WHAT IS "ORGANIC MARKETING?"

Organic marketing is starting where you're at and making small incremental efforts at growing your business with sharp marketing strategies and cut-through communication tactics. Organic marketing matches appropriate strategy and tactics to your stage of growth. It's all about making messages that make sense for your business and the stage it's in.

Organic marketing is also accountable. A particular effort may or may not pay off but what is important is discovering what works for your business. Measurable results and pay-for-performance are two things organic marketers believe in. We don't ask you to bet the whole ranch -- just a portion that your feel comfortable with. And see what happens.

Where does an organization that has never done marketing communications start? First, understand that marketing communications is different from advertising. By definition, advertising is a commercial message whose placement in a medium or media has been paid for.

Today, advertising is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing communications, which is the general process of selling a product, service or issue to members of a specifically targeted audience.

THE 3 MOST POWERFUL WORDS IN BUSINESS

In the ad agencies we've worked, account and creative people used to all agree on one thing: When it comes to client demands for Good, Fast and Cheap, he or she may choose two.

You can choose Good and Fast but it won't be Cheap. You can choose Fast and Cheap but it won't be Good. Or you can choose Good and Cheap but it won't be Fast. That, we believed was simple a law of advertising and marketing, if not a law of nature.

Times have changed. Now clients don't only expect Good, Fast and Cheap. They expect...

Better, Faster, Cheaper

In this New Economic Era, a business that can't deliver on all three is at a competitive disadvantage.

One thing I tell all my clients is that if you can get it better, faster and cheaper somewhere else, you'd be a fool not to go for it.

Same is true of your customers.

The Domino's Dilemma

Domino's had a great success with the faster and cheaper aspects of the pizza business. The 30-minute guarantee and the low (compared to local pizzarias) price won them a lot of business.

The problem was the quality. Domino's wasn't better -- it wasn't even good, by their own recent admission. So they had to reformulate. And they did.

It will be interesting to see if Domino's adds "better" to "fastest" and "cheapest?"

Pizza Hut is responding with new lower prices. Is there a Domino effect in the pizza biz?

Walmart's Move

Walmart has been changing.

Walmart started as the cheapest. As it expanded, more stores meant easier access for more people. For the last five years Walmart has been working on being better.

If the last time you were in a Walmart was 10 years ago, you'd be surprised at the clutter-minimized merchandising, improved presentation and neater organization. More like Target than K-Mart.

That's what makes them such a formidable retailer. They're the cheapest. They're the fastest (most conveniently located). And their quality is getting better all the time.

What Are You Branding On?

Your brand is many things. But answer these questions (honestly) and every other question will be answered. Are you better? Or best? Are you faster? Or fastest? Are you cheaper? Or cheapest?!

As a brand you have to pick one, minimum. Or two maximum. Are you a high-end handyman service? You probably do a very good job and your customers are very satisfied. And you probably aren't the fastest -- because good things take time. You're prompt, reliable and do an commendable job -- at a price.

If you're a book-keeping service, are you better? (Whatever that means, which in this case probably means honest, accurate and secure.) Are you the fastest? Probably not. Nor are you the cheapest. But given the government penalties for dishonesty, inaccuracy and lack of security, your customers are better off being safe and paying more for you.

QUALITY, AVAILABILITY, PRICE.

There's no way to avoid them or fake them.

Those three words are the core/foundation of any business, product or service in the minds of your customers and prospects. Quality, availability, price. They determine success.

How do you position your business?

And how will you position it in the future?

Better? Faster? Cheaper?

"AMERICAN HEALTHCARE": THE "BRAND"

One definition of a brand is "consistency of experience that satisfies expectations." A consistent experience at Nordstrom's is different than what is expected at a Wal-Mart, for example. They each have a distinct brand.

"American Healthcare," -- that's to say, the mixed 50/50 private/public-financed U.S. healthcare system -- is considered by a substantial majority of Americans to be the best brand of healthcare in the world -- compared to the government-run Canadian, UK and Cuban brands.

The healthcare reformers/reformulators in Congress who pushed Obamacare think they can do better. Because, after all, "look at Medicare" (a success except it will bankrupt the nation). But it's easier to start a new brand than to reformulate an old one. The difference between Medicare and the new healthcare law, is that in 1965 Medicare did not for the most part substitute for some other care. It was new -- not a replacement. It started small and grew to be gargantuan. Obamacare is starting out as gargantuan.

If people react as they did to a reformulated soft drink like New Coke, try to imagine the uproar to come as they gradually see American Healthcare being replaced by Obamacare.

MOSQUITOHEAD TWEETS SELECTED FOR LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ARCHIVE

If you follow on Twitter, check out "mosquitohead." (Go to twitter.com, click on "Find People" and type in mosquitohead.)

The U.S. Library of Congress has chosen to save all Mosquitohead tweets and make them available to scholars researching the history of America and media.

