Jeremy Miller's Blog, page 30

ROI Cues: Demonstrate Your Service Is Working

People are impatient. They want the result, and they want it now.

People are also logical. We know big projects take time, and often we won’t see a return on investment (ROI) for months or even years. But that doesn’t mean we want to wait six months or more to see if the project is a success. We want proof along the way.

ROI Cues are small results or metrics that demonstrate progress. They provide a psychological hit that what we’re doing is working, and provide validation to keep going. And ROI Cues are an essential element for creating happy customer relationships.

The Anxiety of Not Knowing

It’s frustrating not being able to see progress. You’ve made a big investment of time or money, or both, but you don’t know if it’s working. Not being able to see progress creates a great deal of anxiety.

I hired a PR firm to launch Sticky Branding (the book). The company started the engagement off strong. They presented a project plan and conducted a thorough discovery process. I was pumped.

Six weeks later, I had lost faith in the firm. I was meeting weekly with the account manager, but I hadn’t conducted a single interview yet. I hadn’t spoken with any influencers or reporters, and I was starting to feel that I had hired the wrong firm.

To the firm’s credit, they were keeping me well informed on their tasks and priorities, but my signal of progress was interviews. I was lacking ROI Cues that proved my investment was working, and that created a ton of anxiety.

ROI Cues Demonstrate It’s Working

When you brush your teeth you feel a tingling sensation. That tingle is the ROI Cue.

Tracy Sinclair, brand manager for Oral- B and Crest Kids Toothpaste, explains in The Power of Habit, “We can make toothpaste taste like anything — blueberries, green tea — and as long as it has a cool tingle, people feel like their mouth is clean. The tingling doesn’t make the toothpaste work any better. It just convinces people it’s doing the job.”

A ROI Cue doesn’t have to be logical, but it has to be tangible. It has to demonstrate the product or service is actually doing its job. With the PR firm my cue was interviews. We may not have been at the interview phase of the project, but the missing behavior made me doubt all the other work the agency was doing.

What cues do your customers crave? These will be tasks, metrics, or results that provide a small indicator that the work is actually being performed.

ROI Cues Instill Commitment

When you know a project is working you’ll stick with it.

Dieters will weigh themselves daily. When they see the number move down, even just a little bit, it replenishes their commitment to stick with the program for one more day.

Great results — outcomes you can brag about and post as case studies — don’t happen overnight. They take time and effort, and you need your client’s commitment to see the project through to the end.

Provide your clients a ROI Cue to enhance their commitment. Give them a small indicator that they can proactively monitor and see that demonstrates progress is being achieved.

How to Evaluate a Brand Name? 7 Important Questions

Naming is one of the trickiest aspects of the branding process. It’s relatively easy to change your logo or website, but your name is far less elastic. You don’t want to get it wrong.

And the stakes are high. According to Al Ries and Jack Trout, authors of Positioning, “The name is the hook that hangs the brand on the product ladder in the prospect’s mind. In the positioning era, the single most important marketing decision you can make is what to name the product.”

Naming is more than a creative endeavor. Take the time to thoroughly evaluate a brand name, and consider these 7 questions.

1. Is the name distinctive?

A great brand name is unique yet comfortable.

Twitter, for example, sums up the platform perfectly. The name also differentiated it from its competition. In 2006, when the platform launched, the predominant social networks were Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, StumbleUpon, and Blogger. Twitter was a revolutionary idea, and the name clearly distinguished it from “friend” and “connection” based brands.

To test the distinctiveness of a brand name compare it to the competition. Create a list of all your direct and indirect competitors. Is your brand name following a trend, blending in, or standing out?

2. Does the name support your brand positioning?

The wrong name can stunt your brand.

The Yellow Pages were an important source of leads in the pre-internet era. To game the system many companies chose names that placed them high on the alphabetic list: Acme, A1, ABC, or some other variant.

Naming your brand to rank high in a search result, whether for the Yellow Pages or Google, is flawed. You can’t control these platforms, which means your brand name can become irrelevant if the platform changes.

