Laurel Black Communications + Design

Strategy

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Marketing Return on Investment: Why Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

Marketing Return on Investment:
Why Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

As social media marketing has grown, so has an emphasis on quantitative metrics to measure marketing effectiveness has grown, too. Because online marketing gathers statistics so easily and so exhaustively, it has become common to define campaign success according to the number of Shares, Likes, Follows and such. Agencies cite these metrics as a meaningful indication that the marketing they created is working.

I disagree. The only true metric of marketing success is your bottom line. Did the person who Liked, Followed and Shared actually buy anything? Did they even click on the link to your site? Can you make a clear connection between a lot of Likes and a jump in sales?

The job of marketing is to inspire purchasing choices in its audiences, and that requires more than statistics – it requires an understanding of human behavior. Even children know that marketing depends on timing, presentation and the ability to be persuasive in order to be successful. (“Mom, can I stay up till ten tonight? Pleeeeze?”) When you have to rely on human choices to meet your goals, you are entering the realm of emotion. Tying success solely to logic and numbers won’t tell you the whole story.

This is evident when reading marketing how-to books. They say that in order to close a sale, you have to connect with or “touch” the prospect anywhere from 5 to 27 times through various media. This is because each prospect needs a unique number of encounters with your product or service to feel comfortable making a purchase.

So since everyone is different, how can you know exactly at which of the 5-27 points of contact any given prospect decided to pull the trigger? Unless you are targeting individuals one by one, you can’t. You can track some of your sales through tools such as coupons, discounts and time limits, but these aren’t appropriate for all businesses, especially services. You could try surveys, but often people don’t remember the exact moment they decided to buy or what the trigger was.

Marketing Return on Investment

So we are back to the pre-social media mode of serial testing. How it works: you develop a clear understanding of your target market, including their general preferences for getting information, and then you choose several means of communicating your offer to this group based on that understanding. Since different people look at different media at different times in different emotional modes, you will choose a range of marketing media, not one, and deploy them in a systematic way over time, not once, so you can plot general sales results against them.

As you continue your marketing program, you will hone your sense of what works best through looking at your sales, in addition to the numbers that show how well your social media are doing.

Taking the time to create and execute a marketing program based on thoughtful consideration of your market has a much greater chance of success.

 

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What Graphic Designers REALLY Do (and it’s not art)

What Graphic Designers REALLY Do
(and it’s not art)

Clients new to buying graphic design are often confused about what they should expect from the work they’re buying. Sometimes all they have is a vague notion that they’re going to get little pictures about what they sell, and that these pictures should be attractive so people will look at them. They tend to associate this process with art, and may think that design and art are the same thing.

This is understandable since both art and design are visual. But their functions are completely different.

When asked some years ago what the difference was, Milton Glaser (an icon of contemporary design) said something like this: the function of art is to intensify one’s perception of reality and create new languages of meaning. But the function of design is to communicate, and for that we must use known symbols.

Coming from a fine art academic background, I had been trying to figure out how art and design are related. I now had my answer. It has helped me understand the difference between artistic goals and design goals, and that I will be both a better artist and a better designer by staying clear about which is which and not confusing them.

This understanding has also kept me from becoming one of those dreaded stereotypes of the commercial art world: prima donna designers who disregard their clients’ ideas, insist they know best, and work in the vacuum of their own ego. To them I say: Listening to your client is not a sell-out. It’s the only way you can create effective work. Work that is not effective is a failure, no matter how cool it is.

Art is not design.

Here’s my take: it is the job of graphic design to combine words and pictures to create an image that will inspire a particular behavior. Specifically, I am supposed to create communications that will motivate people to behave in ways that benefits my clients. Usually that means “Buy my stuff.” It can also mean “Donate to my social cause” or “Vote for me.” What designers REALLY do is nothing more nor less than behavior modification. (Designers are all closet Skinnerian psychologists.)

I have found that this viewpoint helps clients understand what they are really buying, and gives them a benchmark for evaluating its usefulness. This in turn helps me do better work because they are able to give me better direction.

So the difference is: Design puts aesthetic expression at the service of the client, not the creator.

And when good communication exists between clients and designers, the communication between clients and their markets will be much more successful.

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Features & Benefits: What Are You REALLY Offering Your Customers?

Features & Benefits:
What Are You REALLY Offering Your Customers?

