Crisis Communication – How to Communicate To Your Customers During COVID-19

Audio Version — 6:51

The Covid-19 pandemic caught many businesses, specifically B2B firms, unprepared to manage a crisis of its magnitude. Addressing supply chain challenges, customer support, and customer communication proved toilsome, especially for businesses without a crisis communication plan.

Due to COVID-19 and lack of preparedness, many B2B firms found that customers were switching to other suppliers for various reasons. Having a communication plan does not guarantee that B2B customers would stay with their primary supplier. However, it does help reduce the firm’s churn rate if customers receive sufficient and timely communication about how the business manages its operations, employees, and supply chain during a crisis. In other words, communication is crucial in letting your customers know your operational plans to make informed business decisions that reduce the impact of their operations.

When silence ensues, trust issues develop, and eventually, the customer looks for other suppliers that can help fill the void. Thus, B2B firms need a communication strategy in play when a crisis occurs, regardless if it’s a small crisis or one on a macro scale like the current pandemic.

Crisis Communication

A time of intense difficulty or danger defines a crisis. The Covid-19 Pandemic has proven to be both dangerous and challenging for people, families, and businesses.

Each firm experiences its crisis and must communicate to its customers differently, based on their current circumstances. For example, a manufacturer’s raw material supply chain may be disrupted and may not produce products for distribution to retail customers. Another B2B firm may experience employees working remotely for the first time and experience technical and organizational logistic challenges. In either scenario, the company’s process is disrupted and may impact customers. Regardless, to maintain trust, keep customer confidence, and continue operating under a crisis effectively, the company must communicate its challenges and plan to manage the situation while still serving the customers’ needs.

There are three steps to take in identifying the crisis before a firm can create a communication strategy. They must understand their unique situation by:

Identifying the crisis and controlling the narrative:
A company must first acknowledge that they have a dilemma. Ignoring or denying a problem may worsen the situation. Additionally, to keep customers, vendors, or possibly the media (for more substantial firms) from creating rumors, the company experiencing the crisis needs to control the narrative of what is occurring so that outside entities do not spread misinformation.
Isolate your crisis:
1. If your organization is experiencing challenges in one part of the business, isolate the crisis to just that area.
2. Get ahead of the situation by communicating quickly to employees to keep them from spreading untruths about the company to customers and competitors.
3. Explain what the company is doing about the challenges and how and when the company plans to solve them.
Manage the crisis:
Regardless of how small or large your crisis is, if you identified the situation, isolated it, then managing the crisis should be simple. Suppose your organization does not have a Communications Director, as many small to mid-sized B2B firms do not. In that case, you will need to assign the role to someone who can manage the situation, answer questions, and direct communication to outbound channels for customers.

What Should You Communicate to Customers During COVID-19?

Now that you have identified the crisis your firm faces, isolated it to the relevant department or process, and are managing the situation; It’s a good idea to know what customers want to know about how the business is handling COVID-19 or any other crisis. Below are some popular questions customers have about how businesses are managing their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Popular Questions Customers Have About Businesses Handling COVID-19:

Explain how the leadership team plans to keep customers and employees safe from contamination if customers are required to visit the workplace or employees must be present at the worksite and are not working remotely.
If your organization produces products, specifically food or medication, or vitamins, explain the process of how the organization is keeping the products safe.
Identify any potential delays in products or services and how management plans to manage the uncertainties.
How is the organization managing any potential outbreaks and staff shortages?
What communication channels customers can use to receive updates and contact customer service.

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Channels Used to Communicate with Your Customers

To create the most impact with your crisis communication, you need to determine where and how your customers are receiving your company communication. Do your customers receive a company newsletter? Are they active on social media sites, or do they visit your company website to get their information? You will want to deploy your message over several communication channels, such as your company website and a social media page such as Facebook. If you send out a company newsletter, that would be an excellent place to share your crisis communication.

Here are a few communication channels to consider when deploying your message:

Email
Social media
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- YouTube
Company website
Newsletter
Regular mail
Press Releases

Takeaway

When faced with a crisis that impacts your operations, like COVID-19, you would benefit from having a crisis communication strategy. You first want to identify the crisis, then develop a plan to control the narrative so that misinformation does not paralyze your organization. Next, isolate the crisis, meaning localize it to just the impacted area of your business and get ahead by quickly communicating the crisis to employees and how you are handling it to stop any potential rumors. Finally, manage the crisis. If you identify and isolate the crisis, then managing it should be easy.

Once you have accomplished the central parts of crisis management, you will need to select the high-value channels to communicate your message to customers. Communication channels may include but are not limited to email, your website, social media sites, and even regular mail.

