When I became a mother, this December ritual became even more of a pain point for me.

Perhaps my child is the product of her generation, perhaps of her upbringing, or perhaps of her mother’s chosen line of work.  Whatever the reason, she is the most brand-savvy kid I have ever known.  From the earliest age, she could recognize logos, recite taglines and sing jingles with the best of them.  When she was barely two, she bounded into the den and announced, “Mom!!! We HAVE to buy a juicer if you want me to be healthy, and we have to act now, because supplies are limited.”  Apparently, the macroeconomic concept of scarcity is not lost on toddlers.

This year’s Christmas list, which is about a mile long, includes such favorites as dolls and games, but it also boasts a Pillow Pet, a Happy Napper, a Blanket Buddy and a mini Pillow Pet (while scarcity is understood, overabundance and redundancy are not factors), as well as a stainless steel wallet designed to withstand the weight of a truck (to protect her credit cards?).

The lesson here for marketers is that if you have a cute song, colorful images and air time on Sprout, Nick Jr. or the Disney Channel, your audience is ripe for the picking. All you need to add to the mix is a guilty parent or some overzealous grandparents, and you can jingle all the way to the bank.

As for me, my daughter and I have long chats about the true meaning of Christmas, the value of giving of oneself rather than buying something and the concept that it is better to give than to receive. Not surprisingly, we’ve also been through an in-depth exploration of other macroeconomic principles, such as supply and demand, price, opportunity cost and prioritization.  Kind of Charles Dickens meets Adam Smith…

So, on behalf of all my fellow marketers, I extend a heartfelt apology for our part in the commercialization of the season. While I do hope Santa is good to you and yours, more importantly, I hope your supplies of the true joys of the season — love, peace and joy — are never limited.

Be suspicious of your words.

It’s easy to alienate your audience by using language that doesn’t make any sense to them. When it comes to B2B marketing, it’s hard not to use your company’s lingo, because that is the language you’ve assigned as a corporate culture. The problem comes when that “shop talk” has zero industry connection, but has become so common in cubicles, offices and production floors that the novel terminology leaks into your marketing communications. At that point, there is a real risk of distancing your business prospects and current customers.

Whether the verbal contamination is in your corporate and advertising materials or even internal dialogue that is disseminated to points of contact, such as media channels or your immediate community, the danger remains. While there is a new vocabulary connected to each industry and field, there still should be some sort of baseline English that all parties involved can functionally grasp. Every word should be intelligible.

Steps to cleaning up for clarity:

1. Minimize jargon in the workplace.

2. Simplify your categories and products.

3. Employ an outside consultant to wordsmith your communications.

4. When new words must be used, be kind, define.

Do your part and stop verbal pollution. It’s healthy for the business planet and for you.

It was an action-packed three days full of hands-on learning (and lots of cooking!) with their fryers, combi ovens, rotisseries and more, and we were sharing this experience with several of their distributors and new hires.

Cheeseburger pizza from a combi? Yes, please!

The beauty of this? Well, besides the prime rib, lobster tails and perfectly fried chicken, this opportunity to get up close and personal with our client’s business was crucial to giving us the insight we need to truly understand and appreciate the product features and benefits we’re marketing to their customers. Plus, being able to hang out with a group of their distributors gave us an even better understanding of this core channel member’s unique needs.

Many of us in the marketing industry are experienced in just that — marketing. We know all about the “4 P’s.” We know how to communicate. We’re educated on best business practices. We know why it’s important to define and understand markets, channels and value propositions. But do we naturally understand the day-to-day business of the companies we’re charged with representing? Probably not—and that’s why it’s so important for marketing professionals to make a concentrated effort in learning as much as possible about each client’s business.

Otherwise, how can we be sure what we say rings true to who we’re talking to?

There are always plenty of opportunities to get a better grasp on the business you’re involved with. Attend internal meetings unrelated to marketing. Schedule a call with key customers or sales team members to ask about needs or challenges. Take a facility or plant tour. Participate in new hire training. Always read the trade pubs and stay abreast of industry news. Just be there, and keep learning!

