The Economy is in the Gutter! Now What???

by Joshua Crumbaugh on August 2nd, 2008

Buy a car and get FREE Gas for a year! Buy a house and get Free Gas for a year! The list of gimmicks people are using to drive business goes on and on. Free Vacations, (which by the way every marketer should check out vestedtravels.com – tell them Joshua Crumbaugh sent you) Vegas Casino Cards, Gas Rebate Cards, Dinners and much more; you hear marketers offering incentives to get you to come to their business and spend money. These are great ways to drive business, but should you implement new strategy when the economy is suffering? I feel strongly against using these tactics now if you haven’t used them in the past and the numbers at the various companies I work with reflect this. During these times I forget about “out of the box” thinking and stick to the basics. It’s great to try new things, offer incentives and experiment with your marketing budget to see what tool will be most effective, but when you’re either struggling to keep traffic up or to keep sales up it’s not the time to be trying new things.

So… What do I do then???

I start by sticking to what I know works, focusing on my image and utilizing marketing venues that are already at my finger tips. Do you have a marketing blurb in all company emails that go out? Hotmail actually coined the term viral marketing by doing just that. Are you pushing your sales staff and providing them resources to enlarge each transaction. Clients don’t get offended when you ask them if they would also like “x” service/product. Have you tried running a regional ad in a national publication such as “Time Magazine” and then framing it and putting it all over your office (As seen in Time Magazine.) Clients flock to companies they trust when their pocket books are hurting, build trust not gimmicks.

Action Steps:

List five things you are doing now to earn extra consumer confidence and credibility.

List five additional things you can and will do to earn extra consumer confidence and credibility.

Put into writing exactly why your offerings provide exceptional value.

If you aren’t already begin marketing to your past customers to gain repeat business. (Vtiger CRM is a great FREE open source CRM) In most cases getting this set up will only cost you time.

I realize we are marketers not sales men/women, but the best marketers understand sales so I am going to leave you with this:

Don’t sell me things – Sell me what things can do

1. Don’t sell me tires – sell me freedom from worry and low cost per mile.
   
2. Don’t sell me clothes – sell me neat appearance, style, attractiveness.
   
3. Don’t sell me candy – sell me happiness and the pleasure of taste.
   
4. Don’t sell me property – sell me a home that has comfort, cleanliness, contentment
   
5. Don’t me books – sell me pleasant hours and profits of knowledge.
   
6. Don’t sell me toys – sell me playthings to make children happy.
   
7. Don’t sell me tools – sell me the pleasure and profit of making fine things.
   
8. Don’t sell me refrigerators – sell me the health and better flavor of fresh-kept food.
   
9. Don’t sell me plows – sell me green fields of waving wheat.
   
10. Don’t sell me things – sell me ideas, ideas, feelings, self respect, home life, happiness.

Check back soon I will be writing two more posts about marketing in a troubled economy. Also, I want to hear your comments

A “thank you” card from the intersection of my dream internship and real life

by Jared on July 20th, 2008

If you ask me what it is that I have done with my new media experience while getting my MBA – I probably won’t have a single, decent answer. Oh, I have plenty of decent answers, mind you; I just haven’t found one that fits all occasions.

At first, I started off thinking new media wouldn’t be a good hook for the more traditional brand management MBA internships I was after. Then, I realized that new media MBA internships actually existed and tried to pivot my search in that direction and new media became my main selling point. Ultimately, I ended up wasting so much time figuring out how to market myself that April came around and I still didn’t have an internship locked down.

While most of my friends were signing great summertime commitments with companies like P&G and Deloitte, I was stuck trying to figure out if I could realistically pass off the title of “Barista” as graduate-level job experience. Then, it happened; my dream internship fell into my lap when I was least expecting it.

Granted, the experience did come with a few strings. Before I could take the internship, for instance, I would also have to spend a month coaching undergraduates in business strategy. What happened here was real life…apparently it happens, occasionally.

Flash forward to the last four weeks of summer: Most of my friends are either getting ready to complete their internships or have so, already. I, on the other hand, am only a quarter into my dream internship, trying to figure out how to cram 8 to 10 weeks of experience into just 4. Though I have to spend countless hours over the weekend working on presentations and creative briefs – literally turning out pages of the best marketing ideas I have ever had – it’s the reminder that this is real life that keeps me going.

