Where To Get Advice

It's been my experience that one can obtain sound advice from a variety of sectors, to include business, the church, education, etc. I just read Donald Rumsfeld's memoir, Known and Unknown and came across some interesting nuggets that I found beneficial and that you may also. The first was a quote that he gained from a general in the military which states:

"If you don't like change, you'll like irrelevance a lot less."

This is so true, especially when it comes to communicating in a manner that your market can relate to as well as understand. While change for change's sake can be considered a strategy, it's important that you effect change in your communications methods with an eye towards keeping in touch with and growing your market or as the phrase states you'll like irrelevance (loss of business to a competitor) a lot less. Many are the businesses and churches that have died or are dying as a result of becoming irrelevant.

The second item I obtained from the book was Rumsfeld's strategy setting guidelines. These will be beneficial as you set goals for your church or business and determine what they should be. Here is what he listed in his book.

Strategy – Setting large, longer-term goals that are realistic and can be balanced with the means available to achieve them.

Step 1: Define one’s goals precisely and write them down.  The number of goals has to be limited. Any more than 4 or 5 means they are probably no at the strategic level.

Step 2: Identify the major assumptions associated with the challenge at hand, always recognizing that they are based on imperfect information that can change or even turn out to have been incorrect.

Step 3: Evaluate the possible course of action in light of the assumptions (To include consequences, both positive and negative).

Step 4: Execute the chosen course of action, realizing that this can and will change based on circumstances. Oversight of these constant adjustments requires careful balance to avoid the extremes of disengagement and micromanagement.

Strategy is not linear. It is never completed until the challenge at hand has been resolved. The means must be continually reviewed to see whether they still serve the goals, and if the goals are sensible and realistic in light of one’s means and unfolding events. Inertia can be an obstacle to formulating and maintaining sound strategy.

Sound advice that translates well whether you are involved in business or in ministry. He has many other words of wisdom as a result of his service in government as in business over the last 4 decades. I encourage you to purchase his book (I receive no financial benefit from this, I just enjoyed the book.). And I encourage you to read and obtain materials from other disciplines besides the one you are engaged in as a means of broadening your horizon and increasing your ability to communicate creatively.

Lead Time

A lead time is the latency (delay) between the initiation and execution of a process. For example, the lead time for ordering a new car from a manufacturer may be anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. This is due to the ‘Just in Time” production system that we employ in the United States (And that much of the world utilizes as well). The lead time takes into account the amount of time it will take to get the parts necessary to build the automobile.

Lead time is a necessary component of communicating your message, event or product to your target market as well. For example I attended a couple of Army-Navy football games in the past, since my son attended one of the service academies. As a result they will send me emails announcing when tickets are available for sale. They generally do this several months ahead of time. This year they sent my email announcing availability of season tickets and individual game tickets on February 25^th. The earliest I recall ever receiving such an email. Seven months ahead of the regular football season and a full ten months prior to the month that the Army-Navy game. 

So what factors go into determining when to start communicating your message, product or event? Well, no doubt due to the economy, many organizations are making you aware of what they are offering earlier than usual. They know that people have limited dollars to spend so they are trying to get their event or product offering to you first. But generally you have to consider the launch date of your event or product offering and work backwards from that date. Items to consider that will determine your lead time are:

•  The size of the target market you are trying to reach.
•  The time it would take for them to receive any targeted advertising,
•  The time it would take to create the media you will utilize.
•   And the time for that media to be delivered.

It’s been my experience that too long a lead time can be detrimental to your creativity, as you tell yourself that you have plenty of time to work on a project. The flip side is that if you don’t give yourself a long enough lead time, you will end up getting overly stressed out and again you may settle for a creative campaign that isn’t your best. 

This is why it is essential to plan out your business year with a broad creative communication campaign, taking note of the major calendar events that impact your market. This frees you up to concentrate on the details of the media you are creating during your actual launch lead time, which results in your being able to creatively communicate to your target market.

I Like It! Very Creative!

A few posts ago I discussed "Guerrilla marketing" as a creative way of presenting your idea or product to your target market. As I was perusing Reddit.com I came across this rather creative method of Guerrilla marketing campaign produced for Unicef to enlighten people about the proliferation of landmines in war torn countries. I can't help but think that this creative technique used in this campaign might not be re-purposed and used again to market your product, idea or church.
Click on the picture for a larger view.

