How to Make a Super Bowl Commercial

I know. I know.

I’m so long overdue for a blog that I should be ashamed of myself.

And I am.

But it’s tough these days to find the time to sit down and hammer out a list of marketing “how tos” when things are so nutty. And I have actually written a few, but I’ve been so pumped full of pregnancy hormones that the boss has killed all my potential entries for the content being overly emotional.

Fortunately, a weight was lifted off the e-team when our newest designer, Wes Johnson, started Monday!

Another weight was lifted last night when Brian and our videographer-of-choice, Ben Boutwell, finalized and uploaded our entry for PepsiCo’s Doritos/Pepsi Max Crash the Super Bowl contest, which in short is a competition to have your commercial played during the Super Bowl.

The likelihood of our winning is a long shot; but don’t get me wrong, we are definitely contenders. Still, being one of the 10 best (actually, make that 5 best) submissions out of maybe 4-to-5,000 is going to be pretty tough.

Regardless of if we win or not, the experience was awesome. We rarely have the opportunity with our clients to go “all in” on a project, and we held nothing back on this one. In fact, in attempting to toe the line of “potty humor,” we may have actually crossed it. (An opinion held basically only by me, the only girl on the team.) But we think that our spot really talks to the right target and is capable of being a big viral hit… and hopefully the Doritos folks will look at it the same way!

What’s been most interesting is seeing how well we’ve built our spot around the presumed target… the Super-Bowl-watching, snack-product-buying audience (i.e. young to mid-30s males).

We started with the well-known fable, “The Midas Touch,” and wanted to show that in the case of Doritos that kind of power could never be a bad thing.

Our spot opens on a guy (the awesome Caleb Seney!) eating his last Doritos, only to discover a Doritos fairy (the lovely Leah Gordon!) inside his now empty bag. After a rough trip on screen, the fairy delicately transfers “The Doritos Touch” to the guy. He tests the Touch out on a sandwich, but then gets over-zealous and also changes the fairy.

But suddenly the guy wakes, and, checking out his now “normal” hands, realizes it was only a dream.

Or was it?

As the guy progresses down the hall to take care of a little morning business, we see the Touch begin to re-charge. Only our guy doesn’t notice the return until too late and… well, insert potty humor (literally). In the end, the guy shows us that, regardless of how Doritos are obtained, they are always, always tasty.

Again, the target audience is totally on board with the concept. They get it and, more importantly, they think it’s hilarious and shocking and they want to talk about it and share it with others… BINGO! Jackpot!

But people outside the target—women, older men, non-jock-types—aren’t getting it. Like, at all. They chuckle at the right time, but then ask what happened. We’ve been astounded at some of the things they’ve come up with when they’re trying to wrap their minds around what they’ve seen… especially when we think it’s fairly obvious what’s happening.

The resulting talk around the office is obviously what’s so different about these groups to cause them to “get it” or “not get it.”

My theory is that (A) guys are more comfortable with the visual being presented and (B) younger people, say 40 or 35 and younger, are more conditioned to fictional, fanciful storylines and don’t require things to “make sense.”

Brian’s opinion is that we have more of a technical problem. It’s a fairly fast paced 0:30 spot and so maybe we’re losing people who, er, need more time to think. Also, in the pre-final cut that we shared with a few people, the sound was a little janky causing one to possibly not fully understand the fairy’s line… still, the younger folks are getting the concept with or without understanding her.

I guess the cause of the discrepancy is ultimately anyone’s guess. At the very least, the target is totally on board and loves it.

So, how do you make a Super Bowl commercial? Well, I’m probably not the person to ask. Either we totally nailed it, or we didn’t.

Guess we’ll just have to find that out on January 3^rd.*

Cross your fingers for us!

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

*January 3^rd is the date that PepsiCo will announce contest Finalists. It’s not technically the end of the contest, but it’s a huge milestone!

Emogen and Design

In a recent interview with a graphic designer (who will join the E-team in a few weeks!) Brian asked about Emogen’s reputation among the local design crowd. That reputation isn’t necessarily directly impactful to our bottom line, but being thought of as a cool place to work certainly makes hiring all the easier.

Interestingly, the interviewee shared that designers are aware of Emogen and that we hire graphic designers, but it’s not well understood how design relates to what we do here on a day to day basis.

What’s hard for me to understand about that is how the relationship between marketing and design is anything but obvious. I’ll elaborate, though, so we’re all clear.

Stepping back a moment, let me begin with a quick discussion on “core competencies.”

A core competency is what a business does that’s really the heart of the business as well as what makes it unique from competitors. A core competency can truly be anything… a process, a special talent, the corporate culture, key customer or supplier relationships… really anything, so long as it’s hard for competitors to duplicate.

Emogen’s core competency, we think, is the combined talent of our team (which hopefully doesn’t sound egotistical!). Here’s why we think this is the case…

Part 1 - Brian’s talent is selling ideas. Maybe it’s the idea that a product can save you money. Maybe it’s the idea that a service can help you achieve more. It could even be the idea that an organization can make an impact in a particular area of service. The bottom line is that he’s a gifted salesman, which is based on his intrinsic talents of reading people and communicating with them.

Part 2 - My talent is refining Brian’s ability for mass consumption. What he can do on an individual basis, I can extrapolate and reshape for application to a larger audience. Unlike Brian, I don’t have the best interpersonal skills, but I’m good at written communication and making what may be complex ideas concise and easy to understand.

Part 3 – Enter design. Graphic design is all about presentation of a message.

Take a simple business card. A piece of paper with your name and contact info will do the job, but a card with a professionally designed logo and layout is more likely to catch someone’s eye and draw their attention to your name… which helps with recognition and recall.

The same works with advertising and sales collateral. Could you imagine a newspaper where “ads” were typed out just like the rest of the paper? Or a plain Jane sales flyer that looked like every other one in your mail box?

So, Brian figures out the sales pitch, I figure how to put that into words and our designers figure out how to present it. All those parts together—sales, marketing and design—create Emogen’s core competency, which is sharing an idea with people, either individually or en masse, to elicit a positive action from them.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

Great Expectations: A Marketing Lesson from El Presidente Himself

Let me begin by stating that I do not consider myself a particularly political person. I do vote and I have political opinions, but I’m not the type to turn red or have my blood pressure skyrocket if someone should disagree with my views. That said, the following discussion may appear at face value to be political commentary. For those of you who are “political,” I stress that this article is about marketing, and politics is only brought up as a “case in point” example.

If your blood pressure tops out, I claim no responsibility.

So, here we go…

Much has been circulating of late about President Obama’s job performance and approval ratings. I think what makes the dialogue particularly interesting is the contrast in popular opinion from Inauguration Day to now.

In a January 20, 2009, article entitled Barack Obama Faces Historically High Expectations as President U.S. News & World Report reported Gallup Poll findings showing that 83% of Americans approved of President Obama in his transition from President-elect to the position of Head Honcho. The article also pointed out 72% of Americans believed then that the nation would be better off at the end of his first term, and 62% of Americans expected him to be an outstanding or above-average president.

Fast forward to October 1, 2010, and we see a very different picture. Gallup today reports that only 47% of Americans approve of the job that Barack Obama is doing as president, and just last Friday CNN reported 56% of Americans feel Obama has “fallen short of their expectations.”

So, Class, can anyone point out today’s “word of the day?” How about a hint? It’s expectations.

From a purely marketing perspective I think Obama’s greatest mistake was setting expectations too high. I call it the “locks on the bathroom doors and McDonald’s in the lunchroom” situation.

