Tag: Marketing
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| Bruce Law |
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day about the Sears Tower in Chicago being renamed after a tenant that was leasing or buying most of the building. I won’t share the company name because I think it’s unspeakable to let a city icon like the Sears Tower get a new name by some tenant. Would they do the same to the Wrigley Building or the John Hancock Tower or Wrigley Field?
There is a trend these days to rename city icons or even potential landmarks based on who is buying them. Don’t the buyers know that they can’t buy that kind of loyalty? It’s frankly annoying and egotistical to think that you people will just change the way they refer to something because there is a new owner.
Recent crimes against brands: Candlestick Park, Comiskey Park, Marshall Field’s downtown Chicago store, Salt Lake City’s Delta Center, and the list goes on. Watch for these brands to get hijacked if not protected: Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Gold Gate Bridge, Soldier Field (Chicago), and more.
I consider these crimes against brands. People don’t know what they have and they attempt to sell it for money to people who don’t know what they’re buying.
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| Bruce Law |
For years, tradeshows have provided a venue for sales and marketing teams to put themselves directly in front of customers with the rest of their industry. Ultimately the goal for both the marketing and sales team is to interact with potential customers and sell their company’s products. However, the definition of a successful tradeshow varies for each role.
The sales team strives to attend a tradeshow and come home with a few highly qualified leads that will help them hit their sales targets within a month or two following the show. To that end, they will instinctively sort through the people to step onto the booth carpet quickly to grab the low-hanging fruit. Closing these sales equates with success at the show for the sales team.
The marketing team on the other hand views all tradeshow leads as valuable, and the more the better. Marketing success at a tradeshow means that everyone attending the show not only knew your company was exhibiting but knew it was the hottest thing going. Marketing loves to bring leads home from half the attendees. They will meticulously mine all of the leads they collect, viewing each lead as a chance to nurture a conversation and sell future prospects for months or even years to come.
Time is the differentiator. Sales teams need to hit numbers next month by closing deals with those who are ready to buy now, while marketing wants to build relationships with prospects long term and extract qualified leads for the sales team to close when those leads are finally ready to buy.
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| Bruce Law |
We’ve all been to tradeshows. And we’ve all seen those companies that show up ready to play hard. As a company, once you are in a tradeshow, you can hedge your bets on your booth, throw in a few other chips and compete for a while, or you can go all in.
There are hundreds of details that go into tradeshow planning and many of those details focus solely on the booth. Simply put, the booth is only the ante. Don’t get me wrong. It’s important to have a well-designed and functional booth that clearly communicates your message and attracts attendees. But there are loads of other aspects that are crucial to a resounding tradeshow success.
A tradeshow is your moment to shine while your entire industry is there in front you in person and up close. You can start letting every attendee know about your company before you show up at the show with pre-show mailers announcing promotions or show specials. At the show, you need to expand beyond the boundaries of your booth by creating an enormous footprint. Your goal: ensure that every attendee leaves knowing that your company was there exhibiting and that it was one of the best companies ever to exhibit at the tradeshow.
In addition you can find time to expand your strategic partnerships and strengthen existing business relationships. Conduct competitive research. Sponsor VIP receptions or breakout sessions. Take the opportunity to introduce and announce new products and services during the event. Add a healthy dose of PR activity to amplify your message meet with editors at your booth, in the midst of the excitement and energy.
At night, don’t go back and chill at the hotel. Move deliberately from cocktail party to reception, meeting with and speaking to industry opinion leaders. After the show is over, follow up immediately (within 24 hours) with contacts via email blasts and phone calls to key prospects. Don’t let the effort you put in fade just because the show is over.
These are just a few basic suggestions. Be creative and get out there. The options are endless. What are you going to do to make sure everyone knows that your company was there?
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| Bruce Law |
The New Normal is a great article from The McKinsey Quarterly by Ian Davis. The economy and the changes that are ensuing are becoming increasingly permanent and pervasive. After reading this, I think it’s nice to be a small business!
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| Bruce Law |
This past February marked the 25th anniversary of the Tylenol murders. In 1982, someone in Chicago tampered with Tylenol bottles, adding cyanide capsules and killing seven people in the area. During this crisis, Johnson & Johnson demonstrated remarkable control of the situation. The company could have distanced itself from the incident but it didn’t. The executives were honest with the public throughout the crisis. They made customer safety the first priority by removing Tylenol from shelves nationwide and reengineering the product bottle in a move that revolutionized how over the counter medications are packaged. They even offered a $100,000 reward in an effort to catch the killer who remains as yet unidentified. This incident could have irreparably damaged J&J and the Tylenol brand, but instead the company emerged stronger as it proved through action that customer safety and human life was paramount to the organization.
Also this past February, a McDonald’s employee was denied his claim to workers comp after more than $300,000 in medical expenses. The preceding August, at an Arkansas McDonald’s, a male customer was hitting a woman. Nigel Haskett, a McDonald’s employee, proceeded to break up the altercation and forced the man outside. The man returned and shot the employee multiple times. McDonalds’ insurance company said, “We’ve denied this claim in its entirety. It’s our opinion that Mr. Haskett’s injuries did not arise out of or within the course of his employment.” At this point, neither the insurance company nor McDonald’s are willing to provide any compensation to Nigel Haskett as a consequence of his brave actions while working on the job.
Instead of treating Haskett like the hero the community has made him out to be, McDonald’s is avoiding the situation altogether, hiding behind a legal cloak. If McDonald’s would have simply paid for Nigel’s medical bills, despite the insurance company’s denial, the company would have emerged as a heroic organization, one that genuinely cares for its employees. Instead, the opposite view has spread throughout the internet, tainted the company’s image, and damaged McDonalds’ perception with potential employees and customers who now refuse to support an organization that mistreats or ignores the needs of its employees. What a missed opportunity to stand for something besides burgers and fries.
Every crisis, though never hoped for, is an opportunity to showcase what the company and its people are made of. The danger lies in not being prepared and not seeing things clearly. Ideally, a company will think about the worst things that could happen to the organization and then create a plan for dealing with it. This “Crisis Communications Plan” is then available if it is ever needed, when clear thinking and time to react may be a shrinking commodity. Often in a crisis, bringing in an outside team with more objectivity and trained expertise may be the best approach. If a crisis hits close to home for employees, they can become the biggest hindrance to the recovery. And relying solely on business partners to handle the situation, or passing the blame over to them, is foolhardy and can easily backfire.
There are a lot of factors in play when it comes to crisis management, and under the circumstances, it may be difficult to avoid all negative publicity. However, if you remember a few key points, you can weather almost any storm:
- DON’T avoid the situation; address it head on and be the first to tell your story.
- DON’T assume that the existing internal team will handle the situation well. Ultimately, the CEO will be the only person that people will believe has enough clout to address the problem.
- DO plan ahead for the worst case scenario; you’ll know what they are based on the industry you are in. The worst situations almost always deal with loss of life or property or threats on health or well being.
- DO bring an external team in if necessary so the internal team can focus on the rest of the business at hand.
- DON’T try to use the opportunity to garner accolades or promote your company. Stay focused on addressing the problem completely and thoroughly. Nothing else matters.
- DO take positive, correcting action – be innovative, bold and determined. Ignoring a bad situation will not make it go away, it will only make people angry.