When I was at the gym the other day (just wait, the irony is coming), an infomercial came on a screen in front of me. A woman appeared in a fuzzy pink jumpsuit that was announced to be the “one-piece, lie-around, lounge-around, full-body lazy wear.” With an acrylic fingernailed hand, she demonstrated how soft the fabric was by making bizarre and entirely unnatural rubbing/sweeping motions on her leg. The ad was for the unfortunate stepchild of the Snuggie® — Forever Lazy® — and, yes, that is the product’s real name. In shock, and thinking this was a rerun of an SNL commercial sketch, I continued to watch (much to my horror).



So the sentiment is, “Let me lounge in my adult onesie all day. It’s soft. It’s comfy. And it has a drop seat for ‘Great Escapes When Duty Calls’.” But wait, there’s more! If you order now, you’ll not only get the suit, they’ll throw in matching fleece footies and a neck pillow all for just $19.95 (plus S/H). No matter your fashion reaction, one thing is true — it’s popular. The Forever Lazy commercial on YouTube has well over a million views (not to mention the parodies). It falls into a long line of tradition and is in a similar category as the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt craze. According to Forever Lazy’s creators, Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas have already zipped their way to eternally slothful bliss.

To any business, the publicity and widespread sharing of videos like this creates something akin to envy — sort of. Maybe you’re thinking, why aren’t “better” products receiving the same amount of attention? And, by extension, why aren’t mine? Welcome to the new world of viral videos. Sometimes it takes skill to create videos that cause the populace to want to share them. Other times, it’s a happy (or incredibly sad) accident. Just ask Bob Saget.

Perhaps the masterminds behind Forever Lazy intended for folks to spoof it, and thereby create a cult viewership. Maybe the cheese factor was intentional. Perhaps they acknowledge and understand that infomercials like these tend to create quick sales rather than long-term branding and growth. Either way, it’s a prime example of a product that gets noticed. So how would the viral video strategy work with your brand? Keep in mind that not all viral videos have to be funny or mockable. They just have to have a clickable quality that makes people want to share them. Could you teach your customers something they’d want to pass along to colleagues? Maybe you could offer a behind-the-scenes tour or give a how-to demonstration? What about a fun game or contest tied to your business?

Whatever your goal, maybe you can learn from the Lazy. Whether or not the Forever Lazy will be the “talk of your next tailgate,” it will be of someone’s.

Change is inevitable, of course. But the key is to change in the right direction – and with the right agency.  If you’re looking for guidance, check out a simple interactive assessment and evaluation tool for sizing up agency “fit” at http://www.agencychange.com/.  In our opinion, companies should check out potential marketing partners in 10 key areas, including:

• Integrated solutions
• Bottom-line value
• Team
• Knowledge
• Thought leadership
• Partnership qualities
• Strategic mindset
• Internal systems
• Creativity
• Reputation

Sure, it’s a lot of work. But if you hire the right agency, you literally get “dollars back for your change” by pushing your marketing and sales momentum forward.

Back in 1981, ConAgra Food’s PR agency, Edelman, got the brilliant idea that people might need some guidance in cooking turkeys. Prior to this, turkeys didn’t come with instructions. It was assumed that we all knew how to cook this often once-a-year menu item, and we were on our own, not knowing our giblets from our drumsticks.

Although they weren’t sure anyone would call, the agency hired six home economists and set up the 1-800-BUTTERBALL call-in number. Much to everyone’s surprise, the line got more than 11,000 calls over that first holiday period, and one of marketing’s most effective one-on-one consumer relationships was born.

Thirty years later, Butterball’s turkey line, which takes more than 200,000 calls each holiday season, has become a holiday institution known to virtually everyone. The line has established Butterball as THE expert on all things turkey-related and the preferred brand for millions of households.

So, what marketing lessons can we learn from Butterball?

• Stick to what you know. Think about what your company knows better than anyone else and promote it through every available channel.
• If you want to be perceived as an expert, hold yourself out as one and never underestimate the value of thought leadership.
• Look for market voids you can fill. Are there needs — tips for better performance, common misconceptions, easier ways of doing business — you can address? If so, take the lead.
• Make it personal. The battle for brand loyalty, both on the consumer and business-to-business sides of marketing, is a battle for hearts and minds. Establishing a personal, one-on-one connection with your buyers or prospects goes a long way. Are there opportunities to connect that you might be missing?
• Think big and be willing to try new things. It is possible that the folks at Butterball thought their PR team was crazy, but they were willing to entertain the possibility that this audacious PR stunt could work, and they gave it a shot. What risks has your company been afraid to take that might pay huge dividends?

