The Elevator Pitch - "You Talkin' To Me?"

Can Your Oldest Living Relative Understand What You're Pitching?

By David Miranda

In the Martin Scorcese film, Taxi Driver, Robert DeNiro had one of the great lines in cinema, "You talkin' to me?" which he delivered, by the way, in a mirror. He was talking to himself.

I have been the recipient of countless elevator pitches. While listening to the presenters, I often think of that scene from Taxi Driver, repeating the phrase silently to myself. These people might as well be talking to themselves alone in a mirror because most time, I just don't get what they're pitching. Quickly my receptors shut down just like my laptop does when I have too many programs going at the same time.

What happens? The pitch was designed for the presenter and not the audience and the presenter doesn't know his or her audience.

Here is a view from those of us that want to be good audiences:

• we are busy; we have A.D.D.; we hear lots of pitches - get to the point quickly


• don't use a lot of jargon only understood by industry insiders


• eliminate the hyperbole, i.e. the best, the greatest, the next "Google" etc. - no one's gonna buy it. If it is good or great, let your audience, not you, state it.


• make your pitch a dialogue not a monologue. Encourage your audience to interrupt with questions during the pitch.


• don't distribute leave-behinds unless people request them and don't distribute them before you begin. They will thumb through it while you are talking which is not a good idea.


• If you have 15 minutes, make it 15 minutes or, preferably, shorter. If your audience wants to go over the alotted time it means they are interested. If you go over the allotted time, it means you are not prepared.


• Don't feel compelled to use a powerpoint, unless your audience wants to see it. Offer first.


• If you do use a powerpoint, try it out on someone first under the same conditions you will present. Can your guinea pigs read the slides? Are there too many bullet points?, too much animation?, too much data?, too many slides?, too many charts?, simply too much "stuff" to comprehend? etc.


• don't assume your audience is either real smart or real dumb. The best communicators of the most challenging concepts make it palatable for everyone.

Remember that unless you enjoy talking to yourself, it is your audience that you have to convince to buy what your selling. So don't pontificate. Don't complicate. Don't exaggerate. Don't orate. Don't bloviate. Just communicate - like you are speaking to your oldest living relative. Chances are if they get it, so will everyone else.

Corporate "Bulimia" Or "Anorexia" Is No Way To Keep A Company "Lean & Mean"

"Competing" Disorders Can Harm The Business

By David Miranda

In an effort to get or remain thin, some people go to extremes by developing eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. We all know the devastating impact either of these maladies have on the human body. We all know there is no simple way to be thin (and healthy). It takes a regimen of a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Such is the case in business. Typically in an economic slowdown, businesses seek to shed "excess fat" in the organization to make the organization "lean and mean". Although this is a commendable (and necessary) effort, too many go about it the wrong way and develop "competing disorders", i.e. corporate bulimia or anorexia.

Corporate bulimia occurs when a firm decides to "purge" internal employees from the org chart in favor of out-sourcing to third parties. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes critical departments are affected, say customer service. This is where reducing costs, unwisely, takes precedent over the health of the organization. In this case, this purging leaves the firm, not stronger, but weaker. Purging customer service is a "bulimic" practice.

Corporate anoxexia is just as problematic. Here companies believe they can do more and more with less and less. They "starve" the company, i.e. "what is the very minimum we need to keep the company going?" A company cannot "starve" themselves to success.

Take a healthy approach to business. Avoid taking short cuts to success. Feed success and exercise your brains in making good decisions our your firm will be "The Biggest Loser."

Marketing - Brand Foreplay For Sales

Before Someone Buys Something, They First Have To Be Romanced

By David Miranda

The field of marketing has many descriptive terms to describe and measure brand success such as awareness, recognition, preference, engagement, and relationship to name of a few. The best way, however, to describe and measure brand success is sales.

This is because before anyone buys anything, they first have to desire it. That is what marketing does. It is the business discipline of seduction.

Simply put, marketing is foreplay for sales.

All too often, brands think that a clever "pick up line" (advertising slogan) is enough or perhaps "offering to buy the pursued a cocktail of their choice" (discounting, coupons, free offers) will win their favor. These may be good techniques for "one-night stands" with consumers; but not for sustainable brand relationships. Brands need to create a conversation with the consumer - get to know them, understand their needs and wants.

In other words, consumers want to be romanced by brands - to be recognized and appreciated. This is what great brands do. This is what great marketing does.

Every sale and every repeat sale is the direct result of brand foreplay. Too often a great deal of effort is placed in acquiring a new customer, but also all too often this newly acquired customer is taken for granted wrongly assuming that an acquired customer will be a repeat customer. In a marketplace where preference is perishable, this is a critical miscalculation.

This is why it is critically important for a brand to understand that, in today's highly competitive marketplace, without brand foreplay-without romancing, competitive suitors are relentlessly seducing your current and future customers.

Don't try to "pick up" customers; romance them instead by employing the foreplay of sales.

It's called marketing.

Considering The Mobile Channel? Success Is Spelled With 4R's

Get It Right The First Time

By David Miranda

Marketing still has its 4 P's - people, price, promotion, place - first communicated to future marketing gurus in Marketing 101. Marketers have done well by the 4P's which have been easily applied in developing marketing strategy and tactical executions. As the marketing mix has expanded from the "usual suspects" TV, radio, print, direct mail and public relations to the Internet and its unique offspring, marketers have adapted and adopted new solutions into the mix.

