The most basic way to get someone's attention is this: "Break a Pattern."

Chip Heath

Chip Heath, Best Selling Author

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Michael Newhouse
WCN group
wcngroup@gmail.com

Marketing, You Can Only Predict And Measure

Marketing is strategic, creative and measurable. Marketing imitates sales in addition to supporting. Both are equaling important to the bottom line. Yes, there are exceptions to the rules, but these are only rare in frequency.




Michael Newhous
 WCN group
wcngroup@gmail.com

Marketing Reports Are Useless

Reports are great but without identifying actionable steps to KPI's (key performance indicators) they remain useless. I have read reports that were one page and some that were 100 pages that went into extensive reporting detail but offered no recommendations. For example, a trend as been identified that the target market in Tier 1 is responding to a certain CTA (Call for Action) within emails. The data is revealed and cross referenced via email data, Google Analytics and landing page data. The is fantastic that a positive conversion trend is revealed and reported, but the next step is taking action on this item either by means of continuing the strategy or modifying the strategy by incorporating in other marketing assets.

Do your reports reflect this type of actionable recommendations? If not, incorporate it now!

WCNGroup is a Strategic Marketing and Branding agency founded by Michael Newhouse. Services include brand identity, demographic discovery, marketing planning, business plan development, experiential campaign execution, digital marketing and social media.

Most Valued Marketing Skills

Brand Strategy and Design Creativity

The influx of brands competing has never been so competitive. Big businesses are competing with small companies and vice a versa. Brands that are successfully managing their industries possess a unique product, brand identity and/or marketing.

Be Strategic

Be Creative

Be a Winning Brand

WCNGroup is a Strategic Marketing and Branding Consulting agency founded by Michael Newhouse. Services include brand identity, demographic discovery, marketing planning, business plan development, experiential campaign execution, digital marketing and social media.

TOMS Shoes Facing Branding Dilemma

TOMS Shoes has run into a branding problem as acquisitions are slung about the company taking a holier-than-thou position. Founder Blake Mycoskie vehemently denies these claims and states that "no matter, what your going to have haters." And further, "the bigger TOMS becomes, the louder they'll shout." Business experts want to categorize this simply as a business model decision but fail to realize that it extends deeper into the company landing straight on its brand strategy.

Whether Mycoskie intentionally developed the brand strategy or if it naturally occurred as a result of the distinct business model, one could only derive. The perception of holier-than-thou permeates throughout their marketing communication, experiential marketing activities and company culture. If you don't fit this image than be judged. 

Don't get me wrong, Tom's is an amazing brand and one that will be around for a long time. The work they have done with the needy is highly commendable. Their shoes were a perfect innovative product at the time and now copied by others that lack the vision that Mycoskie embodied.  But this type of branding niche has a down side if not carefully managed.

Will this ruin Tom's brand future. 

By no means will this have a long-term effect on the brand unless they do not make a concerted effort to address the issue that has presented itself. A branding effort will need to be implement in a subtle way as to not bring attention to the issue anymore that has already been made public. The brand needs to get back to the core and focus on doing good while not over broadcasting this fact.

Source: 

TOMS Shoes Founder To Critics: We Are Not ‘Holier-Than-Thou'

Michael Newhouse


WCNGroup is a Strategic Marketing and Branding agency founded by Michael Newhouse. Services include brand identity, demographic discovery, marketing planning, business plan development, experiential campaign execution, digital marketing and social media.

Business Quote

"It's easier to change a business than it is to change a person." Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue

Read more Business Quotes here

What's missing in your Brand Monitoring

Most businesses are online with a website, social media presence and possibly doing some SEO within those properties. Now some have taken the next step to include monitoring brand content and industry specific conversations online. Tools to monitor these activities vary from free (Google Alerts) to paid (Raven Tools) and can be set to keyword terms that are being used to describe and define your brand.

So what is missing with Brand Monitoring?

Missing from Brand Monitoring is when marketing agencies are contracted to provide social media and content strategy services that are Not capable of accurately representing the brand. This type of brand negligence can rapidly damage the brand with months of work needed to clean up the mess. Just cause an agency states that they know social media and/or content management does not mean they are astute in this marketing activity. Your responsibility as a brand or agency of record (AOR) is to perform your own online review which should include basic searches about the company and its constitutes.

The current customer is getting savvier by the day with reading reviews, joining brand's social media platforms, performing their own search and finally, ad networks are getting in on this action by way of designed ads that include who likes what brand and what they are saying. For the unskilled marketer, this can be a daunting task with a wide variety of answers online.

