Give/Take Ratio

There are countless conversations happening online. We’re beyond the point of brands knowing they need to join those conversations. They do. What they may not realize is that the longer they wait to jump in, the more work they’ll have to do before they can ask for customer’s business.

Since its modern inception, the internet has been a resource for people looking for information. That hasn’t changed, but what has happened recently is the social web now gives various entities the opportunity to become thought leaders in a specific category. While some attain this status by consistently offering valuable information, many (especially in competitive categories) becomes leaders by guiding those who are searching.

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Your Brand Needs a Stanley Cup during the Recession

Obviously not everyone is a hockey fan, but this 35 pound trophy is clearly not something you can easily attain. Regardless of how much money you have, you can't have this item unless you're one of the select few.

The Stanley cup represents a very old concept: Scarcity. But, scarcity isn't something that just applies to marketing, it applies to persuasion in general. It's something that is just as prevalent today, but in a different way.

The recession has flipped the idea of scarcity on its head. Before, marketers would use lines line "limited time only" or "buy while supplies last" to get you to purchase their products. But now, supplies are not low in supply. There are plenty of available products now. What's scare are available consumer dollars.

The advantages of advertising during a recession/depression are well known to marketers, but this post is to serve as yet another reminder and angle to help sell through this need with brand managers. It's very clear that sales are dropping right now and no, advertising isn't neccesarily going to directly translate to fixing that. But what it can do, is give your brand or product the status of something like the Stanley Cup. It reinforces a consumers desire for something that they cannot have right now because their funds are tight. But guess what? That situation isn't going to last forever and as soon as consumer confidence returns (and it will), those desires to buy a prized new possesion are going to be acted on.

Whether it's an iPhone, a new car, or that latest pair of shoes, the companies that are creating the feeling of scarcity now are going to the ones who are best positioned to take the lion's share of consumer spending when the time is right.

Hat Tip to @lilmissjen and @mikepilarz for the Stanley Cup idea.

Being Prepared for Success is the Best Way to Maximize it

If you create passionate enthusiasm for your product, you will also create passionate criticism. There are certain brands that have die-hard fans; the kind of fans who will buy the newer version of a product even if the cost far outweighs the benefit. Whether that fervor is created by spectacular marketing, good service, and/or an innovative design the reality of the situation is that expectations are going to be set incredibly high.

When these kinds of expectations are set, you’re going to end up having three core types of customers.

· Devout Brandvangelists

· Positive Rationalizers

· Disappointed Acceptors

Devout Brandvangelists: These are people that are best found within the crowd of loyal Apple owners. They are the ones who will go out of their way to correct misconceptions and try to convert the neutral folks over to their side. They are the ones that will go onto sites like “Please Fix the iPhone” and defend Apple on Apple’s behalf for free. This is an extremely valuable group of people and arguably the best R of the ROI Apple has earned from its efforts.

Optimistic Rationalizers: Those who know there are some pitfalls initially in version 1.0, but know that with time (or possibly later generations) these issues will be addressed. The people who will provide the “buts” or in other words, “yes....X is the case unfortunately, BUT...” Consider this group to be the Switzerland of your consumers. They cushion your sales but won’t contribute much to hurting or helping your brand’s value.

Disappointed Acceptors: These are the folks who are on the opposite end of being vocal on behalf of a product or brand and the people that companies like Apple hope are drowned out by the devout brandvangelists. For many, purchasing the iPhone was their first foray into the “i” brand and expectations were set very highly. They heard about all the wonders of the brand and when they find flaws that cloud that idealized story they have been told, they are hypercritical of them. Is the fact that you can’t send an MMS file on an iPhone a horrible defect considering you can send an email or upload to facebook directly from your phone? Arguably not, but that happens to be the biggest (37,000 people) complaint being voiced. This group of people has accepted the purchase they made and will stick with it for some time, but the loyalty to the brand/product is flaky at best.

So what does this all mean for brands who seek to cultivate such a range of passionate users? It means they need to understand AHEAD of time that the emotion they are going to inspire in their customers is going to go in both directions. Accommodating the positive feelings is easy. That involves documenting positive press, increasing production, and of course making stock holders happy. Neutralizing the negative requires much more effort but with proper preparation beforehand, it’s possible to make that process less painful:

1.) Test out your product as much as you can with real customers. Try to document as many issues your testers have with your product before the release. Even if you can’t fix them before the launch, you’ll have ample time to formulate the best response to them. Have a strong community manager to funnel feedback to R&D throughout the life cycle of the product so the next generation addresses the biggest concerns.

2.) Build venues for consumer feedback before a 3rd party does it for you. Companies like Dell have created a conversation driven forum for people to give their feedback directly to the brands they are passionate about. If consumers are being listened to, they will be open to giving feedback in your environment. Encourage them to talk there because the more they do, the easier it is to drown out the extremely passionate negative influencers who are talking in venues outside of your control.

3.) Know who your largest competitor is and find out their strengths. Those strengths are the points that disappointed customers are going to use to fuel their fire, or worse, the brand/product they are going to switch to when the current frustrations start to outweigh the benefits.

As a brand, it should be considered fortunate if these kinds of passion groups exists because it means your product does have value. If it was terrible outright, then no one would care, but hopefully the sign of frustration also indicates the greater symbol of success. And being prepared for success is the best way to maximize it.