In one word - MARKETING - the changes in the market place!
Mass Marketing & Traditional Advertising as a real science were born after WWII to make the ‘masses’ aware of all the wonderful new products being produced by mass production which was beginning to come out of it’s teenage years of the 1920’s. See our 1-Page Marketing History here

In my last rant about the need for manufacturers to manufacture their own future and stop complaining about the things they can not control, my focus was on the need to start taking marketing seriously to remain competitive and relevant, whilst ignoring statistics and market data that added absolutely no value.

Today’s entry focuses on the future and the trends that can not be ignored!
Here’s a typical headline from the last few months, and there is no doubt that as sad as it maybe these sorts of headlines have become and will continue to become the staple of the business pages here in Australia and globally!

“Manufacturing needs more than promises” - an opinion piece from February 10, 2012 in The Age again argues that Australia must keep the skills to sustain economic diversity. The article makes the following points:

• ALMOST 1 million Australians work in manufacturing, compared with 135,000 in mining.
• Only retailing employs more people than manufacturing.
• Decline in the manufacturing sector has accelerated in the past three years, with more than 100,000 jobs lost.
• Neither the government nor the opposition has given any indication that they see the crisis in manufacturing as more than an opportunity to lash each other.

But is this really a problem and is it the real problem?
Here are 2 great articles that examine the future of manufacturing and the changes this will bring to the workforce and the economy. They are great because they focus on the future instead of the past and they provide ideas on how to best survive in this time of change!

• http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/manufactured-crisis-20120428-1xro9.html and
• http://www.economist.com/node/21553017

In summary the future is not bleak:
- the government and the industry (employers and employees) need to let go of nostalgia

- “…we still need to MAKE things but the number of people employed to do so will keep decreasing and this is called productivity. Even in China manufacturing jobs are in decline!”

- “…the manufacturing successes in Australia come from niche manufacturers in areas that require high skills and high precision.” Niche is the operative word here! Differentiation through your product offering and marketing communication (branding - how your customers and prospects perceive your offering) are the order of the day!

- “…service industries are more diverse and less tangible. But productive work is productive work. What should it matter if we make a dollar’s worth of tractors or code a dollar’s worth of websites?” Smart manufacturers have realised that the greatest value is in new product ideas, products that solve problems in new and cost effective or convenient ways! They have realised that design and marketing of these products is what actually makes money! And the one thing that can not be replicated quickly and easily is the relationship that you build with your customers! The rest can and will be copied and patents are unlikely to help you for long!

To illustrate the point here’s another quote “Factories used to move to low-wage countries to curb labour costs. But labour costs are growing less and less important: a $499 first-generation iPad included only about $33 of manufacturing labour, of which the final assembly in China accounted for just $8.” Guess where the other costs went? Design, Marketing, Distribution…

- “Offshore production is increasingly moving back to rich countries not because Chinese wages are rising, but because companies now want to be closer to their customers so that they can respond more quickly to changes in demand. And some products are so sophisticated that it helps to have the people who design them and the people who make them in the same place.”

- “The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and more urban. Now a third revolution is under way. Manufacturing is going digital…the applications of 3D printing are especially mind-boggling. Already, hearing aids and high-tech parts of military jets are being printed in customized shapes. The geography of supply chains will change.”

You can read and watch more about 3D printing on Morris Miselowski’s blog (he’s a highly regarded futurist who consults to business leaders around the globe!) http://youreyeonthefuture.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/print-yourself-a-new-hip/

- “The lines between manufacturing and services are blurring. Rolls-Royce no longer sells jet engines; it sells the hours that each engine is actually thrusting an aeroplane through the sky.”

You can learn more about the often ignored and certainly underestimated P of the marketing mix - Pricing by watching this fantastic video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwBkKvGfjRo&feature=relmfu by Jon Manning, a leading Pricing expert who has assembled a global panel of Pricing experts (www.pricingprophets.com) as well as  thought-leaders to help you with the most important decision your business faces: Pricing. Their experts will tell you not only what price you should charge, but more importantly, why you should charge that price. How is that for crowd sourcing?!

- “Like all revolutions, this one will be disruptive. Digital technology has already rocked the media and retailing industries, just as cotton mills crushed hand looms and the Model T put farriers out of work.” The question is - are you manufacturing your future by listening to the market?

A recipe for depressing consumers and marketers alike! Here they are laid out on my kitchen counter:

The quality of “stuffing” in our letter boxes certainly justifies this paper waste being called Junk Mail! Here’s a sample from just one day, which is typical of type and quality SME (small medium enterprise) Junk Mail versus big retailer catalogs.

These are 2 distribution companies:

1. Letterbox Deals which comes in a brochure format - this one had around 30 pages and 27 Advertisers

2. Business Link, which is Local Advertising company which sells the space, prints and then distributes into mailbox - they had 21 advertisers all as loose leaf or brochures in different sizes and formats.

