Greg Verdino

Book 'em Verdino: announcing microMARKETING

I'm excited to announce that I've inked a deal with McGraw-Hill for the publication of my first business book, microMARKETING: A Breakthrough Approach to Building Brands by Thinking and Acting Small.

If the title alone isn't enough to clue you in, I'd like to give you an idea of the ground I'll cover in the book.  Here's a bit of how I described the book in the proposal itself:

A media revolution is underway, fueled by a micro-content phenomenon that is shifting the balance of power from mass communications to masses of communicators.  This shift plays out daily on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Ustream and other social sites.  It’s in the notion that an otherwise normal individual can use social media and low-end technology to become a micro-celebrity with a significant following.  It’s in the viral effect that takes hold when even one online influencer (in essence a one-person media outlet) sparks a conversation that makes or breaks a brand.  It’s in the shift in behavior that is turning the smart phone into the “first screen” for Gen Y and many increasingly-mobile Gen Xers.  It’s in the shift from watching 60 minute television shows interrupted by 30-second advertisements, to watching 30-second pieces of online video content with no advertisements at all.  It’s even in the changing of our expectations of product design and retail sales, giving rise to dozens of successful small businesses and individuals (think Threadless, think Etsy, think Mimobot, think Lemonade) that can create and sell enough high quality, unique or custom merchandise at a premium to shoppers for whom choice and individuality matter more than convenience and price. 

These are exciting times, but they can also be scary times for marketers who have been trained to think that bigger is better, and for whom the excesses and successes of the past 50 or so years – big budgets for major media ad campaigns designed to sell mountains of product through big-box retailers – seem to be the only way to build a big brand.  For better or worse, the new reality is that the old way doesn’t work so well anymore. Simply put, micro-content and macro-marketing don’t mix – and trying to maintain the status quo while consumer behaviors and expectations change amounts to little more than a recipe for failure.

Enter micromarketing – a new approach to building brands, marketing products and services, and growing meaningful long-term customer (and corporate) value.  Micromarketing emphasizes relationships over reach, interactions over interruption, and the network effect over the broadcast network.  It is built upon the premise that the “next big thing” is really lots and lots of small things, and that to survive and thrive, even the biggest marketers must think and act small (make that “micro”), too. 

microMARKETING is not a "Twitter book."  Puh-leeze... In signature Verdino-style, I will aim to help marketers understand the larger trends that are driving the popularity of tools like Twitter and what the real world implications are for businesses (even if Twitter itself -- or Facebook or YouTube, for that matter -- goes away), but my focus will be aimed squarely at the big picture.  I also don't plan to trot out the same ol' tired social media case studies.  In fact, one key piece of my approach is to help large companies understand how to thrive in the era of micro-content and micro-culture by taking lessons from the people and organizations that are involved in the revolution at the grassroots level.  In other words, I'll be looking at what the biggest of big corporations should learn from "whatever experts." 

Again, from the proposal:

Over the past several years, social media has evolved from a trend to watch to an irrefutable fact of life for marketers of all sizes.  Now – before most companies have even gotten social media right – the mainstreaming of micro-content services, the ubiquity of powerful low-cost handheld technology (from Internet-ready phones to consumer-grade HD cameras) and the rise of DIY culture promise to change the rules of consumer engagement yet again.  It is important to understand how these changes impact our ability to build brands, manage customer relationships and drive sales today, and this will only become more important over the coming years as more and more consumers flock to the technologies that are powering the shift.

On the flipside, it is also important that marketers not get swept up in the hype surrounding a single tool or tactic, losing sight of the bigger implications for their businesses.  As has happened with core social media tools like blogging, podcasting and social networking (and short-lived fads like Second Life), marketers now run the risk of not seeing the forest for the trees – of jumping on the “Twitter bandwagon” with short-lived, ill-advised tactics that do little to impact their businesses.   

On the one hand, microMARKETING educates decision makers about larger trends and what they mean for companies who are looking to more effectively engage consumers through new digital channels.  On the other hand, it delivers tangible and practical case studies, stories, tips and tricks from familiar competitors (other large corporations) and unlikely sources of inspiration (micro-businesses and individual creators.)

microMARKETING is slated for a May/June 2010 release.  I need to hand in the final manuscript by mid-October.  Needless to say, I've got my work cut out for me over the next few months.

That may mean less blogging for the next few months, although I'll still try to post here at least once/week.  And you should stay tuned for periodic updates on the book, my progress and the process.  Hell, I may even ask you for some input along the way.

