Survival іn today’s competitive environment means thаt уου need tο become innovative. Even industries thаt wеrе nοt known fοr thеіr innovation аrе becoming targets fοr highly innovative аnԁ capable competitors.
In thіѕ article I’m going tο give уου nine tips tο hеƖр уουr organization bе more innovative.
1. Open yourself tο outside influences. Innovation аnԁ improvement аrе two different things. Thеrе іѕ a reason wе talk οf opportunity knocking. It hаѕ tο enter ουr world frοm thе outside. Margaret J. Wheatley ѕаіԁ, “Innovation іѕ fostered bу information gathered frοm nеw connections; frοm insights gained bу journeys іntο οthеr disciplines οr places.” Yου hаνе tο bе creative tο bе innovative. Tο bе creative уου need tο bе open tο nеw аnԁ different thουɡhtѕ.
2. Take thе time needed tο bе innovative. Everyone wаntѕ tο bе innovative now. Everyone wаntѕ tο bе innovative whіƖе doing ten million οthеr things. It isn’t going tο happen. Being innovative іѕ exhausting, tiring, hard work. It’s a task Ɩіkе аnу οthеr — except уου саn’t јυѕt turn іt οn аnԁ οff. Sο give yourself a small bit οf time tο kick back аnԁ rесkοn.
3. Separate thе process frοm thе content. Being innovative іѕ a skill. Anԁ Ɩіkе аnу skill іt follows a process. It’s уουr job tο bе creative bυt уου need tο learn thе process. Or уου need tο υѕе someone whο ԁοеѕ know thе process tο guide уου.
4. Know уουr value statement. Thе greatest innovation fοr уουr organization involves redefining уουr market ѕο thаt уουr competitors аrе nο longer competing wіth уου. Tο ԁο thаt means thаt уου need tο ѕtаrt frοm thе value proposition уου offer уουr customers.
5. Know уουr business model. Yουr value proposition іѕ thе center οf уουr business model. Bυt hοw уου implement thаt value іѕ thе second раrt οf thе background information уου need tο focus οn.
6. Know уουr competitors. Yουr competitors hаνе identified whаt value thеу wіƖƖ provide customers wіth аnԁ hοw. Yουr task іѕ going tο bе tο υѕе thаt information against thеm. Tο find something different. Tο ԁο thаt уου need tο ѕtаrt frοm whаt thеу аrе doing аnԁ thеn look fοr thе tipping point.
7. Know whеrе tο look. It mау seem thаt strategic innovation саn come frοm аnу outside thουɡht. Bυt thе truth іѕ thеrе іѕ a structure around whісh innovation functions. Knowing whеrе tο look fοr thе problem аnԁ thе solution іѕ thе first step tο focusing уουr creativity οn thе innovations уου really need.
8. Involve non-customers. Dο уου want tο compete? Yου already аrе satisfying уουr current customers. Thаt’s whу thеу аrе customers. In order tο innovate within уουr market уου need tο know whу уουr non-customers аrе buying аnԁ thеn seek tο gain thеіr business.
9. Look tο thе non-buyers. Dο уου want tο eliminate competition? In order tο find thе blue waters οf уουr market уου need tο sell tο thе non-buyers. Whο аrе thе non-buyers? Thеу аrе potential customers whο аrе buying alternatives tο thе type οf product уου sell. Dο уου sell eBooks? Thеу′re thе customers whο οnƖу bυу DVDs οr CDs. An innovation aimed аt уουr non-buyers mау јυѕt give уου a blue water market whеrе уου don’t hаνе аnу competition.
Seth Godin is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing. Godin’s blog, is ranked in the AdAge Power 150 as the #1 marketing blog out of 976 tracked. Some of his popular books are : Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, Small Is the New Big,The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?,Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? and Poke the Box. Portfolio Hardcover. Seth Godin, by many is considered to be one of the greatest marketers alive.These are some of Seth Godins’s thoughts on marketing.
- Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
- People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
- You won’t get it right the first time. Your campaign will need to be reinvented, adjusted or scrapped. Count on it.
- The future belongs to people who can invent, implement, and sell the ideas–the free prizes–that become purple cows.
- Companies must create remarkable products and services and let consumers do the marketing themselves to generate a buzz.
- Tap into those ‘listeners,’ as they will always be interested in what you have to say.
- Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
- I think ideas are cheap and pretty easy, actually. What’s difficult is finding someone to champion an idea.
- People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
- Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.
- At some point, you’re either going to have to stick to your convictions or do what the market tells you. It’s hard to do both.
- Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
- Anything that’s worth being talked about is ‘a remarkable idea,’ and remarkable ideas spread
- One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.
