Marketing

Why companies MUST dedicate themselves to design… or die.

We live today in a renaissance of design. There is no Scarcity of information. There is no Scarcity of bandwidth. There is no Scarcity of choices. The most Scarce resource for the modern company is design. Design requires 2 very disparate groups to be completely aligned: engineers and creatives. Products, Services, Brands, and Everything in between now compete using the last scarce resource: design. Here are some examples:

Would you buy an “ugly looking” candy bar?
Would you shop at a grocery store with an “ugly” sign?
Are you going to spend money at a website that is “hard to use”?
Do you enjoy “waiting in line”?
Does processing power matter more or less than operating system?
Are you likely to “keep using” a complex application when a simpler one exists for the same price?

My story of how I became “an Apple guy”:

I used to be a MAC hater. I loved my PC because it could play games (and I love games). I hated MAC because it was popular, it couldn’t play the “best” games, and because I had to “pay” for all of my software. iPhone changed all of that! First, it has games (so I had to get one). Second, the games are cheap (Free – $0.99)… and they are good. But what really “got me” with iPhone was its incredible user interface design. I “FINALLY GET” why people love their Apple Computers (Mac, iPhone, Powerbook, or what have you). It is exactly because Apple does not rely on “the mouse and keyboard” for its UI, that it’s UI works.

I recently bough my first Macbook Pro. … and I’m starting to “get it”. Apple has infused in its UI guidelines and very strict application approval process, the notion that “design matters”. In many cases design matters most. Interestingly, some of the elements of Apple design should be considered for ANY platform:
1.) Clutter: There shouldn’t be any.
2.) Organization: There should be good.
3.) Automatic Mode: Should always be on.
4.) Configuration Options: Should usually be hidden.
5.) Function: Should be intuitive and should have as few as possible.

Companies will soon realize that if they don’t compete on design, they will consistently lose.

Giving back. Karma->back: Karmaback now turns points into charity donations!

In Eastern Philosophy, Karma is that earned thing which leads to something you deserve (good or bad). Karma comes full circle when it is shared… it gets amplified back upon itself. It is this “circle of Karma” which my company Karmaback, Inc. now offers to both businesses and end users. We have just announced our “Donate points to charity” program. This program allows users to donate their points to charity, which Karmaback turns into cash donations to that charity. The circle starts with businesses who use Karmaback services. Users interact with those companies, and EARN points (Karma). Then those points can be spent on “stuff“, including Charity, completing a circle of Karma!

To learn more about Karmaback Points for Charity and how to turn your online activity into cash donations or to become a participating charity, please visit karmaback.com/charity.

Non-profits participating in the Karmaback Points for Charity program include:

The Bob Woodruff Foundation: The vision of the Bob Woodruff Foundation is to provide resources and support to injured service members, veterans and their families — building a movement to empower communities nationwide to take action to successfully reintegrate our nation’s injured heroes-especially those who have sustained the Hidden Injuries of War-back into their communities so they may thrive physically, psychologically, socially and economically.
Learn To Be Foundation: Learn To Be was organized on the principle of using the World Wide Web as a medium for people of all ages to grasp their educational potential. The Foundation fosters free online tutoring services that are driven by a community of users dedicated to teaching and mentoring those in need.
Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society: The mission of the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society is to improve the lives of equines by educating and helping owners, assisting law enforcement agencies, rehabilitating abused and neglected equines, and placing them into safe, permanent homes.

Got a business? Check out our Social Platform to learn how you can get MORE FANS/FOLLOWERS, MORE VIRAL SHARING, and MORE SALES for your business… by giving Karmaback points, running Karmaback Sweepstakes, and Karmaback Coupons and Feedback.

Karmaback, my Seth Godin inspired company.

