By Mark Alison

We started with a non-existent product. We had no idea what it would look like, what it was named or how much it would cost. But we had a determined product manager who was looking for help. Brian had called The Alison Group because he needed something more than advertising.

The Gap Analysis showed a big $600 hole between the high-end walk mower at $600 retail, a Honda, and the low end rider, a $1200 Murray, and he was determined to fill it. Our job, help them design and sell a new machine “From the ground up.” We started in April.

In May we conducted surveys. We targeted consumers who shopped the lawn and garden section of major retailers like Sears, Lowes, Depot. By late May we had enough data for the product design engineers. The machine was definitely a rider but not the typical one. Research said, “Nobody cuts grass at night.,” so no headlights. “Put the engine behind the rider,” and, “make it a battery start,” they said, but include a pull rope back-up. This was good stuff. We drilled down using focus groups to find likely buyer demographics.

June – We conducted mall intercepts to test out a potential lift lever, speed changer and seat. The high back seat was a big hit but it added a $14 cost at manufacturing. We felt is was a good selling point. One respondent said, “If you’ve ever had a low back rider mower lurch forward on you, you will appreciate a high back seat.” Consumers also wanted a 24” deck to ride through a single gate. We tested price points. Honestly, the little machine was starting to look like a much improved old Snapper brand rider I had helped market in the 70’s.

In August the engineers pieced one together and we took it to the Lawn and Garden magazine capital of the world, Ames IA., and presented to 20 editors. We had one small window in time to make the Spring lawn and garden magazines and this was it. They asked to see the mower in operation. We held our breath and rolled the prototype off the truck. The US made Briggs & Stratton motor built especially for this unit worked flawlessly. They were impressed and called it a “Category Buster.” We were encouraged.

September – Selling to distribution. We prepared the card deck to pitch the lawn and garden majors. Afraid the little machine, we had now branded the “Weed Eater One” would cannibalize higher margin mowers, retailers were reluctant to buy in. Three of the majors delayed their decisions. But Wal-Mart with rider sales at zero the year before, was very interested. We had learned that people would buy it if they could take it home in their car so the box was engineered to fit into the back of a mini-van. We pitched that feature along with the price. Wal-Mart was sold. Virtually every other retailer capitulated.

October – December. Husqvarna ordered 50,000 Weed Eater Ones to be built. We refined the target audience to retirees who were downsizing and a second target we found – first-time, home-owners. Our team created :30 second TV commercials and print ads for spring in the middle of winter.

March – May. We placed media in select cities based on our target demo and other overlays including Spring’s arrival which could lag by over 30 days in our desired markets. The machines were delivered in February. We were sure it needed a story to sell it at retail but someone forgot to attach our beautifully designed FABS (features and benefits) hang-tags. All we could do then was wait.

Magazines hit, ads hit, PR hit, the internet buzzed. What began as a Gap Analysis – our little $799 machine, sold out! Brian, the PM was a happy man. The next year every major lawn mower manufacturer made their version of the Weed Eater One – a new category of mower was born. 12 months from idea to reality. That’s the power of good marketing.

Earl Nightengale, a name not too many people today will recognize, was one of the early proponents of personal motivation. My library is filled with underlined pages in books from giants including him along with Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to name a few. Having spent time and money being mentored by the motivational masters like Rohn, Robins and Maxwell for many years, I value planning, goal setting and personal time management.

Traditional goal setting, however, had always been a tedious chore that I never looked forward to and was all too happy when it was over. So, rather than stick with something so tedious, I developed my own way of goal setting – a process I’ve been using successfully for 20 years. Four years ago, I shared this process with a couple of friends and from there, with their encouragement, I have had the opportunity to speak to groups across the country and watch as people embrace this fresh concept that I simply call, “Future Planning.”

Last week in Oklahoma City, on a cold 28 degree evening, 135 individuals bared the weather and drove to the Crowne Plaza to spend an hour learning this new and compelling way to plan their futures. Two days later, in another city, 95 more turned out early on a Saturday morning to do the same. In both cases people stayed far longer than I could have imagined to learn even more and enthusiastically share with others who had heard me previously and experienced Future Planning first hand.

