“Made To Be Broken”

“Rules Were Made to Be Broken”. The funny thing about clichés is the definition and the reality. The dictionary says “an overused expression. I say it is a time tested and proven truth. This is a cliché that I have never subscribed to until recently.

In the world of marketing, I have created my own set of rules and rarely break them. The reason is simple. Just about every time I see someone else break one of them, failure follows. Why these failures occur so often is simple. All of my rules are based on observation. That means they are real and in turn reliable. You see, I monitor them on a regular basis and if one changes, I change the rule. Endemic to the process is reality. You see they are not based on my judgment, my opinion or my brilliance; they are simply based on my observations.

Given that, I rarely break them myself or see my own rules broken by others with success. I however will share a rare one with you today. In doing so, I will further invite you to break this rule because I have recently done so myself.

The rule I am referring to is this. The perfect pathway to a favorable purchase decision has three steps.

1)   Get the target consumers attention to your Selling Proposition.

2)   Immediately communicate your Brand accompanied by your generic Descriptor.

3)   Move them next to your Benefit, accompanied by your strongest Attribute Drivers.

Those three steps need a great deal of explanation that I have detailed in my book “Pull” and in several other blogs but will skip here today.

Notice two things about these three steps. First, the leading communication is the Brand name, which I say should have lots of character and be short, poetic and memorable. Secondly, the Benefit is third on my list of steps and is accompanied by its Attribute Drivers. This scenario is almost always an integral part of all marketing recommendations I make to my clients.

Here is a break in that scenario that can work. It is creating a brand name that is in itself a Benefit. This sounds easy but is so easy to screw up that I recommend you not try it because it will backfire on you far more often than it will work.

Way back in my early days, I was working with Bill Gross, the genius behind Knowledge Adventure, children’s educational software. At that time, a brand called Reader Rabbit was dominating the category. The assumption was that a rabbit would make it fun for kids to learn. It worked, until we launched Bills product entry in that category, Jump Start Kindergarten. Jump Start simply trumped the Reader Rabbit positioning by communicating that it will give your kid an advantage over the other kids. The rabbit died a sudden and just death at the hands of Jump Start and the Jump Start line continues to flourish to this date.

In all honesty, I did not realize it at the time but Jump Start was a benefit incorporated into the Brand name. Even if you think real hard, you are unlikely to identify many others. I can think only of four. One I have been familiar with for over ten years is “Move Free”. Move Free is a nutritional supplement that simply has Glucosamine and MSM to help relieve the symptoms associated with worn out joints and is a very unremarkable product. It is a formula that has been around for many years. It is however a very successful product and I think its naming has been a significant factor. As I look back at it, knowing who named it, I am reasonably sure it was done without the benefit of this observation…in other words, probably lucky.

Another is the newly introduced “Skinny Girl Margarita’s” line of cocktail mixes. An absolute “killer” Benefit if you are a modern lady”

There is one more. I am very proud to share that I was instrumental in the launch of two very successful Arm & Hammer laundry detergent products a few months back and one of them belongs in this blog. They are targeted to two very different and unique users. One, “Crystal Burst”, is targeted to sophisticated users and the other, “Toss N’ Done”, is targeted to people like me who just want to get it over with. Toss N’ Done is the benefit. It’s about me, not the product.

 Of these four examples, I created two and I love that I did. By the way, KUDOS to all those who helped me do it. I’m a very lucky dude who gets to work with great people.

Having said all that, here is why you may not want to try this. If you screw this up it will backfire on you. Benefits are very sensitive for target consumers. Without the accompanying Attribute Driver, they are often considered fluff and dismissed by target consumers. Dismissed means NO SALE. If you have the luxury of research, go for it. If not, this is a trap and it will nail you. Remember, humans are looking for what is wrong and fluff will feed into that characteristic. Without research you will never know until you launch it. Asking all your employees and friends is not research, in case you were headed in that direction.

So, do what you will, but watch out for the traps.

Good Luck and let me know if you do.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below

Mayor Bloomberg vs. Trojan Vibrators

Sometimes marketing is a lot of work and sometimes marketing is just plain fun…last week it was amazing fun. Trojan vibrators took on the Mayor of New York and the Mayor backed down.