Features and Benefits: What are you REALLY offering your customers?Whenever the economy goes through bumps and down periods, its progress will be paralleled by fluctuations in competition. Product/service differentiation is key to holding your own in the marketplace, so it’s time to get crystal clear on what your business really offers.

A useful way to do that is to use the Features/Benefits Filter. Buying decisions are based far more often on benefits, which are perceived emotionally, than features, which are perceived rationally.

Example: I am buying some shoes. Features: made of brown suede, 3” heels, non-slip soles and they lace up. Benefits: really stylish oxfords that make me feel competent AND attractive. The features (and price) are important, but what’s really selling me are the benefits. Without them, the features don’t move me and I probably won’t buy.

This exercise applies to services as well. Example: I need a will, and therefore a lawyer. Features: someone current on estate law, with a convenient location and a reasonable hourly fee. Benefits: peace of mind knowing that my affairs will be handled per my wishes, and I will not be leaving a big mess for my family. The benefits of doing my will are far more engaging than the mechanics of the process, so I will actually do it.

To sum up: Features describe the product. Benefits describe what’s in it for the customer. For your marketing to be customer-centric, and therefore effective, benefits need the emphasis.Try applying the filter to your own offering from your customers’ viewpoint – looking at it through their eyes will tell you a lot about how to adjust your marketing and better position your business.

A laundry list of product or service features is a big ho-hum; clarity about the benefits you offer will strike an immediate note. Lead with those and you will reap major benefits for your business.

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Getting It Right: Why Brand Strategy Always Precedes Logo Design

Getting It Right:
Why Brand Strategy Always Precedes Logo Design

Here’s an often overlooked point in communications design: The function of a logo is to represent your brand in a visual way, but is not the brand itself, just as a map is not the actual terrain it depicts.

In order to create a successful logo, it is important to have a workable brand definition in hand at the onset of the project, or develop one. In the last several years, branding has become a signature service offered by many design firms. Since the function of design is to inspire desired behaviors in the client’s audience, an experienced designer should be well positioned to assist in brand development.

This is a strategic process with specific outcomes. It is not the same thing as design development, which should always be driven by brand strategy. James McNamara, a noted arts branding expert, lists the following as the basics:

1. Identification of, and recommendations to resolve, an organization’s major communications issues (e.g. misperceptions to correct, new ideas to communicate, organizational issues that need to be rectified to ensure effective communications).

2. Identification and analysis of the audiences with whom you want to communicate.

3. A Position Statement focusing people internally on how to think about your organization that is used to inform critical organization messages and visual identity.

Brand before logo

4. Key Image Attributes, almost personality traits, for your organization that need to be communicated via messages or visuals. These often suggest graphic identity development.

5. Primary and supplementary Organization Messages that must be communicated consistently about your organization.

McNamara thinks that brand strategy and design strategy are both important, but that design should stem from branding. Your brand strategy should be a guide to how you want your business or organization to be perceived, and how to make basic decisions about how you convey your value, how you address your audience, and how you craft your messages to that audience.

After this thoughtful deliberation, you will be much better able to make productive decisions about your design and communications strategies. As a result, your choices will be more effective, and therefore truly support your business goals. Understanding what the job requires makes all the difference in choosing the right tools.

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Positioning: RX for Your Identity Crisis

Positioning: RX for Your Identity Crisis

Have you ever had a prospect ask,“What do you do?”

There are few questions that will send us into deer-in-the-headlights stuttering as fast. When it happens, we resolve to Do Something About It. But figuring out a short, compelling way to explain your value as a business is HARD. So it gets shelved until the next time it happens and another identity crisis shakes your world.

The antidote: Positioning.

Positioning is the strategy you use to develop your brand. Your brand is essentially what your market thinks of you, based on all the experiences they have had with your organization. The crucial difference: Positioning is done proactively by you so that your brand will be perceived the way you want. Positioning tells your customers what they should think about you, instead of waiting for the effect of brand experience to kick in.

When you position proactively, you give yourself a big advantage. To get started, you need to decide how to complete these four statements:

1. This is what I offer:

2. This is whom I can best serve:

3. This is why I’m different:

4. This is why that difference matters to my target market:

Your statements must be clear and specific no matter what type of business or organization you have. They will help you understand your value from your buyer’s perspective so you can explain it to your prospects effectively. When you are clear about your purpose, your market, your difference and your value, those recurring identity crises become history.

