Viral Marketing: The Rant.

Viral, shmiral. IF I HAVE one more would-be client tell me they’re looking for a “viral marketing” campaign... I’ll scream! (And I guarantee that the video of my screaming will result in a higher social network potential than 90% of the products or services that I’ve been approached to virally market!)

Let’s get a few things straight: just because FACEBOOK.COM and YOUTUBE.COM did it, just because the Blair Witch Project did it, does not – repeat – does not mean that you can do it. Or should, for that matter.

What is viral marketing? It’s a marketing strategy/tactic that focuses on social networks to boost brand awareness. For all intents and purposes, it means: word of mouth. One person sees an interesting thing and tells another and another and another. It is based on the belief that a satisfied consumer will express their satisfaction to an average of three others. (NOTE: there is also the belief that a dissatisfied consumer will express their dissatisfaction to an average of eleven others, so better hope your viral marketing campaign doesn't go wrong.)

Would-be clients that ask me for viral marketing campaigns have little understanding of the dynamics of such campaigns. What they really want is low cost; somehow there is the assumption that viral marketing campaigns are inexpensive. But this is simply not true. YouTube.com, for example, invested more than $10 million to achieve its success – and, as anybody can see from their site, it wasn’t all spent on software development!

Here’s a few things you should know about viral marketing campaigns…

First, they are rarely successful in B2B marketing. The reason is that the decision makers don’t commiserate in the way that end consumers do.

Second, you might notice that most highly successful viral marketing wunderkind – like YouTube, or Digg, or Facebook – offer their services for free.

Third, the money you hope to save in paid advertising is likely going to be spent on the market research necessary to find a high coefficient of social networking potential – in other words, finding an audience that will actually behave virally with your product or service.

Fourth, a lot of viral marketing is really better known as “astroturfing” – that is, it’s formal and structured marketing or PR campaigns disguised to look like grassroots reactions. It’s call astroturfing because it’s fake grassroots. It’s a technique borrowed from the political arena (e.g. it would be like the AMA flooding the U.S. Internet community with emails allegedly from people in Canada, talking about how bad their healthcare coverage is.)

Bottom Line: Get over it. If you really have the kind of budget to engage in a real viral marketing campaign come talk to me. If you're just looking to do marketing cheap, think again – viral marketing isn’t the way you’re going to do it.

Alternate Strategy: Think in terms of 'word of mouth' marketing. Not the verbal kind of viral marketing but rather the old-fashioned kind -- the kind where you produce such an excellent product or service that your clients feel compelled to tell their associates.

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

Ignore Internet Marketing At Your Own Risk...

"The internet is coming!"
For years, we've heard the proclamations about the impact the internet would be having on our business: "The internet is coming, the internet is coming." Frankly, it's been a little like the old joke of the guy sitting on the edge of the bed telling his partner how good it's going to be. The fact is that most people just didn't see or, well, feel that the internet was going to be that big a factor. Well, sure, there was Amazon.com that turned the retail book industry on its ear... and, OK, there was eBay's success, and the whole online stock trading thing... but for most of our businesses, we looked at the internet as being business as usual, but with a virtual twist. Selling would still be selling. Shipping would still be shipping. Margins and profits would still be calculated the same way.

But it's not business as usual. The internet is upon us and if you ignore its ramifications on your sales and marketing, it might not be long before you'll be joining the ranks of manufacturers of buggy-whips, film-based cameras, and vacuum-tube electronics. And it's no longer "the internet is coming" ... it's here.

Here's a few data points to chew on...

* At the end of 2007, internet traffic to online commerce sites exceeded 3.5 million visitors per minute (Akamai Technologies statistics).

* In 2007, advertising spending on the internet will grow by 28.2% whereas all other advertising spending will grow by only 3.9% (Zenith Optimedia Research)

* In the largest markets (i.e. U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, etc.) one out of every ten advertsing dollars is spent on the internet. In two years time, it will be one out of five. (eMarketer.com)

* Watch out Yellow Pages, search engine marketing is growing more than 50% a year and is already at $10+ billion. (SEMPO survey 2006)

* 83% of 1500 marketing professionals surveyed by Datran Media Research selected email marketing as the single most important advertising medium of 2007.