Many months ago, I got the assignment to work on positioning Trojan vibrators. The challenge was straightforward. Vibrators have been fully accepted by the American public for wide use for a long time, but we Americans have not yet admitted to ourselves that they even exist. When is the last time you had vibrators casually enter a discussion in mixed company. Probably never.

For years, I have observed vibrators are identical to Twinkies in many respects and they are:  Consumers purchase millions of each on a daily basis but as soon as we need to recruit purchasers for Focus Groups, they are hard to find. People just don’t want to admit to using vibrators or eating Twinkies. My two sons are the exception. They would never question my purchase or use of a vibrator. On the other hand, I am clear, they would nail me for eating a Twinkie. By the way, two Twinkies covered with fresh strawberries and whipped cream are to die for.

So the assignment was to develop a Selling Proposition (sales message) that accurately defines these products and at the same time characterizes them as efficacious. Why efficacious? Because they are and they need to be characterized that way so they will be accepted by Walgreens, CVS and other retail stores for easy access. Americans should be able to purchase vibrators without going into an adult bookstore and thanks to Walgreens and CVS they now can.

On Monday, the kind folks at Trojan began giving vibrators away in Manhattan to promote their arrival in local drug stores and pharmacies. The reaction was, in my mind, bizarre. It was as if they were handing out guns. The NYPD simply did not know what to do. The Mayor, in a knee jerk reaction, decided to ban Trojan from doing so. Hello mayor…what were you thinking?

After a "social media" uproar from the public, the good mayor reversed himself and the people of Manhattan are happily back to normal again.  

What I would like to know is: Where are Barack and Mitt on this issue? Can we pass out free vibrators in Salt Lake City? It’s on the schedule…so stay tuned.

What do you think? Is it ok to hand out free vibrators?

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below

“IF IT WORKS, DON’T FIX IT”

I have been in a series of discussions with a U.S. based company who is currently marketing a well-known consumer service. They are particularly excited that they are doing well in this lousy economy. I would be too. My natural reaction was to ask what they plan to do next to move the business forward to which they responded; “we’re going to ride this baby for a while”.

Stop here and ask yourself what you think of that reaction and let’s see if it aligns with mine. What they are saying is that they are going to do nothing until their business turns down. In my world that is a losing strategy.

Many of the assignments I get are simply the result of a client sitting on success. There is an old saying, if it works, don’t fix it”. That sounds correct and a very “cool” saying on the surface but read this carefully, “NOTHING, THAT’S NOTHING, COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.” Do not fall into that trap. Thirty-five percent of my assignments are due to a business in trouble because of that philosophy.

This is really simple. Every category of product or service I have ever been in has operated as a dynamic. The only thing you can absolutely count on is that nothing will remain as it is. What’s next is coming. Your choice is to be the cause of it or you will surely be at the effect of it. Being at the effect of what’s next is usually very painful.

If you are on top and waiting, you are guaranteed to fall. The easiest and most effective area of marketing for you to create what’s next is in your sales message. If you are making a series of simple yet effective changes to your selling proposition, you will become the leader in your category. Your competition will be reacting to you just to keep up and that posture guarantees you will grow and they will shrink. There are many examples of this kind of activity. Simply look at Tide, Southwest Airlines or Allstate Insurance. Relatively small, consistent and innovative changes in their products and services and their accompanying sales messages have kept them on top.

Kudos to the above brands…well done.

You don’t have to be a big company to do that; you do have to be smart and somewhat aggressive. Creating what’s next for your business will keep your target consumers’ interest and in turn their loyalty to you and…you will drive your competition nuts.

Good Luck,

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below

 

    

”WOW”

For years, marketers have been looking for “Wow”! They are referring to the reaction that a target consumer will have to something they perceive as a breakthrough. An example would be the first time you encountered a dry cleaner with a big sign claiming all of their chemicals were “environmentally friendly” … WOW! Or the first time you saw an ad for a Prius and they announced it would parallel park itself … WOW! Or when Tide added Febreze fabric softener to their detergent…WOW!

