StreetSavvy Marketing Predictions for 2016

It’s that time again when just about everyone has predictions for the New Year. In November, Forbes contributor Kimberly Whitler posted predictions from the C-suite.   Adam Davidi, from the Guardian, posted predictions on branding based on conversations with “experts.”   I am sure we will see predictions from Forrester, Gartner and others as well.

As a Managing Director at C-Level Partners, I don’t want us to be left out.  My colleague, Vince Ferraro, and I have been C-level executives in marketing and general management for many years. We now consult with companies on marketing and their go-to-market strategies.   We decided to look at “Big M” marketing, relating to predictions for how companies and brands go to market and how they interact with customers.  So without fanfare and any biased perspective, we share these predictions for Marketing for 2016.

Let me be candid.  While most of these are predictions based on our work with clients, with start-ups and in talking with our marketing colleagues, there are also some “aspirational trends” that we hope come true for the profession as well as we believe they are important for marketing professionals and the businesses they manage.  Some of these trends overlap and leverage each other.   To us, that will represent the power of good marketing.  In no particular order, our top sweet 16 are:

1. Cognitive Commerce has begun. Marketers will use information on customers from their databases, the internet, and other sources to build stronger relationships, build predictive algorithms, personalize content, and deliver products and services to meet their specific needs.
2. The distinction between offline and online will disappear as real time analytics will unite both camps. Marketers will consider all (omni) marketing channels to optimize their marketing programs based on cost, effectiveness, ROI and the satisfaction quotient from building relationships with customers.
3. Branding will be from the inside out. Companies will not push the brand but the brand will be built on trust, engagement, referrals, authentic dialog, and transparency.
4. Digital Marketing will cease to exist as a standalone part of marketing. There isn’t a need for separation anymore. World class marketers will know how to market in a digital world. Traditional and online marketing not only will coexist, but one will leverage the other and work better together.
5. Advances in video broadcasting and continued growth in mobile devices will change TV marketing forever. Marketers will use new technologies to enable a more immersive experience and TV and other broadcast video usage will expand on all screens – laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, HDTVs and even screens in cars,( i.e. telematics).
6. Content will be created specifically with video channels in mind. Further, there will continue to be a migration to mobile video which will become de rigor on a company’s website, in blogs, in training, and on Youtube.  Youtube channels for marketers will continue to expand.  In addition, the use of video podcasting and live streaming are also in a growth mode.  The world is clearly digital and going video and marketers will take advantage of that.
7. Personalization will grow as its ROI is measured and as customers come to expect to be treated as individuals. We, at C-Level Partners, have written that there are now 7Ps of marketing and personalization is one of them.  Technology and marketing automation will enable this to happen.  This personalization will improve company branding and the ability to build stronger relationships with customers.
8. Marketers will get back to basics. Solid, well planned marketing will trump the sexy marketing in the past.  The CMO and business leaders will focus on marketing as a strategic investment to generate profitable revenue.
9. The human touch will return to marketing. How many of you love to listen to an automated customer service system saying that “your call is important to us…”  That’s bull!  Companies will realize that you are important and will show it by having more touch than tech or at least do a better job of integrating the two.  Being human will also apply to helping customers understand the value of the company’s products and determining what motivates buying behavior.  This is like getting back to the future… and I love it.
10. Employee experience (EX) will be as important as customer experience (CX). Engaged employees are critical because at the front line – in retail, sales and customer service- they ARE the brand, or at least a fair representation of it.   Engaged employees also feel part of the company, behave like owners, and will be promoters of the company’s products and services.  According to our anecdotal evidence, only about 30% are engaged today.  Think Zappos, Starbucks, 1and1, and Jet for companies who provide both good EX and CX.
11. Marketing and Data Science will be the new dynamic duo. This will be key to understanding the customer persona from many angles – demographics, psychographics, sentiments, and buying behavior.  Vince and I, both being engineers, can relate and understand this dynamic.  We expect to see the CIO and CMO becoming BFF’s.
12. As a corollary to #11, data will be the new currency for the younger generation. Data will enable the ability to personalize the marketing message and make that message more meaningful and differentiated for a particular customer. But it doesn’t only apply to the younger generation; big data will be used to help understand buying behavior of all customers and couple that information with the dynamics of profitable revenue growth for the corporation.   The new marketer will be, must be, a datahead or recruit the right people in his/her organization who have the skills to analyze the myriad of data available from business and marketing systems.
13. Marketers will provide more original insights into business. Marketers will not be mere curators of data and content.  The key word is  By having more insight into business, the CMO will be able to justify his/her seat at the executive table.  (This is a belief and expectation!)
14. Customer success will be determined by a combination of satisfaction, retention, and referral. We have always believed that the combination of the three components will yield the most loyal customers.   In conjunction with this, customers themselves, through social media, will become the company’s best sales people. Technology to help build customer engagement will continue to evolve and become more sophisticated.
15. Marketing and selling will be in an omni-channel world. Marketing execs will understand the buying persona of their customers and will use math and analytics to optimize the sales and distribution channels.  But the key here is that it will not be one channel vs. the other.  The marketer will blend online and offline, retail and wholesale, third party distribution and direct to ensure the buying experience matches the customer and to improve the profitability of the company.
16. Chief Marketing Officers will evolve to become strategic businesspeople first and “marketing” executives second. This is our wish and expectation; therefore, we took the liberty to include it as one of our predictions.  The CMO will be the linking pin from the outside world of the customer to the inside world of production, manufacturing and operations.  He/she will have a unique view on building and capturing valued.  In the past, we have not seen this from most of our traditional marketing colleagues as many have been focused on one area e.g. advertising, digital, brand, and product.  The new marketing executive will be a generalist, a businessperson with a focus on top and bottom line growth, steeped in data analytics, change management, and growth levers, coupled with creative and innovative bent.  We may be wrong about this one for 2016, but we believe it will eventually take root over time.

