Archive for April, 2009
“You’re not selling a commodity unless you want to.”
This short quote from Seth Godin says it all. These days, availability is a fact of life in every area—from the ultra-competitive big box model to mass product delivery systems. But does that mean we must resign ourselves to accept the identity of “commodity broker”?
You’ll find five different definitions of the word “commodity” in the Merrian-Webster Online Dictionary. Here’s one: “a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (as brand name) other than price”
Or how about this from Investopedia: ”When a product becomes indistinguishable from others like it and consumers buy on price alone, it becomes a commodity.”
Is that really all you can say for your product? Is what you are selling truly indistinguishable from all others? If I walked into your corporate headquarters and said: “Because you clearly have no service to speak of, no quality assurance, no experience in the field that will assure me that spending my money with you is the smartest bet for my business … let’s just talk price.”
Would you go meekly into a proposal based on dollars and cents or would you explain to me the specific ways in which I had your brand wrong?
The day after Earth Day: Now what
From its grass roots origin in the 70s to today’s “mission from God” magnitude, Earth Day reminds us that we must become better stewards of our environment … and prompts us to make changes in our personal behaviors that collectively contribute significantly to the health of the planet.
But, how do we know what to do? There’s tons of information out there … always has been. But until recently, essential data were at best tucked away in science journals requiring advanced degrees in chemistry to comprehend—or at worst deliberately hidden from public view.
Priceless Impression
I recently received a promotional piece for photographer Jim Gallop from artist agent Jim Hanson. He handed me a plain brown outer box approximately 14×7. I opened it to find another box. This one was not so plain. This one was gorgeous. As I slipped off the full-bleed printed velum sleeve, my creative brain was just starting its journey. There were embossed headlines, gold foil type, great crossovers, beautifully shot photographs and a design to make the best among us envious.
Now for the interactive part.
Sliding the ends of the box opened a two-piece outer shell and reveals the contents within. Stunning photography of the old west, seen with a modern lens. There, nestled in two gold-rimmed recesses, were two decks of playing cards. Each thoughtfully crafted, and featuring great quotes. The playing cards themselves had the feeling of being right off the table of a poker game in the 1800’s. Printed on each of the aces were understated promotions for the photographer, the agent, the designers, Maverick Design and the printer, Carlson Print Group.
Many universities are nearing capacity. Now what?
CBS Sunday News aired a report recently that noted many state universities are seeing admissions applications increase as a result of private schools’ escalating tuition and other fees. This is putting pressure on their ability to accept those students and house them. A few months ago on WGN radio (Chicago), the University of Illinois chancellor noted that they were nearing capacity and intending to increase their partnership with Illinois community colleges to take some relief by providing first and second year students a solid first start to their undergraduate program—and have them transfer later to finish their coursework.
This should be welcome news to regional state universities and community colleges desiring an increase in enrollment.
Another argument for segmentation
Where was it that I was reading last week that segmentation may not be worth the effort? I honestly don’t remember. I saw the headline and skipped right over it because I’ve demonstrated the cost/benefit ratio time and time again. But now I have a new argument for the sceptics: segment your email and you can help save the planet! ABC News is reporting today that the energy spent sending out 62 trillion spam emails last year could have powered 2.4 million homes for a year. McAfee, of information security fame, is behind the insight, and I have to say it’s an angle I never considered. Net return on investment: conserve energy, use marketing budget more effectively, and demonstrate good corporate citizenship. (Dear CFO, can I have a few more bucks for my marketing budget this year? I gotta great idea!)
EPA ruling has my phone ringing
Big news! The EPA has ruled that C02 is an air pollutant that they are “legally bound to regulate”. Andy Stone reports that it’s “a decision likely to have a vast impact on the U.S. economy and the way American companies do business. It is also a boon for cleantech, and may turn investors away from carbon intensive industries for good.”
So I just hung up the phone with a B2B client who wanted to know what my thoughts were on this. (She knows that I hail from an environmentalist enclave in the Pacific Northwest, and she teases me when I drop my gum wrapper in the recycle bin. What can I say – it must have been something in the artesian spring water I drank growing up.) Anyway, she’s concerned because several of her biggest clients may be impacted…I told her that now might be a good time for some targeted research to assess impact and opportunity. But now that I think about it, that’s good advice for any company at any time, really.