Evaluate your brand name through the lens of your customers. How do they relate to the brand compared to alternatives in the market? How do they identify with your company? Does the brand name reinforce that experience?

3. Can the name stretch?

A key benefit of a functional brand name is it clearly describes the product. Shredded Wheat is shredded wheat cereal. USPS is the United States Postal Service.

The challenge with a functional brand name is it does not stretch. This can be problematic for naming a company or a complex product in a shifting marketplace. There’s a chance your company will outgrow the name.

Challenge your brand name. Would the name still fit if your company entered a new market or launched a new service?

4. Are there any negative connotations?

If you have any ambitions to compete internationally, test your name. Does it have a negative connotation in another culture?

Barf is a brand of detergent in the Middle East, but I am pretty sure North Americans don’t want to wash their clothes with it.

Even if you’re not competing globally, test your name in other languages and cultures. You don’t want to face an unpleasant surprise.

5. Can you defend the name?

Your brand name is an asset. You want a name that you can own and defend.

Before selecting a brand name conduct a trademark search. Is the name being used elsewhere? If so, understand the risks. You may abandon names early on in the naming process because you can’t acquire, defend, or own the trademark.

6. Is the name easy to pronounce, and easy to spell?

A great brand name is easy to pronounce and easy to spell.

Names like Cingular and Agilent are too smart for their own good. They don’t roll off the tongue, and searching for them on Google feels like you’re competing in a spelling bee.

Focus on words that are simple. A good test is to ask a group of 10 year olds to spell your brand name. If they struggle with it look for another name.

7. Is the name sticky?

Finally, is the brand name memorable? Does it stick in your customers’ minds and create a reference that they can come back to again and again.

A test I often use to evaluate a brand name is to share the name with a few colleagues. Ten days later I will call them up and ask, “Hey, what was that name we were talking about?” I am testing stickiness. Do they recall it immediately, or does it takes some prodding.

The more memorable a name, the more sales it can generate.

Trying To Do Everything Is the Fastest Route to Mediocrity

Trying to do everything is the fastest route to mediocrity. The best brands are very selective, and choose a few areas where they can be brilliant.

There’s no doubt about it. We are living in a world of abundance. We have more channels, more options, and more ways to connect with our customers than ever before. And the new does not displace the old. Each channel is additive, and places another layer of complexity to your marketing.

This is leading towards a massive marketing obstacle: trying to do too much.

There is always another tool and platform that is adding to the complexity of marketing. As a result, marketers have a tendency to add to their portfolios. It’s an issue of FOMO — fear of missing out.

Doing too much will dilute your brand. Instead of adding to your marketing portfolio, get focused and choose where you will be brilliant.

The MoR Test

A few weeks ago Avinash Kaushik, the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, spoke at the Art of Marketing. He introduced the audience to the MoR Test.

The MoR Test is a simple way to test the effectiveness of a company’s social programs. Avinash asks, “Would you create more social media activity if you took all the money you are currently investing in social media and threw it all off the roof of your office building?”

“During prime time, say noon, you throw the cash off the roof,” continues Avinash. “Surely, when cash is floating down from the sky, people will grab it and tweet it, write posts on Facebook, post pictures on Instagram, and of course videos on YouTube. Measure all this social media activity. If the social media activity is more than what you are currently getting on your current social platforms, why are you on social media?”

It’s basically the “Money off Roof test.”

It’s a tongue-in-cheek idea, but it hits home. Many companies are blowing thousands, if not millions, of dollars annually on marketing programs that deliver no tangible value. They’re doing it out of some perceived obligation.

If you’re investing in a marketing activity out of obligation, back away slowly and then run! There’s no rule that states your brand has to be on every platform.

Focus Where You’re Brilliant

There are more marketing options than resources. This is a fact.

You can’t do it all. No company can. Not even Apple.

Apple is one of the richest companies in the world, but it’s social media presence is the dog’s breakfast. The company doesn’t even have a Facebook Page or Twitter account. Apple has only dipped its toe in the social media waters with Apple Music, but otherwise there’s no presence.

