Author: Chona Fe Canlas - Writer. Artist. Designer.

Chona creates powerful content poised on the edge of innovation and the mainstream. She seeks out new concepts and strategies aimed to help businesses advance in branding, marketing & sales. She specializes in creative/technical writing, brand strategy and art direction.

The Innovator’s Dilemma

🚀 Embrace Innovation + Disruption = A Lesson for Every Marketer

I downloaded a new app called Headway. It’s a great way to learn about new books, and I recommend it to anyone. Here are some of my learnings over the weekend.

Topic: The Innovator’s Dilemma (By Clayton Christensen)

The main idea is that creating a new market poses less risk than entering an established market. It is also more rewarding. Nonetheless, small new markets can barely satisfy the required growth requirements of larger businesses.

In other words, businesses may overlook game-changing opportunities because their model is primarily to maintain the status quo. 🛳️ To lead the pack, marketers must be forward-thinking, disruption-leaning changemakers.

Here are a couple of definitions to start –

Innovation: In marketing, this is the fusion of creativity and strategy. Innovation is our ability to craft compelling narratives and experiences that captivate audiences, redefine brands, and transcend conventional boundaries.

Disruption: Closely connected to the above, disruption in marketing is the radical departure from norms, leveraging innovative approaches to challenge conventions and reshape audience/buyer behaviour on a larger scale.

So, what’s the takeaway for us marketers? Here are a few key points to keep in mind:

🔍 Stay vigilant: Keep your eyes peeled for emerging trends and technologies, even if your first inclination is to tell yourself it’s too small or too niche of an idea. Do you want to cross over strategy between industries? Why not see how it fits? Run some experiments to test the waters – but before you launch anything, earn buy-in from your team. Your role will be to convince them with supporting data.

💡 Think like a startup: Embrace agility and experimentation. Don’t get too comfortable with your current strategies. See the value for your audience. How does that influence business outcomes? And if there is a misalignment, you might focus too much on activities and output. Your strategy must respond to change, not be static or a quest for perfection.

🗣️ Listen to your audience/buyers, but watch the market too: While meeting current needs is significant, don’t ignore opportunities outside your existing customer base. Seek out different and diverse points of view. Your creative director friend? He might have some powerful assertions worth exploring. Always carry paper and a pen as it provides immediate focus and stimulation – good stuff for your head.

⚡ Be proactive: Don’t wait for disruption to hit you—seek ways to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. And you can do it by yourself! Self-learning can help learners become more autonomous, organized, self-disciplined, and able to communicate. Just remember – cross-collaboration over silos and hierarchies.

What are your thoughts on innovation and disruption in marketing?

Inception Marketing

In a world where businesses fight for attention, inception marketing can cut the noise. This unconventional technique aims to implant desire into your buyer’s mind, subconsciously intriguing them to make decisions.

But how would you approach this?

As per due course, identifying and understanding your target audience is fundamental. Perhaps serendipitously, knowing who your ‘people’ are is riff with classification – demographic, psychographic, and so on. But how do you distinguish character? Dreams? Accomplishments?

Wear their shoes!

Imagine what it’s like to be a member of your target audience. Consider their daily routines, challenges, aspirations, and sources of joy. Empathize with their experiences, and you can gain valuable insights into what motivates them and how your product or service can address their needs.

I’m not saying it’s going to be easy work. It will take time, bottomless curiosity, and creativity to craft compelling buyer personas that will make a difference in your pursuit of growth. You might even have to look the opposite way. Envision your competitor knocking at your door. How would you understand them? What questions would you ask? Then, alas, you can ask the grand question – what message and associations do you want to embed in your target audience’s psyche?

Your answers should create a deep, emotional connection and tap into their subconscious desires, beliefs, and aspirations.

Remember, storytelling is the key.

Evoke sentiment and eagerness and delve into universal themes that address the human experience.

And sometimes broad is better. Subtle and indirect. The goal is to make a long-lasting impact, build brand affinity, and, most importantly, influence their attitude toward your brand in the long term.

What are your thoughts on this marketing tactic?

The 9-Point Marketing Strategy

There is so much to consider as a marketer. We are bombarded with ideas, concepts, theories, and most especially strategies. Today, I want to introduce you to a simple framework I developed that will allow your business to grow and scale. Thus far, it’s been implemented, however requires more testing and experimentation to see its true potential. At the end of the day, it is step one toward my investigation of growth tactics that can be adopted by companies that value the role that organization and planning play in the everyday execution of marketing and communications. I would love to hear your thoughts on this project as I develop it into the beast it can truly be!

