Extra Bases
The CEO's Guide to Marketing
By Mark Cipolletti, Founder, Pinch Hit PartnersCOVID-19 is wreaking havoc on many businesses and that will continue for many weeks to come. Tragically, many small businesses and even some larger, unhealthy companies will not survive. But for those companies that are able to wait out our invisible enemy, I have an important recommendation that I want you to seriously consider. You probably won't hear this same suggestion from your business partner, your CFO or even from your marketing director if you are fortunate to have one. A recession is likely to follow this period of temporary business closures, social distancing, and layoffs. Nobody knows how long it will last, but it is coming. Your company needs to tighten its belt and it should. No doubt you will be leaning on your CFO for his or her wisdom. "Across the board cuts!" they will say. "We should hunker down to ride this thing out," they'll advise. They are almost correct. You see, the CFOs who work for your competitors will be saying the same thing. Your competitors are going to reduce their expenses in all departments and, if I was a betting man, I would bet that marketing will be hit the hardest. So, you know that your competitors will be on the sidelines for a while. They won't be launching new products or services. They won't be advertising. Even their trade show display will be smaller (if they return to event marketing at all). This presents you with a golden opportunity to gain market share, but there's a catch. You're not going to gain market share by cutting marketing like your competitors. During the recession, your business must increase its marketing. You're skeptical. You're scared. I get it. And I don't expect you to just trust me on this one. If you do nothing else today, I want you to read this article, The Best Marketers Will Be Upping, Not Cutting, Their Budgets by Mark Ritson. In Mark's piece, he makes the case for this plan better than I can and he bases this strategy on a variety of research studies that show that companies who increase marketing during recessions gain considerable market share (that can be extremely difficult to acquire when times are good). Take a look and let me know your thoughts. And if the fractional CMOs at Pinch Hit Partners can help you through this challenging time, I hope you will reach out to discuss your options. By Mark Cipolletti, Founder, Pinch Hit Partners
Being the CEO of a small or medium-size business (SMB) may be the loneliest position of all. There’s nobody above you to ask for help and everyone below you thinks you already have all the answers. Truth be told, you don’t know what you don’t know and that's okay. So, where can you can go when you need help? CEO peer advisory groups are a smart place to start. These small groups of CEOs typically meet on a monthly basis and can become like a board of directors for your business. Organizers form peer groups with CEOs from non-competing businesses so you don't have to worry about your cross-town rival knowing what you're up to. Plus, members must agree to maintain confidentiality to facilitate open and honest conversation. Most cities are home to chapters of national or international groups, so it should be easy to find an organization that’s a good fit for you. Keep in mind that most of these organizations have minimum membership requirements for annual revenue and/or number of employees and a few are by invitation only. Here’s a round-up of the top CEO peer advisory groups you should know about:
By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO
They say “it’s better to give than to receive.” That may be true, but when it comes to giving gifts to our business clients, it’s not just the thought that counts.
Our clients know we have ulterior motives and they often see our gifts as thinly veiled marketing and sales opportunities. So, like any marketing campaign, they scrutinize them and talk about what they like or dislike. I’m sure you’ve been on the receiving end of a client gift and compared the quality of items from various vendors or asked yourself, “Why did they think I would want this?” If you want your client holiday gift “campaign” to reach its goals then you need to treat it like any other marketing initiative. Here are some tips for making your client holiday gifts deliver.