- Companies can no longer rely on mass-media advertising to sell average products to average consumers.
- Instead of ‘selling’ to a ‘hit and miss’ type of market, tapping into innovators and adapters would always be the right approach.
- Advertisements on television and radio are classified as ‘interruption marketing’ which interrupt the customer while they are doing something of their preference.
- Godin introduced the concept of “permission marketing” where the business provides something “anticipated, personal, and relevant”
- Pay attention is a key phrase here, because permission marketers understand that when someone chooses to pay attention they are actually paying you with something precious.
- Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
- Don’t promote yourself and your business or your books or your projects at the expense of the reader’s attention.
- Permission is like dating. You don’t start by asking for the sale at first impression. You earn the right, over time, bit by bit.
- Great brands represent something bigger than themselves. You can create this accidentally if you’re lucky, but you can create it on purpose if you try.
- Instead of speed dating your way to interruption, instead of yelling at strangers all day trying to make a living, coordinating a tribe of 1,000 requires patience, consistency and a focus on long-term relationships and life time value.
- The customers you fire and those you pay attention to all send signals to the rest of the group.
- Google never forgets.
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Magazine advertising looks increasingly quaint these days in the ever-more-flashy world of social, mobile, TV and cinema. But some print ads aren't just sitting there looking foolish. They're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. Below, check out 10 print ads that have more to offer than good looks and great copy.
Magazine advertising looks increasingly quaint these days in the ever-more-flashy world of social, mobile, TV and cinema. But some print ads aren't just sitting there looking foolish. They're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. Below, check out 10 print ads that have more to offer than good looks and great copy.
Best and Worst Marketing Ideas . . . Ever
Some marketing efforts manage to hit the ball out of the park. They resonate with the consumer, generate tremendous buzz and even permeate pop culture, becoming part of our lives and linguistics.
In a rather unscientific manner, we've gathered more than a dozen of these iconic campaigns and consulted a variety of experts to explain why they were so great. Here's a recap along with the lessons that can benefit you and your business.
Best making the best of a bad image: Las Vegas' "What Happens Here, Stays Here" campaignAfter a failed attempt to promote itself as a family destination, Las Vegas finally embraced its Sin City image with its "What happens here, stays here" advertising campaign, launched in 2003. It's still going strong: 2007 marked the city's fourth consecutive year of busting tourism records. "It resonated because it's what people already believe," says Laura Ries, president of marketing strategy firm Ries & Ries.
Lesson: Try to turn negatives into positives.Best product placement: Reese's Pieces in E.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialSome marketing missteps make you kick yourself. Take Mars Inc.'s failure to take the opportunity to include M&Ms in E.T. After Mars passed, director Steven Spielberg went to Hershey's, which took the offer. It paid off. Time magazine reported in 1982 that Reese's Pieces sales rose 65 percent in the months after the movie's release. Even though the movie never mentioned the name of the product, showing the distinctive orange package was enough, and the placement enjoyed heavy promotional support from the manufacturer.
Lesson: Placing your product in the right media vehicle can boost sales.Best video ad: Get a MacApple's "Get a Mac" campaign, which launched in 2006, puts the hip, easygoing Mac against the hapless, problem-prone PC. "The message of these ads is clear," says communications professor Stephen Marshall, author of Television Advertising That Works. "Every one of them says, 'Don't be this guy.' You don't want to be the PC." The TV ads also appeared online, and the company released a series of web-only ads to capitalize on consumer interest in the characters. People got the message--Mac's market share grew by 42 percent.
Lesson: Create engaging characters in your online video to help grow an audience that's receptive to your brand.Best contest: Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating ContestLaunched in 1916, this homage to gluttony plasters the Nathan's name across international media each year. Brothers George and Richard Shea launched the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 1997. The IFOCE organizes and runs more than 80 eating contests throughout the U.S. and abroad, spurring a subculture of competitive eating celebrities who receive international media attention.
Lesson: Don't be afraid to be outrageous if it suits your brand.Best use of YouTube: Blendtec's "Will It Blend?"
Blendtec, a maker of high-end blenders, created a series of online videos that depict founder Tom Dickson using his durable machine to smash everything from small electronics to sneakers to credit cards. The videos are on Blendtec's site as well as YouTube, where, through viral marketing, some have been viewed more than 5.5 million times. It shows people are interested--and it saves money, since Blendtec didn't pay for all that band-width. Says Ann Handley, chief content officer of marketing information resource MarketingProfs.com, "They created a campaign that really builds brand awareness."
Lesson: Use various tools to spread the word about how your brand is different.Best slogan: "got Milk?"