Now that may sound odd to many of you, but hear me out. At RHS (at least in my tenure), it was not uncommon for students to run for student government positions on platforms of promises for things over which they had little or no control.

For example, the doors it the girls’ bathrooms never seemed to have working locks… most likely because students were always breaking them. Sure, the school replaced them a time or two, but after doling out cash a couple of times I think the powers that be decided it was a lost cause and permanently redirected funds elsewhere.

Also, it was a highly popular campaign promise to assure the student body that McDonald’s would be served in the cafeteria, which sounded great to the masses but couldn’t realistically be accomplished by a 17 year old SGA president.

So what did Obama promise? (Politicals, at this point you might want to have a paper sack handy just in case you need to inhale/exhale a few times.)

Let’s see, he promised to end the war in Iraq AND get health insurance for every American AND fix the economy AND invest more in education and early childhood programs AND close Gitmo AND figure out immigration AND reduce our dependence on foreign oil AND go back to the moon or somewhere even awesome-r in space AND increase taxes for the wealthy AND cut health insurance premiums AND reduce taxes for small businesses AND expand tax credits for the working poor AND cut government spending AND fix the housing market AND increase minority access to capital AND fund more afterschool programs AND require 401k enrollment AND expand Medicaid AND modernize health records systems AND increase HIV/AIDS education, research and treatment funding AND do a lot of good things for people with disabilities AND expand and improve the Veterans Administration AND support domestic violence programs AND fund debt cancellation for indebted poor countries AND expand the size of the Army AND make us a greener nation AND end military use of Stop Loss AND improve emergency preparedness AND reform lobbying laws AND increase cancer research funding AND end earmarks and pork barrel projects AND reform No Child Left Behind AND recruit more teachers AND improve graduation rates AND create a college football playoff system AND expand coverage for phone and broadband services AND increase the minimum wage AND increase arts education AND restore New Orleans AND update copyright and patent laws AND toughen discrimination laws AND communicate with the nation more AND reform Amtrak AND reinstate stem cell research AND make Al Gore king of everything relevant to global warming AND… well, I think I can stop there.*

Now, I am not indicating that all of this is bad stuff. The point, rather, is that he promised to do A LOT… a lot for 1 guy to accomplish in 4 years with a congress that could easily be named the nation’s most dysfunctional organization. And what he promised was not all small stuff. Heck, I’m thinking he might as well have added in locks in RHS’s girls’ bathrooms. He surely didn’t miss much else.

I hope I’m making it clear that President Obama set himself up for failure by overpromising and creating unrealistic expectations for himself. Forget that he’s accomplished some of it and that much of it is still in the works. I think people—people who really should have been rational enough to realize that only so much can realistically be expected from the office of the President—bought into a milk and honey-type dream believing Obama could probably move mountains, too.

So, if you’ve made it this far through my pontification (A) I’m amazed and (B) you deserve a prize. Here’s the meat and potatoes for how this all relates to marketing.

Promise too much and it’ll come back to bite you… see El Presidente’s ratings variance above.

Still, promise too little and you might not get a chance to even try to get a customer’s business.

To demonstrate, here’s a real life example on the other end of the expectation spectrum. In the last year or so, Brian and I discovered a new restaurant in the neighboring town of West Monroe. The place had a half-way interesting name, but everything intriguing about the place stopped there. The logo looked like something an 8^th grader would make in the Paint application on a PC. Their sign had to be just enough to meet minimum code requirements. The building was brand new, but it was one of those tin and brick things that could as easily house an auto parts store as it could a cheap restaurant.

Did we ever eat there? Nope. The exterior screamed, “We are so not putting our full effort into this endeavor,” so much so that the food had to be just as bland and uncreative and half done as their exterior and image. But was that assumption correct? Who knows? And we won’t ever be able to find out because the place is already out of business. Shocking, I know.

In short, consumer expectations are a tricky thing. No matter what you’re selling, you’ve got to promise enough to entice and bring people in, but not so much as to ensure disappointment.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

*Admittedly, I didn't know all of the President's goals off the top of my head. Help was received from The St. Petersburg Times's "Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises" at PolitFact.com.

Social Media in the Sticks 2.0

By Sarah Warren, MBA

Note: The following article is a revised edition of a previous blog entry that was published in Chamber Connection (October 2010), the monthly newsletter of the Ruston Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.

All of us in the marketing and advertising industry are thinking and talking a lot these days about the applications and value of social media. And in my office we’re talking about social media’s specific application here in our “real world,” the rural South.

Social media is becoming a major force in shaping marketing for just about every service and product there is. Case in point, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts has a Facebook page with over 2 million fans. And Clorox has over 100,000 fans. Yes, that’s a hundred thousand fans of bleach!

The goal in utilizing social media for marketing purposes is to move past the one-sidedness of traditional advertising and engage in a two-way relationship with customers and prospects. But here in the “sticks”—where in a week’s time you’re liable to run into 80% of your customers between trips to the grocery store, church, and your lunch counter of choice—should you invest time and effort in social media? Doesn’t our close-knitted-ness and diminutive population already promote building and maintaining relationships? The answer is yes, but social media still has its uses.

Take, for example, your typical ribbon cutting. You attend, shake hands and pass out a business card or two. Relationship established. Maybe, if your personalities hit it off or if you immediately require one another’s services, the relationship will develop a little quicker and further, but probably not. The majority of the time the story would end at the card exchange.

Instead, after the card swap why not return to your office and, utilizing social media, send a connection request to your new contact on Linked In and trade “fan” statuses for your respective businesses on Facebook. You may not see this person on a regular basis in the real world, but I guarantee—depending on how often you visit and update your personal and corporate pages—you’ll run across one another in the virtual world often. And it’s those glimpses of status updates and corporate culture tidbits that can help you to form a deeper connection.

Social media is also an incredibly useful tool for listening. You can follow what customers and prospects are saying and the tone of their comments to gain deeper insight into their likes/dislikes and purchasing behavior. Hint: you can also use social media sites to monitor the competition and what their customers are saying.

The critical thing to remember is that social media requires a strategy just like any of the other media you’re using as part of your integrated marketing plan.

Social media cannot replace traditional marketing, nor can it act independently of it. You need go in with a clear understanding about how social media is relevant to your brand and clients. Which of your customers are likely to be on Facebook or Twitter? What are they doing there? What can you add to that experience that is of value? And what do you expect to receive in return?

Also, you can’t just fill your social media channels with noise. You must commit to providing valuable content that clients will want to follow. Let me repeat that. You must commit to providing valuable content, not just repeating your regular promotional messaging or tweeting what’s playing on the radio in your office. People can “unlike” your business just as easily as they can “like” you and will not hesitate to do so if you become annoying.

So here it is. Old school advertising is about telling, and social media is about talking. And we’re good at talking here in the sticks, so don’t be afraid to join the conversation.

Sarah Warren is the co-owner of Emogen Marketing Group, a full service marketing firm in Ruston, LA and can be reached at 318.255.1233 or sarah@emogenmarketing.com.

Should You Advertise?

Many people ask us, “Should I advertise?” and our unequivocal answer is, “Yes.”

Before people undertake the action of purchasing they must have intent to buy and before that they must comprehend and desire what’s being offered and before that they must be aware of the option you offer. But for awareness to be achieved customers must first be exposed, which is where advertising comes in.