This is actually quite liberating. Apple knows it sucks at social, and it plays to its strengths. The company is brilliant at advertising, launch events, and retail. And that’s where Apple connects with its customers and builds its brand.

You can take a similar approach for your business. You don’t have to do it all. In fact, you shouldn’t. Choose a few areas where your company can be brilliant and double down on them.

If you’re brilliant at social. That’s where you play.

If you’re brilliant at events. Create wow experiences.

If you’re brilliant at PR and media. Work your contacts.

You get the idea. Play to your strengths, and amplify your brand where you make the most impact.

Walmart Drops Visa, and It’s a Brand Win for Walmart

Walmart’s dispute with Visa is a brand win for Walmart.

On Saturday (June 11, 2016), Walmart Canada announced it will gradually stop accepting Visa cards at its Canadian locations. The company stated, “Following an evaluation of credit card transaction fees in Canada and the rest of the world, we have concluded the fees applied to Visa credit card purchases remain unacceptably high … As a result we will no longer accept Visa in our stores across Canada.”

Visa is in a no-win situation, because Walmart’s move, while provocative, is on brand. Walmart is fulfilling its purpose, and consumers will support them.

Walmart Is Fulfilling Its Purpose

In its press release Walmart led with its brand promise, “Walmart’s purpose is to save customers money so they can live better. We are committed first and foremost to this purpose, which requires us to keep costs as low as possible.”

Walmart may be a bully, but you always know where the company stands. It will do everything in its power to reduce costs to pass savings onto customers.

Walmart has done the math. They can live without Visa, but is the reverse true?

Customers Choose Walmart First, Not Visa

Visa’s response was feeble, “The company ‘regrets’ Walmart’s decision, and that it will have a ‘negative impact’ on Walmart’s shoppers.”

Meh. I don’t agree. Consumers don’t make purchase decisions based on the credit card in their wallets. Customers buy what they want and need, especially if it’s on sale. Sure, they may prefer to use one card over another, but a deal is a deal. The brand loyalty is to Walmart, not Visa.

It may seem like an inconvenience at first, but consumers are highly adaptable. They’ll stick with Walmart.

Credit Cards Are Undifferentiated

Walmart is not the first major retailer to limit the credit cards it accepts.

Costco only accepts MasterCard. No Frills doesn’t accept Visa or American Express. And many retailers, including Loblaws, don’t accept American Express because of its fees.

Consumers are conditioned to accept that retailers don’t accept all forms of payment. They get it. They accept it. They continue to buy.

This is a branding problem for credit card companies. They may offer loyalty programs and incentives, but at the end of the day the credit card companies are middlemen. Their services and value propositions don’t offer enough incentive for customers to choose them first.

Visa Is In a No-Win Situation

Walmart left the door open to negotiate, “[We] remain optimistic that we will reach an agreement with Visa.” But this leaves Visa in a no-win situation.

Visa can further reduce its fees and match pricing models offered by MasterCard and Amex, but this has three negative outcomes:

Reduced profitability
Increased commoditization of the category
Sets a precedent for other retailers to negotiate with Visa

On the other hand, Visa can stick to its business model and let Walmart go. Again, the negatives are palpable:

Loss of $100 million in transaction revenue per year
Loss of brand loyalty and market share as Walmart shoppers adopt alternative payment methods

Walmart is strengthening its brand at another company’s expense. It’s a bold move, and I have to say, I like Walmart’s strategy.

How to Name a Company

Choosing a name for your company is one of the most difficult parts of the branding process. It’s like naming your child. You’re defining your company from this day forward.

The naming process can be arduous, but it’s worth the effort. When you get it right, a brilliant name will set the tone for your business and brand.

To name a company I work from three core principles:

1. Focus on the Brand, Not the Product

There is a tendency in brand naming to focus on the product. For example:

VistaPrint
Shredded Wheat
UPS, United Parcel Service
British Airlines

The names are functional, but bland. They’re just another business offering comparable services to the competition.

