Marketing Today

Survivor: Retail - Why some stores won't make it through 2009

This past week, I was was reading an article entitled "Big Retailers Which May Close or Downsize" and it really got me thinking.  Like many people watching the market these days, I've cut back my spending considerably and am cranking up my savings.  But, with Christmas coming, I've got to get out to stores and pick up presents for family and friends.  Watching the way that retailers are marketing to customers this year is amazing to me and it's not surprising to read that several stores that  we've been shopping at for years, just aren't going to make it in 2009.

Is Talbots First on the "To Go List" or What?

Growing up as a Connecticut preppy, I confess that I've been shopping at Talbots since I was 14 years old.  I liked their old tagline "Talbots is the Classics" because that's how I've always thought of it.  It's always been a great place to pick up a black skirt or some other item that you know will fit, that you'll have for years, knowing that if you go back to the store a year later, you'll find something to match it.   These days, they've switched their merchandise to be more like Ann Taylor and they're still marketing (desperately) to their old customers.  I must get e-mails from them twice a week to get me in the store.  My mom who's less Internet savvy, gets plenty of direct mail and even got a phone call before Thanksgiving to get her in the store.  So, as loyal customers, we went in this past week.  With 30% off coupons in hand, neither one of us could find anything we wanted to buy and we walked out.  When you lose touch with your customer base or no longer care what they think, you probably shouldn't be in that business any more and that's what's happening to Talbots.

I Get Talbots, But Williams Sonoma Too?

Williams Sonoma announces the earnings the first week of December.  Right now, their stock is down 72.4% over a 52-week period.  Being a kitchen gadget nut, I really like this chain of stores, but I confess that I haven't bought anything there in a while.  I just don't need muffin tins shaped like Halloween pumpkins or a variation of plates that are already taking up space in my cabinets.  I used to stop in to pick up Riedel wine glasses which constantly break, but since Target starting carrying that brand for less money, I head there.  With the CEO recently forced to sell 60% of his shares due to financial obligations and other business issues, if the numbers aren't good next week, we may see this retailer out of business.  I'll certainly miss the catalogs and it will be a drag shopping at Target for all other kitchen-related things, but if people aren't buying your merchandise, you don't have a business.

Wal-Mart As The Sole Survivor?

It's a competitive world.  The only retailer I see right now that is directly speaking to customers with an offer to help them out is Wal-Mart.  With a tagline of "Save Money. Live Better" they are speaking directly to their customer base and other retailer's customers as well.  Their website is up to date with the same messaging in their TV ads and they make it easy to shop with them online or in the store.  I think it's terrible that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death on Black Friday, when 2,000 customers turned into a mob in New York, but in a very sick way, it shows where the customers were headed to shop.  Hopefully, the company handles the situation with the seriousness that it deserves via public relations and by hiring more security and personnel through the holiday season and beyond.

Greetings from Louisville!

This week, I'm in the Commonwealth of Kentucky where most of my family lives for Thanksgiving.  Most of the time, I'll be in Louisville with my folks, but I'll head out to Central Kentucky for a day to visit my grandmother who lives in the town famous for the top-shelf Kentucky Bourbon known as Maker's Mark.  Since many of my highly educated East Coast friends often don't seem to know much about Louisville, I'm dedicated this blog post to their further education.

Louisville is Kentucky's largest city.  It's corporate headquarters for Yum Brands who owns Kentucky Fried Chicken.  It's the home of Churchill Downs where "the most famous two minutes in sports", the Kentucky Derby, is run on the first Saturday in May.  The city was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark (the grandfather of the William Clark of Lewis and Clark) and was once the gateway to the West.

Famous Stuff Comes from Louisville

Bet you didn't know that the cheeseburger was invented in Louisville, Kentucky.  Or that, a vast majority of all of the disco balls manufactured in the United States are made in Louisville.  The song "Happy Birthday to You" was originally written for a Louisville kindergarten class.  Papa John's Pizza is headquartered in Louisville, as is the Brown-Forman Corporation, one of the major makers of Kentucky bourbon - about a third of it to be exact.  What's more, the first ever hand transplant was done in Louisville.