All businesses, though, are faced with limitations, primarily of budget and time. So, rather than throw money at the wind, be smart about your advertising activities. Here are a handful of thoughts on how to achieve that:

1 - Before launching into any campaign, clarify what you want to accomplish. Are you looking to increase your brand awareness, maintain your current market share or just simply sell more? Understanding and defining the goal will help you identify the correct message and channel to reach out to customers. It will also serve as the basis for determining how to measure the success of your campaign.

2 - The best campaigns are based on a thorough understanding of the customer and their purchasing behaviors. Know them and then speak to them on their terms about their needs.

3 - The lion’s share of your campaign planning should be focused on your message. Advertising icon David Oglivy said, “What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.” If your message is too confusing, too complicated, too boring or flat out just doesn’t say anything relevant to your brand, even the most eye-catching creative or best ad placement in the world won’t achieve the results you're looking for.

4 - Since you can’t realistically advertise everywhere, advertise where it counts most. Sure high readership, listenership, viewership, clicks and whatnot matter, but don’t just look at the total counts. Figure out how many of that total count are likely to be your customers and then compare cost based on those figures.

5 - Be consistent with your image. It will help your brand gain momentum and recognition, saving you time and money over the long haul.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

I was dared I couldn’t work GI Joe into a blog…

In thinking back over my past blog topics, it seems like I don’t do much writing about what people really seem to be on the lookout for… marketing tips and how-to’s. If I had to pinpoint the reason, it probably relates to one of our internal philosophies: “Creativity is our only asset. Our concepts and ideas are our 'marketable product,' so as a general rule we don’t do spec work for clients.”

That would be a little like going to the doctor and agreeing to pay only after the check up and testing is completed. The patient’s point might be that he needs to experience the doctor’s skill and bedside manners before deciding if he wants to become an actual patient of the good doctor. But from the doctor’s perspective, whether or not the patient liked the service, he still received it… all the work has been done, diagnosis determined and treatment provided.

While marketing and advertising might not be totally like health care, it’s still a similar story. Oftentimes we are approached by businesses who want us to design a logo, pitch an ad campaign or develop a sales strategy before having to decide if they want to buy. I might be able to see that working if our revenue was generated like old school agencies that live off of media placement commissions, but we’re different. We charge for the ideas themselves (and as a side note we forgo all media commissions and pass them along as a discounts to clients).

But really this situation applies to any business in the service industry. And it’s perfectly understandable that prospects are hesitant to buy into something practically sight unseen. There could be a lot of risk involved in the form of financial, time or opportunity losses. There are ways, though, to help lessen a prospect’s purchase anxiety.

A chef might advertise food critic reviews and Zagat ratings. A financial professional might share the amount of money he’s been entrusted with or recent performance figures. A salon might display pictures of recent masterpieces. At Emogen, we walk prospects through other client experiences and results, offer a thorough portfolio review and provide ample contacts for client references.

Here are a few things your business might consider doing to reduce any perceived risk of your services:

- Offer a complementary initial consultation
- Provide a free trial period
- Offer a special or reduced rate for a basic service
- Give a warranty or service guarantee
- Offer some sort of compensation in the event of service failure
- Encourage and reward client referrals
- Tout certifications, awards and other recognition
- Communicate and promote your brand

That last one is a pretty big one. Communication helps establish expectations; and the more realistic and defined a prospect or customer’s expectations are, the more likely you will be able to satisfy them.

I don’t think I can really ever say enough about the importance of communication, which can take many forms. For the prospect communication begins with your advertising and promotion, but continues on through the sales process, customer service, employee demeanor, office or store ambiance, etc. Every aspect of your business communicates something about the quality and value of what you’re offering. And it shouldn’t stop once you’ve acquired the customer. In fact, you should always communicate more with current customers than with prospects.

So it’s true that if you have a service business you can’t give out samples with the ease that a product business can. You can’t mail everyone a cute, miniature version of your tax return, hair cut or oil change, but you can craft a few promotional efforts to allow clients a reduced-risk trial of your service. And you can—no, make that should—communicate, communicate, communicate so that prospects and customers alike know what to expect. Because, as one GI Joe would put it, knowing is half the battle.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

A Word on Strategies

Much to the boss’s chagrin, it has been a solid month since the last Emogen blog post. But who can blame us/me? We’ve had quite the summer at e-town… newer-, bigger- and funner-than-ever projects, new employees and partners, office remodeling and people shuffling, computer crashing complete with lots of prayer and begging for file recovery, the possibility of some pretty interesting things on the horizon… all topped off with the discovery of yet another pregnancy for yours truly.

(inhale... exhale...)

All the usual sayings apply: good things come in threes, success breeds success, when it rains it pours, blah blah blah.

It’s in nutty times like these that our short- and long-term strategies have really been a blessing. Because our course is already semi-mapped out, we can breathe a little easier as the torrential rain hits the windshield.

Without a solid game plan we’d likely veer off course and wonder as the rain cleared how we made it to BFE. Instead, a plan sort of acts like Bear Grylls’s machete, providing a little area to step which has been cleared of some of the unknowns the jungle has to offer.

So, how to begin the task of crafting a strategy for your business? Google it and you’ll find a bazillion examples and plans and tools to help you out… no two exactly alike.

Lots of business planners and consultants will also tell you that you must write out your business plan. I used to be of that camp until my dad (a business professor specializing in entrepreneurship) changed my mind. His opinion is that there’s obvious value in writing out a plan because it forces a business owner to think through every detail, but that lots of people get stuck in the details and don’t stay limber enough to adapt. That and the only people on earth who really care about a business plan’s existence are lenders.

Needless to say, at Emogen we don’t have a written out, hard copy of our plan; but we do have thoroughly discussed, well-chewed short and long term plans outlining where we want to be and how we intend to get there. And as changes, trends or opportunities arise, we add that into the discussion—which, it seems, is never-ending—and re-strategize along the way.

In all honesty, though, there does exist one tangible piece to our plan… a rather large excel spreadsheet of our historical sales and revenue figures complete with quarterly, semi-annual and annual averages that help me keep track of trends. The model also has a 60-month projected cash flow with flags for points at which adding staff or equipment is plausible. And all that rolls up into a year over year dashboard so that we can easily glimpse how our present trending might play out over the next 5 years. My justification for this monstrosity is that it helps us see where we’ve been (numerically speaking) so that we can use that information to shape where we’re going.

One final thought on strategies before we close: when you’re picturing your business’s future, don’t put yourself in a box. There’s a great Harvard Business Review article called Marketing Myopia circa 1960 that I encourage all business owners to read. My favorite tidbit from it involves the railroad industry failing to define itself as being in the business of transportation. Instead, it myopically said “we’re in the business of railroads” and as the broader world of transportation developed and changed, the railroad was left in the dust.

So, today’s recap:
1. A long term plan for your business is a must; but
2. Plan without being freakish about it; still
3. There are bound to be details that really matter and therefore should be tracked; and, finally,
4. Don’t be narrow-minded about what your business can become further on down the road.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

Order Up

It seems that we’ve kicked around the concept of being an “order taker” a good bit at Emogen these past few weeks as we work to achieve balance between giving customers exactly what they ask for and giving them what they really need… which are sometimes very different things.

It takes me back to a time when some friends and Brian & I splurged and got reservations at Superior’s Steakhouse in Shreveport. I forget the name of my steak now--some fancy cut coated with cracked pepper--but when I asked for it medium well, the waiter politely refused and explained that would effectively ruin the steak. He recommended medium and basically wouldn’t allow me anything beyond that.