Please take a few minutes to share some examples of where your big thinking or showcasing thought leadership has paid off. If you’re brave enough, we’d also love to hear tales of the one that got away — a marketing opportunity you wish you’d seized.  In all cases, we are eager to “gobble up” your feedback!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Although the service suffered a few hiccups yesterday and wasn’t completely available for all users, by late afternoon it was up and running for everyone. We set up a VantagePoint page (please add us to your circles!), and captured the step-by-step process it took us to do so.

Here’s how to set up a Google+ brand page for your company:

1. Log in to your Google account, presumably one that you already have a Google+ account for. (It appears you cannot, at present, use an existing Google profile you may have created for your brand or company.) IMPORTANT: for the near term, you will be the “owner” of this profile, and it will be linked to your Google account. Others will not be able to edit this profile until Google opens up brand pages for multiple editing. Keep this in mind as you proceed.

2. Visit http://plus.google.com/pages/create.

3. You will now see the “Create a page” screen. Now it’s time to get started.

4. On the left side, choose the category that you wish your company to belong to. For now, we’re going to assume you will be a “company, institution or organization.”  Unless you have a major brand or a local walk-in store, this is probably the most appropriate category to choose. (If you roll over the category types, you’ll get a brief explanation to help you decide.)

5. When you choose your category, the right side of your screen will populate with several fields for you to fill in, including company name, website, business type, and page visibility. Fill in the appropriate blanks.

6. After a few seconds, you will see the beginning of your company’s Google+ page.

7. Enter your tagline. You can enter as many words as you want, but only the first 10 words will be displayed on your profile.

8. Add a profile photo — or a logo. Clicking on the “change profile photo” will bring you to a screen where you can import and crop an image.

9. When you’ve updated the tagline and the profile photo, click “continue.” You’ll next have the option to tell your circles about your new page from your personal Google+ account. Go ahead — or you can wait until later as well — and click “Finish” when you’re done.

10. You’ll now be taken to your official Google+ brand page. There are a number of options here to get you started in sharing, promoting, and linking to your new page. One of the nice things that Google has done is make it easy to switch between using the page as “you” or as “your company” by clicking on the little arrow next to your profile photo/logo.

11. You’ll also notice your stream changes appropriately — instead of friends, family, and following, you’ll see links for customers, VIPs, and team members.

Spend a few minutes exploring Google+ brand pages. Your first instinct will be to start adding folks to your circles. However, it appears you currently can’t — that is, until they add you first. (All the more reason to add VantagePoint to your Google+ circle!) We’re not sure if this is temporary, or if it’s Google’s way of making sure brands don’t overwhelm the general public.

Time will tell whether Google+ will replace or merely supplement Facebook and Twitter (or disappear entirely, as several other Google properties have). But for now, we think it’s important to take advantage of a social media service directly connected to the world’s largest search engine.

From my perspective, as a frequent visitor to e-commerce websites (whether browsing or planning to purchase), B2C marketers who successfully make use of such sites understand the importance of:

• Delivering a superior user experience. These B2C marketers take a buyer-centric approach when presenting their products and services for purchase online. Some presentations are humorous, while others are straightforward, depending on the brand and its personality, but all of them make effective use of photos, videos, features and benefits descriptions, and user guides or other helpful hints. The most effective sites also showcase user reviews, as well as provide a means for me to personalize my online experience.

• Creating a consistent—yet appropriately distinct—user experience across multiple channels. E-commerce is often just one of the sales channels B2C companies utilize, so it’s important their customers have a similar experience whether they shop in the store, by the phone or online. B2C marketers place great importance on—and significant investment in—their brands and want to be sure there’s absolute clarity in the minds of consumers what value they offer. A consistent brand experience leaves less room for misinterpretation or confusion.

