Television Audiences

Maybe one needs to step out of the world of catalogs, and instead focus on television, in order to understand how one can think of different audiences.

Here are network television ratings for last Tuesday night (click here).

And here are cable television ratings for last week Tuesday night (click here for cable ratings).  Look at Storage Wars, as an example ... high ratings, and high ratings among 18-49 year olds.

Storage Wars is broadcast on A&E, owned by NBC/Universal, owned by Comcast/GE.

You look at NBC's network ratings, and they are a disaster.  I mean, four or five million folks are watching?  Think about the days of Cheers or Seinfeld, when you might have forty million folks watching!

CBS does really well, especially among older customers.

But if you are a network channel, and your audience is eroding/aging, you have the choice to find a younger audience via different "channels".  In the case of NBC/Universal, there are a lot of "channels".

• USA
• Syfy
• Chiller
• G4
• E!
• CNBC
• MSNBC
• Bravo
• qubo
• Telemundo
• The Weather Channel
• A&E Networks
• NBC Sports Channel
• The Golf Channel
• ... and others

Each of these channels has a core audience ... some younger ... some older.  Nothing is integrated, though in some cases, there are synergies (i.e. calling upon The Weather Channel when NBC News needs information about a natural disaster).

In our industry, we'd demand that every one of these cable channels be integrated with the mother ship.  In doing so, each channel would lose the unique characteristics that allow it to have a loyal following.

Now, if you sum up the viewers of each of these channels, you find that NBC has a ton of viewers across channels.

CBS does this.

ABC does this.

FOX does this.

Why don't we do this?

Email Marketing: Jasmine

Email marketing plays a whole different role when we're looking to "engage" Jasmine.


Remember, Jasmine's persona is somewhere around twenty-seven years old.  This means that Jasmine has been raised in the age of "The Great Recession".  Jasmine doesn't have the money that prior generations enjoyed at her age.


Email marketing needs to reflect this in three important ways.

1. Great quality product at low prices.  Jasmine is not going to pay $399 for a handbag, so don't bother trying to get her to "aspire" to purchase something she can't afford.  Focus the merchandise assortment around what Jasmine can buy, not what you want her to buy.
2. Curation.  Put an assortment together for Jasmine, have a point of view!  Jasmine uses external sources like blogs to understand what might work for her ... that means that we as marketers are doing a poor job of curating for her.
3. Sharable.  Jasmine trusts her friends.  Make all content easily sharable, and let Jasmine help do the marketing for you.  This is very different than Judy and Jennifer, they aren't going to do the marketing for you!

Segment who Judy, Jennifer, and Jasmine are.  Then speak to each persona the way each persona wants to be spoken to.  Go well beyond my research, actually test what works with each persona and then apply your learnings in the marketplace.

Contact me for your own, customized Judy / Jennifer / Jasmine segmentation framework.

Chasing Fireflies and Jennifer

By now, you've read that HSN / Cornerstone purchased Chasing Fireflies, a catalog-based business that grew from $0 to $39,000,000 in annual sales in just six years.


I want for you to think about a few things, regarding Chasing Fireflies.

1. Growth was largely fueled by catalogs.  CATALOGS, folks.  Name one marketing expert who believes that growth via catalogs is a best practice ... go ahead, I'll wait while you put your list together ... I'm still waiting ...
2. This wasn't done via Social Media ... 475 followers embracing 73 tweets on Twitter?  And yet, there's something about the business worth talking about, given that 20,733 folks like the brand on Facebook, but there isn't much "engagement" as the experts like to say ... meaning that the likes are merchandise-based.  Maybe that's important, huh?
3. The core online audience is Jennifer ... click here for data from Quantcast.  I'd bet that there's a Judy-based offline audience purchasing as well, an audience that isn't observed by Quantcast.
4. Punch up the website on your phone ... no mobile website as best I can tell.

Maybe we need to step back and stop adoring channels.  Maybe we've been deluded.  Maybe a link between merchandise (in this case, childrens apparel) and audience (Jennifer) matters.

Homework assignment:  Discuss with your Executive team the reasons that a catalog-based kids business was able to grow from $0 to $39,000,000 in the social/mobile/local era.  Do any of the lessons apply to your business?

Email Marketing: Jennifer

Hint:  Jennifer likes email marketing.


Well, she likes the discounts and promotions in email marketing campaigns!


Remember, Jennifer is all about using online marketing channels to find the best deal possible for the merchandise she wants to purchase.


The majority of best practices in email marketing are designed to speak directly to Jennifer.


Jennifer actually clicks through email campaigns and purchases ... this is one of the signs that the customer is Jennifer.  Judy subscribes to email campaigns to learn, Jennifer subscribes, clicks through, and purchases.


When segmenting your audience into Judy / Jennifer / Jasmine cohorts, be sure to customize the message based on what each unique cohort wants to accomplish.  Jennifer likes new products, she likes great prices, and she loves %-off and free shipping.

Email Marketing: Judy

Email purchases tend to be focused among Jennifer and Jasmine.


That doesn't mean that Judy doesn't subscribe to email campaigns.  She does!


But the products we offer, and the messaging in the email messages needs to be different to resonate with Judy.


Judy likes sales, and coupons.


Judy likes memories and tradition.


Judy likes "winning product", predictability, reliability.  She doesn't mind hearing about new products either, but there's a balance between learning and buying that must be mastered with Judy.


Segment Judy, then try these strategies, these are the themes that keep coming up in my research.  Email me you don't have the bandwidth to segment Judy, Jennifer, and Jasmine, and I'll do it for you!