We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on your sweet 16 predictions for 2016.  Let’s keep the dialog going at www.clevelpartners.net.   And feel free to contact me at dfriedman@clevelpartners.net or Vince at vferraro@clevelpartners.net for a complimentary discussion on how we can help you achieve value creation and profitable revenue growth.

The New 7Ps of Marketing: Disregard at Your Own Risk!

I was reading an article in the recent Forbes online CMO Network by Kimberly Whitler entitled: What are the top predictions for marketers heading into 2016?   Ms. Whitler surveyed some experts, including CEOs, Presidents/GMs, CMOs, authors and executive recruiters.  In a different but recent article, Forbes CMO also ranked the top 50 CMOs.  To me, I would have rather heard their predictions.

I always enjoy reading “predictions” because they keep me on my toes- maybe I missed something- and makes me challenge what I believe are the upcoming trends.  As a businessman and marketer I certainly don’t want to be caught short.

I found the article very interesting and certain worthy of consideration.  I feel after reading the comments that each person is looking at the “elephant” from their unique vantage point.  And frankly, I am not sure they are predictions or wishful thinking based on the viewpoints of the interviewee. Nevertheless, they are certainly food for thought.

From a holistic view, my prediction – or wishful thinking – is that marketers need to start with the customer and realize that marketing has become multi-channel and multi-dimensional.   The smart CMO must orchestrate the new marketing mix. That means they need to simplify messages sent to consumers through whatever channel is relevant to them i.e. digital, small screen, large screen, Point-of-Purchase.  And they need to determine which is most relevant for the target personas.   Moreover, the smart marketer should consider all the tools in his/her toolbox and select those tools that are most effective for getting the right message and INTERACTION with the customer.

When I put this together, i find that the old model of 4P’s is antiquated.  I believe the new prediction is that good CMOs are now considering 7Ps in a holistic view: the original 4 (product including product/service development, price, promotion, placement (digital or traditional), and the new three consisting of process (including customer engagement, referral and loyalty), people as brand messengers at point of purchase or via customer care, and personalization (through technology).

