Optimarketer: The Marketing Optimization Blog

One Thing RadioShack Must Do To Survive

Change its name. 

I know – the company is already remodeling stores and not exactly swimming in cash. Besides, they went with "The Shack" in a 2009 "rebranding" campaign and it didn't seem to turn things around. Plus, CEO Joe Magnacca previously said a name change wasn't necessary.

My sincere recommendations: Don't just vary the name in advertising. Install new store signs. Find the money.

HuffPost Business reported last December that the company's CEO concluded it still has devoted fans — and high brand recognition.

What about all those consumers who never shop there? Well ... RadioShack believes they're not that opposed to the name. According to CEO Magnacca, "People who like us like us a lot. Not many people hate us ... we're just not relevant to them."

So let's break this down, starting with the half-hearted "rebranding" effort five years ago. "The Shack" didn't convey much value to customers beyond telegraphing a connection to RadioShack.

Now we'll address the giant issue: Why "RadioShack" is a fatally flawed name in 2014. Ready? I'm sure a good number of you know the answer.

Who's buying radios these days? I'll go out on a limb and say radio sales are under 10% of RadioShack revenues.

Actually, one could answer with "How many donuts is Dunkin' Donuts selling these days?" Here's what I'd say: To consumers, "radio" is in a different league than "donut." Radios are ancient technology. Guglielmo Marconi sent and received the first radio signal in 1895. 

"Radio" says "We're not up-to-date, but visit us if you need stuff like jumper cable or ethernet cord."

A brand name should be a major asset. "RadioShack" carries a built-in objection. It's a drag on revenue.

As for keeping RadioShack devotees, remember, brands have changed their name and continued on successfully. Esso became Exxon. Datsun became Nissan. Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web became Yahoo. 

Anyway, RadioShack can always keep "Shack" in its name. Just don't call it "The Shack." 

RadioShack executives: Tonight on Facebook I said I was writing this post and asked for ideas. My smart friends came through. Big time. Shoot me an email at robert (at) contenteurs.com and I'll share the fascinating string. 

Robert Rosenthal is founder of Contenteurs, a content marketing agency that has developed record-breaking campaigns for dozens of businesses. Clients have included Citigroup, Constant Contact, Eloqua, Fast Company, Fidelity Investments, Forrester, Gartner, Harvard, IBM, Inc. Magazine, Infogroup, Iron Mountain, MIT, Monster, New England Journal of Medicine, Progress, RSA Security, Webby Awards, Ziff-Davis, and countless startups. He'll soon release "Optimarketing: The Marketing Optimization Book." 

Antiquated At Age 30

Some of the "youngest" marketers I've worked with are able to recall the day Batman made its television debut; some of the “oldest” can’t recall a time before Batman Returns opened in theaters.

But this isn’t about a Dark Knight. And I'm not talking about chronological age. It’s about workers who get "old" before their time, and what they can do to stay on top of their game.

Many young people enter the workforce with giant dreams. Sadly, over time, those dreams often get the shit kicked out of them. In my profession, marketing, we see younger workers who are largely about getting it done “on time and within budget.” Sure, they’d love to hit it out of the park, but they're not swinging for the fences. When I asked one marketing guy about his interest in innovation, he said "We’re just trying to get all this stuff done."

When you're mainly about doing mediocre work, you're already “old” — even if you're 30 years of age.

The biggest barriers to business success are often internal rather than external. Organizational and cultural factors keep many companies, departments, and teams from where they want to be. Great workers often find ways to do great stuff — even in organizations not known for greatness. But many workers at an impressionable age become creatures of their corporate culture and pick up bad habits that keep them down for years or even their entire career.

Work in an environment where command-and-control is common? That doesn't mean you have to mirror that style in relationships with people who work with you. Have a boss who leads with negative reinforcement and fear-based tactics? You're free to choose positive approaches. Does the agenda tend to be about everything but what really counts, like product quality, customer relationships, and outcomes? Be the one who operates outside the norm and keeps her eye on the prize. But do it in a way that brings people over to your side and commands respect.

Finally, let's talk about bias. No, not that type. I'm referring to biases that interfere with good decision-making. In business, younger workers often choose what's familiar, what impresses people they’re out to impress who shouldn’t be part of the equation, or what's easiest: the path of least resistance. In marketing, we see newer staffers make speculative leaps rather than work with facts easily available through testing. Don’t be the know-it-all who doesn’t know it all.

Instead, be a perennial student. Operate by the Golden Rule. And never stop trying to rock the world. Because if you stay with it, you may actually do it.

Is It "Old School" To Use Inbound AND Outbound Marketing?

A friend recently told me about an inbound marketing advocate who called him "old school" for using a mix of inbound and outbound marketing.

For those unaware of the difference:
-Inbound marketing pulls in prospects and customers via organic search, blogs and other social media.
-Outbound marketing pushes out messages using paid media, live events, etc.

So is everything but inbound marketing sorta obsolete these days? Short answer: No. 

I was surprised the inbound aficionado even made that remark, as was my friend, who told me how many marketers he knows who still consider a good chunk of their inbound marketing experimental.