The overall standard of these and all other junk mail I have ever received is pathetic.

Most rules of design and copywritng have been broken / ignored (fact is the owners of these brands just don’t know what they don’t know).

Letterbox Deals - 8 out of 27 were just reasonable, or at least acceptable.

Business Link - 1 out of 21 was good (and it was a Franchise - Step Into Life), 1 was ok, the rest a perfect example of what not to do when it comes to Copywriting and Design.

The ratio of terrible to reasonable is the same in your local newspaper, Manufacturer’s Monthly and most other trade mags.

Interestingly the standard in North America (USA and Canada) is much higher, due to the more competitive nature of their markets.

The only reason most of these businesses are still alive is because their competition is just as bad and consumers have effectively no choice!

And here’s the bit that makes me happy - business owners who get this will prosper by developing a brand, communicating clearly, effectively and utilizing basic communication principles.

90% of SME Communication  not only does not maximize ROI, but is WASTED because it doesn’t build or have a cumulative effect!

Most SME business owners do it themselves or let the job be done by the media or designers. Their expenditure lines the pockets of media companies, web developers, designers, printers who are not aware of simple and proven Scientific Advertising Principles.

• Develop an Advertising / Marketing Communications Brief
• Designers need a good brief from a marketer / advertising professional.
• Great advertising / marketing communication is a result of a collaboration between: Marketing Professionals (Strategists - on the Client or Agency side, or both!) and Advertising Professionals (Creatives – Creative Directors, Copywriters, Art Directors, Designers)
• Great advertising / marketing communication provides Hope and Optimism, and in general in a recession customers will block out messages based on FEAR. Emphasize reasons, especially Functional Features, provide evidence that the Brand delivers value and emphasize “family values” if applicable.

Here are are our best marketing resources, free of charge, use them to satisfy the needs of your clients and surpass your competition.

People today more receptive than ever before to Clear Solutions and Clear Messages. Clarity promises Peace of Mind in today’s chaotic world!

Here is an example by a jewellery chain that produced amazing results:

A simple headline was changed from:

“We guarantee the quality of the diamonds we sell”

to:

“If the Gemological Institute of America doesn’t confirm our diamond’s colour, clarity and carat weight to be at least as good as we promised you, we’ll buy back that diamond for the price you paid, reimburse you for the cost of grading, and pay you an additional five thousand dollars. If other jewelers aren’t willing to match this offer, you’ve got to wonder why.”

for spectacular results!

Does your brand provide a guarantee like this? Examine your Brand Promise and aim to deliver on it each and every time!

Solutions we offer have to be immediately comprehensible otherwise they become problems and add to the sensory overload of our clients and prospects.

People are too stressed and busy for dense visuals and jargon - a common sin of Finance and IT industries.

• Time Deprivation + Technology = Compression
• Digital TV 500 channels & The Web = Life now is 24 x 7x 365
• Compressed patience and attention span of customers means that unless you grab their attention instantly they will use their Remote Control or click their Mouse to never be heard from again!
  

A simple PICTURE is a 1,000 WORDS, but it better tell a story much faster than that or today’s consumer will be gone before you have the chance for the proverbial wink!

Does your marketing communication:

• Dramatize your brand’s most important benefit?
• Communicate simply? Simplicity is powerful – less is more
• Use natural, real life dialogue?
• Avoid jargon?
• Tell a story, leave a picture in your prospects’ mind?
• Ask questions?
• Provide proof and reasons to believe?

Here is a checklist for all your marketing communications. Ask yourself the following questions and see whether your marketing communication achieves the following objectives:

• Does your marketing communication grab Attention?
• Does your marketing communication clearly identify your brand? Does it do so immediately and throughout the advertisement?
• Does your marketing communication reinforce your brand identity?
• Does the your marketing communication clearly communicate your brand’s unique promise?
• Is your marketing communication tone and style true to your brands Essence and Personality?
• Does your marketing communication have a Positioning Statement that reinforces the brand’s Promise?
• Does your marketing communication connect with the reader / viewer on an emotional level? Fear?  Hope? imagination?
• Is your marketing communication significantly different from that of your competitors? Could another competitor make the same claim? If you inserted a competitor’s logo would it make no sense or be unbelievable?
• Does your marketing communication have a good Offer?
• Does your marketing communication make the reader/viewer believe they will be better off by purchasing your brand?
• Does your marketing communication have a strong Call To Action?
• Do you have the process in place to capture (and measure) responses? E.g..: Keyed Ads?

There are 3 types of people in business:
- Entrepreneurs
- Intrapreneurs
- Un-enterprising and all of them can benefit from LinkedIn, even the un-enterprising!

It’s the often overlooked social media channel of LinkedIn! Whilst it is Facebook and Twitter that get all the media attention, it is LinkedIn that leads with results.

Hubspot research shows LinkedIn being the equal leading Customer Acquisition Channel together with Company Blogs and the definitive leader in the B2B segment.