The Internet is Here!
Are you? Your company? Beyond using email for correspondence and for accepting the occasional purchase order, and except for creating a website as an online brochure for your company, are you taking your place in the world of internet marketing?

Here's a quick checklist to see where you are:

1. Do you build and maintain email lists of customers and prospects?
2. Do you send out regular promotional emails? Do you track click-thru rates?
3. Do you use autoresponders?
4. Do you advertise on search engines?
5. Will your web site emerge on the first page in a search of relevant keywords?
6. Do you use pay-per-click advertising in other venues?
7. Do you participate in, or sponsor, any internet affiliate programs?
8. Do you regularly track web site and web page traffic? Is it going up?
9. Have your brands been extended to address the internet?
10. Do you have a formal "link-in" program?
11. Do you utilize internet forums or article distribution services to increase web traffic?

If you can't answer "yes" to more than six of these questions, you're probably not doing enough to take your place on the internet. And if you ever expect to do so, you'd better act now.

Internet marketing is now, not later.
Many marketers have recognized that internet marketing is something they are going to need to address. But it's something to do later, when there's more time. There is no more time. The internet has rapidly become the most effective way of accessing and expanding your market. If you're not taking your place in that expansion, then you're losing market share -- and in an electronic venue like the internet, that means you're losing it quickly.

Don't underestimate the effect of the internet on your marketing. It's so important to your business that it deserves a very high level of attention and visibility. So much so, that it won't be long before forward-thinking companies begin to appoint a new type of CIO -- not Chief Information Officer, but Chief Internet Officer -- to head their marketing operations.

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

How Effective Is Your Business Marketing?

We've heard, again and again, that "it's dog eat dog" in the business world. Turns out, there are some places where this is actually true. In your industry, for example, it's just not enough to be making money. You have to be growing, too. If you're not growing, at least as fast as your marketplace is, then you're losing market share to someone else. It truly can be dog eat dog.

But let's not use the term "growing" too glibly. Growing means increasing sales -- and not just maintaining the same level of sales and not just more than what you sold last year. Growing means that you're increasing sales faster than the market is growing -- it means you're taking sales away from other people, you're gaining market share.

If only it were that easy. More than a few of my clients, after having started a successful business, have awakened a few years later to the fact that their companies have stopped growing. They've stopped growing because their sales and marketing has somehow lost its effectiveness. And, worse, it's always a surprise to them! Unfortunately, by time they realize they've stopped growing, they're already in trouble. In the tough, fast-paced, global market environment of today, keeping your finger firmly on the pulse of your sales effectiveness, on your growth, is vital.

The good news is that it's not hard. Here are ten tips on keeping yourself up-to-date on just how effective your company is at its sales and marketing.

Look At The Data.
First and foremost, look at the data. Sure, you've been watching your top line and your bottom line and a few lines in between. But are you watching what goes on behind those P&L lines?

Tip 1. Calculate the conversion time to turn prospects into customers.
That's right. How long does it take to turn a prospect into a customer? It's the length of time from when a prospective buyer first shows up on your radar to the time they place their first order. Track it in days. If the number isn't going down, it means your selling effectiveness is.

Tip 2. While you're at it, check out the lost sales ratio.
Simple enough to do, of every hundred prospects that show up on your radar, how many don't buy within a fixed period of time (within 1.5x of your average conversion time)? If that number is staying flat or increasing, you've got a problem. Staying flat means you're not getting better. Increasing means your selling is actually getting worse.

Tip 3. Calculate the cost of a customer and the cost of an order.
Divide your entire sales and marketing budget for a period (and some suggest you throw in fixed or allocated costs for sales and marketing) by the number of new customers; that's the cost to acquire a customer. Now divide the budget by the number of new orders to determine the cost of a new order. If those numbers are increasing, your sales operations are becoming less efficient. If it doesn't stop, eventually it will kill you.