Acting quickly, communicating honestly and effectively with a plan may reduce brand damage and keep customers from abandoning your business.

September 21, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Customer Engagement Marketing to Grow Your Brand

Audio Version — 6:45

To improve your customer engagement strategies, “Ask not how you can sell, but how you can help.”
-Kellogg School of Management

Mass Marketing: Marketing from the Past

If you do not have a customer engagement marketing strategy, you may miss out on opportunities to build your brand and grow your business.

Businesses engaging their customers are actively involved in customer relationship management. In other words, they are improving their brands effectively and quicker by managing their relationships with customers. Companies that operate under the “old way” of marketing are not effective at managing customer relationships and thus miss the mark in gaining valuable custom insights through customer engagement.

The way companies market in the past was a one size fits all strategy. The old way included mass marketing brands to broad segments of consumers. It’s sort of like casting a wide net into the ocean, hoping to catch a few fish, and as we have all heard by now, “hope is not a strategy.” At least I “hope” you have heard that quote.

The mass marketing approach created challenges for brands. Marketers had limited channels for customer involvement if any, and brands had little interest in customer involvement. Direct customer communication was practically non-existent, and marketers missed opportunities to profoundly and intimately engage with their customers’ needs and wants. Also, non-existent with the old marketing method was collecting any customer data or sentiment toward a brand and its products. Firms could not capture those insights that could improve customer service or new product ideas, like Cake pops and Pumpkin Spice latte products that consumers created on Starbucks customer engagement platforms.

Customer Engagement Marketing

The internet and mobile devices gave rise to a new marketing paradigm known as customer engagement marketing. Customer engagement marketing nurtures direct and continuous customer involvement in shaping brand conversations, experiences, and community. Customer engagement marketing leads to brands creating meaningful brand stories to make the brand a significant part of consumers’ conversation and life. A great example of customer engagement marketing is the Dove brand.

Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign targets women of all ethnicities and allows them to directly engage via Dove’s social media pages.

Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches campaign, a video depicting how women view themselves and how others see them, launched in 2013 and has received almost 69-million views on their YouTube channel. The campaign video has generated conversations from thousands of consumers that range from positive to negative responses. By allowing consumers a platform to voice their opinions through their social media channels, Dove can gain valuable insights about their consumers and provide a medium for consumers to engage with the brand. Dove’s customer engaged marketing makes the brand a meaningful part of the consumers’ conversation and lives.

What Drives Customer Engagement Marketing?

Ever since Tim Burns Lee created the first graphical web browser in 1991, businesses began populating the internet with their web pages. As consumers started to shop online and social media took root, consumers became better informed about brands. They were more connected and empowered as consumers because they had a platform to voice their likes, dislikes, and opinions about brand products. Social media took away the power of marketing from brands and handed it to consumers. In turn, brands are engaging customers in ways that help forge and share their brand experiences.

Because consumers are more empowered than before, brands need to create market offerings and messages that engage consumers and not interrupt them as they once did with the mass marketing approach. Brands need to listen to customer sentiment and provide feedback as needed. Companies can do so through various customer engagement platforms, such as:

Social media sites: LinkedIn and Facebook
Microblogs: Twitter and Instagram
Video: Youtube
Blogs: Your company blog
Mobile apps: Most social brands have apps that allow customer engagement
Consumer-generated review systems: Yelp

All of the above platforms help brands entice customer engagement on a personal, interactive level.

The Key to Customer Engagement Marketing

There is no magic formula for customer engagement marketing. The key is to find ways to enter target consumers’ conversations with engaging and relevant brand messages. Merely posting a random, funny video, creating a social media page, and not staying consistent with posts, or hosting a blog isn’t enough. Marketing managers need to understand their customers and the high target value social sites where their customers congregate.

Offer Real Value

An excellent place to start is to offer customers real value. Rather than providing only product information, create meaningful content that adds value to your customer’s life. For content to be valuable, the brand needs to connect to that content legitimately. Looking back at the Dove Real Life Sketches example, the brand can legitimately connect with the content. Dove produces beauty products, and women buy those products, and the campaign speaks to women about their perception of beauty.

Inspire People

Customers want accurate information and education about brands, but they also wish to be inspired. Airbnb’s Cheers to Ten Years of Hosting video inspires its customers while providing informational content.

Provide Entertainment Value

A brand can inform and inspire, but it also needs to entertain. The “stickiness” of a brand’s engagement message comes from its entertainment value. The stronger the entertainment value, the more your customer will remember and get engaged. Take a look at Always’ inspiring yet entertainment video for their #likeagirl campaign. They deliver a powerful message that informs, educates, inspires, and entertains.