The “traditional” 4Ps of marketing are well known.    In the day, marketing was about creating demand, and to a large degree it still is today.  But the focus was on selling a product to meet a need.   In general, promotion was based on advertising push.  The marketer’s mantra was to shout out the virtues of the product by mass advertising. To some who read the history books, the “soaps” on TV were called that because the consumer goods manufacturers such as Tide, All, and Fab were sponsoring and advertising on the TV shows aimed at the housewives and other stay at home folks.

Pricing was simple.  Manufacturer’s set price and used a price point philosophy of good, better, best. Placement represented where the consumer could buy the product i.e. at the neighborhood store or a mass retailer or even door-to-door sales and home delivery.

Because of technology such as the internet, and the movement away from a manufacturing to a service company, even the original 4 P’s have changed.

FROM                             TO

Product         –>       Solution

Promotion    –>       Information

Price               –>       Value

Place               –>       Access

 

Consumers and businesses want solutions to their problems and want to understand how the product/service will perform.  Due to the internet, both as catalogs of information and online reviews that are omnipresent through a myriad of sources, information has replaced pure promotion.   Certainly consumers and businesses want to find the right product at the right price, yet price by itself has been replaced by value with the value add sometimes being generated by service agreements and extended warranties.  And primarily due to the internet, place (distribution) has increased to a multi-channel access.  Think about the changes from the 1990s when e-commerce was first getting started to today.  Consumers and businesses now have electronic exchanges and other online venues from which to buy goods and services.   And now, coming full circle, we see Amazon opened its first brick and mortar store in Seattle.

Now let’s add the new three elements to the marketing mix.  First is the element of PEOPLE.    When I was head of marketing at US Cellular, we changed our brand and positioned our company using the tag line “the way people talked around here.”   Why did we do that?  In part, we recognized from our research in the late 90s and early 2000s that customers in our market wanted something more than what other cellcos offered.  We were not going to be the most technologically advanced (although our network and engineering were superb), nor were we going to cover the most customers in the country.  What our customers wanted was a relationship with our company, represented by our front line sales and customer service people.  They wanted a company they could trust.  At that point, we realized that people were the brand messengers and in our touchpoint marketing system, represented a way to affect the relationship and alter the buying habits of our consumers.  And it worked.  Our retention rate i.e. loyalty, was the best in the in the business.

The second new element is PROCESS. Many companies loathe the word process because they feel it is bureaucratic.  To me, process is the mechanism for repeatability. We want processes to help the customer in building its relationship with the company and also empower the employees to do their job to satisfy the customer.  Clearly, it is a tricky balance!   The processes today – mostly enabled by technology- relate to tools that help the company serve the customer.    There is a dizzying array of tools that the marketer has to understand and use.  See Marketing Technology Landscape by Scott Brinker or some of the Lumascapes by Luma Partners.  Some of these tools include ways to mass customize a product or service to the customer needs.  Witness the new companies entering the market to build relationships with consumers and business buyers.  There are processes enabled by digital and web technologies that enable social engagement and the marketers use these new tools to build and maintain relationships with their customers.   This improves value through new services and interactive engagement in the eyes of the buyer.

The final area is PERSONALIZATION. Several of the interviewees pointed out that understanding the customers’ persona is critical to segmentation.  Once you understand who they are, the company has to satisfy their unique requirements.  I have always been a fan of mass customization (read Joe Pines original work) or macro-niching as I use to call it 5 years before mass customization became vogue.   Personalization is easy today with technology.  You can see it when you buy a car.  Go into a BMW or Jaguar dealer in their store or online and the system will build the car for you.  Buy a house from Toll Brothers and you get a platform and options to tailor the house to your needs.   Go on the web and find a case for your smart phone and you can easily customize it with your school logo and colors.   Consumers want to feel special and that ensures a solid on-going relationship with their customers.