Dear Catalog CEOs: Accountability

Dear Catalog CEOs:


Working at Nordstrom was a humbling experience, if you were an Executive.  Each month, dashboards were created.  Each merchant was ranked, from top to bottom, based on the percentage sales increase vs. prior year.  Each regional manager was ranked, from top to bottom, based on the percentage sales increase vs. prior year.  Each store manager within a region was ranked, from top to bottom, based on the percentage sales increase vs. prior year.


Hint:  You didn't want to be on the bottom of that list.


First of all, Leadership only talked about the top of the list.  The Accessories Exec was lauded for generating a 10.9% sales increase vs. prior year, while the Womens Footwear Exec was praised for generating an 8.8% sales increase vs. prior year.  The Regional Manager responsible for the Midwest Region was recognized for generating an 11.3% sales increase vs. prior year.  The Alderwood Mall Store Manager was thanked for generating a 22.4% sales increase vs. prior year.  The message was clear ... rewards were available for those who exhibited outstanding performance.


You didn't hear wining, at least not publicly.  The Northern California Regional Manager didn't publicly complain that La Nina created a wet, cold environment that damaged sales.  The Cosmetics Exec didn't complain that a key vendor was struggling to ship enough product to meet demand.  No, people just got busy trying to improve, trying to move up the list.


At the end of the year, staffing changes happened.  In some ways, it was like a tournament, folks.  Those at the bottom of the list "retired" or simply were no longer with the company.  Empty positions were filled by those who were at the top of their list.


The criteria that folks were ultimately evaluated on was clear.  Your job was simple ... improve significantly vs. prior year.


The CFO was accountable for holding the line on expenses ... if expenses were held constant, while sales increased (on an assumed even or improved gross margin percentage), then profit skyrocketed.


Sales increases and profit improvements led to Wall St. approval, causing the stock price to increase from about $8 when I was hired to about $50 when I left.


The culture of accountability created by simple dashboards and clear Executive-level messaging led to a company that, at the time I left in 2007, was generating something like 13% pre-tax profit ... more than a billion dollars pre-tax profit on over eight billion in annual sales.


Our obsession with "channels" detracts us from true accountability.  We try to parse orders based on the channel that drove an order.  We know this is basically an impossible task, but we continue to focus on channels.  What did search deliver?  What did email deliver?  How did the holiday catalog perform?  Our merchants pummel the marketing team, telling marketing that they  don't advertise to the right audience.  Our creative folks pummel the merchants for selling crappy merchandise.  Our marketing team tries to gain favor by increasing the number of followers on Twitter.  We argue with the affiliate marketer on the share of sales they should receive.


Maybe we go back to simple accountability.  Hold the merchants responsible for sales by merchandising division.  Hold the CFO accountable for company expenses.  Hold the creative team accountable for landing pages that result in sales increases.  Hold the inventory manager accountable for inventory turn.  And for crying out loud, hold the CMO accountable for increases in sales and reduction in marketing expense via catalogs, emails, search, display, social media, you name it ... but in total, not by channel.  Hold somebody accountable for new customers.  Hold somebody accountable for your annual retention rate.


And publish everything, so that everybody knows what is driving success or failure.  Reward those who truly drive business success, publicly.

Bricks 'n Clicks: Best Buy

Today, we learn that Best Buy, the king of "Bricks 'n Clicks", is shuttering stores and laying off staff (click here please).


Here's what is amazing. We somehow could envision a world where a customer would sit at home, view product on a laptop, then do the hard work to get in a car, drive fifteen miles to a store, and purchase the product with sales tax.  Yet we could not envision a world where a customer would do the hard work to get in a car, drive fifteen miles to a store, view a product and price it with sales tax, then order it online sans sales tax.


How did we miss that one?  It makes perfect sense.


We could argue that Wal-Mart and/or Costco are mulching Best Buy as well, that may or may not be true.  We could argue that some Best Buy employees feel less-than-enthusiastic about their jobs (click here).  Both may or may not be the cause of struggles at Best Buy.


We do know this:

1. Experts claim that a Multichannel Bricks 'n Clicks strategy is the secret to success.
2. Experts claim that a sound Social Media strategy is key to success (i.e. Best Buy Twelpforce).
3. Best Buy, employing a Multichannel Bricks 'n Clicks strategy paired with a sound Social Media strategy, a previously successful business, is now trimming stores and laying off employees and is routinely posting negative comp store sales.

Maybe this matters.

• Product > Service > Pricing > Multi-Channel > Social Media

Think for a moment about what Best Buy sells.

• Could I buy the same item on Amazon and save $$$ on sales tax?
• Could I buy the same item anywhere on the internet and save time and not pay sales tax?
• Could I buy a Verizon phone at a Verizon store and maybe get better service?
• Could I buy an Apple iPad at an Apple Store and have a better experience?

Now, I'm not saying this to beat up on Best Buy, that wouldn't be fair.  You'd have to run a large company to understand how hard it is to navigate a giant brand through an ever-changing world ... it isn't easy, and the people who work at Best Buy are undoubtedly "not stupid".  If you disagree, go find an Executive position at a large retail brand, and report back to me in five years with your experiences!!

But I will be critical of online pundits, folks who don't have skin in the game, folks who have never had the opportunity to work in retail for a decade or more, folks who tell "brands" what to do without having data to prove a hypothesis.

Multichannel and Social Media are lower on the food chain than are unique product, customer service, and pricing concerns.  Apple has unique product and a stunning in-store customer experience.  Nordstrom sells the same stuff everybody else sells, but offers legendary customer service.  Amazon has low prices and no sales tax.  Best Buy sells what everybody else sells with competent customer service and competitive pricing.

Which leads one to the following question:

• "Why would you buy something at Best Buy?"

I ask the question because every business should ask this question.  If we consider it through the eyes of Best Buy, maybe the question is less threatening than if asked directly of each of us for the businesses we work for.