Tuesday, January 31, 2012

How Many Loyalty Programs Do You Participate In?

Consumers are becoming ever more demanding and more complex, as they depend less on label alone and require clearer value and product superiority. They are trained to hunt for rewards and incentives, and they like a branded experience, especially if it's a digital one, that is rich with content, tools and community.
·         The consumer definition of value has changed. The consumer sees the reward program as part of an entire package when purchasing a product. This includes not just functional benefits, but also how he or she feels about the company itself. For example, is your company a leader on environmental sustainability both with your products and within your company? If that's the case, sharing that information can improve your value to the customer.
·         Brand equity-building and preference-building ideas will win against discount- or points-only approaches, and have lasting effect on brand loyalty. Offering customers the opportunity to purchase advance tickets for special events for example, or asking them to participate in a product feedback panel, is valuable in building their loyalty. A points program alone is not a big or unique idea. While it may be a cost of entry, or a tipping point for some segments, there needs to be a "wow" branded idea that sits on top of it. It also must be something that brand stewards and customer relations-management gurus can agree on.
·         Understand how to stem brand-franchise defection. The real payback of a loyalty strategy is in managing existing customers, winning back lapsed customers and increasing the value of customers who might switch loyalties between brands on a regular basis. The key is conducting research with each of these groups, getting their input and developing strategies that are highly targeted to their unique position in your customer-relations efforts.
·         Be sure to understand all available assets inside and outside your company through an audit to unlock your toolkit -- free touch points like a monthly bill, or product packaging or a value exchange from vendors with a mutual interest such as direct-mail packages or e-newsletters aimed at millennial moms with toddlers.
·         Complementary companies with shared audiences will increasingly work together. This "consortium" approach to loyalty is a trend. Enfamil and Pampers, as well as General Mills and Nestle, are good examples of companies taking this approach. The Jigsaw Consortium, for example, leverages a shared database between several companies to effectively target like minded-brand loyalists and also reduce their individual costs for data analytics.
·         Brands are profoundly vulnerable to social media. Loyalties can shift fast, as communities rally behind or rail against brands. Brands must be monitoring, influencing and promoting themselves in social forums, including your own company's Twitter or Facebook pages, etc. to ensure that social channels help, and not hurt. For example, if there is a perceived problem with your product that is being inaccurately reported by the media and shared in social media circles, make sure that you find other media outlets or experts that are reporting the full and accurate story, and connect these accounts to your social-media fan base.


*Originally written by Martin Reidy
*Please share your loyalty program problems and solutions
Sunday, January 29, 2012

EU Proposed Tough New Data Protection Rules for 2014, Good for Business?


EU Proposed Tough New Data Protection Rules for 2014, Good for Business?

·         The proposals, by E.U. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, include the "right to be forgotten" online --including consumers' ability to withdraw at any time the consent to use of their data -- and a compulsory data-protection officer for all companies with more than 250 employees.
Friday, January 27, 2012

Founders Under 40 Group Welcomes Your Feedback

As we proceed, and improve. FU40 Group welcomes the help and contribution of others to take it to the next level - Interns with outgoing personalities or others. For full detail on opportunity or to contribute visit the FU40 beta site. We’d continue to work with BJMannyst. Business founders under 40™ or corporations welcome to contact myself or bjmannyst , we’d be glad to work with you and help you connect. Help you reach a group connecting with the future leaders. In simple terms, BJMannyst & FU40 Group and your organization equal a one of a kind competitive advantage. Contact Us. Thanks to the continues support of the wonderful members and partners.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Five Tips for Driving Word-of-Mouth - Shared BJ Mannyst


…No Matter What Your Product Is

But is there a formula to making a product conversation-worthy? And more importantly, is there a way to keep that conversation going over time?

Wharton School of Business marketing professor Jonah Berger and doctoral student Eric Schwartz took on this challenge with their recent study, "What Drives Immediate and Ongoing Word of Mouth." The study examines the psychological drivers of word-of-mouth for products, based on data from hundreds of [ name ] social-marketing campaigns. They explore why people talk about products, how product discussions differ online vs. offline and the actions companies can take to generate more product buzz. Here's what they found.

Products Don't Have to Be Interesting
 Conventional wisdom holds that consumers will only talk about cool, new products they find interesting, and talk about them in a way that will be beneficial to their social currency. Berger and Schwartz characterize this as online behavior—in digital settings, consumers are more aware of being watched by peers and, therefore, are motivated to post about brands that will be well-received by others. They call this "motivated transmission." (Klout score, anyone?) And yes, the study has a methodology for identifying "interesting" products.

