When is it Time to Change the Status Quo?

This post focuses on only one aspect of business, change or the need for change with the introduction of social media.  Change is a difficult decision because a majority of people do not like change.  A lot of businesses are changing their approach in reaching customers and are venturing out into new social media markets.  While others are weary of this change and keep doing the same thing.  There are three contradicting approaches to businesses.

The first is don't fix what isn't broken; keep doing the same thing until it no longer works.  These are the businesses who have steady sales and wait to change something until they need to.  This is a dangerous approach where you are waiting for something to go wrong before you fix it.  Instead of repairing a small leak they wait until it bursts and turns into a flood.

The second approach is stay with the times; do what the other businesses are doing.  Once your competitor(s) is successful on Twitter or Facebook you join in social media as well.  With this approach you remain close to the competition but always a step behind.  That wait gives you the extra time to see how the new strategy is working for the competition so you can adopt their strategy, alter it, or ignore it.

The third approach is to be a trend-setter and a first mover.  This approach is being the first to get and use the latest technology or strategy.  They might be unproven and risky but that extra risk may hold a great reward.  By being the first mover you will have a step up on the competition, one in which they might never catch up.  With this or any approach it is important to not only adopt the new (social media) tools but to stay current with the changes and evolution of those tools.

So which approach works best, that will depend on your industry and companies preference.  Each approach has its pros and cons, some more than others.  But in this current environment of constant change keeping everything the same is at the very least not going to improve your business.  You don't need to make a big change, in fact it is better to continually make numerous small changes. People tend not to like change especially a large change, many small changes help ease the transitions.  There is no perfect business, formula, or strategy each and everyone can be improved and refined.  By remaining content with the status quo you are hurting your chances for growth and improvement.

A similar blog post talking about change (or lack of) from Inoveryourhead.net

Which strategy does you or your company use?  Is their another approach?  When should or do you make a change to how you or your company operates?  This post mostly applies for marketing, advertising and sales, what other areas would fit?


Photo Credit to Chapendra

Brand Loyalty - A Symbiotic Relationship

Brand Loyalty is something that is established at an early age.

From commercials for what cereal to eat to what shows you watch for what products to buy. The relationship with the brand grows and strengthens over time, as does your loyalty. The loyalty you show the brand is returned with continued great service and

products. Many brands have also established loyalty programs for their valued customers.

For the quality brands your relationship strengthens over time and the brand already has a product or service for you in your next stage in life. For instance McDonald's, they have a happy meal for when you are young and meals for when you get to old for a happy meal. Other brands don't have this ease of transition. Once you reach your a cut off age where that brand is no longer cool or popular there is nothing more that the brand can offer you. All that brand loyalty that was built over the years has vanished. A personal example was my younger brother who loved Barney, he had Barney & Friends toys, games, clothes, bed sheets. But once he reached that age where Barney wasn't cool he got rid of all of that.

What could Barney have done?

Not much could have been done when you focus on an age demographic and have no follow up once they get beyond that age range. Once the brand locked themselves in with the 1-8 age range they were stuck with it. They could have attempted to make a spin off show for an older audience of 5-12 to run with the original. But with such a narrow demographic the brand was doomed for a cliff of brand loyalty. Some brands that managed a better job are the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus brand with a larger demographic and numerous complementing industries. The brand has movies, music, video games, clothes, jewelry and much more that appeals to a wider age range than the original brand. Two other brands are my childhood favorites of Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For me I started with the cartoons at a young age, 5 or 6, and expanded into their toys. Over time expanding further with their video games and movies. With the additional arenas for me to follow the brands to my loyalty and fandom grew and expanded.

Ways brands can destroy the relationship.

There are many ways of destroying the relationship and loyalty.

1. No Room to Grow -As stated above one way you can destroy the brand loyalty is by not having a way to continue to evolve the relationship once it reaches a point (age range or end of brand product line).
2. Poor Customer Service/ Brand Deterioration - can whittle away at the established brand loyalty as described by Scott Stratten in his blog post Why I changed my coffee religion.
3. The Competition has Arrived - Someone else has came and has a bigger, better, and/ or cheaper product or service. But if you have brand loyalty they should wait for you to come out with a similar product, as long as you let them know.
4. Any others I have missed besides these big three let me know.

What brands are you loyal to and why? What have they done that others haven't?

If you enjoyed this post you can read my post on Brand Value - It changes with the tide

Photo Credit to ArbyReed

Interactivity in Ads

Ads need to attract but more importantly be relevant
While waiting for some games to load an ad will pop up and more frequently I am seeing that these ads are trying to have me do something whether its move my mouse or click on something and I still ignore it like any other ad. Or on Hulu when I am offered a choice of which commercial I want to see, or if I want one long commercial to start or smaller ones throughout. I rarely care which option I take. Why?? Because like most commercials I have no need or interest in the product and the ad doesn't relate to me. They remind me of the spam banners that flash you are the 500000th visitor and have won something click here now. Or the shoot the ducks, which celebrity is this.... and while it does attract my attention I know better then to bother and click on it. The few ads I bother to click on are relevant to the topic that I am reading on or have an interest too. They also offer me something whether it is a discount or additional information.