Tip 4. Now, look at the lifetime and lifetime value of a customer.
To truly appreciate your marketing and sales cost, however, you have to have some basic idea of what a customer is worth. Regularly measure average life of a customer and their value to you during that time. If you don't know this number then it's impossible to know how much you can or should spend to acquire a customer! Needless to say, the goal is that lifetime and lifetime value increase.

Tip 5. Calculate your overall revenue per head.
This is a question of taking your total revenues and dividing them by the total number of people in your company... even the administrative and janitorial staff. The find out and compare your numbers to the typical ratios for your industry. Consider investing in the Culpepper Reports (if you're in the technology world) or purchasing the Robert Morris Associates (RMA) ratios. These will tell you what the average ratios are for other companies within your industry. An example of the Culpepper ratios is shown below. Note the diverse revenue per head values. Your banker may have access to the RMA reports (they're often used as the basis for assessing credit worthiness).

Examine The Mechanics.
It's one thing to manipulate numbers to get an idea of what's going on, it's another to understand how these numbers happen. To find out, let's roll up your sleeves and get down in the dirt -- where the action is. Here's a few more tips...

Tip 6. Talk to your existing customers -- frequently.
Want to find out how your selling operation is doing? Who better to ask than your existing customers? Make a regular practice of talking to existing customers about your selling efforts. Pick a customer at random and get them on the phone. You'll find that not only do you learn something you didn't know, you'll find that they really appreciate your interest. Many successful companies make their entire senior staff do just this.

Tip 7. Talk to lost prospects.
If you think talking to customers is informative, take the time to talk to the "ones that got away." These are the one's you really need to give attention! Make a point, independent of your sales force to call customers that chose NOT to do business with your company. Try it!

Tip 8. Take a customer service person to lunch.
When you're done meeting with your customers and lost prospects, make a point to take one of the line-level customer service people to lunch. Or buy the pizzas and do a roundtable with them all! Customer service people get the problems first. They have to clean up the mess. Take them to lunch and you'll find out a lot about where your problems lay in setting expectations properly with your prospects, or about what's not working in the sales process, or where your quality problems are. You'll be surprised at what you'll learn!

Tip 9. Take a fresh look at your selling materials.
For marketing, my variant of Newton's Law says that once you set something in motion, it will tend to stay in motion until something stops it. Nowhere is this more true than with your selling materials. A brochure gets developed and tends to stay in circulation long after its content becomes obsolete. Same with your web site. And the same for presentations, and whitepapers, and case studies. Make it a point to see exactly what your sales prospect will see. Then act accordingly. If your sales materials are out of date, then your whole company and brand are out of date, too.

Tip 10. Contact your own company.
This is one of my favorites. Yes, call the 800 number, fill in the web form, send an email, or just call the receptionist and request some information on your company's products. Then start your stopwatch. If you think you'll be recognized, get someone else to do it for you. See what happens, what you get, and how fast. If your company is on top of its sales process, you'll have action and materials in an hour. If your company can't do that, you better worry about the competitor that can.

Dog eat dog. Up or out.
At the end of the business day, it's all about growth. And growth is all about sales. If your company can't grow enough, if your company can't sell effectively, then you're destined to lose to someone who can. It'll just be a matter of time. Try the 10 tips. You'll be surprised at what you learn about your own sales and marketing operation.

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

What Is "Positioning?"

"Positioning" is a way of looking at your markets through the eyes of the consumer to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your product or service. While it was first developed as a methodology to guide advertising, it is (or should be) the foundation of any proactive product marketing or business development program. Unfortunately, in my experience, positioning is a marketing concept often talked about, but all too rarely applied.

The concept of positioning is not new. It was first articulated in 1969 by veteran marketers Al Ries and Jack Trout in an article in Industrial Marketing magazine and then, later, became the subject of their first book "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind." The methodology has been expanded considerably over the years, most notably by MIT's Glen Urban and John Hauser in "Design And Marketing of New Products" published by Prentice Hall.

