by Jeff Walters on June 29, 2009
Gone are the days when the marketer was merely an expert in classical marketing theory, advertising development and media allocation. It was not that long ago that these spheres of knowledge and a great personality could get one far as a marketer – at least for a few years at any one gig.
Today the successful marketer needs to be a solid marketer, yes, but also a bit technologist and a bit financial analyst. These three competencies have formed my own checklist for hiring and training marketers over the years. Further, these competencies have provided guideposts for continuous development of my own skills. These three fields are evolving rapidly and becoming more intertwined as marketing accelerates its shift toward addressable media and two-way dialog.
Image by nick see
Let’s take a look…
Finance – Much as one might underwrite a loan or the purchase of an asset like a brand, marketers must understand how to develop a systematic way of valuing customers and their income flows. The purpose is to establish a framework for setting investment levels (aka brand communication) for these customers based on brand objectives for ROI.
Technology – The shift to digital communication is no longer limited to certain brands, “below the line” tactical extensions (direct response, etc.) and special segments (youth, technology adopters, etc). Spending in technology-driven media that produce and leverage data is accelerating to catch up with eyeballs as media consumption shifts online and to the third screen (mobile device) at a rapid pace. Marketers need to understand how databases work, how data mining and analysis is done, and how media are deployed and optimized using technology and data.
Marketing – Though marketing theory is fairly long in the tooth (having held up to scrutiny in order to survive), some old constructs are being challenged as new media consumption patterns enable the compression of brand adoption cycles. Traditionally a need or “want” preceded awareness, perception and trial/adoption. Now, however, one finds products and services targeted or referred to them that they didn’t know they wanted to begin with. Further, they can often try it free or compare it to other solutions in real-time, so consumers are being trained to expect responsive, engaging brands they can take home “now.” Brand adoption theory, then, is under pressure as marketers succeed in choreographing new means of spreading the word and the desire for their brand.
I have rarely found people that combine these three disciplines. When I do, they’re usually winners. What I’d like to see more of is universities and corporate training that focus on these core competencies to increase the quality of their talent and generate the complete, 21st century marketer. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what competencies come together to make a complete marketer.
by Jeff Walters on June 22, 2009
The Financial Times and Advertising Age both ran stories today about research sponsored by Catalina Marketing and the CMO Council showing that loyalty to packaged goods brands is suffering as consumers modify behavior during the recession. A bit over half (52%) appear to be less loyal and around a third of the “highly loyal” have gone adrift – those previously allocating 70% or more share to “their” brand. Their brand, of course, had typically been a premium brand (Cheerios, Coca-Cola Classic, Tylenol and others featured in the study) that may struggle under price and promotion competition in a tough economy.
Image By Irina Souiki
Some of the reader comments on these stories (Ad Age) suggest brand loyalty is a thing of the past. This notion is something I suggested a few years ago in an article for a UK marketing publication. The premise then was that consumers had gone the way of so many marriages by embracing “serial loyalty” (not cereal, though these are not immune to the affliction) where one is most definitely loyal … until one is not. For consumers, this means migrating through a series of brand choices as needs change and brands evolve. For marketers, this means re-defining markets, brand advantages, and customer-brand relationships in order to adapt to changing environments. Market turmoil, just like competitive advantages, can lead to serial loyalty that helps the fittest to adapt and survive as the (previously) mighty become vulnerable.
by Jeff Walters on June 17, 2009
Through our work with many brands we’ve developed a framework for classifying competitive advantages. This simple classification is derived from the customer’s perspective on brand selection – namely how a customer might consciously or sub-consciously choose one brand over another. It all boils down to four simple “utilities” that matter to customers and that marketers can use to gauge their brand versus its competition.
- Functional Utility – How does the brand perform? Does it get the job done?
- Economic Utility – Is the brand worth the cost?
- Emotional Utility – Does the brand inspire confidence, satisfaction or enjoyment?
- Social Utility – What does the brand say about me to others?
Any brand must deliver on at least one of these advantages to be considered or purchased. The bigger challenge, though, is sustainably delivering on one’s advantages, or customer utilities, over time as competitors emerge and evolve to chip away at one’s market share.
How does a marketer use this list of utilities to build, enhance and protect the brand? These categories, and appropriate sub-categories, frame the criteria a marketer might use to conduct regular marketing research on customers’ relative comparisons of one’s brand to competitive brands. By structuring marketing research, product development and brand communications to provide insight to performance against these criteria, a marketer will have a continuous flow of intelligence on the customers’ perceptions of brand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). With this sort of brand monitoring in place, the marketer has a navigation system for the brand’s evolution to keep it on course.