Sometimes, we forget where inspiration comes from. I am a Seth Godin fan. If you don’t believe me, read my blog… check out the movie I made… or consider my company: Karmaback. Yes, almost everything about Karmaback is inspired by Seth Godin’s principles. Permission Marketing is really the core of Karmaback. We’re trying to match up companies that care about their customers with customers who appreciate permission marketing. We want to leverage peoples social networks, WITH their permission, and help companies create great end user stories. And the really exciting part: Karmaback is working GREAT for a bunch of really happy companies.

Here are a few “Seth” principles we live by:
Permission Marketing? (Very much so… we give points for permission!)
Purple Cow? (We think so, although our colors are green, we are unique in several key ways)
Linchpin Commitment to Service? (our customers think so, and I work dang hard to keep it).
Meatball Sundae? (We’re different and we’re getting our word out “the right way”.)
Giving? (Yes, we frequently go above and beyond for our customers. Plus, we have some amazing free programs, and frequently give our services to others at little to no cost).

Also, At last night’s Austin Seth Godin Linchpin meetup, I met Pace from FreakRevolution.com. Pace is building a company to try to “change the world”. She’s got a Linchpin factory that turns people with world-changing ideas into world-chagers. It was speaking with Pace that got me re-jazzed about permission marketing.

Stay tuned for some “little tweaks” to Karmaback to get us back in line with Seth Godin’s principles. We want to be the BEST place for Permission based Marketing on the Planet.

A Focus on Small Business

Small Businesses, whether they be a burgeoning startup or a solid “mom & pop” or something else entirely, have needs. They need sales. They need cost efficient Marketing techniques. They need to reach “the right people” at “the right time”. They need passionate fans to help evangelize their greatness. We at Karmaback have interviewed dozens of small business owners around the country. Now, we are proud to announce, Karmaback is dedicated to helping companies (of all sizes, especially small) to address these needs directly… with results.

Sales: The Goal. This is the ultimate need of any company, and for small businesses, it is usually the #1 topic on their mind. How am I going to make rent, lease, payroll… How can I keep my dream alive?

Karmaback’s answer: We believe you should be delighting the people who love you. Give them special deals and special offers. Let us help you make those offers viral, so friends of your fans can see the generosity and the love. Karmaback Social Coupons are live now, and they are going to get even better soon: http://karmaback.com/sweepstakes/social_coupons/

Efficient Marketing: This means reaching “the right people” at “the right time”, with the “right message”.

We can’t help you with your message, but we are dedicated to helping small businesses reach the right people at the right time. Social Coupons do this… Social Sweepstakes do it better. http://karmaback.com/sweepstakes

Passionate Fans!

We can help almost any company find them, reward them, motivate them, and leverage them.

This is what we do!

Let us help you!

We’ll only charge you if we are successful… and it will be 100% more efficient than any other advertising or marketing method you’ve used before.

If you are a big company, we’ll help you too… especially if you treat your customers with respect, love, and almost act as though you are a small company, even though you are big.

How to Build a Marketing Plan

I’ve scoured the internet for a nice, simple, method for how to build a Marketing Plan, and all I find is very short, confusing, unorganized stuff (and very little of that). So, without further ado, my 10 steps for building an “AWARD WINNING” Marketing Plan.

Learn what the heck Marketing is in the first place. (See my blog on my topic here…. my 5 year old son could figure it out… so can you).
Research your 5-Cs. Customer, Company, Competition, Collaboration, Context

This can be done fairly easily with some Google searching or industry related press reading.
I find doing it in order is the best..
Just jot down as many notes as you can for each section.
Below is the goal you are trying to reach for each C

Customer – Write down WHO is your ZEBRA (Ideal) customer.. then expand that view just enough to encompass a market that is of a “small, but big enough” size. The goal here is to choose a FOCUSED group of people who you can clearly identify… NOT make it the biggest set of people possible (that’s for Business Plans, not Marketing Plans).
Company – Write down what are your companies strengths, weaknesses, vision, and values. (This will help in the rest of the plan).
Competition – Write down a list of competitors and note their “pricing” and their “differentiation” claims. SPEND LOTS OF TIME HERE. It’s worth it later.
Context – Write down trends in society, business, culture, and geography that MAY (or may not) cause you PROBLEMS or create OPPORTUNITIES.
Now, write down your 4 Ps – Product, Place, Price, Promotion. First up: Product.