Of course, ALL tweets ever posted dating back to March 2006 will be included as well. Every one.

But Mosquitohead is pleased to be included in such distinguished company.

THE GAGA PHENOMENA

The Digital Issue of Ad Age (Feb. 22) had its cover story on Lady Gaga, the exploding-out-of-nowhere 23-year old singer/songwriter who crashed the scene in fall, 2008.

Already she has sponsors that include Virgin Mobile; she has her own lipstick color as spokeswoman for Mac Cosmetics Viva Glam; and she is the new Brand Creative Director for Polaroid, a company looking for a new leading-edge identity. She's the first recording artist to notch four consecutive #1 singles from her debut album -- with 20 million digital-single sales and 8 million CD-album sales (who buys CDs anymore?).

How did she do it? Smart, creative decisions by her and her manager, sure.

But 5.2 million Facebook fans and 2.8 million Twitter followers don't hurt.

Social media made Lady Gaga. No amount of conventional paid advertising could have done it.

TRANSITIONING: From Ad Age to Internet Age.

To the right, is an ad that appeared 104 years ago in Everybody's Magazine at the dawn of the mass media era. The message: "Advertising is the future. You should become a copywriter." If you have any familiarity with the ad business -- and who in America doesn't -- you'll find it an amusing read.

So where are we today? What is the future for someone starting out on the agency side of marketing communications? It clearly isn't print advertising -- either newspaper or magazine. Here in Chicago both newspapers are reorganizing under bankruptcy. And have you seen how skinny most magazines are today?

OUTBOUND vs. INBOUND The future certainly includes print advertising and other traditional, outbound media including broadcast (TV and radio) advertising, direct mail, outdoor, etc. -- but at a much lower volume than ten or even five years ago.

All this outbound messaging (conventional advertising) that imposes itself on people now has to compete for attention (and marketing dollars) with inbound Internet communications where people go willingly to get a message. Search engines, web sites, social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and others are all part of it. Inbound media draws people in and -- because THEY CHOOSE it -- is more personal and has more credibility. Old media is like hunting. New media is like fishing.

Wonder if Page-Davis has a course titled, "Learn to Write Inbound Content?" Or something.

FIRST MICRO FINANCE. NOW MICRO MARKETING. Small Is Big.

The idea behind micro finance is providing small loans (very small) to little businesses (sole proprietors mostly) in poor countries (really poor). This is an idea that organizations like Opportunity International are implementing to help poor people around the world. To learn more about an organization that’s supported by donors like Bill and Melinda Gates, go to www.opportunity.org

While micro finance is an idea that is working in poor countries, micro marketing is an idea that is just beginning to work for smaller businesses in the US. Micro marketing is the use of small amounts of money and stringent standards of accountability to achieve small successes that can grow into bigger ones. It’s careful crafting of strategy. Attention-getting execution. Judicious use of all media. And defining the problem in 25 words or less. It’s about paying for performance and ensuring that short and long-term objectives are being met.

Micro marketing is the idea behind “Organic Marketing.” Small companies should start marketing communications small but with a view to smart growth. Every living organism starts as a seed and grows into a seedling. Organizations are living organisms and need to grow organically as well with a strong root system (investment capital) and vigorous stem and leaf system (human capital). The way a small business grows determines how big it will get.

More about Organic Marketing to come.

Five Basics Every Free-Market Candidate Should Know About Political Campaigning

December 12, 2000 (Reposted by request)

1) Most people don’t care or think much about politics.
That’s why they vote reflexively – Republican or Democrat. At the same time most voters distrust and resent politicians. Your message must first appeal emotionally to their self interest and their outrage about “politics as usual.” Second it must be rationally supported. And third, it must position you as a different kind of candidate. It is critical that you stand out from the political crowd.

2) Nine times out of ten your main message will be on taxes and spending -- and their impact on jobs.
Illinois is one of the most politically corrupt state in the U.S. Illinois government at every level is inefficient and ineffective. Your advertising must present the problem (out of control politicians and government spending) and detail the solution (stopping new taxes and reducing/eliminating old ones). Job growth follows economic growth that follows controlled government spending and lower taxes.

3) Any candidate serious about winning votes must have three things:
Palm piece – you message distilled down to its simplest. Website – to provide in-depth information to interested voters, donors, volunteers and media. Yard signs – powerful, personal endorsements that help you building awareness and credibility and attract new supporters.

4) Despite the complaints and what everybody says, negative advertising does work…
… as long as it is based on fact. You need to give voters not just a reason to vote for you but a reason to vote against your opponent(s). You advertising message needs to get a reaction . It needs to irritate opposition candidates enough so they take a swat at you. You are not a certified threat to the opposition until they attack you, which only adds legitimacy to your candidacy. If they manage to ignore you, you’re the loser.