Marketing has changed and will continue to evolve over the next several years.  Clearly there will be a natural bonding between the CIO and CMO as marketing technology has become more important in defining the marketing mix.  While Ms. Whitler did not ask my prediction for 2016, I will share it with my readers.    I predict that marketing will be more about the customer and the great marketer will find the right combination of the 7 elements to build and sustain relationships with that customer.  At least I hope so.

I would be glad to continue the dialog or share additional thought.  Feel free to visit us on our web at www.clevelpartners.net or contact me at dfriedman@clevelpartnes.net.

What Can You Do to Make a Difference in 90 Days?

As an advisor to executives that recently were promoted, I have been asked how to get off to a good start in the new job.  This new job can be within the existing or for an entirely new company.  I am sure many of you faced the same questions as you progressed in your careers and many of you who are currently in job search mode have been asked during interviews by company executives about your short term plan to achieve success.  The plan can also be used as a “restart” plan where either the strategy of the organization has changed, the competitors have changed, or the management and vision has changed.   It gives an executive an opportunity to pause and rethink of the best path forward.  One of my favorite pictorials is the following and this blog will address how not to be confused.

I want to share with you some thoughts and a high level template that can be used to develop your plan.   Additionally, I would like to suggest a book by Thomas Neff and James Citrin called “You’re in Charge- Now What?” as a nice complement to this blog.  Neff and Citrin are recruiters with Spencer Stuart and their book focuses on an 8 point plan for the most senior executives.  But their plan can be adapted to executives at any level.

Why a 90 day plan?  In 90 days, the new executive should have enough time to understand the new environment in which he or she operates and begin the process of executing a plan to makes changes.  Most companies have a relatively short term view and public companies report on a quarterly basis.  This plan can dovetail with the reporting systems and be used to tell the market (or customers or partners) that there is change coming.   And within this 90 day period, I believe that an executive can always find one or several different areas that can be improved and that can affect the top or bottom line of a company… or at least move in that right direction.

Let’s focus on a newly appointed executive in a new or expanded role.     While the specifics may change based on the individual executive, the type of company, and where on the growth curve that company lies, the following principles and templates can be used and modified.  The executive needs to detail the major proposed activities to be accomplished in the first 90 days, the major tasks and accompanying rationale;   Information required , tied to each task, and the rough timing and budget to perform the task.

The objectives of a 90 day plan are to:

• Learn about the strategic initiatives, culture, customers, and suppliers to the company.
• Build strong relationships with peer group within the company and with customers
• Build trust among the team (executives, peers, and employees)
• Set a strategic and tactical plan in motion.
• Design a plan for future growth and profitability, cost efficiencies, manufacturing excellence, better customer support, better margin growth or other functional attributes.
  • Determine ways to drive the organization to realize its full potential through existing programs– benchmarking and process management, execution
  • Develop ways to grow the future business significantly through new products or expansion of our eco-system of suppliers and partners
• Communicate the plan and the expectations to the constituents and  execute to the plan

The template to do this is as follows and specific activities, some of which are outlined below- are shown.

Discovery:

Discovery is the most critical in my opinion as it sets the stage for the agenda and the tactical plan.   Included in discovery are the following elements:

• Review general company, industry, competitor, customer, supplier material
• Establish productive relationship with my boss
• Face to face meetings with your team, top customers, sales/field VPs, other stakeholders to build trust and “seek to understand”

> Determine biggest challenges and opportunities

> Hot button issues (things that I call landmines which if not immediately acted upon                   can derail your success.)

• Establish relationship with peer group: lunch, attend their staff meetings
• Set expectations and convey those expectations to your team and other constituents.

I have always found that a written “discovery” document works wonders to get people on the same page and to ferret out where differences might lie.

Set the Agenda.

