Element Three

At our Indianapolis marketing agency, Element Three, if you had a meeting with us, you would hear us talk a lot about the concept of Business First. It's our brand positioning statement and what drives our organization. So what does it mean, Business First?

With any integrated strategic marketing effort you undertake, there is a business objective you intend to impact. You are expecting a return on marketing investment for the dollars you spend.

It is never about the business logo creation, brand positioning strategy or marketing integration- these are tools we use to drive business results.

Before we begin any project, whether it be to write a successful marketing plan, a brand communication plan, a brand development project or leveraging our creative services - at Element Three we begin by first identifying the business opportunity.

So tell us, does your Indianapolis marketing agency start with Business First?

I am a Millennial. Kind of. Being born in 1982, I'm somewhat undefined. Too young for Gen X and too old for Gen Y by some definitions. But for the sake of this conversation, I'll lump myself with the Gen Y/ Millennial crowd.

Two articles caught my eye this morning in Ad Age - "Bad News Could Be the Best Thing for Millennials" by Jonathan Lewis and "Millennials Are Evolving; Are You Keeping Up?" by Megan Meagher. These caught my eye, because I've been changing as a person and a consumer over the past several months. And I have to say, the changes I see in myself are for the better. I've realized that I'm not invincible and neither is this country. I've learned not to take a good job for granted. I realized that my mom wasn't so crazy for cutting out coupons, washing ziploc bags, and buying generic. I've learned to save, to eat at home and comparison shop. These are all valuable skills that I hope I won't soon forget! 

My relationship with marketers has changed. I was a snob before. I didn't want to see your ads on my favorite shows and I was annoyed that your coupons filled up my inbox. Now I'm hungry for it. I google search for coupons before going out to eat or making a large purchase. I choose restaurants and brands based on the availability of coupons or bargains I've heard about. There are a few products and brands that I am already fiercely loyal to and for these, I am not so price sensitive. But, I'm a young consumer with open mind for most products.

Ms. Meagher's point in her article was that brand loyalty is developed most strongly during your 20's. Newsflash to marketers - I'm eagerly awaiting your message like I never was before. I'm ready to be wooed and won over. So, start talking to me!

How are your customers changing their behaviors in this economic climate? And how are you changing your marketing strategies to reach them?

What the world does this mean; "Are you a fat trainer?"

It means, are you doing for yourself what you tell your clients to do. If you sell windows, do you have great windows in your home and office building? If you service air-conditioners for a living, do you change your filter once a month?

Ad agencies and marketing firms in Indianapolis and beyond are notoriously horrible at this. They take the time to write successful marketing plans, create marketing communications tools, develop brand strategy and scorecards to measure return on marketing investment for clients... but not for themselves.

If you don't practice what you preach - can you really be taken seriously? As brand marketing consultants and an Indianapolis marketing agency, we have started being really hard on ourselves about this.

If we don't make the time to blog, how can we ask our clients to do it? If we don't have a strong online brand strategy and sharp looking materials - isn't it hypocritical to tell clients they need to?

We're not perfect, but we're making good progress. If you see us, an Indianapolis marketing agency, practicing what we preach - let us know!

We were talking today at our Indianapolis marketing firm about what types of people it takes to make marketing successful. I believe there are two types of people that have to be present to ensure a successful marketing effort. This hold true whether you're working with an Indianapolis ad agency like Element Three or doing it in house.

Type #1: The Dreaming Visionary. When it comes to creating an organization's brand positioning strategy and their corporate brand strategy; these are the guys you want in the room. When presented with a business logo creation, they can see the possibilities past the picture they're presented with.

Type #2: The Realistic Executor. These folks are vital to ensuring a successful marketing plan is properly executed and ensuring the brand communication strategy is on point each and every time. These are the folks that should be the primary point of contact for the a marketing firm.

Do you have both present on your company's marketing initiative?

