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Engagement Marketing

Marketing Marketing – Step 4

For this post, we build on the previous three steps: understand your product value (Step 1), identify your target markets, and establish your positioning (Steps 2 & 3).

Step 4 involves assessing your internal communications to identify opportunities to build awareness and educate your target markets about marketing’s value:

  • How are you using the top-down, bottom-up, and horizontal communication channels within your organization?
  • What are the media vehicles available within each directional channel? (e.g., intranet, staff meetings, employee newsletters, etc.)
  • Are you using the appropriate mix to reach your target audiences?

When you do this assessment, you may be surprised at the opportunities you may be missing to reach your internal targets.

Say what?

And once you identify the communications vehicles you wish to use, what do you say?  Whatever is necessary to reinforce your value and positioning (as you determined back in Step 3).

My next post will wrap up this series with the final step involved in marketing marketing.

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Engagement Marketing

Marketing Marketing – Steps 2-3

Continuing in this series of posts, once you’ve determined marketing’s value, you need to identify your target markets (Step 2):

  • Who are the key targets within your organization that you need to reach?
  • Who do you need support from?
  • Who’s most critical to the marketing function?

You can also segment your targets by executive level, division/department, function, etc.

Now you’re ready for Step 3

Here’s where you determine your positioning — how do you want to be perceived by your target markets:

  • a strategic player?
  • contributor to the bottom line?
  • a necessary function?
  • professional?
  • responsive?
  • not a waste of resources? etc.

Your desired positioning should tie back to your product value (see Step 1) and be relevant to your target audience.  For example, you may want to be perceived as a “creative resource” within your organization, but that may not resonate with the folks in Finance (especially if they’re eye-balling the advertising budget for potential cost-savings).  However, the accounting-types might be more receptive to marketing as “not a waste of resources” or “advocate for customer loyalty & retention” (i.e., more bottom-line oriented).

My next post will continue with Step 4 — assessing your communications opportunities.

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Engagement Marketing

Marketing Marketing – Step 1

Based on my last series of posts, “CPR for Marketing,” here are the five steps to effectively market marketing (or whatever your function):

  1. Understand your ‘product’ value
  2. Identify your target markets
  3. Establish your positioning
  4. Assess your communications opportunities
  5. Develop your resulting plan; then implement & monitor.

In the 1st step, you need to start with the ‘big picture’ in terms of what your value is to the organization; i.e., what is it you really bring to the table?

There are several ways you can get at this, including doing a “feature & benefits” analysis of your function or department.  But my favorite starts with exploring the question “What if … ?”

What if marketing no longer existed in the organization?  What would be the impact?  (e.g., Would we be missed?)

You gotta be kidding

Granted these questions are not easy to answer.  But you better get over your discomfort and deal with these questions before someone else does!

This is not meant to be a negative exercise.  By taking the time to explore marketing’s value, you’ll build confidence in what you have to offer.  And you’ll also get a good sense of how much (internal) marketing you need to do.

In my next post, I’ll continue with Steps 2 & 3.

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Engagement Marketing

CPR for Marketing – Part 3

So what do you do if you’re in a situation where marketing gets no respect? (See my last post.)  Assuming the situation isn’t too far gone (i.e., resumes being updated & professional networks heating up), here’s what I advise.

Strategically you need to:

  • increase awareness & visibility of marketing within your organization
  • increase the perception of marketing’s value, and
  • strengthen relationships within your organization.

Think of it as internally marketing the marketing function (a different application of internal marketing as featured in this blog).

I know, I know … most people are surprised by this.  Don’t marketers automatically market themselves?

That thing about the shoemaker’s kids being barefoot

The reality is most marketers are so busy doing their jobs & whatever else has been heaped on them in this era of do-more-with-less, that it’s easy to neglect their own needs.

But just because you’re part of the organizational chart doesn’t mean that people know who you are & what you do!  So marketers sometimes forget they need to educate others within the organization as to what marketing really does.