They claim behavior in face-to-face settings is different: It's less about motivated transmission and more about what products are top-of-mind at a given point in time. Interesting products may generate immediate discussion as novelty items, but that fades fast. Simply being interesting doesn't give a product conversation staying power.

The good news for marketers is that the magic of word-of-mouth isn't limited to certain product categories. Under the right circumstances, common products can generate far more consumer discussion.

It's All About Accessibility
 The study finds that the biggest driver of discussion is the accessibility of a product. People naturally talk about what they see and what's top-of-mind. The drink in your hand, the package on the table and the makeup on your face may not be as interesting as a shiny new tech device, but they are discussed far more frequently.

Woody Allen was on to something when he said 80% of success is just showing up. The challenge for marketers is to get their products where they can be seen in a natural conversational context or to create visual cues that stimulate discussions.

Connect With Consumers Through Samples
 People can't say much about your product if they haven't used it. The study found that product samples generated the greatest increase in discussion. Not because consumers felt a need for reciprocity, but because they must have first-hand experience with the product to understand what it can do.

It takes more than a simple handout at the train station or a trial-size tube in an envelope. You have to connect with people and make the brand come alive with ideas for activities and suggestions for using the product in more creative ways. In its latest shopper-marketing report, the Grocery Marketing Association referred to this as winning both hearts and carts. Coupons and rebates may lead to a product experience, but they are focused on the cart and are a complement, not a substitute, for a sample.

Your Marketing Can Provide Valuable Cues
 Through various cues and triggers, marketers can make products more accessible. Branded items such as stickers, hats and T-shirts expose brand messages in natural conversation. While not critical to a social-marketing campaign, they can help. The study associated using branded giveaways in campaigns with a 15% increase in word-of-mouth.

Marketers can also create links that associate common things with their product, especially if the stimuli or usage situation is one that people do not already connect to the brand. Two examples cited in the study are the cues that ducks provide for Aflac, and the cues that the orange color of Halloween provides for Reese's candy. The report also cites a [name] program for Boston Market that helped create a new association for the brand. The restaurant chain, usually associated for many people with lunch, worked with [name] to target specific customer profiles with dinner-related messaging and offers that boosted word-of-mouth by 20%. Countering consumer expectations can be a powerful tool for getting consumers to talk about a brand.

Buzz Can Be for Everyone
 Consumer discussion about products isn't a matter of chance. It happens every day to almost every type of product. The good news is that marketers can impact how often, and for how long, their products are the focus of conversation. Go ahead—your customers are waiting for their cue.

*Originally written by Malcolm F
*For undo-ordinary marketing strategic needs, BJMannyst.com.  Also a Founders Under 40™ Group partner.
Saturday, January 21, 2012

Six Tips to Sell Your Joint Venture Idea


*Also Checkout “How to Bake a Better B2B Partnership” on FounderUnder40.com

There are disadvantages to JVs too. Action-oriented entrepreneurs complain that it takes a long time to solicit corporations and negotiate the ownership and operating terms of a new business entity.

Here are my six best tips to help sell your JV proposal like a pro.

No. 1: Research target partners. JV proposals that are most likely to get serious consideration by corporations offer meaningful economic and strategic benefits to both parties. Think carefully about a list of partners that might benefit most from your technology or market idea. Also consider the size of the opportunity in relationship to the size of your potential corporate partner. Approaching a Fortune 500 company with an idea that may generate only $10 million in revenues won’t get any return phone calls.  

No. 2: Representation. It's not necessary for entrepreneurs to hire investment bankers to help solicit corporations and negotiate deal terms. The most useful ally will be a skilled corporate attorney who specializes in business contracts, securities law or licensing. Interview two or three candidates before making a selection. Well-respected attorneys from larger firms tend to stand up well to big corporation scrutiny.

No. 3: Penetrate the fortress. Solicit all potential corporate targets at the same time to save time. Target senior managers at the vice president level or higher in the corporate hierarchy. If you don't have specific contact names, seek out senior officers in "new business development" or "corporate strategic planning." If your idea’s primary value to a corporate investor is cost savings, identify the names of general managers and senior finance officers. Provided you are friendly, executive administrative assistants can help guide you through a corporate maze.

No. 4: Pick up the phone. From my investment banking days, the best corporate investments I ever structured started out as friendly, high level talks to identify areas of mutual interest. They were collaborations, not transactions. After initial interest is established, deliver a factual summary of the proposed opportunity, with emphasis on the size of the market, potential profitability and the strategic value of your company’s operating or technical capabilities.

Fight the inclination to talk about deal structure until the corporation is “sold” on the concept. Entrepreneurs always negotiate better deal terms when bigger corporate partners just “have to have it.”

No. 5: Protect intellectual property. Entrepreneurs should hold off disclosing details of important technologies to potential JV partner candidates until at least a provisional patent application has been filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.

No. 6: Negotiate long-term success. Sometimes the percentage ownership in a JV company becomes less important to entrepreneurs than other deal terms. Pay close attention to the timing of funding contributions from larger corporate partners, the make up of the JV’s board of directors, and the decision making authority of operating management.

The best solicitation advice I can give to entrepreneurs is to present themselves as smart, honorable and effective managers. First impressions matter. Entrepreneurs who demonstrate they are serious do have a serious chance of tapping corporate resources for business growth.

*Originally published by Fox Business and written by Susan S
*For undo-ordinary marketing strategic needs, BJMannyst.com.  Also a Founders Under 40 Group partner.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What Do You Do When Someone Copies Your Business?

When Groupon first came out it was probably still playing with its model. When it became a success, imitators popped out like roaches in a New York City apartment. Facebook is popular now but in 2 – 3 years, it will be boring. So what do you do if it happens to you, Founders Under 40 members?

 From my business perspective, never develop a business too easy to imitate or eliminate. Netflix is too easy to imitate. Apple’s iTunes is not because they have a competitive advantage, iPhone, iPad, cult like loyalty, consistent commitment to deliver the best consumer experience.  Unrelated, I had a dream that one year after Apple computers builds it’s “circle” shape headquarters it will begin to lose its luster.  Maybe when Mr. Gates is gone, the same might happen to Microsoft.

One thing I’ve learned about great companies, there are usually founded by great individuals. Once the founder(s) has no formal relationship with the company, it begins to lose its shine.

Plus, if they copy, it will validate your idea and hopefully make you better.

*For undo-ordinary marketing strategic needs, BJMannyst.com.  Also a Founders Under 40 Group partner.
Saturday, January 14, 2012

Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Options?


The world we live in might be better off if we had less choices. Imaging stepping into a Home Depot store, to buy two types of screwdrivers. Or when you checkout a Dell website, there were just three types of laptops in just one color or Ice Cream on came in 3 flavors – me

One of the core principles of behavioral economics is a concept called “choice conflict,” whereby people become less likely to choose as the number of options they face increases. What’s tricky, of course, is that people are often attracted to wide selections of items and services. In one of the more well-known experiments in all of behavioral economics, conducted by psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, grocery store shoppers randomly encountered a jelly-tasting table offering one of two selection sets: six kinds of jam, across the taste and price spectrum; or 24 jars, equally diversified. Although shoppers were 40% more likely to stop at the table with 24 varieties on display, those who stopped when there were only six jellies to taste were 10 times more likely to actually buy a jar!
The lesson here, more often than not, is that we think we want many options in life, but what we really desire is the illusion of choice and a trusted screener—someone (friend, relative, colleague or adviser) or something (an affinity group like AARP or an unbiased evaluator like Consumer Reports) to narrow our choices and help us choose. Not only is there good reason to think that fewer choices will simplify our lives, there’s also considerable evidence to suggest we’ll be happier for the simplicity.

As we detailed in our book, Iyengar and Lepper conducted another shopping experiment, setting up a chocolate-tasting booth that alternated between six options and 30. After making their choice, shoppers were then asked to rate their satisfaction level on a scale of 1 to 10. The result: Those who picked from the smaller selection of chocolates were nearly 15% happier with their choice. With six choices, you can only imagine a few ways that your decision to pick one chocolate over the others might have been “wrong.” But with 30 options, you’re left thinking that however much you like the chocolate you chose, there are 29 possible ways you might have chosen better.

*Originally written by Gary Belsky & Tom Gilovich.
*For undo-ordinary marketing strategic needs, BJMannyst.com.  Also a Founders Under 40 Group partner.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Would You Bid to Work for a Start-up?


Hopping says that Wharton created the internship auction program in response to student demand. Every year, startups with VC backing submit requests for interns to Wharton's career services office. Students then bid on positions in an auction, which reduces the number of people competing for any given internship and ensures that the companies see resumes from the most interested candidates.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has created partnerships with several venture capital firms to create an easier way for MBA students and companies to pair up.

My thoughts: It’s another option for Start-ups and Interns. And start-ups only have to deal with the ones interested and passionate about the Start-up.  Please let me know what you think.

*For undo-ordinary marketing strategic needs, BJMannyst.com.  Also a Founders Under 40 Group partner.

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