Apply What You Learned

If you had a chance to read my previous blog on propaganda, you can put it into practice here. If not read my  Propaganda or good advertising? and return back to this one. Alright now watch this commercial and see how many techniques are used.

This Ad campaign by Miracle Whip is witty. Here is a link to a more in depth article on the series of commercials that were run. Brandchannel Blog - Kraft Miracle Whip

Propaganda or Good Advertising?

This week I’d like to look at the dark side to creative communication (Heavy breathing ala Darth Vader). It’s one that plays on the susceptibilities of people to various techniques that fall under the category of propaganda. Understand I have participated in developing marketing campaigns to attract people to church, to get them to consider the teachings of the Bible or to get involved in giving campaigns. That said, I find nothing wrong with the type of marketing whose objective is to get people to check out the product or idea being marketed and give it a chance to stand or fall on its own merits. But when the purpose of marketing is to manipulate a person to purchase a product or buy into an idea solely on various emotive strings that are being plunked then you’ve crossed the line into propaganda.

Some may consider the use of propaganda fair game when it comes to marketing, taking the philosophy of “Caveat Emptor” – Let the buyer beware. But I’ve found that the buyer has to be aware before he can beware. And a great majority of people simply aren’t aware that they are being propagandized. Too many of us are so over or underwhelmed with life that we coast through it on mental cruise control, which leaves us susceptible to some of the techniques I highlight below.

Here are 7 basic propaganda techniques as set forth by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in the early 20th century, others have been added since then, but these seven by and large cover the majority of techniques that are used to manipulate people.

Bandwagon: This approach encourages you to think that because everyone else is doing something, you should do it too, or you'll be left out. Bandwagon is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. The average person wants to belong, to be part of the in crowd. This techniques plays off of that need of people not wanting to be left out.

Card stacking: This term comes from stacking a deck of cards in your favor during a card game. It seeks to slant a message. Card stacking involves presenting only information that is positive to an idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits important information. Keep in mind that an advertiser is under no obligation "to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Glittering Generalities: Glittering generalities are words that have different positive meaning for individual subjects and have little or no real meaning, although they are linked to highly valued concepts. When these words are used, they demand approval without thinking, simply because such an valued concept is involved. For example, when a product states that it is “new and improved”, makes “whites whiter”, or has “scrubbing bubbles.”

Name Calling: Name calling occurs most often in political advertising. This technique consists of attaching a negative label to a person or an idea. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. The propaganda attempts to arouse prejudice among the public by labeling the target something that the public dislikes. Often, name calling is employed using sarcasm and ridicule, and shows up often in political cartoons or writings.

Plain Folks: The plain folk’s device is an attempt to convince the public that the products/ideas/views reflect those of the common person and that they are also working for the benefit of the common person. The user will often attempt to use the accent of a specific audience as well as using specific idioms or jokes. This technique is usually most effective when used with glittering generalities, in an attempt to convince the public that the propagandist views about highly valued ideas are similar to their own and therefore more valid.

Testimonials: This technique uses "big name" personalities to endorse a product or an idea. Testimonials are quotations or endorsements, in or out of context, which attempt to connect a famous or respectable person with a product or item. Whenever you see someone famous endorsing a product, ask yourself how much that person knows about the product, and what he or she stands to gain by promoting it.

Transfer: Transfer is an attempt to make the subject view a certain item in the same way as they view another item, to link the two in the subjects mind. This technique can be used to transfer negative or positive feelings for one object to another. By linking an item to something the subject respects or enjoys, positive feelings can be generated for it. For example, using the American flag as a backdrop for a political event makes the implication that the event is patriotic in the best interest of the U.S.

There are several other propaganda techniques that have been developed or are subsets of the ones listed here. Techniques such as the “Either/or fallacy” that encourages "black-and-white thinking" because only two choices are given. Or the “Snob Appeal” technique that tries to play off of a person’s desire to be unique and have something, or know something that the majority doesn’t.

Hopefully being aware of these techniques will better prepare you to spot them when you are purchasing products for yourself, your business or non-profit, to insure that you make an informed decision. If a company/government/church has to use propaganda to sell something to us, then it merits us taking the time to dig deeper into what they are pitching to insure we aren’t being taken advantage of.

