Why Marketing Is Important

Many people wonder why marketing is important. As a recent college graduate, I often get questioned on what I want to do with my life having studied Communications and Marketing.  I've heard many responses: That's just being with people right?, What can you do with that? or my favorite, "That's what all the football players study right"?

To the surprise of all of my parents' friends, family members, and other graduates that may not understand the importance of marketing, I can back up my choice within just a few minutes of conversation.  Why?  Because any business, whether B2B or B2C, is dependent and profitable through it's sales.  This means one thing: You are not in control of your business, the consumer is.

You can have a fantastic product that sells itself.  You can have an average product, but be the popular item on the market.  You can have a great product with little success.  It all rest on the views of the consumers.  If you know that the consumer is in control of how well you do, then you will start looking at how to appeal more to them, hence marketing.  The amount of profitability of your business is connected to brand awareness, word of mouth, and marketing strategy.

Brand:


Everyone knows the following logos:

Putting one of these logos on anything gives the consumer an expectation for the product.  You expect a great product in a Starbucks cup.  You know that a product with a Nike check will have good quality and durability. Creating a brand is creating a promise to a consumer.  It shows them that they will benefit from using that product.  Making a brand lets people know that they are getting, making it more than just a product.

Word of Mouth Marketing:

Everyone knows about the phases of products and the massive buzz that can drive the success of a product.  Everyone loves the food at Chick-fil-a and their word of mouth marketing never stops.  They are always consistent with new menu items, Cow Appreciate Day, spectacular service, and creative advertisements.  Other items, such as Beanie Babies, Pokemon, Silly Bandz, and Guitar Hero, all become popular items for a small timeframe, and the phase out.  Having successful word of mouth marketing will make products go viral.  It shows that people are excited about your product and want to talk about it.  They willingly spread information, doing free marketing for your company.

Blog Post: 4 Tips to Successful Word of Mouth Marketing

Marketing Strategy:


How do you appeal to a group?  How do you market your product successfully?  While creativity and marketing plans can vary, most marketing strategies all start off the same.  To run a successful marketing campaign, you must put a lot of time into learning about who you are talking to.  You must know your audience, looking at those that you are currently reaching with your product and those that you want to reach.  Then, you must know your product.  Know what you offer and what makes your content stand out above the rest.  Finally, you must know your competition.  Studying what your competition is doing, good or bad, will help you learn from what they have already done.  It will also give you an idea of how you can stand out.

5 Leadership Tips From ABC's "Lost": Jack Shephard

I still hate the fact that Lost is not on TV anymore.  Running for six seasons on ABC, Lost quickly became an American classic by mixing drama, action, and mystery into one successful TV show.  Jack Shephard, the main character, quickly emerges as the leader of the castaways.  Whether you love him, hate him, or have mixed emotions about him, Jack uses his decision making and strategic planning to take on a role that few want or are capable of possessing.  Even with his flaws, Jack provides five major traits that are a necessity to be a successful leader (some a similar).

Decisions & Actions: 

There are many times over the course of Lost where a decision must be made immediately.  Live on the beach or at the caves? Go after Michael or let him wander alone?  Trust Juliet as an Other or not?  Whether he made the right or wrong decision in hindsight, Jack was the only one that stepped up at the time to make it.  He made a choice and stuck with it.  While Jack does not always adapt his strategy to changing situations or admit that he is wrong, he does do his best to make his choice work.  He works hard and he dedicates himself to his strategy.  Whether you succeed or fail, you need to make a decision and dedicate yourself to getting the end result you want.

What Jack Does Wrong: If you are at the point of no return, do not be blinded by trying to finish just so you can be right. Let down your ego, analyze the situation, and attack with a new strategy.

Puts Others First:

Jack does what any good leader should do, he puts others first.  He took blood out of his own body to try save Boone.  He sacrificed himself to let Kate and Sawyer escape the Others.  He eventually takes the role as protector of the island.  The goal of a successful leader is to be selfless.  This does not mean that you do not finish your own tasks or let the quality of your work suffer.  Instead, you add on the work to your schedule or place it in times when you can afford it.  In the business world, this is dealing with clients, co-workers, or interns.  Sometimes we have to cover for an account manager that needs help with a deadline.  We may need to work late nights to get a new campaign ready for a client.  Regardless of your relationship to the person, you need to make sure to put their interests above your own. 