To get Product right (for Marketing purposes), it must fit in the following Sentences:
ACME (YOUR COMPANY/PRODUCT/BRAND) is a _______ that does ____________ for ________.
UNLIKE OTHER _______ we do _________________________.
Now list 3 Benefits. ( NO MORE )
Now list 3 Features. ( NO MORE )
If you can get this focused with your product, you’re ready for the next step.
NOTE: If you have engineers/tech people, don’t invite them to help with this section… do it yourself (or have someone do it for you)… then correct as needed.

Place – Where do you plan to sell? What is your selling motion?
Price – How much will you charge? What is the upsell path (or options)? What is the average lifetime value of a customer? How does all this compare to the competition?
Promotion – NOTICE, I am last here… many people think a “Marketing Plan” is just this section… (the Advertising, PR, etc.)… but it is not. This is important, but not the MOST important. To me, the first C is most important (Customer) Followed by the first P (Product). Anyways, here’s promotion:

How much can you spend to acquire a customer? (see average lifetime value for hints)
How many customers do you want to acquire in a period? (therefor, that is your budget)
What “Free-ish” marketing can you do? (PR, Social Media, SEO, other)? How can you measure its effectiveness?
What “Cheap-ish” marketing can you do? (SEM, Google Adwords, Google Adsense, CMP, CPC, CPA)? How can you measure its effectiveness?
What “Expensive, but hopefully measurable” marketing can you do? (Partner/Reseller Marketing, Paid Banners, Trade Shows, Events, etc.)? How can you measure its effectiveness?
What “Brand building” MUST you do? (non-measurable stuff like TV, Print, Billboards, etc.).?
Now, allocate budget from 2-6… where you don’t spend 1c on the next item, till you’ve spent all you can (reasonably & scalable) spend on the prior number. MOST COMPANIES SHOULD NEVER GET PAST 4. (at least not in the early days).

Hope this was helpful!

Comments and Arguments and Links are always MORE than welcome.

Measuring Marketing: An Engineering Challenge.

Engagement is quite the word. It means getting in touch, getting together, and the promise of a union. To Marketers, this means getting attention. In 2010, Marketers find Engagement to be their #1 priority. But what will they do with this engagement? How can we measure its effect. Show me the money!

Engineers and Scientists have striven for hundreds of years to go about measuring things. Measurement and observation are the keys to enlightenment. Modeling comes next, followed by theory, and then sometimes law. So why then do Marketers have so many theories, and so few models? Where are the measurements? The answer is troubling and disheartening. Marketing, alas, is no science, yet science shall be its salvation.

My journey into Marketing through my new company Karmaback and beyond, is leading to answers we engineer-type business folks have sought for decades. The struggle between marketing science and art WILL come to a head in our lifetimes, and maybe Karmaback will bring it there.

The $600 Billion question: does engagement lead to marriage?
E.g. can marketing lead to sales?

Social Confusion, engineering explanation of social networks.

Recently, I attended a start-up meetup conference here in Austin Texas. It was a really useful conference, focused on learning and practical knowledge. As always Brett Hurt did a great job with the keynote. The one thing that became clear, almost as a theme for the day, is that most people don’t really understand social networking. Engineers in particular will quickly get lost in the quagmire, mainly because of lack of definition and lack of metrics. After hearing all the debate, I think I can explain at least part of the social confusion on new social media… in terms engineers might be able to make sense of.

First definitions:
Social Networks: Websites where users can communicate with other users. Includes Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Forums, Twitter, LinkedIn, and almost any modern website with feedback tools.

Social Networking: the act of using Social Networks to some purpose, either personal or as a business.

Share of Voice: a metric (no standard units) that tries to measure how many people are talking about your company or product… especially on blogs and social networks.