In new media, when we step out of the digital-meta-wiki-blog-pod bubble, we’re sometimes surprised to find that the real world can, and will go on without us. The benefit I have found however is that my time in new media has made me more entrepreneurial and ready to face those glimmers of opportunity, no matter how strange or oddly they are presented to us.

For that, I am eternally grateful for my circle of new media friends and the people I have met along the way. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: new media, mba internships, surviving business school

How should KFC change its business model to attract 20-somethings?

by Jared on June 28th, 2008

(Some of the undergrads I coach, posing with the colonel at KFC’s museum)

One of the more interesting sides of my various MBA internships this summer is the chance to guide undergrads through several, strategic-level consulting initiatives. Of course, my favorites are the ones where we are able to find ways to get your input into their direction.

In fact, here’s your chance to weigh in on a project we’re working on for KFC: http://urlzen.com/6k

The team has structured a quick survey about Fast Food in general, and KFC in particular, that we would love to have your opinion included in. As with most the of the surveys I work with, I’ve encouraged them to get creative with the insights they want to gather. Help us get to a statistically significant sample size (for the purposes of this survey, they want 100 responses by Sunday morning).

Again, we need your input on a survey for Fast Food and KFC so take a moment to browse over to our survey page and let us know what you think!

Technorati Tags: Colnel Sanders, KFC, Owen Accelerator, Owen Graduate School of Management, Accelerator

20SMF Episode #72 - New 20SM Contributors and Lessons In Upward Management

by Jared on June 5th, 2008

Brief introduction of a brand new contributor to 20-Something Marketing. We also list out the top 3 lessons learned in upward management.

• Owen Accelerator (OwenBlogger’s Blog)
• The Marketing Diner
• Follow Me On Twitter!

Listen To Episode:

Download Episode:

Right Click Here & Save As To Download Full Episode

Subscribe Via iTunes| Subscribe Via Yahoo! | Send Us E-Mail

Technorati Tags: MBA, owen accelerator, upward management, Vanderbilt

It’s ALL About the Trophies!!!

by Joshua Crumbaugh on June 3rd, 2008

Marketing is just like playing baseball or football and trying to make it to the big leagues. You compete to be the best at your field position (SEO, Copywriting, Research, Guerilla, Viral, etc…) and each of us accumulates trophies along the way. The more you have the more recruiters and executives you have looking at you. Moreover, the less work you have to do to get those opportunities because in the field of marketing the big dogs want the best and only the best. I know this because I have been through the gauntlet trying to get an opportunity to play with the big dogs.
My first 5 major trophies meant nothing because I didn’t understand this concept. I didn’t take the time needed to market my accomplishments so people would know who I was and why they needed ME! We could sit here and analyze my past trophies and exactly what I missed, but I’d rather focus on my most recent trophy, and how learning to market it as well as myself, has opened countless doors. It all started in December of 2006 when I was offered a position as the Director of Marketing for Platinum Mortgage, Inc., a name that I’m sure if you have heard, was just recently. Platinum Mortgage, although certainly not a “nobody,” was only strong in Alabama. When I started we were one of the top FHA and Bond money lenders in our state. I then started marketing our new wholesale lending division and got in launched just in time to see our entire industry crumble around us, but as opposed to running scared like many in our industry, we pushed forward and launched very aggressive marketing campaigns dealing with the issues around us. To date we are one of the fastest growing lenders in the country with gains of over 400% in just a matter of months. This is my newest trophy, but if the only marketing I do is put it on my resume it won’t give me the results it could. This is huge; record gains during an industry implosion. So, how do I get the word out and start getting these jobs to come in the door. We’ll I’ve already done it and continue to even in this post. In fact, I’ve had more opportunities thrown in my lap over the past 3 months that I have in the last 2 years combined. I tell you all of this not to brag, but hopefully to save you some of the blood, sweat and tears. When we’re the antiques in our industry how many of us will be in the hall of fame? I certainly plan to be. So here are a few reminders when marketing your accomplishments as well as yourself.
Step one: Do you pass the Google Litmus test? Have you Googled yourself to see what potential employers/contractors/partners will see? Do you have a strong presence when they do Google you? We live in a world where you can custom tailor the message these people are seeing. Have you made search engines your trophy case? Do it you’ll be amazed by the results!
Step two: Have you made yourself an expert? How do we define an expert? We define someone based on the exposure they have and the context of that exposure. How do you become an expert? You become an expert by being an expert. Get on marketing forums and start answering questions. You may want to first make sure the site is regularly indexed. This is just one example; you could also start a blog, create an RSS feed as well as countless other techniques. The point is that you make yourself an expert in the industry. When you do the business and or job offers will start rolling in. Step three: Have you marketed your accomplishments as well as yourself? There are many other things you can do, but I recommend you start by asking yourself this question: “If I was hired to market a professional in their industry, where would I start?”