In that moment, my waiter was no longer an order taker but rather a culinary consultant (which probably had a lot to do with his being the waiter at a high end steakhouse and not Applebee’s). It was risky, though, for him to potentially offend a first time customer. But would I have enjoyed my steak as much if it was dried out or the crust was burnt? Of course not, and—as I’m sure the waiter knew—I would have probably blamed the restaurant without realizing it was my own poor choice in meat temperature that was to blame.

The point is that instead of accepting my request, the waiter recommended a change that ultimately made my experience at his restaurant much, much better.

At Emogen we often have clients who come to us seeking something basic, like a print ad design. What they’ve requested is a solution—a very specific solution—but what we really need to know is the problem they are trying to solve.

Clients are sometimes a little puzzled when we start asking questions about the health of their business. It may seem that we’re being nosey, but we know that most businesses decide to advertise because business is slow. Instead of jumping on the solution they are providing, we want to understand the root of their problem in order to know how to best fix it.

Is advertising the wrong solution? Maybe not, but in some cases it is. In some instances a total paradigm shift may be called for. Instead of advertising the same old green widgets to the same old green widget buying crowd, maybe it’s time to develop something new to respond to the rising demand for, say, purple widgets.

Being an “order taker” is definitely easier. You don’t have to think through the problem. You don’t have to spend lots of time asking “why?” And, what’s most appealing, if things don’t work out you get to pass the blame onto the customer’s shoulders. In the end they’ll pay you, because they have to; but they may also never return for more.

Being a consultant is certainly harder. You have to take time to correctly identify the problem and then work through all the available solutions, but when you do that (and do it well) you are essentially guaranteed to provide your client with the results they truly want. In the end, you’ll still get paid, but you will also assuredly gain repeat business and great referrals.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

We Don’t Need No Stinking Branding

Lunch today was at the delicious yet powerfully aromatic Hot Rod Bar-B-Que which, in addition to a racing decor, broadcasts various car races on several TVs in the dining area.

For a moment our mealtime discussion touched on fascination at racing teams’ ability to sell every square inch of their cars, uniforms and equipment to sponsors. Over our loaded baked potatoes we marveled at the idea of someone racing a car with zero sponsorships. Imagine it: a solid black car with naught but a number on the hood. It’d stand out like a redneck on Rodeo Drive.

But this isn’t the first time we’ve daydreamed about anti-branding. When Brian had Bayou Bat Company, he toyed with the idea of developing a product called the “Stealth Bat”… no stain, no encircling ring, no logo on the barrel… nothing but a piece of wood. The concept didn’t come to fruition, but if it had it’d have been awesome.

The closest company we can think of that comes to an anti-brand is Halliburton. Their logo is strictly font and is the only mark ever displayed on their uniforms and equipment. I haven’t ever seen a Halliburton business card, but I suspect it’s just as sleek. Really, the only thing that would make their brand less brand-y would be dropping red for black.

The cool thing about the Halliburton brand is that it says, to me at least, “We aren’t here to sell you anything. We’re here to work.” ... oozes power and confidence to me.

And that’s our dream project: a company or product that is so bad a$$ that it don’t need no stinking branding (to borrow from Mel Brooks).

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

What’s in a Name?

Emogen recently had the great honor of helping a client name her new business venture. While that activity is right up the alley of what we do here at Emogen, it’s more common for a client to come to us for branding consultation after the naming decision has been made.

Naming a business is a very, very intimate thing. Those of you familiar with Emogen may recall that we associate logo design with the birthing process, so naturally we associate the naming process with, well, the baby conception process. Intimate, indeed.

What makes naming so personal is that it is a lifelong decision. A visual identity can be tweaked and altered over the years, if not entirely revamped; but a name is much more permanent. In today’s blog we’d like to share eight tips on coming up with a name capable of going the distance.

1. Develop your elevator pitch. Before tackling a name, make sure you have a good grasp on what your business will offer. Consider developing an elevator pitch—how you would describe your business if you had to say it all in one elevator ride.

2. Consider existing vs. abstract words. Existing words are useful because they can quickly communicate what your business does, but they can also carry baggage… sometimes negative. “The Twilight Club” might sound like a really awesome name for an after hours/BYOB club, but it could potentially alienate those repulsed by the Twilight book/movie mania.

Another option is to use abstract (made up) words, which allow you to mold the words’ meaning. Xerox, for example, was adapted from a word relatively unknown to the public, so the company was at liberty to give it as much meaning and personality as it wanted. A tool for developing the meaning of an abstract word is to clarify it with a tag line, slogan or descriptor. Emogen’s descriptor, for example, is Marketing Group and we use the slogan “we’re in the business of getting your business more business” to help show the breadth of services that can fall under the term “marketing.”

3. Don’t box yourself in. Keep your name flexible enough to accommodate future growth. Naming a diner “First Street Hamburgers” could put a limit on both geographic and product expansion. It might be a little confusing to customers when you open a subsequent location on Second Street or add pasta to your menu. Although you can’t foresee where you’re business will be in 5 to 10 years, you can think about your growth strategy. If you’re philosophically against ever opening a second location or having anything but hamburgers on the menu, then you’re probably ok with the name. On the other hand, if you’d welcome opportunities to expand, then allow yourself a little room to grow.

4. Look at competitions’ names – and then make yours stand out. Does everyone in your industry basically have same name? Take auto body services, for example. I’ll bet just about every auto body shop in your town is named according to the following formula: [enter name]’s Body Shop. Not that the collision repair industry is much on the creative end of the spectrum, but a little differentiation and effort on the part of one body shop could go a long way toward signaling customers that it is different… which makes way for the opportunity to communicate that different = better.

5. Make it easy to say and remember. Your Icelandic heritage may be very important to you, but naming a store in the Deep South "Sigurðardóttir’s Clothiers" would be a mistake. It’s not linguistically or culturally relevant, which makes it both hard to say and even harder to remember.

6. Make it look and sound appealing. Pretend to answer a call saying your proposed business name, “Hello, this is so-and-so with XYZ.” Did it sound ok? Did it feel natural? A name great on paper can prove to be harsh or odd sounding when spoken. Now try writing it every possible way you can think: all caps, all lowercase letters, different fonts, etc. Some words can look funny or downright ugly when written out. Here at Emogen we’ve fought a hard battle with “landowner.” Sure it looks ok, until it’s put in all caps (LANDOWNER) and one person calls out lan-downer… and then it’s all downhill from there.

7. Check in with the government. If you’re in Louisiana, visit the Secretary of State’s website and do a database search within the corporations division. A quick search here will confirm that your proposed name isn’t currently in use. Another place to check is the US Patent and Trademark Office, especially if you have dreams of expanding beyond your city. In addition to verifying name availability, you can also confirm your slogan isn’t already being used elsewhere.

8. Perform a URL search. If you think you might one day want to appear on the world wide web, check now to see if a URL relevant to your proposed name is available. You can easily perform a domain search on a domain registry site, like godaddy.com. Lagniappe tip: if your dream URL is available, go on and purchase it even it you’re not yet ready to develop a site.

Alright, so there are our eight tips for naming a new business. And while this list may not be all inclusive, these steps should get you well on your way down the path to the perfect name for your business endeavor.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

Pricing Creativity

Mike, a friend in the creative business recently wrote, “Remember, you get what you pay for. If production is thrown in for ‘free’ as a package deal with your media buy it really has no value. Not to mention the end result can and probably will damage your brand.”

