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If you're a creative business or cultural enterprise, you are selling goods or services to customers, whether it's graphic design, fashion, architecture, music, or books.
But what are you selling, really?
Or to put it another way, what is it that the customer is really buying from you?
It's often the case that there is a difference between what you think you are selling and what the customer is actually buying. Customers are often buying into a lifestyle, a feelgood factor, a 'talking point' or a 'story'.
The most aware businesses fully understand what the customer is buying from them.
For example, Tom Peters quotes the Harley Davidson executive who said: "What we sell is the ability for a 43 year old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns and have people be afraid of him." You might say they are selling a "feel-bad factor". A naive observer might think they sell motorbikes.
In the cultural sector, London's Victoria and Albert museum researched customers' views and recognised that one of the greatest attractions of the museum was its cafe. What visitors want is to see some of the exhibits (it's too overwhelmingly big to see everything) and to have some tea and cake with friends. Controversially and bravely, Director Elizabeth Esteve-Coll adopted the marketing slogan "An Ace Caff with quite a nice Museum attached." It's not what the Museum is supposed to be about - but it's exactly how many visitors see it.
Dialog Ltd, in Hong Kong, run a project called Hope Tees which designs and manufactures t-shirts to raise money for worthy causes. The customer is buying much more than a simple garment: they are investing in hope. Hope for the disadvantaged communities the project supports. The customer might never wear the t-shirt, but the feel-good factor they take away makes the investment excellent value for money.
In his book Buzzmarketing, Mark Hughes tells the story of Miller Lite. Research found that the appeal of this low calorie beer to heavy drinkers was not its low calories at all (most were proud of their beer bellies), but the fact that it didn't "fill them up" as much as regular beer - so they could drink more and stay in the bar longer.
From my own experience of working in international book distribution and marketing, I know that many books are bought not [only] to be read, but as interior decoration or as a symbol of cultural sophistication. That's not me being philistine - it's [at least part of] how real customers think and behave.
The point is that in the creative industries, just as in other business sectors, we must learn to look at things from the point of view of customers, because it brings new insights which might be subtly (or radically) different from our perspective as the creator of our goods or services. We need to understand the customer benefits in the way the consumer sees them.
So what are you selling, really?
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could see our businesses through the eyes of customers? Or, as Robert Burns wrote:
“Oh, that God the gift would give us
To see ourselves as others see us.”
To what extent are they buying into a lifestyle, a feelgood factor, or a story?
The answer, as so often in marketing, is to Ask the Customers! (Market research doesn't have to be expensive.) Go and talk to them, observe them and watch how they actually use your product or service.
You might be surprised...
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See also: 'Art is not what you see..'
This article was also published in Graphic Define Magazine, with feedback from readers.
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Advertising is so last century!
Advertising doesn’t work any more.
Instead, customers talk – like never before.
continue to full article...
Download article (PDF, 92KB)
Download let_your_customers_do_the_plogging. David Parrish. T-Shirts and Suits. 240407.pdf
Buzz Marketing is another term for 'Word of Mouth' marketing, ie creating a 'buzz' as people spread the word about a product or service.
Buzz Marketing could be described as turbo-charged word-of-mouth marketing. The difference for me is that word of mouth advertising can happen at a low level. It's great, and many creative businesses have developed using word of mouth recommendations between customers and their friends and colleagues. If my joiner does a good job fixing my gates, I'll certainly recommend him when anyone asks about a good joiner. But this is not buzz marketing. For it to be buzz marketing, the joiner would have to do something so amazing that I would feel compelled to tell as many people as possible.
In other words, there would have to be a 'story' that I would want to tell and people would want to hear.
This is what Mark Hughes talks about in his book "Buzzmarketing: Get People To Talk About Your Stuff". It's also what Seth Godin writes about in his book "All Marketers are Liars" - which really should be called "All (Great) Marketers are Story Tellers" but that's not such a catchy title. Nice one, Seth.
The point is that buzz marketing works by giving people a STORY that benefits THEM by telling it. They benefit because it's a great story and people want to hear it - and the teller's status is raised by telling it. To get a buzz going, you need to give people something to say which begins: "Hey! Have you heard about ...."
Buzz Marketing is about feeding the network with a great story about your product or service. It's about true, authentic tales that people want to tell.
And though you can start a story, you cannot control it. The power is with the people. Customers are in control of the messages about your business, not you. Work with them not on them. Don’t advertise. Don’t shout your slogan. Instead, tell customers your story. Let your customers do the plogging (yes, 'plogging'). They will anyway. So help them.