I had a great meeting with a great client today. They are smart and they know their business and industry inside and out. And they trust us as their strategic marketing partner. Whenever I meet with them, they ask me many questions about how this particular marketing tool will help them acheive their marketing goals and they don't accept work that is not strategic and well thought out. However, at the end of the day, they trust our expertise.

Today we presented several creative website concepts. I sometimes get nervous showing creative concepts to clients because if they don't like a color we used or an image, they can't get past it and see the bigger picture. They throw the baby out with the bathwater, you might say. We can change a color, but does the structure of the site work? Does the reader's eye go where you want it to go? Don't get rid of a good idea just because you personally hate the color blue.

If you are working with a marketing firm or ad agency, do you trust them as your marketing partner? You are paying for their expertise, so rely on it! Remember the reason you chose them? Most likely they showed you other successful work they had done in the past and impressed you as people who understood what you needed. However, if you just can't trust them, perhaps it's time to look for a new partner. You're probably doing both parties a favor.

I love this definition of marketing by John Coe, "the job of marketing is to develop a lead generation system that matches the readiness of the buyer with the expectations of the sales person."

At our Indianapolis ad agency, Element Three, you will hear us talk a lot about the importance of sales and marketing integration. I think the definition above speaks clearly to the value of that integration.

As we create successful marketing plans for clients, we have to have an astute understanding of how the customer moves through the buying process. The prospect must feel as if there is a match pace with the sales person they are working with. They cannot feel pulled through the sales funnel.

Additionally, when looking at marketing integration with the sales cycle, we must have a sense for how many leads the sales group can realistically handle. We don't want leads having a poor brand experience because we didn't meet the expectations of the sales person.

How is your organization doing? Are the disciplines of sales and marketing clear about how they should be linked and integrated?

Ad Age published an article this week called "How to Make Your Employees the Voice of Your Brand Online". The article outlines how the barbeque restaurant, Smokey Bones, turned their employees into a 'fantastic army' online. 

The article states: "For each location, the chain selected someone who worked there to be a "web host." Each restaurant-employee-cum-spokesperson runs a web page for his or her particular location and communicates with that location's "Smokey Bones family" members (what one might call fans or friends on a social-media site). Each web host or hostess has a mirror site on Facebook and MySpace. Some restaurants have between 5,000 and 10,000 followers."

Web surfers simply key in their zip code to find the relevant local site for their area that includes upcoming events, specials and location-specific comments.

As a blogger for Element Three, I can relate. And I think the success of the Smokey Bones employee-driven sites shows how important one-on-one, site-specific content can be in positioning brands strategically for success. How might you turn your employees into a fantastic army? Are they armed with your brand strategy and messages? Are they empowered to communicate about your brand in their own way? Do they have the tools to reach your audience and the ability to access relevant creative content easily?

If you'd like to learn more about how to arm your own fantastic army, contact us at Element Three. We'll help you with the right marketing strategies, brand  and creative tools for your market and your team.

To read the Ad Age article, go to http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=137595

Today my  husband and I walked to a cafe near our home for lunch. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. We both ordered salads and ice water, thinking these would be healthy – and fast. It took nearly 50 minutes to get our salads. We were just about to get up to say something about the slow service when our waitress arrived with our food. Before we could say a word, she said, "The chef wants to offer you two pieces of chocolate cake because your salads were so slow." We said "Thanks", and when the waitress walked away, we were both impressed.

We will go back, even though the service was slow. Because the restaurant proactively let us know they had made a mistake and took steps to make up for it. That went a long way toward a goodwill offering. Does your brand note its mistakes and proactively find ways to make them right? Amazingly, you can keep word of mouth about your brand positive with just a sliver of chocolate cake!

You have probably heard of the death of legendary pitchman - Billy Mays. Full article here.

Mr. Mays was able to turn a cleaning product, Oxiclean, into a $200 million product, as recently as April had begun starring in his own reality TV show on the Discovery channel and had a production company, Four Blind Mice.