What Jack Does Wrong: Jack can put others first so much that he sacrifices his time and health.  Do not always appear to have everything together; realize that it is okay to take time for yourself and to show that you are not perfect.

Promote Unity:

When Jack and the castaways realize that help is not coming for them, they try to live on their own.  This is when Jack gives a motivational speech with the key phrase "If we don't live together, then we will die alone".  This phrase carries over to any business or team.  Whether your office has six people or five hundred, you must be united.  You must have good organizational communication and strive for the same goals.  A leader helps establish these goals, taking time and effort to communicate with each member of the team they are overseeing.  They also must be able to facilitate tasks for efficiently and effectively.
What Jack Does Wrong: Jack tries to unify the group underneath him for a cause, but does not always facilitate.  Taking on a heavy load is fine and sometimes needed, but it can't be done consistently.  It can wear a person down to the point where they are not effective.

Plan Strategically:

Jack had a plan of how to protect his camp from Ethan.  He later had another detailed plan of how to defeat the Others.  Every great leader has great ideas.  They must be able to weigh all possible outcomes: all successes and all failures.  A leader must play the role of the devil's advocate, whether the ideas come from themselves or others.  Question everything and make sure that the plan has no glaring or underlying issues or flaws.  Another key component of a strategic planner is to analyze and evaluate.  Being able to read previous research and convert it into useful information will give them insight into the future success of their plan.  In the business world this may be looking at competitors, pricing, or consumer trends.
What Jack Does Wrong:
Jack rarely shows the ability to improvise.  Many times over the course of the show, Jack has his plan, and when something changes, he cannot adapt.  This is very similar to deciding and taking action, but Jack's ego is not involved.

Inspiration/Morale:

Jack is a source of hope for those stranded on the island.  They know that he will give his best in planning, fighting the Others, or trying to save their lives through his medical training.  He provides hope in a hopeless place.  A true leader must be willing to go to bat for his team.  They must be able to trust him and know that he will provide in the clutch.  A leader can motivate his team, inspire belief in his clients, and encourage an intern to learn more about the business.  If the work environment is a happy place and morale is high, then the work will be better and get done quicker.

5 Tips for First Impressions that Impress

A large part of anyone's life is interacting with people.  Whether working hard on the job or mixing in a social setting, you can't avoid it.  While some people are painfully shy and others can talk to anyone about anything, being able to successfully interact with someone the first time you meet them is vital to growing and maintaing a relationship.  You are not trying to do what Brad Pitt (Rusty) suggested to Matt Damon (Linus) in Ocean's Eleven:

"Don't use seven words when four will do. Don't shift your weight, look always at your mark but don't stare, be specific but not memorable, be funny but don't make him laugh. He's got to like you then forget you the moment you've left his side"

I know that many people have problems of standing out in a crowd, making a lasting impression, or even just getting the courage to interact with others; it is very difficult at times.  Don't worry, that is natural! We all worry about what people think about us, but worrying about it gets us nowhere.  Take these five simple steps to help people walk away with a positive first impression of you.


Image:


Whether we want to believe it or not, our society is highly judging on appearance.  While this can be shallow and unfair, the way we appear to someone the first time we meet them will always be stuck in their head, even if we haven't said a word.  This judgment can be positive, negative, or neutral, but it does make a difference.  Try to dress appropriately for whatever situation you are in.  I am not going to tell you to buy the nicest clothes or to lose weight, but I am going to tell you to be yourself.  Dress nicely and let your style reveal who you are.

This style shoes originally and individualism while looking nice and approachable.

Tone of Voice & Speech:


When meeting someone for the first time, you need to sound confident.  Whether this is talking to that attractive girl at the bar or meeting a new client, you need to not stumble on your words.  Think about what you want to say prior to meeting them, but know that you can never plan a conversation perfectly.  Planning will only give you opportunities to get into the conversation and easy your mind.  Also, pauses are okay.  God allows for our mouths to shut.  Instead of rambling, making up filler sentences, or saying "uhhhhhh" a bunch of times, just gather your thoughts and then speak confidently.


