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Chip Martin is the award-winning editor of the Brown & Martin newsletter. As such, Chip has been interviewed by many 'famous' journalists.
Chip also interviews many B&M clients about important marketing issues for the Brown & Martin newsletter. Frankly, we are always a little surprised that our clients remain clients, even after the interview. If you'd like to be added to the Brown & Martin mailing list, send an e-mail to dale.l.brown@bmpr.com and ask to be added to the list. Be sure to include a snail mail address, as the newsletter is not available via e-mail, yet.
Chip also contributes tidbits of information for the newsletter, called ChipShots. Feel free to share these with your friends and co-workers.
- You May Care ... But No One Else Does
- Don't Blame Your Company for Not Marketing ... It's Your Fault
- Marketing Icons Can Become Profit Centers
Following are some of Chip's most popular columns.
- Spammers Ruin Email
- Chip's Editorial - Bean Counters put Short-term Gain
Ahead of Long-term Survival - Chip's Editorial - Risque´ Business
To read more of Chip's brilliant columns, visit the B&M Newsletter Archive.
You May Care … But No One Else Does
Your company has won an award. You’re introducing a new product. You’re having an open house. You think what you’re doing is newsworthy.
It’s not.
Let me tell this to you straight … most journalists will never write about your company or your products. Why?
Because you’re not interesting, enlightening or out of the ordinary. Let’s be honest … you’re not me. You focus on self-serving topics that are of interest only to you and your team. (Question: Why would I want to read about your new Q/C process? Answer: I wouldn’t.) You may not even understand that social media has dictated changes in trade and news media, not to mention the information gathering habits of your customers.
Fortunately you read my column (and hopefully my blog, http://bmpr.com/chip_martin/ ) so there is hope. And while we’re on the topic of this newsletter, why do you read it? Is it because I:
- Selfishly write about Brown & Martin, Inc. and tell you how great and different we are?
- Endlessly promote our services and describe internal processes that you don’t care about?
- Egotistically introduce you to our boring employees … who you don’t care about?
- Thoughtlessly publish on an inconsistent schedule?
I think not. The purpose of this newsletter is to educate, inform and entertain. We focus on what we believe will be of interest to you … not self-serving for us. And that’s the tactic you must use when it comes to building credibility and gaining exposure in trade publications, news media and social media. You must invest the time and effort necessary to find ways to tie your company or products with subjects that offer wide appeal and value to others … not just to you.
When you do that, you can have massive success in gaining exposure across several traditional and social media platforms … and in the process influence future sales. As an example we just did a press release on behalf of the Professional Insurance Agents of WI, (PIAW) that got scores of pick up in press all across the state and is now appearing on internet sites. Guess what? It wasn’t about the PIAW. It was tied to a timely topic and quoted the head of the PIAW, further positioning the organization as an expert resource.
We develop articles for the PIAW on a monthly basis … read, “regular schedule.” Now the media calls the PIAW for information and opinions. The art of gaining useful publicity and developing information that prospects will take the time to notice, has changed … and B&M has changed with it.
How else can you explain the fact that I’ve appeared on the covers of magazines and on the front pages of newspapers and you haven’t?
Don’t Blame Your Company for not Marketing … It’s Your Fault
Your marketing budget has been decimated. Direct mail, newsletters, web site updates, trade media articles, surveys, advertising, social media ventures … all slashed. You know the cuts are a knee jerk reaction that will have harmful long-term effects.
Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but it’s your fault.
Hey, don’t kill the messenger ... I’m just trying to help. If any of your job is tied to sales or marketing (and whose isn’t?), it’s your responsibility to continually educate and remind internal decision makers about the bottom line value of marketing ... and the long-term financial consequences of abandoning promotional programs. It’s your job to “sell” the fact that past marketing is an asset that needs constant maintenance or its value will be diminished or lost. Management tends to understand the concept of “assets,” but it has trouble grasping ethereal concepts like “brand positioning.”
Keep in mind that left-brain management seldom truly understands right-brain marketing. Management looks at marketing as: building better products, offering a full line, expanding the brand and the old standby, common sense. The true “marketing side” of the story is seldom tackled.
So if you’re a marketer who hasn’t learned to speak the language of business, you’re probably sitting on your hands right now waiting for management to open the budget spigot. In the meantime, smart competitors who’ve been staying in front of customers and prospects will be in a much stronger position when the economy picks up. You ... well you’ll be trying to play catch-up. And management will blame you for letting the brand and sales fall well short of expectations. This newsletter has been published regularly every other month for almost two decades ... regardless of the economy. We have an investment in this publication. If it was published “once in awhile” or “only during the good times” it would not generate the recognition or the sales that it does.