Isn't the rise to iconic status and his ability to bring products from anonymity to mainstream a testament that television is here to stay?

I'm a DVR subscriber, but I believe television will be part of successful marketing plans for a long time. Billy Mays proved how television could become an intricate part of a product's brand positioning strategy.

What's your take - is TV here to stay, or on its way out?

Frequently I am asked, "what are the three elements of your Indianapolis marketing firm" or "why did you choose Element Three?"

Here's the answer. The three elements are Brand Development, Marketing Strategy and Creative Execution. Why those three?

Brand Development utilizes our proprietary Brand Chemistry process to find an organization's brand positioning strategy. Our Certified Brand Strategist will help you discover what is uniquely true about your organization; your Claim of Distinction.

Marketing Strategy is about writing successful marketing plans to connect your Claim of Distinction with the right customer base, taking into account the economic and industry factors at play. Strong marketing plans ensure a strong return on marketing investment.

Creative Execution contains the messages and pictures that must emotionally resonate with your targeted customer base. It is the creative that begins to bring the brand and marketing strategy to life.

As you can see, the three elements are very tightly linked. At our Indianapolis marketing firm we believe that all three elements must be present for any marketing initiative to be successful.

So, how are you doing? Are all three elements being considered by your marketing partner?

Yesterday the New York Times reported that newly released White House tapes captured then president Richard Nixon saying, in effect, that he could understand the use of abortion in the case of rape or in the case of a mixed race pregnancy.

And only 30 years later, we have a mixed race president!

It's good to be an American.

I'd like to put a deeply held belief to rest, once and for all. In the world of business to business marketing, decisions are made rationally AND emotionally. Just as in business to consumer marketing.

I know, I know. It seems like the discussion is all rational at the conference room table or in the sales meeting. But how do you make a decision about a potential strategic business partner or professional services firm? Aren't their work samples and capabilities lists really the cost of entry? Aren't you checking out the people at the table just as much as you are their proof points? Don't you know within the first 10 minutes whether or not it's a fit?

Here's a secret that your brand communications or marketing firm may not have told you: our emotional brain centers make decisions 170,000 times faster than our rational brain centers.

Brain scans have shown that we have instant 'gut' reactions to brand stimulus and choices, whether in the cereal aisle or the board room. This happens so fast that we often don't even realize it. We 'feel good' about working with one person and 'something doesn't feel right' about working with another. Yet in business, it's unacceptable to use those things as the sole reason for choosing one company over another. So we rationalize our decisions with, well, rational reasons. "They've got experience in the field", or " They have 10 offices nationwide". Sure, these things may be important, most business to business buying choices are made with the emotional brain, backed up the rational brain.

At Element Three, we call the basis of this process of selection Brand Chemistry. As a brand consulting group, we study its ramifications both 'outside in' (how your customers feel and think about your brand) and 'inside out' (how you feel and think about your brand) to truly understand the deep linkages between a brand and its customers.

How can you create good Brand Chemistry?

• Be clear internally about your brand, it's meanings and unique point of difference.
• Create an engaging experience of your brand by being true to your own essence and by being yourself. Most clients will respond positively because they sense your honesty.
• Live your brand at every customer touch point. Don't say your brand is customer centric and then understaff your service lines, for instance.
• Customers like to feel that you are interested in them as human beings, not just as prospects. Give them all the rational reasons to buy. But first, they have to like you and feel good about you so give them reasons to want to spend time with you, too.
• Watch for positive cues like eye contact, smiling, nodding, engaging conversation; also watch for negative cues like crossed arms, a lack of engagement in the conversation or a meeting cut short. Repurchase or re-engagement are excellent signs that you have created strong Brand Chemistry.
• If you sense that there may be a negative gut reaction, ask about it respectfully. It's better to clear the air or at least name the elephant in the room than to not ever address it and have the relationship whither or never even start up.
• Ask for feedback that goes beyond the rational so that you can learn if your Brand Chemistry is strong or weak. An example would be, "Does our team seem like a comfortable fit with yours?" or "Tell us how you feel about working with us." Then be open to hearing whatever comes and consider it as you move forward.