Amen, brother! All too often agencies present themselves as creators of advertising when they’re really just great media buyers. I’ll agree that effective placement is critical, but what’s being placed is just as crucial. But maybe those agencies can’t be blamed for approaching sales and billing like they do; maybe they’ve retreated to throwing in concept and development for free because it’s easier to get clients to pay for something tangible, like placement, as opposed to the intangible… creativity.

It’s true we can’t speak for other service businesses, but in our opinion creative work—that is concept development, copy writing, design and production—is the hardest field in which to get paid fair value for your work.

For one thing, people assume creative work shouldn’t take all that long. Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes the perfect idea descends like a prophetic vision and appears on the page before you can blink. Other times, and more commonly so, the right idea takes lots of coercing and soothing to come out from the shadows.

Maybe it’s easier to understand as described in the advertising documentary Art & Copy, “The frightening and most difficult thing about being what somebody calls a creative person is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your thoughts come from really, and especially you don’t have any idea about where they’re going to come from tomorrow.”

Beyond that, we find people don’t want to pay for the value of creativity. More often than not, creativity is approached as a cost or an expense. The correct stance, though, is to view it as an investment. Instead of asking how much an advertisement or commercial will cost, the correct question is “How much will I profit from this?”

Obviously, no guarantees can really be offered, but the goal of our work is that it do something. If we only wanted to make pretty pictures for a living we’d be artists. Instead, we’re advertisers… artists with an agenda to raise awareness, to draw attention, to sell something.

The most difficult creative project to price is a very special one at that: the Logo.

At Emogen, we akin logo creation with childbirth… some are born peacefully and joyfully while others are welcomed only after long and painful laboring. The labor pains of that process include discussion about the business’s personality, the purpose of the logo, the audience, the intended use, the desired emotional response and on and on. And, depending on the project, that process is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult.

Ultimately a logo will be the “face” of the company, if you will. Though in spite of this level of significance, we find that logos are one of the most—if not the most—underrated purchases that a business will make. Amazingly, instead of asking about the creative process or beginning philosophical discussions about the emotion that should be generated by a logo, more often than not the first question asked is how much will it cost?

There are three approaches to answering that question. Some design firms will charge a flat fee (the same rate regardless of the project or client), others will charge by the hour, and others still will charge based on the value.

Emogen utilizes the third method, which is often frustrating to inexperienced clients. They want us to say $99.95, but instead we say it’ll be between X and Z, where X and Z vary depending on the circumstance.

Gasp, you say? Why does the price of a logo vary? So much is taken into consideration that there is no value meal price to be had. We consider how much the client is bringing to the table in terms of preconceived ideas and preferences. We consider how many decision makers will be in on the process. We consider who the client is, how large they are, and the frequency with which the logo will be used. We also consider the fair market value of logos.

According to the latest edition of the Graphic Artists Guild's Handbook for Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, logos nationwide are priced anywhere from $3,000 to $50,000. That window is broken down based on client size as follows: Small Client (which would apply to most businesses in our market), $3k-$5k; Medium Client, $10k-$25k; and Large Client, $25k to $50k.

Rarely are we afforded an opportunity to charge within these windows. Maybe that’s because logos are so common that they have the appearance of being a commodity. Maybe it’s because business owners fail to fully grasp the importance of their logo. Maybe it’s because business owners don’t have an appropriate frame of reference. Maybe it’s simply because of the great availability of freelance designers who don’t understand the magnitude and importance of the project.

Whatever the specific reason, pricing logos—or creativity in general—is an almost ridiculous feat. It is, hands down, the most difficult part of our business. But we suck it up and deal with it, one, because at the end of the day we are here to get paid; and, two, because we want, no, need the work as a creative outlet. Much like electricity, it has to be grounded… it has to have somewhere to go.

-Sarah Warren, Emogen marketer
w/ Jake Dugard, Emogen designer

Bombs Away for MedCamps Money Bomb

Today we break from our usual blogging content to share a totally cool organization with you...

MedCamps of Louisiana is a series of one-week camps held each summer free of charge for children in Louisiana facing the challenges of a variety of physical and mental disabilities. TODAY, the organization hopes to raise at least $25,000 for this summer’s camps through the fundraising event called MedCamps Money Bomb, An Explosion of Cash for Camp. Donations will be solicited through email chains, Facebook posts and other online links.

"We are very excited about the MedCamps Money Bomb!” said Executive Director Caleb Seney. “We think it will be a creative and fun way to spread our mission and increase the base of support for our special camps. We truly hope it will be an explosion of cash for camp.”

Seney continued, “Today we’re asking our 1,300 plus Facebook friends to donate $10 each and invite ten of their friend to do the same. That alone has the potential to raise over $140,000."

“Money bombs” first appeared in 2007 and have since become widely popular among political candidates for their ability to raise substantial levels of donations in a very short amount of time. The largest money bomb to date reportedly raised over $4 million in a single 24-hour period.

Donations to the MedCamps Money Bomb may be made online at www.medcamps.com/moneybomb.

Links to the donation site are also available on the homepages of the following area media outlets: The News Star, The Ouachita Citizen, Ruston Daily Leader, KNOE Radio Star 101.9, KJLO K-104, KJMG Majic97, KLIP LA 105, KMLB Talk 540, KRVV 100.1 The Beat, KZRZ Sunny 98.3, KXRR Rock 106, KMYY Real Country 92.3, KXKZ Z107.5, KNBB ESPN 97.7, KPCH True Oldies 99.3, KNOE TV8, KAQY ABC 11, KARD FOX 14 and KTVE NBC 10.

Although the goal of the drive is to raise the full amount online today, donations to MedCamps are always welcome any time during the year. Donations may be made year round online at www.medcamps.com and may also be mailed to MedCamps at 102 Thomas Road, Suite 615, West Monroe, LA 71291. Med-Camps is a 501(c)(3) organization and contributions may be considered tax deductible.

MedCamps participants face the challenges of physical and/or mental disabilities, such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy, asthma, sickle cell anemia, autism, epilepsy, juvenile arthritis, visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech impairment or other developmental disabilities. This summer MedCamps will host 300 kids from across Louisiana over the course of 9 camps, which kick off Sunday, June 6.

For more information about MedCamps or the Money Bomb campaign, visit www.medcamps.com or contact Caleb Seney at 318-329-8405 or info@medcamps.com.

Track the MedCamps Money Bomb on Facebook at www.facebook.com/medcamps.

But Then, A Story About the Decision to Blog or Not to Blog

A little while back we at Emogen committed ourselves to blogging daily about topics relevant to our line of work: marketing, advertising and graphic design. We did fairly well but then…

Isn’t it funny how there’s always a but then? I was doing great on my diet, but then I went on that cruise. My portfolio was really going strong, but then the bottom fell out of the economy. The Cubs were hanging in there, but then the curse kicked in.

There’s always something to distract us and get in the way of good intentions. There’s always a but then.

Emogen’s but then was an onslaught of business, which, although awesome for us, is not so good for our intentions of daily blogging. But does breaking that commitment really even matter?

No and yes.

NO
A deli showcases its meats in a glass counter. A car dealer has that large lot out front. Those kind of display options don’t exist for a service company, so we’ve adapted our blog to work with our portfolio to showcase our “goods.” The point being, of course, to promote our expertise in order to acquire new business, so the fact that we’ve taken on several new clients as of late takes some pressure off of those efforts.

YES
However, it’s imperative to press on with a marketing initiative—whether blogging or some other form of advertising or promotion—to maintain momentum.