Here’s the simple truth in business terms. A company can’t “shrink” its way to marketing success. The longer you hunker down and wait for things to get better, the less any previous investments you’ve made to build brand credibility, are worth.
Be smart. Follow the lead of successful marketers by taking on the marketing challenge inside your company. If you don’t, you may find yourself working for a real dummy versus the management kind.
Marketing Icons Can Become Profit Centers
Puppets (specifically those of the ventriloquial-type) are making a big come back.
David Letterman’s full week of “ventriloquists” featuring a different ventriloquist each night, turned out to be one of the show’s highest rated weeks, ever.
In 2006 Jay Johnson (the ventriloquist from Soap) had a successful Broadway show about “Ventriloquism.”
Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham’s Comedy Central DVD just went triple platinum and he’s playing to sold out shows across the country. He’s also making an appearance in an up-coming Blue Collar movie and will be taping a second DVD in Washington D.C. this spring.
Sales of ventriloquist puppets (or as I call it, “puppet slavery”) are on a major up swing.
Meanwhile, I’m stuck here in the frozen tundra writing a marketing-related column for this pathetic newsletter. Believe me when I say that it’s been a long, tough struggle to the middle.
But the rising popularity of “puppets” being recognized as entities in their own right is not surprising. We’re “icons.” And icons are “in.”
If you don’t believe me, take a look at Staples’ “Easy Button.” The novelty item born out of the company’s ad campaign and available at its stores for $5, is popping up like mushrooms in a forest … 1.5 million of them. That’s right. Staples has earned an additional $7.5 million in revenue from sales of its “Easy Button.”
The icon has become an effective means of customer interaction with the company … plus an additional profit center.
At the same time Travelocity has sold more than 20,000 of its 8-inch gnome statues at $19.99 each. In addition the gnome has become a cultural icon. People have sent Travelocity photos of him in airplanes, scuba diving, sky diving, at sporting events and at famous landmarks around the world.
It was the same for Taco Bell’s Chihuahua, (killed by political correctness), Pets.com’s sock puppet (killed by mismanagement) and more recently, Burger King’s creepy King … yet to be killed.
Icons, especially “puppet” icons can be effective marketing tools, effective communications tools and effective entertainers. So give a puppet a home. It may give you the ultimate ROI.
Sally has the "hots" for me and Suzy wants to meet me. What Sheryl wants to do is not suitable for publication; but she clearly didn't go to a reputable finishing school. In all, 137 women, six barnyard animals and a guy in Nevada have offered to meet, defrock and please me in ways I don't think I have the strength to imagine. And mind you, these emails are being sent to a puppet!
I can't imagine what the rest of you are getting. I think it's scary that in less than a week, a puppet has been approved for more than $50,000 in new credit. And if I really want to meet Christian singles, I think I'd start by going to church.
All of this demonstrates that Spammers have made it very difficult to market or sometimes just communicate, via email. Why do you think B&M still mails hard copies of this newsletter to you? It's because we know you're much more likely to read it in this format than if we emailed an electronic version to you. (And see … you're reading it!) How do we know that? We tested it. What a concept. Which brings me to my point. Yes, it's possible to market via email. We help some clients use very effective, opt-in newsletters to market and communicate to targeted groups. But, it's not an easy task. Nor is it an effective marketing option for everyone.
It takes experience to know what works, where it's likely to work and what probably is a waste of money. Guess who has that experience? Here's a hint. One of them has his hand in my back as I type this. Your internal staff members who are given the responsibility for making marketing decisions have your company's best interests at heart. But in many cases they aren't exposed to the plethora of information on marketing options, changes in response levels and knowledge about the effectiveness of marketing tools used in other industries.
It's easy to offer up white-bread ways to spend marketing dollars, or simply recommend doing the same things over and over … optimistically expecting different or better results. It sometimes takes an outsider to offer a refreshing look at how you could get more from a downsized budget. Again, the guy behind me would be an example.
There are more trade publications than ever before, yet many of them are getting thinner each month from lack of advertising and readership. So how do you decide where to spend your marketing/advertising/public relations dollars? If you haven't figured it out yet, you do that by calling B&M and asking us for advice and assistance. Now back to my email. No, I don't want to increase my breast size. But wait … maybe I'll forward that one to a friend of mine. She'll probably thank me. No, I don't want to purchase ink cartridges from the Middle East.
Wait …. A personal letter from the Easter Bunny! How cool is that!
Bean Counters put Short-term Gain Ahead of Long-term Survival
Words move people. Words move nations. The power of words to educate, inform and inspire is boundless. When companies move boldly forward, it's usually words driving them. Numbers, on the other hand, are cold in comparison. (Sort of like Dale's hand on my stick.)
