If you want people to move, you first have to move people.

Everyone wants customer interaction. Benefits and features won’t cut. You won’t get traction – just inaction.

People buy with their hearts and justify with their minds. It’s so simple that it’s easy to forget this First and Foremost Commandment.

Today, I got a firsthand reminder of how true this is. Recently, I wrote a column in a local newspaper (yes print, the Living Dead) in appreciation of a woman who has served our little burg so well for so long.

I did not list her accomplishments and work statistics (aka: benefits and features). Instead, I told her story and how she helped people. Today, I received this email with her response:

Jack –

Just wanted to take a quick minute to say “thank you” – thank you for that incredible article you put in the News Graphic a while ago.    I have been so moved by the huge response, especially in the past few weeks, by residents congratulating me on my retirement and sharing with me their thoughts.    Every day, I am getting phone calls, emails and visits in City Hall – so many say “I read that article and am here to thank you”.   Some residents I have never met in person – just over the phone or through emails – they are coming in person to say good bye to me.   A few have brought me to tears when they shared their thoughts.

Working for the government can be a thankless job –so often people say “well what do I pay taxes for” – and they need someone to complain to … and so often that was me.   To  have the kind of response I have had upon retirement makes these past 30 years so worth it.

For some reason the words “thank you” don’t fully describe what you have done for me … but know I am sending you big hugs for your kind words in that article!

Wishing you a happy life, filled with love and good health!
Judy

Move people. They will move mountains for you. 

Oscar’s biggest winner… Advertising… dum, da-dum, da-da-dum-dum-dum.

On a night when many declared that Birdman the big winner of the Academy Awards, I disagree. The biggest winner of the night – advertising. It still works.

Right after the first major award was won by J.K. Simmons (Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash), host Neil Patrick Harris had his best moment of the show (granted, there weren’t many from which to choose) when he said,

“He won an Oscar… dum, da-dum, da-da-dum-dum-dum.”

Yes, he hummed the Farmers Insurance jingle. He hummed an advertising jingle to the allegedly coolest, most affected audience that can be assembled. And the audience got it. And people recognized it. And Farmers Insurance got one of the best product placements on one of the year’s most watched television events.

This doesn’t just happen. For every company who will say to their marketing team today, “I want our jingle mentioned in the Oscars,” I have some news for you. Farmers didn’t just get lucky. They worked with their agency, RGA, to create an interesting campaign that is quirky, well-written and memorable. They hired an excellent actor to be their spokesperson.

They also did something else pretty revolutionary – they stuck with it. They didn’t panic and change directions every year. When it comes to marketing, this is harder than you would think. People change jobs. Companies buy other companies.

Everyone wants to make their mark. One of the most obvious ways to do this is to change the marketing and switch up the advertising. Change agencies. Let’s get our people in there. Forget about whether the current work is actually working. Let’s get some excitement and new energy in there.

In pulling the plug, all of the equity, all of the investment, all of the money and all of the real marketing value, goes down the drain. It can take years to recover. Some brands never do.

Not Farmers. They planted the seeds (with a great idea), nurtured them water and sunshine (a realistic marketing budget) and protected their investment. They reaped what they sowed. Their harvest was a clever product placement that far out-valued all of the big budget sponsors of the show.

To all of the nay-sayers who say advertising does not work anymore, I say, “Nay.”

Just ask the coolest crowd in the world.

Advertising works…. dum, da-dum, da-da-dum-dum-dum.

If you would like to discuss how to make good advertising and marketing work for you, drop me a note at jhenke@henkeinc.com. 

Thanks.

Marketing - more honest than the movies.

The Oscar for best branding in a starring role goes to…

When you hear those words this Sunday night, or something like them for the less glamorous film industry, that is when the real competition kicks in – the acceptance speeches.

The best actors are the best fakers. The Oscar is the ultimate award for frauds.

Will we accept them? Do they pass the sniff test? Mostly, they don’t. The winners are actors. They win because they are able to make other people’s words seem authentic as their own. When they have to come up with their own words, they don’t seem real. Many times when they do sound real, the real person is someone we just don’t like.

I heard a great quote this morning from a movie critic on CBS’ outstanding program, Sunday Morning. When referring to the Oscar acceptance speeches, the critic said something like this, “The acceptance speeches are when the real best acting will be. The winners are those who can sound humble.”

Actors follow a script. If it doesn’t seem real, if they haven’t faked it well enough, they get skewered by critics and fans alike. In an ironic twist, their faking must be believable to succeed.

Marketing is more honest than movies.

Erin McPherson, Chief Content Officer of Maker Studios, recently told the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Annual Leadership Conference that, “The new authority is authenticity.”

My only suggested edit to her statement is to delete the word “new.” Authority is and always has been authenticity when it comes to brands. People are smart. They can see and feel when a brand is not authentic. They always have been fans of the real thing.

Nothing kills an inauthentic brand faster than great advertising. Trial is induced. Judgments are made. Great marketing kills the greatest frauds… fast.

The Internet world gets too much credit for making brands come clean. People trust online reviews of their peers more than advertising. This is great, except when the online reviews themselves are less than authentic.