What I am doing would not be possible without those who came before me. My insights are built on their work but also new inspiration from others including Tad James, Covey and even the Disney organization. The stories I am hearing from those who have completed their Future Planning weekend are energizing and provide a dossier of documented proof that Future Planning works for others just as well as it does for me.

Future Planning is not a Jedi mind trick but it does involve using your brain in the same way Einstein, Washington and Thoreau used theirs. Unlike traditional goal setting it doesn’t require a great deal of planning ahead of time but it does require an open mind and a commitment of time. The bottom line is, it works. And it takes the work out of goal setting.

It is perfect for a group presentation, boards, non-profits, anyone looking for direction or who typically live their lives based on deadlines. I am happy to share this with you. Contact me for more information.

[email protected]

By Mark Alison
I am a sucker for great radio commercials. I remember one from years ago that was created to sell the power of radio. The announcer described a guy puffing on a cigar and filling the car with white aromatic smoke. It was written so well that I could not help but smell it, even though it existed only in my head. He stopped mid sentence, paused, and said, “If you can smell the cigar, you know the power of radio.” I thought, “That’s the kind of radio spots I want to write.”

They say that radio is the theatre of the mind. I say it is the best medium to capture our imagination, even more so than TV. Great radio spots, like a good book, allow us to build the picture that suits us and make it very personal. You may ask how radio can capture us in thirty seconds. Consider how long it takes you to recognize the music of Debussy’s Clair de Lune or for younger readers the opening three seconds of the Star Wars theme. (Can you hear it in your head?) How long does it take to be captured by the unmistakable voice of Sam Elliott when he is promoting “Dodge Ram,” or James Earl Jones, whether or not he is voicing Darth Vader? The point is, the commercial presentation touches us before the content does. If we like the presentation, chances are we will listen to the message too.

When season 11 American Idol winner Phillip Phillips sang the song, “Home” starting with the line “Hold-on to me as we go,” with the memorable guitar riff written by Greg Holden and Drew Pearson, how many radio commercials did you hear soon after with a similar sounding guitar riff?

Music/sound effects, voice, and presentation, either together or independently make radio commercials work. It doesn’t require Sam Elliott’s voice or movie music but it does require the right voice and/or the right music working to fit the script. So with the right presentation we have ignited the imagination. Now it is up to the script to communicate the message.

A great script is written much like a musical composition. Depending on the tone of the pitch there can be phrases, pauses and even a crescendo. It’s not that we don’t hear the screaming HURRY, HURRY, HURRY ads. We just don’t listen to them. When you are paying big bucks for radio time, you sure hope people listen to your commercials.

Great radio commercials have a central theme and the message revolves around that theme like the second hand revolves around the center point of the clock face. Every thing relates back to the central theme. Conversely, Listing Type commercials that have the announcer reading off a laundry list of things available in a store should be reserved for the newspaper. Who can remember past seven items anyway? That’s why a phone number has only seven digits.

Here are FIVE things to avoid when creating a radio commercial:

1 The radio commercial with the old 60’s style jingle package. The best message in the world is lost when the “old-timey” jingles open and close the spot using an “insert name here” jingle do-nut. Radio stations love to sell these, dare I call them, “music” packages. My advice- Nix the jingle. Rewrite the spot. Remember the presentation comes before the message.
2 The “client” voice over commercial. Of course people will tell you they heard you on the radio but no one will tell you how really bad you sounded next to the really well done commercial. Especially in the South. My advice – Leave the voice over to a pro.
3 The commercial written and delivered in third person. This is the one that uses the term “They” for the client’s name. Example – “So give Joe’s Car Center a call. THEY are helpful with all types of blah blah.” My advice – If you can’t endorse it first person, it is probably not worth endorsing. Do-over.
4 The 60 sec commercial that should have been 30 seconds. Radio stations often sell time in 60 sec. blocks so the client feels obligated to use the whole minute. I have actually heard one 30 sec. commercial repeated twice to fill the minute using the connecting copy line “as we said” to segue the same boring announcement. I couldn’t change stations fast enough. Note to self: Whatever spot came next was missed by me. My advice – If you must use the 60 but have nothing to say, play music for 30 seconds… but not the jingle (see #1).
5 The radio commercial featuring small children as the talent. Kids are great on TV because they are so animated and their actions help convey the words they say. Not on radio. They are simply hard to understand. They sound like an untrained, diminutive voice that is neither cute nor convincing. My advice – Hire an adult child voice actor if you need a child voice or better yet, don’t do it.