To set the agenda, there are two parts: drive to full potential and planning for the future.   The agenda is based on your specific objectives, the company strategy and the ability to start getting some meaningful results.   For a marketing person who is trying to bring their team to realize its full potential the agenda might include quick wins on revenue generation, or the execution of a product introduction plan or even defining a more cogent business or marketing strategy.  For a COO, the plan might include quick wins on operational efficiency, curing issues that customers deem important and where the company has failings.  In either case, part of driving to full potential is an analysis of the team and a plan for improving skills and changing or adding appropriate team members

In some companies, and for some positions, the focus is on growth.  Planning for the future might include things such as redefining growth objectives or planning for new customers or new applications or new eco-system partners or forming new strategic, operating, marketing and sales plans.

Execute the Plan.

The final –part of the plan is to communicate and execute the plan to perfection.   Focus on three or four major objectives at the most.   The key issue for success for the executive is FOCUS- focus on those areas most important and that will have the greatest effect. Once you gain credibility you will have the chance to do more.  Regardless of the specific tasks and the plan to execute, make sure you have a clear battle rhythm i.e. how you will manage your function or the business unit and memorialize that in a clear operational dashboard which can be shared.

Flexibility is key during the transition period and will change based on “discovery,” input from the board, executive bosses, peers, team, customers, and suppliers.  However, it is a roadmap that will put you on a path to success.

Glad to get your take on the plan.

Customer Jujitsu: Leveraging Customer Needs for Strategic Imperatives

I am a New York Yankees fan and grew up with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and the incomparable Yogi Berra.  Now, many people think that Yogi is known for his Aflac commercials, yet many don’t recognize that he is the holder of the record for a player who won the most World Series (10) and who has the most hits (71).  Yogi is also famous for his statements of the obvious.  The one that strikes a business cord is depicted in the following diagram.  Yogi said, “if you see a fork in the road, take it!!”

Another business person very conscious of the competitive environment sees what the competitor offers and chases after solutions to outdo the competition.   After all, if a company can outdo the competition on items such as features, benefits, and technology, wouldn’t that company achieve share gains?   Maybe, although features and benefits and even pricing by themselves will not necessarily win customers or their loyalty.Normally, a business executive sets strategies in one of three directions, or combinations of the three.  These degrees of freedom include: competitor, competencies of the company, and customers.    Unfortunately, many business people, especially those who are driven by sales, “pivot” or change direction so rapidly as if they are taking Yogi’s advice literally.    It is not always advantageous to do so.  A new technology based on what R&D has discovered may be immediately thought of as the way to certain riches.  Remember that the greatest inventions have created some of the largest companies with rewards reaped by the business and executives.

A third, however, thinks about the customer and satisfying his/her needs.  This is a customer intimate or customer focused philosophy and if done right is the essence  of customer Jujitsu.   It may not work all the time for various reasons, yet I believe that there is a higher probability of success in sustaining profitable revenue growth by leveraging the knowledge and preference of the customers.   You engender trust and build relationships and isn’t that the fundamental platform of good business?

Over time, in these newsletters and blogs we will cover various aspects of technology and competition and how we can grow profitable revenue through each of these elements separately or in combination.   It all starts with the customer, however, and we want to share some tools to understand the customers’ needs and drivers which can be leveraged for developing strategic initiatives as well as tactical plans.   We call this attribute, Customer Jujitsu, because you, the business person, can leverage the understanding of the customers to refine and augment your business strategy.  It seems simple but the tools and discipline needed are keys to success.

Here are some of the tools ranging from simple to more complex.