Rarely do you get the results you want from one ad or one single sales activity. Customers usually have to encounter your brand and message several times and ways before they even really pay attention to it much less make a purchase decision. The corollary is that it takes ample effort and resources to build up a campaign to the point of realizing the desired outcome. For that reason, you can’t hang up the towel as soon as the first phone call comes in. If you’re looking for a regular inflow of new business, you have to provide a regular outflow of information to those prospects.

So what does this mean to the fate of the Emogen blog? In lieu of our diminished time, the decision has been made to forego short daily blogs and instead post a lengthier, meatier blog once a week… at least until the next but then makes itself known.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer

Trick.ly

Business and marketing wordsmith Seth Godin gave us a heads up on a new, free (for now) online service called Trick.ly. This neat little tool is intended to give users “casual privacy," as Trick.ly foundar Acar Altinsel puts it. “Often times," he says, "that's all we really want: a little privacy. We don't care if it's secure enough to keep the NSA out.”

Here’s how it works… Ruston coolest new company: http://trick.ly/30w.

We haven’t had a chance to really explore all of the marketing, advertising and promotional opportunities and possibilities that this service will lend itself to, but keep it on your watch list.

-Brian, Emogen sales strategist

Competition Sucks

No doubt you’ve heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Having someone copy you is supposed to be flattering because it says they want to be like you.

So what about competitors? An economist would draw an eye-crossing graph showing that competitors enter a market because they recognize the potential that exists to earn a profit. Let me repeat that… competitors imitate you (i.e. enter your market) because they want to be like you (i.e. they want your profit).

[enter sarcastic chuckling from small business owners]

Sure, if you’re Jennifer Aniston it might be nice to have everyone go to the salon and ask for your haircut by name, but business competition is not flattering. It sucks. You want to focus each day on what you do best, not on fighting tooth and nail for customers.

That said, competition does signal that you are doing something right. So take a moment to bask in the glory… ok, now roll up your sleeves. There’s work to be done.

Count Your Blessings
Remember the reason you now have competition is because you are doing something right. Before you set off to acquire unclaimed market share be sure you’ve got your present share tied down.

You’ve gotten where you are today because of your current customer base. Let them know how appreciative you are for their business. While you’re at it, ask if there’s anything you should be doing that you’re not, or if there’s anything you could be doing better. Soliciting a customer’s opinion is one of the greatest ways to express how much they mean to you (especially if you act on their recommendations), because you’re giving them an opportunity to help shape your business.

Think Before You Change
Remember the reason you now have competition is because you are doing something right. Don’t feel like you have to change what you’re doing in order to compete, but don’t ignore change either.

If you’ve historically been the only provider in a market, you’ve had free reign to charge whatever you want, provide whatever level of service you want, and basically coast whenever you want. That’s the main reason competition is good for customers… it forces everyone to be on their best behavior.

But don’t just change for the sake of change. Change with a plan and purpose in mind. Consider the recommendations of your current customers. Are their recommendations valid and reasonable? Observe what your competition is doing differently than you. Is there anything that you should imitate?

Be Wary of Pricing Changes
Remember the reason you now have competition is because you are doing something right. Don’t rush into pricing changes, because you have the potential to price yourself out of business.

One of the most common soft spots for new competition to strike is your price. For sure, they could be justified in questioning what you’re charging, especially if you’ve been the only cat in town. However, they might also be inexperienced… they don’t fully understand the expense of providing the product/service or they don’t realize how valuable it is to the market. They could also be well financed, meaning that they are at leisure to assume some loss.

Promote, Promote, Promote
Remember the reason you now have competition is because you are doing something right. So, tell the market about it.

It’s time to stop viewing marketing as an expense and realize that it is an investment. Mass advertising and promotions can help you communicate to the market-at-large what you’re doing that’s so great; directed efforts can help you target and acquire that unclaimed market share; and focusing resources on sales and customer service can ensure your business continues to thrive.

Competition Will Crest
Absolutely, hands down, competition sucks. And new competition is a pain in the ass.

Have comfort, though. The same economist’s graph showing why competition exists would also show that there is an ebb and flow to competition. Ample profit in a market draws competition, but that same competition will inevitably weed out the weak.

As long as you keep your game face on and don’t ignore what’s afoot, I assure you the competition will crest and you’ll eventually get a break … at least until the next round begins.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

Shhh... It's the Secret Marketing Recipe

The AMA approved definition of marketing is “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Wait, what was that? I fell asleep.

The more concise Merriam-Webster version is “the act or process of selling or purchasing in a market.”

The rest of us would say it’s “selling something.” And I think it’s safe to say that everyone pretty much gets that concept. It’s almost as if making money is the survival instinct of the 21st century. But when push comes to shove, how does one actually market. And, more importantly, is there some secret recipe for how to reap the most profit possible from your marketing?

Believe it or not, there really is a term for the secret marketing recipe: marketing mix.

In yesterday’s blog I discussed marketing mix in terms of utilizing a variety of media to communicate a brand; however, the phrase has a much larger reach and refers to what is commonly called the Four Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

The Fours Ps came about in the 50s or 60s as a way to classify the elements of the marketing mix. Think of them as the ingredients for the marketing recipe.

Product refers to what’s being sold (a service would also fit into this category). Price is how much the product is sold for. Place is how it will get into the hands of the end user. And, finally, promotion is how details about the product are communicated to customers.

The 4Ps are simple concepts, I know. Unfortunately, there's no secret recipe for combining them. Each business is unique, and the 4Ps are all moving parts that directly and indirectly impact one another in countless ways.

In order to maximize the bottom line, you must know what to move and when to move it. So, much like gourmet cooking, great marketing is a balance of science and art... a talent partly learned (science) and partly God-given (art).

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

It's called a MIX for a reason

If you follow Emogen on Facebook (FB) you might have caught the blog we posted from Craig Daitch, “Why Facebook Can’t Be Trusted.” That post came amid some discussion (both internally and on FB) about the value of FB and other social media venues.

The main issue we’ve been gnawing at is the value of traditional media in light of social media.

It’s easy to think social media is “all that.” It’s nimble. It’s cheap. It meets people where they are. But it’s not perfect.

One of the biggest issues I have with social media is control… or lack of it, to be more precise. A good portion of control lies in the hands of the venue… FB, twitter, whatever; so a marketer is at the mercy of the platform as to what can and cannot be done.

Another reason that it can’t be the end-all-be-all is that, believe it or not, there are still people out there who don’t utilize social media. Traditional media is still the most effective way to reach those guys way back on the tail end of the distribution curve.

In no way am I implying that social media isn’t valuable. I’m also not saying traditional media reigns king. Both have limitations, and because of that they must both be a part of the marketing mix.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

You’re fired!

I’ve never really been a fan, but for some reason I’ve been following this season of Celebrity Apprentice. I know it’s a TV show, but I’ve been particularly fascinated by Donald Trump’s boardroom demeanor, primarily his way of taking the emotion out of decision making.

Even when the celebrities get all riled up, Trump keeps his cool, goes through the details of their performance, and then drops the “You’re fired.” bomb out of no where. No blinking. No apologies. He just does it.

As a small business owner (SBO) one of my greatest flaws is keeping the emotions out. I know I’m justified in being emotional… this enterprise is my family’s sole source of income and is the basis for all of our futures. Heavy lifting, if you get my point. But keeping decision making emotion-free is critical. Emotions cloud judgment and cause us to make poor, irrational choices.

One area that can be particularly emotional for SBOs is in customer relations.