The amount of information and data about your brand is there for your taking. So take it and run with it! What you'll find is truly a gold mine of information and the most embracing, wonderful brand ambassadors that can do more for your brand than ever imaginable.

All the Best,


Michael Newhouse




WCNGroup is a Strategic Marketing and Branding agency founded by Michael Newhouse. Services include brand identity, demographic discovery, marketing planning, business plan development, experiential campaign execution, digital marketing and social media.

Business Quote, Mantra, Mission

"Advertising 
                               
                                 is the Price  

        companies pay for being  
               
                               un-original",                   

Yves Behar, Designer at TED2008

"Ship or get off the Pot", Inspired by Seth Godin

Yes, it's true, Seth Godin has finally inspired me.  I profess to not being a huge fan like others of Seth, but don't get me wrong, he does deliver moments of brilliance in marketing and business but not just all the time.  Today though, one of my Facebook friends posted this video and for some reason it just connected in the right spots for me.



Key points:

• Knowing the deep soul-feeling of being responsible for the business to succeed.  Unless you have owned a company there is no other feeling like this other than being a parent (not sleeping well, signs of sickness, wanting to buy every new gadget...)
• Discipline needs Strategy, period!  You can have all the discipline in the world but if your not performing the right task it becomes a mute activity.  This is why I am a Strategist, because after years of doing task from shipping, unloading trucks at 2am (UPS job in college), writing press releases to creating marketing plans - you have to think strategically in order to have the discipline to perform successfully.
• Live authentically by writing a blog or even daily Facebook post.  Marketing has changed and as a marketer you must know how to write including tone, when, why... because no matter what business, its all social (media) now.
• Content online is invaluable for many reasons - Real time results (SEO), link building, SERP, customer segmentation...

What keeps you Shipping?

Proctor & Gamble launches direct to consumers eCommerce store

This comes as No surprise that another manufacturer (P&G) is adopting the direct to consumer business model by launching their own eCommerce store http://www.pgestore.com/   P&G's e-store comes as other package-goods marketers are also ramping up e-commerce efforts.  The store is currently in beta but has a fully integrated marketing campaign that includes a heavy dose of Social Media. 

According to Advertising Age, for the latest venture, P&G is adding touches such as product ratings, shopper feedback forums for users to share tips and links to its Facebook brand fan pages, through which consumers can buy products directly.  Did I just here, Social Shopping?  The e-store is meant to be a "living learning lab" for e-commerce capabilities, the company said in a statement. Online retailing has been a high priority for P&G Chairman-CEO Bob McDonald since he took the company's top job last year.  While P&G today gets less than 1% of sales online, or $500 million, Mr. McDonald has said he sees no reason the company can't increase such sales tenfold.

Manufacturers direct to consumer eCommerce

This business model strategy was attempted during the first big dot.com wave but fizzled out with lack of proper technology platforms and tools in addition to bitterness from retailers/dealers.  But now the wave is back (Increase in number of manufacturers request to WCN Group for eCommerce strategy solutions).  *Interesting to note that manufacturers that I had discussions with several years ago who were resistant to ecommerce are now the ones frantically calling. 

Manufacturers who adopt the eCommerce business model will find success this time around because the tipping point for shopping online has been reached (customers are confident).  Ecommerce platforms are universal and most notably, the social media and social shopping (experience) aspect.  Customer will not have to leave their comfort zone in order to shop and purchase products.  As an example, they can stay on Facebook, ask their friends what to buy and for a review, than click and purchase.  It is that easy!

Business Quote - Henry Ford

"Anyone who stops marketing to save money is like a person who stops the clock to save time." - Henry Ford

Marriott Launches Social and Multimedia Hub

A few post ago I wrote about Marriott launching "Spirit of Aloha" experiential marketing tour and commented about what marketing and experiential marketing strategies Marriott should implement with this program. It seems that Marriott corporate has launched a new feature on the corporate website called "Marriott News Center".

With this new social and multimedia hub on Marriott.com, which welcomes 12 million unique visitors a month, there's just one single place to connect for all Marriott online news, photos, videos, blogs, Twitter feeds, and more. Users can share breaking news with their friends and followers.

"The Marriott News Center is a compelling and engaging place for consumers, including hotel guests, journalists and investors, to gather the latest news about Marriott, as well as a global forum to converse and share ideas," says Kathleen Matthews, Executive Vice President of Global Communications and Public Affairs, Marriott International. "The site is intended to transcend generations and communications platforms to reach and engage all audiences."

