Transcript TTMiB - Drills

now let’s have some fun!
The Red/Blue Drill
Testing RoadTek's
Customer Focus
Take some marketing documents, representative of different kinds of
work (for example, a planning document, a positioning document,
a brochure or your web site).
Using two different-colour highlighters, go through these documents
and highlight in one colour words that refer to you, your products or
your company; then repeat the process, highlighting in the other
colour words that refer to your customer.
A customer focused marketing organisation would produce the results
where the page is filled with customer-focused words, and is
almost empty of product focused words.
Is RoadTek Product or Customer focussed?
The So What Drill
Determing the Real Value
of RoadTek Products
Here's an exercise to gain a real understanding of what value you bring
to your customer. You’ll need a partner.
One of you answers the question: "what does your product (or company)
do?" You say "So what?" Your partner has to answer that question by
explaining why his previous answer has importance to the marketplace.
When he does, you say "So what?" And your partner has to answer
again.
This goes on until you reach some absolutely fundamental value for
which there is no answer to "So what?" And providing that value whatever it turns out to be - is what your product or company really does.
The What They Do Drill
Finding the Right Path
to Product Evolution
Figuring out the direction to take your product is difficult. It requires
time, and process, and research. But you can't commission research
until you have some set of hypotheses you need to validate. Here's a
way to develop them.
Pose the question: "what do our customers do when they buy our
product." Start from the moment they determine a need to the moment
they discard your product for whatever reason.
To the best of your ability, chart every step, every movement they
take. Not just as it directly touches you, but as it touches on that total
experience of which you are part.
Now, for each discrete step you've been able to chart, ask yourself: is
there some way this can be made easier or better for them?
The Marketing Synapse Drill
Finding the hidden
Marketing Opportunities
Our marketing dynamic comprises many individual moments when we have
a receptive marketplace to which you can present a message.
We call these "marketing synapses" Synapses occur constantly, and many
of them are hidden. Here's a way to uncover them.
Examine our buying cycle. From the moment the customer determines a
need to the moment they discard the fully consumed product or service.
Track each movement within that cycle, every moment of communication
about our company or product. Ask yourself who the actor is, what action
they are taking, what the best outcome for that action might be, and if that
outcome has any marketing value to you.
Create a table with the following column heads:
ACTOR
ACTION
IDEAL OUTCOME
MARKETING VALUE
Now, take each individual moment in the buying cycle and break it down
into the elements it comprises. If you determine that the optimal
outcome from the moment has marketing value to you, then you can
allocate budget to reach that outcome, the more value, the more budget.
Here's a sample that illustrates how you might track the simple moment in
time when your technical specifications are reviewed by an engineer to
make sure they're compatible with existing infrastructure.
Acme builds industrial canning equipment, which is integrated into an
overall automated canning assembly line. It is one piece of equipment in a
series of equipment (labellers, packers, sealers and so forth).
Early on in the Buying Cycle, a very simple step occurs. The technical
specifications for Acme's canner are handed to the prospect to ensure that
it meets required standards, and can be integrated into the assembly
system. From the point of view of the Sales Cycle, this is a no-brainer,
two-event process: the handoff of the specs, and then the call saying the
equipment is up to specification and an advance to the next meeting.
But from the point of view of the Buying Cycle, this is a more complex set
of dynamics, some of which may have marketing value. Here's the
breakdown.
BUYING CYCLE DYNAMIC - ENGINEERING REVIEW OF SPECIFICATIONS
ACTOR
ACTION
IDEAL OUTCOME
MARKETING VALUE
Prospect contact
Request delivery
of specs
Acme receives and
acknowledges request
None
Acme Sales Rep
Email specs
to engineer
Specs are received without error
None
Engineer
Initial review for
completeness
Engineer notices that the specs
are well organized and complete
Positioning
Engineer
Detailed review
Meets requirements
None
Engineer
Hand off to Highly enthusiastic response
Branding
prospect contact
about quality of the delivery
Prospect Contact
Deliver OK to Acme
Advance to next meeting
None
Acme has determined that two of these have marketing value:
1. Well organised and complete specifications create a positive impression
on the reviewer, developing a position as a "buttoned down" company.
2. An enthusiastic response from the reviewer creates positive brand in
the prospect.
Now, these two are both focused on the same actor: the reviewing
engineer. The marketing strategy is to position the company in the mind of
that reviewer, such that when he submits his review, he accompanies it
with some kind of "extra" enthusiasm for Acme. That enthusiasm is the
marketing message you're going after; coming from a highly credible
source, it will add positive branding in the mind of the prospect contact.
A manageable marketing challenge to which we can deploy reasonable
tactics.