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THE LOWDOWN
Concentric Marketing is a nationally recognized marketing and brand development firm based in Charlotte, NC. We specialize in the consultation, planning and execution of tightly focused marketing initiatives for mid-sized Breakout Brands. We are more than your “traditional” advertising agency. Get the long version
Concentric Marketing
101 W. Worthington Ave.
Suite 108
Charlotte, NC 28203
© 2010 Concentric Marketing,
All Rights Reserved.
SERVICES
For those still looking for a "traditional" list:
- Marketing Plan Development
- New Product Launch
- Line Extension
- Rebranding
- Consumer Insights / Research
- Media Planning
- Data Mining / Loyalty Card
- Trade Planning
- Category Management
- Incentive Plans
- Forecasting
- Metrics / Dashboards
- Graphic Design
- Copywriting
- Packaging
- Logo / Identity
- Print Advertising
- Trade Advertising
- Radio / TV
- Direct Marketing
- Point of Sale - Merchandising
- Interactive (including SEM)
ON THE BLOG
- Market-share vs. Profit StrategiesThe joys of dating… We all know a friend who, at some stage in their single life, has dated anything with a heartbeat. (Let’s be totally honest, some of us are those friends). Dating anything with a heartbeat is essentially a market-share strategy—getting your brand out there any way you can, learning from experience, polishing your image while honing your products and services. The strategy serves a purpose—you discover what you do want by exploring what you don’t want, you work out who you are and what matters. And eventually, for most us, we outgrow it. It serves its purpose and we move on. Why? Because a marketshare strategy is exhausting. It demands a lot of resources—it requires us to spend time with people who we aren’t really compatible with, to invest money in programs and events that aren’t always our cup of tea, and to constantly make exceptions in our system to accommodate an endless array of idiosyncrasies. Most of us only endure this because we intend for it to lead to that one special account where, having found it, we can invest all of our energy and resources while enjoying the mutual benefits of genuine compatibility. (Wistful sigh). Business is very much like dating, especially so in the B2B service sector. A market-share strategy will serve its purpose as long as you have a clearly defined notion of what that purpose is and for how long you plan to sustain the effort and investment. And it does take effort. Your marketing team can get wrapped in their own riddles trying to be everything to everybody, your sales team can be demoralized by high maintenance and underperforming accounts, and your administration team can be run ragged building systems for an eccentric collection of clients. If you have a good reason for recruiting any customer that has a pulse, be certain to communicate to your team why this is so, and for how long you intend to play the dating game. (It keeps people from feeling cheap and nasty). At some point, even pathological daters acknowledge that real reward comes from quality relationships. When you transition to a profit strategy you shift your attention from the quantity of accounts to the quality of accounts. Are you compatible? Is there mutual benefit? What level of maintenance is required for this relationship to work? Is the relationship profitable? If not right now, when and how will it become profitable? As painful as breakups are, at some point you may need to call it quits with some of your low profit accounts. Your marketing and sales teams will be more motivated because of it—finally they can focus their attention on the existing accounts that matter, and prospect for new clients with discretion and integrity. Your admin team will be equally ecstatic because they can develop systems that serve a specific and constant set of requirements. Go on, burn your little black book.
- The Dangers of Prospecting for ‘Cultural Fit’Warning: do not task your sales team to prospect for clients that have the right ‘cultural fit’… We were speaking with a client about the types of customers they want to attract to their B2B business, and rather than weighting factors like market segment and industry vertical, they focused instead on cultural fit. It’s a growing trend that companies are not just seeking new business, but new business partners—a coming-together of organizations that aspire to similar futures, approach their challenges with like mindsets and share analogous values. The discussions are vivacious and engaging. And why wouldn’t they be? It is, after all, not just a goal of marketing, but a tradition of human inquiry to grapple with the indefinable and to seek connections that transcend the merely physical. While cultural fit is a fine topic of conversation with marketers, it’s not an appropriate prospecting criterion to provide to your sales team. Coaching your salespeople to hunt for prospects that have the right cultural fit is like telling a car dealer “I want a car that thinks like me”. The dealer is going to ask, “Do you think you want a truck or car? Two rows of seats or three? Stick shift or automatic?” Culture is conveyed through symbols, behaviors and practices. Your challenge, therefore, is to translate cultural fit into tangible attributes that can be easily recognized by your business development team when they’re identifying prospects. You’ll achieve more efficient results by focusing on practical business aspects such as annual revenue, number of employees, years in business, ownership structure, industry vertical, market segment, experience using your type of products and services, history dealing with your competitors, geographic location—and then and only then, secondary factors like mission, values and goals. Sales people produce their best results when the task is concrete, defined and measurable. Indeed, if you’re a sales professional tasked by your manager to hunt for prospects with criteria that include largely intangible qualities, ask the questions: What will the prospect look like? How will I know them when I see them? What tangible attributes are indicators of these cultural qualities? Equally hazardous is tasking your sales team to hunt for anything with a heartbeat—but that’s for another discussion.
