I’m thankful to Kenneth Weiss for sharing a chapter from his book Slightware - The Next Great Threat to Brands through a brand strategy forum on LinkedIn.  I took a quick read through the chapter and was intrigued enough to do some follow-up reading on Kenneth’s site.  His book serves to not only put a name and face on the challenges (and misuse) brands face in a digital world, but also to remind marketers about fundamentals in customer engagement.  Slightware is best defined in the following excerpt:

Brand building is fundamentally changing from a one-way transmission through media and marketing to a two-way transaction powered by software.  Once again, the initial step of brands into this new era of technology will not go well. Brand and software will not be entwined gracefully. Done poorly, digital experiences will be slightly “off brand.” Done very badly, the brand will be slighted. This is the age of Slightware.

We’ve blogged about and done client work around the area of online brand engagement.  There’s so much to be said about this area and yet there are so many examples of major brands stumbling their way through it.  At its heart, it comes down to whether marketers are thinking of (and executing) their online presence as a campaign or a conversation.  Weiss does a great job summarizing this point in the visualization below:

So, as marketers in a new era of customer engagement (and customer power), we need to at times honestly evaluate our efforts and ask the question of whether we’re talking at, to, or with our customers.  Often, that simple exercise helps assess the need to switch tactics or re-allocate resources.

I encourage you to check out Weiss’s work and examples of Slightware.  Really good food for thought.  Do any of his examples seem familiar to you…either as a marketer or as a customer??

Take a look at a recent press release with findings from our recently released study; The Marketing Performance Advantage.

We partnered with Chadwick Martin Bailey on a survey of 400 companies to explore links between performance and specific marketing management best practices.

Top-line findings included:

• B2B companies and mid-sized firms were both three times as likely as other companies to have no measurement system in place
• 44% of B2B firms report limited or no marketing measurement, twice as many as their B2C counterparts
• Around half of all mid-sized companies reported that they were finding the improving the performance of marketing initiatives a “huge challenge” - twice as many as their larger brethren
• One of the biggest challenges? “lack of data” according to 40%

Let’s face it; within too many companies, there is a divide between the sales and marketing efforts that inhibits top performance and dampens business results. Whether the divide is a hairline fracture that largely exists below the surface or is a chasm that contains outright hostility, achieving better alignment and teamwork between these two functions can yield immediate business results. But achieving the best business results means getting the entire organization aligned around goals, strategies and tactics.

Join founding firm partner, Mark Carr, for a discussion with Sales & Marketing Executives International (SMEI) that explores:

• Why the sales and marketing divide exists
• Some best practices for bridging the divide
• How to develop a culture of teamwork versus animosity

When?  4:00-5:00EST

For more information, please click here

Click here to register

CMG Partners hits the road again for an upcoming event hosted by the Fairfield County Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA).  This event continues the discussion outlined in the results of a recent research study we jointly conducted with Chadwick Martin Bailey, titled The Marketing Performance Advantage.

We’ll be exploring how organizations approach marketing performance management, including:

• Five best practices of top performing marketing organizations
• Practical examples of tackling tough measurement and performance issues
• How to overcome common barriers to enhanced marketing effectiveness

Please join us on Wednesday October 14th at the Courtyard Marriott in Norwalk, CT from 6:00-9:00PM.

Email to RSVP

For more information, please click here

How well are companies doing at improving their marketing efforts? What sets successful marketing organizations apart from their less successful peers?

These and other questions led us to partner with a like-minded organization, the Boston-based, market-research firm, Chadwick Martin Bailey, to field a landmark study of more than 400 companies. Our goal was to determine some of the key attributes of successful marketing organizations and to understand what marketing practices they employ. The findings, including identification of best practices from top performers, were released today in our white paper The Marketing Performance Advantage.  Stay tuned for more details posted here in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, check out the press release or visit the Marketing Performance Advantage microsite to download the full report.

In this special issue of Perspectives, our e-newsletter, get an advanced look at the forthcoming findings gained through two in-depth research studies CMG Partners conducted among more than 450 companies.

CMO 2.0 — Part II of our series on The CMO’s Agenda
This new round of in-depth conversations with 30 additional Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) reveals the need to redefine the role of the lead marketer. But in order for CMOs to reach this more elevated and transformational role they must be willing to forsake many previously accepted practices and assume greater accountability.

The Marketing Performance Advantage
This landmark survey of more than 400 companies uncovers some of the key attributes of successful marketing organizations and the practices they employ. Those companies that excel at marketing performance management are reaping the rewards by taking a more holistic approach to improvement; both measuring AND managing their marketing performance.

J. Mark Carr, Partner at CMG Partners, will lead a webinar tomorrow (9/15) for Sales & Marketing Executives International (SMEI) at 4:00PM EST. 

The webinar introduces the concept of adding a “5th P” centered on the customer purchase process into the 4 P’s of go-to-market planning, outlines the key elements of the process view and then uses several case examples of how the use of this added dimension has improved the marketing and sales planning process. 

