This Little Piggy Went to Market...
and Became Bacon

Traditional marketing doesn’t work anymore – and what to do about it

© 2005 by David Newman

“Traditional marketing is not dying – it’s dead.” That’s what former Chief Marketing Officer for the Coca-Cola Company Sergio Zyman concludes in his book, The End of Marketing as We Know It.

He goes on to say, “Old style marketing is dead. It is as dead as Elvis. Perhaps its handlers have propped it up in a chair. Maybe those who depend on old-style marketing the most – the big advertising agencies and the major television networks – have wired up the cadaver to massive marketing budgets, so they get a flinch or kick out of it every once in a while. But there is no more singing and dancing. The music has died. Marketing as we have known it is over.”

Zyman’s opinion is interesting. But how does it affect you, your marketing, and your company? And most importantly – what can you do about it?

Most companies (yours, perhaps?) mistakenly believe that because they have a good product or service – and they are spending money on marketing and advertising – they will get all the clients and customers they need flocking to the door. They go to market and get …slaughtered.

If traditional marketing is dead, then what killed it and what took its place? In one word: Strategy. Simply put, it’s no longer about what you say. It’s about what you do and how you do it that attracts customers.

Before your little piggy goes to market, think about these five strategic business questions. Answer them. Share them with your marketing people, salespeople, product development people, and executives. Use them to start conversations about what might really work to attract the right kinds of customers.

WARNING: The answers may be scary. The answers may lead you to change the very business you thought you were in. The answers may even make some people in your organization (you?) very uncomfortable. But it’s a lot less uncomfortable than wasting
any more resources on traditional marketing that just plain doesn’t work anymore. OK, you’ve been warned.

1. Are we filling a unique need? Does the world need another business like yours? Why? What (specifically) is the need? Can you fill it differently? How?

Several years ago, Rooms To Go opened in Florida. It was a furniture store with a twist. For example, they set up a whole living room arrangement: the couch, loveseat, tables, lamps, pictures – the works. The difference was in how they sold it. People could buy all these priced individually or get the “room to go” for $2199. People would go in and pick out an entire room! Everything matched. It was sold as a package. Brilliant spin on an old idea. Rooms To Go didn’t believe “people need another place to buy furniture.” They believed they could “make it easy and hassle free to buy furniture.” So what need is your company filling that is unique?

2. What will our customer experience be like? What do you want the customer to feel like during and after doing business with your company? Rewarded? Happy? Moved? Safe? Smart? Hip? Passionate? What are the experience elements of your product or service? How can you build more in?

It is essential to design your environments, processes, and products around the vision of what the customer experiences. Ever been to a Whole Foods Market? You go in and are surrounded by fresh organic fruit, open space, fresh bread baking, smiling clerks and beautiful lighting and it makes you feel healthy. Compare that experience to waiting at a car dealership in the customer waiting room and sitting on a dirty seat watching a TV that half works and reading dog-eared magazines. That environment would make people feel underappreciated and like they needed a shower. Think about creating an experience.

3. How can we kill the competition? One of your real challenges is how to beat competitors who are bigger, meaner, and richer than you are. Where are their weaknesses? Where can you fill a gap? How can you move in on an opportunity more quickly to fill a need that they can’t, won’t, or don’t even see?

Every small retailer today is complaining about Wal-Mart kicking their butt up and down the street, and a lot of Mom and Pop stores are getting put out of business. Let’s look at a Mom and Pop pharmacy. How can they compete? If you can’t compete on price, compete on personality and the extra touches. Do home deliveries. Have a physician advice line. Have free blood pressure monitoring. In season, do flu shots. Have pharmacists that actually know the customers by name. Have coloring contests and cookies and juice every Saturday for kids (and grandkids). In short, do all the things an agile smaller company can do that the big behemoth can’t. So figure out what you can do to kick the competition up and down the street. Once you have all this down, then you can think about doing some advertising (maybe).

4. How can we advertise wisely – or not at all? If you are a plumber (like every other plumber), then an ad in the Yellow Pages may make sense. If, on the other hand, you start a company called Plumb Crazy which sends out professionally licensed and insured plumbers in wacky clown suits and retro trucks painted with psychedelic colors, dispatched to your door within 2 hours of your phone call, then you’re onto something much bigger than the Yellow Pages. This is much more likely to generate buzz. Which is just a cool sounding way of referring to word-of-mouth advertising that spreads like wildfire. Not sure how to create buzz? Well, here’s a clue: it’s not about clever names, cute taglines, creative ads, or trying to seem different. It’s about being different – truly different – at your very core. And then fully expressing that difference in everything you do for customers. Sometimes the best way to get your message to people is to shut up and let your customers do the talking for you!

5. Are we marketing to people who are already listening? It is very, very hard to market your product or service to everyone. And frankly, not everyone needs or wants what you’re selling. That’s just hard reality.

But there is a core demographic that is already tuned in. They don’t need convincing. They’re just waiting to hear from you about what’s new, what you’re up to, and how they can buy some. Aren’t those people worth reaching out to? Of course they are. Do you know who they are and how to reach them? Hmmm.... let’s think about that one.

You could start with your existing customers. You could create an email list. You could integrate “Tell a friend” forwarding into your emails and web pages. You could offer referral bonuses of exclusive items or discounts. You could develop your existing fans into raving fans and multiply your sales and marketing effectiveness by 100, 500, or 1000 times. You could host events. You could create an award. In short, you could (and should) make a big splash in a small pond.

A friend of mine is a klezmer (traditional Jewish music) bandleader. He cut a CD. He wanted to market it. He went to all the major CD chain stores in town and did, in fact, convince them to carry his CD in both the “Local artists” section and the “World music” section. Zero sales. Meanwhile, he took out a small classified ad in a Jewish newspaper that had a highly focused readership – namely, Jewish people. His mailbox was soon stuffed with orders and checks. Market to people who are already tuned to your channel!

Marketing, shmarketing! Traditional marketing is dead. Long live marketing smart.

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