Non-marketers: listen up!

Important note: while I’m addressing marketing here, the situation also applies to other fields as well.  Doesn’t matter if you’re in HR, IT, Finance, Operations, etc. … just substitute your function in place of marketing and read on.

I’ll continue this series of posts, but under a new name: Marketing ‘Marketing’ [or insert your particular function here] …

Categories
Marketing

CPR for Marketing? Part 1

I don’t think Harry Potter has to worry for a while … apparently Lord Voldemort & his death eaters have turned their attention to marketing.

I recently heard from two colleagues in different industries that their marketing function is at risk — primarily due to organizational changes.  In one case, the marketing staff has been placed under the control of Finance & Administration (yikes!)

In the other situation, the powers-that-be have proclaimed that brand-building and relationship marketing are no longer needed.  Their rallying cry is sales, sales, and more sales!  (Get out there & bring in new customers … Relationship & retention marketing?  We don’t need no stinkin’ marketing!)

Uh oh …

Granted there are organizational and internal cultural shifts happening here.  And while the situations are vastly different, the undercurrent is the same — why is marketing’s value in question?

I keep telling myself that it’s just a coincidence that I heard from these colleagues on the same day, just minutes apart.  Has “he-who-must-not-be-named” discovered marketing?

More to follow … (and you don’t have to wait as long as you do for the next H. Potter book!)

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Customer service

Hooters Air: Flight of Fancy is a Real Bust

If customer service and service reliability are important to you, then don’t even think of flying Hooters Air!  Trust me, I know from personal experience.

In June I booked the airline for a cross-country trip to attend a family wedding in October. Yes, people laughed at me when I told them we were flying Hooters Air, but the choice was appealing based on a combination of great rates AND the schedule – particularly the one-stop/no change of planes.  My husband, brother, sister-in-law and I were traveling with my elderly mother who can’t easily navigate airports that well (especially changing planes).

I figured business was good for them, especially with five new passengers.  But alas …

In confirming the flight just this week, I learned the flight was canceled.  No reason given other than being told they decided to stop flight service from Las Vegas to Allentown.

Damage control: what not to do

So I asked: at this point, since they had our reservations (and money) in hand for several months and it’s just three weeks before our departure date, what were they gonna do to help us with other arrangements?

The answer?  Other than refunding our money, not a thing.

And we’re stuck making other travel arrangements with limited seating (this close to the trip) and almost all fares double in price.

Hey, Hooters: ever hear of the concept of service recovery?  It’s a basic part of customer service —  taking care of your customers when there’s a problem, especially one you created.

Just like your brand, whatever genius is handling your airline’s customer service is a big b – – b!

My marketing advice?  When it comes to wings, stick to the buffalo kind … it’s way too much of a stretch for you to be competent in handling any other type of wings.

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Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing & Emotional Connections (Part 3)

The final segment in this series builds on my last post with questions that help employees feel connected to an organization through its mission.

In Gallup’s in-depth management study featured in the book First, Break All the Rules, researchers Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman discovered 12 key questions that measure an organization’s strength.  Many of the questions relate directly to employee engagement.  For example:

  • Do I know what is expected of me at work?
  • At work, do I have the opportunity to be what I do best every day?
  • Does my supervisor seem to care about me as a person?
  • At work, do my opinions seem to count?
  • Does the company mission make me feel my job is important?

Employee who can respond positively to these questions are likely to feel a strong connection to their organization (including their co-workers and customers).

Can you feel the love now?

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Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing & Emotional Connections (Part 2)

As a follow up to my last post on connecting with employees, here is how you can convey the message that your employees are part of something meaningful.

You need to be able to answer these questions:

  • What is your organization’s mission and purpose?
  • How can employees contribute to fulfilling the mission?
  • And how can they be made to feel part of something special?

If you need a model for this, just ask the people who work in nonprofit organizations.  They’re usually passionate about what they do, and it’s not for the money (especially since nonprofits don’t usually pay much.)  Most likely they are there for the mission.