Participants will learn:

• What the Fifth P is and how it can help sales and marketing to develop more effective strategies
• The warning signs that point to the need for a company to re-visit the Fifth P
• How to apply the Fifth P in sales and marketing planning, including the key questions that Fifth P asks of the other 4 Ps
• Examples of how companies applied the Fifth P, and how it helped re-frame go-to-market strategies

Click here to register

For more information, please click here

My brother shared with me a recent NY Post article on how Zagat, the eponymous restaurant guide that once ruled food ratings is now struggling to fight off online competitors including Yelp.com and Chowhound.com.   Much like newspapers Zagat faces an endemic problem: people can now get comparable information for free elsewhere, which has Zagat sweating more than garlic.

The situation made me think of other successful brands such as AOL, Gap, Motorola, and Sears that didn’t anticipate key market trends which cost them leadership positions.  Jim Collins’ newest book, How the Mighty Fall, provides a great look into why companies fail.  He says that often times they don’t notice until it’s too late.

Unfortunately that may be the case for Zagat.  Take for example that over the past 12 months, Yelp and Chowhound have outpaced Zagat’s web traffic by more than 4 to 1.  On the surface you could say that this isn’t that bad given Zagat’s 15% annual growth rate.  It may be able to find its place as a niche brand, which may be suffice given it’s focus more on affluent segments and loyal “foodies” but the downward trend in the graphic below may be a tall-tell sign that there may be bigger underlying problems.

Unique Monthly Visitors (July 2008 - July 2009)

Data source: Compete.com

For many brands including Zagat, such a downturn could be simply a cyclical side effect or it could be the cusp of a steeper decline that is just beginning.  Collins would argue that leading companies never take success for granted; they have a healthy dose of insecurity and neuroticism that keep them in check.  We would add that leading companies always keep a close ear to the market.  They collect and apply customer insights on a regular basis, which is where marketing can play a much more prominent role in keeping companies moving down the right path.

Our firm decided to organize a team building exercise for our next full-team meeting.  We’ve been divided up into groups each tasked with developing a three course meal around a select ingredient, which it turns out is lemons.

The task at hand got me thinking about marketing; in particular how it’s frequently viewed as both an art and a science.  Cooking and baking are very much the same way.  Baking is about precision.  You have to measure ingredients with care and follow the recipe closely or else you may wind up eating goo or concrete instead of a moist cake.  Cooking on the other hand allows for more creativity.  You have much greater flexility to add or subtract ingredients and alter the amounts of each, but again it takes an experienced hand to know how to blend the right elements together.

As marketers we know this is very analogous to marketing.  It’s about knowing how to balance the art and science of marketing.  There are moments when a disciplined approach is more appropriate.  The current environment is one that has put the science of marketing at the forefront of Chief Marketing Officers’ agendas.  It’s become critical to prove that marketing can deliver value that drives business growth.  But you can’t overdo it and boil marketing down to a science.  Your marketing will become bland, stale, and downright unappealing.

We can’t forget that great marketing engages customers on an emotional level, and unforgettable campaigns draw upon creative ideas that are nothing short of genius.  As customers become more accustomed to the same marketing dishes, it’s our job as marketers to refresh our recipes in order to create demand.  This is even more important now as customers have greater access to the set of ingredients (the 4Ps) that marketers once had exclusively at their disposal.

As you begin to hone your marketing strategy and develop future campaigns think about if you’ve got the right balance of art and science.  I particularly like how Seth Godin thought about this issue in a blog posting from earlier this year.  You don’t want to end up with someone returning the plate but rather asking for seconds.  Bon Appetit.

I recently stumbled across a Wall Street Journal article with a word so fun to say that I haven’t been able to shake it.  Glamping or “Glamorous Camping” is a new microtrend of budget-conscious vacationers looking for an outdoors experience without the rocks digging into your back while sleeping or the swiss-cheese tarp dripping rain all over your make-shift kitchen.  Don’t be confused, it’s not simply about bringing the Ritz outside, it’s more of a formalized step forward from drive-up car camping.

So, who cares about a silly trend like glamping?  For me, the interest is not necessarily in the details of the opportunity, but rather the overriding inference that, even in a recession, there are plenty of growth opportunities (and budding new markets).  Trends like the increase in revenue for outdoor equipment retailers are sending a clear signal about the U.S. tourism market.  “Outdoor equipment store REI reports sales of family tents are up by 20%.”

As marketers, we’ve all learned how to sharpen our positioning and get creative about our message during a time when Americans care less about consuming and more about surviving…think “shopportunities” and “staycations“.  The WSJ article also points out the opportunity for family-oriented hotel chains to diversify their offerings for economically challenged family travelers.  Anyway you slice it, glamping offers opportunities for the consumer, retailers, travel websites, hotel chains, park operators, and more.

So while I’ll probably stick with my old grease-covered Coleman grill and not-so-spacious steamy tent, I’ll be keeping my eye on the development of the glamping market and the moves of well-poised participants.  Because more now than ever, I continually press myself and our clients to be highly focused on the age old question “What’s next?”