Gorillas, Guns, & Tumors, or Do You Need an Industry Expert?

Occasionally I meet the small business owner who wants to hire an industry expert, or someone who specializes in their industry, to do their marketing.   While I won’t go into all the strongly held positions on both sides here, I heard this program on NPR yesterday that seemed to make a good case for “fresh perspective.” 

The program is called Guns, Tumors And The Limits Of The Human Eye by Alix Spiegel. It is about how human ability to detect certain things (i.e., weapons in luggage and tumor in breast tissue) is decreased over time when the sought-after things are not found frequently.

One of the most eye-opening (pardon the pun) tidbits for me was from Kyle Cave, a cognitive researcher at Amherst University.  The program states “Cave says there's not yet a definitive answer [to whether well-trained, full-time experts in non-lab-environments will miss what they seek often], but he points to a famous research study from the 1970s. In that study, people were trained for weeks on end to look for certain letters in the alphabet among a garble of letters. Eventually, says Cave, they came to be incredibly good at it.”

The pr0gram goes on to explain that it even became hard for those subjects to ignore the letters they were trained to find when they were simply reading.  (Read the full article or listen to NPR’s program for the details.)  Lots of implications here for training and for diversification of work.  For me, if I don’t continuously seek out new interactions and possibilities, I risk providing the same solutions because I am prone to seeing the same problems. Essentially, any client would become Everyclient.  And I don’t want that!

Another consideration: If you’ve ever seen a video where you were told to count the number of times a basketball is passed, only to be asked at the end a strange question about what you saw, you know that focusing on one thing might result in missing something.  (That video was produced by the University of Illinois Visual Cognition Lab.) The same might be said for the industry expert. 

This is the reason I don’t specialize in an industry. I’d rather stay sharp by looking at small businesses individually.  Then, from working with small businesses’ varied challenges, I can leverage solutions from other disciplines to help my marketing clients differentiate and innovate. 

I’m interested in hearing others’ opinions on these matters. Please share your experiences and scientific knowledge or your take on the value of industry expertise.

Whether to Outsource and How to Value Your Marketing Efforts

Here is a quick guide to help the small business owner determine whether to outsource specific marketing tasks and how to decide what his/her marketing efforts are worth.

Should I Outsource?

1. Try the classic litmus test for delegating: “If someone else can perform this task at least 75% as well as you can, delegate it.”
2. Do I have the necessary expertise to get it done at the desired level of quality? This is particularly important if more than 75% is desired.
3. Is my time best spent on this or something else?
4. Do I have the necessary raw materials sitting around (e.g., notes, samples, drafts, etc.) but can never find time to get it done?
5. Do I have all the ideas in my head but no one to share them with who can run with them?
6. Will it take more time for me to find someone to do this task or do it myself?

What Is It Worth?

1. What are the potential results (i.e., what do I stand to gain) from having this marketing task complete? Assign a dollar value to that. It could be a percentage of sales, a number of new leads, etc. Find a metric that will mean something financially to your business.
2. What is the value of my time (and my staff’s time) and how long would it take us to do this? Assign everyone an hourly rate and estimate the time it would take.
3. Given our schedules, is the duration of the task appropriate/acceptable? For example, you may have determined that a task will take you 8 hours to complete, but it may take you a month to carve out those hours and complete the task. Is that going to work for you? If not, to have this solution expedited, what does mean for your business (in dollars, if possible)?
4. If there is an impending deadline associated with the task, will we be able to meet it working regular hours and without sacrificing our client work? What would eliminating the stress be worth to us?
5. What is it worth to me to have someone transform my raw materials and ideas into a finished product in a measurable and valuable way?
6. If someone could provide me with the tools to perform this function better/faster/cheaper in the future, what would I be willing to invest in my future?
7. If I were to hire a part-time employee to perform this task or block of tasks, what would the expected annual salary be and what percentage of that would be dedicated to it? Consider that dollar figure as a potential gauge for incoming proposals.

Your comments, thoughts, suggestions, and questions on this post are welcomed.

What are your thoughts on social media for companies and their brands?

This question was posed by my colleague Jen. Before I launch into the answer, a few words about blogging on this subject:

1. I’m going to respond within the context of micro and small businesses. My assumptions are that the brand is undefined, formative, or MIA.

2. I could write a whole article/white paper on this subject (and I might just do that!) but for today I am going to shoot from the hip and also try to keep it brief.

