Victoria's Secret - End of Their Catalog?

Did you catch this little ditty before you left work last Friday (click here)?

You probably won't get an email from your printer or your paper rep telling you about this.

You probably won't get an email from your omnichannel marketing consultant telling you about this.

I know, I know, your business is unique, your business is different. You don't cater to a person who likes Victoria's Secret models, you cater to a 63 year old Master Gardener in Upstate New York. Because you are different, your vendor support system will tell you to ignore the facts when a large brand is about to pull $100,000,000 in catalog ad expense out of the ecosystem. They'll tell you to pay attention to Wayfair mailing a paltry quantity of catalogs instead, as if Wayfair is any more aligned with the future than Victoria's Secret (and honestly, none of us can predict the future).

We need to stop picking and choosing the facts that the vendor community decides to present to us.

Now, you might want to run to a dumpster and vomit vigorously when you read that Victoria's Secret will make up the sales generated by a catalog with increased loyalty and digital engagement. It sounds like a different set of industry pundits got to somebody at Victoria's Secret. Having been a Vice President at a multi-billion dollar brand, I can speak from experience - the pundits find ways to get in the building.

There are two things that determine business success.

1. Increased Merchandise Productivity.
2. Customer Acquisition Gains.

When you hear about marketing brilliance, you are typically hearing about customer acquisition gains. And when you've acquired all of the customers your brand is capable of acquiring, well, you need to move into new product areas, product areas that attract a new customer audience.

I'm saying this because it simply does not matter whether Victoria's Secret mails a catalog or does not mail a catalog. It's 2016, not 1991. The customer is going to find Victoria's Secret if the customer wants to purchase from Victoria's Secret. Do not listen to any of the business entertainment babble about this being a stupid omnichannel decision or this being a great digital decision. All of it is simply business entertainment. Nobody knows whether this is a good/bad decision. 

Nobody.

They key, of course, is to have great merchandise. Once the merchandising team gives us great merchandise, the marketer figures out how to leverage the merchandise to acquire as many customers as possible. This is not done via channels and marketing spend. This is done via creative customer acquisition programs.

I know. You disagree with me. 

That's ok.

The People v. O.J. Simpson

Did you watch the ten-part series (click here)?

Did you live through the experience two decades ago?

Like the fox depicted here, sometimes we think we're being really, really clever. We have all the facts. We have an iron-clad argument. And then, those we are trying to convince do exactly the opposite of what we are convincing them to do.

The prosecution had DNA evidence at more than fifty-billion-to-one ... but that was not enough to convince a jury long-hindered by bias and prejudice.

In marketing and analytics, it is never enough to have iron-clad facts. Our facts and story must align with the worldview of the audience we're trying to convince, or we're in trouble.

Business Entertainment

Do a search for "panda bear gif" sometime. 

Panda bears are entertaining. You look at one eating leafy greens and think to yourself, "well, isn't that cute?!" You see a handful of tweets about panda bears being cute, and you've been entertained. It's a better feeling than being yelled at by a rogue merchant for spamming customers with four email campaigns per week.

Have you ever watched a Ted Talk (click here)? People pay thousands to attend. Millions watch the videos online. There is no doubt that the format is entertaining, or there wouldn't be millions of views of Ted Talks online. Somebody tells the audience that schools squelch creativity or that introverts are powerful or that there are fourteen secrets to success, and the audience nods and applauds.

Does the audience change behavior when they leave the auditorium?

Do you change your behavior after viewing a Ted Talk online?

Or were you simply entertained? Like after you watched a panda bear gif online?

There's a place for entertainment. At 8:00pm, for instance, after a long work day.

There really isn't a place for business entertainment. The stakes are too great. If somebody tells you that the secret to business success is "Facebook Ads" (as suggested in an article that I read this morning), and you listen to business entertainment, and you fail, you lose your job. Not the person issuing business entertainment. You. You lose your job. Or worse, if you are Macy's and you listen to omnichannel business entertainment, thousands lose jobs. 

Thousands.

I couldn't help but think of business entertainment when I spoke at the VT/NH conference last week. When you speak at a conference, you are constantly trying to get a read of the room you are speaking to. You utter a sentence, then you read the reactions on the faces of the attendees (and you take mental note of those who are sleeping). You hope the attendees are there because they want to change. You don't want to hear an attendee say "I attended because the speakers are always entertaining."

