TNG Blog

About political correctness, small business, marketing and a better humankind

Growing up in Europe, I must admit that I wasn’t very familiar with the term ‘political correctness’ (PC). Somehow, we just became numb to such things; the diversity of a relatively small continent with nearly 50 countries and more than 20 languages (plus hundreds of local and regional dialects), where after centuries of wars and animosity, we finally found a way to live together and become more accepting of one another and our differences. We joined our free spirits from the south…warm, spicy, and hot-blooded people, who hug and kiss and share their food unselfishly with new acquaintances over a glass of wine, where topless beaches are viewed not as ‘girls gone wild’ but as a normal alternative option that is not a big deal, whether you choose it or not…and the north…where brownies are made with love and another ‘special’ ingredient, where some adult shops do have windows and merchandise displayed to the public. Now that you have an idea regarding what I’m talking about, imagine some of us foreigners coming to a place where being PC is a must…a way of business and everyday life.

I wouldn’t even have written about this topic had I not observed a couple of bothersome PC / non-PC situations in recent professional matters. As business owners, our biggest dream is to attract as many prospects as possible and to convert them into customers, that is, into profit. Right? For a small business, this process of evolving from “have you heard about the new neighborhood business” to “OMG, they were part of the 4th of July parade” to “they donated money for making a new basketball court in an underprivileged part of town” to “they have environmentally friendly uniforms” to “I will shop there regularly because I like who they are, what they stand for, and how they do business” is challenging; I’ve found that we’ve become over-sensitive and that, for every politically correct action, someone is likely to find a politically incorrect perspective.

However, it is generally very simple. A business owner wants to send the world a positive message about his or her business; a message that will motivate interest and ensure favorable standing; a message that will not leave a stain on the business, business name, or brand; a message that the business is not prejudiced and is open for everyone; a message that everyone’s money is more than welcome. Or maybe not that simple???

The Holiday Season

The time right around the holidays is always key for political correctness. Yes, you know that time of sending out greeting cards to your current and prospective clients and vendors. When I was first exposed to this, I just didn’t understand the drama about colors! “No, we can’t use red. No, not green, that’s also a Christmas color. No, not blue, that’s only for Hanukkah.” I still remember one of my former employers forcing that one big snowflake on the card. That seemed safe. A few years later, with a different employer, I remember the same color issue around the end of the year; we ended up using purple and avoiding any potential PC issues.

Should I even mention Happy Christ-Hanu-Wanza being replaced by ‘Season’s Greetings’ (of course)? I guess that humans just want to complicate things. We are afraid of simple, because simple has to mean losing something. Could we proclaim one color as the official holiday season color and just simply use it during the season? Aren’t you sometimes tired of being PC from late November through early January; people seem to lose sight of what’s important, that someone has thought of them and wished them a greeting of joy, luck, and happiness? Isn’t that actually what’s most important?

Pictures and Illustrations

I mean, the picture (e.g., advertisement, brochure) has to have a Caucasian, an African American, a Hispanic/Latino, an Asian, a homosexual, a female and a male representative, right? Else, someone will feel forgotten. Overseen? Unimportant? Untargeted? I mean, seriously. I am ok if a female is not represented in the commercial of a product that I’m considering. I don’t care if they use a Martian as a spokesperson for McDonald’s, I will still indulge in eating junk food…sometimes. Why do people find themselves called out or forgotten so easily and so often nowadays? Why is the sensitivity level so high and self-awareness so low that it has to be proven all the time?

So, what advice can I give to a small business owner concerning this whole PC / non-PC debacle? I guess that shifting attention to Valentine’s Day and welcoming Spring seem like good ‘neutral’ ideas and safe ground. You don’t want to get on the bad side of the community that you work in; you don’t want to be the rooster that crows before time and gets his head guillotined…to set an example for the other roosters. Or, to lose your customers because you wished them a happy ‘wrong’ holiday – you can’t afford that financially. But! PC was brought about by people in a moment when society felt the need for it. Many people feel that it’s time to overcome this forced ‘respect’ and censoring of free speech. Many business owners would act more freely if PC weren’t directly or indirectly enforced. The fact is that marketers continue to point out that PC kills good marketing and restricts creativity. However, PC continues to remain in our society. Yet, who wants to be the lone rooster that crows before the break of dawn?