3. For brevity, and because you’ve introduced the B word, I’m going to limit my discussion of “social media” to what’s available and typically undertaken by this audience—not custom platform development or integrated marketing campaigns. Also, my comments will be highly generalized. And I will use sentence fragments.

Now, my thoughts on social media for companies and their brands.

If your company does not have an established brand or brand guidelines, does not have a brand strategy, or has not organized internal branding efforts, whatever you do/say “socially” will build your brand for you. It sounds simple and a given, right? Without a brand to align communications with or to test your tone against, you are not doing much to “shape” the impressions of your intended audience.

SIDEBAR: We assume that this is possible or we would not invest in any marketing, packaging, advertising, research, etc. (although not necessarily in that order) and yours truly along with 167,463 other people with the title Marketing Manager in the U.S. plus who knows how many others would not have a job (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, 2006).

But it’s easier to go off and do the social media thing, jump on the bandwagon and just participate, than it is to do the hard work of creating a brand. It’s seemingly cheaper, too—a fact that is not lost on small business owners. It’s when we ask questions of effectiveness that social media, when conducted in this manner, falls apart. That’s why I say “seemingly.” Building on Econ 101, if there’s no such thing as a free lunch, how much does a cheap lunch actually cost? Which leads to the question of who’s managing those impressions at what hourly rate. Or at least monitoring.

At the heart of social media is a conversation, and someone has to take the pulse. We have to listen and speak. We have to do both to connect with people, although some marketers will insist that you be a spokesperson. I think there are important usage decisions to be made. It will depend on your business and your relationships with others (and how that gets played out). I like to put it this way: Are you a megaphone, a two-way radio, or an antenna?

If you’re a megaphone, you’d better be (a) pointing in the right direction and (b) saying something worth listening to—as defined by your listeners, which really means you have to do some sort of listening, even if it’s not via social media channels. There are too many broken records, especially on Twitter. If u tweet about the same thing over & over & I don’t care about it, reverse marketing happens: Unfollow & boycott. (That’s 116 characters, BTW, and you can RT @tracydiziere.)

If you’re a two-way radio, you have to be comfortable with whatever comes back. And gracious. And accepting. When you open up the discussion for feedback, and readers use the opportunity to knock your service or product, you have to be able to respond positively. Unfortunately for micro or small business owners, who feel like they ARE the product/service, this isn’t easy. In the best case scenario, you have a process in place for capturing that valuable feedback, which would otherwise be very costly to obtain. Of course, it may not be representative of the entire market and it will trickle in vs. be conveniently culled, but it’s your data and you know how to use it to your advantage, thanks to your process. If you don’t have a process, don’t bother with social media. Community members, consumers, and would-be customers can (a) spot a faker a mile away and (b) will be even more disappointed if you don’t have an honest response that attempts to fix the problem.

If you’re an antenna, you’re picking up on what’s being said in social media circles that apply to your business, but you’re not contributing or launching anything. This is a good place to start. Listening can make your marketing efforts uber-effective, not to mention make you a more tuned-in friend, family member, boss, co-worker, consumer, voter, etc. Even as an antenna, you can acknowledge you’re receiving a signal on occasion. What you do with the information is important too. Use it to spark internal discussions, to understand consumer views, to track the competition, etc. Again, have a process for what you’re doing and a way of transforming content into data.

Finally, the question most people want to have an answer to: Should we do it at my company? Some marketers convince every client that they all have to be megaphones in all the usual suspects of social media—Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, Ning, YouTube, etc.—and create their own communities or be left behind to die in the desert of traditional media. There is no question that mainstream media is freaking out, is in trouble, is still too silo’ed, lacks freshness, and has to change. To tell you to ignore that and go ahead with business as usual would be beyond foolish. But social media efforts are not one size fits all and I’m not selling you some elaborate plan for social media domination either (as if it were possible, duh, it’s democratic). I’m just saying small businesses need to consider all the factors that come into play when designing (that means professionally constructing an organized and creative effort) their communications strategy—regardless of media. Those factors include not only larger issues of who are we trying to reach and WWMBD (MB=my brand) but also who is going to do what, how often, how long, at what expense, and the most important considerations of all: What if, what if, and what if?

If you need an extra head to think those things through, mine is for rent. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. And why not post a comment acknowledging your feat, calling me out, or lending your support for something I’ve said? Tracy Diziere & Associates is a two-way radio, but it’s awful quiet out there! Feel free to post your burning marketing questions as response to this or my previous post "Can We Talk?"