Be Consistent

You can have the best intentions as a brand, but if you are not consistent in delivering your message, your customers will not engage with your brand. Develop a brand engagement calendar that includes content posting days and times and your company’s communication channels to engage customers.

Remember, not everyone wants to engage deeply or regularly with every brand. Successful customer engagement marketing means making relevant and genuine contributions to target consumers’ lives and interactions. For customers that want to engage, you will gain valuable insights. Your content will reinforce your brand story and message for customers who do not wish to engage with your brand.

May 2, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Communications

Why Your Company Pitch Sucks and How To Fix It

I can not count how many times I’ve heard members of a firm pitch their company. At trade shows, product presentations, marketing meetings, and other events. It’s the same dull pitch. A company representative gets up in front of the audience, clears their throats, asks how the audience is doing, and proceeds to tell them how great their company is and what they make, sell, or offer as a service. It’s a cacophony of words falling upon deaf ears.

I recently attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Corona, California. After the meet and greet and general assembly, followed the opportunity for new Chamber members to stand up and give their elevator pitch, or in this case, list of what they do, sell or offer as a service. By the third company spokesperson, I had resumed my conversation with a colleague at my table. I lost interest, and it appeared that most of the other attendees had also lost interest in the monotonous pitches. Besides filling time, I do not believe that a single attendee went up to any of the presenting company representatives and asked for additional information. Here’s why the company representatives did not offer any value or solve a customer pain point. Instead, they read a laundry list of why their company is right and what they do.

If you want to be remembered by prospects and customers, you need to do better in your presentation or elevator pitch. Rather than telling your audience how good you are, tell them how your product or service helps solve their pain points. Sell the value of your product or service and communicate that often. Let’s look at a typical company presentation scenario and an improved company presentation that delivers value.

A Typical Company Pitch

“Hi, my name is Bob Gallagher, and I work for Jackson Accounting Service, JAS, for short. How is everyone doing today? Good!. I want to tell you about our company. We have been in business for 40-years and have over 30 offices worldwide. We have over 250 accountants working hard for our clients. We are working hard to meet your accounting needs. If you would like more information, please stop by my table for business cards. I would love to help answer any of your questions.”

The above example does not communicate value, nor does it help solve a customer pain point. It is what I hear too often at events or meetings.

Now, let’s see how we can improve the presentation to demonstrate how we can communicate value and solve a customer pain point.

Improved Company Pitch that Sells Value

“Hi, My name is Bob Gallagher, and I am the Chief accountant for Jackson Accounting Services. We help customers like you all across the globe cut costs so they can keep earning more hard-earned profits. Our proven and proprietary methods have saved our clients over $500 – Billion over the last 40-years. We are committed to your financial success, and if we cannot save you money or reduce your taxes, we will not charge you a dime for our services.”

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to see that the second presentation delivers more value, solves a pain point, and offers a guarantee. Furthermore, the latter company pitch generated more business for the company than the first pitch did.

Summary

Give customers and prospects a reason to want to engage in a conversation with you about your company. Your initial company pitch should focus on the value you deliver and how you solve a pain point, not how great you are. Once you hook the prospect, you can tell them all the great things about your company to help close the deal.

April 26, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Strategy

A Simplified System for Complex Decision Making

Deliberate human decision making is both a complicated process and a vague concept. Often, we make decisions without cognitively thinking about the process. That is, our choices are fast, automatic, and emotional. It’s what Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, in his book, Thinking Fast and Slow, calls system one thinking. Unlike system one thinking, Kahneman explains slower, deliberate, and logical thinking as system two thinking. It’s this system two thinking that requires more cognition when making complex decisions.

When it comes to simplifying the complexity of deliberate decision-making, decision-makers can incorporate a process introduced by consumer psychologist Ryan Hamilton, in his lecture series, How You Decide: The Science of Human Decision Making. Hamilton simplifies the process of human decision making as analogous to a manufacturing process.

In a simplified version of a manufacturing process, there are three parts; raw materials that serve as input, the machinery which processes and assembles the raw material, and a control mechanism that regulates the machinery within the manufacturing process.

We can sum up deliberate decision making, in the manufacturing metaphor, in three simple components, informational input, informational processing, and motivational control. Leaders engaged in crucial dilemmas can use the process to understand the choices they make and to make better decisions.

The Cognitive “Manufacturing” Process in Decision Making

Informational Input

In the first step of our manufacturing metaphor, we need to identify the decision we are trying to anticipate. We want to know the “raw” information that we want to input into our cognitive process. We also understand which options we have available to us. Additionally, we want to understand what decision rules are used to process the information and how our decision options are scrutinized.