I recall attending a conference two years ago - the keynote speaker walked a robot through the audience - talked about merchandising brilliance - and generally entertained those in attendance. A week later, the keynote speaker (the CEO) announced that his business was seeking Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. Clearly, his keynote was all about business entertainment.

Do me a favor. The next time you attend a conference, document how many of the sessions you attend provide truly actionable content, and then document how many of the sessions represent business entertainment.

Similarly, do me a favor. For the next week, document whether an article that you read provides truly actionable content, and then document the articles that represent business entertainment. What is the mix of actionable content and business entertainment? Who, specifically, provides you with actionable content?

Send me an email (kevinh@minethatdata.com) citing the articles and authors that provide actionable content.

Two Opposing Points Of View

Two opposing points of view, as communicated to me at the VT/NH conference last week.

POV #1:  Your ideas are great, but nobody is going to listen to me when I take your ideas back to my company. Merchants don't care. Creative doesn't care. IT will never do what we ask them to do. And our Executive Team never changes. It's fun to get away from work, it's fun to daydream about what could be. But none of it matters when I get back to the office and nobody listens to me.

POV #2:  Our business hasn't grown in ten years. When we have a good year, it is a +5% year. When we have a bad year, it is a -10% year. Our merchandise is great, our creative is "on brand". Our marketing team simply does a poor job of getting the message out. How do I inspire my marketing team to be great?

You probably already figured this out.

• POV #1 comes from a Marketing Director.
• POV #2 comes from an Executive.

There are two ways that we grow.

1. Customers love our merchandise so much that they buy more of it.
2. We find new customers to buy our merchandise.

So let's say we have the Executive in POV #2. She is 57 years old. She's been in the industry for at least thirty years. She is within ten years of retirement. She wants the big payday that all of her peers in the e-commerce world got ... she wants to head into retirement with five million dollars in the bank and a mini-documentary on "Good Morning Rhode Island" outlining her brilliant career ... "she's the Steve Jobs of Woonsocket".

What is the Marketing Director in POV #1 doing to help the Executive achieve her dreams?

I know, I know, you find it repugnant that the Executive in POV #2 wants to head to the exits with cash and TV exposure.

Is it possible that you can help the Executive achieve her dreams? Absolutely.

Is it fair that she will leave with cash and a mini-documentary while you get to keep your job? Of course not!

But you want change to happen. You want your company to be successful in five years.

You do not need permission to make change happen.

Start your own cross-functional team. Pick a Manager/Director from Merchandising, from Creative, from Operations, from Information Technology. Tell them you need their help finding new customers. Set up one hour meetings every other week ... every other Wednesday at 3:30pm (this prevents 2pm-3pm meetings from running over and crippling your meeting and prevents people from leaving early and ignoring you for 4pm meetings and provides incentive for people to go home early after your meeting ... you'll be loved for this, trust me).

At the start of each meeting, outline how many new customers you acquired in the past two weeks, vs. plan and vs. last year.

At the start of each meeting, clearly communicate to every person on your hand-picked team what happens to the business if you consistently increase new customer counts by 20% vs. plan. In other words, show the Merchant how her bonus grows when she helps you find new customers. Show the IT staffer who says your projects are 214th in priority how the Merchant will not get a bonus if the IT staffer does not perform your work. Show the Creative staffer how new customers on Pinterest share beautiful imagery.

In other words, do the hard work to demonstrate to your cross-functional co-workers how new customers cause your cross-functional co-workers to be successful.

Then pick out a dozen items that new customers love.

Share those items with the team.

Share how those items are displayed creatively.

Share how you would like to promote these items on the website, in social media, in email campaigns.

Share how many new customers the team will acquire if they work hard to help you promote these items.

Share how your competition promotes comparable items.

Ask your hand-chosen team what they think is a reasonable marketing approach for your brand?

At this point, see if your team is willing to self-mobilize to promote the items. If they are, then you are quickly learning that you are making change happen. Yes ... you!

But if the team stares at you, blankly, then it is clear that your message is not resonating with them. Change the message. Find out what it is that motivates the members of your hand-picked team, and then align customer acquisition efforts with team motivations.

If your tactics don't work, and you cannot make change happen, consider working at a different company - a company receptive to change.

If you need Executive permission to do anything, consider working at a different company - a company receptive to change.