The few commercials I pay attention to on TV are... hmm let me think... none I either change the channel or do something else like catch up on twitter. There are some commercials I enjoy, for instance the Old Spice "I'm on a horse" commercial. The commercials are entertaining first and foremost, they rarely make me go that extra step from being informed of the product to wanting the product and almost never to the final step of purchasing the product. Most commercials for things that interest me I will see somewhere else, usually online. These commercials are usual previews for video games, movies, and television shows which are available online for when I want to watch them.

Instance of interactivity in a relevant ad

The new Iron Man 2 trailer is embedded below is the main reason for this post. I hope that you either read through or skipped to this part. I saw this ad posted on Scifi wire which I read because I follow their twitter feed. This is a great use of interactivity it provides the user (me) addition information and an enhanced experience which makes me more interested in the product (Iron Man 2). This is a good way to increase interest while attracting attention. I prefer getting more information rather then just moving a mouse or clicking somewhere to continue an ad, boring. This allows the user to take control of their experience and can do as much or as little as they want. This can be used in many other ads to provide the user a unique experience and the ability to get more information.

I may add to this at a later date or make another more detailed and better laid out blog in the future. This was a quick type and post.

Would you like to see more ads like this? Will this type of ad be short lived? Will the interactivity become ignored like many ads are? Any other comments?

Marketing Idea: College Video Game Tourney

Large Marketing Budgets for upcoming games, even larger for the highly anticipated titles.
Video game companies invest a large amount of time, money, and effort in upcoming games and new releases. This is so the interest and awareness is there, but isn't the awareness already there. Avid gamers already know the release date to the titles they want, from numerous magazines, tv shows, web shows, websites, posters, store listings, and blog posts. Most of which cost the companies little to nothing for advertisements.

Should the advertising and marketing budgets be cut?
No if anything the budgets should be increased. A larger investment in advertising and marketing will result in more sales. Their is a point when more advertising will not result in more sales. Tradition advertising does work but more can be done to improve sales and awareness. Bungie and Microsoft spent over 250 million on the creation and promotion of Halo 3. This allowed for one of the best first day sales ever, as well as the best selling game in 2007. What should happen is the budgets should be adjusted to allow for new ideas and avenues for advertising.

One idea would be for hosting a video game tournament at college(s) around the country.
Taking 10 million from the budget, or cutting the number of commercials by as little as 10 airings could cover setting up and running a tournament at a large college. College students are one of the main demographics of video game players. Video game tournaments have been around since the days of the arcade machines. Many movies about video games and tournaments have been made including The Wizard showed the popular Nintendo World Champion Tournament. Tournaments are continually becoming more popular with profession circuits, teams, advertisements, fans, in all aspects a sport.

Tournament logistics for a successful event:

• The tournament should be held on a campus with the resources and size to be able to host a large gaming tournament in both space and utilities.
  
• The tournament should be the weekend prior to the release date, this will allow for fair play, the game will be completed, as well as the most "buzz" will be generated.
  
• There will be a tournament entry fee and prizes similar to other cash tournaments.
  
• Each participant will have 1 hour practice time to get accustomed to the controls of the new game and strategize.
• The platforms and games will be provided for the tournament from Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo.
• The number provided will be dependent on the number of entrants and size of campus but between 100 and 200 platforms and copies of the game.
• The televisions will be rented out as well as anything else that is required.
  
• The game chosen will be one with multiplayer, a highly anticipated release, and can have quick yet detailed matches.
• The format will follow standard cash tournament setup with matches, eliminations, and rules.
• Held once a semester, at different campuses.
  

Simplified Logistics
Basically the rules and set up will follow those of other cash tournaments. The systems, games, and anything else that is needed will be rented or provided from the game system's company, who ever the tourney is for. The game will be one that will be released in the upcoming week and has multiplayer.

Halo 3 Tournament: What could have been
As stated earlier Halo 3 had one of the largest budgets for a video game. There was a lot of press for the release of the game and numerous parties. Bungie and Microsoft could have also held a video game tournament with Halo 3 the weekend prior to its release at one of numerous colleges. This tournament would have brought numerous popular video game all stars to the event and press coverage. College students would also attend and compete and the hosting college and city would receive a large amount of press and increased revenues from the travelers and event. For the cost of about 10 national commercials Microsoft could have paid for the tournament, or had the fees cover a majority of the costs. To also help with the costs, which are minimal for the amount of exposure that will be received, many sponsors could help spread the costs. Some sponsors could include beverage or retail companies including Walmart, Best Buy, and GameStop. Additional PR is always a benefit especially when its free and gets covered and picked up all over, which this tournament would have.

Would you like a tournament like this at your college, city? Would you attend a tournament? Would this make you more likely to purchase the game?