Informational Processing

Next, we want to understand what biases will play a part in our decision-making process as a natural result of how our minds operate. What steps would we take to make our resolve easier by being aware of these biases and working to eliminate them from the process? Biases tend to affect our decisions, thus being aware of them can help us make logical choices and better decisions.

Motivational Control

In the final step of the “cognitive manufacturing process,” we ask what the motivations that are likely to determine your decision making are? What are some deep-rooted drivers that may influence you to make your determination? What are your ultimate goals?

The Takeaway

In summary, to better understand complex decision making, we equate the process to a manufacturing process. We input raw material, thoughts, and machinery that produces the final goods, decisions, and cognitive ability to understand and eliminate our biases. Finally, the machinery’s control mechanism is our motivation or deep-rooted drivers for resolving. However, there are limitations to human decision making. There exists a chasm of variances in the mental quality of our choices between people and within ourselves. Each variable along the process must be considered carefully and weighed against our motivation and goals for the decisions we want to make.

April 5, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Marketing Strategy, Videos

Using “Mystery” as a Strategy to Market your Products

[VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

Mystery can increase your sales!

That’s right.

Being mysterious with your product or service can increase the likelihood of more sales, which, well, as we know can increase your bottom line.

And this translates into more money in your pocket or your businesses pocket.

How is this possible, you ask?

After all, isn’t something mysterious or uncertain considered, a risk or Unpleasant?

Well, not exactly.

You see,

In a Journal of Business Research study,

researches conducted two experiments that demonstrated when a business, often a retail business, incorporates mystery in their marketing strategy; they increased the likelihood that consumers will make a purchase.

Hmmm, that sounds pretty mysterious.

Companies like Groupon, Banana Republic and American Airlines are just a few organizations that have used mystery to pique the interest of customers and drive their sales upward.

So, how does this work, you ask?

In one experiment, researches told their subjects that they would receive one of three items for a small shipping fee of just $10.

The researches also showed the participants a list of potential items they may receive.

The items included a board game, a handmade necklace, or the latest version of a piece of software.

They also showed pictures of products previously sent to customers, like a low-quality camera, gloves, and a remote control car. So the first group was armed with information about their potential mystery gift.

In a second group experiment, participants received less information about the mystery product they may receive. The only thing that researchers told them was that the item was guaranteed to be worth at least $10 MSRP, that’s manufacturer suggested retail price,

And if it were not worth at least $10, the shopper would be refunded their $10 shipping fee.

In both studies, researchers found participants had increased levels of curiosity after exposure to the mystery product. This, in turn, led to an increase in purchase motivation.

It is also worth noting the absence of information in the second experiment, where the participants did not receive the extra information about the mystery gift, did not significantly decrease the motivation to make a purchase.

So, if you provide a little information about the mystery gift, there may be a slight advantage, but not a significant amount as compared to the group that did not receive information about the mystery gift.

So, how can you apply the mystery study to your own business and reap the rewards of endless profit?

Okay, it may not be endless profit, but you may boost your sales and gain the financial rewards that many other retailers enjoy when exercising mystery in their marketing strategies.

An Example of Using Mystery in Your Marketing Strategy

An example may include a small retail store selling a specific product, like beauty supplies. Perhaps you offer a small mystery gift with every $20 purchase of your product. Remember to identify the possible mystery gifts available to your customer and that the mystery gift has a perceived MSRP of at least $20. It doesn’t have to cost you $20; It must have a perceived value of $20.

The mystery marketing strategy can be applied to almost any business or product with a little imagination.

If you try this strategy, I would like to hear about it and what worked and what may not have worked. And, if you found this information useful, please hit the like button or share it with someone who may find it equally useful.

Thanks for watching. I’m Allen Stafford for the Stafford Group.

Research Source

Krista M. Hill, Paul W. Fombelle, Nancy J. Sirianni,
Shopping under the influence of curiosity: How retailers use mystery to drive purchase motivation,
Journal of Business Research,
Volume 69, Issue 3,
2016,
Pages 1028-1034,
ISSN 0148-2963,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.08.015.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296315003525)

March 28, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Strategy

How to Craft a Mission and Vision Statement

In a previous post titled, “How to Write a Better Company Mission Statement,” I discussed elements that make for an effective mission statement. In this post, I explain what a vision statement is, the difference between a mission and vision statement, and how to write a mission and vision statement for your organization.

As a reminder, a mission statement is a brief yet memorable statement that communicates the organization’s reason for existing. Conversely, the vision statement is a declaration of the organization’s aspirations. In other words, the vision declares where the organization wants to be in the future. Thus, the difference between the mission and vision is that the mission statement is the here and now, declaring the organization’s purpose. The vision is what the organization aspires to become in the future.

