Marketing

5 Things Your Dog Can Teach You About Marketing

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I have a dog. His name is Dubya. He’s My bestfriend.  (I’d like to avoid any political flaming for having a dog named Dubya, so let’s all pretend I gave him that name because he’s a Welsh terrier.)

My weekends are often spent on my back patio having a cerveza and working on my projects while watching Dub get into trouble in the backyard.  These characteristics he’s developed over the last year and a half can help put some perspective into how you can successfully (or very unsuccessfully) market to your customers or consumers.

1. Dubya is easily distracted –  His favorite toy / best friend in the world is his hippo.  The first thing he does when we get home is say hello, and then go into his home and get his hippo out to take wherever we’re going to be spending the evening.  The funny thing is that he loves his hippo until you distract him with his monkey.. then the hippo no longer exists… until he is re-distracted by the hippo again.

Consumers are Easily distracted and distractable.

Marketing works the exact same way. In a nutshell, I am marketing which toy I want Dub to play with (albeit without any personal gain.) Consumers are easily distracted.  In this era of sensational products changing exponentially quicker than Moore’s law should be accounting for, Marketing is playing a larger role than ever before.  How does apple get users to spend 100’s or even 1000’s of dollars on a product knowing that a “refresh” may launch within the next 10-12 months.  Marketing and Distraction.  It works… and i want the iPhone 5…

2.  Neglect is a BAD Thing –  Dubya doesn’t respond well to neglect. (and I promise we don’t actually neglect him)  Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you have to work late, or get stuck in traffic and you arrive home a little later than anticipated.  Dubya is on a strict schedule, with his diet and bathroom breaks.  Any deviation from that schedule and he will knowingly punish us for making him adjust his needs.  There have been multiple occasions when we’ve been left liquid and solid presents for our less than stellar accountability.

Do Not Neglect your Customers, you will regret it

Marketing requires a schedule and a plan.  You have to be prepared to touch and nurture your clients and customers.  you can’t write a blog post once every three months (which we’ve all been guilty of at some point) and expect your readership or business to grow.  Obviously unexpected life events affect our jobs, but having a schedule and proceeding with as little deviation as possible is necessary for any marketing campaign to succeed. All industries have different levels of acceptable touch. It takes research to know how often you can ping your prospects, but once you’ve figured out those ideal numbers, deviation will result in lost opportunities.

3.  Having a dog is Fun! – It is important to have fun.  I’d be stretching this post way to thin if I correlated marketing in companionship, so I won’t, but having a dog is fun.  Dubya provides entertainment, exercise, and many other endearing traits that increase my quality of life substantially.

Marketing Should Be FUN!

Marketing should be just as fun.  If you aren’t having fun in your marketing job (or any job for that matter) you should consider looking for alternate opportunities.  Marketing departments are the fun departments.  You frequently get to think outside the box and tackle problems in unorthodox and creative ways.  Whatever you’re doing, have fun.

“There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”
― Henry Ford

4.  Dubya is Unpredictable – That dog has a mind of his own and he always finds a way to surprise me.  From eating his own poop and watching tv, to jumping into the pool to save my wife when he thinks she’s “drowning,” dubya teaches me something new (good and bad) every single day.

The Market is Unpredictable, so the future of marketing is Unpredictable.

Marketing is completely unpredictable.  A year ago nobody could have predicted that pinterest would become a large player for social media marketing.  People were still discussing how QR codes were going to be the next big thing (fail).  With that, we have  no idea where marketing is going in the next year or two.  Newspapers and commercials are fading out, but what does the future hold.  How will we market to consumers that have been raised with complete access to facebook and how will we market to an entire generation of retiring baby boomers.  It’s all in flux and the only constant is change.

5.  Dubya is 100% Loyal – I don’t think anyone can truly understand the feeling unless they have a dog as well.  Not only is he my best friend, but he’s also 100% loyal.  He “protects” the house and my wife at night, he senses trials and tribulations and offers empathy and affection through thick and thin.  This isn’t automatic.  It’s grown, through nurturing, patience, practice, and time.

Treating your customers right will create Brand Loyalty

This one is a little tricky because brand loyalty can be lost by any department in a business.  If a product is substandard loyalty can be driven away.  If Customer Services is improperly trained or under developed, customers will abandon ship.  If marketing creates a substandard message or over promises on product expectations, then loyalty can be lost.  They say it takes a village to raise a child.  If that is the case, it takes an entire organization to launch and maintain successful products.  Work closely with your coherts and drive for success.  If you have a dog, give him a hug for me.

Rebranding – is it worth it?

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rebranding any aspect of your company can be a tedious painful task.  Before undertaking the project of a rebrand, make sure the exercise is worth the investment – short term and long term.

There are many reasons a company would start to consider a rebranding initiative including but not limited to –

  • The product or company name could be weak within the vertical
  • The scope of the company product offering may have changed
  • The target customer base may have shifted
  • Merger & Acquisition activity could change business practices
  • Copyright, Regulatory, or Legal issues
Some of these reasons are vital and necessary for rebranding activity to take place, but before pursuing the large project make sure the end result will be a stronger unified product, brand, message, etc.
Often times, the idea of rebranding a product or project can sound exciting, but excitement is not always a license to change aspects of the business that can affect all aspects of the business.
Almost all rebrands will have an influence on:
  • Legal
  • Accounting
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Customer Service
  • Product / Engineering
  • Management
Rebranding typically is through a customer facing approach.  i.e. Customers will likely respond more favorably to our product or business if we have something new and fresh.  Remember that for the customer to see the rebranded copy all of the above organizations will need to have some input, as they will have to inevitably make changes within their ogranizations because of the activities.
  • Why are we rebranding the product or company?
  • How long do we expect the project to take?
  • What aspects of collateral, website, contract, advertising need to be updated during this process?
  • Is the investment it worth it?

At the end of the day the process of rebranding may or may not be right for your company at a given time.  The man hours, capital, and other investment to create a new brand, along with the investment lost on previous branding must be taken into account BEFORE your team starts spending time on the project.  Make sure you do thorough investigation on why you are rebranding and what the outcome can be.  If the culmination of your branding efforts result in a substandard new brand then the switch may be in vain.  and remember… The most important aspect of rebranding is insuring everyone in the organization is onboard.

Search Engine Optimization Consulting – Dallas, TX

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Consulting for search engine optimization (SEO) can be a daunting task.  In order to be a good consultant in any industry, you must first properly set expectations.  It is going to be a much healthier relationship with potential and recurring clients if your goals are outlined and well described from the outlet.

About 8 months ago I left SEO consulting behind here in Dallas.  I Decided to focus my efforts full time working for a telco at the INFOMART.  I have to say that this has been a very pleasurable experience and I hope to continue my relationship with this company for a long time to come.  By taking a risk and leaving my consulting role, I have learned many new skills outside of Search Engine Marketing and Optimization and have a much wider marketing skillset that has expanded in to print and media buys.  I love the challenge of learning something new, but my number one joy is still seeing the pages I create or help optimize showing up on the first page of a google SERP.

Remember when choosing the right SEO for your website or company to work with someone  you trust and can relate to.  Avoid blackhat shops or anyone who makes guarantees or sets unrealistic timetables.  SEO and SEM are quantitative processes that don’t change over night.  Patience with SEO and all business is a virtue.

I am also working on a couple new and exciting projects that I hope to discuss more in the future on this blog.  I want to see if some new techniques in SEO are favorable to the Google Instant search while still implementing long-tail.