I’m so excited to kick-off this weekend, because it’s the start to my Spring Break! I’m hoping to enjoy some nice weather, time with my husband, and “re-charging” in general, as I’m starting to approach burn-out. Here’s a few great reads to prepare for the weekend:
I’m probably a terrible marketer, because my brand loyalty is pretty terrible. Case in point: I’ve bought vouchers from Groupon, TravelZoo, and LivingSocial, and if Amazon puts one out that piques my interest, I’ll happily buy one from them too. The thing is, my loyalties seem to lie with one product in particular: Brazilian Steakhouses. Man, I love Brazilian Steakhouses, and I’ve now purchased 3 vouchers to Brazilian Steakhouses.
The thing is, in a first-world country, everything is so well-made that selling something on “quality” is going to be a pretty hard sell. Especially for people like my husband and I, who read a lot of frugality, personal finance, early retirement blogs (see many of the link recommendations in the Friday posts!). I’ve found that most of the generic products work just as well as the branded products. What’s funny, though, is that many of the generic products have started their own branding! Take Archer Farms, Target’s “generic” brand. They have nice packaging, and bill themselves as a premium product, even though, in theory they are “the other guy”. When generics first became popular, you saved money because items had no packaging, no advertising, no logo, nothing. You could buy a plain white bag labeled “chips” in plain black font, or “shampoo” in a plain black bottle with plain white lettering. But now, the generics have appealing pictures, catchy product names, and they occupy prime shelf space, often infringing on the SKU territory of their branded rivals.
All this to say, my loyalties are starting to lie with a type of product, not a logo. I still want the logo on some things, like Band-Aids. The generics literally don’t stick, at all, for more than 2 minutes! And, I do recognize differences in quality for clothes and make-up, but I guess I’ve found that most clothing in my price range is pretty much the same quality. Most make-up in my price range is all but equal. But canned vegetables? Give me the generics every time! And vouchers to Brazilian Steakhouses…. you don’t see any discrimination from me!
Social media connects our society in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. You can literally stay connected to friends, family, and perfect strangers around the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s incredible that we live in a time when people have so much access to information at such a low cost. But, with great power comes great responsibility, and I’ve been thinking about some of the unfortunate side effects of this connectivity.
Social media has a lot of positive aspects for marketers and society at large. We can use it to improve our bottom line via data mining, “engaging in conversation”, and monitoring and measuring the buzz about our brand in the market place. Facebook marketers are working to use information on your profile to display ads tailored specifically for you. The informal days of Gallup Polls are becoming obsolete, since we can just check out the hashtags on Twitter for a quick read on the pulse of politics. You’ve got several social media platforms influencing human rights around the world. In short, we’re connected, informed, and using the vast network to our advantage, and I believe that’s largely a good thing.
However, what happens when our lives online pose risks to our lives in real life? How bad can it get when our most private selves are “outed” online, and our deepest fears realized after “help” from social media? For example, this woman’s attacker showed up on her doorstep… several times. The author questions whether he found her via a profile on Spokeo, a site that aggregates all your online data into an easily accessible profile (note that she states this information is not available online, but the premise of the site is that it uses information from the internet). What happens when governments punish those who criticize them on social media platforms? At what point do we question whether everyone knowing our every move is healthy? What about cyber bullying (the many cases of teen suicide reported as a result of Facebook posts), streaming illicit content to thousands of people (the case of suicide and reputations ruined after being unknowingly taped during a compromising situation), or tweeting unfounded complaints to a million followers (threatening business to give in to your demands or suffer the consequences of a blow to their brand).
Then there’s the ugly, literally. This Forbes article talks about girls posting videos on YouTube to ask if they are fat, ugly, or pretty. Have we really turned into a society that forces us to seek validation from perfect strangers? Do our youth have such low self-esteem that they must take to social media to connect with their “friends”? Is a high Klout score really all there is to achieve in life? There are real concerns that people becoming so obsessed with connecting online, that they’re forgoing or harming connections in real life.
I think all of the benefits and concerns about social media need to be addressed, and I think it’s fascinating how quickly and completely social media has altered our relationships, both professional and personal. How do we go about making laws, relationships, and business plans with all the complex issues that connectivity brings to light? How do we continue to ensure that our progress is doing more good than harm?
The invitation I made for a going away party for a friend!
The inside of the invitation.
I spent the weekend making invitations for a going away party for a friend. My mom is an awesome card-maker, and she had a gorgeous card sitting on the shelf last time I was there, so I decided that I wanted to use the design for my friend’s invitations. My mom and I have a habit of taking apart pretty cards or invitations we receive in the mail, always trying to figure out how the design works. So, true to myself (and my mom, I get it honestly!), I studied the design and came up with my own modification. Turns out, my modification took about 10x longer to complete than the original design. There were two tricks that I couldn’t figure out, and unfortunately, my mom wasn’t in town to show them to me. When she returned, I showed her my Saturday’s worth of work, and explained how I’d made my invitations. My solution was pretty clever, but her knowledge would’ve made the work much faster. So, what does this tale of design failure have to do with the office?