Mission and vision statements make up three essential parts of a business strategy:

Communicate the organization’s purpose to stakeholders.
Serve as a target for strategy development.
Work synergistically toward measuring strategic goals’ success or failure; vision serves as a high-level leader while the mission serves as specific tactical measures.

Crafting an Effective Mission Statement

In this next section, I walk you through crafting a compelling mission and vision statement. Keep in mind that composing a mission and vision statement is a process that involves key stakeholders. It takes time to develop a compelling mission and vision. Four steps make up the method of developing, executing, and maintaining synchronicity with the mission, vision, and overall business strategy:

The planning and process
Content development of the mission and vision
Communicating
Monitoring and Control

Planning and Process

Planning the mission and vision statement requires that leadership includes all key stakeholders to create the mission and vision. Begin with your employees and let them drive the development of the mission and vision. Specifically, guide them in soliciting their input through the writing process. Additionally, request information from other key stakeholders that are impacted by your business. Key stakeholders could include, but are not limited to, community leaders, key vendors, or shareholders — if you are a publicly-traded company.

Furthermore, explain how each stakeholder group or individual is responsible for their contribution to the mission and vision. The key to the planning process is to get complete buy-in from all key stakeholders because they are responsible for seeing that the mission and vision are carried through.

Content Discussion

Begin developing the content for your mission and vision by describing how your business future will look in five to ten years. Be sure to specify the best possible business future for your organization. When writing, consider both financial and non-financial goals.

In their book, The Mission Primer: Four Steps to an Effective Mission Statement, authors Richard and David O’Hallaron indicate that the best mission statements give attention to six areas. These areas are:

What “want-satisfying” service or commodity do we produce and continuously work to improve?
How do we increase the wealth or quality of life or society?
How do we provide opportunities for the productive employment of people?
How are we creating a high-quality and meaningful work experience for employees?
How do we live up to the obligation to provide fair and just wages?
How do we fulfill the obligation to provide a fair and justified return on capital?

The key to writing mission statements, or any goal, is to use the present tense. Write as though your organization already accomplished what you are describing. When you write in the future tense, you establish a mindset that your organization is always trying to achieve the mission. Writing in the present tense shows an attitude and habit that your mission will be accomplished now and not at some future point. It is the job of the vision statement to project your organization’s desired future outcome.

Communication Discussion

Communicating the mission and vision process comes down to exceptional leadership. Leadership within the organization must commit to helping employees and stakeholders identify with the mission and vision, ensuring that all parties understand, follow, and communicate them internally and externally.

Internal communication includes communicating up and down the chain of command. That is, front-line employees and middle management must embrace a culture of communicating to leadership the issues that arise with production and service that does not fall within the scope of the mission and vision. Employees must also take ownership of implementing processes that promote the mission and vision, communicating potential incompatibilities with the process and mission to senior management and leadership.

Additionally, leadership, management, and employees are responsible for communicating the mission and vision across organizational divisions and key stakeholders outside of the organization, such as community leaders. Any breakdown in the process of effective communication is a potential for straying from the organization’s mission and vision, thus moving the organization away from its original purpose or reason why they are in business.

Monitoring Discussion

Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) as part of the monitoring process, allows leadership to monitor the mission and vision statement’s relevance. Mission KPIs allow for tracking the progress of the mission toward organizational goals. If goals do not align with the mission and vision, adjustments may need to be made to the mission and vision to stay on course in reaching corporate goals. Look at KPIs as a thermostat for regulating temperature. If the climate gets too hot, adjustments cool things down. The opposite is exact for things that cool down.

Mission and vision statements are only as good as the leadership’s commitment to implementing, monitoring, and engaging them. If a leader is not committed to involving the organization’s stakeholders in implementing and living the mission and vision, then creating them is pointless.

Mission Statement Examples

No discussion about mission statements is complete without a few good examples to illustrate the concept. Below are several mission statements from top organizations that follow their missions. We know they support their mission statements because their organizations are financially successful and great places to work. Thus they embrace an inclusive working culture amongst their employees.

Southwest Airlines

“Southwest is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit.”

Etsy

“It’s our mission to keep human connection at the heart of commerce. That’s why we built a place where creativity lives and thrives because it’s powered by people. We help our community of sellers turn their ideas into successful businesses. Our platform connects them with millions of buyers looking for an alternative—something special with a human touch, for those moments in life that deserve imagination.”

Coca-Cola

“Our mission is: To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions. To create value and make a difference.”

Kaiser Permanente

“Kaiser Permanente exists to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve.”

Google

“Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

The Takeaway

Developing the mission and vision statement takes time, commitment, and inclusion by all critical stakeholders inside and outside the organization. The mission is your organization’s reason why they exist. I want to share a video on How to Write A Mission Statement That Doesn’t Suck in my final thoughts. You will learn how most companies approach writing mission statements and how not to follow in their footsteps, but following a path toward writing a significant, meaningful mission statement.

