Your company's marketing efforts are not confined to your marketing department. Any interaction with consumers should be considered part of your marketing, whether that's your customer service, product packaging or even your order forms. Marketing is anything that affects a consumer's perception of you.
When you think of "marketing collateral" you shouldn't just be thinking of your flyers and brochures; you should be thinking of your employees, your operations, and most importantly, your overall customer experience. Most companies tend to treat operations and sales/marketing as two separate entities, often causing a rift between the two or at least a different set of priorities. This is a serious mistake. A marketing campaign may attract a ton of new business, but it doesn't do much good if operations can't keep up with demand, or if the product falls apart when the customer receives it, or if the instructions are too confusing to understand, or if the customer is put on hold for a half hour when they call with a question. Each of these aspects of your business contribute to your customers' perception of you, thus making each one part of your overall marketing message. Let's call these non-traditional factors "peripheral marketing". Even aspects of your business that are primarily behind-the-scenes, such as supply chain management or your internal processes, may indirectly impact your customers' experience and therefore be part of your peripheral marketing.
Unhappy customers talk. All business owners know the pain that negative word of mouth can bring. But happy customers can talk too. Nothing is more valuable to a business owner than a solid referral. Consumers are used to condescending treatment, long hold times, mediocre resolutions, etc. It's easy to do the bare minimum to keep your customers satisfied, to keep them from complaining. But that behavior isn't going to do much for your customer loyalty, much less for positive word of mouth. Don't just satisfy customers; "wow" them and turn them into brand ambassadors.
I recently read "The Purple Cow", Seth Godin's insightful book on how to "transform your business by being remarkable." The general theme of the book was that the best way to succeed in generating attention for your company is to build buzz the old fashioned way: by offering something worth talking about. Basically, the idea is to create and offer a product or service so unique that it markets itself. The simplicity of this concept is what makes it so brilliant.
There are very few, if any, industries where you can become the market leader by simply following the current leader. You'll always be a step behind. You can try to brand yourself differently in order to appear that you are offering something unique, but most consumers will see through this facade. Instead, create a product or service that solves a new problem that doesn't yet have a solution. Become the market leader from day one instead of chasing the top position.
Offer something different, something remarkable. It's easy to copy someone else's idea, but much more difficult to deliver a truly remarkable product. However, this doesn't need to be a daunting task. Consider the problems your company or you personally face on a regular basis. Then determine what could be done to solve these problems. This exercise should provide you with a wide range of product ideas. Not every one is going to be the next iPod or Facebook, but I guarantee that if you reflect long enough, you'll stumble upon an idea that could very well be the next craze.
Musicians and bands embody the perfect brand. People feel an emotional connection to their music, thus empowering the musicians who produce it. These musicians command the loyalty and devotion that every company wishes they could attain. This is why celebrity endorsements are so popular; companies try to latch on to the sense of admiration that consumers feel towards famous musicians, athletes and other celebrities. However, instead of trying to leverage someone's interest in a particular celebrity, the brand should be trying to earn that loyalty and build that devotion on their own.
It's not a coincidence that Facebook uses the term "fans" for a page's supporters; that's exactly what every company wants: fans. Likewise, Twitter "followers" are analogous to a band's following. Maybe a company's fans won't rent a bus and follow their tour around the country, but they are interested enough in the brand to engage with it on a regular basis. Apple may be one of the best examples of a company creating true fans. Customers will wait in line for days to get the new iPhone or iPad. They watch Steve Jobs' product announcements with a religious fervor. They speculate on new products and new product features months if not years before they are released. The question is how to turn a customer into a fan, part of your following. It all comes down to relationship building. I've said it before and I'll say it again: invest the customer, not just financially but emotionally. You want the customer to feel a personal connection to your brand just like they do to their favorite bands.
Consumers see so many countless advertisements in a given day, in a given hour, in a given minute, that they have tuned out. Traditional advertisements no longer hold the power that they once did. Advertising used to be a very simple process: create a television or radio spot or a print ad and run it as much as your budget would allow. These days that's a good way to waste your entire marketing budget without much return (at least in relation to the investment).
The effectiveness of these traditional media outlets has dwindled. Tivo and DVR have drastically reduced the value of television ads, satellite radio and iPods have decreased the number of people listening to radio, and the internet has significantly decreased magazine and newspaper readership. It is becoming increasingly easy for the general public to avoid traditional advertisements altogether. And other, more unavoidable ads such as billboards, product placement, etc. are often simply ignored by the tuned-out public. Even online banner ads, which briefly looked like the future of advertising, are generally seen as a nuisance and disregarded. If a consumer feels they are being sold, they will pay no attention to the proposition. "Salesperson" has become a dirty word. This has forced the marketing industry to develop new and more innovative methods of reaching potential customers.