This is one of those ideologies that begs for a relatively mature society, which has already overcome trivial issues; unfortunately, at this time, it seems possible only if we as humankind are threatened by aliens, or robots, or who knows what else; only then will be united and not feel threatened or disrespected by one another. Until our society grows to the level of self awareness and mutual self-respect that doesn’t need to be ‘regulated’ by PC guidelines, we can all try to make small improvements by talking about what bothers us, trying to explain ourselves, accepting and respecting one another.

Or we can keep making commercials like this. No one insulted, right?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cEFrVdyV9w&feature=related

P.S. Kudos for creativity! The ‘pipe’ people really reinforce the message of the product while not being politically incorrect.

This month, I have found myself constantly thinking about Lesson #3, which as always would be dedicated to small businesses. As much as I try to distance myself from the current economic situation, I find myself being drawn back to its continuing impact to all aspects of life.

Serious economic downturns such as the one that we are facing today, can cause a number of changes that reach multiple markets, from banking to technology. A positive outcome that we hear about often is the significant acceleration of innovation and entrepreneurship Nevertheless, while new ideas and theories arise in the short term, the consequent appearance of new products and services on the market is more of a long term development. Large corporations often have the vision, resources, and luxury to address such long term change even in face of short term issues. Small businesses,on the other hand, must first face and overcome short term challenges to ensure that they survive long enough to be part of that change.

Small businesses often have to address numerous challenges, including reduced overall market demand, supply chain limitations, increased cost of goods and so on. In some cases, these issues may be too dramatic to overcome. For example, the demand for housing and construction over the past year has dropped to the extent that regardless of service quality or innovation, some companies could not survive. On the other hand, for many markets, demand will continue albeit at a lower or at a much more competitive level. If your small business is in this latter situation, it is important to step back and revisit your sales and marketing strategy in an effort to increase competitiveness, along with brand awareness and loyalty.

Today, in many markets, there is still a good level of demand, but customers are much more sophisticated in their decision making process.Today, customers are looking for value and are willing to make tradeoffs between quality (including branding) and cost To capture this new customer, you should follow these three steps:

1. Determine your value proposition (cost vs. benefit)
2. Identify customer segments that best fit your value proposition
3. Target these customer segments with a revised marketing strategy

Determine your value proposition

Let’s simplify the value proposition in one sentence -what do your customers receive and how much does it cost them? Sounds really easy, but most businesses fail to clarify the link between cost and benefit, and at the same time distinguish themselves from competition. Some businesses may be able to determine their value proposition easily while others will need research. If you are a small business that doesn’t have the ‘resources and luxury’ to hire consulting companies like large corporations, engage your most valuable resource – current and loyal customers. Ask your customers why they choose your product over competitors’, what are differentiating factors, and what tradeoffs they are willing to make between cost and benefit. This feedback will help you clarify your product or service’s strengths and weaknesses.

Now that you have started to analyze your internal situation, you can turn to analyzing the entiremarket and your competitors. Overall market data, whether statistics or trends, is relatively easy to access in today’s world (e.g., average prices for a given market). However, more specific data on individual competitors may be more challenging. That is the key question -do you know your competitors? If you don’t know the answer, perhaps it is time to buy a competitor’s product (or range of products) and test it yourself. It might sound weird, but getting the real experience of a competitor’s product, their marketing materials (i.e., brochures, catalogs, and newsletters), or their ‘value proposition’ can be valuable research. Compare your competitor’s product cost and benefit to your own and revisit your own value proposition. There will be some threats to your product, but also some opportunities, after you break down the competition and the market environment. If you juggle the cost versus benefit well, and if you determine a proper value proposition, you will have a chance to survive the economic downturn.

Identify customer segments that best fit your value proposition

Remember that this new and almighty customer, armed with information and gifted with choices is your ticket to the next fiscal year. You don’t want to fight, trick, or seduce this more sophisticated customer – it is too dangerous for your business. You want to play a fair game by identifying and targeting key segments of customers that will be a perfect fit for you value proposition. Start with abasic customer segmentation that determines the number of customers and their breakdown according to a number of factors such as age group, gender, location, income, and so on. Next, begintracking buying behavior for existing customers (or use historical data if available) to determine recency (timing of most recent purchase),frequency, andmonetary value of purchases. By combining the basic segmentation with buying behavior, you should be able to develop more advanced customer segmentation.

