Steal These Ideas! E-Book

Steve Cone

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Bloomberg
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 261

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The marketer's guide to standing out from the crowd and connecting with consumers As advertisements become more ubiquitous online and off, the struggle to really capture a customer's attention is heating up. In Steal These Ideas!, Second Edition, Steve Cone, internationally renowned marketing expert, reveals how to resonate with a target audience, providing a fresh perspective riddled with pearls of wisdom and wit. Full of practical ideas that the reader can learn in a matter of hours, and apply successfully to their business for years, Steal These Ideas! proved an instant classic on outside-the-box marketing when it first published in 2005, and this newly revised edition, refreshed for the present day, promises to have the same impact as it's predecessor. * This new edition includes material on social networking, customer loyalty campaigns, building websites, and sending effective email blasts * The book is illustrated throughout with examples of the good, bad, and ugly in advertising * Includes new ideas on how to take full advantage of online marketing and social media * Highlights the art of building an effective loyalty program, the power of public relations and sponsorship, and using a spokesperson * Author Steve Cone is the Executive Vice President of AARP Everything you didn't learn in business school (or in the field), Steal These Ideas! gives marketers the edge in today's fast-paced, oversaturated marketplace.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: Billions and Billions Wasted . . .

McDonald’s Almost Gets It

New Challenges We Face and Five Rules to Live By

What about Political Slogans?

Remember

Chapter 2: Three Hidden Ingredients in Every Winning Promotional Campaign

The Ultimate Help-Wanted Ad

The Early Days of Playboy Magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine

Pan American WorldPass and How Last Became First

Other Quick Airline Stories about Creating Customer Excitement

One for the Gipper

Don’t Leave Home without It

Mr. Whipple

Toppling the Category Leader with One Perfect Sentence

Eggs Overnight

Peter Lynch, Lily Tomlin, and Don Rickles

Chapter 3: What Makes a Brand Successful? How Do You Manage It?

Have a Unique Selling Proposition

Insist on Strong Visual Imagery

You Must Have Innovative and Reliable Products

Memorable and Integrated Advertising—Always

Chapter 4: How to Create a Unique Selling Proposition

Three of My Favorite Unique Selling Propositions

How to Create a USP

Chapter 5: Using a Spokesperson to Maximum Effect

How to Choose the Right Personality

The Remarkable Betty White

Going Hollywood

A Word about Voice-overs

Corporate Mascots

Animated Characters

Animals

The Deceased

But What if My Spokesperson Does Something Really Bad?

Chapter 6: Kill All Art Directors (Well, Not Literally)

Five Tips to Readability

The Great, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Chapter 7: Learn from Magazines While they Still Exist . . .

Imagine Annual Reports that Get Read!

Chapter 8: Do the Reverse of Whatever GM Does

The “Electronic Church” and How It “Outmarketed” Mainstream Religion and What You Can Learn from It

Chapter 9: Less Is More—Now More than Ever

Too Many Choices Are Too Confusing

It’s as Easy as 1, 2, 3

Chapter 10: The Three Most Important Customer Lessons—Especially for the Digital Age

Lesson One: People Renew the Way They Are Acquired

Lesson Two: The Most Critical Time in a New Customer’s Relationship Is Right after Her Immediate Purchase

Lesson Three: Forget Complicated Clusters and Demographics

A Common Mistake You Should Never Make

Hey, But I Sell to Businesses and Not Directly to Consumers

The Guthrie Lesson

Chapter 11: Loyalty Reimagined

Customers Rarely Are Loyal

Is There Any New Thinking in the Loyalty Space?

It’s About Time

Loyalty in the Not-for-Profit World

Chapter 12: The Single Most Powerful Way to Get Customers to Love You

Getting Your Promotional Letter Read or E-Mail Every Time

The Absolute Power of Membership . . . and Something American Express Does Right

Chapter 13: Making Sense of Media Planning

Print Media

Zig When Everyone Else Zags

TV and Radio Placement

You Can Avoid Consumer Ad Skipping

The Next Giant Leap in Ad Watching

Has Radio Seen Its Best Days?

The Internet

Global Media Planning and Placement

Chapter 14: Making Social Networking Work for You

Some Helpful Hints to Capitalize on Social Networking

Financial Considerations

Questions I Am Asked about the Future Direction of Media

Pacing Is Important

Chat Rooms and Blogging

Texting, Messaging, and Mobile

Chapter 15: E-mauled—How to Avoid Consumer Rage

Steve’s Three Tips to Better E-mail Interaction with Consumers

Chapter 16: Web Wasted—Don’t You

Something No One Else Ever Does

Chapter 17: No One Ever Bought Anything from an English Professor

We Are Wired as a Species to Say Yes!

Chapter 18: Leveraging Boomer Power and More

Eight Other Predictions Marketers Can Count On

Minorities Becoming Majorities

Marketing to the Sexes

Sports

Looking Good for Good

Chapter 19: Jingles All the Way

What Is a Jingle, and How Is It Used and Misused?