Some customers are a dream… they are fun to work with, their expectations are reasonable, they don’t haggle on price, they pay on time, etc. etc. Others are not so wonderful. They demand more for less and quicker, and then they are slow to pay the tab. What is a SBO to do, though; we need all the customers we can get, right?

Not so. A blog I read recently said it wonderfully, “The customer is always right -- if it's the right customer.” Good customer service is a must, but you’re just not going to be able to please everyone and for plenty of perfectly normal reasons.

One of the greatest necessities in a client relationship—especially for those of us in a service industry—is chemistry. You and your customer need to like one another on a personal level in order for your professional relationship to really work.

But let’s say you’ve begun working with a client and it’s just not sparking. Or, worse, sparks are turning into flames, but not the good kind. What do you do?

Fortunately we haven’t been in that situation too many times at Emogen, but we have had to “fire ourselves” more than once. In those instances, we contacted the client and explained our decision and the basis for it. We also provided recommendations for our replacement and offered to assist with the transition (providing files, data or artwork) to their new provider.

I feel confident in saying that the times we’ve had this discussion, the client recognized the situation for what it was and was ok and maybe even a little surprised that we would direct them to a new provider and assist in establishing that relationship.

It’s really ok that you can’t work with everyone. It’s normal. Instead of becoming a slave to a bad pairing, though, take a lesson from Trump and remove the emotion from the situation. Ask yourself if the extra effort required for the relationship is going to be worth it in the long run. If not, then it’s probably wise to call it quits.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Ah, the Prisoner’s Dilemma… the granddaddy of all economic game theories.

Game theory is a way of predicting behavior in strategic situations. The Prisoner’s Dilemma applies to simultaneous decision making and helps explain why individuals/businesses don’t cooperate even if it’s in everyone’s best interest to do so.

It’s really best explained by the illustration for which it’s named:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (defects from the other) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent (cooperates with the other), the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. (wikipedia)

Obviously the best outcome would occur if both suspects keep their mouths shut, but for all the reasons that make people people—namely self-preservation—the most likely outcome is that both will betray the other and get a 5-year sentence.

So how does this apply to marketing?

Take advertising for example. Holding everything else constant, two competitors are financially better off if neither one advertises. Here’s why:

Say two companies split their market 50/50. Realizing that advertising will allow it to acquire more customers than Company B, Company A begins to promote its services. One of two things is going to happen:

1) B will more than likely come to the same realization and make the exact same decision concurrently. Holding all things equal, A and B remain at a 50/50 split.

2) If for some reason B didn’t make the same move at the same time, A may briefly gain market share; but B will quickly follow suit to keep from losing its share to A. Again, holding all things equal, A and B are likely back to a 50/50 split.

In either situation, advertising causes both companies to lose profit because they are spending money to keep their original 50/50 split. The clincher is that neither can stop advertising unless both do.

Now, of course, that “holding everything else constant” is a big catchall and nothing is ever constant or perfect; however, it’s fair to say that if one company begins to advertise a competitor really has no option but to do the same. And really that statement applies to all strategic decisions… product line additions, service improvements, staffing changes, facility openings, social media participation, and so on. If one company in an industry does something, everyone in the industry will have to do the same or risk losing market share.

Before we wrap up today’s blog, I want you to take a quick look back at scenario #2 from above. The quiet lesson there is that it’s better to make the first move because of the possibility of incremental market share gain; but, as that gets us into a “first to market” discussion, more on that will have to wait for another day.

Until then, consider what “prisoners’ dilemmas” face your industry and you’ll likely discover areas of weakness and opportunity. If you need help addressing what you find, give Emogen a call and we’ll be happy to talk you though your options.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

Which Way Do I Go, George?

Emogen began as a one-man operation that focused mainly on outside sales, so our first location was relatively simple… a glorified office, really, and it was set up as such. There was a desk just about centered in the room and a couple of visitor chairs facing it.

Brian quickly recognized, though, that as customers entered they were immediately unsure of where to go. What’s funny is that it couldn’t have been more than 500 sq.ft., so it wasn’t like you were trying to find a salesclerk in Wal-Mart.

The problem was that people didn’t know if they should approach the desk or wait to be invited. They didn’t know if they should stand or sit. They didn’t know where to wait when he was on the phone. It was comical, except for the small issue of a customer’s first experience with Emogen being extreme discomfort. Not the ideal first impression!

So Brian brought in a simple glass displace case and, like moths to a flame, customers knew exactly where to go. They were happy to stand at the counter and wait on him to invite them to sit down. If he was on a call, they were occupied looking at stuff in the case. They knew how to behave when afforded the cue of a front counter.

We as consumers have been conditioned how to behave in a retail environment or office space. That training has given way to expectations, and when those expectations aren’t met we can get frustrated with the shopping experience.

As a business owner or manager, it’s easy to set up shop in a manner that’s convenient for your operations. Though, if customers or clients regularly visit your location, I advise you to reconsider and create your layout to satisfy their expectations.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

How Are You Bent?

We had a fun discussion at the office this morning about things we did or said as kids that hinted at the occupation we’ve found ourselves in today.

Jake, our head graphic designer, recently found something he wrote as a youngster in which he claimed he would either become “an attorney or an artist, but probably an artist because he likes to draw more.”

In the early days of our marriage some 12 years ago, Brian and I habitually concocted entrepreneurial schemes. Looking back, we tended to focus heavily on branding and promoting our imaginary endeavors. Go figure.

Because of that inclination, I stand amazed sometimes at how oblivious some people are to sales and marketing techniques. I mean, it’s so simple… right?

A proclivity toward marketing is how Brian and I came to be where we are today, but if we’re not vigilant our bent could potentially hinder communication with clients who think differently.

Today, I challenge you to take a stab at determining your bent, and then make an effort to figure out how your customers bend differently. Altering your communication to accommodate a client’s perspective could make a world of difference in the relationship.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

Just Say No

If you’re not in a sales position, you might find this next statement hard to believe: Salespeople want to hear “no”.

Ok, so truthfully sales people really want prospects to say yes, but we all know that’s not possible 100% of the time. But instead of saying yes or no, clients many times send salespeople “toward a most useless place: The Waiting Place,” to quote Dr. Seuss.

The problem with the Waiting Place is that a salesperson can burn up a lot of time and resources wooing a client that knows the answer is inevitably going to be no.

So how can a salesperson get down to nuts and bolts to come away with a definitive answer?

First, you’ve got to be sure you’re talking to the decision maker. If not, you’re wasting your time; if so, be sure you’ve asked that yes/no question. It’s possible you just haven’t asked for the sale plainly enough.

If you can’t get a definitive answer by asking, then assume the answer is no. The prospect is likely stalling because he is uncomfortable and/or doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. Move on, but (depending on the situation) consider checking back in from time to time.

For all of you decision makers out there, hear this: a sales person’s time is valuable, too. Be respectful and tell them no if that’s your answer. You have a reputation to keep up, and stringing along a salesperson (or being rude) could come back to bite you. Remember, a salesperson's job is talking... to lots of people... who could very well be your prospects, too.

-Brian, Emogen sales strategist

I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride My Bike!

I love Queen. Of course they made great music, but I also love them because I have fond memories of my then 3-year-old daughter forcing me to play Bicycle over and over and over every morning en route to daycare.

And, for whatever reason, Bicycle also makes me think of tandem bicycles. You know: those silly bikes made for two. I’ve never ridden one and I’ve always wondered if having two peddlers makes it easier or harder. I assume it’s easier provided both riders are coordinating their efforts.