A great company name, on the other hand, focuses on the brand and the relationship it will form with customers:

How do you want to be known?
How do you want the brand to be positioned in the marketplace?
How do you want customers to feel about your company?

Before you start the naming process define what the brand means. Build a brand strategy. What you’re looking for in a company name is something that defines both the brand and the customer experience.

2. Simple to Say, Easy to Remember

Great brand names are easy to say and easy to remember. This is actually born out of the structure of the name.

Ideally, you are looking for a company name with two syllables:

Apple
Facebook
Twitter
DropBox
Kodak

What makes these syllables even more effective is they each have a hard consonant. The pulse or rhythmic quality of these syllables makes them satisfying to say, which makes them even more memorable.

3. Forget About the Domain

In the mid-2000s finding a .com domain name was a key criteria for selecting a brand name. Not anymore. Good luck finding a .com that hasn’t already been registered.

This is actually liberating. Instead of focusing on domain names focus on great names for your company. Look for a name that makes your brand pop, and then work on the domain name strategy.

For the domain name strategy you have 2 primary options:

Buy It: In many circumstances you can purchase domains that have already been registered. It’s like buying a house. You’re buying it from the owner versus the builder. That’s what I did with Sticky Branding. I purchased StickyBranding.com and StickyBrands.com from two different people. There are vibrant marketplaces like GoDaddy Auctions and Sedo where you can buy domains.

Add a Category: You can find available domain names by adding a descriptor to your brand name. For example, Buffer launched with the domain, bufferapp.com. Eventually the company acquired buffer.com, but for the first few years they operated with app in their domain name. You can add your product or industry category to your URL as a workaround if the domain name is already taken.

No Compromises

Time is the biggest obstacle to selecting a brilliant company name.

Many companies aren’t willing to put in the time or resources necessary to choose a name that will empower the brand. This is a mistake. If you’re going to build a Sticky Brand, do it right.

This is your company name. It’s going to stick around for a long, long time. Choose a name that you’re proud of and that makes your brand stand out.

Customer Feedback Loops

Feedback Loops are powerful tools to validate your brand’s performance.

Instead of guessing and wondering how your company is doing, a Feedback Loop provides you real time customer insights. And they’re surprisingly easy to implement and manage.

For example, if you order a pizza from Pizza Nova tonight chances are you’ll get a call tomorrow asking about your pizza.

Domenic Primucci, President of Pizza Nova explains, “We have a Customer Courtesy Call program where we try to call a lot of our first time customers back the next night. When we call we don’t get into a big long survey. All we say is, ‘This is Pizza Nova calling, and we’d like to know how your pizza was last night?'”

Pizza Nova’s Feedback Loop is brilliant in its simplicity:

Customers are surprised to receive the call, because companies rarely follow up with customers after the sale — especially for a $15 to $25 purchase.
The question is open and honest, which leaves lots of room for customers to share their impressions.
It gives Pizza Nova an opportunity to hear directly from its customers, measure its performance, and respond if there are any issues.

The program is also an incredible branding tool. The calls reinforce Pizza Nova’s commitment to quality and demonstrate that the company really does care.

Build Your Feedback Loop

Feedback Loops are surprisingly easy to create. You can develop a Feedback Loop in three steps:

Be Direct: No one likes to fill out an onerous survey about their buying experience. Get to the point as quickly as possible. Craft simple, direct questions to ask your customers how your company performed. Pizza Nova asks, “How was your pizza last night?” What question can you ask that is direct but open ended to solicit customer feedback?

Be Systematic: Make the Feedback Loop consistent and structured. When is the best time to solicit feedback? Is it right after the purchase, during the engagement, or maybe at certain points in the year? Find the best time to engage your customers for feedback, and apply that process to as many customers as possible.

Be Human: The best Feedback Loops involve the human touch. Yes, you can use a post purchase survey, but the data is limited. Pick up the phone and ask your questions. You’ll be surprised how much a customer will reveal when you speak with them.

Make the Feedback Loop Visible

Every morning Domenic Primucci gets a report from the Customer Courtesy Call team on their prior day’s activities. It’s one of the first things he reads. The insights reveal so much: what’s working, what isn’t working, and where they can improve.