Like nonprofits, some for-profits are able to effectively address these questions.  Otherwise, corporate America would have a lot of vacancies to fill!

So mission-fit and values are critical parts of the “big picture” in helping employees understand how & where they can find meaning in an organization (regardless of whether it’s in a nonprofit or for-profit).

More to come in my next post …

Categories
Engagement Marketing

Internal Marketing & Emotional Connections (Part 1)

Have you noticed the emotion quotient is big these days?  In marketing circles you hear lots of talk about getting consumers to “love” your brand … making an emotional connection with customers … and creating “passionate” brand evangelists, etc. (Can you feel the love?)

This is all well & good, as long as you start FIRST with your employees – because if they don’t feel valued, neither will your customers.  And you can’t buy employee engagement with just a paycheck.

As Stan Slapp so aptly put it: “Don’t try to use money as a means to emotionally connect with your employees … Bribery won’t do it.”

So, what will? To connect with employees, you need to create:

  • a sense of common purpose
  • a sense of belonging, and
  • a sense of being part of something special.

How? By constantly communicating and demonstrating that your employees are part of something meaningful.

To be continued …

[Note: I found Stan’s quote in the proceedings from the 2003 Compete through Service symposium hosted by Arizona State University’s Center for Services Leadership.  The proceedings from the 2003 and other symposiums are available from Avnet, Inc.]

Categories
Musings

Katrina Brings a Flood of Memories, Help & Hope

To all those who find their way to my blog, this is more than just another request for aid for Katrina victims … it’s also a personal reflection of what has transpired this past week as well as over thirty years ago.

Painful memories

My family was fortunate to survive the flood brought on by Hurricane Agnes in 1972 … our family home was (& still is) just a few blocks from the Susquehanna River in northeast Pennsylvania.

Recent media coverage of Katrina has brought back many memories, and I vividly recall the feelings of helplessness, despair, frustration, depression, etc.  I also remember the sense of displacement I felt  … we spent several weeks staying with relatives, friends, even a college dorm (this was late June & July, so the space was available).  Walking through blocks of dried mud & silt (we had to park several blocks away from our neighborhood) to get to the house each day in our own “operation clean-up”.  Hosing down the walls in our home … all the clean up & restoration that seemed overwhelming at the time.  Grateful for the sandwiches provided to us by the Salvation Army who came through the neighborhood while we worked on our homes …  And angry at the tourists who drove by in their clean clothes & their clean cars.

It didn’t seem like it at the time, but we were fortunate to HAVE a home still standing that we could clean and fix up.

Water, water everywhere …

I also remember the ultimate luxury back then was being able to take a shower … we lined up at friends’ homes (those unaffected by the flood) or their temporary homes (offered by their friends & relatives) to do this.

Then there are the bizarre things people do in times of crisis.  My mother remembers when we were allowed to go back to the house for the first time after the flood waters receded … somehow she found one of her potted plants among the wreckage, and the first thing she did was water it.  She may have been in shock, but it was a life-affirming gesture.

Hope & help …

So my heart & prayers go out to all those affected by Katrina … and to all the relief staff and volunteers who are helping them.

I know there are many worthy organizations collecting for the relief effort, and bloggers have listed some great links (like on my friend Toby’s Diva Marketing).

If you are considering a contribution, I’d like to suggest an organization that is not well known but has a unique approach to helping communities during and after disasters.  Check out the Global Facilitators Serving Communities, a worldwide network of volunteer facilitators who “train, prepare and mentor other professionals & caregivers in Disaster Intervention Facilitation.”  At their website, you’ll also find access to free disaster intervention materials.

I first learned about this organization & its dedicated volunteers when I was searching for a relief organization following the recent tsunami.  It was one of the organizations I chose for my relief contribution then … and now.

To all the relief organizations helping on the Gulf Coast, thank you.  And to all those who have survived Katrina, hang in there.  People do care.