Famous People Come from Louisville

Newscaster, Diane Sawyer is a Louisvillian.  Her daddy "Tom" Sawyer was a famous judge in Kentucky.  My dad walks his dog every day in Tom Sawyer Park.  World heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali is from here.  Who else?  Hunter S. Thompson, Sue Grafton, and Tom Cruise.  And, University of Louville graduate, Senator Mitch McConnell, leads the Republican party in the U.S. Senate.

Wrapping This Up

Well, I'm starting to sound like a marketer for the Kentucky Bureau of tourism.  Louisville is a great place to visit and live.  I recommend it to anyone who just wants to hang out with nice people and enjoy a little warmer climate than you'll find in the Northeast.  If you'd like to kick back with a highball, some fried chicken and listen to some great country music, you'll find it here.  Of course, there's also plenty of history and culture too.  And, for all of my friends who are Boston Red Sox fans, there's the Louisville Slugger Museum which showcases the Louisville Slugger brand and the history of baseball in general. 

Is 20% of a PR budget for Social Media Too Much?

I was just reading today that storage equipment maker, NetApp is applying 20% of their PR budget to social media.  Is that enough?  Is it too much?  Well, it depends on what the whole budget is and what your goals are.  One thing is certain though social media works!

You don't need me to tell you that a lot of information gathering is done on the web.  When you publish fresh content that is of interest to the people you are looking to attract to your message, they'll find you.  And, when you're able to have a two-way dialog, the message is even more interesting.

While the perception of social media might be that it's free because sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube are free, it's not.  Understanding how to make it effective takes an investment in people who are going to make it work for you.  The same article I referenced earlier said that Dell has a dedicated team of about 40 people who interact with consumers through blogs, community forums and third-party sites. Spokeswoman Caroline Dietz was quoted saying that "There's been a realization over the last several years that your customers are going to talk about you online and you have a choice to join that conversation."

And when you have something interesting to say, people will pay attention and they'll share the news with their friends - good or bad.  This past weekend, a blog entry of mine "Survival for the Laid Off or About to Be" caught on all over that place and was picked up by several sites including Scobelizer's Friend Feed site.  I had more hits to my blog than I'd ever had before and they keep coming as the blog entry proliferates on the web in individual's Google readers and other places. 

For my thinking, maybe 20% of the PR budget is not enough to invest in social media if you've got a web savvy audience who is interested in what you have to say, but it's a good start.  Once you see what's working and what's not, you can always dial it up.

Survival Tips for Those Laid Off or About to Be

I've been there.  Done that.  And, no I didn't get a t-shirt.  These times are tough and it helps to be prepared.  People have called me a "survivor" and even a "thriver".  What's my big secret?  I just get up in the morning and I keep on going.  Here are some thoughts that may help you or someone you know get back on their feet.

1.  Build your network - keep your posting on LinkedIn up to date and when you do, describe what you do in language that someone outside of your immediate workplace can relate to.  Go to events in your industry regularly and stay in touch with others in your field on a regular basis.  No one likes to get a call from someone just when they need something.  And, don't leave all of your contacts on your company equipment.  Just heard about a woman the other day who got laid off unexpectedly and got walked to her office to clean things out while HR watched.  She had to hand over her company paid for cell phone and laptop with all of her contacts on it because she hadn't backed anything up.  Don't let that be you.

2.  Be flexible - years ago, I started my own marketing consulting firm and I always keep the website up to date even though I'm not looking for consulting as I've got a full time job.  When it comes to consulting, I'll do what ever a client needs me to do.  I've been a part-time PR person, I've rewritten multiple websites, and I've done events management.  As companies downsize, they are still going to need to get stuff done.  While they may not be able to bring on full time people, they can still bring people on for project work.  This is not a time to be picky about how you can help an organization out.