Should authentic brands win an Oscar Mayer? The Mark-Ademy Award? The best award is cultivating brand advocates who will help you drive authentic success.

That’s the honest truth.

If you want to have an honest conversation about marketing and branding, send me a note at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks.

Your Social Problem –the wrong place will never be the right time.

 To succeed, you have to be n The Right Place at the Right Time.

How many times have you heard that in your life? You just have to be at the right place at the right time.

Is it luck?

No way, baby. It’s strategy. And hustle. And relentlessness. And even common sense.

The other day, I met with a client who is smart, capable, and usually implacable. I During the meeting he said, “My insurance agent invited me to like their agency on Facebook! Can you believe it? That’s why I hate Facebook. Who would like insurance on Facebook?”

He was pretty animated. He’s usually so even-keeled. But this insurance/facebook issue really had him riled up.

He said, “Tell me that you have some good news for me on my rates. Don’t tell me to like an insurance agency on facebook for crying out loud.”

At this point, I probably should have just nodded in agreement. I couldn’t do it, though. I said, “That’s the problem with social media.”

“Yes, it makes no sense. Insurance! On facebook!”

It’s not the channel. It’s not social media. It’s how badly people use it. Misuse it. Abuse it.

Would you tell a eulogy at a comedy club? That’s what the insurance agency tried to do on facebook. Tell a joke a tthe comedy club. Talk insurance on LinkedIn.

Do your audience a favor. Don’t insult them by not respecting the platform. You have to know where you are. And, you really have to know where they are. They chose to be on facebook. Not at the dentist. Knowing where you’re standing is as important as what you stand for.

This is magnified by the freedom that social media channels have given everyone.  You have to get this right.

You just might have the right message. You’ll never know if you don’t tell it right in the same place. Give yourself a chance. Every time.

Is Marketing Intangible?

 Can you feel marketing? Touch it? Hold it? Better yet – has it hugged you?

People like to have a hard product to buy, sell or distribute. Solid is good. Solid is comforting. Solid can be, well, boring. Solid is reliable.

Branding is part of marketing. A brand is a promise, the promise you make to your customers, to your fans, to your advocates.

If you think marketing is intangible, ask yourself these questions:

·      Does a competitor with a coupon easily replace you?

·      Does your customer think nothing of switching to a suitable alternative?

·      Is there a suitable alternative?

·      Do you have to discount to make a sale?

·      Are your customers really your advocates?

·      Do they back you up on social media?

·      Does your own team believe in you?

·      Are you irreplaceable?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, marketing is tangible to you. You just don’t realize it yet. The ground you gained is not as solid as you thought.

Marketing and brand building don’t happen overnight.

Inconsistent sales results can make anyone’s stomach growl. That uneasy feeling is the tangible result of lack of marketing…. starting with lack of a strategic marketing plan.

Get in touch with your customers. You will be able to feel it.

If you have any questions, get in touch with me at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks.

Why it should be Marketing and Sales, Not Sales and Marketing

Have you ever met a Vice President of Marketing & Sales? In the history of my professional life, I have met many Sales & Marketing officers, but not one Marketing & Sales officer. Some people have been either Sales Directors or Marketing Directors.

Whenever they’re matched together under one roof, Sales comes first. Why is that? It doesn’t make sense, even if you take the safe way out and use the alphabet as your guide.

Yet I have never encountered a company that put marketing before sales. Marketing should make the introduction and strike up a conversation. In a recent meeting with a prospective client, he said it perfectly. We need marketing to “soften the beaches for sales.”

I’ve also met marketing people who think their job isn’t sales. The most important sale that a marketer can ever make is the internal marketing. If your team is not aware and on-board with your marketing and how it will help increase sales, you will not win.

Everything counts. Every potential touchpoint for the brand has to be consistent in tone, message and delivery to achieve goals. Your customers are searching for authenticity. If everyone on your team is not on board with your marketing, your customers will sense it.

Just like with people, when brands are inconsistent, they are suspect. Do you trust candidates that flip-flop?

Get your marketing straight and your sales will follow.

Marketing and sales or sales and marketing? Please let me know at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks

“I hate advertising… but marketing is cool.”

This is a quote I heard in a recent strategic marketing planning session that stopped me in my tracks. Here’s why: People do advertising. They hate being sold. They want to be part of the conversation (More on this in future post.)

.

Of course. Why not? Who in their right mind wants to take part in a one-way conversation? A conversation, by definition, is interactive communication. It always has been.

Recent technology has made it seem like the word interactive was invented with the Internet. Has anybody seen Al Gore?

A one-way conversation is not really a conversation at all. I would argue that one-way advertising that does not invite participation is not effective communication at all, either.

The other issue is that people confuse marketing and advertising. They believe that they are one and the same. Advertising is just one principle of marketing. The book definition of marketing is the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service.

My definition of marketing is removing obstacles to a sale. I didn’t make that one up. Some smart person simplified that for me. The trick is to not oversimplify.

Removing obstacles does not mean not listening to your customer. It does not mean ignoring questions. It does not mean not communicating and having one-way conversations.