March 15, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Strategy

How to Write a Better Company Mission Statement

What is a Company Mission Statement?

Organizations with a clear strategic focus have written mission and vision statements. A company mission statement communicates — most often in writing — the firm’s reason for existing; it defines your organization’s values and governing principles. The mission statement explains how the organization aims to serve its stakeholders, such as customers, employees, shareholders, and the community.

Organizations with a communicated mission and value statements that align with their strategy, goals, and objectives outperform companies that do not have them. Not all organizations have a mission statement. Some have simple mission statements; that is, they are not written for all to see. Even with a casual mission statement, these organizations still follow and behave in a manner consistent with their purpose, providing a competitive edge over organizations without mission and value statements.

The Four key points of a mission statement include:

They describe the organization’s purpose or reason why they exist.
Focuses on the present.
Part of and critical to the strategic and marketing plan.
Corporate decisions must be in harmony with the mission statement.

Why Should A Company Have A Mission Statement?

Companies that have a formal written mission statement achieve at minimum three primary purposes:

Inform stakeholders of the reason for the company’s existence.
Dispute resolution for the company’s future direction.
To serve as inspiration for employees and management within the company.

Informing Stakeholders

The written mission statement provides transparency to a firm’s stakeholders, customers, investors, employees, and business partners about their goals and objectives and the reason the company exists and what it is trying to achieve. If all stakeholders understand why a company exists and their specific goals, they can work together to help the organization meet its mission.

Dispute Resolution

Imagine a firm without a mission; all sorts of issues may arise that could lead the company in a direction that it did not want to venture toward. As an example, take a look at Google’s mission statement:

“Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

In 2012, Google purchased the mobile phone handset giant Motorola but later sold it in 2014 to Lenovo. The acquisition did not necessarily fit Google’s mission but served a strategic purpose, with the notion they would sell the company, which they did in 2014.

Let’s assume that a manager within Google wanted to continue pursuing the handset market. Google executives could say that the products do not fit with their core mission and focus on what’s close to their purpose, thus avoiding any potential dispute with internal teams, shareholders, and customers.

Employee Inspiration

Good corporate missions provide employees with a purpose to feel good about what they are doing for their organization and the world. Most employees like to think that they are part of something more significant, something that positively impacts the planet. A good mission statement provides this type of motivation and inspiration for employees and managers of the organization. As an example, Twitter’s mission statement is short, simple, and inspirational:

“To give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”

Characteristics That Make for a Good Mission Statement

Not all mission statements are reasonable statements. They do not inspire, nor do they focus on the customer or some social value. Four characteristics that make for a good mission statement are:

Unique and emphasize the creation of a customer or social value.
Stay focused on solving customer needs or problems.
Employees know, understand, and practice the mission statement.
Inspiring, brief, and memorable.

Customer or Social Value and Unique

Effective missions are unique to the business and emphasize the creation of some customer or social value. Examples include improving the lives of people’s health or improving the quality of their lives. Mission statements should stay clear of communicating “being the best” at something or just making money. Focus on the positive impacts the business makes.

Solving Customer Needs or Problems

Weak mission statements often fail to address customer needs or problems. They become myopic and focus on their product or service, resulting in product-focused rather than people-focused missions. A compelling mission focuses on “selling” the problem they solve and not the product they sell. Organizations that fail to address or focus on customer needs and challenges may become obsolete as new technologies and trends emerge.

Effective Missions are Lived and Practiced

A mission is only useful if it is lived and practiced by the company. Regardless of employee size, a good test in determining if the mission statement is meaningful is if regular employees can explain the company mission statement and use it to guide their daily work and decisions. A great way to incorporate the mission statement and get employees to learn it is to have it posted throughout the organization and provide employees with a mission statement card that they can carry around as a reminder of their overall mission and goals.

Inspiring, Brief, and Memorable

Good mission statements should be brief, inspiring, and memorable. Being succinct allows employees and managers to remember and use them all the time quickly. Some examples of inspiring, unforgettable, and brief mission statements include:

Uber:

“Uber is evolving the way the world moves. By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers.”

PayPal:

“To build the Web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution.”

Whole Foods:

“Our deepest purpose as an organization is helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people – customers, Team Members, and business organizations in general – and the planet.”

Caterpillar:

“To enable economic growth through infrastructure and energy development, and to provide solutions that support communities and protect the planet.”