- How Leading Brands Grow Their Industry CategoryFor a start, they’re large for my height. I’m 5’6” tall and my feet are size ten. I can never predict what a shoe will look like on my foot until it’s been shod onto my clod-hopper. The daintiest slipper can transform me into Ronald McDonald. As a consequence, I don’t shop for shoes, I hunt. Like a special operative. I try on shoes quickly and furtively. It can be an emotionally trying experience. But apparently thousands and thousands of consumers take a different approach to shoe shopping. Last year Zappos.com, the online shoe retailer, reached a $1 billion milestone in annual revenues. This is the same Zappos.com that Amazon announced recently that it would be purchasing for $900 million. The announcement got me thinking: 1) about buying my shoes online, and 2) that Amazon didn’t buy a shoe company, they bought a loyal customer base that are willing to buy shoes online. A shoe is not a book. If someone’s willing to buy shoes online, they’re probably willing to buy anything online. Zappos.com’s vision is that one day 30 percent of all retail transactions will be done over the Internet. They’d rather that you bought a pair of shoes online from one of their competitors, than from a traditional store. Amazon enthusiastically shares the same vision. Zappos.com doesn’t just remove the barriers that would stop you from buying a pair of shoes from them. They create such a positive buying experience (including free shipping and a 365 day return policy) that you feel less resistant about shopping online, period. Leading brands don’t stop at their own pocket book. Do you have a vision that encompasses not only your company, but your entire industry category?
- Consumer Packaged Goods, Meet Alice…QUICK!The name Alice reminds me of the housekeeper on "The Brady Bunch." I cannot hear that name without thinking of a female embodiment of a real-life Mr. Clean powerhouse. She was always there when needed—and even before the family knew they needed her. She cleaned up messes around the Brady house and in the family’s personal lives as well. She had a solution for just about everything. I’m guessing the branders of the new e-commerce site, Alice, were also TV-watching kids from the 70s. With the tagline “Everybody needs an Alice,” the site promises to revolutionize the way people shop for household goods, and gives them an opportunity to get products straight from manufacturers. By eliminating the middleman and any retail margin, Alice is able to offer prices that are 20 to 30 percent lower than other online stores. In Alice’s own words from the site, “Our mission is to give people a better way to buy the goods that keep their homes running. We have big plans to disrupt the traditional retail market. Everything we do is focused on empowering our customer.”The site allows users to create a free account where they can manage all of their home essentials, receive alerts when they are likely to be running low on a product, find the best prices, eliminate emergency store trips, get automatic coupons on 1000s of products and have products shipped directly to their door for FREE.While the idea of never running out of toilet paper sounds heavenly, will shoppers ever be motivated to purchase things like shampoo and deodorant online? Well, I checked out the beta site (the full site is expected to launch in September of this year) and five minutes after creating my personal account, I am a believer. I looked up toothpaste, and there were 160 options to choose from, including an organic brand I love! I was amazed at how fun—and addicting—it was.Currently, there are around 6,000 unique products from hundreds of different manufacturers available for purchase on the site. A consumer truly cannot beat the price, choice and convenience. The online component adds additional benefits to consumers that include budgeting worksheets, consumer-created profile pages (where shoppers can connect with family, friends and meet like-minded shoppers), and different ways to shop: by room, brand, organic preference, etc.What’s most exciting to me as a marketing professional (and what consumer packaged goods need to know) is Alice allows brands to form a direct relationship with consumers, enabling personalized coupons, sampling and loyalty programs. No household product will want to miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of this new, more level playing field—especially if you’re a middle-market, emerging brand. On TV, Alice has always been a force to be reckoned with. Online, she’s going to have even more of an influence.
- But WAIT! (Maybe) There’s More ... to the InfomercialWhile the infomercial is crass and limited in many cases or categories, sometimes our vantage point is so elitist that we give this type of marketing no credit. The death of Billy Mays should give us all pause in the advertising world, and an opportunity to see what we can learn from the Infomercial King. Sometimes we are embarrassed to make the direct sale. We're too timid to pound home the point. We can fall into the trap of liking what is "pretty" and think the best ad is the least direct one with the tiniest client logo and the most indirect solution. Ron Popeil was an advertiser who had nerve. He may have made you wince, but he sold millions and was a genius who reinvented himself over and over again for 30 years, not by accident (read his book.) Obviously, marketing is nuanced, and this POV reflects one extreme—but one our industry too seldom acknowledges as worthy of even being considered within the toolkit. Depending on the stage of a mid-market brand, it could be the right kind of spend. It should at least be considered. Blog columnist, Danny G., shares some great lessons Billy Mays taught us in his blog "View From the Cheap Seats." Even if you never plan to market your brand with an infomercial, the lessons are worth the read. Danny G. writes, "It’s easy to make fun of Billy Mays and the other infomercials of the world. They’re loud, they’re pushy, they sell stuff we don’t think we need. But they work—to the tune of billions in sales. They’re more successful than anything that crates home the awards we tend to covet. We love to pride ourselves on uncovering 'simple, human truths,' yet a lot of self-indulgent creative work doesn’t reflect that." Read the lessons shared here: http://www.talentzoo.com/news.php?articleID=2352
The Breakout Blog: “Challenger” brands face many obstacles in their pursuit to break out. The Breakout Brand blog was created to discuss these unique challenges and offer insights into to help mid-market brands and their marketers gain focus, become aware of marketing trends, better understand consumer purchasing behavior and so much more.