Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Tweaks to stop leaks

Marketers spend a lot of time identifying the perfect customers for their product. Then,with that knowledge embedded into the marketing plan, they set up a communication program to capture those customers.

Of course in a perfect world they would be the only player in a niche market and all the customers would come to them. But those markets are very much the minority so you have to plan to attract customers to your product.

The process the customer goes through in arriving at which product to buy is known as the path to purchase and it has been well defined. One version is the AIDA model – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. Each step is a stage along the path.

I’ve used this model as starting point for marketing planning on many occasions over the years and I’ve picked up a few pointers on how to apply it for maximum effect:

Focus on leakage.

As they move from one stage of the process to the next the customer refines a shortlist of brands and products they feel best suit their needs. The trick is to focus on why some brands survive and why others perish at that point.

Look for the positive brand attributes

Look for what the customer likes about your brand. These may be brand attributes that are unique to you or that all successful brands in your category share. Once you know these highlight those attributes in your communications.

Negative brand attributes

Equally important what does the customer see as a negatives. Once you identify these attributes, reduce or eliminate them.

Attributes vary…

You have to go through the same exercise for each stage of the cycle, but what works to avoid elimination at one stage may well not be important to highlight at the next stage. For example ‘green credentials’ might be  important to move your brand from ‘awareness’ to ‘interest’, but a reputation for innovation might be the key to get you to the ‘desire’ stage.

So next time you are looking at your marketing plan take into account these simple points and you’ll notice an increase in the business that goes all the way though to become a sale.

At THE DM GROUP we help many clients define insights that allow them to get the most from their marketing activities. If you’d like to discuss leaks and how we can plug them why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey

Client Services Director

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Giving the bird to digital

Penguins are an endangered species according to federal Minister for Small Business, Nick Sherry, who yesterday forecast that online shopping would wipe out general bookstores within years.

‘I think in five years, other than a few specialist booksellers in capital cities we will not see a bookstore, they will cease to exist.’

According to The Age, representatives from the bookseller industry were ‘gobsmacked’ at the Senator’s comments.

But I wonder why.

Were their heads stuck in a first edition War and Peace when news of Angus & Robertson and Borders broke?

Still, I don’t necessarily agree with Senator Sherry just as I don’t agree with the demise of direct many digital evangelists have predicted over the last decade.

In fact, in the ever-expanding online world, offline communications will become even more cherished and effective.

And for a simple, human reason – you can touch it.

Nothing compares to that feeling of buying a new book, pages unturned, spine unbroken and the anticipation of getting home to begin unravelling its secrets.

Navigating the newspaper on your iPad doesn’t bring the same joy as exploring a pristine copy of the Sunday paper over a coffee in your local cafe.

Equally, receiving a crafted piece of direct mail, produced with metered copy, paced art direction and perfectly weighted stock, cannot be rivalled by an eDM.

It’s the difference between high tech and high touch.

The difference between Corey Worthington and a Facebook party invitation, and Catherine Middleton and a Royal wedding invitation.

Digital is perfect for delivering information with high utility but may not be the best for conveying a message of high emotion.

So take a page out of THE DM GROUP book and consider the most appropriate medium for maximising the effectiveness of your marketing message.

It’s not always the newest.

Sometimes it’s a classic.

Stephen Flewell-Smith
Business & Creative Director
THE DM GROUP

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

3 essential steps to brand engagement

From time to time we see an ad on TV which we really connect with. We watch the ad, we link with the message, we desire the product and our respect for the brand grows. It’s a slam dunk. But behind that 30 seconds of delight will be a brand owner that has invested heavily in the process to ensure the perfect fit between brand and consumer.

I can think of a number of  iconic brands that get this right. What they all have in common is a direct connection between the message they deliver to you through the ad and their brand essence. The brand essence is the heart and soul of the brand, the central nature of what the brand represents to all those who come into contact with it.

For instance, Nike’s essence – “authentic athletic performance” – is translated to the following two slogans “Just do it!” and “I can”. Nike’s ads are created to harness the sentiment of both essence and slogan. 

BMW’s essence is ‘Joy’. It’s reflected in the long established BMW tagline “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” and, in recent ads, through the tagline “Sheer Driving Pleasure.”

