WDFA TODAY

Advice for Small Businesses

The two most important survival tips for small businesses in a struggling economy (as presented by the managing partner of a small business):

1. Don’t cut costs that seem frivolous, like advertising.

I’ll echo a point I made in my previous posting.  As the economy continues to spiral out of control, businesses will obviously continue to struggle.  One of the most immediate ways they can help themselves is to cut costs, which probably includes advertising.  As an advertising executive, I of course don’t want you to do that.  But as a businessman, I don’t want you to do that either.  As your competitors conserve spending, advertising space opens up.  And this space could be yours.  When a door closes, a window opens, so capitalize on the dwindling visibility of your competition.

2. Rediscover your core business values.

As spending becomes more conservative, now is the time to rediscover your roots.  Remind your target markets why your business offers the best services and/or products.  Peel away the layers of fancy promos and add-ons and get down to what key values your brand stands for.  For example, if you’re selling a new car, don’t focus on a luxurious feature like GPS.  Focus on what inspired you to make this car in the first place and why that makes it better than everyone else’s.  This is what people want right now – basics.  They’re interested in what will help them survive, not in fancy accessories.  But be forewarned: This doesn’t give you license to create boring ads.  Let your creativity run wild, just keep it simple.

Creative Design: Despite the Economy, Advertising Is Still Important

Times are tough.  Everyone is hugging their money closer, budgets are being slashed, businesses are going under.  As the co-owner of a two-year old start-up, I’ve quickly familiarized myself with the stress and pressure that most of you are under right now.  Your employees and your clients are relying on you to weather the storm -- no easy feat when you’re trapped in an erratic and unpredictable economy, with no foreseeable end in sight. 

In my own company, I realize that one of two things are possible:

1) WDFA will lose some stability going forward as new prospective clients maintain conservative spending because of the lack of dollars, or

2) WDFA will offer something very, very competitive in pricing and quality, helping prospective clients stretch their dollars as far as possible, so we can all survive these times together

But I’ve never been one to sit on the sidelines and see what plays out. 

Negative economical aftershocks are affecting everyone, but one of the biggest mistakes that a business can make is putting its head in the sand.  To survive this Darwinian phase you’ve got to adapt, to take advantage of what you can, when you can.  As competitors in your field struggle to make ends meet or disappear altogether (760,000 jobs lost so far this year!), it’s prime time to cash in on empty advertising space.  Opportunities for your brand’s visibility have just increased, and it’d be foolish not to take advantage. 

Now is not the time for creativity to be stifled and we could all use a little extra something to help us survive.  This is why, for the first six months of 2009, WDFA will offer a special rate on creative design and production design:

50 hours of all the creativity you can handle for $1,800/month.  That’s only $36/hour.

You may ask yourself why we’re offering our services for so little, or thinking that I made a typo, or that I've had one too many drinks.  But to be honest, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice the quality of your business’s image just because Wall Street is out of control. 

A discounted rate doesn’t mean cheap creative or bad ideas –- We just want to do whatever we can to keep your brand (and our business) afloat.  You can still produce stellar results in a cost-efficient way.

~Raj Prasad, Managing Partner

wdfamarketing.com
415-391-6600

Experience. Relationships. Personal Connection. A Successful Sale.

I always say that the two kinds of professionals who never go off duty are doctors and salesmen. 

Yes it’s exhausting, constantly bombarding your brain with observations and ideas, pitching people you meet at bars or standing in line to get into the bar.  Saying the right thing at the right time no matter where you are could mean the difference between a huge sale and… another round of tequila shots that gets you nowhere. 

But something I’ve noticed over the past couple years is that now more than ever the personal and business relationships we form are insanely important in marketing.  Online social networks, blogs and interactive websites are increasingly more popular choices for marketers than television or radio.  I think there will always be niche for print advertising, but I can’t deny the stronghold that active online communities have over advertisers.

Effective marketing isn’t about a message anymore.  I can’t simply tell you that a product is great and reliable and that you should buy it.  I’ve got to not only show you how fantastic it is, but make you experience it for yourself.  My pitch has to be clever, grab you emotionally, make you think (but not too much), but keep at its center the essence of my service or product.  Which makes it not a wordy tag line really, but an experience.   

I’m able to do this by selling myself, my personality, my work ethic, my skills, even my sense of humor (they don’t call me the King of Mañana for nothing) –- whatever it takes for you to believe there is a reliable, respectable human being behind what I’m selling. 

I can’t think of one person who enjoys conference calls, “team building” workshops, trade shows, or far away conventions.  Forced interactions with people in an environment no one wants to be in.  If anything it’s an excuse to escape from your cubicle and get drunk on the company’s dime.  These kinds of things only waste time, money and render little to no results that directly contribute to a company’s overall success and profitability.

My point is that all the players in this game we call marketing –- the employees, clients, and vendors –- are essentially all consumers.  It’s a co-operative, really.  We’re working for and selling to ourselves.  We want ourselves to be happy and content with our economic decisions.  As a salesman, I pull those emotional cords by giving them a positive experience they won’t forget. Money doesn’t motivate people as much as you think.  It’s quality and substance of the product and the people behind it that are huge selling points.