Finally, I'd like to thank the good folks at McGraw-Hill -- especially Donya Dickerson -- and my agent Ethan Friedman at LevelFive Media.

Good times, ahead...

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before...

This video, portraying a funny-because-it's-true reality about how clients negotiate with their agencies, made the rounds on Twitter yesterday.  On the other hand, I'd imagine there's ample fodder for a video response that dramatizes all of the unsavory ways agencies 'manage' their clients.

Well... no matter which side of the table you sit on, the video is worth a few minutes of your time if you haven't seen it yet.  Enjoy!  And don't forget to chime in with your witty commentary.

[Feed and email readers: visit the blog to watch the video.]

Guest blogging at Drew's Marketing Minute

I am guest blogging for Drew McLellan today.  Here's a teaser...

"I've discovered a surefire way to get a room full of marketers to go quiet.  Just bring up the notion of reaching out and bonding with the consumers that hate their brand the most.  Just a few weeks ago, I suggested this very thing to a client.  You could hear a pin drop in that room..."

Read the full post at Drew's Marketing Minute.

Burning vs building the brand house

If I asked you to demonstrate how an average Joe, empowered by social media, can wreak havoc on a brand, what examples would you choose?

You might point to our industry's three best known examples of companies getting burned by dissatisfied customers -- Dell Hell, the sleeping Comcast technican and Vincent Ferrari's attempt to cancel his AOL account -- all of which not only set the blogosphere afire but also sparked mass media coverage and caused the corporate villians a world of hurt.  (Of these three, it's worth noting that only Dell seems to have learned anything from the experience.)  Or you might point to some more recent disasters-in-the-making.  Either way, you probably wouldn't have too hard a time coming up with plenty good examples.

And if I asked you to demonstrate how an average Joe (or even a band of average Joes and Janes) has made a similarly large positive impact on a brand, what examples would you choose?

Can you think of even one?  I'm not talking about cases where the companies themselves make good and appropriate use of social media channels to market themselves or tap so-called "regular people" for the creation of brand content.  I'm talking about instances when actual consumers -- unprompted, uncompensated and of their own accord -- commend a company that has delivered a great experience, leading to an explosion in blog and mainstream media coverage and tons of positive brand impact.

Here's the thing -- lots of people are talking and blogging about great brand experiences every day but, taken one at a time, each seems to be a quiet affair.  Nearly 20,000 people subscribe to the Ikea Hacker blog but I don't believe I've ever seen coverage of Ikea fandom on the evening news.  The same could be said for the thousands of people who trade Coke memorabilia in this online forum or the thousands that participate in the SaturnFans community.

I'm sure you get the point.  So why is it what truly organic social media can play such a pivotal role in burning brands but seem to play a lesser role in building them up?

Maybe it's just human nature -- we're obsessed with bad news (you don't see too many puppy-and-kitten stories on the evening news either) and we like rooting for the underdog.  Or maybe even the people who love our products and services simply don't love them enough.  Or perhaps the unfortunate reality is that bad experiences are far more common than good ones, so they resonate with a much wider audience.

What do you think?

Social media return on...

I pieced together this priceless Twitter exchange between David Armano (who is live-tweeting the Forrester Consumer Forum) and Steven Streight.  Probably some of the best responses I've seen to the question, "What's the ROI for Social Media?"

 

Beauty and the brand advocate

This picture is more than just an excuse to publish an adorable photo of my daughter, taken last week at Disney World.  It's a Tuesday morning thought starter.

I think most people would agree that Disney certainly knows how to market and that when it comes to Disney Princesses -- and pirates and High School Musical and Hannah Montana and... and... and... -- they have plenty of hooks to attract passionate fans who are more than willing to 'wear the brand.'

But the truth is that where there's a brand -- any brand -- you're likely to find advocates for that brand.  Sure, they may not sport t-shirts emblazoned with a beauty shot of your toothpaste tube, dress up like a giant bottle of floor polish or get your logo tatooed on their arm, but they are out there -- telling their networks about your company, recommending your products to friends and singing your praises when you provide them with a remarkable experience.

Do you know who your brand advocates are?  What are you doing to embrace them? 

And here's a bonus tip - one that Disney knows well: if you make meaningful connections with your passionate fans, they will pay for the privilege of that connection.  They'll pay handsomely and they'll pay over and over again.  (I mean, hey, between the dress, hair, make-up, photo package and the breakfast we had to eat in order to get the photo opp, you're looking at a $300+ photo...)

Today's special: humble pie

Guest Blogger: Ryan Karpeles

Technology is worthless without values.  All the widgets, platforms and social networking can't save your business if your heart is in the wrong place.