I first heard it from my clients in the mid 80’s and it became a cliché by the early 90’s. They also referred to it as “New News” but wow continues to prevail to this day. Beyond the wow factor I can tell you that it is far more important to determine exactly where, within your sales message, the target consumer is making the buying decision and treat it like the wow but I call it a Trigger. A Trigger by my definition triggers a purchase reaction to your sales message. A Trigger also by my definition does not have to be caused by a change in your product. It can also be a change in your sales message. You can create a trigger. You simply state something new about your existing product that appears as a trigger and there are many ways to create one.

If you have hung around me for more than five minutes you will have heard me site the example of 3M Sandblaster sandpaper. Let’s say you were clever enough to find a compelling benefit like “Less Work” for sandpaper and you added an Attribute driver like “Cuts 3 Times Faster” to it and voila, you have a trigger. In this example, we add “Cuts Three Times Faster” to the ‘Less Work” and together they become a trigger. It only becomes a trigger when they are joined together.

There exists a natural tendency for marketers to want to play up a trigger if they feel they have identified one. It is usually done graphically with a burst of color and large type shouting the information as prominently as possible. Unfortunately, my experience is that this is not the strongest way to use a trigger. In fact it is the wrong way to use it. Here is why.

While creating a Selling Proposition (sales message) it is smart to remember that it is no less personal than a conversation with a stranger on the street. In fact, the similarities are many and the differences are few. Notice that in a conversation with a stranger, you cannot treat them as you would a friend. You may be able to hug or pat a friend on the back but not a stranger. You simply do not have the relatedness required to do so. If so how does this translate to marketing?

I have observed for years, that all humans operate from “what’s wrong here”. That means they, you and I too, are looking for what is wrong. Notice when a stranger approaches and begins to talk for no apparent reason, you initially think they are after something and you become defensive. The same is true with a Selling Proposition when it is first encountered.

The solution here is that you should never start your sales message with a trigger, i.e.; if the first thing you see on the package is “Less Work”, consumers will challenge you immediately. The smart marketer will get related first by directing you to the Brand/Product name as an attention getting graphic, and immediately flank it with a Generic Descriptor. At that point the consumer is grounded and far less likely to disbelieve your trigger. Now, they are ready to be pitched. Move them on to the trigger, the Benefit/Attribute driver. The perfect sequence is first The Sandblaster/sandpaper…then…Less Work/Cuts Three Times Faster.

The learning here is clear. My concern is you will take this lightly. Be very clear, I now have volumetric research evidence that this insight is valid. This one is easy to screw up because many of us think we will be successful if we over shout out the key feature of our product over all other communication. If you do, you will likely suffer the consequences.

Good Luck,

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

ollow my blog by clicking one of the links below

The Power of Metrics

I just got back from surfing one of the premier surfing spots in the world and was inspired to start my next book. That’s how life works. You take it when it comes. Prior to this, I had no intention of writing another. 

So here I am in Uluwatu on the island of Bali three days after addressing over 300 marketers in Sri Lanka who were very interested in what I had to say about marketing. As I began my speech, I alluded to the fact that I had discovered many significant marketing insights over the past twenty-five years and that I had selected two that I was sure would resonate to all of them. In fact, I offered up a promise to all in attendance. I said that all of them would leave the session with a clear sense of exactly what they would do next to their business Selling Propositions that would generate an instant improvement in their business.

This is the Uluwatu surf:

I planned to reveal one insight before the lunch break and tease the second for after. I did so perfectly and we broke for lunch. During that time, I was approached with a request to from the organizers of the event. The question was, how many insights was I referring to and could they hear more than two. They continued to push me. How many are there all together, they asked? Are they all included in your presentation today? There was clearly more interest in the numbers than my promise to increase their businesses.

I have often written about the advantage of incorporating metrics into your Selling Proposition when possible. Apparently, I had under estimated the true power of doing so. In that instant I realized I made a mistake by alluding to the fact that, even though I had customized a powerful event for them, it would not contain all that I had learned over my career. They were hooked on the metrics.