Did she say "engaging?" After reviewing the post since the official launch, there have been 12 post made with a total of 13 comments. Engaging? I then went to find info on the Marriott Hawaii road show and still could not find any information regarding this experiential marketing campaign. Engaging? Still committed to finding something engaging I clicked on the link Go Courtyard What's the latest buzz on Courtyard by Marriott. This launched into a new window and was in a blog style but the colors were dull and not like the corporate colors, the site had very little if any interactivity. Engaging?

Don't Take "NO" for an Answer

Another lesson in resiliency on display by one of the stars on the "Shark", Barbara Corcoran. In an article on Walletpop.com Barbara talks about how she fought for the spot on the show and did not accept No from mega producer Mark Burnett. The actual email she wrote to Burnett can be found here http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/06/barbara-corcoran-on-not-taking-no-for-an-answer/?icid=mainmaindl2link7http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F10%2F06%2Fbarbara-corcoran-on-not-taking-no-for-an-answer%2F

Her letter highlighted her accomplishments and why she was the better choice for the position. She acknowledged Burnett's position then highlighted her past experiences and completed the email with a "call to action". Excellent solution based response to the initial denial which eventually won her the position.

Moral of the story in a sales model, don't take No for an answer if you truly believe that your solution is the better choice. Even if she did not win this spot, she still professionally gave it all she could. During this economy we are all experiencing many "No's" from proposals but need to fight for what we believe in. When I receive a "No" I still stay in contact offering the potential client to continue to follow my blog, Twitter, Facebook and Website to receive current tabs on my success and to educate on this Seismic shift going on in Business and Marketing.

Quote of the week

"The learning is that we are in very tough economic times, where price has become more of an objective to us than it ever has been, and we are using this strategy to drive traffic during this time," Ambercrombie Chief executive Mike Jeffries said during a recent conference call with analyst.

Okay, we are a year into the worst recession ever recorded in history and now he is admitting that the company is learning! Could this be one of the reasons that sales for the retailer have plummeted down 30% and they posted a net loss of $26.7 million for the second quarter? Analyst also site the fact that A&F has not offered discounts or price cutting along with missing the mark in fashion offerings.

Maybe A&F should listen more to their customers. A 23 year old male at a mall was interviewed says he prefers A&F to other brands but cannot afford them. Female 25 stated she would shop more frequently at A&F if prices were lower. Hello, is anybody listening?

I completely understand protecting a brands current and long term brand value but also understand that if sales are down strategy must be evaluated for effectiveness. Most businesses are in survival and sustain mode creating cost effective operational and marketing activities. Next time you are in your local mall, take a look at the traffic in A&F and if bags are leaving the store.

Never loose touch with your Customers

This is a lesson from a recent Wall Street Journal article about Toyota Motor Corp
heres the link http://tinyurl.com/melvfz

North American Chief of Toyota, Yoshimi Inaba stated that we got "a little bit lost" in our North American strategy. A little lost, not sure I understand what that means. According to reports, Toyota is ranking number 2 (Camry 150,000 units) and 5 (Toyota Corolla/Matrix 121,000 units) for 09 sales to only be beat by Ford F series trucks (179,000 units).
see link http://editorial.autos.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=1079595&topart=utes
Yes, the Prius had received fame when the gas prices were high but with the un-attractive body styling and back order log, it did not make the top ten list.

Sales are down for all auto makers and the ultimate test is coming which is why (maybe) Mr. Inaba is rallying the troops because market share is now ready for the taking. But, standing in front of the media and stating that you have lost touch with your customers does not send a warm feeling back to your customers or your staff.

Quickly doing a Google search for Toyota did not bring many "marketing communications" on the first page but the second page had their Newsroom page listed. Upon exploring the Toyota Newsroom page it was filled with generous amounts of Social Media and ways to connect with the target market. Yes, it still is a little corporate looking/feeling but that can be corrected. Toyota Twitter page has over 6,000 followers, Youtube with over 600 subscribers and 78 videos with the top video receiving over 160,000 views (30 second sport commercial for Prius). Not bad at all, in fact Toyota has done a decent job of stepping on to the Superhighway of Social Media.

What is lacking is the engagement and connection with their marketing. The videos, even the most viewed video, was not engaging. Viewers to the video commented more on the song than the car itself. Toyota should have over 100k in Twitter followers but need to loosen up in order to not look down upon your customers. Treat them like family and they will always come back to eat. I know for me, one of the best cars I ever had was my first Toyota truck. Never had a problem, ran like a pro and was dependable for all my commuting and travel adventures.
Note - I bought this truck used from a Nissan dealer.

Recommendation to Toyota, stop the corporate, un-authentic/transparent strategy and become a company that your customers can celebrate together. Have fun with your social media, create some promotions that stimulate interest and re-launch your Experiential Marketing program that connects with consumers.