Increasing Sales Article Launching Tomorrow

Tomorrow I am sending out the Q2 newsletter article (yes, on the last day of the quarter!) on how small businesses and start-ups can increase sales. To read it, sign up to be on the distribution list at http://tinyurl.com/tdiziere.

"The Economy"

I am finally breaking down and talking about it. I have held out this long, believe it or not, without a single post about IT. But last night, I heard on NPR's Marketplace an interesting interview with Dan Ariely from Duke University (thanks Kai Ryssdal) about responses to the retirement savings plunge. My summary attempt is as follows:

Consumers may figure, with inability to earn money via stocks and bank earnings "not very helpful," they might as well spend vs. save . . and perhaps not be as concerned with cutting back on spending. In the larger picture, this is the best thing for the general economy and so we should all feel good about making spending decisions.

Before I go on, it should be noted that the only Econ class I took was in high school where I learned 2 things: (1) There's no such thing as a free lunch and (2) I could not maintain anywhere near the lifestyle I was used to on my assigned $27,900/year salary (in 1989) for our budget project.

Lack of formal economics education aside and from a marketing perspective, I think it's a hard sell. I think for many of us, spending that would match our savings is a far cry and would be too painful. However, with a catchy tune and a hot new vocalist behind it, we might be able to convince others to spend for their country, if not for themselves, this holiday season.

What are your thoughts? Are you ready to open your wallet for shopping and forego the 401(k) or any savings method altogether?

(P.S. Dan, I want to re-do your MIT website. It's cool but is it really helping your brand? I do love your Predictably/Irrational site, however, and enjoy your perspective. I plan to apply the results of your pricing research in client education methods; thanks for sharing it.)

Marketing Seminar in January 2009

It's never to early to start marketing. If you are thinking about developing a plan, already have media in place but need to nail down advertising, or anticipate writer's block in the future, this seminar is for you. Mark your calendar and register online:

Title: Writing Stellar Copy: A DIY Marketing Seminar
Type: In-person
Date/Time: Wed., Jan. 14, 2009 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Location: Arizona Small Business Association, Prosperity Room, 4130 East Van Buren, Suite 150, Phoenix, AZ
Cost: Free
Description: This seminar is for anyone who wants to take a "do-it-yourself" approach to writing ads, brochures, or any written marketing materials to effectively speak to their prospects and customers.

Free Small Biz Marketing Seminar in Phoenix: Sept. 19, 2008

Upcoming Seminar!

Title: Writing Stellar Copy: A DIY Marketing Seminar
Type: In-person
Date/Time: Friday, September 19, 2008 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Location: Burton Barr Library, Meeting Room A, 1221 N Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ
Cost: Free
Description: This seminar is for anyone who wants to take a "do-it-yourself" approach to writing ads, brochures, or any written marketing materials to effectively speak to their prospects and customers.

Click here to register

Focus on . . . Advertising

To follow is an excerpt from my Quarterly Newsletter. To request the full text, send me an email. You can also sign up for future editions on my home page.

I've seen some confusion lately among small business owners and micro-business owners about the relationship between marketing and advertising as well as how to effectively produce ads. If we're looking at a textbook model, Marketing is responsible for Promotions, and so I consider advertising an important part of the plan to promote your product or service. Developing an effective "ad campaign" is a good first step towards establishing your new brand and/or generating awareness in the market about your current brand. To help you achieve this, whether you do it yourself or engage my services, here are the keys to planning your successful ad:

1. Position. Determine your position by knowing your target market and your competition. If you haven't done at least a basic market study, or have scattered information that needs to be compiled, doing so will be a major success factor in your strategic marketing efforts overall, as well as any advertising effort. Armed with industry research and target market needs, you'll be able to create an effective message.

A Primo Position: Diet Coke has two innovative, eye-catching yet simple ads. One ad shows a condensation-covered can with a cardboard insulating sleeve typically used for coffee around it and the headline "Good Morning." Another ad shows 3 images of the same sleeve-clad can with the headline "Three-hour meeting." This is a brilliant campaign strategy to carve out a potential new market--folks who prefer a cold, easily accessible, cheaper "coffee" as they head to (or cope with!) work. If you've read my previous newsletter about Coke BlaK, you'll see that the advertising track is a much better competitive strategy than costly new product development.