There are exceptions to these rules of course. The question is, when radio commercials are aired in blocks of three to five minutes at a time and yours is stuck in the middle of them, how memorable do you want it to be?

By Mark Alison

Long before ABC’s Shark Tank showed us how business people think, Harvey Mackay wrote a book titled, “How To Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” My guess is that every Shark, including Mr. Wonderful, has read this book. Mackay, now 83 and still active with over 48,000 Twitter followers outlined more than a sales strategy. He outlined a primitive customer relationship management system (CRM) that became the cornerstone of his success.

His CRM, or as he titled it, The Mackay 66™ is a series of responses to questions that Mackay learned about every customer, over the course of his meetings with them. It covered topics like education, family, special dates, life experiences and business goals. In effect, it was a true “relational” database that helped him communicate on a deeper, personal level with his many customers. At the time, his business consisted of selling paper goods like envelopes, stationary, etc. There were no Office Depot stores but he competed with 600 other sales people for the same client! Mackay definitely had his work cut out for him. Mackay thought he could create a “social” relationship within the framework of business. What Harvey Mackay accomplished was quite amazing for the time before computers. Today we would look at his client profile and call it LinkedIn®.

We live in an amazing technology environment. Between Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter® Instagram® and others we can get a handle, virtually, on anyone we talk to. Their educations, work history, competence and sometimes passion is written out for us to read, on the internet. In other words, Mackay’s 66® is already there for us to peruse so we can relate to the customer immediately. But do we? The simple answer is, no. When I am asked by customers if they should invest in a CRM system I ask them if they are using the one they have. It’s not the tool so much as the discipline.

Mackay proves that the answer to creating more sales is not technology. It’s not fancy (CRM) customer relationship management software or even highly integrated program like Salesforce®, lead tracking software. But it is a discipline that many entrepreneurs, small businesses and solo practitioners don’t do. The discipline of keeping up with customers and potential customers on a personal level like Harvey Mackay did. He took enough interest in clients to send them a clipping of items of interest between the times he spoke to them. He sent regular cards on their special days. He simply moved their index card to another call date following each encounter and made himself follow through. Discipline.

This works for anyone; plumbing companies, cupcake stores and even automobile dealerships. By the way, I have purchased over 20 cars in my lifetime and never once has the salesperson ever followed up on a regular basis. Maybe that’s why I have never bought two cars in a row from the same dealership.

I think Harvey Mackay would categorize today’s social media as anti-social media. Frankly, there is no “social” in snippets of one-sided conversation left on Facebook or Twitter. These are opinions and not engagements that lead to significant social interaction. In Mackay’s world, social was useful, respectful communication normally done in person. And since bad news always moves faster than good, my opinion is that social media can “break you” but it’s not likely to “make you.” Going viral is more by luck than design.

So how does one get the word out and distinguish ones services today? Is the Internet the answer? People who sell Geo-fencing, digital marketing, Ad words and web banners would have you think so. When it comes to buying Internet advertising for anything other than national clients, I don’t do it. I’ve learned that millions of “hits” don’t necessarily translate into big dollars. Keep in mind all I have is experience to draw from but so far it has saved our clients a lot of money. Harvey Mackay’s wisdom again – “When a person with money meets a person with experience, the person with the experience winds up with the money and the person with the money winds up with the experience.”