In closing I’d like to thank two of my professors for making me aware of these techniques and providing me with the tools to see past them. They are: Ray Fabrizio, who taught a course entitled “Propaganda in Media, Politics and Advertising” at Monterey Peninsula Community College in the 1980’s and Dr. John Williamson, who taught a course on “Critical Thinking” at Nazarene Bible College in the 1990’s.

Using the Headlines To Creatively Market Your Community

This is a brilliant way to communicate creatively. There's already a buzz in the news surrounding senators who have fled their state to hide out in Illinois. This town has taken advantage of the situation and turned it into an opportunity to highlight their community as a great place to getaway to. Instant connection.

Creating A Creative Team Part 2

In my last post I shared how to set up a creative team. In this post I want to share how to operate a creative team so that you can generate and develop ideas to creatively communicate your product or message.

You’ve got your team together, it’s 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and you’re in a relaxed, creative setting.

First, you start the Creative meeting before the actual meeting by informing your team a few days in advance, what they are supposed to be getting creative about. If it’s a product, tell them what the product is. If it’s a message or idea, tell them what it is. This gives your team members opportunity to start thinking about ways to creatively communicate.

Second, start the meeting by reminding them of the rules mentioned in the first blog post, assign someone to write down the ideas that are mentioned where everyone can see them (Have a white board, or some means of recording the ideas) and then tell your team to start firing out different ideas. It doesn’t matter how crazy they are, how stupid they sound, how out of reach financially it is to do it, write it down and don’t allow anyone to trash anyone’s idea (Not at this point). Have your team think out of the box, under the box, behind the box, don’t even have a box.

Third, after you’ve gotten a list of ten to twenty ideas start culling them out.

Start by asking if there are any ideas listed that go counter to the core values/mission/beliefs of your business or non-profit (This is a good way of reminding yourself what your core values are). Immediately remove those ideas that can compromise your companies or non-profits values. One egregious example is an outreach event that occurred at a mega church. The event was geared to families with young children and they brought in an acrobatic team whose program turned out to be a bawdy burlesque show and far too racy for the age group intended. The persons who scheduled this team could have prevented this by asking if this acrobatic troupe's act went counter to the organizations core values. They could have gone to the acrobatic team’s website where they would have found a nude calendar the team had produced. And the sensuous nature of the team’s rehearsal before hand should have been a blatant red flag. Here is a case where a little due diligence could have prevented the fiasco that occurred.

Next, determine if any of the ideas presented would alienate your target market. Two recent examples of advertising gone wrong were the Groupon Superbowl Commercial Campaign (Here is one of the commercials videos).

Another is a recent restaurants ad campaign that made light of a religious cult that resulted in mass suicide several decades ago.  Indiana eatery pulls billboards

There is a school of thought that says “Any press is good press” as it provides free publicity. This only works, if your intended market prefers such scandals. Regarding the aforementioned ad campaigns, if they weren't intentionally trying to shock their audience then they fell short in the creative development by not asking if these ads would alienate their market. As an aside understand that using shock as a marketing idea will only take you so far. And you can’t use it too often.

Now have your team members list their favorite five ideas and have them state their reasons why they like that particular one. By doing this you will gain insight on that idea based on what that team member brings to the table (IE. the demographic they represent, their experience, their knowledge base). This is important especially if your market and that team member’s demographics match.

If someone’s idea doesn’t make the final five cut, give them the opportunity to defend it and add it back to the list. This is not an all or nothing venture. Nor is it majority rules. If you have someone standing up for an idea and they have a track record of picking winners, then go with their idea, no matter how crazy it might sound. Also as the business owner, or non-profit head, you have the ultimate say, but remember the reason you put the creative team together.

Fourth, take the favorite five and start throwing out more ideas surrounding how to develop and implement them in regards to your product or message. Look at the various scenarios they would work out best in, compare them to your target market, has anyone else done this? Why or why not? How does this idea compare with the trends that are currently moving up among your target market? (If the trend has peaked or is in decline toss the idea.) Depending on how far out you are planning you may utilize all five ideas, or just one or two. At any rate, if the ideas have made it this far, they each have value, so definitely save the ones you don’t use for a second look down the road.

And fifth, take the idea(s) you settled on and run with them.

After the meeting take time and determine what worked and what didn’t. Was the team creative enough to provide the spark needed? Were the ideas fresh or stale? Was there someone there that shouldn’t have been? Or was someone missing who should have been present. Make note of these things and make the changes prior to having your next creative team meeting.