Say Their Name:


Saying the name of the person that you have just met in conversation can do a few things.  First, it will let them know you are listening to what they are saying.  If you repeat their name, you likely are remembering the other things they are saying as well.  Second, it will let them know that you care.  It shows that you are focused on them, their time, and your conversation.  And third, it will help you remember the girl/guy/client/contact better.  If you see them later in a different setting, it allows you to go up to them, and personally ask how they are doing.  This is always a way to impress people.

Find Common Interests:


Finding something that you share in common with someone leads to a genuine shared interest, a prolonged topic of conversation, and generally more areas to talk about.  Getting an idea of a person's school, job, hobbies, or family can lead to many more conversations if they are something that you can both relate to.


Be Yourself:


Do not try to act like someone that you aren't.  Creating lies or putting up a front during a first conversation will ruin anything you establish on that false foundation.  Don't act like you know more than you do, just relax and be yourself. 

Yep, You Lost It: Losing Your Customers' Trust

With so many platforms to reach an audience, companies have many options of how to appeal to their clients.  E-mails, company websites, and Twitter, to name a few, all provide the chance to publicize and create buzz around a product or service.  But what if you falsify some information? What if you make guarantees about your product that are not true? What if you inflate your opinion on websites or social media by commenting about yourself or bringing your competitor down?  My answer to all of these: You have failed your customer.

The idea of deceiving your client is the easiest way to make sure that your business fails.  All ethics and personal opinions aside, you must create a relationship that is based on trust.  If they cannot trust you, then they will not buy your product.  Many examples come to mind when we talk about stealth marketing, but the most recent one is

Mitt Romney. I am putting aside my political views on this one.  Romney, the Republican nominee for President, may or may not have done what he is accused of with his Twitter account. Purchasing Twitter followers just to increase your number is not a good thing in any way.  These followers appear fake to your actual followers or outside world, while being a base that is most likely not very interested in your product or service.  If you really like something on Twitter or Facebook, it takes 5 seconds to follow or like it by yourself.  Regardless of whether the Romney campaign did or did not buy Twitter followers, with or without Mitt's approval, it is not a bright spot for the campaign.

So you can try to look like you are creating a larger buzz about your product than you are, but you can also display false content, which leads me to

Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart has long been the poster child for giant corporations in this country, destroying the dreams of many entrepreneurs and Mom & Pop stores.  With labor issues seen as the forefront issue with Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart teamed up with Edelman to create a fake blog written by a middle-class family that promoted Wal-Mart stores, employees, and products.  Wal-Mart paid for the travel expenses of the RV, put a logo on the side, and determined the route it would travel.

What should you do? Simple: be who you are.  Do not claim that your nuggets are 100% white meat if they are not.  Do not post comments or feedback on your website under a false name.  Don't try to buy people to create a fake amplification of your reach and buzz.  It is fine to participate, but be honest.  Post comments as a yourself, letting people know you care about their thoughts and the product you are selling.  If you use shady tactics to get consumers, they will leave you just as quickly as they came when you are exposed.

4 Tips to Successful Word of Mouth Marketing

The world of marketing is one that includes two contrasts: many stereotypical concepts and many outside of the box thoughts and ideas.  My question: Why is there a "box" in the first place?  There should never be a limit to the creativity and ideas that you can come up to reach a larger audience.  With social media, connecting and having an extended reach has never been easier, and it helps us with the most successful type of marketing: Word of Mouth.

Word of mouth marketing is free and is the most powerful and persuasive type of marketing.  Hearing someone that you trust give you a pitch about a successful experience they have had with a product is generally enough interest to make someone try it.  A bartender tells you about the new Bud Light Platinum, so you purchase it next time you go to the store.  Your older brother just finished his first year at Clemson University and loves it, making you take a tour of the school.  Your friend wears COAST Apparel or Polo, leading you to their website store to make a purchase.  Word of mouth marketing happens so much that we may not even understand that it is happening.  Regardless of our awareness to the marketing, we are being influenced positively or negatively about a product.

The four things needed for a successful Word of Mouth campaign are:

People: You must find people that are enthusiastic and connected to relay your message.  These can be in the form of anyone, related or not related to the company. These people will talk about your product because they love it, they want to share it, and they want to help others. If you give them something to talk about and they like you, then you have almost everything you need.  For example, Justin Bieber has sold-out concerts and album sales all across the world.  His fans are passionate and they spread the word about him and his music.