To understand how positioning works, let's walk though a simplified positioning exercise focused on the marketing of, say, a bicycle that we already have on the market. Our bicycle, the Platinum Zephyr, is a 3-speed, racing-style, bicycle that costs $300, weighs 25 pounds and comes with a tire pump, water bottle, bell, night light, and reflectors. Our bicycle is distributed throughout North America in bike shops and in a few of the larger retail chains.

Market Dimensions
The first task of our positioning exercise is to determine what the decision dimensions are for our market. This involves understanding what criteria are used by the consumer to determine their choice of bicycle. We consider four market segments as follows:

(a) recreational bikers - adults
(b) recreational bikers - children
(c) sport bikers (e.g. mountain bikers)
(d) racers)

In each segment we want to determine what the decision dimensions are for purchasing a bicycle. This will involve some form of market research. To keep it simple, we might interview 10-15 members of each segment. Alternatively, we might use a focus group for each segment although this is more expensive and may or may not yield better data. In these interviews, or focus groups, we will ask participants to identify the reasons they choose a particular bicycle for their use. In the case of the children's market we might interview both parents and children.

What we're likely to find from this research is something like this:

Segment: Recreational Bikers -Adults

• Comfort
• Price
• Safety
• Easy maintenance
• Available accessories

Segment: Recreational Bikers - Children

• Safety
• Price
• Style (is it 'cool'?)

Segment: Sports Bikers

• All-terrain tires
• Weight
• Price
• Speed of Maintenance
• Available accessories

Segment: Racers

• Weight
• Tires
• Reputation among racers
• Price

Note that we might want to have our survey participants rank these factors in order of importance to each segment (We'll assume that order shown is the ranking received).

In examining these various factors we can see that several segments have the same factors mentioned (e.g. price, weight, safety) but we can also see that different segments rank those factors differently.

Competitors
Now we'll set that information aside for a moment and examine our competitors. We can do this by company and/or by product. In the bicycle world we might identify our chief competitors by first talking with bike shop owners or our own salespeople. From them we might learn that General Bike, People's Bicycles, and Acme Biking are the three competitors we face regularly.

But other companies are not the only competitors we face. We might also realize that the competition includes skateboards and scooters! So we'll consider all five sources as competition.

Scoring
Now, with our list of dimensions and our lists of competitors, in each market segment we'll score each competitor - and ourselves -- against the decision dimensions we have learned from our market research. To keep it simple, we'll score using a rating of 1 to 5 where 5 is "goodness" and 1 is "not-goodness."

For the Recreational - Adult market segment, as an example, we will see a matrix that looks like that shown below:

Analysis
If we then examine our "position" on this chart - versus our competitors - it will tell us a lot about where we are in the recreational bicycle market for adults and what we need to do to improve my position. Consider:

What we see from the chart above is that out strong points are our "comfort" and our "available accessories". We have a relative weakness in price (as the price leader) and maintainability. It also shows us that "safety" is not a distinguishable dimension for us at all insofar as all my principal competitors have equal ratings. In all respects, in the adult market, I am perceived as better than skateboards and scooters.

Now, as a responsible product marketer, how do we act on this "position"?

There are several ways we can act:

(1) We focus our marketing communications efforts on "comfort" and our rich "accessories". We tell our creative people to also focus on "value" because the richness of our accessories is so much more valuable than the bikes of our competitors.

(2) Then we focus our product development people on cleaning up our maintainability and looking for a way to distinguish our products in the "safety" category (Maybe we include a helmet as part of our accessorizing).

(3) Lastly, we put pressure on our manufacturing folks and our purchasing department to reduce the cost of our bikes so that eventually we can price lower.

There it is: one "positioning" chart that outlines our market, product, communications, and costing strategies quite succinctly.

Of course, ultimately, we would do this exercise with each market segment we target and we would make sure that each of our advertisements, each brochure, our web site, etc. all echo the basic positioning strengths that we identified above.

Summary
The example we've discussed here illustrates the power of positioning. This technique, working hand-in-hand with market research, allows us to pinpoint how strong or weak we are with respect to the decision dimensions of our prospective buyer. And then it shows us exactly what we have to do to improve our competitive posture.