Now go gather a team and start getting creative.

Creating A Creative Team Part I

In previous posts I've made mention of a creative team and how they can be very helpful in developing a guerrilla marketing campaign. I gave a brief example of what a creative team consists of: “a small group of people from various backgrounds, ages and gender.”After seeing them in action, I think they are beneficial for a variety of businesses, churches and non-profits.

At a previous workplace we utilized the Creative Team concept. Since this was a church we would gather once or twice a year to brainstorm what sermon series and topics should be covered for the following year. Rather than come up with too many details we would lay out a sermon schedule that was more like broad brush strokes. And then throughout the year we would meet weekly to hammer out particulars of the individual 3-6 weeks series. Our meetings would be informal and some weeks we accomplished more than others. Businesses and non-profits can plan creative team meetings around product launches, and major events.

So what is a creative team and how can they help you communicate creatively? What a creative team is, is a group consisting of anywhere from 3-8 people who meet for the sole purpose of coming up with and developing ideas that will help you to creatively communicate the product or idea that you want to provide your target market. Here are some key concepts to follow in selecting your creative team: 

1) Team members should be diverse in regards to their age, and personality type, as well as their likes and dislikes. Yet they should also be united in regards to the product or idea that you are marketing. The age span of our team was 20-something to 50-something. Some of the team came from a graphic design background; some of us were performers, supervisors, ministers, military veterans, video producers, etc. On various occasions we would bring in different people if we thought we needed better insight in a specific area which they could provide. 

2) The team members have to know that they have the freedom to state their opinion on any idea that is given, without fear of repercussion. At the beginning, every idea is equally valid. Because when the team first starts out, the meeting is more like a brainstorming session. So no matter if the team member is the company president, or the newest employee or volunteer, they have a voice in the meeting. 

(The importance of having the diversity of people and ideas is because each of us by nature is creative, but after a while we tend to get into a rut and soon find ourselves repeating what we’ve done. I think this happens because when we run out of fresh ideas we return to what we know.) 

3) The team should number between 3-8 people. No less than 3, as you need the dynamics that a third person brings, so you don’t turn into a mutual admiration society and no more than 8, because too many chefs spoil the stew. One of the last annual team meetings I participated in had a group of more than 8 people and it turned out to be one of the least productive meetings. Too many people will mean you will lose your creative focus, as large groups of people tend to go off on their own agenda’s losing sight of the big picture of why they are there. 

4) Limit your meeting time to 2 hours and meet before lunch. The best times to be creative are usually the morning when people tend to be their freshest. The longer a meeting runs, the less productive it becomes. It’s been my experience that 2 hours appears to be the limit when it comes to creativity. After that you tend to get a sense of beating a dead horse and you will start losing team members mentally. Also don’t just provide snacks/foods that are high in sugar. Have a mix of fresh fruits, vegetables, as well as chips and pastries, coffee, water, juice and soda.

The team members on the creative team I worked with were all staff members at the church I worked at. However your business or church or non-profit may not be larger enough to draw from staff members. Then partner with people who you do business with, if  you are a church/non-profit then involve volunteers, if you are married utilize your wife. And depending on whom you are marketing to involve your children or the teenager next door. 

The next post we will look at how the creative team operates in generating and developing ideas to meet your goal of communicating creatively.

Guerrilla Marketing

As part of the creative process, I take time each day to surf a variety of websites. Some are more traditional news websites, like cnn.com or wsj.com, others are more avant-garde or trendy, like visualnews.com or neatorama.com. As part of my daily surf I came across this image.

If anyone has ever played Oregon Trail you would immediately pick up on this. (And by the way Oregon Trail just launched on facebook). And the first thing that popped into my mind was, "this was a creative way to communicate". I immediately thought of guerilla marketing. How easy it would have been for some business or church to create something like this and then have each of the tabs stamped with info about your organization, or a website to drive them to. 

According to wikipedia the concept of guerrilla marketing was “invented as an unconventional system of promotion that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget” (which makes it perfect for start up businesses and churches). Wikipedia goes on to say that generally such campaigns are unexpected, unconventional, interactive and target the consumers, or your target market in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz about your product or idea and hopefully get it spread via word of mouth.