Content: You must give people a topic to talk about.  If the product that you are selling absolutely sucks, then you can't expect to sell it.  Allow people to have their expectations met with your product, or blow away those expectations completely. Nobody had any idea that the iPod would be a necessity in the world of technology.  It made CDs irrelevant, and crushed any competitors by continuing to update the product, adding more memory, videos, and touch capabilities. You must make your content so good that it has to be shared.

Tools: When you use tools to help the conversation, word of mouth marketing can have a greater depth or a greater reach.  Someone can easily "Like" your Facebook page or retweet something on Twitter.  Allowing people a "Share" button or to sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the newest items or product updates will help them know more, leading to them sharing more about it.  In addition, if you own a business that sells consumer goods, allow for people to walk out with something that is informative about your store.  This could be for their benefit or for them to pass on.  For example, Rush Wilson, a clothing retailer in Greenville, SC, includes ping pong balls with their logos with any purchase a college student makes.  This gives a constant reminder, a talking piece, and a good impression on the consumer.

Particpate: You have to respond to the word of mouth marketing! Respond to e-mails, complaints, comments, tweets, or questions. The more that the consumer knows your product and can talk about it with confidence, the better they will make it appear to a friend.  Also, if the customer service is always good, whether you are successfully selling an item or fixing a complaint, people will talk about it.  Chick-fil-a is always notorious for having the nicest employees and best customer service.  Having just graduated from college, I cannot mention the number of times that my friends talked about the cute, sweet girl that served them at Chick-fil-a.

7 Things "Suits" Can Teach Us About Sales & Marketing

One of my favorite shows for the past two summers has been Suits.  Suits, a television drama on USA, is based on two lawyers: senior partner Harvey Specter and his associate Mike Ross.  As I was watching this over the past weeks, it struck me that as different as the world of marketing/social media and law are, the core foundations of acquiring and keeping business are the same for all companies. After watching the most recent episode, I made a list of 7 things that Suits can teach us about marketing and sales.

Be creative to get the end results needed


How are you going to get the new business that you want? What makes your product stand out? How are you going to get the end results that you want? Whether it is playing tennis or getting lunch with a potential client or thinking outside of the box to creatively win a lawsuit, Harvey and Mike know to never settle for average.  They want to stand out, and know that being creative helps all aspects of their business.  Think about how to overcome obstacles.  Expect and predict how the market will pan out.  Use many different options to get new business, such as promotional events, advertising, networking, and online presence through a website, blog or social media.

Be confident as a person and salesperson


While there is a huge difference between confidence and arrogance, you must believe in yourself and  product or service to be successful.  Harvey is a lawyer with a witty humor and confidence, but he believes in himself and know that his product is the best.  This is why he knows he can win, because he backs it up and has proved it.  Why would anyone buy something from you if you seem unsure about it? Being passionate for the product you are selling or marketing definitely helps.  Believe in it and believe in yourself, and your chances are a lot better and succeeding.

Care about the consumer

While Harvey believes that he cannot get emotionally attached to a client and that he must focus on the facts and the law, Mike Ross is an emotional lawyer that listens to and believes his clients.  Giving bad customer service, ignoring your client, or not listening to the consumer will get your business nowhere.  If a customer is treated like a king, they remember it and will spread their experience through word of mouth marketing.  In contrast, if they are treated poorly, they will most likely find a rival to take your place while telling others to not use your product or service.

Ask for help if you need it


Since Mike did not go to law school and was thrown into his job immediately, he was inexperienced and did not know many simple things about the law office.  While learning on the fly, he had to ask for help from the receptionist, the paralegal, and other associates.  It is alright to not know how to do something, but figure out how to make it happen! Ask people for help and do not be embarrassed.  Especially if you are new to the industry or company, it is better to do something right with help than to do it wrong by yourself.

Give a simple message


Harvey makes all of his clients know: Hire me and win.  It is that simple.  Using too many words or an inconsistent message will confuse people.  They may not be able to know what service they are getting.  They may not be able to know what the product does.  Being intentional with your message and marketing and making it easy to understand will go a long way in getting and keeping business.