Feedback Loops are most effective when they are visible and your team can act on the results. Share the reports openly with your team, and bake them into your weekly management meetings.

Staying close to your customers makes your team more agile and effective.

What Makes An Iconic Logo

A logo is the visual embodiment of your brand. It’s a beacon that draws people to your products and services.

This weekend I drove to Ohio to attend my brother’s wedding. It was an 8 hour trek from my home in Toronto, and along the way I saw countless logos. But the one that called to me was McDonald’s Golden Arches.

I might have craved a Starbucks, but that brand was nowhere insight. I could see the Golden Arches from miles away, and it was a happy sign when I needed a quick rest stop and a coffee.

An iconic logo — like the Golden Arches — has five core elements.

Simplicity

Iconic logos are stunning in their simplicity. They aren’t complex images with layers and flares. They encapsulate the brand by reducing it to its essence.

Storytelling

An iconic logo tells a story. With a just a picture you understand the brand and what it represents.

Repetition

It takes more than great design to make a logo iconic. You have to see it again and again before it can become a symbol.

Distinct

Many logos are attractive, but few are truly distinct. When you see it you know it. Nothing else looks like the brand, and that makes it stand out against the competition.

Legacy

Don’t tinker. Companies want to stay hip and current, and they play with their logos. If you want an iconic logo commit to it. Iconic logos get better with age.

Creating Content in a Vacuum

Every week companies are creating content, and much of it is very good. They blog, podcast, and participate in social media. They create and they share, but does anyone care?

Creating content can be a lonely road. You put good stuff out into the world, but you don’t get a lot of feedback.

This thought hit me last week as I was listening to Inside PR, a weekly podcast with Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and Gini Dietrich. I listen to every episode, and I would miss the show if it disappeared tomorrow. But Joe, Gini, and Martin would never know that because I am silent.

I’ve never posted a review. I’ve never shared an episode on social media. I never talk about it. I happily consume the content in silence.

This behavior is not uncommon. In fact, 90% of internet users happily consume in silence.

The silence can be discouraging, because it’s hard to tell if you’re doing a good job. But keep at it. A strong digital brand is dependent on strong content.

Create For Yourself

The secret to great content is to create for yourself.

For example, the Sticky Branding blog is integral to my creative process. When I stop writing I get creatively constipated. Writing weekly keeps my regular. It helps me test and explore ideas, and it helps me make new connections.

That insight provides me the energy to move forward. Even when I’m not receiving feedback, I can find fulfillment in the next idea.

Why do you create? What fulfillment do you gain from creating content for your brand?

Share Your Appreciation

If you create content you know how lonely it can be. So pay it forward. Share your appreciation: post a review; acknowledge the brand or author in your network; send a thank you note. A simple acknowledgement will bring a smile to a creator’s face.

Joe Thornley summed it up best:

Social Proof Your Brand

Testimonials and references have always been an important part of the sales process. Customers want to validate they’re making the right decision. So they Google.

The search for social proof is natural. Geoffrey Moore argues in Crossing the Chasm, “Word of mouth is the number one source of information buyers reference, both at the beginning of the sales cycle, to establish their ‘long lists,’ and at the end, when they are paring down their short ones.”

When the stakes are high customers want to confirm they’re making the right decision. And this is your opportunity.

Companies often overlook the importance of developing social proof for their brand. They make their brand pretty, their website functional, and their sales reps effective. But they don’t have a strategy to build social proof.

Social Media Provides Credibility

Many companies struggle with social media. They want to use Facebook and LinkedIn to generate leads, but fail to generate anything of substance.

Social media might not be the best place to generate leads, especially for a B2B brand. But it is a great place to develop social proof.

For example, the Sticky Branding LinkedIn Group is an excellent source of social proof for my brand. The group hasn’t generated many leads, but it has helped me win several deals. With 50,000 members, the group demonstrates my expertise and reach.

Social media is ideal for facilitating customer engagement. Instead of using social media to generate leads, use it to generate social proof.