Now there is a new kid in town - mobile, with over 220 million users strong just in the U.S. In boardrooms across the country, smart brands are seeking ways to exploit its ubiquity and huge potential. A first critical step is understanding that mobile is a unique channel with unique characteristics and rules of engagement.

Simply stated, mobile has its 4 R's - recognition, relevance, reward, and relationship - the four supporting pillars of mobile success.

• Recognition refers to the explicit understanding that respects a consumer right to privacy and control of the mobile interaction. Mobile marketing mandates that consumers opt-in to programs.


• Relevance refers to the need to provide consumers with content that is appropriate to their personal lifestyle and interests. Mobile consumers will quickly opt out of programs that have little or no value.


• Reward refers to providing incentives for consumer participation which can be in the form of points, discounts, etc.


• Relationship refers to the notion that if consumers are convinced that the first 3 R's are satisfied, they are more likely to commit to a mobile relationship with the brand.
  

Recognition, relevance, reward, and relationship - a good platform for successful mobile marketing.

Recognition Marketing - 10 Characteristics Of A Great Brand

By David Miranda


Great brands.....

1. compete with themselves, not others for the hearts, minds, and wallets of customers.


2. are more curious, better informed, more agile and nimble, and less risk-averse than their competitors.


3. are customer-centric understanding that customer retention is the engine for customer acquisition.


4. understand that everything (both the formal and informal) communicates the brand to others.


5. understand that the status quo is the enemy of innovation.


6. compete on value not price.


7. are not "me-too" marketers


8. have a compelling brand "story" that clearly distinguishes it from all others


9. recruit and retain great marketing talent


10. can demand a premium for their products and/or services

Intelligence vs Wisdom - Knowing The Difference

Understanding The Difference Is Critical In Marketing

By David Miranda

A wise person once asked me if I knew the difference between ignorance and stupidity. After a weak attempt at an answer, he replied, "ignorance means you don't know, stupidity means you'll never know". I haven't been ignorant of the difference since. This is wisdom.

I have recently asked myself a different question, particularly as it applies to the discipline of marketing. The question is "What is the difference between intelligence and wisdom?" Often the terms are used interchangeably and without much thought.

When this does happen, it can have dire consequences.

Mark Twain once said, "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

The marketing discipline is blessed to have many intelligent people in the field measured by academic credentials and IQ. Intelligence is generally judged by one's ability to solve problems - to find solutions. Intelligence, however, has a dark side - arrogance, i.e. that because the problem was solved or a solution found by an intelligent person using an intelligent process, it must be the best solution available. Not!

Intelligence should be tempered with experience - from you or others. This is called wisdom, as in, "This seems like the right way to go, but conventional wisdom says we should dig a little deeper, think a little harder, kick the tires a little more." Wisdom should not be confused with caution, since the best friend of an intelligent solution is devil's advocacy. A wise decision will generally pass muster with both supporters and critics. Wise decisions stand the tests of time and scrutiny.

All marketers think they make intelligent decisions. The best, however, make wise decisions.

Next time you have to make a key decision, ask yourself this question "Is this wise?"

Wise up!

"Retail Is Detail" - A Lesson From Mickey

J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler Shows How Its Done

By David Miranda

In a recent New York Times story by Joe Nocera, "A CEO Sells The Store", J Crew CEO Mickey Drexler was reported doing what he has always done and continues to do - going to his stores, fussing over the merchandise, speaking with managers and, yes, grilling customers on what they like, don't like, where else they shop, etc.

Oh yeah, the article highlights the results on Mr. Drexler's hands-on approach.......

"At a time when most retailers are struggling — with credit tight, and consumers increasingly unwilling to spend — J. Crew stands out. It is growing at a steady, healthy clip; Mr. Jaffe estimates that when it reports its 2007 results in a few weeks, the company will report revenue of $1.3 billion, a 14 percent increase. It is nicely profitable."

One should note that this kind of CEO is a rare bird. Most, as we know, do their "CEO-ing" (or "CMO-ing", "COO-ing", "CFO-ing") in the ivory tower many times removed from the person who makes their large compensation packages possible. No, not the corporate board - the customer.

In another example of the front line CEO, last week, Starbuck's new CEO (former CEO) Howard Shultz took the dramatic step in closing all Starbucks stores for three hours to - get this - re-train and re-energize and remind its thousands of front line "barristas" why they had been so successful in the first place - putting the customer first.

Could Mssrs. Drexler and Shultz be onto something?

Could it be that the front line impacts the top line that, in turn, impacts the bottom line?

By jove, I think they've got it!

If you are a corporate executive, ask yourself these questions:

1. When was the last time you were at the front lines of your business speaking with front line personnel, managers, customers? (By the way, "royal tours" with a huge entourage do not count.)


2. Do you solely rely on second or third hand facts and figure to make decisions?


3. Have you ever been a secret shopper of your own products and services?

In an economic downturn, consumers will gravitate to those brands that get the key basic right - customer recognition.

You can't do that in the ivory tower. Go Mickey! Go Howard!