|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
Promotion Marketing in a Copycat Economy
by Oren Harari Today’s competitive landscape is so challenging because it’s in the center of a "Perfect Storm" collision of globalization, deregulation, and technological advance. This convergence creates a Copycat Economy. In a Copycat Economy, products become commoditized, services become imitated, and traditional barriers to market entry shrivel at an accelerating pace. Markets become more transparent and crowded with "me-too" players and products. Words like "saturated market," "price wars," and "gluts" become more common. It is hard for any company in this environment to differentiate itself from competitors, to keep profit margins and customer loyalty up, and to grow market share and stock value. Promotional marketing can help a company survive and even thrive in this kind of environment, but not without a few challenges. Challenge #1: The customer has become a super power. Armed with the latest technologies and operating in a near-transparent market environment, customers are now capable of reducing any well-promoted, well-packaged market offering to a bare bones commodity. They can strip away the hype, cluster vendors together according to their generic products and services, and canvass the globe to find the best fit and cheapest prices. With one click, they can exchange information about any vendor or product to entire digital communities. Challenge #2: The customer has the tools to tune you out. Customers are increasingly more likely to resist traditional forms of promotional marketing. They have the individual and collective power to do so, and they’re using their power not only to find better products and services, but also to survive from drowning in a tsunami wave of promotions. In today’s Copycat Economy, marketers bombard customers with ads and promotions in a desperate effort to attract attention to their wares. For customers, it’s a massive cacophony of noise. Small wonder they seek to avoid that noise via TiVo, mute buttons, and pop-up blockers. Or they simply turn the magazine page, ignore the billboard, or toss away the direct marketing mailer. The first step towards success in promotional marketing is recognizing these realities and realizing that traditional forms of promotion will become increasingly irrelevant as markets fragment further, bandwith increases, online social networks proliferate, and the next generations of Web-savvy consumers begin to flex their muscles. So what can be done? There are a few paths to consider. Path #1: "Hire" interesting customers and "fire" dull ones. If you as a marketer want to maximize your "R.O.P." (return on promotion), seek customers who have already created intriguing products and services, because when a product is exciting and when a service is extraordinary, innovative promotion can be a great value-add to product differentiation, sales, market share, and brand recognition. Potential customers become more receptive to promotions that tout something that’s inherently special and cool. It’s a lot easier to effectively promote an Apple iPod, a Toyota Prius, or a Pixar film than some mediocre, "me-too" product. If you don’t do this, it’ll be a permanently uphill battle for you regardless of how flashy your marketing is. It’s the old "putting lipstick on the pig" problem. Without naming names, look at failing products and declining companies nowadays. Don’t you think they budget big marketing dollars for their wares? Doesn’t matter. Lipstick won’t change a sow into a cheetah for long. So start your promotion strategy by stacking the deck. "Hire" customers who have interesting, cool products and services. Avoid or "fire" customers who don’t. Path #2: Start thinking uber-digital. The success of companies like Google, MySpace, YouTube, craigslist, and eBay, and the imminent advent of new technologies like multi-media cellphones and Internet Protocol TV with customized, on-demand capabilities, should convince you that traditional forms of promotion are gradually becoming more dodo-like than eagle-like. There will always be a space for hard copy and snail mail, but all you have to do is look at today’s youth with their digital and wireless DNA to realize where the market is heading. Path #3: Create segmented promotions. In a Copycat Economy, mass marketing campaigns create much less value than segmented marketing campaigns, and the smaller the segments, the better. For example, Harrah’s Entertainment has built an unsurpassed record of "same-store" sales growth and is arguably the top sustained financial performer in the industry. The company mines its vast databases to provide customized incentives and rewards to people who have utilized its services. More than 25 million customers use Harrah’s "Total Reward" card to earn redeemable prize points, which also allows the company to track the kinds of meals eaten, merchandise bought, and games played by each one of those millions of customers. Harrah’s then creates customized incentives and rewards to match those customer preferences. Ultimately, data based marketing efforts that narrow the segment to the ultimate unit of "one"—individual customers—will be the most powerful, because disciplined, data-rich promotions aimed at the needs of the individual customer are far more efficient, and effective, than mass market promotions. As one CEO I work with says: "The only thing that is not commoditizable is the integrity of the individual." [In particular, online purchasing behavior offers a treasure chest of individual preferences. As Fortune’s Jeffrey O’Brien notes: "Everything you buy online says a little bit about you. And if all those bits get put into one big trove of data about you and your tastes? Marketer’s Heaven".] In today’s crowded, noisy, undifferentiated Copycat Economy, getting the customer’s attention and interest requires new mental models and new action blueprints. This is as true for professionals in the promotion marketing arena as it is for their clients. Copyright Oren Harari. All Rights Reserved. END | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
| © Copyright @ 2004 Keynote Resource Inc. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for linking to web pages within Keynote Resource To book a speaker call toll-free : 1-800-420-4155 e-mail: yvon@keynoteresource.com Privacy Policy |
Privacy Statement/Policy Keynote Resource realizes that when you complete forms on our web site you are providing us with information that is of a private nature. We assure you that we will not share or sell this information to a third party for any purpose. We treat all information provided to us as strictly confidential. |
| About KeynoteResource.com: Keynote Resource speakers bureau can help you find the ideal keynote speakers for your next event. We represent inspirational speakers, motivational speakers, corporate entertainment and more. Keynote Resource speakers bureau will find the perfect keynote speaker for your upcoming event, whether you are looking for inspirational speakers with a message, motivational speakers to set the tone of your conference or a facilitator for your annual retreat. Keynote Resource speakers bureau works closely with executives, meeting planners and training directors to create events that result in highly productive learning or are just plain fun. We can identify business speakers, inspirational speakers or motivational speakers that are well suited to your event, send you videos and press kits to help you with your speaker selection and we’ll work closely with the keynote speakers you hire to ensure they customize their presentations to meet the specific needs of your audience. We have speakers in all areas including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. We can book speakers for you worldwide, in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Brazil and The Bahamas. Click Here to Search A Speaker Disclaimer Speaker fees are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. Fees may vary based on the speaker’s availability, supply and demand, program length and location of the event. Each fee range listed on this website is intended to serve as a guideline only. In some cases, the actual price quote may be above or below the fee range stated. For the most current fee, please contact your representative directly. |