Build the ‘Time Lag Effect’ Into Your Plan

Build the ‘Time Lag Effect’ Into Your Plan

Here’s the problem with trying to measure the impact of your marketing programs on Brand Image: It takes too long.

The impact only becomes evident after the fact.  It’s like looking in a rear-view mirror to judge where you’re going.

This isn’t unique to the goal of building Brand Image, as illustrated by this conceptual chart regarding lead capture as a sub-goal:

 

Perhaps because of my West Point background, I like to use a Pentagon missile analogy here.  The above example is the equivalent of firing a multi-million dollar missile at a target and missing it to the left.  The correction is made and a second missile is fired.  It misses to the right so another correction is made, etc. 

Meanwhile, millions of dollars are being spent firing missiles and making corrections based upon where they land!  I think most would agree this is a highly wasteful approach.

(For the record, the Pentagon doesn’t test missiles this way – it’s just an irresistible analogy.)

So what can you do as a results-driven marketer?

Instead of firing the missile and seeing where it lands, we need a built-in guidance control module.  That is EXACTLY what Six Sigma brings to the process, as depicted in the chart below:

 

Building the process to be measured “en route” assures that adjustments are made during the flight of the missile, making the “hit” a certainty. 

In the worst case scenario, if the missile is flying wildly off target, the “destruct” button can be used to terminate the flight without causing further damage (continually spending money on a loser).

The heart of Six Sigma is the measurement in-process function.

Make Sure You Focus on the Right Objectives

Make Sure You Focus on the Right Objectives

Everyone likes a home run. When we get rave reviews for a really creative idea, something indeed groundbreaking, we naturally feel immense satisfaction.

So … did it help the business?

Not to pour cold water on those warm feelings, but if you’ve been following our previous blog topics, you know that the answer depends on how well the campaign’s goals were defined against relevant corporate goals prior to launch, and how well it delivered against key metrics.

With that level of accountability established up front, you won’t need to wait for the applause to know whether you’ve scored.

You’ll be tracking at least some of the metrics in real-time, and have a very accurate sense of where the final tally will land.

Very, very importantly, you will be able to communicate the precise degree of success to senior management, even as you’re clearing shelf space for your new awards.

By all means continue to hold those high-energy brainstorming sessions. Encourage out-of-the-box thinking. Push the team to break new creative ground.

But when you sit back and start to evaluate the ideas, they must be viewed through the lens of business goals and objectives.

If we are going to generate massive social media response, is it the right audience? Exactly how do we want to influence them? How does traffic relate to revenue?

If we want to generate coverage in the mass media or the trade media, who are we trying to reach as the end consumer of that news? What action do we want them to take as a result?

Feel good about both the quality of your work – and the impact.

Endorsements Can Burnish the Brand Halo

Endorsements Can Burnish the Brand Halo

One tactic to enhance the brand is to “borrow” from a brand with higher perceived value through association.

The highest form of association is endorsement, which can be:

• -       Inferred
• -       Implied
• -       Expressed

In “inferred endorsement,” the consumer is left to make the brand association through mere proximity – in other words, your brand is seen in association with an activity or topic about which the consumer is passionate, therefore the consumer should be passionate about your brand as well.

“Implied endorsement” takes this a step further through an official association with the consumer’s passion point – perhaps as an “official sponsor.” In this case, the consumer message is that your brand is special enough to have been “chosen” for this important role.

The most direct pathway is “expressed endorsement,” in which the subject of the consumer’s passion directly endorses your brand. This may be as straightforward as having a leading golfer express love for your brand of golf equipment.

The more direct the pathway, and the less work you make the consumer do in order to transfer their loyalty, the more effective endorsement is.

This migration of brand values can create, reinforce or change brand perceptions.  It also can increase brand relevance.

It may even be worth creating an event so that you can show this endorsement in its best, most authentic light.

Also note that brand clutter isn’t always a bad thing. Depending on your brand’s relative value, its proximity to other leading brands can lend credibility.

Fully integrated into other channels, such programs can be successful at building awareness outside of traditional channels.

Dos Equis and the Olympics (no, they're not an official sponsor!)