Some personal history: I embraced inbound marketing early (signed on with Typepad in 2005, and before Facebook pages existed, launched a FB marketing group that became the largest of its kind). My entire career has been in marketing. I’ve obviously been a bit involved in outbound stuff as well. 

My take: There’s little to debate here. Naturally, if your objectives, goals, and dreams are met through organic search, blogs, Facebook pages, a YouTube channel, and so on, you needn’t bother putting money into paid media.

Not in that boat? You’re far from alone. Many if not most marketers need a combination of inbound and outbound. They simply don’t acquire enough of the right leads, customers, donors, members, or subscribers through inbound marketing. In these cases, it’s best to optimize the use of inbound – and then add the most cost-effective mix of outbound until objectives are met.

You’ll find two common ways of deriving a marketing mix. One is based on speculative leaps – often linked closely with long-held opinions and biases. 

Now that’s what I call “old school.”

The alternative is to optimize your inbound marketing program – and then test your way through relevant outbound marketing options. It’s key to measure these experiments and make important decisions based on facts.

Think of your potential acquisition sources as “buckets.” After making the most of your inbound buckets, fill up your most productive outbound bucket, followed by the next, and so on, until your objectives are reached.

How do you know which acquisition sources are best for you? Again, the answer is to test your way to success. You may find that inbound marketing yields the highest ROI percentage, but outbound marketing provides the highest total profits.

Don’t expect your answers to be entirely obvious. An integrated media mix often makes it difficult or impossible to track 100% of revenue back to original sources. In some cases, it’s even debatable what is inbound and what is outbound: email is one example.

Doesn't really matter. What counts is that you go in with an open mind, run interesting experiments, and make the right moves to optimize your outcomes.     

Marketing success results from trial and error. Not a single try.

Imagine a CEO telling a highly accomplished Sales VP, "I’m giving you one shot at your sales strategy. If what you implement doesn’t work out of the gate, you’re out."

Of course, that scenario rarely happens in rational businesses. But in marketing, here’s an all-too-common scene: An important experiment gets okayed, but those implementing it are given a single test cell – one shot at success. Even when a minimum of say, three, are justified. Limitations of this nature often result in inadequate sample sizes; experiments aimed at inferior targets; and more failed tests.

Marketers who’ve run lots of multi-cell tests have seen a full range of outcomes from cell to cell. What isn’t profitable in one test cell may perform very differently in another.

So when testing, do it right the first time, so you’re not left asking, "What if?" 

What say you?

 

B2B Marketing Is Now a Revenue Machine. Really.

Business-to-business marketers generally enjoy an advantage over their business-to-consumer counterparts. With average lifetime customer value reaching the five-, six-, or seven-figure range in many cases, the breakeven point on B2B marketing programs is often quite low.

At our marketing shop, we’ve created B2B programs needing just one high-value conversion to make an entire campaign profitable. This isn’t uncommon: Odds of success have traditionally been outstanding for higher-end B2B marketers with worthwhile offerings, evolved sales teams, solid demand levels – and smart marketers.

Now they’re even better.

Until recently, it could take B2B marketers years to dramatically expand a prospect database. Now, thanks to newer data sources, you can do it quickly – for a small fraction of the conventional cost.

These records include email addresses in compliance with CAN-SPAM. So you’re able to regularly market to prospects via cost-effective email advertising – without constantly paying rented media or offline production charges.

Of course, this also means prospects can tune you out by ignoring your email – or simply opting-out. And if you ask prospects to fill out a form to receive a reward, the overwhelming majority will essentially say “Thanks but no thanks.”

So while B2B marketers are able to grow the database rapidly, they won’t win hearts and minds so fast. What’s typically needed is an email campaign that breaks through, makes the right impression on prospects, and gets them to act.

This brings us to the all-important offer. B2B marketers have a story to tell. One that’s multi-faceted. Tied to prospect challenges and opportunities. Product or service differentiators. And benefits.

After saving substantially on media and production, it’s important to plow some of the savings into the experience you provide prospects – from the email advertising to the content series that educates and nurtures prospects as they move through the pipeline to the sale.

Web video is an increasingly popular way to educate B2B prospects. It’s the power of television, without the waste. Video enables you to run a conceptual series packed with emotional ideas – pulled off in brand-appropriate ways. When Web video is executed properly, engagement rates often soar.

In addition to being educational and fascinating, these short movies are easily digestible. Because the campaign is aimed at database prospects, no forms need to be filled out by viewers. And these interactions are measurable. When a prospect has a meaningful moment with your brand through video, the session is recorded. The same is true when a prospect interacts with some of your other marketing content.

Marketing automation technology not only takes results reporting to another level, it transforms the relationship between sales and marketing. The two functional areas agree on precisely what constitutes a sales-worthy lead. Marketing finally stops hearing “All the leads suck” from sales. And sales continually sees more genuine prospects to pitch through real-time reporting and instant lead-routing; triggered campaigns; and other good stuff from the marketing team.

Place all the stars in alignment and B2B marketing really, truly can become a consistent revenue machine. What say you?