What better success benchmark than having your slogan work its way into the national lexicon? It's even better when it includes your product name, says Mitzi Crall, author of 100 Smartest Marketing Ideas Ever. The simplicity of the slogan lends itself to a wide variety of advertising interpretations, ranging from humorousTV ads to the celebrity-driven milk mustache print series. "The images of glamour and fame contrasted with the hominess of a milk mustache make the versatile tagline a hit," says Crall. A year after the campaign launched in California, the state saw an increase in milk sales for the first time in more than 10 years.
Lesson: Look for slogans that have the potential for longevity.Best jingle: NBC jingle
Best use of truth in a crisis: Tylenol
If you can name that brand in three notes, it must be the NBC jingle. Of course, repetition over the years has reinforced the brand, but there's more to it. "It's called mnemonics, or sonic branding," says Marshall. "By adding sound to its brand identity, it adds another way for customers to experience the brand. It especially makes sense because it's a broadcast medium."
Lesson: Look for ways to add additional sensory branding elements when relevant.
When cyanide-laced capsules of Extra Strength Tylenol were linked to seven deaths in the Chicago area in 1982, parent company Johnson & Johnson faced a full-blown crisis. While other companies might have lied or evaded the situation, then-CEO James E. Burke issued a full recall of the product and engaged in regular media updates that were shockingly honest for the time. All consumers with bottles of Tylenol capsules could swap them for Tylenol tablets at Johnson & Johnson's cost. "Telling the truth is always a good long-term strategy," says Scott Armstrong, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. "When that's violated, it leads to a fall."
Lesson: Be truthful with your customers and you'll keep their trust.Best use of social networking to target tweens and teens: High School Musical
After the success of the made-for-TV movies High School Musical and High School Musical 2, Disney teamed up with MySpace in what TV Guide called the social network's largest campaign. The promotion included a contest where fans showed school spirit by completing tasks such as uploading videos, changing profile skins and texting votes for their school.
Lesson: Find the media your audience uses and go there.Best celebrity spokesman: William Shatner as The Priceline Negotiator
When William Shatner first started touting Priceline.com's cut-rate service in 1997, no one thought the relationship--or the company, for that matter--would last more than a decade. But through a savvy reinvention of itself, Priceline thrived with the campy James Bond-gone-wrong Shatner as its public persona. That long-term element is part of the relationship's success, says Ries. "You get the feeling that he's very much in tune with the brand and the company. That kind of longevity and dedication can be [very] effective."
Lesson: A little fun can go a long way.Best logo: Nike Swoosh
There are a number of rumors about exactly how much Nike paid Portland State University graphic design student Carolyn Davidson for the Swoosh in the early '70s (actually $35), but it's been the brand's mark since it was introduced on Nike footwear at the 1972 U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials. The reason it works? It's an "empty vessel," says Ries. "It's so simple and visible at a distance. Another logo might have been well-known but wouldn't have done the brand as much good if it had been more complicated." Because the Swoosh has no innate meaning attached to it, Nike can use it to build any image it desires.
Lesson: Sometimes too many bells and whistles can make your logo less effective.Best use of outdoor advertising: The Goodyear BlimpIs there anyone who doesn't recognize the blimp when it passes by? "The Goodyear Blimp is its own kind of magic," says Crall. "If we see it float by when we're going about our daily lives, we run to get our spouses and children to 'come see.' We're receptive to the brand message."
Lesson: Be unexpected in how and where you communicate with your customers.Best use of promotional items: Livestrong wristbands
After the news broke in 1996 that champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong had cancer, he founded his Lance Armstrong Foundation the following year. Working with Nike, the foundation developed a yellow silicon wristband stamped with the Livestrong mantra to sell as a fundraiser. According to lancewins.com, more than 45 million have been sold so far. The bracelets became an immediately identifiable symbol of Armstrong, who often wore the yellow leaders jersey while cycling to seven Tour de France victories.
Lesson: Have a signature look, whether it's a giveaway or simply in how you present your brand, so people recognize you immediately.Gwen Moran is co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Business Plans. Reach her at gwen@gwenmoran.com.
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This article was originally published in the January 2009 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Best and Worst Marketing Ideas . . . Ever.
Emailvision is the global leader in software as a service (SaaS) to deliver and automate your email marketing. Relationship marketing for email, mobile and social.
Like most businesses, you will probably have your marketing plan for 2012 already in place. But have you built your plan so that you’re ready to respond to the latest market trends?
While it’s important to stay focused, it’s equally as important to be prepared for the opportunities and challenges that will come from the latest marketing trends.
Wondering what the future looks like for marketing in the year ahead?