“LinkedIn is the largest professional social network online today with an astounding 135 million users and a targeted audience of business professionals. If you are a business professional and you do not have a powerful presence on LinkedIn, you are undoubtedly missing valuable opportunities to connect and grow your business.”
- Rebecca Corliss is marketing manager and leader of the social media marketing team at Hubspot.

“There is no other social networking site in which you have a greater chance of being able to interact with an influential decision maker due to the business- focused nature of the community. LinkedIn remains one of the best social networking sites to market your business-to-business (b2b) products and services because of this special demographic. even for business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, LinkedIn is important: not only because consumers are members of LinkedIn, but also because the network offers a great platform for finding distributors, agents, and strategic alliances.”
- Neal Schaffer, author of Windmill Networking

I used to refer to LinkedIn as “Facebook for Business”, but how wrong I was!

The first 2 points provide a major difference between LinkedIn and Facebook and hence give business people an amazing opportunity not available in any other media channel:
1. LinkedIn provides a meeting place where people expect to “do business”
2. LinkedIn leverages relationships by making connections visible
3. LinkedIn helps maintain personal relationships and build new ones.
4. LinkedIn provides a platform for the most effective form of Marketing - Word of Mouth
5. It can link all your Online Marketing Assets and essential Social Media Tools, e.g: Website, Blog, Slideshare (now incorporating Video), Twitter and Facebook.

With all of the new developments in LinkedIn, today it can assist you with:

• Promoting your personal brand
• Proactive Networking
• Checking References and Backgrounds
• Look for a Job, Seek and Hire Candidates and be better prepared for interviews
• Generate Leads and Accelerate Sales
• Ask for Advice from your own network as well as “Crowdsource”
• Find Experts and Partners
• Improve your Personal Productivity with all of the different LinkedIn tools, Widgets, and Apps.
• Research trends and industries, gather opinions by running pols as well as track company news.

Finally and most importantly, LinkedIn can provide you with the perfect and simple platform for a Referral System! Referrals are critical to success in business.

FACT
- 98% of Businesses rely on referrals to gain new business*

FACT
- 3% of businesses have a strategy for referrals*

REFERENCE:
*BNI – Business Network International

Benefits of a Referral System:

• Lower Marketing Costs
• Higher Revenues
• Prospects convert to Customers
• Better customer ‘behaviour’
• You can concentrate on your business

Please note that there is a large and important difference between Word of Mouth Advertising and a Referral System. Word of Mouth or ‘going viral’, usually happens by chance. We as marketers try as we might do not have control over a video or a game going viral, and more fail than succeed!

A Referral System, on the other hand is:

• Predictable
• Consistent and
• Repeatable!

LinkedIn can assist you in most of the critical steps of a typical Referral Process:

• Identifying Referrers / Influencers in your Network by listening and studying where opinions are being shared
• Providing them with a WOW experience (LinkedIn won’t help you there - you need to be great at what you do or deliver exceptional value through your products and services!)
• Stay Top of Mind
• Help them Help You - you need to educate your network how to refer to you
• You need to ask for Referrals and Introductions
• And you need to Recognise and Reward those that place their trust in you and refer to you!

LinkedIn or any other technology or media channel for that matter will not help you Stand Out and Be Noticed!

You need to give people a reason to talk about your products and services, and make it easier for that conversation to take place. You’ll need to be creative and wow prospects and not just with your message. Remember the old adage - “great advertising kills bad products faster”

As with all social media or marketing activities in general, the more you put into them the more you will get back in return. The more you care and share the more likely you are to benefit. Check out this latest Infographic http://mashable.com/2012/02/08/new-content-marketing-tactics/

To learn about our LinkedIn courses check out http://www.themarketingnetwork.com.au/promotion-media/social-media/linkedin.

Get LinkedIn or become LockedOut!

If you are the owner or founder of an SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) or are the person responsible for sales or business development in any size organization then your reputation - your personal brand is paramount in your personal success and the success of your organization.

‘Brands are like people’ is an analogy often used to describe the companies they represent. Virgin is the brand built by Richard Branson and the two are hard to separate. Consumers buy into the personality of the founder and what it represents and promises.

In many cases however ‘brands are people’ - every celebrity is a brand, from Oprah to Dr.Phil, to rock stars and actors to sports people like Beckham.

Business brands take on or communicate the values of their founders. This is especially true for start-ups and new businesses, professional services firms where the names of the founding partners make up the brand names. Although this is not the best way to brand your services business this is still the dominant reality for many.

So the brands are designed and communicated by people. People, especially in services industry is who we all buy from! So it makes sense that ‘these people’ have an optimal representation of who they are and what makes them special in the place where it matters most, the place where positive perceptions are formed - online!

Your online identity and representation is made of your online assets:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blog / Website
• YouTube Channel, etc

The most important of these in the SME (B2B & Professional Services) is LinkedIn, and we’ll cover this next.