Archive for the ‘Marketing Mistakes’ Category

Worst Marketing of 2009

admin | January 14, 2010 in Bad Marketing, Marketing Mistakes | Comments (6)

After hundreds of submissions, it seems we have a pretty clear winner. How bad is it? The commercial has been removed everywhere by the company that made it. You can go online in any number of places and see other ads by the company, but this particular one has been removed from every place we’ve found. The embed is still there, but the “This video has been removed by the user” notice comes up.

So what is the offender? It’s Target’s commercial “From Santa.” You might remember it as the one where parents are arguing on Christmas morning about the new flat screen TV that Santa brought. We’d love to show you the video but apparently Target is aware of the reaction it caused, so here is the text:

“Wow. Thanks, Santa,” says the dad as he sees the new TV. ”I thought we weren’t going to spend too much.”

“But these gifts are from Santa,” his wife shoots back. 

“Guess Santa forgot we’re in a recession.”

“Well, maybe Santa was a little thriftier than you think. Hmm.”

Keep in mind this is while their sweet, innocent child looks on.

The father starts with ”Well, maybe Santa…” and is cut off by his wife with “Maybe Santa doesn’t need any help doing Santa’s job” with a frozen smile.

Now we’re normally fans of Target’s commercials. They’ve had a lot of good ones in recent years, including several of their holiday ads. But this one really, really missed the mark. Here are just a few of the many reasons why:

1. Arguing in front of the kids on Christmas morning while opening presents. Nothing says great holiday like open family discord. Is there a more joyous time than opening presents on Christmas morning? There is if your parents are fighting.

2. How about we just pour salt in consumer’s wounds? This is the biggest one. What are the vast majority of American’s worried about right now? The fact that they are struggling financially. Christmas is expensive every year. How many people didn’t sweat about coming up with money for presents this year? Their main worry/panic/sleepless-night-inducer is the cost of the holiday (yes, we’re aware that not everyone celebrates Christmas, but this ad was aimed at those who do). So, for a commercial, why don’t we drag that fear up and throw it in people’s faces?

What they were trying to do was show that people didn’t have to have that fear because the TV wasn’t that expensive. The fundamental logic was there. But what they actually did was confront viewers with the very thing they were trying to avoid. Viewers don’t react to ads based on logic. They react based on emotion. They don’t sort through the underlying themes of a commercial. They don’t spend much time on it at all. They just walk away with an impression or a feeling, which in this case was panic, insecurity and dread.

3. This goes hand in hand with #2. They’re showing an unpleasant situation that hit home for far too many people. Most ads that deal with husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend or friendship issues use humor to illustrate the differences. This one didn’t get into the humor category, it was more of a barely-keep-the-lid-on argument. How many people that saw the ad hadn’t gone through a similar situation? How many couples didn’t have an uncomfortable talk or an explosive argument about how much holiday money was spent and on what? If there was a way to show that in a humorous light the commercial might have worked. But the subject is so raw for most people right now that it would have been incredibly difficult. It’s just not a funny subject for most people.

4. The gender roles were a gamble. Showing a guy getting upset with his wife for spending too much, especially with no humor, doesn’t play well with either sex. Reading some forum discussion boards about the ad confirms this, though there were a few (very few) that found the ad funny.

5. Overconsumption is a message that isn’t getting much traction right now. Even if the TV was cheaper at Target, they obviously couldn’t afford it. Another of Target’s ads, “Layaway”  understood this and conveyed it well.

What else? A lot of things, really. Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

Starbucks has the right idea, but…

admin | October 16, 2009 in Bad Marketing, Marketing Mistakes | Comments (5)

Tags: , ,

I hope I’m wrong on this one.

This morning I went to Starbucks for coffee. After I handed the barista my money, she asked me if I would like to purchase a pack of Via (their new instant coffee) to send to the troops.

What could possibly be wrong with that? Who wouldn’t want to help out our troops who are currently deployed? I come from a military family. I understand the sacrifice and how much things from home are appreciated.

My problem is with Starbucks.

I’ve been searching this morning for information on the Via for the troops promotion and there isn’t much. So please, if you know more about this, let me know.

Here is the issue: Instead of participating WITH me, they are using the troops to sell more product. If they offered me coffee at a discount and actually had some skin in the game, I would have no problem with it. Instead, they’re asking me to pay for their promotion.

It’s fine if they make money off of me for this promotion. But they shouldn’t sell me something at full margin and call it an act of charity.

The end result is that the troops get coffee, so a greater good is served. And Starbucks, for their part, does have to do some work and ship the coffee, so they have some participation. But this is set up as a promotion for Starbucks rather than a goodwill program. 

To do this right, they should have made a special offer, a discount or some other incentive. Instead, they’re asking their customers to sacrifice while they promote and sell a new product.

Maybe I’m jaded, maybe I’m wrong. I sure hope that I am.

If you have a different perspective, be sure to comment and let me know.