Here are my predictions for the top ten marketing trends of 2012:
1. A broader brand presence across channels
With the range of available marketing channels growing all the time, businesses will start to recognise the value of connecting up their marketing approach across the web, social media and other channels. This will be inspired by the need to better manage business resource in more challenging times – and to create a more streamlined brand presence. Instead of relying on one or two channel marketing approaches, more and more companies will link up their activities to create a truly coherent brand across multiple channels.
2. The rise and rise of user-generated content
User generated content took on momentum in 2011 – and this will continue into the New Year. Whether it is a YouTube video showing a customer using a product or customers sharing their experiences within a selective online community, content that comes direct from the potential or existing customer is likely to grow in value. The key test of this trend will be how successfully companies inspire and facilitate user-generated content. However they do it, it looks like the voice of the user will grow significantly in value in 2012.
3. Mobile marketing reaches critical mass
Mobile is going centre stage. A third of smartphone owners have used their device to buy a product online (Source: EPiServer) and this number is growing. The companies that fully prepare their marketing approach for mobile in 2012 are the ones that will benefit from a potential customer-base that browses – and shops – on the move. This demands targeted, mobile-ready content and a willingness to adapt internal marketing processes. With 59% of UK consumers now in possession of a smartphone and 18% owning a tablet device (Source: EPiServer), mobile marketing is a trend that businesses can’t afford to ignore.
4. The gap closes between business brands and social media
We all know social media is big news for business. But in 2012, it will be even bigger – and even slicker. Companies will start taking social media more seriously as a professional marketing tool. But it won’t just be the big companies using social media to actively connect with customers. Many more companies will start to interact, meaning customer service – and customer interaction – via social media will evolve even further. The gap between social media and the business brand will get ever smaller. Again, the user or the customer will take centre stage with the rise of the brand advocate in recommending, recruiting customers and connecting with companies in 2012.
5. A clearer vision on the value of analytics
Companies will seek to improve their understanding of marketing analytics in 2012. With increased channels and brand presence, businesses will look to clarify and streamline their marketing data. Companies will recognise the value of analytics that allow them to maximise on the flexibility of social media marketing by adapting their content according to live viewer response. Add to this an increasing focus on cost management and online marketing analytics look set to become the vital flipside of business marketing.
6. Up close and personal
Next year is the year that marketing becomes more personalised. Tailored content that is customised to the needs and interests of a specific market or audience will grow in value and popularity. This is for a number of reasons – the increasing growth of content’s role within online marketing and the growing presence of online, niche communities, for example. As people become more and more accustomed to selecting which brands and businesses can join them within their own online community, the value of personalised marketing approaches and content will continue to grow.
7. Content diversifies – again
Content has been big this year – and its role and value is likely to diversify even more in the year ahead. With the increase of personalised marketing, more companies will start to present content that is focused on telling stories about their business and products or services. But this won’t be a top down approach. Companies will need to draw out the stories from within their workforce – and encourage their workforce to share stories. In 2012, carefully crafted, managed and distributed content will play a vital role in successful business marketing.
8. The customer recommendation rules
In 2012, the voice of the user or the customer will get louder. Businesses are becoming smarter at integrating opportunities for customer feedback and response within their marketing approach. Social media word of mouth will keep growing, with people increasingly relying on their own online social circles to advise and comment on their choice of services or products. The companies that actively embrace this shift will be the ones that boost their profile and credibility in 2012.
9. The influence factor takes over
Closely linked to prediction number 9, social media influence will gain critical mass in 2012. Already gaining momentum, a powerful trend in the year to come is the ability for companies to influence, increase and map their influence across the social media channels. The power to inspire users in a real-world, but professional way will make a huge difference to their performance in 2012.
10. Video is centre stage
Anticipated to be big for quite some time, it looks likely that video is set to be one of the leading marketing trends in 2012. The growth of video within business marketing fits naturally with the broadening of social media channels and with increasing customer focus on feedback and recommendations. Expect video to take on some surprising approaches in 2012 – with many companies developing fresher and more user-focused forms of viral marketing.
How’s 2012 looking to you?
2012 is looking like a year where marketing channels and messages will diversify – and where user connection, influence and feedback will rule. Companies can stay ahead by embracing and facilitating how their customers interact with them on social media. Combine this with a more targeted content and better connected cross channel marketing can help grow your leads, customers and revenue in 2012.
Whatever your choice, the New Year is a great opportunity to review what’s been working for you – and what you want to leave behind in 2012. Look back at past marketing activities and at their ROI and other results to see what’s worked best. Then you can move on to make more leads and more customers your New Year’s resolution for 2012. Start with 40 ideas for New Year resolutions now – download this eGuide 40 New Year’s Resolutions for Marketing in 2012.