Yet, too few companies will use this approach. That's their perogative but those that do will always have a decided competitive advantage over those that don't -- they'll know what the landscape looks like while the others are flying blind.

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

The Two Most Important Marketing Communications Technologies...

That's right... there's only two. And they're not hi-tech. The two I have in mind are used in 95% of all marketing communications campaigns on the planet. These most important technologies are: writing and printing.

Why?

Writing. Doesn't matter whether it's for print or broadcast, if the writing isn't there, neither is your marketing. Writing is communicating. Copy is, more often than not, the carrier of your message, and the language of your call to action. Write poorly and there is no message. Write poorly and there is no call to action.

Good writing, for marketing communications, is more than simply shoving words around in an aesthetically pleasing way. Good writing requires a thorough understanding and articulation of the product and service benefits which are being communicated. It also requires good context -- that is, it requires an understanding of your market "position" with respect to your prospective buyer and your competitors. Can't articulate the benefits yourself? There's nothing to write about. Don't understand your "market position"? Likewise.

Printing. The physical manifestation of a very large percentage of the marketing communications done in the world, is in the form of printed material. Signs, brochures, letters, flyers, posters, packaging, magazines, newspapers, direct mail, billboards, and advertising specialties, all have to be printed.

The marketer that understands printing will outperform the one that doesn't. Here's a few simple examples of how:

= If Marketer A can print her direct mail piece in color for the same price that Marketer B can print his in black and white, she'll win.

= If Marketer A can print her direct mail piece postcard at 30% less cost than Marketer B can, she'll be able to mail more pieces than Marketer B can, for the same cost! In other words, Marketer A will be able to reach more of the market than Marketer B.

These situations are not unusual; they're very common. So common that you might begin to wonder whether your competitors know something about writing or printing that you don't.

The good news is that there are ways to learn the necessary skills. For writing, one of the best sources I know is the Direct Marketing Association. Copywriting seminar information (online and otherwise) from the DMA is available by clicking here.

For printing, you may want to check your local university, but the premier educator for all things printing is the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Their Print Buying Essentials course could well mean the difference between winning and losing to a print-knowledgeable competitor!

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

"Why Offer a Guarantee?"

Guaranteed or Not...

You'll get different opinions when you ask a fellow business person about the notion of offering a guarantee for your product or service. Some will consider it a liability (this is likely to be the view of your accountant!). Others might consider offering a guarantee as a necessary evil - they don't want to do it, but feel they have to do it. But ask any good product marketer and they'll tell you it's an essential asset in their arsenal of marketing tools! So let's look at guarantees for a moment...

What is a Guarantee?
According to the American Heritage Dictionary (4th Edition), a guarantee is "a promise or an assurance, especially one given in writing, that attests to the quality or durability of a product or service." Simple enough, but the key words are "attests to the quality or durability" -- it's a statement of quality. In fact, a guarantee is a marketing statement. It's an advertisement that says: "our products are good... so good that we publicly make a promise to you about what we'll do if you find they're not good."

How Strong a Guarantee Should You Have?
While all guarantees offer assurance, they are not all equal. Shown below are two typical, but very different, guarantees:

Guarantee #1: The Limited Guarantee
"This product is guaranteed against defects in material and workmanship. If, within 90 days, you find any widget to have a defective component, return it to the factory for a free replacement. "

Guarantee #2: The Sweeping Guarantee
"If at any time, for any reason, you are not completely satisfied with our product, you may return the product to our factory for a replacement or complete refund."

Both of the above statements are guarantees; both suggest that the company stands behind its products. But they are also quite different and evoke a completely different perspective about the company making the guarantee. Which would you rather do business with? The choice of using a limited guarantee or a sweeping guarantee depends a lot on the product or service you provide. For products or services used in highly variable environments, or made of hard-to-predict materials, you may want to use a limited guarantee. For example, for many years, squash racquets were not guaranteed at all. They were made of wood and were used by players with unpredictable temperaments. However, years later, when graphite racquets were introduced, manufacturers began to differentiate themselves by offering a limited guarantee. The new materials made it possible to be more aggressive with their guarantees.