It’s just the opposite. You remove obstacles by answering questions and building trust and understanding. By delivering true value. If people feel good about what you offer and how you treat them, that is marketing and removing obstacles redefined.

Hating advertising is painting all of us marketers is into a corner using a broad brush. I get it. I hate a lot of advertising, too.

Yet, even today, some great advertising is being created. It makes you feel like you are understood. It builds trust. Sometimes, it even gives hope.

Maybe advertising is not the answer for your company, your product, your service or your brand. Marketing is part of your solution.

If you would like to have a conversation about marketing and/or advertising, please send me a note at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks

Be a Marketing Savant… Not a Marketing Salmon.

Nobody starts at the top. We all learn. We grow. We stumble. We go.

The number one mistake that marketers make is to start with tactics and think they have a plan. Go. Ready. Set!

Think about how crazy that is. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. I define insanity as executing tactics and believing that you have a plan.

Maybe that’s not crazy… but it’s certainly delusional. Being active feels great. Being smart and active feels unbelievable.

Christopher Columbus didn’t just jump into a boat and start sailing. Chris looked at and analyzed the current situation. He had a plan. He had direction. Columbus had a strategy on how to get to the new world. He had a budget from his CEO and CFO – King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

If you need a more current example, think of the sport of rowing. If you ever get the opportunity to watch the rowing contests in the Olympics, watch. You will be amazed.

Precision, power, speed, teamwork and motivational speaking are all on display. The best crews in the world start by analyzing their current strengths and weaknesses.  They have a united vision of where they want to go… or objectives.  They think about how they can achieve their goals and put together a plan on how to accomplish their goals… or strategies.

If the rowing started with tactics and just started rowing, they would be scattered and working against each other. Tactics are important – even critical; however, tactics are downstream in the marketing process.

The biggest mistake I see companies make is to plot a series of tactics or actions on a calendar and call it a strategic marketing plan.

These are tactics. Even if they are organized by date, it is a marketing communications or a mar-com plan masquerading as a strategic marketing plan. If you don’t start with a current situation analysis, objectives and strategies to win, you’re swimming upstream.

Be a marketing savant, not a marketing salmon. Salmon swim upstream and die. If you swim using the current, and you will, in the immortal words of the marketing magnate Elwood Blues, “live, thrive and survive.”

Don’t swim upstream just to die. Avoid tactical errors, the most glaring of which is to start with tactics and believe that you have a plan.

If you’re splashing around with marketing tactics and would like some help on how to develop a strategic marketing plan, send me a note at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks.

Don’t be like Mike (Tyson) - Plan!

Mike Tyson once famously said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” It’s a great line. And it’s true, but like Mike himself, it’s a little twisted.

The biggest challenge facing marketers today is that they don’t have a plan… a true Strategic Marketing plan.

They want to win, but they crave shortcuts. Business owners would like to consider themselves heavyweight champions of the world.

Nobody is born a champion. You need goals. Strategies. You need a practical plan of action

Instead of being like Mike, be more like Yogi Berra, who said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

Most people know Yogi Berra as the master of the unintentionally funny quote. Did you know that:

·      Yogi is one of only 4 players in history to be named MVP of the American League 3 times?

·      He’s one of only 7 managers to lead teams from the American League and the National League to the World Series?

·      As a player, coach, or manager, Berra appeared in 21 World Series, winning 13 of them?

Not only that, Berra played catcher. In essence, he had to have a strategic plan for every game, for several different pitchers. Yogi’s in the Hall of Fame and is considered by many to be one of the greatest catchers of all time.

Yogi could strategize and execute, even if he couldn’t tell you about it.

Business owners, business-to-business owners in particular, don’t think they have the time or the budget for a Strategic Marketing Plan. Translation – you don’t value it.

Here’s a myth to consider - marketing isn’t tangible, so there’s less value placed on it. Not true. Anybody who has felt the pain in their stomach that is caused by an empty sales pipeline knows that marketing is tangible.

Strategic Marketing Plans are the most efficient investment an owner can make. Plans are easy to understand, keep businesses on track and will make every dollar invested in marketing more efficient.

Not only that, Strategic Marketing Plans enable businesses to track their favorite initials:

ROI.

Imagine this: Yogi Berra talks to a pitcher before a game and tells him that he wants to maximize ROI for the next game.

The pitcher responds, “Okay, what’s the plan?”

Yogi: “We don’t need a plan. Just get’em out.”

Pitcher: “But how do we pitch these guys?

Yogi: “Don’t waste time with intangibles. I’ve invested my life into this. Now go get’em.”

You can see how successful this approach would be. No catcher would ever do that. Nobody would’ve cared how lovable and funny Yogi was if Yogi didn’t win.

Mike Tyson was right about one thing… you will get punched in the face. You will have to improvise or adjust your strategy if something unplanned happens. And some thing unplanned happens often.

You still need a strategy. If not, you would just be flailing away. Nobody likes flailing. Or failing.

Have a plan. Your odds of becoming the heavyweight champion will dramatically improve.

If you would like some help on how to develop a strategic marketing plan, send me a note at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks.