Q2 Marketing Blog – Technology Marketing, Public Relations, Brand Consulting

Case studies Category

Domino’s Marketing Tactic–Our Pizza Sucked

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

It’s not that often that I get excited about B2C marketing. I spend too much time living B2B and B2G. But I”m always a big believer in direct approaches. What Domino’s Pizza is going is pretty incredible. You may have caught their new TV commercials in between fast forwards on your DVR.

Watch their video where Domino’s really beats their pizza up.

Read the Bnet interview with Russell J. Weiner, Domino’s chief marketing officer.

Posted in Advertising, Brand Consulting, Case studies, Direct marketing, Messaging & Positioning, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Sales and Marketing | No Comments »

Six Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks’ John Moore

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Build a business that’s profitable, makes employees and customers happy and you don’t need to worry about branding. Branding will take care of itself.

These aren’t sentiments you’d expect from a marketer, must less John Moore, who designed and implemented marketing programs for Starbucks Coffee for eight years. But he’s pretty much an authority.

I attended his presentation before Accelerent last week. Special thanks to Brad Powell of JX2 Professional Software Services for the invitation. In his talk, Moore espoused six principles worth consideration—if not embracing—by marketers everywhere. Because he’s a heck of a wordsmith, some of his phrases are repeated here verbatim, or at least close to it. Here are the first three of his six principles:

1. The more obvious you are, the more original you appear…and vice versa. And here’s something particularly compelling for some in the tech marketing world. There’s no such thing as a dull product category. There are only dull brands.

He stressed the importance of earning opinions from your customers. A way to do that: unconventional names for your cup sizes. By taking something common and making it uncommon, you make your customers feel special, citing loyal customers who speak Starbuckian.

2. Be careful when defying your “circle of expectations.” The more obvious you are, the smaller the circle gets. Starbucks’ mark in the sand, as defined by Moore:

· bold coffee (this isn’t Folgers!)

· high quality beans

· not cheap

· non-traditional marketing consisting of locations as billboards and patrons carrying the distinctive cup

· comfortable stores

· engaged employees–another part of the Starbucks experience

The point is that the smaller the circle, the more effective the brand. Starbucks tried milder coffee, cheap coffee, salads, ice cream and other brainstorms that Moore said were unsuccessful because they were outside the circle.

3. If you want to earn customer loyalty, first earn employee loyalty. Your competitors can replicate your products and programs, but they can’t replicate your corporate culture.

Check back later this week for more on Moore’s six principles….

Posted in Advertising, Brand Consulting, Case studies, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Public Relations, Research and studies, Sales and Marketing | 2 Comments »

Avoid B2G Marketing Pitfalls

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Business-to-government (and business-to-business) marketing is most effective when it communicates value. The best B2G marketing is based on compelling content focused on problems solved and clear solutions offered. Read more about why content-rich marketing materials will reign in 2009.

Government decision makers and the corporate C-suite alike tell us all the time that they read resources that help them and their teams be more effective. Examples of such resources include content-rich newsletters, bylined/contributed articles, case studies, blogs, analyst reports, and white papers. For all of your content-driven materials, ask yourself: how does this help the decision maker do his or her job?

The credibility valuable content builds is paramount for companies selling professional services and products to the government. But remember, this initiative won’t be successful if materials are simply sent off blindly to an overflowing inbox of an unwitting recipient. Rather, these resources will serve as door busters for your business develop teams. And they will serve as incentives to use at different points in the sales cycle.

If you don’t have one already, create a library of powerful, valuable materials for your business development team.

Want to learn more about B2G marketing? Join me at The ASBC’s 5^th Anniversary Conference and Gala April 23, 2009 in Vienna, VA. I’ll be presenting on “11 Essential Steps for Marketing to Government.”

Posted in Business to Government Marketing, Case studies, Direct marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Public Relations, Sales and Marketing, Technology Marketing, Webinars, White paper marketing | 2 Comments »

Most Popular

Categories

Options

Feeds

Case studies Category

Domino’s Marketing Tactic–Our Pizza Sucked

Six Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks’ John Moore

Avoid B2G Marketing Pitfalls