Never forget: the same people who shop for peanut butter (and like Skippy rather than Jif because they remember their grandma making them gooey sandwiches with it, not because it has 12% more peanuts) are choosing your brand – or not choosing it. What's the point of all of this? People don't instantly change between home and the office. Their bodies are still wired the same way: they make split second decisions in B to B decisions whether they realize it or not. (If you want to know more about this, read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell).

It is important to put together an overarching marketing strategy to ensure the tactics you are executing go back to support the business. One of the questions I am frequently asked is "how much money from my marketing budget should I allocate to the strategic marketing planning process?"

I recommend 15% - 20%, as a rule. If your marketing budget is 100,000, you should spend $15,000 - $20,000 on a strategic marketing plan. Remember, the best marketing plans are executed!

Historically, how much have you put towards planning to ensure you're getting the best return on marketing investment from your dollars?

I know this is a departure from our usual fare on this blog, but good food is always near and dear to my heart and I had an interesting experience today.

A few months ago, one of our clients told me about a place called Roscoe's in LA that served chicken and waffles - together. Gross, right? Apparently, it's great and it's a destination kind of restaurant. I was not convinced of its merits, but the conversation was memorable. A few weeks later, some local DJ's were discussing Roscoe's with a comedian from LA on the radio. They mentioned there was a new place in Indianapolis that served chicken and waffles attached to a gas station downtown. Again, gross, right? However, since that time, Maxine's Chicken and Waffles in downtown Indianapolis has received some very positive press in Indianapolis Monthly and the Indianapolis Business Journal. So, today (after a lot of convincing) Steve Nealy and I visited Maxine's with our clients. I chronicled the journey in photos:

Our first glimpse of Maxine's. Notice the small yellow sign below the Citgo sign...



Looking forward to the promised love!



After a yummy appetizer of fried cornbread and peach butter, we received the main course - chicken and waffles! (For the faint of heart - their menu does include many other options.)



I have to say, it was really good! The waffle was great and the chicken was decent. I must admit I'm not a huge fan of fried chicken, so I'm probably not a great judge. And there was a minor "hair on the chicken" incident (do chickens have hair?!) that would keep me from giving it a hearty 5 star vote. I'll spare you the photo of the "hairy" part of the journey. All in all, it was a fun culinary adventure and I would recommend Maxine's to friends. As Steve said, "I can confidently say that this is 10 times better than my last Citgo dining experience." So, if you are local to Indianapolis, give it a try!

Here's our satisfied group after our meal:

In my opinion, we do not spend enough time on sales and marketing integration. Leaders of organizations believe they have to pick one. Either marketing or sales. It's a lot of pressure for just one of the disciplines to 1) generate the lead 2) educate the prospect about the product or service 3) minimize the risk of the purchase 4) close the deal and 5) send timely, relevant information to prospects not yet ready to purchase.

What if we look at marketing integration with the sales process? Wouldn't we get a stronger return on marketing investment if we were able to integrate sales and marketing?

I read a statistic that said sales people spend 40% of their time putting together marketing materials for presentations and sales meetings. Think about the cost of that time, and more importantly, the opportunity cost of not working on new business deals!

Here's a tip - integrate your marketing tools and strategies with your sales process. You'll be glad you did.

What are the benefits to a strong brand message in the midst of a recession? At our Indianapolis marketing firm, Element Three, we use our Brand Chemistry process to help clients develop a brand development strategy. Strong brands create highly loyal customers.

Highly loyal customers refuse substitutes, pay a premium price and request you by name.
It is important to have a strong online and offline brand strategy. Remember, potential customers go to many different locations to get a pulse on your brand message.

Having a strong brand development strategy in place can secure a strong return on marketing investment in your other marketing communciations touchpoints. When the message is clear, marketing tools are much more effective.