The 11 Most Common Marketing Mistakes

admin | July 27, 2009 in Bad Marketing, Marketing Mistakes | Comments (0)

By Derek Fisch. Follow at  http://twitter.com/derekfisch

MistakeCThe 11 items that follow are summaries of the areas where most businesses go wrong and waste their money.

1. Being company or product-centric, instead of customer-centric
This is the biggest problem I see with how the majority of businesses approach their market. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard or read something like “In business, all you have to do is find a need and fill it.” It’s sound advice, but it’s not the way most businesses work. Instead, the come up with a product and then try to figure out a way to convince people that they need it. They focus on how great what they offer is, instead of worrying about how they can make someone’s life better.

2. Not having a clear, concise and believable message
Trying to be all things to all people is a way to ensure that you won’t be anything to anybody. If you can’t ruthlessly hone your message to the point where it is very quickly obvious how you can greatly improve the prospect’s life in some way, your message will never be heard. People will not try to figure out what you’re saying. In fact, most will actively ignore you.

3. Not effectively communicating clear advantages
Consumers look at your business skeptically. Everything you say is viewed with a cynical eye. People need to be convinced that you can quickly and clearly help them. In an age of instant gratification, patience is very short. If you don’t communicate the advantages you offer to your prospect’s situation, you’re dismissed.

4. Not differentiating from the competition
This point ties in directly with #3. It’s not enough to just show how you can make the consumer’s life better. You also have to show how you can do it better than anyone else.
Why you, and not your competition? Most businesses have a host of competitors who are right beside them in the yellow pages or just a click away on the internet. Why, in comparing you side by side with everyone else, would someone decide that you are the best choice? If you don’t tell them in terms that emphasize what is important to them, they’ll move on. And they won’t stop to compare every point you make side by side with your competition. Consumers continually make snap or semi-informed judgments. Grab them quickly or someone else will.

5. Having no defined marketing goals
Every marketing piece you produce must have a clearly defined purpose. For instance, if you place an advertisement in a magazine, what are you trying to accomplish with it? If you said “We’re trying to get more business,” you’re not being specific enough. What exactly do you want to happen? Are you trying to generate phone calls? Do you want people to come see you? To visit your website? It’s great if overall revenue rises after implementing a campaign, but without knowing which elements are performing, you won’t know exactly why.

6. Having poor marketing materials
If you were going out on a first date, would you show up unshowered, with messy hair and dirty clothes, assuming that your date would look past all that to “the real you?” Probably not, and neither will consumers. We all make judgments based on appearance. If your marketing materials are poor, you’ll be perceived the same way. It won’t matter if you have the greatest product in the world, you’ll never get the chance to show it off.

7. Being generic
Superlatives in advertising are ineffective. There are so many INCREDIBLE!!! offers out there that incredible is the new average. Nobody believes that your offer is incredible if you tell them it’s incredible. Same goes for other bombastic words. If you want someone to believe what you’re saying, get specific. Instead of just telling someone that your selection is gigantic, tell them exactly how gigantic it is. In one sentence you can tell them how many varieties, colors, manufacturers, etc. you offer. People will believe specifics much more than superlatives.

8. Being too diluted
If you’re trying to say everything in each marketing effort, you’re wasting your time and your money. Instead of trying to make four separate points with one advertisement, for example, you’re much better off making just your strongest point with the advertisement. Make another point with another ad. Remember- if you try to tell someone more than one thing, especially when they don’t want to hear it in the first place, they won’t come away with anything. Target your message clearly, always.

9. Not reaching the right market
Obvious in concept, but difficult in execution. Reaching the right people is usually an inexact science. And most businesses haven’t researched who their best customer really is. They’re trying to sell everything they have to everyone they can reach. By narrowing the focus to a tightly defined market, impact per impression will be much greater. Because the scope is narrower, the repetition can be higher for the same investment. And that usually translates into better results.

10. Not testing
A slight change of your headline can result in a dramatic difference in the response rate. A small shift in the focus of the offer can increase effectiveness by several times. But how do you find these things out before you’ve spent your marketing budget? It’s simple- testing. Test your advertisement or offer on a small scale. Track the results. Change one thing and one thing only, like the headline, offer or guarantee, and run it again on a small scale. Feedback will be quick and easy to gauge if you’re tracking the results. Only when you have a clear winner should you commit your marketing budget.

11. Not tracking results
How do you know if what you’re doing is actually working? Not carefully tracking responses will lead to confusion, wasted time and money. Asking customers where they heard about you and using promotion-specific codes are just a couple of ways to monitor the source of your business. The data from this allows you to quickly dump your underperforming marketing and redirect the money into profitable areas.

About the Author
Derek Fisch is founder and President of Velocity Media, the leading marketing and advertising agency for small business. http://www.velocitymediainc.com .

Follow Derek on Twitter at http://twitter.com/derekfisch

NOTE: You’re welcome to “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the “about the author” info at the end), and you send a link to your reprint to derek@velocitymediainc.com.

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