Category Archives: Digital Marketing

A few days ago, I read a blog post on parenting, and the fundamental needs (and paradoxes) that children are facing.  One of them is the need for consistency.

Indeed, my 2-years old is at peak with that need. Since I have started the habit of reading bedtime stories, he is consistently (obssessively) asking for the same ‘Babar’ story. Actually, for exactly the same part of the Babar story, which is a couple of pages long. So, I have been reading him the same 2 pages almost every night for the last month.

I am not a psychologist and will not dwell over that need.  Let’s say somehow this particular story of Arthur, the cousin of Babar, needing a doctor after falling from a scaffolding is striking an internal chord, and let him fight and dominate his fear of falling (from e.g. the stairs).   The consistency of repeating that experience is boosting his sense of security and dominance of his fear.

As we grow, this need for consistency is certainly less visible, but still there. We still trend to pick up the same seat on a table, go to the same places, repeat similar behaviors.

And importantly, as a person, consistency towards others is key to build trust. What is it made of ? Not by staying in the same job or even profession, or coming across with the sames messages. For me, it’s just a few traits that create inconsistency about individuals:

• When you can’t match what people say with their behaviors.
• When you have doubts about their values.
• When you get signals they are lying or not teling the entire truth
• …(am I missing something ?)

So, for us, it’s pretty easy to be consistent: do what you say, ensure you have good values and you respect them always, tell the truth.

And for marketers ?  What’s a ‘consistent brand’ ? A  few do’s  & dont’ for marketers:

• DON’T 1: don’t rebrand a brand unless it’s life & death circumstances. Many people still go to ‘Eurodisney’ while they changed name to Disneyland Paris 15 years ago.  Our brain is wired around names & concept. Changing a fundamental name like a familiar brand name is like trying to rewire a whole house. It breaks familiar consistency around that brand. Even if a brand is damaged, time and marketing is usually enough to repair it.
• DON’T 2: don’t take consistency superficially. Many people think consistency is around strong guidelines and messaging. This is only a part of the truth. Brands live in people’s mind, through exposure but as well discussions with friends. The focus of the consistency is to understand how those exposures and conversations are consistent. And creating positive ‘social currency’ (ie propension to recommend a brand) is worth more than respecting visual guidelines. As such, alternative techniques such as Word of mouth marketing and dialogue with consumers are vital to help.
• DON’T 3:  don’t think you control it. Building on the above, consistency is not the sole proprietary of the marketing. Customer service is vital, but so are you main clients/fans, and other stakeholders in touch of your customers. This is why so many leading companies are making sure that their values and missions are fully aligned along the whole value chain. Johnson&Johnson shows its ‘credo’ about its life-saving missions on every wall of every room, and Ben&Jerry is ensuring its ‘sustainability’ focus resonates across all departments.

And of course, a few ‘Do’s:

• DO 1: make explicit what needs to be consistent vs not. This is the hard part. Think about the people analogy above – when do people look phony ?  So, those are the minimal 3 do’s and only things that really requires consistency.  Align messages and behaviors/product offering. Ensure the company carries strong, credible values. Never lie to consumers. Beyond that, the brand image is around its personality, which as well requires some consistency…But at the same time, you need to refresh and rejuvenate it, so the challenge of every marketer is to strike that balance.
• DO 2:  Think about your customers as your partners. Consistency is a matter of perception. By taking your consumers/Customers are partners, you will continuously tap into their feedback to ensure you remain as such – consistent
• DO 3: consequence of the DON’T 3 – you don’t control it but you can instigate it. Conduct a corporate review of alignment and consistency of the values across the company, and make sure that the nice words are reflected in reality. If not, chances are that the image you will reflect on the market will not be consistent.

Consistency will not increase your sales by 20%, but it will ensure lasting success. Creating a campaign and a peak in sales is not hard. Ensuring that a campaign is followed by sustainable success is hard. This is where consistency plays in. In a world of oversolicitation and increasing consumer distrust towards brand, it is more key than ever.

Let’s keep consistent.

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Many revolutions took place over the last years, leading to new attitudes by consumers (more proactive, sophisticated, and powerful), the fastest emergence ever of a new media (social media), and resulting to major shifts across all consumer industries. It’s no wonder that so many marketers are still left with the old reflexes. Very few have figured out how to really take advantages of those revolutions, and I won’t pretend I have.

But there is something that looks fairly simple to do, away from the great buzz around ‘social media strategy’ or our framework of ‘end to end engagement’: things that marketers should really STOP doing.  It’s very simple, there is no need to hire a guru or go out in a desert for a Web 2.0 seminar: please marketing people, just stop. Those are behaviors of the past. Remember, it only takes one smart consumer to share it with quite a lot of people, and the abundance of choice in today’s over saturated world will not save you. Simply stop.

I just thought I would compile a list of 10, but I guess the list could be 100. Think about it like a manifesto to the attention of marketers. Hope some of them will read it.

Disguised price increases

It is too easy to reduce the volume of an item and leave the price unchanged. Or worse, have an actually higher price  per kilo/liter for high volume ‘super-saver’ packaging. Yes, we see many of those even today – cereals brands are best at that, but it’s all over the place. Both are wrong. Loyal consumers will notice, and the others…well, they don’t care buying your product anyway so will even care less. The loyal will feel trapped. Indeed, there will be some revenue uplift short term but it won’t last. Stop it.