First, working backwards doesn’t always work! Sometimes you need to understand the steps at the beginning, and the logic behind them, in order to come up with an elegant solution. This is particularly true in branding. A lot of companies want to come up with some cool logo or concept, and then force the brand to fit that concept. But, it doesn’t work this way! You have to start at the beginning, take a look at the market and customer’s needs, then formulate the product and concept, then design the branding message and visuals that best represent your solution.
Second, use an expert, and use all the tools available to you. A professional designer taught my mom how to make the card I saw on the shelf, and had my mom been in town, she would’ve taught me. But even when she started showing me how to make the design, I wanted to forgo one of the tools, because I thought I could do it better all by myself. Turns out, using the tools made the assembly of the design much faster. Don’t assume that the experts don’t know what they’re doing, and don’t assume that the tools are actually a time suck. Sometimes, the process has already been optimized, and trying to re-invent the wheel is silly. This has been particularly applicable in my company’s attempts to customize an open-source CRM system “for free”. There’s companies with products that are fine-tuned, yet we keep trying to tweak a whole new solution! We’re not willing to use the tools available, so while it’s been a valuable learning experience, it has taken much longer to see results.
Last, you have to keep an open mind when trying to figure out the next best solution. My design style is somewhat haphazard when I first start formulating a concept. I need to see everything to start coming up with an action plan, and it’s pretty hilarious to watch. I walk in, pull out every piece of paper, ribbon, ink, and die cut that I think could possible work, and throw them all over the floor. I then walk around and start pairing the items that will work together, and tossing all the unwanted items into another pile. After several “random” culling sessions, the pile that’s left is what I will use to make the design. Though that process is haphazard and frenzied, I’m a machine once I’ve made the choices. I am laser-focused, and I don’t get sidetracked by other fun design rabbit holes (the time for tangents was during the pull and sort phase!) My mom, on the other hand, is very calculated in her initial design specs, and she only pulls the items that specifically match the specs. But, once she starts assembling the parts, she gets distracted by the modifications that she could make to her design. Our process is different, but when we work together, we try to keep an open mind. Our combined design styles generally turn out to be beautiful, and between the two of us, our experience usually helps us figure out a way to do it better, faster, and less wastefully. The same is true in business! You need to keep an open mind, and mesh decision-making processes to come up with the next best solution. Does one department throw everything on the wall and see what sticks? Does another hunker down the analyze the numbers? Can you combine the knowledge gained from both approaches to create a “whole is greater than the sum of the parts” effect?
My design fail reminded me of the importance of using all the tools, knowledge and experience available to me, both in the scrapbooking room and in the office!
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a link round-up, but I’ve been so busy in real life, I haven’t had much time to lurk in the blogosphere! However, I’ve read some great articles this week, so here’s a few links to kick off your weekend:
For those intending to cook at home more often, via How Sweet It Is: New Recipes (fair warning: DO NOT look at this blog while you’re hungry, you’ll just be torturing yourself!)
Like the links? Follow me on Twitter for links and blog posts every day!
Readers, if you haven’t been to grocery store or a gas station lately, heads up! The Cadbury cream eggs are back! For a limited time only! No, but seriously, they really are here for a limited time only, hence the title, “Scarcity Revisited”. I wrote a post about the Starbucks seasonal offerings a few months ago, and seeing the Cadbury egg put scarcity right in the front of my mind.
The scarcity effect makes people radically alter their behavior. My husband is in a body building phase, so he’s on a strict diet and exercise regimen to craft the optimal physique. And, he’s hardcore… counting calories, graphs, intermittent fasting, the works. Guess what got to him? That’s right, the Cadbury cream egg. And, it wasn’t just one bite… no, he had to buy three, because they were on sale, buy 2-get 1 free. So, now we’ve got scarcity AND “deal” syndrome kicking his calorie-counting, well-sculpted butt! (Sorry, but the guy has been doing a ridiculous amount of squats, if I’m going to mention him in the article, I should make note of the effects of his training. That and the phrasing just works for that sentence, so it’s a win all around. Just sayin’!). Humans are hard-wired to see “deal” and “limited time” and automatically start into purchase mode. Sure, we know that the cream eggs will be around again next year, and at most places, they cost less than a dollar, so the savings isn’t a huge sum. But, it’s not necessarily about the money or the timing, it’s about the overwhelming need to make sure we don’t miss out on an opportunity.
Scarcity is a great tool for marketers, and in this case, it worked as intended: they picked up new customers who wouldn’t otherwise have made a purchase from the brand. What “limited time” offer broke your New Year’s resolution?
Consciously Corporate 