Of its brand essence BMW says, “We don’t just build cars, we create emotions. We are guarantors of enthusiasm, fascination and goosebumps. We give you the keys to discover ever-growing and evolving Joy.” You can see how this plays out in their communications.

In (very) simple terms, there are three basic steps in developing effective brand communications. Of course,each of these steps involves a number of tasks, but if you follow the outline below and ensure you take the output of one step into the next you’ll be on the way to effective brand engagement.

Step 1 is the definition of  your brand framework – it’s personality, voice, values, unique attributes and, most importantly, its essence. These are the building blocks from which steps 2 and 3 should evolve. 

Step 2 is the development of your brand identity – its look and feel, visual language, use of imagery, colour palette and sometimes even a new or evolved  brand mark. Once you’ve completed step 1, there could be a number of directions the identity can take. Only one will be absolutely right for your brand.

Step 3 is the creation of a “go-to-market” plan – it defines who you will communicate with, when, where and what you will say. Make sure your communication platform, the idea or the slogan relates to your brand essence. Think online and offline communication channels, internal and external audiences.

At the heart of your marketing decisions should be how well you’ve connected steps 1,2 and 3. It’s the failure to do that properly which lets down so many brands. Don’t get carried away with a ‘big idea’ advertising concept if it has no relevance to your brand and its essence. That error is one of the main reasons ads fail.

At The DM Group we are committed to ensuring all our clients communications are built upon solid brand platforms. If you would like to discuss your brand or to see the work we have done then give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey – Client Services Director.

Monday, 2 May 2011

From puffin muffins to destroying brands…

iSelect has changed its advertising with a campaign reaching both offline and online.

So whether you love her or hate her, as its seems so many people do,  it’s ‘goodbye’ quirky, bubbly little blonde with the penchant for ‘puffin muffins’ …

… and ‘hello’ portly bald guy in a suit who gets the name of the large lady in his call centre wrong and doesn’t care.

As a brand specialist this ad sent a shiver down my spine. You’d have to be ‘burying heads’ to believe I’m going to be thinking nice things about iSelect after this misguided attempt at humour.

I agree that iSelect needed to do something new, but for me this misfires badly. I get the message that iSelect is not a health fund, I got that from the previous ads. Now I also get the message that iSelect has a culture that rides rough-shod over the feelings of individuals. Their names and feelings don’t matter.

For many people there are few bigger faux pas than getting someones name wrong.

Well actually there is a bigger one. Getting a name wrong, not giving a stuff  and then insisting on using the wrong name over the protests of the victim of your poor manners.

At the DM group we work with many major brands to construct the framework of  their brand strategy and bring their brand personality to life through considered and insightful creative executions on and offline. If you’d like to discuss how we might help you do just that for your brand why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey

Client Services Director

Thursday, 21 April 2011

Goodbye Bensons – HELLO ‘Ciggies’

The recent Federal Government announcements on plain cigarette packaging  could mark the end of  40 year war against the tobacco industry. That industry  is up in arms and threatening multi-million dollar law suits. Perhaps evidence of how deeply this latest assault will impact the ‘brands’?

Over the years the tobacco industry has been quite remarkable in maintaining strong brands in the face of restrictions that would have sounded the death knell for other categories.   

In the 1970s tobacco companies were banned from using overtly glamorous or ‘cool’ imagery, so they resorted to an increasingly surreal approach to selling their wares. The result was arguably some of the best press ads and posters of a generation with oblique images of gold pyramids and ripped silk. For a while it seemed that the tighter you squeezed the industry, the more creative it became.

But that’s all about to change, no more ads, no more seductive packaging, no more brands, no more cigarettes.

Result = true happiness? Well perhaps its not that simple.

The fact is that you can take away the brand identity but the need that created the category will remain?

All you are left with is a single, mass market of ‘ciggies’ with similar look, price and taste (just a different name to pay lip service to their origin). It might stop me posing with an expensive brand I think says something about me, but does it stop me smoking? I doubt it. For the vast majority of smokers this is about addiction first and fashion a far distant second.

At the DM group we work with clients to create brands that positively differentiate them from the competition, our successes with  blue chip clients are testiment to our creativity. If you’d like to know more, why not give us a call.

Malcolm Harvey – Client Services Director