It might seem obvious, but amidst this revolutionary shift in media lies a fundamental and revealing truth.  People don't care about your company.  They care about what your company can do for them.

This is the value that trumps all others.  Humility.  Putting others before yourself.  Without it, you're destined for failure.  It's that simple, and it's that difficult.

As we wade through this sea of technological innovation, we have to understand that the tables have been turned.  Thirty years ago, consumers were the cogs in the company's wheels.  Today it's the opposite.  People are the wheels.  Companies are the cogs.  We exist to move them forward – not the other way around.   

You can't start with tactics and work your way back to values.  Blogs, RSS feeds, Facebook or whatever else are simply ways to exemplify what your company stands for.   Whether it's compassion, leadership, humility or humor, you have to be grounded in something stronger than technology. 

Your values are the compass that points you in the right direction.  Web 2.0 applications are merely the paths that allow you to reach your destination.  Don't confuse the paths with the compass.  And most importantly, be sure your compass is pointing in the right direction before setting out on your journey.

Be a narrow-minded marketer

Guest Blogger: Doug Meacham

First off, I’d like to thank Greg for inviting me to post on his blog while he is visiting the House of the Mouse.  Given the reason for Greg’s absence, I considered recycling some of my recent posts regarding the Disney Experience.  Then I thought about the great opportunity Greg was giving me to make connections with a new group of readers. Bloggers try to share other engaging content through their blogrolls, but my observation is that most blogs tend to be “niche” media offering unique content to a relatively small set of regular readers.  With that thought in mind, I though I would share some thoughts on Niche Marketing.

A June 2007 article in Advertising Age suggested that the maturing marketplace, combined with the hyper-connected, in-control consumer “has created a seismic shift from one-size-fits-all mass markets to millions of markets of self interest.” That assessment carries huge implications for retailers who are trying to move product that was once a specialty, but is now a commodity. Strategy consultants Booz Allen Hamilton explain it this way:

“As every market matures, choice increases. Then competition drives up quality and convenience to the point at which offerings become commoditized. The only businesses that then thrive are those that move beyond “me-too” or incremental offerings to marketing more-relevant and more-differentiated products and services. The only way to accomplish this is to focus on a narrower target.”

Technology and the Long Tail

Technology has played a major role in facilitating this shift. Marketers are now able to micro-target specific groups, engage customers with more frequency and intimacy, and customize to consumer specs. Moreover, technology has enabled consumers with the tools to seek out suppliers that offer just the thing they want.

Think about it. If you are a retailer focused on selling lots of stuff to lots of very different people, you are probably fighting a loosing war of diminishing margins, market share and profitability. On the other hand, brands and marketers that have figured out how to excel at attracting and keeping loyal a narrowly focused niche will probably continue to do well. And why is that? Once you, the customer, have experienced having your ever-increasing levels of self-interests met by a niche provider, you have a hard time going back. For example, if I am an amateur chef (I’m not), I would not bother shopping a mass merchant or local super market chain for those hard to find, must have items that I know I can get at a specialty cooking store or a local butcher.

That’s not to say that the mass merchants don’t see this trend.  As even a senior Wal-Mart official recently said,

“no customer today will stand to be treated as part of a mass market anymore.” 

This is a major disruption and marketers who fail to respond to it quickly will suffer. According to Advertising Age, the value propositions of those who ignore niche marketing…

“…will be less relevant than those of competitors. For those slow to adopt niche marketing, the future also is bleak. Attempts to recoup share will be difficult because competitors will have preemptively established closer customer relationships."

A number of brands and marketers have embraced niche marketing. Names like Target, Sur la Table, Red Bull and American Girl. They all have the same objectives as any other marketer, but they have sensed the disruption and have responded by finding a new way of going to market.

Narrow, Not Small

The other thing that has changed is what niche marketing really means in today’s environment. It still means targeting a more narrowly defined customer group seeking a distinctive mix of benefits, but niche markets are not the “marginal opportunity” that they were once viewed to be. Today, niches are viewed much more positively.

In today’s marketplace, niches are flourishing. Some niche brands are generating hundreds of millions in sales. Sometimes, narrow niches, fueled by mavens and connectors, become the next big, disruptive thing. The point is that niches should not be equated with small. Instead, think narrow. Then target very specific groups who will relate to and find differentiation in your offering. At this point, you are no longer a commodity and you can increase your margins by charging a premium. Do this over and over with different products and services, and you can generate volume and growth that makes up for your narrow targets.

