Another Area 224 ProductionSales Funnel, AIDA Acronym, Getting People Through Your Funnel? Fuhgeddaboutit.
We’re not saying that Marketing 101 Textbooks should be thrown out the window, but consumers are thinking way differently these days.
Attention. Interest. Desire. Action.
You’re telling me in all these years we have yet to come up with something better?
We first came up with the concept of a Marketing Martini Glass last year; we were working on a project with a large Energy concern that was making the foray into “consumerism.” We posited a guess that the consumer didn’t quite care for the new thing that we wanted them to care about. Instead, we suggested that marketing was more like a Martini Glass: and, to have a chance, you need to be near the bottom. Be. The. Olive.
Well, let’s take AIDA and replace it with the levels of the glass, shall we? This requires that you think of your target from their vantage point – not yours. A freakin’ awesome idea in this economy.
“Necessary Nuisances” instead of “Attention.”
Necessary Nuisances, to the Consumer, are those “low-involvement” exercises you must go through in order to survive. Maslow-esque: think of the Hierarchy of Needs, upside down.
Back to the Energy Industry for a second: your Gas bill, your Electric bill, your landline are all in this category. They are necessary for you to have to survive, but they are hardly something the bulk of the public does anything with.
Some Electric Companies, however, have had success in lower-income communities getting customers on-board with ideas to save energy only when they are shown how they can save money. Here’s a story from Pepco, the DC-area utility on their success with this type of program.
One reason this was successful? Because Pepco was able to move consumers DOWN the Martini Glass – away from “Your Electric Bill is a Necessary Nuisance,” and into “Saving a Few Bucks a Month is a Nice-to-Have.”
“Nice-to-Haves” instead of “Interest.”
In this economy, it’s nice to have a few extra dollars. It’s nice to have a Newspaper Subscription, or the latest copy of Oprah or Us Magazine delivered to your door.
As consumers have much more choice in everything, the Nice-to-Haves become those things that maybe you can live without: but if you’re pinching pennies or on a tight budget, and even if you’re not but you still want to be frugal, you (the consumer, not the marketer) start to categorize appropriately.
Oprah communicates the value well enough that her magazine continues to get delivered to our home. Ditto Us Magazine. These are Nice-to-Haves, in my book.
Important: Since there is no funnel, consumers can jump into the equation wherever and whenever.
Take mortgages. Housing is a necessity; paying your mortgage is a Necessary Nuisance. It’s low involvement once you have your home and the mortgage payment figured out.
Saving money on your mortgage by refinancing could be a Nice-to-Have. You, the consumer, could bypass all of this Attention, Interest and Desire stuff and jump right into Action. Google mortgage lenders, or respond to an offer in the mail. Alternatively, like a Mortgage Broker on Facebook and…
That last one is questionable. But still…
“Wants” – sortof like Desire.
I want a new house. I want the latest cell phone. I want a car with better gas mileage. I want to save the environment.
Whatever’s important to consumers, that’s where they (again) dive in.
I WantNetflix. In fact, it’s nearer the bottom of the Martini Glass because I perceive it as closer to a Must-Have. I can certainly survive without it; but, because of a combination of killer product, killer distribution and killer relationships, it has become a staple in millions of households.
“Must-Haves” – well, yes, things we take “Action” on.
Why is the iPad so popular? Why do I find myself “needing” the iPad 2?
Take Maslow’s Hierarchy and, again, turn it upside down. You can argue that the iPad is a new Self-Actualizing Status Symbol. I feel important because I have one – I am cutting edge, cool, I can get Angry Birds, I can be mobile and do stuff.
But, to market the iPad, Apple didn’t build in a Sales Funnel. They figured out the secret mix of ingredients that made it a Must-Have.
They effectively “sunk” the iPad to the bottom of the Martini Glass.
Is it product design? Is it story-telling that gets things moved into better categories? Is it look, feel, sound?
It’s all those things. That’s your new Sales Funnel.
We are not sure this is the best use of brand dollars by Knob Creek.
With all due respect…this is just not focused. It’s the opposite of Nichification. Don’t despair, whiskey drinker…We’ll give some advice below.
First, the background:
Visiting LinkedIn, and someone in our network, who is in the SEO space and appears to be a rather smart cookie, had the ad you see over there right below all of the “Send a Message,” “See Profile” options.