I thought I fully understood the role of metrics in Selling Propositions but now had fallen victim to it myself. They were into the count and how much of it they could get out of me that day. So, I did the only thing I could, I threw a number at them. There are twenty- three, I said. Truthfully, I had never stopped to add them up, and was just guessing. I promised, I would cover as many as possible after completing my previously planned presentation. They seemed pacified for the moment.

 As I completed my planned presentation, I began what amounted to an impromptu rundown of the insights that came to mind and that I could support with slides that I had at my disposal. I am happy to report that as much as they loved my planned presentation, they seemed even more interested as I rambled through even more insights. Time ran out and I received a stunning ovation, which included the gift of a jeweled elephant followed by a lengthy photo session with pretty much everyone in attendance. What a great group of people they are in Sri Lanka. I would love to go back.

That evening, I sat down and listed all the insights I thought significant enough to impact sales volumes, as it turns out, there are twenty-four. Pretty close. More importantly, that evening was also when I decided to write what will be my second book. Given the power of metrics and the nature of the experience, I am titling it “24” “Marketing Insights to Grow On.” I might work on the tag line but you can be sure the title is “24.”

I will not belabor the metrics point here but to say if you can incorporate them into your Selling Proposition, so much the better. In countless research sessions I have seen the difference with and without and can state equivocally, use them if at all possible.

I think two things occur when consumers see a metric. First they assume that the company behind the product would not have used a metric unless it was to there advantage. Given that, the consumer need not fully understand the meaning to get the full impact of having encountered it. The second is that the use of a metric communicates that the product communication is complete and more importantly, authentic.

So, what follows is 24 Twenty-Four. A book of 24 extraordinary and proven marketing insights, all of which I personally have seen work over and over again. I fully expect they will continue to work until they don’t, at which point, I will remove those that don’t and replace them with new insights that do.   

It should take me approximately three months to complete the book.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

ollow my blog by clicking one of the links below

IT COULD PAY TO BE NEGATIVE

When I initially broke Product Attributes down into three types, Physical, Performance and Negative, I was sure that Negative Attributes were not likely to be very influential among all the other elements in a Selling Proposition. I have recently become aware of a second function that makes me think we should look closer at the possible role they play. A well developed Negative Attribute can now become a powerful element in your Selling Proposition that sets you aside from your competition and TRIGGERS the purchase.

In the past, I have defined the Negative Attribute as a feature of the product that may be needed in order to overcome a potential negative. I said they are well known to most of us, No Preservatives, No Artificial Flavors, Won’t Leave Residue, Gluten Free, etc. My assumption was that they were only rarely needed and even then were expendable if the Selling Proposition was complex and already had an abundance of communication elements in it.  They don’t generally score very high when compared to all of the other communication elements yet curiously, consumers frequently insist on including them in the Selling Proposition. Why do they do that? Here is the answer.

For a long time, I have referred to what I call the operating state of humans. That state is “What’s wrong here?” By operating state, I am referring to their frame of mind. If you were just thinking to yourself “yes, but not me”, look more closely. This goes for you and I as well. We do it on a subconscious level constantly and jump into and out of it thousands of times daily. Its presence seems to vary on our mood or circumstance but I say it is always right there. I think it is a holdover from the days of the caveman when things went wrong on a frequent basis.

In the past, I recommended we be aware of this consumer behavior and avoid several things that will turn the consumer off simply by making it difficult to work through your Selling Proposition. Here is a short list:

-    Avoid a sentence with more than four words.

-    Avoid more than five key elements,

-    Communicate on an eighth grade level,

-    Make smooth transitions from element to element,

-    Avoid long words.

-    Avoid any word that may not be widely understood.

-    Avoid small type or anything else that may be difficult to see.

-    Make sure there is contrast in all graphics.

This list was built defensively. That is, with the attitude that one needed to be careful not to sabotage your own Selling Proposition. Now, there is a positively motivated action that I like much more.  A reason that offers an advantage over your competition.

Let’s assume you still check the above list to be sure you are not inadvertently turning the consumer off. What’s next is to find a negative attribute simply to satiate the operating state of your consumer. I believe if you do so they will lower their level of interest in finding an objective that will disqualify their purchase. This will be most effective on a product where you are relatively sure there are no Negatives in the consumers mind to overcome.