Marketing is not rocket science. It’s simply providing goods and services people want at a price they are willing to pay. If you follow Mackay’s advice, the reach is exponential. One person tells two and two becomes four and so on. And the way you get to that first person and keep those others is by finding relatable topics and connecting on a level that transcends business. So we’re back to true “social marketing.” Buy a Harvey Mackay book and have everyone in your organization read it, do it. You will outsell, outsmart, outmotivate and outnegotiate your competition according to Collins Business Essentials. I agree.

Here are a few other Mackay quotes that are worth passing along:

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”

“It isn’t the people you fire who make your life miserable, it’s the people you don’t”

“Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life”

By Mark Alison

If you are asking this question you are in good company. Not everyone knows the difference. Even people in the business get it confused. We find that there are graphic designers, web development companies and others that claim to do branding but they really mean logo design. Then there are clients who talk about their logo when they are really reflecting on their brand. So what is the difference? Here’s the answer using two points of view; the consumer and the company.

First, BRAND – For the consumer – Think of a company you do business with, any company, but preferably one with which you are very familiar. What is your gut feel about them? How would you summarize them to a friend? When you put those feelings into words, you have articulated their brand, as it relates to you. Let’s assume you chose APPLE Corp. They do a good job of brand management. The expectation you have when you think about APPLE products is the essence of the brand. While brand perception is always from the consumer point of view, it must be managed based on the company’s goals.

OK, same question but this time the brand is BMW? They also provide a nicely articulated impression about their brand. In fact BMW goes so far as to make, what we refer to as, a brand promise. “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” More than just a slogan, it drives (pun intended) their marketing. This is part of their brand messaging and they don’t stray from this central theme in any of their communication.

LOGO – What about the logo? First off, the logo is not the brand. In fact consumers may not be familiar with a company’s logo but still be attracted to a brand of products. For example you like Cheerios but don’t look for the General Mills logo when purchasing. It also works the other way around. You see a logo that looks cool aesthetically but other than that, it has no real attraction. That’s because you are not familiar with what the logo represents. In other words you are not familiar with the brand, meaning you have no gut feel for the product or company.

BRAND and LOGO – For the company – Your brand is the sum total of what your customers think about the company. It is their impression, experience, knowledge and perceptions all taken together. As a result, it is an ever-evolving entity meaning change can be driven by outside forces. A good example of that is the recent VW scandal. VW is doing all it can to restore the brand luster following the emissions revelation, and they will, but while they manage the public brand perception, they are not likely to change the company logo. That’s because the logo is simply “one of the elements” of the brand. It is what is called a “shortcut” to the brand expectation.

Here’s an example. When we are thirsty for a Coke, we desire the taste that our array of brand expectations have come to anticipate. The logo is the visual shortcut we take to find the drink or machine that dispenses our expectation.
We say we want a Coke but we don’t drink the logo. But, because a logo is more tangible it is quickly identified as a place to start when a company wants to rebrand or change. That may be premature. The change needs to happen first at the brand level – remember, “brand” is the customer perception, gut feel and expectation. That change at the brand level can then contribute to the design of the logo, i.e., the tangible expression. Unfortunately logos are often designed before the brand presence has matured meaning the logo comes first and the strategy follows so brand strategy is erroneously created around the logo. This leads to a disconnect between the two and confusion for the customer.

The brand and logo have to go hand in hand so the creative mind that designs the logo is inspired by the clarity and explanation of the brand that has been created to support it. Here’s a visual – If the brand is an iceberg, the logo is the tip of the iceberg, the part people see above the waterline. Taking the time to work on the support before you expose the tip requires discipline and sometimes that is best managed by an experienced, outside source that is not “married” to the company.

It’s not unusual for a company to “freshen up” the brand or do a re-branding. They are either responding to current consumer attitudes or remaking themselves to more successfully tap into the market(s) they (want to) serve. Yes it can be painful at first but it has a very big upside when done well, motivating customers, employees and sales.

When the brand and the logo are in harmony, it resonates throughout the company’s communication tools, be they advertising, PR, Internet or something as simple as a business card. And when that happens, every dollar spent becomes an investment in growing the business.