writing starts.”

CONNIE REECE: “If writers want to continue being published, they have to learn how to join their marketing efforts with the publishers."

JAY EHRET: "Publishers do want the authors to promote their own books, and if that’s the case, …do you really need a publisher?"

Show Links:

Stephen Denny: Denny Marketing, Note to CMO
Al Lautenslager: Market for Profits, Certified Social Media
Connie Reece: Every Dot Connects, New Media Lab
Jay Ehret: The Marketing Spot, Power to the Small Business

A complete archive of all past episodes can be found here: Power to the Small Business

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Your Online (and Offline) Marketing Mix

It's never all about one thing. That why you have to be careful with hype. So when you hear all the hype about "It's all about social media" or "it's all about community," be wary. A year ago it was "all about content." Really it's about the mix.

Photo credit: Raelene G

The Marketing Mix

Research shows that marketing is more effective when you mix it up. A recent report from Group M showed that consumers exposed to a company's mix of influenced social media and paid search exposure were 2.8 times more likely to search for that brand's products than users who who saw only paid search. Adding ingredients to your marketing mix produces a compound effect. So what is this marketing mix?

Click on the graphic to download a PDF copy

The three big funnels of marketing media are:

• Owned - Created by you
• Earned - unpaid conversation about you
• Paid - Exposure you pay for in other channels

In the online marketing world, that translates to:

• Your web presence
• Social media and online conversations about your business or brand
• Paid search ads, sponsorships and other forms of online advertising

In the offline world, the media mix translates to:

• Your store front, office or any physical location
• Word of mouth about your business
• Advertising and promotional efforts

Be Strong Somewhere

With all those choices, it would be tempting to try to be everywhere. But juggling too many spot can spread your resources too thin. Start with one thing and get good at that before you add another ingredient into the marketing mix. I recommend you start with the offline world. Once you have solidified your offline marketing mix, start sprinkling in the online ingredients.

Does your marketing have mix? How can you compound the effectiveness of your marketing by adding ingredients to your marketing mix?

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Diet Cherry Limeades and the Power of Elaboration

My wife is a brilliant marketer even though she's not in marketing. Her secret weapon: Diet Cherry Limeades. But really, her secret weapon is elaboration. Even though my wife has never had formal marketing training, she intuitively knows that elaborate marketing messages are stronger.

My wife is a pharmaceutical sales rep and one of her drugs is a "triple combination" drug, meaning it combines three drugs in one pill. Here's how she uses elaboration to help doctors remember the benefits of her drug. She arrives at a doctor's office with some Diet Cherry Limeades from the local Sonic Drive-In, and asks the doctor if he's heard of them before. She then explains that they are delicious and offers the doctor a taste. Then she equates the three ingredients of Diet Cherry Limeades (cherry, lime, lemonade) with the three ingredients of her triple combination drug. She explains how the three ingredients of her drug work together to minimize side effects, just like the diet part of a Diet Cherry Limeade minimizes the calories.

This is quite a different approach than is taken my most pharmaceutical reps who cite research and information from product inserts (which my wife also does). And the tactic works quite well. Doctors will later, almost exactly, repeat my wife's message to her in subsequent calls. Her triple combination message was sticky because it was elaborate.

Elaborate for Memorable Messaging

As I wrote last year, elaborate messages are stronger because the extra information given at the moment of learning makes learning better, especially if that extra information is not complex. As Caroline Latham explains over on Sharp Brains, elaboration improves memory by creating a rich context of extra-sensory information. "By weaving a web of information around that fact, you create multiple access points to that piece of information."

My wife involves several senses in her presentation: sight, sound, taste and touch. Then she combines two unrelated and unexpected products into one powerful elaboration cocktail. Her triple combination message has more significance because elaborate details add meaning.

So how can you add meaning to your marketing message to make it more elaborate? Diet Cherry Limeades anyone?

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