How Elvis Helped Me Get My Work-Life Balance Back

by Jared on May 3rd, 2008

At about 5:30 this morning, my Treo buzzed me awake with a message from my friend and future roommate. She had decided against taking our planed trip to the Kentucky Derby Infield with the rest of our business school friends and wanted to know if that would affect my plans?

Not being the biggest fan of mud-filled fields of loud, drunken horseracing fans myself; I was inclined to agree with her course of action. The problem was that after weeks of intense work culminating in exams, I was counting on this trip to get me out of Nashville for the day.

After a couple of text exchanges, we agreed that a road trip of some magnitude was in order. Our destination, we decided, was Memphis. Only about 200 miles away, we could hit up Graceland, the Mississippi River and some of the best barbeque in the south - all while fulfilling the need to get us the heck out of here.

I have to say the trip was incredible from a lot of different angles. For instance, you know how they say, “getting there is half the fun?” Well, in this case the fun was discovering strange quirks about my future roommate.These quirks would include her affinity for singing along to Taylor Swift and her eerie ability to detect Wal-Mart stores from just about any distance. Seriously, it was creepy.

At the end of the day though, I was kind of left feeling that the trip had lacked somehow? We had a blast, we talked, we dove into some great ribs on Beale Street and yet I am still not feeling that the trip did the trick. Somehow, I needed more.

Business school, it turns out, essentially takes a lot more than hard work. It takes an almost maniacal identification with your chosen course of study. Simply stated; I didn’t have any work to do so even the most awesome road trip I have taken in years failed to validate me.

This is a problem that I think all of us have from time to time and though it’s not something to call a shrink over (yet), it’s still important to bring it to light. Honestly, as soon as I realized the problem, I was able to adjust my frame of reference. Instead of thinking of all the things I didn’t have to do – I looked for things OTHER than work that I could busy myself with this evening; writing my thoughts down on this blog being one of them.

The point is that just like “The King” and his life, you can’t let a job like getting drafted into the Army keep you from enjoying yourself. As I think back on today and the immense fun I had strolling the grounds of Graceland, I really am thankful for the ability to soak it all in. It turns out - that’s the only important thing; that I did it, enjoyed myself and get to take those experiences back with me whenever I do decide to get back to work. For now, I get to keep them to myself, and anyone that wants to see the photos.

That story being told; how do you approach this issue? How do you approach a problem like this of work-life balance?

Technorati Tags: beale street, elvis, memphis, road trip, work-life balance

20SMF Episode #71 - MBA Spin: One Year Down

by Jared on April 24th, 2008

On the last day of my first year of business school, I reflect on “what have I really learned?” as an MBA student.

• OwenBloggers.com

Listen To Episode:

Download Episode:

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Technorati Tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, MBA, surviving business school, Vanderbilt

What New Media Can Do For Traditional Marketing Careers

by Jared on April 16th, 2008

First off, I will admit that this post does have an ulterior motive. However, it is a point I have been meaning to make on the blog for some time, so bear with me.

For the last four to five months, I have been knee-deep in work related to finding something substantive to do over the summer. Today, I am finally getting a chance to get in front of a company where I think can align all of things I am good at, with a position where I can make an impact.

As with any interview for an MBA Internship, the fact that I am coming from a non-core school is a sizable hurdle. Normally, the advantage in such evaluations goes to the students from the business schools from which the company already is aquatinted. However, I hopefully have something else up my sleeve that will give me a competitive edge equal to any other; new media.

Though not my main selling point for this particular position, my work in new media illustrates how strategic analysis intersects with creativity and technical competency. In interviews, I like to say that I can bring more to the table than just the ability to crunch spreadsheets and create SWOT analyses; that I also have the technical and creative background to bridge that work with just about any type of cross-functional implementation team.

It occurs to me that this revelation is not only my selling point, but the selling point of many of those traditional marketers fascinated by the world of interactive media, blogs and social networking sites. Its not just about being the marketer who can visualize solutions in the “cool new medium,” its about being able to apply analytic solutions to a rapidly-evolving playground of consumer choice.

Cross-Posted From The Marketing Diner

Technorati Tags: Marketing Diner, MBA, MBA Interviews, new media interviews, surviving business school