* Please contact me with your stories about successful (and even unsuccessful) buzz marketing campaigns so that I can share them with other creative enterprises - and publicise your business.
The term 'viral marketing' describes any strategy that passes a marketing message from one person to another - and goes on to spread 'like a virus'.
In other words, the message must spread automatically as one person contacts another (like a virus). To be able to do this, the marketing message must be built into the communication itself.
'Word of mouth' marketing and 'buzz marketing' are similar, but these depend on the person remembering and/or choosing to spread the word as they contact friends and associates. Viruses don't spread like this - we don't choose or have to remember who to 'infect'.
So the power of viral marketing, as opposed to word of mouth or buzz marketing is that it is somehow built into the mode of communication itself.
The classic example is Hotmail. At the bottom of every message sent through Hotmail was the message "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com". Users automatically spread the message to other email users, many of whom signed up to Hotmail, then spread the virus further.
Another example is Online Originals, the internet's original e-book publisher. which promotes its business as friends share works of literature online. Yet another is GetJealous.com, used as a blog by my cousin Sara as she travels around the world.
In both cases, the medium IS the message.
Creative businesses can use viral marketing by building the message into the heart of their products and services.
For example, see MUTO animated grafitti video.
*Please contact me with examples of how you've used viral marketing in your creative business or cultural enterprise. I want to share your great ideas - and give you publicity at the same time.
Advertising is so last century!
Advertising doesn’t work any more.
Instead, customers talk – like never before.
It used to be the case that the advertiser was in control of the message. That was when the advertiser had more power than customers and could control the message. Nowadays, customers are in control. Customers have always talked, of course, and word of mouth has always been a factor. But in this century the power balance has switched. Customers don’t just talk, they communicate big-time. Using email, text messaging and various dimensions of the internet (websites, forums, blogs) customers are connected and word of mouth is mega.
The marketplace has gone global – we can now reach more customer than ever before. But that goes for customers too. Customers can talk to other customers like never before. Customer power is awesome. Word of mouth – both positive and negative – can spread like wildfire, and will.
Would you dare to hand over the management of your advertising campaign to a bunch of the most talkative of your customers? Does this idea make you nervous – or excited? The reality is that these talkative customers will control your marketing messages anyway. The truth about your products and services will be found out and customers will talk – and talk, and talk. So why not accept that the customers are in charge of your communications and help them a little? You won’t get away with telling lies – you’ll be found out and punished. But the truth should be good enough. (If it’s not, your business is in big trouble anyway.) Tell your customers your story and let them talk. Tell it directly to the gossips because they talk more and more people listen to them. And make the story interesting – interesting for the gossips, that is, not for you.
Word of mouth advertising is back – and it’s more powerful than ever. The combination of people’s timeless need to talk, combined with the timely arrival of new digital communication media, means that word of mouth is back at the top of the marketing agenda.
Professionals talk about ‘viral marketing’, ‘buzz marketing’ or ‘community marketing’ etc. Whatever term you want to use, it’s all based on the recognition that our customers are better connected and better respected than we are.
The best marketing never was about talking at customers (monologue) but talking with customers (dialogue). We’ve progressed from monologue to dialogue but now that customers are talking with each other as never before, we need a third word for it. Based on the Greek, we should call it ‘poly-logue’. It’s hard to say but could be shortened to ‘plog’. Let’s call it ‘plogging’. Yes, customers talk – and are talking like never before. Marketing has moved from monologue to dialogue to plog. Word of mouth has just gone global. Talkative customers + the internet = Plogging.
Customers are in control of the messages about your business, not you. Work with them not on them. Don’t advertise. Don’t shout your slogan. Instead, tell customers your story.
Let your customers do the plogging.
They will anyway. So help them.
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Download article (PDF. 92KB)
Download let_your_customers_do_the_plogging. David Parrish. T-Shirts and Suits. 240407.pdf
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Discuss this on the Creative Enterprise Network and/or contact me with your own experience of how customers plog about your products and services.
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Creative Times. January 2007
The Pareto Principle, also known as the "80:20 Rule", states that 80% of results flow  from 20% of causes. In practice it's more like the "95:5" rule. For example, 95% of business may come from just 5% of customers.
Read more about the 95:5 Rule
The Pareto Principle, also known as the "80:20 Rule", states that 80% of results flow from 20% of causes. So, for example, 80% of sales can come from just 20% of customers; 80% of road accidents occur in just 20% of accident locations; and maybe 80% of headaches are caused by just 20% of your friends. 80% of profits may come from just 20% of your products, 80% of the wear and tear on a carpet happens in just 20% of the surface area (near the doors), etc, etc. You get the idea.