5) Advertising alone can’t win elections.
All politics is local – and personal – which means as a candidate you need to be available – to the media, to interested community groups and to volunteers willing to go door-to-door and distribute campaign materials for you.

__________________________

SHAMELESS PROMOTION

Mosquito Communications/Advocacy is a team of advertising and marketing veterans who come together on an ad hoc basis to help free-market political candidates and not-for-profit organizations promote free-market solutions in the Chicago area.

Grassroots politics is BIG stuff for us.

We’re not your typical political consultants. First, we’re free market independents. We’ve gone door to door collecting signatures on ballot-access petitions. We’ve handed out campaign information at train stations and street corners. We’ve hosted campaign booths at village fairs. We know what goes into a campaign – and the role their advertising can realistically play.

The large may eat the small,
but the fast will definitely eat the slow.

Mosquito isn’t big. But we’re light on our feet. That means we can be more responsive as your campaign unfolds. We don’t depend on four-color brochures and big budget TV spots. We are a lean marketing operation that strikes fast and sticks to the basics with sharp messages that draw blood.

Freedom isn’t free. Nor, unfortunately,
are the services of Mosquito.

We would like to help every free-market candidate running for office in Illinois because they deserve our – and your – support. Unfortunately, available time and resources don’t permit that.

However, our fees are a fraction of what you’d pay a conventional advertising agency or political consultancy with high overhead.
Mosquito can help you develop a creative strategy and strategic creative for a powerful single-minded message that resonates with voters. Our services include campaign graphic design, candidate literature, web sites and print and broadcast advertising.

For more information about Mosquito Communications, email Dave at dave.mosquitocomm.com.

For a sample, click on EQ4SR at www.mosquitocomm.com

INSPIRED SPONSOR You’ll never guess who

If you haven't seen this Rube-of-All-Rube-Goldbergs and you want a gasping good time, go. Now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w&feature=player_embedded

Watching it again, this music video is just as entertaining and amazing as the first time I saw it. This sponsor gets it.

This is what viral media is.

MARX WAS RIGHT

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
-- Groucho Marx

LET IT FLY! You can’t launch something without letting go

Today’s economic and political winds aren’t doing much to lift small business. Yet, small business has an advantage that the Big guys don’t. Surprisingly, it’s size.

Smallness gives organizations the ability to experiment freely with marketing strategies, tactics and techniques – without major financial risks. In the Internet Age there are a multitude of ways to target, reach and motivate potential customers. Larger organizations that have to move many things around and motivate lots of people to innovate don’t have the freedom to find and focus on the small opportunities. Small organizations can -- if they capitalize on their #1 asset. Speed.

The tragedy of paralysis-by-analysis

The tragedy we see with a lot of business start-ups and smaller organizations is paralysis by analysis when it comes to marketing communications. It’s “ready, aim, fire” with an unhealthy obsession on ready and aim.

These small business leaders take on the marketing function as one of the most important jobs they have. And it is. But there’s such a burden to “get it right,” they freeze-up when they should free-up. Marketing-communications seems like a big gamble. But done right it’s not.

Moving fast doesn’t mean going crazy

At a previous ad agency, I once had a boss who liked to use the phrase, “We’ll build the plane while we fly it” when developing a marketing communications campaign for a client (Or was it “We’ll fly this plane while we build it?”) Either way that always horrified me, because such plan would guarantee a failure. -- and a crash.

But moving fast doesn’t mean leaping unprepared into the darkness. It just means working smartly and efficiently and making timely decisions like your business depends on it.

We know a client who is obsessed by his Web site -- to the exclusion of all other marketing and communication tools. He sees the Web site as the centerpiece of his ad campaign. It is. But a Web site is only one part of the plan and the brand. (And perfection is the enemy of the good.)

After careful aim, some are afraid to pull the trigger on a campaign – no matter how modest or expensive. They are paralyzed. And in this fast moving economy you can’t afford to freeze up.

Organic Marketing: The Way To Grow

Launching a marketing communications effort shouldn’t feel like you’re putting all your business’ chips on black (or red).

For a small organization or brand, the marketing investment needs to start small and grow organically. Organic Marketing builds on successes, naturally. General Electric or General Motors can’t do much of anything without affecting a host of stakeholders. You, on the other hand, don’t have that problem.

New products, services and causes all need marketing but each should start as a small investment. Maybe it’s a low-cost social media campaign or a business card and letterhead. Or a trade ad. Or maybe just a flyer.

It all depends on your target audience and what your objective is. Don’t rule out bigger or more glamorous media. But start small and experiment. And make every marketing investment be accountable in dollars for return on investment.

No matter how small or basic a strategy or idea is, it must pay for itself in terms of awareness, preference and sales. That’s true if you’re executing a rebranding strategy, launching your first website or doing some flyers.

We’ve got to fly!

We’re Mosquito Communications and we’re launching this blog today. And we’re all about “marketing small.” To learn more about Mosquito go to www. mosquitocomm.com