You can use any type of advertising medium to do guerrilla marketing. Just remember to keep it unusual and unexpected. The key is that the person you are trying to communicate with is a part of a niche that will “get” what you are advertising. That’s why the primary investment for this type of marketing is time, energy and imagination, and not just throwing a big pile of money at something.

Here is where having a creative team comes in handy. Generally a creative team should consist of a small group of people from various backgrounds, ages and gender. And if you don’t have a creative team you can turn to, then go online and see what people are listening to or watching, and let that stir up your imagination about how you can creatively communicate your product or idea using guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla marketing can be as inexpensive as the handbill taped to a light pole, creating a cardboard template and recreating an image around town using side walk chalk, or as elaborate as some of the campaigns in the pictures I’ve attached.

I enjoy all the creativity surrounding guerrilla marketing but when it comes down to it, the end game of the marketing is that it has to deliver the goods. It doesn’t matter how cute you are, if your guerrilla ad doesn’t hit the mark (IE. Increased sales) or generate traffic. In a book called Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, by Levinson and Godin, they write, “In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the customer. It must build trust and support. It must understand the customer's needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits.” Hence the need to study who it is you want to sell that idea or product to.

So remember to put this creative communicating tool into your toolbox. Don’t use it too often, but when the time is right unleash the power of imagination and get involved in some guerilla marketing.

Under The Box Thinking

For the past several weeks, I’ve been learning how to use the various features of Photoshop, in order to increase my skills so that I might be a better creative communicator. One of the ways I do that is to visit a website called psd.tutsplus.com. They provide both free and premium tutorials on various ways to create graphics using the features built into Photoshop.

To determine what I’m going to create graphically, I get material from books or articles that I have been reading. Generally I will come across some phrase that sticks out. I’ll chew on that phrase and create a mental image of how that phrase would translate into a graphic.

For example, I recently read the passage in the New Testament where St. Peter walked on water and thought about what a graphic of that would look like. What I didn’t want was the same image that hundreds of others had made.  So I decided to create a graphic of what Peter walking on water would appear like if one were underwater looking up. To insure that this was a unique view, I googled the phrase “Peter walking on Water” and changed it to include words that would have an underwater view. I scanned hundreds of images and did not come across one with an underwater looking up view (Not to say there isn’t one, it’s just I didn’t come across it). Then I went about creating the graphic utilizing some recent tutorials that I had come across on how to recreate water in Photoshop. Here is the image I created, it is posted at another blog I have where I post all the graphics that I create. 

ralphsportfolio.blogspot.com 

I enjoy this graphic more than any other one that I have created. And the reason I believe I do, is because it was birthed out of a desire to do something different than I’d ever seen done before. I wanted to be creative and I succeeded. But it never would have come about had I not sought to do what is commonly referred to as “Out of the Box Thinking.”

When it comes to communicating creatively, it doesn’t take long to discover what causes a graphic or video to go viral. Whether it is in a magazine, or a commercial on TV or a Youtube video. That image or video encapsulates the essence of what you are trying to communicate in a way that your audience has never seen before. It is unique. It is out of the box.

So how does one do that creatively and still communicate your message or product? It occurs by looking at the message or product in a manner that you have never done so before. Whether it is a widget, or a message, you have to remove yourself from the ordinary way of how that idea has been communicated in the past.

In the case of Peter walking on water I had distilled the essence of what the story was dealing with, the issue of doubting verses faith, to the subject at hand, which was 'sinking in' verses 'walking on' water. Now countless others had portrayed Peter sinking from our regular point of reference, (I.E. of the other disciples viewing the event from the boat that Peter had just stepped out of). I wanted to put myself in the position of where Peter would end up if his faith didn’t hold.

Why create out of the box? In this day and age of a slow economy when you have to convince someone that they should purchase your product verses a competitors, what is going to make it stand out? By portraying it in a way that it has never been seen or used before. Take the product WD-40. When it was created it was intended for a certain use. But after it came on the market, the customers who bought WD-40, began writing back to the company all the different ways they used it. The company capitalized on these ways and integrated the customer feedback in their marketing. They could have argued and told their customers, “No, you can only use it this one way.” But they thought outside the box and let their customers drive their marketing campaign.

So how can you do that? By looking at your product, or the message you are preaching and ask yourself, how can you portray that item differently than you have in the past, or that your competitor has portrayed it in the past.

Look at the trends that are going through our culture and see how that item can find a niche that will match that trend and connect with your customer.