(This 80:20 Rule is also named after Wilfredo Pareto, an economist, who identified that 80% of the wealth was owned by just 20% of the population.)
The point is that not all thing are equal. Indeed there is a disproportionality, with the 'important few' (20% or so) having more effect than the all the rest put together.
In terms of business, it's crucial to identify the 'important few' from the 'trivial many' - and then pay special attention to them. Maybe the top 20% of customers that generate 80% of profits, maybe the top 20% of stock items that are responsible for 80% of sales.
Once you've identified the important few, it helps you to make decisions about priorities: which customers to provide even better service to, which items we must never let run out of stock, which projects to pay special attention to, which employees to keep at all costs ... etc
In practice, the imbalance or skewing is even more pronounced than 80:20. I reckon it's often more like the top 5% of causes (customers, items, investments etc) that can be responsible for 95% or more of effects (profits, sales, dividends etc). That's why I call it the 95:5 Rule.
* Please contact me with examples of the 95:5 rule in practice in your creative enterprise. Thanks
Analysing Competitors and Charting your Competitive Strategy
The technique of 'charting the competition' is extremely effective in analysing competitors' strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own business. Using clearly understandable charts, it dramatically illustrates the competitive landscape. Most importantly, however, it allows executives to develop competitive strategies which will beat the competition and from which clear and realistic action plans can be derived.
The methodology is as follows:
1. Decide the 'factors of competition', ie the things a customer takes into account before deciding to buy from your business (eg location, price, reputation, service, etc). Of course these will vary according to the industry you are in.
2. Give every competitor a score (out of 10) for each factor of competition. Plot these scores on a chart (graph) to give a distinctive 'profile' for each competitor. (Ideally this process should involve extensive research, but can work well using the existing knowledge of experienced company staff.)
3. Score your own business against the factors of competition. Evaluate the current position honestly. Plot the chart.
4. Looking at all the charts together, decide the profile your business needs to have in order to compete successfully. Remember that you need not (and indeed cannot) be the best at everything. Choose the factors of competition at which you can excel, and which will give your business a clear market position. Plot the chart.
5. Now remove competitor data to clearly see the gap between (a) where your business is now, and (b) where you need it to be.
6. Draw up action plans to close the gap for each factor of competition.
References and Further Reading
W.Chan Kim, and Renee Mauborgne. Charting Your Company's Future. Harvard Business Review, 2002
Marketing Warfare - Focusing on Competitors as well as Customers
Whilst conventional marketing theory states that businesses should be customer-focused, the concept of Marketing Warfare argues that businesses should be competitor-focused.
Since the marketplace is dynamic, the actions and reactions of competitors must be taken into account, as well as the needs of customers, when devising a business strategy. Marketing Warfare uses military metaphors to understand the dynamics of business competition.
In the book 'Marketing Warfare', Al Ries and Jack Trout argue that there are four possible strategies for fighting a marketing war:
- Defensive Strategy. Suitable for market leaders defending a dominant position.
- Offensive Strategy. Appropriate to businesses able to challenge the market leader's postion.
- Flanking Strategy. Not a direct attack on the market leader, but a new product or service in an area not dominated by the market leader.
- Guerilla Strategy. Ideal for small companies which do not have the resources to attack the leader, but are nimble enough to respond quickly to select and win a small, defendable market share in a niche market.
A practical technique for analysing competitors' strengths and weaknesses, in order to devise a winning competitive strategy, is Charting the Competition.
Remember that competitors are not only a business's immediate rivals; competition may come from new entrants, substitute products, etc. See Porter's Five Forces Model of Competition for more details.
References and Further Reading
- Ries, A and Trout, J. Marketing Warfare. McGraw-Hill. 1997
- Sun Tzu. The Art of War
Here are some books I recommend for further reading
Firstly, my own book (of course!)
T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity
David Parrish
ISBN: 9780953825448
T-shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity Books about the Creative Industries
The Creative Economy. How People Make Money from Ideas
John Howkins
ISBN: 9780140287943
The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas Books about Marketing
The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook
Jay Levinson and Seth Godin
ISBN: 9780395700132
Guerrilla Marketing Handbook
Buzz Marketing: Get People to Talk about your Stuff
Mark Hughes
ISBN 978-1591840923
Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff
This book list is a work in progress - more book recommendations will be posted here soon.
Please contact me to suggest other books of interest to creative entrepreneurs. Thanks.
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