By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO
It’s very difficult to get a new customer. And of course difficult translates to expensive. Research on this topic provides a wide range of figures on the costs associated with acquiring vs. retaining a customer, but most agree that it’s at least five times more costly to convince a new customer to buy than it is to get an existing customer to buy again. So, why do so many businesses quickly forget about the customers they already have – the ones they’ve paid so dearly to acquire? Do they think that just because someone bought from them once that they will automatically buy again? I hope not. Other brands are constantly selling to our customers so we must continue to engage with them too. Maybe it’s because most agencies that support our companies are focused on customer acquisition. When was the last time you heard an agency tout their latest award for an email they created for existing customers? Uh…never. Regardless of the reasons, the sad truth is that we often forget that most of our revenue comes from a small, but loyal, segment of our existing customers. Every marketing plan should include strategies for identifying our best customers and selling them more stuff. Here are some customer retention strategies to grow your business with the customers you already have:
By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO
Over the last decade, the internet has fueled the growth of disruptors in every market segment. For many years, I worked in the travel industry where travel agents, tour operators and hoteliers saw their businesses forever changed by brands like Expedia, Travelocity, Jetsetter and Airbnb. Hailing a taxi cab has been replaced with Uber, Lyft and Safr. And buying a car has been transformed by the likes of TrueCar, Carvana and CarLotz. The list goes on. Market disruption is a form of differentiation, a way for a brand to stand out amongst its competition. Disruptors understand that simply focusing on price or service just won’t cut it anymore. They use a multi-dimensional approach to differentiating their offerings to gain adoption from buyers and attention from the media and investors. Try taking a page from the disruptor’s playbook to breathe new life into your company’s brand. Here are four techniques to consider:
By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO
I’ve always been a consumer who appreciates an engaging customer experience. Like many people, I’m often willing to pay a premium for an experience that is enjoyable and makes my busy life a little bit easier. So, when my stockpile of razor blades from Costco was finally running out, I decided to try Dollar Shave Club. I’m sure you’re familiar with their funny television ads where their founder and CEO jokes about how expensive razor blades are and how stores keep them under lock and key. While saving a few bucks did sound nice, I was more interested in their company because I liked the brand promise and the anticipated experience. Using a subscription model, I would be able to receive my razor blades on a regular basis, delivered right to my door. No more large investments at Costco or late-night trips to CVS to restock. Guys love convenience and we don’t like shopping. Always make sure that you have a great product and then create a customer experience to support it.
Well, the experience was great. The purchase was easy and fun and the razor blades arrived quickly and were contained in clever package complete with marketing copy written in the brand’s unique voice. But then it happened…
Let’s just say that when the rubber met the road, or in this case when the blade met the face, the experience went from great to not so great. The blades were low quality. I cut my face multiple times. I felt like I had been tricked. Needless to say I canceled my subscription and have repurchased my favorite razor blades (although I did have to pawn a watch to buy them). The moral of this story is even a great customer experience – from brand to ads to purchase process – can’t overcome a poor product. Always make sure that you have a great product and then create a customer experience to support it.
By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO
It would be a huge understatement to say that marketing is changing at a rapid pace. Keeping up with all of the trends and technologies can seem like a full time job. Just when you’ve figured out that SEO and SEM aren’t the same thing, something new comes along leaving you scratching your head. If you are a CEO or business owner who does double-duty as your company’s primary marketer, you may not know where to turn for useful marketing information. Fortunately, there’s a ton of marketing content just a mouse click away. To save you valuable time finding the best resources, I’ve compiled some of my favorites. Most are free (but not all) so this may be the most economical degree in marketing that you can get. You can thank me later. 3/15/2018 Is Your Marketing Working? See How Your Results Compare with These Digital Marketing Stats
By Hillary Bressler, Travel and Hospitality Marketing Lead, Pinch Hit Partners
Stats are the lifeblood of good marketers. The funny thing is that many marketers got into marketing because they thought they had a lack of solid math skills in school and thus went the route of the non-math related careers in school. This is a bad joke as we come to find out that the marketer’s entire career revolves around math. Budgets, column inch, pixels, impressions, conversions, percentages and the good old statistic. Marketers have come to have a love hate relationship with math, except that of the statistic. The statistic drives us and gives us ideas. Marketers love statistics. There are many statistics out there that are completely useless to marketers whose main goal is to increase sales or drive recognition of a brand. For example, global mobile ad spending is expected to reach 247.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2020. This stat is interesting to marketers, but it does not help us drive traffic to businesses or our clients. Yes, it tells us that the mobile industry is not going away, and we keep an eye on it to watch for major shifts, but it doesn’t fuel us. I have compiled stats that fuel marketers and engage the thinking process. Each one can spark an idea or help marketers convince key stakeholders to move budgets around to support this ever changing digital landscape. If these stats are not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is. The times in digital marketing are changing….rapidly. So fast I would consider many strategies, like mobile, to be considered an emergency. With mobile now representing 69% of digital media time spent (comScore, 2017) the time to shift to mobile was yesterday. In addition, 37% of all online spending in the United States and Europe is now made through Amazon. This figure is 57% for US consumers (Salmon 2017). You may hate stats or love them, but you can’t leave them. Here are some of the most worthwhile:
Pinch Hit Partners, the premier resource for fractional marketing consultants, is looking for new pinch hitters to join our team in Richmond, VA.