But why not start humbly. Hand-pick your own team of merchants, creatives, information technology folks, website operations, you name it. Grow your business without permission. You may soon find that your Executive Team is paying attention to you because you are so successful. At minimum, you are likely to grow new customer counts solely because you care more than the average employee.

I Can Make Change Happen!!

This image is of me ... I found it on the VT/NH Marketing Group Twitter feed (click here), speaking at a VT/NH event last week.

These are the slides from the presentation (click here) ... you remember the slides, right (viewed > 19,000 times)?

Go to slide number 205.

I looked out across the audience when I shared slide number 205.

I sensed something had changed.

For two hours and five minutes, heads shook up and down ... often in the affirmative motion. 

On slide 205, I recommended creation of a cross-functional team of individuals. This team would be responsible for increasing new customer acquisition counts - by 20% or more in all likelihood. We're talking Marketing, Merchandising, Creative, Finance, Operations, Information Technology (as rightly recommended by an attendee).

I recommended two limits.

1. Director-Level staff ... this is the "AAA" team, to use baseball parlance, the team of individuals most likely to run the company in five years.
2. Age = 30-39. Once you hit 40, you are not on the team, you should theoretically move on to Sr. Management.

It was the latter point that drew groans, that generated the most feedback after the presentation. Folks were not happy with the recommendation.

One person, to paraphrase, had this to say.

• "I can make change happen!"

Now, let's be perfectly honest. You do not have to be 30-39 years old to make change happen.

But this comment raises two interesting questions.

1. If you can make change happen, then why hasn't change already happened?
2. What needs to change at your company in order to make change happen?

The latter question is pretty important, don't you think? It's the problem that so many folks face, right?

There is a reason that the multi-channel / omnichannel rhetoric was quickly implemented. This strategy required two changes.

1. Marketing Needed To Change.
2. How Marketing Worked With Vendors Needed To Change.

In order to increase the number of new customers, via my recommendation.

1. All Co-Workers Need To Change.
2. Change Would Be Driven By A Small Group of Cross-Functional Leaders.

This is why it is hard to make change happen.

1. It is easy to work with vendors - we pay them, we tell them what to do. Then they tell us what we should do. And they take us out to fancy restaurants when they visit us.
2. It is hard to work with co-workers - too often, they tell us what to do and they don't listen to us and they are critical of the work we do. And they sometimes mistakenly steal our lunches out of the company refrigerator.

Another person offered this tidbit.

• "It doesn't matter what this team of 30-39 year olds wants to do, they'll never convince the Executive Team to make any changes. The real question is this ... how do you convince the Executive Team to change?

This brings us to the challenge of 2016.

1. I can make change happen!
2. It is really hard to work with Merchandising and Creative and Information Technology and Operations. They will not carry out change in a cross-functional manner.
3. Even if Marketing and Merchandising and Creative and Information Technology and Operations all work together, the Executive Team won't change, so what difference does it make?

More on this tomorrow.

Project Opening!

Sometimes, a promised project falls through ... and when that happens, it's like having a sore tooth that is pulled, you have a gaping hole in your mouth.

So, I have a highly unexpected project opening in the April 25 - May 25 timeframe. This is my busy time of the year, so the opening isn't likely to remain for long.

FYI - here are what the most popular project requests are in 2016 ... if you have something that aligns with this, then by all means, get in touch immediately and capitalize on this rare open project slot:

• Most Popular = Lifetime Value Analysis & Customer Acquisition Evaluation.
• 2nd Most Popular = Merchandise Forensics (always a favorite ... the most popular project request over the past nine years).
• 3rd Most Popular = Contact Strategy Evaluation.
• 4th Most Popular = Email Marketing Strategy Evaluation.

Buying Brands = A Customer Acquisition Strategy

This ditty (click here) about Alibaba should cause anybody to think about different ways to acquire new customers.

I know, I know, you are a seventy million dollar a year brand producing three million dollars of pre-tax profit, you cannot go out there and buy companies.

Could you look at what companies generating two million or three million a year are doing? Are they complementary to your business? Not complementary at all but interesting enough to think about? Could you buy a company like that? No? Could you invest in a company like that and then learn something about how a newer business manages customer acquisition strategies? Remember, a new business generating a couple million in annual sales does nothing but acquire new customers.

Something to think about?