Tag Archives: Dell

May 29, 2009

Mac vs. PC: truth in advertising hurts

By Alan Hart

I could not help sharing the new Mac ad called “elimination” from Apple:

Disclaimer: I switch back to a Mac a little over two years ago and I believe I made the right decision for me.

Bottomline:

Why this ad works is it because it is based on truth or at least perceived truths and I would argue that in a consumers mind these are the same. What is Microsoft‘s next play? Who knows, but I would encourage them to focus on the core product to increase stability and work with partners like Dell, HP, Acer and Lenovo to clean up the messaging for the “PC” solution.

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May 21, 2009

Developing your insight feed is critical to being relevant

By Alan Hart

This is the sixth in a series of short posts related to The CMO Agenda research. Informed by recent CMO conversations and CMG Partners‘ collective experience helping top marketers develop marketing strategy, we have compiled a list of seven ideas or jump starters for further conversation. These are meant to spark discussion, ideas, and action as we all enter a difficult 2009.

Whether developing new products or looking to increase loyalty, having a continuous stream of customer insight that draws on many different sources is important. This feed needs to be constant and plentiful. Technology is making it easier to find new ways to gather and make use of customer insight with limited resources.

Customer research and voice of the customer programs like councils and feedback meetings are the more traditional ones many marketers employ.  Marketing organizations should not forget the many simple everyday ways to accomplish this via tools like email, google alerts, RSS feeds, Twitter or talking with the services or sales representatives. The important thing is to make it an integral part of your day / week.

What can happen if you are not watching/listening?

Many should not forget the Motrin campaign that had so much twitter backlash over a weekend after the launch of a new “hip” mommy ad that the parent campaign pulled the ad. Don’t let this happen to you! Ensure your insight and listening post are capturing as much feedback as possible.

An example of a company doing this well is Dell with their IdeaStorm.com, where users generate ideas for new features or often irritating sales and marketing practices or service policies. The community can then vote on them which helps Dell focus and prioritize.

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March 31, 2009

Differentiate or be commoditized

By Alan Hart

This is the second in a series of short posts related to The CMO Agenda research. Informed by recent CMO conversations and CMG Partners‘ collective experience helping top marketers develop marketing strategy, we have compiled a list of seven ideas or jump starters for further conversation. These are meant to spark discussion, ideas, and action as we all enter a difficult 2009.

True differentiation is increasingly hard with faster moving markets and better-educated shoppers. This means the task of constantly exploring whether your products and services stand out in the mind of the consumer is critical.

How will you differentiate for the long-term?

Forecasting the “death of the American Brand” as one CMO said, forces you to think about the private label explosion and house brand strength by the likes of Target and big chains. These house brands are successful because very little separates them from the old standards.

This trend is happening in everything from CPG to Computers to Insurance. Dell rode the wave as it commoditized the PC market, which now tries to find a sure footing again. Even service markets like insurance are seeing this trend as GEICO and Progressive lead the charge to commoditize auto insurance and drive down prices — even large cost-ridden competitors are following them in this practice.

In this tough economic market, for many the first reaction is to discount or attempt to push value and rationale messaging, but marketers need to understand the long-term impact. It is time to reassess the market and understand current strategic impacts to make decisions and trade-offs on how your company can differentiate in a unique way.

Mirror post at cmgpartners.com/blog

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November 23, 2008

How to get started with social media marketing

By Alan Hart

The social landscape from gregverdino.com

The best social media marketing strategy is to have a brand, product or service worth talking about. Let me stop there and let that sink in…

Lots of marketers and agencies are trying to crack the code to social media marketing. Take for example, Wendy’s Smart character (a.k.a the square hamburger) on Myspace.com with almost 40,000 friends or the folks from Kleenex and their Let it Out (TM) campaign and online community that has users submitting their own video stories filled with emotion. These are two very different approaches from Wendy’s use of exiting networks with very little campaign integration to Kleenex’s  approach with an integrated campaign and building their own community separate from more mainstream options like Facebook, YouTube, or MySpace.

So, who is doing this well? Dell has been touted as using the web and social media to turn their image around. Apple and Google have so many blog hits that they probably can stop advertising online… well if Google actually did advertise.

So what if you are not Dell, Apple or Google… what can you do to get started? Besides focusing on building the best brand, product or service, bloggers are probably the best place to start because they are the power influencers. Here are four steps:

  1. Identify your top 5% of customers that are power users or your highest engaged segment (if you can, identify if there are bloggers in this group, but do not single them out)
  2. Prepare for transparency and the need to take quick action including: changing your strategies, changing products, or apologizing if you find your company has done something this group does not agree with
  3. Now that you are prepped and know which segment to reach out to, treat this segment like the #1 media outlet that you would love to cover your business. This means giving them behind the scenes access, exclusive experiences, etc.
  4. LISTEN to them!

Finally, there is no guarantee that this approach will get you top billing on your blog of choice. You have first focused on building something worth talking about and now began to treat your most enaged customers in a special way. This has benefits well beyond social media exposure and if you are lucky you will get the exposure you are looking for.

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