Great example of how your sponsorship can be Guerilla-marketed away.

Dos Equis
Though not an official Olympic sponsor, Dos Equis and its “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign has “crashed the Olympics” (in the words of AdAge) with a new commercial featuring winter sport athletes talking about just how amazing—and interesting!—the character created to promote the Heineken-owned beer brand truly is. No actual Olympics athletes are in the ad, and the word “Olympics” is never spoken—that would be against the rules for brands that aren’t official sponsors of the games—but viewers get the idea.

The “Most Interesting Man” campaign has gotten additional attention at the Sochi games thanks to the presence of a competitor who many are calling the real-life most interesting man in the world: Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe. A descendant of German royalty, he is a pop star with best-selling albums in Europe, an award-winning photographer who used to pal around with Andy Warhol, and the heir to a fortune in the automotive industry. He’s also fluent in five languages, and is skiing for Mexico in the 2014 Olympics at the age of 55 as the second-oldest Winter Olympian ever. It’s unclear, however, what kind brand of beer he prefers.

Read more: 5 Brands That Are Winning the Olympics | TIME.com http://business.time.com/2014/02/15/5-brands-that-are-winning-the-olympics/#ixzz2tgoo71KM

Intangible Values Must Be Measured, Too

Intangible Values Must Be Measured, Too

Marketing programs typically include multiple elements – some with obvious values but others rely heavy on what we call “intangible value.”

For example, the program may include mass media advertising, direct mail, premium incentives, rebates and more. From a cost-based perspective, these elements are worth what you paid for them – essentially their market value.

But consider something like playoff tickets to a New York Yankees game. This will typically sell for more than the retail or “face value” of the ticket. Why? Because they are highly desirable, hard to get, and carry the “intangible value” of attending a Yankees playoff game.

Using a cost basis, you could simply assign the market value – what you paid for the tickets.

But this approach may be unsatisfactory on several fronts. First, you may be in a unique position to purchase the tickets, whereas someone on the “open market” may be shut out entirely. In this case, the purchase price doesn’t reflect the full value.

Secondly, the true intangible value will be much higher if the actual user of your ticket – perhaps a valued client – is an enthusiastic Yankees fan.

And finally, it is useful to be able to understand the comparative value of several options before you make the purchase.

Therefore, Hyperion Marketing Returns uses an algorithm that takes into account the ten most common intangible qualities that add value to a marketing opportunity.

By critically grading the opportunity on its ability to deliver against each of these qualities, we generate a predictive value that enables more sophisticated decision-making.

Break your decisions down using this type of critical thinking, and you’ll become a more sophisticated marketer.

Define Marketing Objectives To Set Your Course

Define Marketing Objectives To Set Your Course

In order to achieve your company’s Marketing objectives, it’s obviously necessary to first clearly define what is important and what is not important. Only then can you work to achieve those goals in a cost-effective manner.

Six Sigma has provided us with a useful map to guide this journey. We need only adapt it to a 

Marketing perspective.

In this case, our primary corporate Marketing objectives will be called the “Big Ys.” This relates to a simple algebraic equation, Y = f(X). Put more simply, what you get (Y) is a function (f) of what you do (X).

We call them “Big” because you need to focus on the few that are both vitally important to the company, and at least appear to be able to be impacted by Marketing. Then, again following Six Sigma precepts, we look at the components that affect each Y, which we term the “Critical Xs,” and ask how Marketing can improve performance on each of these.

For example, if a product sale is a Big Y, then the Critical Xs might include making consumers aware of the product, educating consumers on the value proposition, and exposing consumers to the actual product in positive context.

Marketing programs can certainly impact awareness and knowledge of the product features, and Marketing also can place products in an advantageous context, whether through ad themes, product placement in entertainment, sponsorship, celebrity endorsement or other tactics.

There are likely to be Critical Xs that are not conducive to Marketing efforts, or perhaps would take an inordinate amount of resources for very little impact. Those should be set aside in favor of the Critical Xs that show the most promise, for the most efficient use of resources.

Incremental improvement in each of these Critical Xs typically leads to massive impact on the Big Y.