I treat my employees exactly how I wish I had been treated in my early career.  I keep my word to my clients and vendors no matter what it cost me because that’s what I’ve built my reputation on since day one.  It’s one of the reasons I’m confident in saying that if WDFA was gone tomorrow, people would care.  And not just because their doortags weren’t distributed. 

How many young companies can say that?

Should Cell Phones Go Viral?

The backbone of Viral Marketing is experience –- putting a product in a consumer’s hand, letting them have their own unique reaction to it that will, hopefully, be positive. Not just a simple “I like it” or “I don’t like it,” but a deeper, almost emotional response.

For a cell phone user, it’s no longer about coverage, minutes in a month, or even how cool the phone is. The phone is no longer a communication device; it’s grown up to become a personal lifestyle tool. With web surfing abilities, music, pictures, and video capabilities, phones and cellular service is now an incredibly intimate way to express yourself and communicate with the world.

The way to go viral is to show how easy and personal the service/device can be and how it make the users’ lives better. Remember, the cell phone industry is no longer in its infancy –- It’s just now starting to hit its strides. A viral campaign that connects to the consumer to their friends and family would be the way to go. How about a campaign that would let people take pictures and video and, with one click, upload to a social network site so their lives can be documented easily? You’d never have to upload a picture to Facebook again. How you like ‘dem apples!

You should read about Open Source Applications for phones and how they will change the landscape of cellular in the coming years.

Be Not Afraid – Giving Up Control to the Buzz

The idea of communication through online social networking is relatively recent, though given the rapid evolution and accessibility of the Internet, it seems like old hat to us. Blogging, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster… Sites come and go like fads, depending on what’s cool that moment. We’re obsessed with expressing our likes, moods, breakups, recent purchases, and we want to know what everyone else thinks about, well, everything and everyone else. Before we buy a something, we’ll read reviews. To catch up with old friends, we’ll join Facebook. When we’re bored at work, we’ll read celebrity gossip blogs. We’re online all the time, and we’ve inadvertently become an incredibly influential voice for consumer products. 

So, naturally, advertising and marketing agencies have turned to online community dwellers to create a dialogue (hopefully a positive one) that sways others into appreciating, identifying with, and ultimately buying their product. People who initiate the buzz are the trendsetters; and whatever their opinion is, it’s quickly adopted by everyone else. MySpace used to be a site that a few people knew about –- Without any marketing, MySpace kept growing and adding users. Because of the positive word of mouth and keyboard strokes, brands grow.

As you may have guessed, the only problem with putting the success of your product totally in the hands of the consumer is that you better have a damn good product to sell, otherwise you’ll crash and burn before takeoff. It’s human nature that we express ourselves more when about something we hate, than about something we love. It’s a huge risk, which is why most companies don’t do this. But is it worth the risk? I think it all depends on the quality of and confidence in your product, timing, and how much control you’re willing to surrender.

Direct vs Memorable

Which is more important in advertising? An ad that is to-the-point and just tells you what you need to know about a product, or an ad that is clever and memorable? No reason it can’t be both, but what if you had to choose? 

Companies put a lot of thought, time, and money into being clever these days. The goal is to be unique and unforgettable so your brand stands out among the competition. But if everyone were successfully pulling this off, it would be standard practice and inadvertently negate its original purpose.  An example of commercials not being unique –- the Emerald Nuts commercial from this year’s Super Bowl. It was funny (a bizarre depiction of “Eagle-eyed Machete Enthusiasts Recognize A Little Druid Networking Under The Stairs” as an acronym for Emeralds Nuts), but can anybody actually recall what the commercial is selling? On the other hand, Esurance (commercials depicting animated characters with an edgy, superhero style who save unfortunate souls from expensive car insurance) is very creative, very memorable and communicates clearly what their services are. Their look is their own, and it has helped identify their brand in the market place and in our minds.

We are exposed to almost 5,000 ads everyday. And we only really remember 2 or 3 of them. As an advertising company, you need to make your customers not only care about what you have to say, but remember who you are and what your product stands for.

From Pots to Bowls – Why the Cultural Consumer is Powerful

I once read an article about the so-called American cultural Melting Pot, and how people had forecasted one day that the US would be less of a Melting Pot and more of a “Salad Bowl” –- Everyone would mix, but they would preserve and respect each other's cultures. That’s where we are today. Even for those of us who grew up not long ago in the 80’s, there was a fear and rejection of people and ideas different from the average. Today the US is (thankfully) more open-minded. There is this mass acceptance of all cultures, religions, and traditions and people actively seek to know more about other people. Americans, regardless of their ethnicity or upbringing, are increasingly interested in cross-cultural events, films, customs, languages, and travel. 

From a marketing perspective, advertising to audiences based solely on sex, age, or income is no longer enough. The average consumer is desensitized to marketing that isn’t specific to them. They’ve seen it forever. It’s no longer just about creativity –- It’s about connection now. Whether it’s language, images, or other cultural aspects that makes marketing successful, we’ve got to connect because the cultural consumer is a powerful one.