A Guarantee Combats Sales Objections
Your statement of guarantee is a part of your product offering. It tells the consumer that you are a trustworthy company and that you stand behind your products. If your company or product is not well known, your guarantee can make the different between a consumer playing safe, or taking a chance on a new supplier. With a sweeping guarantee, for example, how can the consumer make a mistake! This is one reason why mail-order catalogs often use sweeping guarantees like the original Sears Roebuck "Satisfaction Guaranteed."

A Guarantee Increases The Lifetime Value of a Customer.
In the catalog industry, where the "lifetime value" of a customer is one of the most important dynamics of a customer relationship, it's well understood how a guarantee affects this. In test after test, catalog merchants have found that the customer that returns a product against the merchant's guarantee will have a much larger lifetime value than the customer that never has cause to return a product. Why is that? Because the credibility and trust of the merchant have been proven making it easier for the consumer to buy again.

A Guarantee Is a Statement of Quality
Something that many business people fail to recognize is that a guarantee statement is also a statement about the quality of their products -- it tells the consumer what quality is worth to your company. Guarantee #1 tells the consumer that it's somewhat important but that there are limitations. You have faith in your products ...up to a point. Guarantee #2, however, tells the consumer that you are completely behind the product -- no questions.

A Guarantee Offers Legal Protection
In the software field, where it's common to disclaim any liability for your products whatsoever, there have been a number of court cases where the judge has ruled that such disclaimers are "unconscionable"-- that disclaiming everything is simply unrealistic and unacceptable. In these cases, the court will decide on what an appropriate settlement should be.On the other hand, in court cases involving firms that offer some form of guarantee, the firm's guarantee statement has protected the firm from undue penalties because it afforded the consumer some responsible recourse. A quick consultation with your lawyer about guarantees and "errors and omissions" liabilities help you understand what protection may be available in your industry from a strong guarantee statement.

Things to Think About in Creating Your Guarantee
Start with the assumption that, from a marketing point of view, the sweeping guarantee is the strongest. Why wouldn't you want to make the strongest advertisement for the quality of your products! Work backwards from there. Is your product expendable? If so, some sort of limitation might be appropriate (this is the theory behind "Best Before" dates). What is the true quality of your product? What is the quality expectation set by the pricetag? A $25 coffee maker that leaks after one year is a higher quality product than a $200 coffee maker that leaks after one year! What type and number of complaints do you get now? How do you resolve them? If you already satisfy customer complaints aggressively, why not say so in your guarantee! If your customers have a high repeat value - they come back for more and more -- then examine your guarantee against the full value of your consumer over a period of years. Lastly, examine the guarantees from your suppliers. Will they leave you high and dry if there's a problem?

The Dark Side of Your Guarantee
Now for the bad news. If you make a guarantee, you have to make good on it. Your accountants may not like this but if the entire company understands your guarantee and the consequences of poor quality, you'll find that the quality of your products or services will increase to meet the guarantee criteria. That being the case, you'll find that the type of guarantee you make about your services or products is also a statement about what degree of quality problems you will accept within your company. No guarantee? You'll tolerate quality problems. Strong guarantee? You'll tolerate none.

Guaranteed to Make a Difference
So should you offer a guarantee or not? As long as your committed to providing a quality product or service, the reasons to do so far outweigh the reasons not to do so. The biggest reason? Your customers and prospects will respect and appreciate your interest in satisfying them.

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

"I Never Open Junk Mail!"

Invariably, this is the first thing I hear when I suggest a direct marketing campaign to one of our clients. But it's not quite the truth. They never open junk mail... except when they do.

To be sure, most people do not open their junk mail. For a good campaign, perhaps only 10%-20% will open it and only 1%-2% will act on it. That doesn't seem like a lot, does it? But then, why do we continue to get junk mail? Why does it seem, in fact, like we get more junk mail every year?

The short answer is: because it works. Here's how...