I don’t recall exactly how it came up, but this morning I was thinking about tandem bicycles and how they are a good analogy for advertising campaigns.

For example, consider a traditional ad campaign… print, TV and radio. Traditional advertising can be very powerful. As days go by, though, that is less and less true; but it still has value.

Traditional advertising, IMO*, is more useful when it’s working in tandem with other efforts… direct marketing (mail/e-mail), special events, online advertising, social media, nontraditional (guerilla) tactics, etc. However, those efforts are usually less potent without traditional advertising supporting them.

The key, though, is coordinating the message, tone, call to action, etc. of traditional and nontraditional advertising to maximize reach and effectiveness.

So the picture we arrive at is truly like a tandem bike: you really do need both peddlers to make the thing work, but when they are coordinated it’s much easier to produce the desired outcome.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

*in my opinion (thanks to John K. for my new favorite acronym)

If You’ve Got a Problem, Yo, I’ll Solve It

I thought about attempting a vlog (video blog) or podcast with a parody of Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby. Something to the effect of “If you’ve got a problem let the pro[fessional] solve it” … but lacking time and several margaritas the best I can offer is a great lead in for today’s blog.

Each of us, regardless of what role or position we find ourselves in the workplace, is a problem solver.

The banker is solving the problem of how to store and manage money. The grocer is solving the problem of how to purchase a variety of goods from myriad producers. The grave digger is solving the problem of where to put a coffin.

You get the point. Person A presents a problem, Person B recommends a solution, the two agree to a price, work is completed, and voila, problem solved.

A predicament can occur, though, when the problem at hand is not correctly or fully communicated, either by fault of Person A not properly explaining the problem or by Person B by not fully understanding it.

There’s also the instance of Person A presenting the problem and the solution, which we’re all guilty of from time to time. Have you ever gone to the mechanic and said, “I need an alignment.”? I have, and got my car back perfectly aligned… but still pulling to one side… because what I really needed were new tires.

Oftentimes, I find that the answer to the problem lies in the diagnosis itself. Scratch that and make it “every time.”

The solution always lies in correctly understanding the problem.

You can’t skimp on probing and digging to understand the problem being presented… even if that means telling your customer (politely, of course) to back off and let you do your job.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

Kite Day Rescheduled

Not to suck up valuable blog space, but we want to get the word out as many ways as possible:

Tomorrow’s Kite Day has been cancelled and rescheduled for May 15th. The forecast is calling for severe weather and we don’t want any kiddos pulling a Benjamin Franklin or Dorothy Gale on us. (If you don’t get either of those references, please email me and I’ll explain, lol)

So, again, no Kite Day tomorrow. We’ll try again on the 15th; same bat time, same bat place.

Have an awesome weekend!
~Sarah, Emogen marketer

PS: Sunday's community-wide baby shower for Life Choices is still on, rain or shine!

Where’d My Hat Go?

It’s a little windy in Ruston today. So much so that I think it may have knocked off my marketing hat for a moment.

I say that because I caught myself making a comment that I usually loathe customers to say.

You see, we’re helping to plan a community-wide baby shower to support Life Choices of North Central Louisiana*. As part of the publicity for the event, we placed a little over $600 in newspaper advertising. Today I said, "for that much we could have purchased around 41 cases of diapers. That's almost 4,000 diapers!"

In that moment I lost sight of the big picture. The big picture being that we are foregoing—risking, if you will—those 41 cases in the hopes that more than 41 people will respond and donate cases of their own. At the very least, all we need are 42 people to respond to make it have been a worthwhile investment.

The cardinal rule I broke today was viewing my advertising as an expense, rather than an investment. Executed properly, a marketing budget will provide a return on your money.

Ahhhhh… glad to have my hat back on.

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

*The purpose of the shower is to collect much needed baby supplies for Life Choices, a faith-based crisis pregnancy support organization. The shower is Sunday, May 2 at Christ Community Church from 2 to 4 pm. Gifts may also be dropped off at Super One any time this week. Financial donations are always welcome and may be mailed to Life Choices at 211 West Texas Avenue, Ruston, LA 71270.

Social Media Alphabet Soup

(Apologies are in order for not posting anything Monday or Tuesday. It's been pleasantly busy in the Emogen camp this week!)

As we have discussed in previous blogs, social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter offer many benefits in terms of generating awareness and connecting with customers in ways that were impossible even a couple of years ago.

However, several industries have “alphabet soup” to deal with… regulatory agencies like SEC, FINRA, FDA and HIPAA.

These agencies have very strict guidelines governing, among other things, what language may be used in marketing literature, how prospects and clients may be contacted, what information can be presented, and so on. There are also rules regarding how data from marketing communications must be retained, which can be tricky if you have numerous employees posting frequently to several different sites.

And, of course, failure to comply with these regs can entail severe penalties, including steep fines.

Before letting employees or marketers embark on a social media adventure, a company governed by any of these agencies MUST develop corporate policy and procedure with respect to the regulations applicable to their industry.

-Brian, Emogen sales strategist

new comment system

We're testing out the Disqus comment system that will allow you to share your comments on Blogger with your Facebook, Twitter and other network(s).

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

~Sarah

Happy Birthday, New Coke!

Today, “New Coke” would have turned 25. But sadly it will only live on in our hearts and minds… and possibly in vending machines in American Samoa.

On this day in 1985, The Coca-Cola Company rolled out a reformulated version of its leading product, Coca-Cola, in an effort to regain market share it was losing hand over fist to Pepsi.

The new product was met with what is probably the most widespread, negative consumer reaction EVER. The reformulated recipe really only survived for 3 months; in July of 1985 the original formula—rebranded “Coca-Cola Classic”—was reintroduced, thus effectively killing off its replacement.

New Coke has been heralded as the biggest product failure ever and THE textbook example of bad marketing.

But was it?

Whether or not they planned it (for the fun of it try googling “New Coke conspiracy”), suffice it to say that when the dust settled on the whole fiasco, Coca-Cola sales rebounded and the company regained its dominance of the soft drink market.

So maybe “New Coke” was indeed the biggest product failure ever, but it may also be the greatest example of how to galvanize consumer loyalty.

Just something to think about…

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

Google No Longer Satan?

In certain circles, Brian is famous for his opinion that Google is Satan… or at least the Antichrist.

Even though we jokingly chide him about it, Brian’s criticism isn’t all that uncommon. Many have expressed concerns about privacy issues related to the incredible volume of data Google warehouses on its users’ searches. Couple that data with the personal information streaming through gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Android, etc. and the issue becomes clear: Google could practically know everything about everybody.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re fans of behavioral profiling; but the Google knowledge base—or more specifically who has access to it and what they choose to do with it—is a little scary.

But move over Google…

As widely reported in the news yesterday and today, Facebook is launching a universal “like” button that can be used anywhere on the internet. Sounds cool at face value, but in an AdAge article Ian Schafer of Deep Focus calls it for what it is: “Facebook potentially could power an all-knowing behavioral targeting platform the likes of which we’ve never seen before.”

Hmm… sorry, Google, looks like there’s a new frontrunner for “Way Too Powerful Corporation of The Year.”

-Sarah, Emogen marketer

Social Media Irony

Today has been a day full of social media research for emogen marketing. We are taking the day off from blogging to continue researching all the reasons we should be blogging.

Tomorrow we plan to discuss Google vs. Facebook

- Brian, Emogen sales strategist