Make people happy


This goes along with caring about the customer, but it is actually acting it out.  They are your clients.  You are offering your product or services.  Make sure that you remember, they do not necessarily need you.  You need them.  They are the ones that choose whether to give your business a chance, so treat them well.  Make sure that you respect them, their opinion, and do your best to get them the results that they expect, just like Harvey and Mike.

Create trust through honesty


Harvey and Mike are always honest with their clients.  In the world of sales and marketing, being deceptive or exaggerating can be easy, but it can also create trust issues.  In the long run, these things will come back to bite you rather than help.  If you are honest with your customers, showing them respect and building trust, then they will go to bat for you.  Another thing: if you mess up, create a bad batch of products, or offer a bad service, be honest about it.  It can be humiliating or tough, but if you mess up, you have to take responsibility for your mistakes.

Does Facebook Help Professional Sports Teams?

Everyone knows about Facebook.  You either have an account or hear people 

talking about Facebook endlessly, wishing you could be a part of it.  The truth 

is, I think Facebook is starting to decline.  Even my age group, college students 

and recent grads, are turning away from Facebook, and towards Twitter, Pinterest, 

and other social media platforms.  Regardless, everyone uses Facebook for 

personal interests.  Does this personal interest overlap enough with professional 

sports teams for them to create their own page, content, and interest on the 

Internet's largest social media website?

The answer is yes.  While many companies struggle to make their Facebook page

 standout or be relevant, it is extremely needed by professional sports teams.  The 

Los Angeles Lakers, arguably America's NBA team, has 445K likes on Facebook. 

 In short, whenever the team adds content to their page, such as pictures, team 

information, schedules, or promotions, it comes up on their fans News Feeds.
Even the lowly Charlotte Bobcats, the toilet of American sports, have 121K
followers, updating them with content of running polls, videos, articles, and
contests.  

Some other notable teams: 

Soccer:

Real Madrid 29 million

Manchester United 26 million

US Men's Soccer 5K

Hockey:

Boston Bruins 1.2 million

Detroit Red Wings 1.3 million

NBA:

Miami Heat 6 million

Los Angeles Lakers 445 K

MLB:

New York Yankees 5.8 million

Atlanta Braves 1.2 million

Boston Red Sox 3.6 million

NFL:

Green Bay Packers 4.1 million

Dallas Cowboys 4.9 million

The other thing that you must consider about these fans: they liked the page on
their own.  This helps the team know that they are reaching an audience that cares.
They will be more inclined to listen, participate, and purchase.

If these pages are updated with content consistently, whether that is weekly or
daily, they provide great insight to a target market.  So my advice to professional
sports teams: Use Facebook, update it daily with relevant content, and provide
links to your website.  It will only increase the buzz, interest, and revenue
of your team.

Guys vs. Girls

Guys vs. Girls

As we have moved into a world of social media, we must consider that some platforms work much better for one sex than the other.  This brings up two influential social media sites: Google + and Pinterest.

Google +, the platform that took $580 million to create, allows for you to create different circles of the people you know.  While I believe that a person should aim to be consistent in their life, showing who they are at all times, Google + lets you share certain aspects with only specific people.  The demographic of Google +: it consists of 69.4% males.

Why is this? Well, Google + hasn’t really gone viral or mainstream.  It has a specific niche, with 7 of the top 8 occupations on Google + being: Engineer, Developer, Software Engineer, Designer, Web Developer, Programmer and Software Developer.  Clearly, Google + is for a more computer focused crowd, which happens to be a profession dominated by men.

Pinterest, a pinning website of photos and videos, is about 75% female.  The ratio of my friends on Pinterest is 10:1, favoring the women.  The site was not designed just for women, even though it has been taken over by feminine content ranging from wedding planning and home decorations to recipes and fashion.  The vast amounts of crafting and hair advice, among other things, just does not encourage men to participate.  Even though a similar site, Gentlemint, was created for only men, it has been mostly unsuccessful and men have ever so slowly started joining Pinterest.

The main things we can learn: women love images and they love collecting.  They find it relaxing to look at photos of things they are interested it.  Due to women being more emotional, caring, and nurturing than men, they trust more easily than men.  This allows for them to trust the content of their following and followers, providing for more sales and interactive campaigns on Pinterest.

If you are a company targeting women consumers, you needed to be on Pinterest with a marketing campaign yesterday.