Develop Influencers

A few good connections will make your brand stand out.

Kelsey Libert recently wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “You only need a handful of influencers to give the impression that everyone is talking about your brand.”

She continues, “Since we can’t keep an eye on what the entire world is up to, we’re limited to witnessing what our social network says and does. At times, well-connected members within our network can skew our perception of how common an idea or behavior actually is.”

For example, authors and publishers go out of their way to be featured on Oprah’s Book Club. Oprah is a king maker. Her recommendations create international bestsellers.

Who are the influencers in your industry? Who are the people that everyone tunes into? These are the individuals you want to build a relationship with. A few well aligned influencers can make your brand appear to be everywhere.

Facilitate the Binge

When customers are making a major purchase decision they binge. They read your blog, watch your videos, download your white papers, and Google your brand to see what else they can find.

It’s like Netflix. Customers binge before they buy.

You can create a competitive advantage by facilitating the binge. You know your customers are going to Google your brand before they buy. Give them content to find. This is where your social media, public relations, and influencer marketing can deliver a ton of value. These platforms provide the social proof that your brand is as good as you say it is.

Neutralize the Competition

Growth is held up as the #1 strategy for business:

Grow to the next level
Grow market share
Grow into the first choice

Growth is important, but it’s not the only strategy. For example, what would happen if your industry got Ubered? At that point you’re competing in a game of relevance, not marketshare.

We admire companies like Uber and Airbnb, because of their disruption. They’ve challenged status quo, and as a result created clear brand differentiation, preferred choice, and price protection. But what about everyone else in that sector?

Your strategy shifts when your market is disrupted.

Judo the Competition

Judo is a fighting style that uses an opponent’s strengths against him. This is achieved through creating balance and unbalance:

When your opponent pulls you, you push him.
When your opponent pushes you, you pull him.

We’re following a similar mindset to neutralize disruptive competitors.

For example, in the early nineties Netscape transformed the internet with its WYSIWYG browser. To counter Netscape’s dominance Microsoft used a neutralization strategy. Rather than out innovate Netscape, Microsoft created an equivalent browser, Internet Explorer 1, and baked it into Windows 95.

From a computer enthusiast’s perspective, Netscape was the superior product. But to use Netscape a user had to use Internet Explorer first to find and download the alternative brower. That step created a position of strength for Microsoft, and helped it neutralize the growth of Netscape.

Think like a judo strategist when attacking a disruptive innovation: push or pull. What can you do to commoditize the innovator and position your brand as a solid alternative?

Target a Different Outcome

A neutralization strategy is not as profitable as a growth strategy.

The ideal is to be the disruptor — to be the company that creates a new category or subcategory. But chances are you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of these disruptions more often than not. In these situations you need to nullify the competition, and fast.

In a neutralization strategy the objective isn’t to be best in class. The objective is to be good enough.

This approach doesn’t provide the same level of positive returns as a growth strategy, but that’s to be expected. You’re working to level the playing field and eliminate a negative return.

Don’t Let the Other Guys Win

Companies that disrupt markets can achieve a massive competitive advantage. As David Aaker argues in his book, Brand Relevance, companies that create a new category or subcategory often achieve a sustained competitive advantage for over a ten year period.

For example, in 1983 Chrysler introduced the Minivan — the first of its kind. Chrysler was coming out bankruptcy protection and it needed a big win.

The minivan changed everything. Chrysler sold over 200,000 minivans in its first year, and over 12.5 million in 2009. Aaker writes, “For at least sixteen years, Chrysler did not have a serious competitor, and two decades later they were still the market leader.”

When you see a stat like that it’s easy to see why the taxi industry is fighting Uber so aggressively. If they can’t neutralize Uber quickly their way of life may be displaced.

Neutralizing the competition is an important strategy when your company faces disruption. There’s no point sitting on the sidelines and complaining about the other guys or the good ol’ days. Attack. Take a critical look at your industry and work to commodify the innovation. With a neutralization strategy you can grow at the innovator’s expense.