3.  Keep your skills up - I don't twitter or blog because I have no life.  I do it because I'm teaching myself social networking skills.  Now, I am a marketing geek and I'm having fun with social networking, but I keep up with it because that's a big way that organizations are marketing themselves.  Is there something new that you can learn that would be of value to an organization in your industry?  Go out and learn it.

4.  Get through the stages of grief quickly - I get that it's no fun to be told you don't have a job any more and to have to pack your boxes and drive home in the middle of the day because I've been there.  All I know is that many people will want to help you out and you'll do best at taking them up on their offers of help when you get yourself to a good place again.  Stay home and don't take calls or e-mails for a while if you're not up to it, but don't let it go on too long.  Put a smile on your face and get back out there.  And when you do, keep yourself surrounded with positive people.

5.  Become a believer in karma - this one may sound a little odd, but it's important.  What goes around comes around.  When people don't treat other people right, it comes back to them.  Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually it does.  Make sure your karma is good.  Now that you have extra time on your hands, do something nice for someone else.  Get more involved in an organization that you've only had time to be a member of.  They'll probably be excited to have your extra time and talents and doing some work for them is a good way to justify your time while you're looking for something new.

Being "in transition" or "between gigs" is no fun as most of us have lives that are dependent on a regular paycheck.  If you're not there yet, take this time to get prepared just in case.  And, if you are there, hopefully these tips will be of help.  As a high tech marketing professional, it's inevitable that I've gotten to experience being laid off.  The reality is that things change and you've just got to keep changing with the times if you want to be a part of business today.

How's your competition marketing in this economic environment?

Last night at 7 p.m. I got a call from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts looking for donations.  The call began "Ms.Gunst, as someone who has donated to The Museum of Fine Arts in the past, we wanted to reach out to you to see if you'd be interested in donating again...."  As I prepare for an marketing meeting this week with The Art Connection, an organization that I'm on the board of, it made me think that we've really got to work extra hard to get funding in this economic environment.  And, to steal a page from the corporate marketing play book, we've got to better understand not just what our "competition" is offering, but how they are marketing to many of the same people that we'll be targeting with our upcoming campaigns and events.

My thinking about the topic and some on-line searching lead me to a great blog written by a woman who wrote the book on non-profit marketing. Katya Andresen does a great job teaching others about how to motivate others to support your cause. 

These days, we can't just expect a white knight to come in and donate to our causes so that we can just keep on doing what we've always been doing, because that's just not going to work.  And, you have to look at what other organizations are doing to tap your base for funding that you're counting on.  To be honest, I haven't donated to the Museum of Fine Arts in over 10 years.  And, then I think I bought an annual membership so that I could get tickets to an opening party for an art exhibit that I was interested in.  Think about it.  If this organization is keeping up a mailing list of donors through the decades and having telemarketers call them at the dinner hour on a Saturday night, what's your competition doing to tap your market for donations that should be going to your organization?

Greetings from Seattle!

This week, I'm in Seattle, Washington.  It's the home of some famous brands like Microsoft, Nordstroms, and Starbucks!  And during this rainy week, I will have been to them all.  After reading "It's Not About the Coffee", a book on building the corporate culture at Starbucks on the flight out, I was expecting great things from the local Starbucks.  But, while the store (and there's a lot of them out here) was lovely inside, a stressed out barista served me a cold Grande Latte with non-fat milk this morning!  Yuck!  Happily, I'm addicted to them (the hot ones) and I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow.  I also learned at Nordstrom's that there's 9% sales tax out here.  The sales associate told me that if you live here, you don't have state tax taken out of your check, so you don't mind.  That fact, and my small suitcase, will help keep my shopping to a minimum this week.

But, can you find a better place for salmon, crab, or great Oregon Pinot Noir than Seattle?  We managed to crash a party last night for a local Democrat who won a congress seat.  The Westin in Bellevue was a nice place to watch the candidates make their speeches - one conceding defeat and the other accepting the new role.  Strange in some ways not to watch all that from home with friends, but amazing to see the excitement of the crowd out on the road when Obama made his speech.