• Integrating cross-sell and up-sell strategies effectively. While I don’t always take advantage of the belt recommended when I add a skirt to my cart or the upgraded camera option presented in a sidebar as I’m reading another product description, I certainly appreciate being exposed to a broader offering beyond my initial interest. B2C e-commerce sites help users make additional purchase decisions when they may have originally only been aware of a single item.

• Using promotions to help encourage purchases. Getting a coupon in my mailbox or in-box is always a nice reminder that my favorite brands want my business. While sales promotions in the more traditional sense may not work for your B2B business, B2C marketers also use promotions to help stay in front of their customers and potential consumers. B2C companies also understand that promotions designed to drive online purchases must be communicated through both online and offline means.

• Employing social networks, as appropriate, to extend engagement with customers. The use of social media strategies is definitely more pervasive with consumer brands, and B2C companies are leveraging the additional outlets to connect with their customers. Whether they’re posting supplemental video content on YouTube, tweeting where to find a hot new product or using Facebook to run a contest, B2C marketers do what it takes to bring their customers into a two-way conversation with them. And they tend to learn a lot from these participating customers, too.

• Applying mobile marketing strategies to connect with an increasingly digital marketplace. Mobile-friendly websites. Mobile apps. QR codes that link smartphone users to valuable online content. SMS and MMS advertising. B2C marketers stay abreast of the latest digital tools and integrate those that are appropriate for their markets.

There are many other takeaways from successful B2C e-commerce sites—and the marketing strategies they utilize. From employing effective SEO and SEM activities to leveraging insight gleaned from website analytics for improvements, to exercising retention and loyalty programs to maximize opportunities with their most valuable customers, B2C companies using e-commerce successfully are doing things right.

What do you see? How could you integrate B2C e-commerce best practices in your business? I’d love to hear from you.

Not so fast! A less-than-professional print job can send the wrong message to your customers, and you don’t want your high-quality ideas or products to be dismissed because your brochure looks amateur. There are so many opportunities to improve your direct mail, collateral or other printed pieces with some careful thought about how you want to print it.

For example, we recently concepted a Christmas card for a client, and instead of just turning over artwork with no thought to production, our recommendation included printing with silver ink on Neenah Paper Inc.’s “Starwhite” Flash Pearl paper (a white stock with a shimmery pearl effect) — a combination that screamed holiday cheer.

The paper and printing process you choose can also help enhance your message. For example, if you’re working on a piece to share your sustainability story, an uncoated, recycled paper with soy-based inks makes a lot more sense than a glossy house stock. Or, if you’re marketing a product known for its strength and durability, why not engage your audience with a non-tearable synthetic paper?

Upgrades like these don’t always need to cost a lot of money. Many marketing agencies employ production services specialists who can provide recommendations and guidance, or a quality printer should have knowledgeable reps on staff to help you understand what options are available.

So, before you send your next piece off to the printer, stop to think about the production possibilities. There’s a whole world to explore full of colored, textured papers; shimmery and metallic inks; glosses and coatings; embossing and debossing; variable content and customization; and many other interesting materials and processes. Have some fun, and good luck!

Just a few of our 2011 BMA Carolinas ProAd awards

VantagePoint Marketing was honored last night in Charlotte by the Business Marketing Association of the Carolinas with its 3rd straight Agency of the Year award, as well as 38 other awards in total. These awards were given for outstanding creative, strategy and results for projects created over the last year for business-to-business marketing clients across the country.

In addition to the Agency of the Year award, we also received 5 Gold awards, 17 Silver awards, and 16 Bronze awards. Work for a total of 11 different clients was awarded, including Estes Express Lines, T&S Brass, Milliken, Nucor Building Systems, SEW Eurodrive, S&D Coffee, Polydeck, BMA Carolinas, Thrace-LINQ, and VantagePoint.

This is the 5th time in the last 6 years that we have won the Agency of the Year award for B2B marketing in both North and South Carolina. We were thrilled to be honored against tough competition, including very strong showings by Jackson Marketing Group and PhaseTwo.biz.

Thanks to an amazing team at VantagePoint that made this year’s success possible!

Dave, Joe, Angie and Ryan after the ceremony