And this jumped out at us.
What’s wrong with it?
Well, first of all, truth be told, we’re not against the marketing of alcoholic beverages. And we’ll assume that LinkedIn has a filter of some sort that only shows this particular ad to people who are above 21 years of age.
Once you get past that…Is LinkedIn really the place to ask questions about whiskey?
You’re on LinkedIn for professional connections. Professional networking. So, when I’m seeing what one of the smarter SEO people in the planet is up to lately – am I even in the mood to talk whiskey?
Beyond that…this is a poorly worded Poll.
They’re asking two questions. The first one asks if I’m a fan. What if I’m not? What if I’ve never tried the stuff? What if I don’t know the difference between Knob Creek and Boon’s Farm?
What if I don’t know the difference between “complex flavor” and “full-flavored?”
Since Area 224 is looking out for you, brand marketers, we’re not just going to raise a problem – we’re going to propose a SOLUTION.
In three steps.
Step 1 – Scrap the poll.
I’m not inclined to vote for or against alcohol when I’m on LinkedIn. I’m treating LinkedIn like a combination of Twitter and Google – I want to see what my network is up to professionally, but I’m also searching for something or someone.
Step 2 – Buy a bunch of laser-focused keyword ads.
You can spend just as much if you know what you are doing. If you don’t know what you are doing, find someone who does and get them to buy the ads for you.
Step 3 – Reach out to a bunch of bloggers and see if they want to try your stuff.
Turn them loose – let them comment on the full-flavor, or the fine craftsmanship, or the fact that they can really taste the aging. Or not.
You can invest probably a couple grand, watch what gets said, and get so many more insights than you’d get from the LinkedIn poll.
Pareto, while brilliant, forgot one important point.
If you’re familiar with the 80/20 rule – credited to Vilfredo Pareto, the 20th Century Italian economist – you’ve probably committed that line of thinking to memory. 80 percent of the money is made by 20 percent of the people. 20 percent of your clients will bring in 80 percent of your revenues.
And Larry’s a smart guy, so I won’t argue with the basic premise – and how it applies to social media marketing. There’s also something to be said for how it applies to Holistic Social Media, too.
But here’s the thing: just because one column is “80” – doesn’t mean the other column is “20.”
It’s not a requirement that the two columns add up to 100. In fact – they often don’t.
Think about a consulting firm that brings in 1 Million a year, and has 3 big clients and, let’s say, 22 small ones. And the 22 small clients are each tiny engagements – $1000 each. The rest of the revenue comes from the other 3.
Revenue: 1 Million. Revenue from 3 big clients: $978,000. Revenue Percentage: 97.8. Percentage of firm’s clients: 12%.
This is a classic “97.8/12” business. (That adds up to 109.8.)
And just because 12% of your business brings in 97.8% of your revenue – does that mean the other 2.2% should be abandoned?
What if the 2.2% serves as a proving ground for junior staff? What if the tiny revenue stream is also insanely profitable, high-margin work – perhaps something that can be replicated, scaled, sold again and again?
Something to think about…as you build your business.
Social Media Cliches include “Ninja,” which Area 224 finds exceedingly annoying. Want to really be able to call yourself a “Ninja?”
Do what this thing does:
We watched the infomercial for this bad boy, and we couldn’t help but think about Social Media Ninjas – and how they are often self-appointed and can rarely back up their claims of Ninjahood.
Let’s go to the Tale of the Tape.
The Base Unit – Ninja 1100.
The Ninja 1100’s base unit is the kind of blender your puny blender wants to be when it grows up. Armed with blades that aren’t just at the bottom, this keeps the flow of all the creamy goodness of your smoothie moving up and down while blending.
Imagine an army of little ninja warriors chopping blueberries into bits of antioxidants while barely breaking a sweat.
Pitcher, blades, etc. are all dishwasher-safe.
“More than just a food processor. More than just a blender.”
We could go on and on. We officially want one.
The Base Unit – Social Media Ninja.
Will use a bot-focused approach to get your Twitter account to 2000 followers, and will also use a bot-focused approach to get you a few hundred “Likes” on Facebook. Both of which you can choose to ignore when you realize there’s no real reason for doing this.