1. Pulse surveys. Normally for the B2B market, these are simple questions asked of the customer on a regular basis to find out how things are going?   This is different from a sales call and the agenda is strictly to understand how well your company is doing in various areas to help the customer succeed.  It results in building better communications and trust.  If you ask enough customers, you can get a good perspective on how well your company is doing.
2. Bounce back cards/online surveys/follow-up calls. These are effective in understanding a specific transaction.   Through the data you gather, you can discern trends and issues that might arise.   You might be able to notice a trend but generally this information is not used to set the strategic agenda for the company.  As we say, it is necessary information but not sufficient.
3. Customer surveys via tools such as Survey Monkey. This is a great, simple on-line tool and very inexpensive (or free) to ask questions to customers on a sampled and regular basis.  There is a wide variety of questions that can be posed and the output can be graphically displayed.  If the surveys are performed, say quarterly, companies can see trends in certain areas.  Those negative trends can be corrected via functional or business strategies and those positive trends can be highlighted in marketing and business material.
4. Mystery shopping. This can be performed for both business companies but normally performed for consumer oriented companies.   Either a third party or the marketing department performs mystery shopping, acting as a real customer in buying your products.  These mystery shoppers can “shop” your stores (online or brick and mortar), your customer service, and operations departments to find out problem areas vs. your own standards or vs. the competition.
5. Customer Satisfaction Studies. This is probably the most complicated way to get information from customers and it takes time to set up the right questions as part of a continual program.  Yet the information obtained is very valuable.  If done correctly, the business person can get a feel for items that are IMPORTANT to a customer as well as how well the company has PERFORMED.  Those areas in which the company has performed well and are important to the customer can be leveraged as part of the company’s brand.  Those areas which are important to the customer yet performance has been lacking, form the basis of a strategic initiative for the company.

Having gathered the information is part of the equation as they say.  The information must be shared and discussed – particularly at the executive ranks – to see if there is something missing in your strategy, your development work, your distribution, customer service, training, price plans, logistics and similar items.   The ultimate goals are twofold:  First, and most importantly, to find out the temperature of the customer (i.e. customer satisfaction), and whether the customer will buy your products or services again and whether the customer will refer you to a colleague or business acquaintance (the ultimate question).  Second, if customer satisfaction isn’t where management believes it should be and the company is underperforming in areas important to the customer,  then management’s responsibility is to determine what is required to improve satisfaction – and the most cost-effective means of getting there.  This could include the development of new products, or process improvements and even the potential for partnerships, mergers or acquisitions.

Marketing Secrets 101

One of the members of the CMO Newtwork on LinkedIn asked the question “what is the biggest marketing secret you’ve discovered over the course of your career?

Needless to say there were lots of answers. What I found interesting was the wide variety of answers, some bordering on the tactical, others on the strategic, and others on the interpersonal.  Some focused on customers, some on the concept of samples and giving things away for “free trials,” while others suggested that organizational alignment was critical.  All the answers make sense.  Clearly everyone’s perspective is colored by their unique position in an organization as well as what has brought them success in the past.  As a CMO and C-level executive, I have my perspective.  Here are my three “secrets” which when you think about it, are nothing more than commonsense put in perspective of my company’s goals.

I always believed that the CMO is the linking pin from the outside (customer) world to the inside (production) world of the company.   This is a vital role.  Therefore my first secret is:  listen to your customer!!!! Make sure you understand what your customers want – and yes, even if they change their mind you will know it- and develop a product and product architecture to solve those needs.  Be visible with to your customers.

Second, surround yourself with energy- the energy and intelligence of others – in marketing or outside marketing- that can contribute to an innovation mindset.  Ideas are the lifeblood of marketing and you should continue to press for new ideas.  You don’t have to act on them all but you should at least catalog them and act on those with the highest priority.

The final marketing secret has to do with the real role of the senior marketing executive e.g. CMO, and in turn, other marketing colleagues.  That secret, which has to be continually on the mind of the CMO specifically, is to think strategically – be an alter ego to your CEO- and execute tactically.  That means thinking about EBITA as well as top line growth.  EBITA is the lifeblood of all companies from the largest to even the smallest.

In reviewing the dialog, I developed the following framework in which to think about marketing secrets.   The “secrets” can be catalogued into one of four quadrants and depending on the company, its goals and objectives, different secrets.

There are many more “secrets” to being a successful marketing exec but hopefully these will start stimulating discussion.We can use this framework to catalog the different secrets.    If you are finding    too many secrets in one area, then assume that you are missing something in an overall plan.  Again, the answer will vary based on the company, the context and to which marketing level you are speaking.

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