Category Archives: Consulting

May 22, 2019 · 2:58 pm

You’re Missing The Target

Many of my friends are over 65. Most of them don’t act like it. Sometimes they – and I  – contemplate being younger but I’m always of the mindset that the only way I’d take back 30 or 40 years would be if I could keep the bank accounts and credit cards I have now. While it’s true it used to be a lot easier to get out of bed in the morning, it’s also a lot easier now once I’m out of it to pretty much engage in consumer behavior with a lot less care than I did all those years ago.

It’s baffling to me, then, why most marketing budgets ignore those of us over 55. In fact, according to U.S. News & World Report, we baby boomers control 70% of the country’s disposable income and spend $3.2 trillion a year. We provide over 50% of consumption and yet we are targeted by 10% of the dollars. My kids are millennials and while they’re both gainfully employed they don’t spend nearly what I do. Most millennials don’t spend like boomers yet they’re the target audience for a lot of marketers.

I don’t get it.  Not only is my generation spending more, but I think we’re also more available to be marketed to. We’re heavy digital users (got to keep up with those reunions!) and use Facebook and Instagram quite a bit. We also are still watching “traditional” tv and news. We read our email too. It’s like we’re begging to be sold.

Millennials tend to rent. That means traveling light – who wants to move a ton of stuff when the lease is up? And unfortunately, they’re also the first generation that entered adulthood in worse financial shape than their parents. They spend every dollar carefully.

Marketing has always been “square peg, square hole” to me. Unless your product can’t be used by older folks (pregnancy tests is about the only thing I can think of), the reality is that you should be targeting older folks. Yes, we’ve built up many years of brand preferences but hey, I just switched to a new toothpaste so you never know!

So why aren’t you marketing to boomers? Seems like an opportunity, no?

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Filed under Consulting, Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud

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May 1, 2019 · 12:59 pm

Masking The Message

Chase Bank did something really dumb the other day while they were actually doing something smart and necessary. It’s a good lesson for any business that how you communicate is every bit as important as what that communication entails.

Chase tweets out something on Mondays hashtagged #MondayMotivation. This week they attempted to inject a little humor into something that really isn’t humorous for the folks who face it: a depleted bank account. Chase tweeted out a fantasy dialogue between a consumer and their bank account. The customer wonders why their bank account is so low and the bank account replies, and I’m paraphrasing, because you spend money on things like buying expensive coffee and dining out and taking taxis when you could walk. The customer replies “I guess we’ll never know”. It came across as snarky and patronizing, especially coming from a bank that makes millions in profits on the fees charged to their customers for ATM use and overdrafts (not to mention a multi-billion dollar bailout from taxpayers).

Politicians jumped in, as did a lot of pundits. Frankly, when I heard about it and the responses to it, I thought it was too bad that a good, important message got lost in a bad presentation. Many younger consumers (and quite a few older ones) don’t realize that making coffee at home can save them hundreds or thousands of dollars a year, as can walking and bringing lunch to the office or learning to cook at night. Those $4 lattes add up and many younger people never learned the financial management skills as they matured that one needs to cope with the money demands that adult life makes. While I don’t discount the effect that stagnating wages and creeping inflation have, having the skills to think through the bigger picture can help.

Any business needs to ask itself “what baggage do I carry” before they message their customer base. Are they angry about anything? Smart businesses constantly have their ears to the ground to listen for any disruption in the force. They monitor social media, their own customer service reps, and the news media generally. Money, or the lack thereof, is one of the most sensitive topics the bank could have addressed. Snark, condescension, and arrogance are rarely the right approach, even when the message is spot on.

Chase was smart enough to delete the tweet and replace it with something humble – “Our #MondayMotivation is to get better at #MondayMotivation tweets. Thanks for the feedback Twitter world”. That’s something every business should constantly try to do – get better – don’t you think?

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Filed under Consulting, digital media, Huh?

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April 29, 2019 · 2:51 pm

Your Ideas Suck

One thing I’ve done over my decade in consulting is to go to tech events. Many of these attract dozens of budding entrepreneurs as well as we consultant types who are always on the lookout for a new client. Inevitably, as you’re making small talk and new connections, someone will tell you about their earth-shattering, world-changing brilliant idea. All they need is some seed money. Most of the time, their ideas…well…suck. Let me explain why.

First of all, they can’t explain the problem that they’re solving. They have a vague idea of who might have the problem but they can’t really explain what the problem is since they’re not the customer. Then they can’t exactly explain how they’ll scale – how they will attract a large enough customer base to get them to positive cash-flow and profitability. Lastly, they can’t explain the revenue model – how they will monetize the enterprise.

Major suckitude, in other words.

If you can’t explain how your idea takes in someone’s money – an investor’s or a customer’s – and spits profit out the other end, you’re in big trouble. An idea isn’t a business, you see.

One thing I’ve learned in consulting on franchises is that a lot of food franchises want you to have some food experience. While specific industry experience is less of a requirement in other categories, having relevant experience is a huge help everywhere, even if it’s just demonstrating skills that can help in your new business. If you don’t have the basic skills you need to germinate your idea – leadership skills, sales skills among them – or relevant industry experience, you are going to fail. Was that mean? OK, it was mean, but your idea still sucks because you are hanging it out there all on its own with nothing to support it. No money. No experience. No skills.

By the way. Most people who have been around for a while (your potential investors and others) can figure out very quickly if your buzzword-laden pitch is BS. Dressing up your sucky idea with a fancy presentation laden with jargon is lipstick on a pig.

What ideas don’t suck? The best businesses come from someone trying to solve their own problem and having the business acumen to grow that solution into something that can benefit others if the problem is a big enough one. There is a plan to make money, acquire customers, and generate a profit. Got an idea with those things? THAT doesn’t suck!

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Filed under Consulting, Reality checks

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