Let’s get creative for a moment. Let’s say you are selling an electric fan. It has in it a simple circuit breaker that is already required by law in case of a short.  Electric fans have been made this way for years. The consumer, on the other hand, has no fundamental fear of a short as they encounter the category.

The opportunity: The consumer approaches the category looking for a fan with little knowledge of how fans work. He scans several fans that boast similar performance features making the decision difficult. But when he encounters your Selling Proposition, it includes the words “Automatic short safety protector”. This line is intentionally worded similar to a “surge protector” that the world has come to accept as necessary. Now we have invented a Negative Attribute for our own use to set ourselves aside from our competition. Which one does he buy?

Continuing the thought, I have seen the line “gluten free” on food products that are completely inappropriate like preserves and juices. I suspect it was added by marketers who are hoping for a ride on that bandwagon.

The learning here is that in the endless quest to drive your competition crazy, three words at a time, take a look at the Negative Attribute. Your competition is likely unaware of this opportunity.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below

HOW SEXY IS YOUR SALES MESSAGE…it makes a difference!

I discovered a long time ago that the most effective way to create a powerful Selling Proposition (sales message) is to break it down into separate communication elements and work on them individually. They include components such as Names, Generic Descriptors, Benefits, Attributes, Key Graphics and so on. I have come to learn that this area of study is not unlike that of quantum physics. Particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at Cern Switzerland crash atomic particles into each other at near light speed allowing scientists to evaluate the debris. Our Connectics^® process does pretty much the same thing without the crashing. We deconstruct the sales message into its basic components, and we work creatively at that level.

Working with the meaning that consumers assign to the individual communication elements has been the access to creating many new solutions for our clients. This is a world I have been exploring for at least eight years now. The rest of the marketing world continues to develop multiple complete concepts. Having done so they evaluate and modify each of them until they can agree on one to move forward with. That process now seems outdated to me. A side benefit of working with a deconstructed Selling Proposition is that I often find previously unknown factors, much like the Hadron scientists, that influence the buying decision. I will share one here.

Over the last two years I have come to suspect that gender may play a role in driving consumers to purchase particularly on products and services that seem to have no sexual overtone. I am now convinced that gender in fact always plays an active role in motivating purchase intent. I will share it here.

Let’s pretend for a moment that all products and services have a gender. Scan slowly, left to right, across the images below looking for the gender in each. It’s easy to see how the role of gender plays out on the Trojan condom package and the Playtex tampon package but what do you see on the Splenda and Tide packages? If gender plays a part in the two on the left, is it possible, in fact probable, that it also plays a role on the two on the right? If so, are marketers unaware of the role that gender plays on products thought to have no gender? I now have what I am reasonably sure is the answer to these questions. My experience is that gender does play an active role in motivating purchase intent irrespective of the nature of the product. 

I cannot share the exact experiences due to having signed non-disclosure agreements with my clients, but I have recently witnessed the following on enough projects (16) to conclude it is a valid marketing insight.

Below is the result of two exercises that I have been running with consistent results across multiple categories. Let’s say we are working with four different graphic presentations of a Selling Proposition, A, B, C & D. This could be a website home page, a billboard ad, a package, a storefront, a print ad etc. The first exercise determines which of the four is the strongest at communicating performance. Let’s say graphic A won. The second exercise determines where each layout falls along the gender scale you see below.

The highest performing Image always falls to the right of the 1 on the Masculine side of the scale. Others will typically be too feminine or too masculine. Mostly, they will be too feminine.

 

The learning here is, when you are not sure, keep your message and your image slightly masculine. I know you may not have the tools that I have that allow me to read each Selling Proposition, but you can use your best judgment. You can mock up each option and conduct your own research with friends. Simply show two at a time and ask which is the most masculine. You will be surprised by how consistent the responses will be. Read the results and choose the one you feel is somewhat masculine. By the way, almost all of the work I have done to date is with female consumers. They, as you are likely aware, make most of the purchase decisions and this is where this insight is most useful.

If you are marketing to males, this insight is an obvious one. In all of my experience, females are simply more secure in their sexuality than are males. Sorry boys, that is just the way it is.

Good luck!

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below