Smaller Targets, Larger Focus
Marketing is a highly dynamic and fluid thing.  It has to be because the marketplace is constantly changing.  Empowered by technology, today’s consumers are very different from what they were just ten years ago.  Successful brands and marketers have recognized this shift and have adapted their strategies and tactics in response.  Focusing on the 4P’s — product, pricing, place, promotion no longer works.  Other recent marketing tactics such as customer-relationship marketing and digital marketing have been applied, but absent any real strategic purpose, they too can be ineffective.

So what’s really new about the new niche marketing? Advertising Age says “it’s realizing that while our targets have to narrow, our definition of marketing communications has to broaden. Today, everything communicates what a brand stands for, all the time.”

The Advertising Age article listed 10 principles to harness the power of niche marketing which are worth repeating:

1. Position your brand as narrowly as is economically possible.
2. Become the specialist that anticipates the needs of your target.
3. Rapidly work with the target niche to co-innovate.
4. Set as your goal such consumer centricity that the target niche will want to co-brand their identity with yours.
5. Live by a higher standard of ethics.
6. Embrace a business model and metrics that grow the most valuable assets of the new niched economy.
7. Reap first-mover advantage by learning how to identify a niche of opportunity.
8. Re-imagine your role as that of entrepreneurial founder of a special interest group.
9. Forget push marketing; excel at pull marketing.
10. Realize your brand is now “media” competing against all other media

What do you think? Does this make sense to you? Can you think of companies that could immediately benefit from leveraging niche marketing?  If you are a retailer, are you losing customers to niche marketers?  If so, what are you doing about it?

The blogosphere rings, Saturn answers

Chris Brogan loves his Saturn, so a couple of days ago he blogged about it and offered suggestions for how Saturn could better engage owners, fans and by extension in-market car shoppers through more effective use of social media channels.

And then an interesting thing happened -- a representative from Saturn stopped by Chris's blog and left a comment.  Check the comments thread.  Saturn's Kyle Johnson chimes in at comment #11, responding to Chris's post and letting him know exactly where he can find Saturn on the social web.  Chris and his readers talk back to Kyle as the thread continues and it will be interesting to see if Kyle continues the dialogue or if Saturn has moved on, having checked the "chrisbrogan.com" box on their blogger response spreadsheet. 

But either way, this is exactly the kind of thing more brands should be doing -- not once and not just when something goes horribly wrong, but every single day.  If customers, fans and haters are talking about you every day (and they are), you need to be listening and talking back.  Mostly listening, but there's a lot to be said for joining the conversation when you have something meaningful to add.

This approach is standard practice for crayon and its clients (Saturn and GM are not clients, although they were when I was at Digitas), but it seems like it is still far from standard practice among the majority of major brands.  So kudos to Saturn on this one -- keep it up.  And for anyone who isn't monitoring online conversations and joining in as appropriate, you're missing a huge opportunity to market smarter and build better consumer relationships.

I'd love to hear about your favorite examples of big brands doing social media right.  Chime in.

Lost luggage blues (four months later)

You may recall that jetBlue lost my family's luggage back in April -- I certainly complained about it enough when it happened.  But at the end of the day, shit happens and I believe that it is more fair to judge a company not by the mistakes it makes but by how it course-corrects and compensates its wronged customers.

So how has jetBlue fared?

It is now September -- more than four months later -- and our claim still isn't settled. 

We completed the airline's extensive paperwork within a couple of weeks of our return home (as required by the airline's policy for lost luggage claims.)  A month or so later, we received and promptly returned a letter of agreement in which jetBlue informed us of the exact amount that they had determined we are due -- sure, the amount was less than what we submitted, but isn't it always?  We promptly returned a fully executed letter and waited for our check to arrive.  When it finally did arrive, after another month or so, it was short of the amount that jetBlue had promised.  Not by a lot, but by enough to notice. 

Ah, but we had a written agreement, didn't we? 

Well, after several frustrating calls to customer service during which the person handling our claim was unavailable and, seemingly, none of her co-workers had the wherewithal to pitch in, we were ultimately informed that they couldn't find our file.  And so we wait...  Again...

By even the lowest standards, adding insult to injury is never a good move.  Neither is wasting your customers' time or trying their patience.  Yes, I'm talking to you jetBlue, but this is a valuable lesson for any business that has customers (in other words, any business.)  Bad service -- or bad products -- will make a far bigger impression on people than even the best advertising can.  So why let your service be bad?   

It amazes me that there are still companies that seem not to understand that customer service is marketing.  Maybe even one of the most powerful forms of marketing there is.  And that customer disservice is worse than the worst marketing choices you might otherwise make.