I was reading an old BtoB magazine in our cafe over lunch the other day and looking at their "rules" for working with interactive agencies. The first was "Define the business objective upfront, even when using new media such as social networks and viral video." AMEN, B2B!

I've been working with many of our clients on their websites over the last several months. Nearly all of them are working on a new site or adding some new functionality to their existing site. My goal is to understand their business goals for the site up front. We can make lots of pretty pictures and make them move and have videos and link to your Twitter account and Facebook. But, at the end of the day, are those things going to help you acheive your business goals? If your new site needs to generate more sales leads than your current site, will having a facebook account help that goal? Maybe. But, sometimes we get so caught up in all the "stuff", and we need to have a place to come back to and say, "How does this help us acheive our business objectives?" 

Here at our Indianapolis Marketing firm, we preach "Business First" in all we do. Whether you need an integrated marketing plan, brand development, a new brochure or a website, we want to understand your business goals and needs first so we can create something that will help you acheive those goals. So, next time you are in need of some creative services, think about your business goals for that piece. And, if your agency doesn't ask about them or want to know, you may want to reconsider your choice of a partner!

Yesterday, Ed McMahon died. And I am of an age to remember his 30 years sitting next to Johnny Carson. He served as a steady sidekick to Johnny through tumultuous decades in American culture...laughing at Johnny's jokes and making him seem funnier than he was (though I would have laughed at Carson's jokes anyway).

McMahon's passing made me realize how often the number two person is the one who makes an organization, system or even a family work. I believe the same is true of business communications and strategic leadership. When working with a large university a few years back, I was struck how, in large working meetings that included chancellors, vice chancellors and other campus staff, the number two person was the one who seemed to know what was really going on on campus. The number two and three people were the one with the ideas, the plans and the ability to execute them. In our world, that translates to having the tools to functionally develop marketing strategy and brand communication.

I'm not saying that the top leader is unimportant. Not at all. It's important to have a torch bearer for the organization's vision and larger strategy. But at this moment, I applaud number twos everywhere. You make things go. And right now, we really need that.

A few years ago, some friends of mine adopted a 5-year-old from Korea. When she arrived, their entire family welcomed her with open arms, showing her the many ways of the American culture...and of their family. There was one small glitch, though. When she arrived from Korea, she didn't know a word of English. So what happened was that the girl would speak in Korean to her new family. And when they didn't seem to react or answer her request, she would repeat her Korean utterance – only louder. When, as was inevitably the case, she still didn't get a response, she screamed the same thing, again in Korean. Out of frustration, she often stormed off, disgusted that the family must be either slow or unfriendly. Eventually, of course, she learned English and only used her Korean in Korean cultural get-togethers.

As I watch marketers create brand communications, I often notice them speaking Korean. They use 'inside' language: the language of a manufacturer or service provider. Trade jargon abounds. Complex phrases that a marketer may think makes them sound smart populate Web sites and brochures alike. And most commonly, the outlook is "We have"....all these wonderul widgets or services.

In many ways, this kind of marketing strategy is very much like shouting in Korean, louder and louder. It's unlikely to be the same language that customers speak. Worse yet, customers are  not going to spend time out of their busy days wading through indecipherable technical language. Marketers, frustrated with the lack of response to their best marketing plans and messages, may walk away in frustration, shaking their heads and wondering why their audience isn't responding.

Here's the problem: you are speaking in Korean. Your customer's language is much more conversational, most likely shorter and to the point. (use bullet points and short paragraphs, not endless amounts of body copy). Most likely your customer uses easily understandable words and is in a hurry to get to the meat of the message (translation: very busy). And the one thing they want to know is WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME? So instead of talking 'we have', speak the language of 'you get' (in the words of my friend, Bruce Hetrick).

Together, let's stop the madness. Because repeating the same marketing strategies again and again, only louder, will, unfortunately, get the same old results.