Make a Jingle Work for You

Can a Well-Known Song Define a Product?

A New Term for Spoken Taglines

We Have Lost Our Way

Chapter 20: The Future of Marketing

MPP Will Make Customer Service Phone Operators Unnecessary

Does PR Have a Role in a World of Instant Communication?

You

Tips on Interacting with Reporters

What About Investor Relations?

Do Sponsorships Make Sense Anymore—Did They Ever?

Chapter 21: How to be a Marketing Star

Managing Your Staff

How to Manage an Ad Agency So You Both Succeed

What We Take for Granted We Shouldn’t—Great Writing

Chapter 22: Eight Tips to Being More Creative

Chapter 23: Steal these Secrets Now

About the Author

Index

Since 1996, Bloomberg Press has published books for financial professionals, as well as books of general interest in investing, economics, current affairs, and policy affecting investors and business people. Titles are written by well-known practitioners, BLOOMBERG NEWS® reporters and columnists, and other leading authorities and journalists. Bloomberg Press books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

For a list of available titles, please visit our web site at www.wiley.com/go/bloombergpress.

Copyright © 2012 by Steve Cone. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Cone, Steve, 1950-

Steal these ideas!: marketing secrets that will make you a star / Steve Cone.—2nd ed.

p. cm.— (Bloomberg; 144)

Includes index.

ISBN 978–1–118–00444–9 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-470-88304-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-88382-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-88507-9 (ebk)

1. Marketing. I. Title.

HF5415.C54738 2011

658.8—dc23

2011021458

To Cliff

Father and Son. Pals Forever.

INTRODUCTION

“What do we do now?”

This question is reverberating throughout the land in businesses large and small as America and the overall global economy sit mired in a protracted weak economic recovery as the “Great Recession” recedes ever so slowly. But before you reach for your fourth scotch of the night or plug in a Valium drip, why not relax a bit and get ready to focus. Focus on the few simple but powerful marketing techniques that never change regardless of the ever-changing marketing landscape and the digital world that envelops us today.

This second edition of Steal These Ideas! can help any size business not only stay in business but even prosper as the competition falters and in some cases fail.

Indeed, there is nothing like seemingly endless drab economic conditions for businesses to hone in on what really drives sales and a growing bottom line. You can forget all the theory, all the pie charts, all the organizational consultants, and, yes, the vast majority of those who teach marketing in universities and business schools. What you should remember are four simple Steve Cone marketing maxims:

1. Your brand is a promise that delivers an experience—hopefully, a unique and value-added one.

2. Marlboro has been the leading cigarette brand by far since 1955, and you don’t have to sell a politically incorrect product to achieve this type of success.

3. Do the reverse of whatever GM does.

4. Social networking started 10,000 years ago. We can learn a lot from its humble beginnings.

I will elaborate on these four points throughout the chapters that make up this new edition.

Phil Kotler, one of the best-known marketing professors of all time once proclaimed, “Marketing takes a day to learn but a lifetime to master.” I disagree that successful marketing outcomes must take many years to perfect, because what makes a company grow, even in extremely difficult economic times, is a realization that job one and two and three is to ramp up direct communication with your very best customers or potential customers and get them to brag to friends and family and even strangers about why your company stands out from the pack and deserves their business now and in the future.

I have good news. Unlike other eras of slow-growth economies like the early 1980s, marketers today have the database and communication tools to wow customers and qualified prospects in a highly efficient and cost-effective manner.

And, ironically, a world-class example of the power of digital-age marketing comes not from the commercial sector but from the political world. While other candidates in the last presidential election fumbled and bumbled around, the Obama team used simple-to-understand techniques to outmarket the competition. I will give concrete examples of how to follow this same path for your product or service. And I will do more than that—I will also show what type of promotions to totally avoid and why. And more than that—the simple techniques that can be slam-dunks for your business in the digital age or any age.

Like my first book, this one is a quick read. It gives you a lot of new material not covered or only briefly mentioned in the first edition. Also, you will again be able to see a marked improvement in your company’s sales almost immediately by following my advice and guidance. Very few of the ideas revealed are purely original thinking—after all, who wants that? What you want and will get is advice that has been proven to work over and over again and yet today is not widely understood or practiced.

Fundamentally, you will learn how simple and straightforward it is to create promotions with immediate and lasting impact that increase sales and enhance customer loyalty in the process. All of the techniques you can “steal” in the chapters to follow are straightforward and for the most part right out of that Psychology 101 class you snored through your freshman year in college.

But now it is time to wake up. In fact, it’s past time.

Steve Cone

New York City

June 2011

CHAPTER 1

BILLIONS AND BILLIONS WASTED...

I have the opportunity a few times a year to be a guest speaker at chamber of commerce events across America where local business owners pay a few bucks to enjoy a decent lunch or dinner and listen to me telling them that the size of a business has zero correlation to marketing prowess. In fact, most of the multinational world-class brands waste billions of dollars every year trying to establish a permanent beachhead in consumers’ minds with brand promises (taglines) that gain no traction and no home in a single memory cell among the billions that we each possess.