Category: marketing

Sunny and rainy days

FabrizioLeave a comment

Almost everybody loves a sunny day. It is a given, something we do not spend much time thinking about. If it sunny outside, we know most people will be happy about it.

Not quite as many people, though, loves a rainy day. Actually, quite a few. And if you are one of those, it is quite special to meet somebody who does too. You will possibly start talking about how a rainy day makes you feel, sharing experiences of stuff you’ve done when it was raining, and complaining a little bit about the bad press rain usually gets.

The point is. You can choose to connect on something that most people like, that is widely accepted. It is easy, and probably you will be easily and quickly forgotten.

Or you can pick a character that is peculiar to you, one that identifies who you are and that some people, at some point, might even find annoying. It will take more work, it will be challenging, and you will find long-term connections.

The choice is yours.

Exceptions and rules

Fabrizio3 Comments

If a customer (or a potential one) shows up with a request that is not in line with your procedures, processes, habits, or even product or service, the generous thing to do is to make an exception.

If that requests gets asked more and more, than you have two options.

Change your procedures, processes, habits, product or service to incorporate the request. You invest time and energy in making a change, as you see that the customers that are asking for it are the ones you want to serve.

Or you say, “thanks, but that’s not what we do.” Not all customers are your customers after all, so it is ok to decide that those asking for that additional feature are not the ones you want to serve.

There’s actually a third option, one you should avoid, the worst one. Not do anything. Keep getting the request, leaving its satisfaction to the moment, juggling about without any clear indication if that’s something that belongs to you or not.

This wastes your time and that of your customers, and time is not something anybody has to spare.

What comes first?

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you have something you are proud of and care about, rather than starting by listing all of its benefits and advantages, first ask.

Who is it for?Who is the audience, what are their characteristics, where do they hang out, and with whom, and for what.

How does it help them fulfill their purpose?What do they think about themselves and the world they live in, how do they want to shape their world, where does my idea stand in achieving this, will it be a tool in their hands, or the purpose itself, or a way to understand something before they go there.

Why should they care?How is my offer different from the other thousands (yes, there are that many), how can I make it different, what twist should I focus on, what should I avoid speaking of, what does resonate and what does not.

As much as they seem trivial, these questions often leave entrepreneurs and start-up founders speechless, or stuttering at best. It takes time to answer them, yet they can take you a very long way in understanding what to do next, where to take your idea, how to invest your next euro.

On this note, here is the bit that spakerd today’s thought (follow the link and check the video).

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Why is AI assuming to know us?

Fabrizio2 Comments

The problem with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, at the moment, is a problem of use, not of technology.

Companies mainly implement AI in their products and services to maximise economic results, and they fail (mostly) to actually deliver value to their users.

Take the advertising industry, for example. AI and ML are used by platforms to predict interests and needs based on data collected from your online behaviour. It is currently a widely inaccurate utilisation of the technology, that’s why you get exposed for months to ads from that site you visited once while you were researching your competitors for the next management meeting.

It is so because what currently matters is not that you get an ad that is relevant to you or that the advertisers message gets exposed to the correct audience. What matters, at this particular moment in history, is for the platforms to sell as many ads as they can. And since their competition is even less accurate or completely unmeasurable, they thrive with very little conversion rates while they make the rules they feel are more appropriate to achieve what they want.

Now, imagine a slightly different application of the same technology.

We have noticed that in past weeks, you have visited sites of car dealers. Would you like us to push some car offers from local dealers to your timeline?

You have visited this restaurant three times in the last month, would you like me to add it to your favourite restaurants in town? I could push some of their lunch offer to your inbox, if you want me to. Just tell me how frequently you’d like to receive them.

I see you’ve been at events about business and management in the past six months. Here are a bunch of groups you might be interested in. Also, there is a special deal on the Business and Management magazine if you subscribe by the end of the year. Do you want to take it?

Asking questions instead of assuming, is a great rule of thumb for interpersonal relationships. The same should be valid for interactions with a machine.

The product in the background

FabrizioLeave a comment

There is a common belief, particularly in business-to-business organisations, that in order to be a good marketer you need to know the ins and outs of the product (or service) you are marketing.

That is a myth.

Much more important is to understand what problem the product (or service) is addressing, how high it is in the list of priorities of your potential customers, and what type of benefit it will bring to them.

Having both (knowledge of the product and understanding of customers) might seem ideal. But I would argue it is not. If you are too much into the product (or service), it is most likely so that the customer is somehow secondary, that your main focus is on how to sell rather than on how to match, and that you are already to far away in your assimilation of product-ese to actually speak in a way that is valuable to those who might find what you have to say interesting.

Focus relentlessly on customers, speak their language and understand why they would care. Keep the product in the background, as something to reference when it is appropriate. This is what being a good marketer is all about.