Marketing Schmarketing

As business owners, we have an ambivalent attitude towards marketing materials: we are proud to have them, hate to be inundated with them, would like them to be our salvation, and think they can be sacrificed when times are tough. Although marketing materials are important for our business, it is only one component to becoming successful.

As a designer and marketing person my role is to create compelling ideas and materials that make people want to use a product or service, but no matter how well I do my job, if my client doesn’t run their business well, no amount of effective marketing materials can save them from an becoming a business statistic.

The first time I noticed a client was in serious trouble was in 1997. I was hired by an established Silicon Valley company to create packaging design and marketing materials for a scanner that could be hooked up directly to a printer without a computer. The company had a successful line of phone related products and was venturing into new territory to keep up with the times.

Whenever possible, I like to experience my client’s products or services first hand because I often discover certain benefits that my clients overlook or downplay. In this case, I asked the marketing director who had hired me to let me borrow the product. Upon setting up the product, I was shocked to discover a glaringly obvious Achilles heel - the product relied on outdated hardware switches to identify and communicate with a printer. This made printer compatibility a hit or miss and forced the target market to become a bit too tech savvy. Many peripherals at the time had abandoned using hardware switches and streamlined installation using software only.

When the marketing director asked my impressions of the product, I replied that the product would fail on the market because of its outdated technology. I really hated to say that but I like to be honest with my clients, even if it costs me work.

In the end, I designed a fun and colorful package targeted at kids that showed a monkey using the scanner. Sometime later, they replaced the marketing director and hired a marketing agency for round two. They created a sophisticated packaging design, but the product’s fate was sealed by the lack of technological foresight from the company. No amount of marketing could have made that product successful.

Don't Get Lost in the Storm

When times get tough it’s a common mistake for businesses to drastically reduce their advertising presence. The following is a list of Top 5 reasons to maintain or increase your advertising during this period.

1. To say "I’m Open"
   If you don’t continue to advertise, consumers will believe you have become a victim of the economic downturn and have gone away. Your phone will stop ringing.
   
   
2. Don’t Lose Sales
   If you don’t continue to advertise, where will your future customers go?
   
   
3. Increase Your Customer Base
   Simply look at the local publication to see that the playing field has diminished. This provides a great opportunity to increase your exposure and market share.



4. Confidence & Integrity
   During tough times, confidence in your business is contagious. Consumers want to deal with a business that acts postively and has an outlook that says "we'll endure the storm." The opposite is true, too. Act negatively and your whole company will adopt that attitude and help drive your customers away.
   


5. Long-Term Strategy
   The business owner who endures during these tough times will have the opportunity to enjoy a larger marketshare when the economy improves. The potential for growth is much higher for those who continue marketing than those who hold back and wait for the economy to recover.
   

Next month's blog, called "Marketing, Schmarketing", reviews some of the internal challenges a business can face which can undermine the success of a business.