Let's take the example of mailing a promotion for a $250 item to 20,000 people. Here's the math based on a response rate of 1.25%:

In this example, we spend $14,500 in preparing and sending the mail piece. With a response rate of 1.25%, we get 250 orders giving us sales of $62,500. Assuming the product we sell is purchased from someone else, we may get to keep 40% of the sales with the remainder going to pay for the merchandise. That leaves us $10,500 after the costs of the mailing.

What this example illustrates is that -- even though 98.75% of the respondents do not open/act on their junk mail -- the campaign will earn $10,500! Imagine if the response rate were 2% instead of 1.25% ...then it would net more than $25,000!

With those kind of numbers, instead of asking why we get so much junk mail, we might want to ponder why we get so little!

Click here to link to the KLynn consulting site.

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Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

Logos, Logotypes & Tags

There's a lot of confusion about creating logos and tag lines to go with them. If you're creating a new logo or logotype for your company or for a new product or service, there's a few things you should keep in mind:

1. A logo or logotype is, in effect, an adjective that establishes ownership over something. It's like saying Lynn's Bar & Grill. "Lynn" is the logotype - an adjective - and "Bar & Grill" is what the adjective modifies; it's the tagline. This is one reason why using progressive tense taglines such as "eating & drinking" or "feeding the after-work crowd" just don't work very well.

2. The idea of good naming and tagging is that, collectively, the name and tag should tell the viewer three things: (a) what the product/service does, (b) what are the benefits, and (c) who's it for. If we take this back to our bar and grill, the name is "Lynn's" but the tagline "Bar & Grill" just doesn't cut it. To be ideal, the tag line should be something like: "Good Food & Drink For the After Hours Crowd."

Oh. But that's not very "clever" is it? Perhaps not, but a long descriptive articulation that communicates properly will always be better than a short clever one that doesn't.

If you're an unknown, whatever you don't say in your name and tag is something you 'll have to establish via advertising or other communications. Imagine, for a moment, that you're introducing a new diet drink. You're a nobody -- just an average person that's created a refreshing strawberry-flavored beverage targeting baby-boomers. You can be clever, for example, and attach a name like "Jive!" and a tag line that says "Beverage" but then you better be prepared to spend a lot of money on advertising communicating just what Jive! beverages are really about.

"But Why?" you ask, "Diet Coke can do it." And if you have the advertising budget of Coca Cola, you can too. (Actually, even Diet Coke has a descriptive tag that says: "Sugar free, calorie free cola"). Better you should get off on the right foot immediately by naming it something like "Woodstock" and tagging it with something like "A tasty nostalgic refreshment for baby-boomers."

3. The idea of naming and tagging is to equate a meaning to a logo or logotype. What we're trying to do is to equate, in the minds of the consumer that:

logo = tag,
LYNN'S = GOOD FOOD & DRINK FOR AFTER-HOURS PEOPLE
WOODSTOCK = NOSTALGIC REFRESHMENT FOR BABY BOOMERS.

Ultimately, the way we do that is by repetition. This means that every time we mention the logo or logotype -- especially during the initial communications -- we use the logo and the tag line together. Always.

Bottom Line
Make your logos, logotypes and taglines as meaningful as you can to the ultimate consumer. It'll save you thousands of dollars in advertising later.

Click KLynn Business Consultants to link to the KLynn consulting site.

Bad Marketing.

There's a lot of bad marketing in the world today. It's not just from small, inexperienced companies; there's bad marketing from some of the big ones, too.

How does bad marketing happen? Often, bad marketing is about trying to get too clever. Instead of focusing on marketing basics, like remembering who's the audience, some marketers get carried away with the "creative" component. But being creative just isn't enough.

This blog is about underlining the marketing basics. Watch this space for timely and interesting notes on different aspects of product marketing, branding, direct response advertising, and marketing communications. Here, we'll focus on the basics, pointing out some of the problems and solutions for marketing today. Just as in our own business, you'll find described here some unique problems that require some unique solutions -- but all that can be solved by the application of marketing fundamentals.

Bottom Line
Back to basics -- focus on the tried-and-true principles of good marketing. Avoid "clever."