Target these customer segments with a revised marketing strategy

Once you have identified key customer segments, you should perform a final round of research to match each segment to variations of the value proposition. This can be done in a number of ways, using interviews, surveys, or even comparing prior marketing initiatives with sales history. After determining the best ‘segment-level’ value proposition, you may need to update or totally redesign last year’s marketing strategy to develop it into a more effective vehicle for your newly discovered value proposition. Rethink your product description, promotion materials, distribution channels, and pricing points. You have already discovered how each customer segment will react, so now put this into action. Develop the most effective marketing materials to transmit your message to different segments. Your message should be simple, memorable, and consistent through different marketing channels. Remember, you are dealing with a customer that balances both benefit and cost so make sure that you adequately address both.

When Customers Listen but Companies Don’t Send a Clear Message!

How many times has it happened to you that you see a commercial on television and immediately start thinking, “why did they spend money on this crap?” This situation seems to happen quite often to me. As a mutant consumer – one who has a background in business / marketing – it is very difficult for me to bite on the pure message that corporations want me to swallow…“buy this product because your life will be miserable without it”. Did they not plan on people like me or am I simply a standard deviation that has been forecasted in the business plan not to bite at the bait? If they had thoroughly planned their marketing campaigns and spent millions of dollars on advertising, shouldn’t I have been hooked on the bait as well…at least during my first encounter?

Unfortunately, it appears that some corporations have already begun to forget who it is that is supposed to hear / watch their messages and understand them (at this point I’m not even thinking about mutant consumers like me). Some corporations still think that it is enough to have a cute and memorable (or annoying yet recognizable) jingle – ala NuvaRing’s “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, everydayyyy” – that will drive sales or increase market awareness about a new product. I personally prefer the You Tube variation with Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’, but I am just a mutated mind and not mainstream. This first NuvaRing commercial is one of the examples that I always share with my small business clients, suggesting that they always ask themselves, “who are my listeners and am I ensuring that they are hearing what I want them to hear”.

My internal alarm sounded off the very moment I saw the second NuvaRing commercial and heard one of the actresses say “I’m not even sure what it is,” referring to NuvaRing. Boom! Mistake admitted. After a few months and millions of dollars spent, it seems that someone in marketing apparently realized (or perhaps heard from a well-intentioned friend that was confused about NuvaRing) that the response to the ‘thoroughly planned marketing campaign’ was not as expected and that the majority of targeted customers did not understand the product or how it functioned. Beep! One more emergency meeting. One more critical decision. One more costly commercial (I prefer referring to it as damage control). One additional minute on national television clarifying NuvaRing, who it is best suited for, and why YOU definitely have to buy it. Ta-da! Problem solved. Now company sales HAVE TO grow.

In my weird logic of understanding the corporate world (one which I have not had the fortune of working in), a poorly written scenario and a bad marketing campaign are not as disastrous for a large corporation as they would be for a small business. For big business, such ‘challenges’ feel like they are simply one more item on a balance sheet, under ‘Marketing Expenses’, category ‘Other’. God bless the flexibility of GAAP and unlimited resources in the corporate world.

But, many of us live in a completely different world. Small business owners are not as familiar with the ‘Other’ category in their balance sheets. We work on tight budgets, where our annual ski trip will be traded for our marketing budget. We want to know who is out there listening and seeing our product or service and what they need to understand about our offering. I always highlight to my clients the importance of well done research and stepping into the shoes of their customers before going out and spending their entire vacation budget. Even for minor marketing expenses, such as attending local networking events, small businesses should diligently do their homework and identify value before spending their tight resources…which, alternatively, could be the latest shoes of the season.

In my opinion, a wisely spent dollar has to have the power to communicate a clear message to an audience, without leaving any space to perverse marketing minds to twist it. For small businesses, to set aside funds for damage control is a luxury that we cannot afford. All available resources have to be laid out into the open and invested in the right projects – mistakes are not allowed. We have to know who is listening to us and what they need to hear.