The Takeaway

Without a communicated mission statement, a business does not have a clear goal or objective. Mission statements are like road maps for a journey; without a plan, you may have a tough time reaching your destination, if at all. Planning and preparing ensure that you have a clear path to your final destination. The mission statement is a firm’s roadmap.

March 5, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Strategy

Developing the Optimal Value Proposition that Drives Market Success

The Purpose of a Business is to Create Value

For a business to achieve market success, it must create superior value for its customers, collaborators, and the organization. Peter Drucker, the famed management theorist, stated that the purpose of business is to create a customer and that business enterprise has only two functions: marketing and innovation. Thus, the responsibility of creating value and winning customers falls on the shoulders of marketing.

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchange offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

The Value Proposition Relationships

Since market success, at the strategic level, results from creating superior value for customers, it is the function of the value proposition to define the value of a brand offering for a target market. Marketers seeking to design relevant value propositions for their brands must first understand the value—exchange—value-based relationships and define the relationships between the customers, collaborators, company, and competitors in any given market.

For example, consider the relationship a manufacturer has with a retailer and the relationship the retailer has with the target customer. The retailer (a collaborator) partners with the manufacturer (the company) to deliver products (a value) to the target customer. The customer receives value from the manufacturer by way of the product and the retailer’s value through the product’s delivery and service. Both the manufacturer and retailer receive value from the customer through the revenue generated by the customer. Additionally, the retailer gets value from the manufacturer through varied trade promotions granted by the manufacturer. The manufacturer receives the retailer’s benefit through the retailer’s services on behalf of the manufacturer, i.e., product advertising and promotions (See diagram below).

The Optimal Value Proposition Critical Questions

The company, collaborators, and customers’ symbiotic relationship reflect only the company side of the value exchange. Marketers need to be aware of competitors who often work with the same collaborators and target the same customers. Both the competitors and the company’s value exchange are balanced. Thus, to be successful, marketers must craft the optimal value proposition —balanced value — for customers, collaborators, and the company.

Before creating a balanced value proposition, the marketer must evaluate the market potential of an offering by answering three critical questions:

Does the offering create superior value for target customers relative to the competitive offerings? In other words, are the products and services offered perceived to be superior to that of the competition?
Does the offering create excellent value for the company’s collaborators relative to what the competition is offering? Is the manufacturer providing a better overall value to the retailers?
Does the offering create superior value for the company relative to the other options the company must generate to pursue this offering? Does the benefit the company receives outweigh the costs to deliver the product or service?

In a survey on MarketingCharts.com, 87% of global brand managers and CMOs agreed that an aspect of their overall brand strategy is to include a brand story and value propositions. Less than half (46%) claimed to have a deep understanding of their audience personas, helping marketers identify customer values that lead to compelling value propositions.

The Takeaway

To truly develop the optimal value proposition, marketers need to fully understand their target audience and customer personas. Then, they need to be able to answer the three critical questions (above) surrounding an offering. If the company’s offerings create superior value for the customer, collaborator, and company relative to the competitors and other options, the company must generate to provide the offering — then the company is positioned to achieve market superiority.

Sources:

Adkins, Amy (2016, March 31), Biggest Driver of B2B Success: Meaningful Customer Impact. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com. Accessed April 7, 2017.

“Definition of Marketing.” American Marketing Association. N.p., July 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2017. Retrieved from http://www.ama.org. Accessed April 7, 2017.

MarketingCharts staff (2017, March 23). Which Components Are Essential to Marketers’ Brand Strategies? Retrieved from http://www.marketingcharts.com. Accessed April 8, 2017.

Trout, Jack (2006, July 3). Peter Drucker on Marketing. Retrieved from http://www.Forbes.com. Accessed April 9, 2017.

Chernev, A. Strategic Marketing Management. Chicago, IL. Cerrebellum Press; 2014

February 27, 2020/by Allen Stafford

Blog, Business Communication, Communications

Three-Step Writing Process for Business Communications

Writing SMART Goals for Marketing

WRITING SMART GOALS

According to this Psychology Today article, setting goals is linked to self-confidence, motivation, and autonomy. Additionally, psychologist Gail Matthews conducted a 2015 study on goal setting. She learned that you are 42% more likely to complete goals by just writing them down

SMART goals first emerged in 1981 when George T. Doran, a consultant and former Director of Corporate Planning for Washington Water Power Company, published a paper titled “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives.” In his writing, Doran writes,

“‘How do you write meaningful objectives?’- that is, frame a statement of results to be achieved, Managers are confused by all the verbal from seminars, books, magazines, consultants, and so on. Let me suggest therefore, that when it comes to writing effective objectives, corporate officers, managers, and supervisors just have to think of the acronym SMART. Ideally speaking, each corporate, department and section objective should be: (SMART).”