You'll find few numbers in the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address. Men like Jefferson, Paine and Adams believed in the power of values, brought to life by words. Lincoln had a thing for honesty, compassion and respect. He used words to convey those values and his life to illustrate them. Words bring me to life … literally … almost. If it weren't for words, I'd be just a "doll" instead of an "editor." But, I digress.
Recently, we've witnessed how the pursuit of numbers can destroy brands. When brands become things to be merged, purged, resold or sold off rather than things to be built, numbers are in charge. When reducing overhead becomes more important than creating demand, numbers are in charge. When processing demand at minimal cost is more important than superior customer service, numbers are in charge. When things are running smoothly … I'm in charge. But again, I digress.
Number madness is like a slow spreading disease that puts short-term gain ahead of long-term survival. Words create images and experiences that resonate with people. Words create product demand and loyalty. These things create numbers … not the reverse. So use marketing goals to establish your marketing budgets … not the reverse. Remember, if numbers were more important than words, I'd be a wooden calculator instead of a witty wooden marketing expert.
For many companies, the economy still sucks. After we circle the wagons, bite the bullet, tighten our belts and walk a mile in our customers' shoes, do we wait for the chickens (customers) to come home to roost? (Assuming of coarse, that we have our ducks in a row and previously picked all the low hanging fruit.)
Let's be honest. Many marketing plans are already walking with a limp, getting cataracts and may soon have to be put down because of deeper budget cuts. Forget that a library full of research shows that companies which develop and maintain organized marketing plans during down economic times come back several times stronger than competitors who let their marketing slide. I have a better idea. Simply find un-exploited places to communicate corporate and commercial messages. For instance, the latest virgin ad space is on shiny police cars. One company offers to pay for new police cars in exchange for ad space. Some cash-strapped cities in Florida are taking the deal.
What better way to transfer the respect we have for the police, onto Ronald McDonald or Captain Crunch? I say, "Why stop there?" There's lots of space on uniforms. How about the yellow jackets worn by heroic firefighters? Those who are saved by firefighters would have the ultimate positive association with the first thing they see following the event … say Colonel Sanders or maybe Aunt Jemima. You could even buy time during the reading of Miranda rights. "You have the right to remain silent," followed by, "You have the right to a Whopper, fries and medium drink for just $2.99." During trials, instead of using the Bible to swear people in, courts could use the latest John Grisham novel. And, what about jails? Prisoners have nothing to do all day but stare at walls. Let's dress those walls up with some ads. I'm sure the space is cheap. Ineffective maybe … but cheap.
For marketers and corporate communicators who don't have objectives or a plan, the opportunities are limitless.
OK, I'm going to say what most marketing professionals are thinking, but are too afraid to do anything about. "This overly sensitive, political correctness has gotten out of hand." You're all shaking your heads in agreement, aren't you? Everyone has a right to have his or her voice heard. That's what this country is about. But, that doesn't mean a carefully crafted and effective public relations program or marketing tool should be abandoned the second a few dissenters pop up.
No small minority should be given the power to act as censors for the majority. Let the majority think and act for themselves. A number of years ago we did a direct mail program for Master Lock Company. A photo in the mailer showed a would-be thief trying to violate a padlock. We received a letter from some group that said the photo "stereotyped people of Greek heritage as thieves." I don't think I could pick a person of Greek heritage out of a line up. But, if they all look as handsome and as well built as the model in our photo, they should be proud.
Ironically, political correctness is stifling public relations and marketing at a time when TV content is becoming ever more accepting of extreme language violence and offensive behavior. A recent Subaru ad showed a mom and daughter trying to do a good deed: releasing a bunny into the wild. A pro-rabbit group protested, saying a domesticated pet wouldn't survive. The ad was pulled, the money was wasted and consumers will eventually pay the bill. Thank you bunny lovers. Pass the hasenpfeffer.
The good news is that people are starting to dare to be un-PC. A Carl's Jr. ad shows a gloved scientist giving a live chicken a cavity search to find "the nuggets." Trust me, it's funny. However, United Poultry Concerns (Can you believe there is such a group?) complained. Carl's Jr. kept the ad on the air. If you don't like it, don't buy their product. Now the marketing industry as a whole has weighed in by awarding an international grand prize to a print ad that is juvenile, sophomoric and crude. I don't think it's necessarily a good ad … certainly not the best of the year.
What's encouraging is that the judges, who are among the top marketers in the world, made a statement. "It's OK to play again. Let the marketplace, not a few dissenters, determine the quality and success of your promotion or your ad." Hypersensitivity over whom might take offense to something results in boring, unexciting, non-entertaining and non-stimulating vanilla. (I know I'm going to get a letter from some pro-vanilla group.) There is a difference between "offensive" and "not liked by a few." I should know. I've been both.