Web 2.0: a useless term referring to “making a website capable of letting users talk to each other”… yes forums have been doing this since BBS, hence its silliness as a moniker.

Now what is all the hub-bub about? Three things simultaneously, that I will separate:

1. Social Networks (e.g. people who own the websites, and the vulture companies that surround them), are “possibly” making money because LOTS of people are using Social Networks today.

2. It may be profitable for Companies to “use” Social Networking to accomplish some goal(s). E.g. companies and individuals at companies should consider USING Social Networking, but only for some MEASURABLE GOAL… too many companies are using Social Networking with no goal other than to ‘advertise’. Hint: Google is probably better for ya’.

3. Companies need to beware and pay attention to Social Networks, because that is where much of the Share of Voice can be seen, and customers are talking about you there.

With this common language, you can see, its not really that BIG of a thing, unless you consider the fact that SO many people are using them.

So, get off your duff and listen up. Companies need to wise up and pay attention to social networks message for you and STOP trying to use them so much…its not working.

In other words, rather than focusing on only 1-aspect of social networks (how to ‘use’ them for increased sales/revenue directly, item #2 above), consider the other 2 aspects of social networks (1 and 3 above).. and pay attention to the conversation (example: a good community manager) and get a presence on these social networks for that purpose (1. participate). Trust me, people WANT to talk about you/your company, you just have to be there and be listening.

photo attribution:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/ / CC BY 2.0

Engineers don’t have a clue what Marketers do… but would be better than Marketers at it.

In fact, most engineers I know have very little respect for marketers, and think that they don’t “do” anything.

If anything, engineers, and lets face it, much of the “non-marketing workforce”, think Marketers are about ‘making advertisements’. You know the TV spots, the Web Banners, and that stuff.

Well Engineers with experience do have a sense that there is another side to marketing that is SUPPOSED to be there, namely the inbound marketing function (or product marketing). However, engineers have been so burned by this concept, so left “dry” and “hanging” by product marketing concepts, that many are left feeling that Marketers don’t DO anything…

The funny thing is that if Engineering knew what Product Marketers were supposed to be doing: they would do a VERY fine job of it, and perhaps be better than most marketers at it.

I will explain why Marketers are struggling in a second, but first, here are a few of the functions of “inbound”/product marketing that engineers would knock out of the park and why:

1.) Surveys. Why? Because engineers can learn how to craft unbiased surveys, cull the data into actionable information, and summarize it all in a usuable format… its second nature for engineers.

2.) Customer Interviews. Why? Because engineers are usually less “fake seeming” than marketers, and would take DETAILED notes and then… SHOCKINGLY, cull the data into actionable information.

3.) Product Features & Feature Details. Why? Because engineers KNOW the pain of not having detailed information about a desired feature. Also because they will undoubtedly understand ‘realisim’ as well as ‘what IS possible’… and tie it together in a nice, well documented, fully culled feature set.

So, why are marketers supposedly so bad?

Short answer: “culling the data” into ‘actionable information’. This skill takes patience, confidence, and frankly, engineering talent to pull off… and you have to be willing to put in the work, learn statistics, and believe you are right.

Many marketers may “do these things”, but fail to deliver the results in any meaningful way.

To my marketing friends (some of whom follow this blog), do not despair. YOU CAN do it. You just have to take the time, and for goodness sakes… if you’ve done some research… do yourself a favor: present it with the feature set (on the Marketing Requirements Document: MRD), and earn yourself some credibility with the folks that do the REAL work!

Motivation to “Like” Company or Brand on Facebook
Facebook Motivations	% of Respondents
Receive discounts and promotions	40%
Show support for the company	37
Get a “freebie”	36
Stay informed about company	34
Get updates about products	33
Get updates on upcoming sales	30
Fun and entertainment	29
Access to exclusive content	25
Recommended	22
Learn about company	21
Source: ExactTarget, August 2010

Harlan T Beverly, PhD

Blog, Consulting, and More