If you are a senior marketer interested in a flexible schedule, we can connect you with small and mid-sized companies looking for experts like you. As a fractional head of marketing, you’ll provide your clients with a cost-effective alternative to hiring their own staff or contracting with an expensive full-service agency. Pinch Hitters typically work with CEOs and business owners to develop strategy and to assemble a team of remote specialists to execute on the plan (if an in-house team isn’t already in place). If you are interested, please send your resume to Mark Cipolletti at mark@pinchhitpartners.com. 6/14/2017 Evolution Divorce Selects Pinch Hit Partners to Launch New Legal Brand in Richmond, Virginia
Veteran family law attorney Christopher Macturk has selected Pinch Hit Partners to help launch his new family law practice, Evolution Divorce & Family Law, PLLC in Richmond’s West End. Evolution Divorce will assist clients with separation, divorce and child custody issues, but that’s where the similarity with its competitors ends.
“I wanted to create a firm that’s built around the clients, not around the lawyers,” says Macturk. He plans to differentiate the firm by offering pre-agreed pricing instead of hourly billing as well as providing his clients with a service guarantee. Evolution Divorce and its clients will enter into an attorney-client relationship only if they have first agreed upon the work to be done and the price for that work. “I see Evolution Divorce as a disruptor in my industry and it’s important to me to work with someone like Mark who has a similar approach. He’s disrupting the local marketing scene with Pinch Hit Partners,” says Macturk.
“With hourly billing, clients never know how much they will spend by the completion of their case. This creates unnecessary anxiety during an already stressful period in their lives,” says Macturk. During his 20-year legal career, he has often experienced clients who have been reluctant to contact him or share important information for fear that the conversation would add to the overall bill.
Evolution has selected Pinch Hit Partners to develop its brand and implement a strategic marketing plan. Pinch Hit Partners’ founder Mark Cipolletti serves as Evolution’s fractional head of marketing and oversees a virtual team of marketing specialists. Pinch Hit Partners’ first assignment was to help create a name that would send a clear message to potential clients that Macturk’s new firm was unique. “Chris said from the beginning that this firm isn’t about him and he didn’t want to use his last name as most attorneys do. We tested several names and landed on Evolution Divorce. The name, the pricing model…it’s the evolution of family law,” says Cipolletti. “I see Evolution Divorce as a disruptor in my industry and it’s important to me to work with someone like Mark who has a similar approach. He’s disrupting the local marketing scene with Pinch Hit Partners,” says Macturk.
Pinch Hit Partners was created to provide small and medium-sized companies with a cost-effective alternative to hiring their own marketing staffs or contracting with expensive creative agencies. Each Pinch Hit Partners account is led by a fractional, senior-level marketer who selects a team of specialists to meet a client’s unique needs. “You get the best of both worlds but without having to pay for all of the overhead,” says Cipolletti, a former head of marketing and communications at Allianz Global Assistance, Connexions Loyalty and Sheltering Arms.
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4/7/2020
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