Doran’s original definition identified five criteria, which he noted that not every objective would make use of all five measures.

Specific: target a particular area for improvement.
Measurable: quantify, or at least suggest, an indicator of progress.
Assignable: specify who will do it.
Realistic: state what results can realistically be achieved given available resources.
Time-related: determine when the result can be achieved.

Over the years, the S.M.A.R.T goal criteria have changed to adapt to meet specific objectives. To write S.M.A.R.T. marketing goals, I modified a few of the requirements to meet the expectations of what is expected from a marketing goal: achievable and results-oriented.

SMART MARKETING GOALS

Without realistic, time-bound goals, it becomes a challenge to achieve your desired results, regardless of your discipline. Imagine navigating a ship in the ocean without a navigational system; you’re bound to wander aimlessly and eventually run out of resources. The same can be said if you try to achieve results – at work, school, or personal life – without a plan. Thus, developing sound marketing goals is essential to managing the performance of your marketing initiatives.

When setting goals, it is best to use the SMART goal writing process. The acronym S.M.A.R.T. refers to:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Results-focused
Time-bound

The key to setting and writing goals is the more specific and realistic you are about your goals, the better you can manage the goals and their outcomes.

However, before I dive into each SMART goal component’s meaning, I want to share a few examples of SMART marketing goals.

Example Marketing Goals (Objectives)

The following marketing goals are similar to what you may find in a typical marketing plan:

to increase sales of (specific) product/brand X by 15% over the next 18 months
to increase market share for product/brand X by 7 percent (in a particular region) over the next 12 months
to generate 200 new leads via the website each month
to increase distribution of product X (in a specific region/territory) from 15% to 30% within 12 months

Notice that the above marketing objectives already follow the SMART goals format; they are specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound.

How to Apply Each Letter of the SMART Goal

In the following copy, I will explain the different parts of the SMART goal and provide you an example in terms of writing SMART marketing goals. Again, remember that you can use the SMART goal process for any goal setting initiative, such as personal, work, or school.

Specific:

A marketing goal should define what you are going to do. The Specific in the S.M.A.R.T. model answers the What, Why, and How of the plan.

Example:

The automotive parts division will increase car battery sales by 10% over the next 12 months using cross-selling, up-selling, and direct marketing strategies to increase revenue to hire a new counter salesperson.

Explanation:

What = Automotive parts division will increase sales of car batteries by 10%.
How = By using cross-selling, up-selling, and direct marketing strategies.
Why = To increase revenue to hire a new employee, a counter salesperson.

Measurable

There should be concrete evidence that you have accomplished your marketing goal or objective. Typically, the entire goal statement is a measurement for the project.

Example:

The automotive parts division will increase car battery sales by 10% over the next 12 months using cross-selling, up-selling, and direct marketing strategies to increase revenue to hire a new counter salesperson.

Explanation:

The measurable metric is whether the parts department increased sales by 10% within the 12 months.

Achievable

Marketing goals should be achievable. The goal should challenge you, yet be defined enough so that it is achievable. To be feasible, you must have the proper resources: skills, personnel, and finances.

Almost all realistic goals can are achievable when you plan each step and establish a timeline. By following steps, you can achieve marketing goals that seemed impossible. On the other hand, if you develop impossible goals, you may never reach them.

Example:

The automotive parts division will increase car battery sales by 10% over the next 12 months using cross-selling, up-selling, and direct marketing strategies to increase revenue to hire a new counter salesperson.

Explanation:

To achieve this marketing objective, you must have a skill-set in selling and direct marketing techniques. Without these skills, you will not be able to accomplish these goals.

Results-focused

Marketing goals should measure outcomes, not activities. Hence, goals are result-focused.

Example:

The automotive parts division will increase car battery sales by 10% over the next 12 months using cross-selling, up-selling, and direct marketing strategies to increase revenue to hire a new counter salesperson.

Explanation:

The result of this marketing goal is the ability to hire a new counter salesperson and to increase revenue over the past years’ performance.

Time-bound

The marketing goal should link to a time-frame that creates a practical sense of urgency.

Example:

The automotive parts division will increase car battery sales by 10% over the next 12 months using cross-selling, up-selling, and direct marketing strategies to increase revenue to hire a new counter salesperson.

Explanation:

The next 12 months provides a time-bound deadline. The marketing goal can still be more specific by offering a precise end date.

The Takeaway

Writing goals is essential for your success. Specifically, writing marketing goals is critical to the success of any business navigating the marketing environment. Using the SMART goal methodology can help ensure that goals are realistic and achievable on time. These lead to a focused, intentional, and methodical approach toward reaching personal, academic, or business success.

January 3, 2020/by Allen Stafford