Be true to your companies/churches core values. Nothing is worse than a bait and switch. It may provide an initial sale, but generally will not produce repeat customers.  Also if you appear to be changing your core values, you risk losing too much of your present customer base.

Also take note of what others have tried that has failed. No sense in re-inventing the wheel. Besides you don’t want to duplicate what someone else has done, unless you want to employ parody, in which case it can work well, if done right (EG.  Weird Al Yankovic ).

By being willing to take risks and creatively communicate in a way that you haven’t done so before, you will broaden your market.  So take time to climb out of your box and if necessary look at it from underneath.

Shoppers and Hoppers

A staff member and friend at a church I formally worked at recently posted a comment on Facebook decrying the fact that the greatest failure of his generation of Christ followers was church hopping. He referenced  a blog by Steven Furtick about "Stop the Hop." 

So I responded to my friends Facebook comment by stating: "Ok. It sounds great…in theory. However Steven's article complains about people who church hop and shop, saying they need to get beyond the consumerist mindset of shopping for churches, yet the church itself is using a consumerist marketing approach in reaching out to them. How can we complain about the one when they are just responding to how the church is marketing to them? Why would we be surprised when such a person having been attracted to one church, since they have been marketed to as a consumer, now gets attracted to another church, which is seeking to market to them in a similar manner. Obviously there have always been church hoppers and shoppers, the question is, has the churches method of outreach increased this mentality among people?”

It got me to thinking that this issue applies not only to church but to businesses as well, so that’s why I decided to address the issue on my blog this week. Now I’ll be the first to admit that it would take someone with more time and money to pencil this out and do adequate studies to determine if I’m right or wrong, and yes, I’m probably being overly simplistic, but to me it all boils down to developing brand loyalty. Whether the brand is your specific church, your company or the product you sell.

Companies and churches are forever trying to keep people/customers loyal to their brand, so that they will stay lifelong consumers or participants. It made me think about what causes people to shift loyalties from one church to another, from one company to another. Indeed it begs the question concerning the depth of the loyalty that people have to the church they currently attend.

I think to address this we need to go back to what churches or companies do when they are marketing their product to their consumers/members, whether that brand is Calvinism, Wesleyan-Armenians’, Allstate Insurance, HP, Dell or Apple.

Churches/companies try to market to people by branding their products. When I first learned of brands, I originally thought of a brand as a permanent mark. Cattleman branded their cattle to show ownership over that individual steer, in order to prevent someone from stealing it. A side effect, of this was that people discovered that certain cattle from certain ranches tasted better. So people started seeking out cattle to purchase that had the brand of that ranch. They became loyal to certain brands.

The same with manufacturing companies who would build a product that people liked. People purchased a certain product because the product had value. It had something tangible that people could understand, and see and utilize. Whether it was consistency, functioning as it was supposed to, or value for the dollar. The product did what it was intended to do. And so people would continue to purchase that product, that brand. Take the Sears brand. They came to be known for the value of their house hold products. They had brands like Kenmore. If you purchased a Kenmore it would last. You could expect to have a Kenmore washing machine and it wasn’t unusual for the product to last 10, 15 years. And then it only required minor repairs to keep it going another 5 or 10 years.

Companies however found that they were tapping out their markets. People purchased a product that worked well and didn’t need to purchase another one for a couple of decades, so companies sought to improve their products by adding new features to them; such as special spin cycles in washers and dryers, power this and power that in new vehicles. However it was determined that these enhancements weren’t working like they should. So they had to begin marketing their products in such a manner as to make people want to purchase the newest and best products. They built in the idea of planned obsolescence, that no one wanted a product that was “old”. You needed this new, shiny, white product that had an apple with a bite out of it. To sell it to us, they used various marketing, some would say propaganda techniques, like “bandwagon”, “glittering generalities”, “snob appeal” and “testimonials” to convince people why they should purchase their products. The end result is, when you came to the end of the lifecycle of that product the customer had to decide whether to purchase the newest model you sold, or to try out company X’s brand.