For example, if you’re in retail, you need to explain why people should buy shoes from you and not Macy’s. If you are a lawyer, you need to be able to say why clients should hire you to do their estate planning and not the firm their cousin recommended. If you do economic development, you have to show why a business should locate in your community and not down the road.

Positioning: RX for your identity crisis

Once you have your four positioning statements, you will have the basis for an effective response to “What do you do?” You will also have the answer to their next questions (spoken or unspoken) which are “What’s in it for me?” and “So what?” These are the most important questions that an effective marketing plan must answer.

Going through this exercise for my design and marketing business was eye-opening. I realized I could not answer the four questions adequately on my own, so I sought guidance from three awesome marketing colleagues whose work I respect and who understood my work and my market. They were also willing to point out when I was deluding myself or going down an unproductive path.

When you tackle these critical questions, be sure to engage the help of a feedback provider who is objective. You could start by consulting with your partner, trusted colleagues or favorite clients. And if you’re not convinced that your positioning is clear, it may be time to work with a marketing professional. I know how valuable the results are, yet how hard this process can be. I would love to help — let’s explore the answers together.

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My Favorite Business Rules: The 4 Nevers & the 4 Always

My Favorite Business Rules:
The 4 Nevers & the 4 Always

Seems like every day there’s another spate of articles with titles like “Ten Success Secrets of the Top-Selling Superstars.” These stories are like car accidents: you can’t look away. A lot of it is common sense, but as George Carlin reminded us, common sense isn’t. So in that spirit, I have compiled a list (from direct experience) of good and bad practices. Here are my favorite four Always Rules and my four Never Rules.

The 4 Never Rules

1. NEVER work with anyone who treats you like you’re stupid.

Over the years, I have found that no matter how much you want a project, never put up with disrespect or abuse. If a customer refuses to treat you as a fellow human, or thinks that paying you for your product or service also buys the right to be obnoxious, flee. Life is too short and you will never be that hungry.

2. NEVER sell your product or service to someone who doesn’t understand its value.

This happens when we make assumptions about the customer’s knowledge level. It is our job as businesses to make sure our customers understand not only what they are buying, but how it will benefit them and why it is valuable. People often don’t even know what assumptions they’re making because the assumptions are unconscious. Sometime it’s wishful thinking; sometimes it’s based on a customer’s previous experience that has nothing to do with you and your offer. So always try to identify a customer’s knowledge gaps and take care of them. Otherwise you run the risk of bad surprises, especially at invoice time.
Which brings me to:

3. NEVER let your client set your price.

It is our job to set a correct value on our work. We have all had the customer who wants to “break us down” or “score a deal.” Even with no intention to power trip you into lowering your price, customers may often have a price assumption that is based on either wishful thinking or no thinking at all. These customers need to be gently educated (see #2).

4. NEVER ignore what your gut is telling you.

We all lapse on this, and it will nearly always come back to bite us. Many times, because we really need the sale, we bulldoze over that big red flag that popped up. We do this at our peril! Little nagging voices may not be telling us what we want to hear, but they always tell us what we need to know. Slow down long enough to listen and learn – you will save yourself boatloads of suffering.

4 nevers and 4 always

The 4 Always Rules

1. ALWAYS observe the Golden Rule.

This can be expressed in many different ways, but what it comes down to is, the best way to treat people is how you would like to be treated. As a rule for doing business it is absolutely infallible. This is the flip side of the #1 Never rule above.

2. ALWAYS put agreements in writing.

No matter how hard we try to cover all bases and be clear, there is always potential for misunderstandings whenever we make agreements about doing business. For the sake of everyone’s sanity, every project should begin with a written agreement about the scope, budget and timeline, and have a process for scope changes.

3. ALWAYS strive to do better and learn more.

It’s very easy to get complacent and find yourself in a comfortable place of “we’ve always done it this way.” Comfort is the enemy of growth. If you are not making time to stay up on new developments in your field, you are writing a slow, painful death warrant for your business.

4. ALWAYS believe in the value of your work and your expertise.

If you don’t, then why should anyone else? Even though we may sometimes feel insecure about our worth, this belief needs to be consistently conveyed, not only to our clients but to ourselves. Transient mood swings happen to all of us, and have nothing to do with our basic worth. Believing in the value of what your business offers is the bedrock of all effective marketing.