The Extra Pitcher – Ninja 1100.
You have GOT to be joking. There’s another pitcher? It’s bigger – like 70, no 72 ounces!
What isn’t even mentioned on the website – but is mentioned on the infomercial to a point where you won’t forget it – is that this machine turns “ice” into “snow.”
This is the key for restaurant-quality frozen drinks.
SNOW.
You can make 72 ounces of snow.
They even demonstrated a mocha drink that was nothing more than chocolate syrup and ice, maybe milk or coffee or something. 50 calories per serving.
The Extra Pitcher – Social Media Ninja.
What, you want more? We’ll give you more.
Except, as a “Ninja” of the Social Media type, we can’t totally tell you what exactly that “more” is.
We didn’t know you needed something like “snow” to differentiate your product from other products.
We were too busy focusing on the fact that we’re Ninjas.
The Dough Hook – Ninja 1100.
You need bread dough. Cookie dough. Dough for that Ninja Pizza you’re gonna make.
Enter the 1100’s Dough Hook.
So you don’t just have a blender, or a “snow maker,” but you also have a food processor that makes dough.
Awesome. Totally awesome. This might be the only kitchen gadget you will ever need – and you didn’t know you needed all of this.
The Dough Hook – Social Media Ninja.
What now? We have to make bread dough, too?
Our bots can’t handle that.
We give up. This is not fair.
Final Tally: Ninja 1100 – 3, Social Media Ninja – 0.
And what does this mean for your marketing – no matter what your industry?
Well, while the Ninja 1100 might seem to be positioning itself based on “Features” vs. “Benefits,” a closer look tells us that, in this case, a masterfully designed product can have “Features AS Benefits.”
Feature: great base unit with different blades and stuff.
Benefit: the only kitchen product you’ll need. (You benefit by clearing out your cupboard.)
Feature: additional pitcher is huge and makes snow.
Benefit: snow makes better drinks, you can please a crowd.
Feature: dough hooks.
Benefit: see the part about needing less contraptions in your cupboard.
The Social Media Ninja is likely to focus on “numbers” as your feature. And “leads” as your benefit. And maybe that can all be quantified. But still…give me a Kitchen Ninja over a Social Media Ninja any day.
Disclosure: Area 224 has no relationship with this product. If you buy one, you are free to invite us over for a smoothie.
While this could make sense as part of our “Buzzword Watch” series, we’re thinking “strategy” is in a class by itself. Follow along.
Sports analogies – “sport analogies” for the British in the crowd – are an awesome way to make sure you understand some of the business nuances. Such as “strategy.”
Objective: Win the game.
This brings us back to the title of this here blog post. And to an age-old question: why do you do what you do.
Not just in business, but in life.
A couple months ago, we did a four part series on the Marketing Martini Glass. It’s a series that turned Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on Its Ear. And it reminded us of some business discussions we’ve had over the past (gasp) 20 years – discussions with really smart people in really good organizations.
There’s a maxim, going back those 20 years, that rings true, still:
The higher you are in an organization, the more you can throw around the word “strategy” and use it to avoid doing actual work.
Think strategically. Let’s be strategic. It’s important to think about the strategic reasons for doing this. We need a strategy session.
Uh, no.
What you need are actual business objectives.
The actual business objectives – the why you do what it is you do as a business – are not only imperative to develop BEFORE your strategy session, they can be pretty darn liberating.
Back to the sport(s) analogies so you can see what it is we’re talking about.
Even the different disciplines within, say, a football coaching staff can have their own objectives. Objective, still, is to win the game. The Offensive Strategy might well be to “keep the opposition’s defense on the field by effectively running the football.” Tactics? Those are the plays the Offensive Coordinator calls: “off-tackle fullback dive,” or some such.
Quoting Sun Tzu: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
So how do the really savvy avoid work?
They throw around the word “strategy.” AND they keep it in the nebulous cloud between “objective” – which there may not be for whatever it is they’re doing – and “tactics” – which they may not fully understand, or have a grasp of, or be able to execute on.
The title of this blog post is tongue in cheek. There aren’t folks who are deliberately using strategy to avoid actual work.
But it can be pretty easy to do – having a Strategic Imperative without proper direction from above, or help from the trenches.