The same thing happened to sports teams. People used to be loyal to teams for decades, no matter if they lost year after year. Why, because a person could know the players on “their” team. The players would stay on the same team for a couple of decades. You could learn the stats for that player. A player’s entire career would be spent with one team. But then along came free agency. A player could be an independent contractor. He didn’t belong to any one team, he could move to the team that was willing to pay for his talent. Oh to a certain extent, people still followed and rooted for their “team”, just because they were in their geographic area, but it wasn’t the same. But now with players coming and going so often, Teams would seek to purchase that one star player and hang onto him. They would pay him so much and offer him so much, he had no need to move to another team. And so people would follow individual players. So the teams brand was not only their logo, but even the superstar that was on the team.  If the superstar moved to another team, some people’s allegiances would move to another team.

So too the church in the past several decades has adapted marketing outreach models to reach out to potential members. It used to be that you followed the faith of your fathers. If you were born Roman Catholic, or Lutheran, or Mormon that’s where you remained. But churches like companies and sports teams became complacent and took their membership for granted. They forgot the purpose of their product. They thought people would always use it. But as demographic shifts occurred in our country, people took on the mindset of thinking like independent agents as well.  A free market attitude prevailed. People started dropping out of church, or looking at different churches. So the church entered the marketing business of trying to attract people to their church by appealing to various facets of their demographic…we are family friendly…we appeal to youth…we are deep…we only use the “King James Bible”, we have this or that program…we are a multigenerational church…etc., etc.

We have arrived now to the point that we have an ongoing battle of the brands between churches. And we seem surprised when people church hop with a consumer mentality. Why should we be surprised, when we in large part created the mentality? Why should we complain when the people we attract move on to another church that has a cooler brand appeal than the one we developed.

Instead we need to relearn the value of the product we are selling. Whether you are a company or a church, you obviously believe that you have a great product or you wouldn’t be selling it, or giving your life to it. So what are you doing to convince the people that that product is worth them sticking with it? You must be a creative communicator, because you got people to purchase your product at least once. You got them to enter your church doors to check you out. So what are you going to do, to get them to decide to stay? What value do you provide that will convince people that they should stay with you? What do you have that the other guy doesn’t, or what can you provide that the other guy doesn’t? When you figure that out, then you have to communicate that. Oh it doesn’t mean that a customer or consumer won’t try another product now and then. But if you are consistent, if you stay competitively priced, if you continue to provide value, they will return. However if an organization is so busy working at bringing new members in that it doesn’t spend the time needed to keep the people who are now part of their organization then they can expect people to continue hopping away. 

I realize that some organizations total focus is on making that one sale and they could care less if you made another purchase. They believe that the market is all about getting that new person to buy their product, they don' t need repeat customers. I’m also aware that some churches are totally focused on getting someone to "accept Christ" and they don’t apply the resources necessary to get people discipled and plugged in. Either way, if that’s the business model you have chosen, then don’t complain when people get tired after a while and move on to see what another organization can offer them. Just pass on the names of those previous customers/members to organizations whose business model it is to develop and keep someone’s business.

Instant Demographic Information Access

I came across this interesting link that utilizes data collected by the Census Bureau. Demographic information is always useful when you are creatively planning a new outreach or marketing campaign. In this case this link provides users with instant access to local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009. It helped me to see the Racial/Ethnic/Income/Education/Housing & Family breakdown in my local community. I imagine that it will not be long before they include the new data from the latest census report.
I don't know how long this link will be active so for now, I'm just posting it in this section of my blog. Once I find a more permanent link I'll save it on my favorite links column. Here it is: American Community Survey

Buying The Tools of the Trade

Traditionally during the winter time, farmers and ranchers will repair their equipment during what is otherwise a nonproductive time of the year.  Equipment is inventoried, inspected and repaired, so too are the fences.  The majority of us not being farmers don’t have the luxury of such seasons, since we live in a 24-7-365 work cycle. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to inventory our equipment, repair what needs to be repaired and replace what needs to be replaced. This can happen at any time of the year.

The question is, when it comes time to purchase new or used equipment where is the best place to go? And how do I know if I’m getting a good deal for what I’m purchasing? Although I can’t speak for all businesses and churches, being in the communication business, I can speak about the best websites that I’ve come across that consistently have the best prices on video equipment, computer components and a variety of cabling. Especially since this past year I was involved in a project during which I purchased $115,000+tax worth of equipment and software to outfit a new church production facility with video/projection and presentation equipment.