Advertising for a product not available yet

As we often put, innovations will need to convince pioneers and early adopters, first, which account for 30% of the population. They are critical since everyone else will only adopt a product after they have seen those people use it, and because those groups are more vocal, both face to face and on the web, and more proactive than the others.  Those people are looking out for ads about new products. If they decided, full of excitement, to go and try one of your novelties and don’t find it in the shops, they’ll be disappointed or even upset. And most of them won’t go a second time. Yes, it’s not always easy to get extra shelf space from retailers, and you can’t align them all from the beginning. But then put in your media where to find that great new product. The first retailers to follow you will appreciate it, and the others will notice. And early adopters ? They’ll be happy.

No info on products no longer available

Same story at the other end of the spectrum – retiring products. Every day, products disappear from the shelves. RIP. They did not make their targets or the strategy changed, or the retailers’ buyer  did not like the sales guy’s after shave. Whatever. Most of the times they go unnoticed as they did not make much sales in the first place. However, most of those got some (or many) regular buyers. Next time they won’t find the products, they’ll think first it is an ‘out of shelf’ problem and go back, only to realize long after it has been discontinued. They’ll be pissed off (who wouldnt’ be?). Isn’t it that difficult to put a small information sheet in the shop that says something like ‘Sorry, this product won’t be found here anymore…but look at this great other one.’ ?

Boring ads

As they saying goes: ‘An ad (or ad break) is a piece of event made to interrupt someone doing something else’. By default, consider it as not welcome.  In addition, since 2.5% of consumers are accounting for 80% of a typical product volume (study by Catalina marketing in the US), your mass media ad is simply on the wrong target probably 97.5% of the time, or slightly better if you avoid the truly mass hours. Those are two reasons to do everything you can NOT to make them boring, dull, or plain stupid. If you find it match one of those attributes, drop it. If you are too in love with your products to even notice, ask your mother (or test is with your target group). You’ll save money and everyone else some time and patience.

Overinvasive ads

Well, you see what I mean. You browse through a site, trying to read an article, and something comes on top of it. Or it is flashing so much you can’t really focus on reading.  What’s the point ? Catch the attention, ok. So, you got a very strong attention on the red cross ‘close’ button, what is really that you were trying to sell ?

Overpromising ads

Branding is about creating and sustaining the product’s promise. To fullfil something. But in today’s saturated world, it is easy to overpromise in order to attract eyeballs. The promise doesn’t have to be explicitly wrong or oversold – most of the time it is implicitely so. We have seen it recently with a very nice campaign asking people to become ‘official chocolate taster’. There was not much else on the ad, so everyone started daydreaming. Well, the implicit promise was off course to get samples of free chocolate. Off course, not. You could fill in an online feedback form about the chocolate you had bought in the shop. Fullstop, at least apparently. People were disappointed.  It’s not that difficult to avoid overpromise, as it is a sure way to create disappointement. Just ask your mother how she interprets your ad (or once more, test it first with your target group).

No reply to customer feedback

And you thought that customer service was about helping customers. Some of them, how dare, use it to give you feedback on you products and services.  Yes, they do. And yes, most customer service departments, puzzled with so weird messages (feedback?), don’t know how to react to it  – at least in Europe. So they don’t reply. Yes, it’s like putting your head in the sand, but those guys are under much pressure to answer calls, not to process ‘interesting thoughts’.  Here is the spin. The customers that take the time to give feedback are probably those lead users (early adopters, pionneers, influencers) that are most critical to you. Will they really welcome your silence ?  It’s a pity, as usually a ‘Thanks for your suggestion’ is sufficient.  Those people are aware that not every feedback can be implemented, they just want to feel listened to, some sort of basic human need. So, yes, customer service is as well about marketing. Ignore it at you own risk.

52 incredible deals per year, or more

So many great deals going on all the time, it is hard to keep up. Some e-commerce specialists (especially photo printing sites) are doing so much to capture eyeballs on their newsletter, their imagination is admirable. Yes, newsletters’ click rate are falling, but is it a reason to keep raising the stakes with the ‘absolutely amazing deal’, ‘Alex, you won’t believe it’, or  ‘fantastic party it’s like we are PAYING YOU to take our stuff’, every single week ?  If there are fantastic deals every week, it means: there are no deals. So, just stop it.

“Personalized” marketing

But some e-commerce sites got more sophisticated. They do ‘personalization’. They will send you a personalized email based on your purchase history (or even better, like Amazon, your browsing history). Fantastic. I feel so special, now. Then, why, just after I bought my laptop from a very famous direct manufacturer, I kept receiving week after week emails around their next great laptop on offer. Isn’t the time straight after I bought my laptop the period when I am the least likely to buy another one ?  What about accessories, printers, scanners, you name it  ? That could have captured my attention. I know the IT department is so proud about this email marketing software they bought, but that does not mean they should control it entirely. Take it back, and make it relevant for me.

Make me feel I am captive

Actually, I am a bit unfair. 6 months after I bought that laptop from Dell (oops, I put the name), I had to buy another one. I was not loyal, sorry Dell, and went for a top brand name in electronic consumer goods. Great Sony laptop (oops one more), I have no regrets. Since it was for professional usage, I thought about buying a second electrical cable: one for home, one for work, so natural.  I went to the Sony shop.  I got a big ‘ouch’ feeling when the sales rep gave me the price: EUR 150. EUR 150 for some electrical cable and a power converter, that probably costs EUR 5 or 10, ok maybe 20 ? No, they must be kidding. Off course, there are no standards in this. I felt really captive. Yes, I know it’s the old recipe, from printer supplies to razor blades: make the main thing ultra price competitive and sell the accessories at a super premium. But there are limits. I will accommodate with one cable, thank you. If you make your customers feel captive, what will they do ? What every prisoner does: look for an exit.  That’s not the direction you want them to look to, right ? Keep it reasonable.

Those were the 10, from my point of view. But I am sure there are many more. So, what would you add?

PS: if you liked that article, please share it (I guess it could reach some more marketers…)