For some of the purchases we did use facilitators who would shop out what we needed for vendors. The one thing I learned from this is to challenge the mark up’s the facilitators charge. They do earn their money for the grief they have to receive from the customer and the vendors, but they don’t have to markup an item 50%. Also I learned that some vendor’s will outright lie to you and misrepresent when they can get equipment to you. A lot of the equipment I purchased direct from online companies and I received excellent deals. I want to share them with you. But first, let me tell you the steps I take to determine what equipment to purchase and whom to purchase it from. 

Step 1: Determine your needs and wants. What equipment do you need that is going to help you communicate creatively? What is going to help you sell your product or get your message across in a cost effective manner. In order to determine this I looked at what we were doing with what we had. I made a list of what I thought would help us do it better. I then looked at other similar or larger organizations that were successful at what they were doing and what they were using. If that was the direction I wanted to go, I would even call them and ask them for advice, or what companies they used. I also looked at trade shows and trends to see if there was a new piece of equipment that would be ready when it came time for me to make my purchases.

Step 2: Set a budget (Realistically). I learned a lot from the first big project I was responsible for. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have set my budget differently. That’s the downside of working for a large organization that someone who owns their business doesn’t have to face. I would have asked for a bigger slice of the pie for my first big project. My lead supervisor came up to me one day and asked if I could do what needed to be done for $50K. Not being sure I doubled that number and said, I’ll need $100k. So that became my budget. I should have said $150k, because never having made such large purchases; I underestimated what it would take to meet the vision the organization had. Eventually my budget was increased to $115k plus tax and my team was able to complete our project, but it made for a very stressful process and we had to cut some corners which I know will come back to bite the organization in the future. Such are the realities of expansion and building programs.

Step 3: Match your needs/wants with your budget and go price shopping. I priced shopped whatever I could. Even when my facilitator brought me his recommendations, I would do my own searches and see if I could beat what he found. One thing to remember is that the cheapest price isn’t always the best price. One has to consider quality of the equipment and if a company will stand behind and support their equipment.

For the items I purchased directly myself, I would do a search on Google. Input the item and compare prices/customer support and warranties. I would generally compare 3-4 online vendors. If the prices were the same I considered availability of items.

Here are a list of websites and companies that I found provided the equipment I needed with the best price and were able to consistently ship my items on time, when I needed them. (Another note, give yourself more lead time and you will save on shipping costs.)

Video related equipment: bhphotovideo.com Not only do they sell new and beat anybody’s prices, but they also have a used store and will even warranty some of the things there.  

Video Tools of the Trade: Filmtools.com  

Flat Screen Televisions: Costco.com or the local Costco. As a business or non-profit, it just makes good business sense. If you don't have a Costco by you then go to a Sams Club

Cabling – monoprice.com Cat5, power strips, rgb, hdmi, you name it and what length cable you need. I never knew you could buy cabling so cheap. Their prices beat Costco and Best Buy by a mile, 2 miles. And after you purchase a certain amount, they give you bulk discounts.

Computers – videoguys.com To spec out a video production work station and for sound advice on how to tweak your video/OS software settings.

newegg.com When you are building your own computer and need to purchases the individual components.  

Local computer company. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to build your own specialized computer, then have one built for you, find a local computer company in your town, that will provide support and have them build it for you.

costco.com or local Costco. For a computer to handle basic business needs (IE. Word processing, spreadsheets, etc.)

Software - Again go to your search engine and do comparison shopping. Many software companies will even let you try out their products for 30 days to see if it meets your needs. Adobe is one of them. If you are a non profit then request a list of nonprofit vendors from  Adobe for your area or follow the student/educator's link on their website, you will be able to purchase software that is greatly discounted.

Of course nothing beats free and if your business is just starting out, or if you have a nonprofit on a tight budget don’t overlook taking advantage of the free software that’s out there on the internet (See filehippo.com), or ask if someone would be willing to donate an item you need. You’ll be surprised what you can obtain.

And don’t forget government auction sites. http://www.govliquidation.com/  If the government uses it, they auction it. You can even sign up for specific categories of items you need and they will send you an email alert. Of course don’t over look big industry auctions in your area. Where I live, Boeing operates an auction website for equipment that they no longer need, or meets their requirements.

Remember never remain static about the sites you purchase from. While I have my favorites, I always do a Google, Bing or whatever your favorite search engine is, to start with, as there are always hungry new start ups willing to offer price breaks to start business going their way. 

I hope this has been helpful to you. If you have some favorite websites send them my way and I’ll post them as well.