A strategic roadmap will help you allocate resources to support your teams while enabling you to understand your business needs more accurately. A roadmap is especially critical for newer departments aiming to create a structure or build a foundation that promotes internal and external growth. To support teams undergoing this transition, I have created a 9-Point Strategy that will guide the creation of marketing/sales materials, the development of strategic regional campaigns, and the collection of valuable data using the software and tools departments already have in place. By investing more time into understanding the potential of your market and the journey your clients take, you can influence product development, boost brand recognition, and more. You will also improve your breadth of knowledge and meet changing client requirements more quickly and effectively. Client satisfaction will rise, as will your future revenue and profitability. Your reputation will grow as you raise awareness for your company and industry. As a result, you can give back to your community and the world with open-handed generosity while focusing on two of the most important aspects of marketing for any brand – creativity and innovation.

So after considering all of the above, how can you begin to make a more significant impact?

As dedicated marketing communicators, we must dutifully develop an interest and honest desire to think conceptually, yet remain AGILE, be mindful of our landscape and every element that comes into play, and grasp the relationship between our creations and the effects they can have on our audiences. These five rules are part of the official Agile Marketing Manifesto. Compared to the abundance of marketing content online, it rings steadfast. As a team, you should always consider its teachings when approaching your work:

  1. Focus on client value and business outcomes over activity and outputs
  2. Deliver value early and often over waiting for perfection
  3. Learn through experiments and data over opinions and conventions
  4. Cross-functional collaboration over silos and hierarchy
  5. Respond to change over following a static plan

Further to that:

  • Great marketing requires close alignment, transparency, and quality interactions with internal and external clients
  • Seek out different and diverse points of view
  • Embrace and respond to change to enhance client value
  • Plan only to a level sufficient to ensure effective prioritization and execution
  • Take chances, and learn from our failures
  • Organize in small, cross-functional teams where possible
  • Build marketing programs around motivated individuals and trust them to get the job done
  • Long-term marketing success benefits from operating at a sustainable pace
  • Agile marketing is not enough. Excellence in marketing requires continuous attention to marketing fundamentals
  • Strive for simplicity

The 9-Point Strategy is an approach to channel marketing where the primary goal is to understand your market segments and audience so you can deliver campaigns and projects that will produce results, all while driving your mission and vision forward. By organizing each channel according to activity and assigning roles and responsibilities to the team (RACI chart), you can plan your delivery and create an inspiring experience that results in a positive brand perception.

This is just the beginning. If you’d like to learn more about this strategy, please reach out to me!

Never Miss Twice

Marketers plan. And planning takes work. But the involved behaviours and habits around planning take the cake. For me, establishing these behaviours and habits involve practice (continually trying to figure out the best outcome), a never-ending cycle of trial and error, and ultimately, gridlocked, unnerving will and determination.

In the process, we can lose sight of our destination. But to get there, we first must understand the journey. That path may not always be clear, but if the correct approach is adopted and adhered to, it will make things easier! James Clear talks about a rule that relates to this – never missing twice:

“The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.”

Never missing twice is as sensible a rule as it can get. It acknowledges that to achieve personal or professional excellence, we should hold high standards and a high compliance rate. The importance is to allow for some human failure, to be reasonable, and self-compassionate to hold yourself accountable. But never miss twice. Plan for your success. Get back on track after the first misstep. Keep moving forward, learning, growing, and, most of all, welcome change, as it’s often the precursor for attaining better results.

Kokeshi – A Story

Do you know what a kokeshi is?

Some nights, I brush my daughter’s teeth.

Somehow, it’s an arduous undertaking that I would prefer to leave to my more inclined husband. But tonight, I took it on with confidence.

Lo and behold! I opened her bathroom drawer to reveal not one but three containers of toothpicks. I could smell the faint glimmer of mint, and as I observed the labelling on the bottles, I discovered three different flavours altogether – mint, cinnamon, and KOKESHI.

Now, I presumed that the flavour on the label would match the scent of the toothpicks. So began the exercise. My daughter and I smelled each bottle. Mint, yup mint. Cinnamon, oooh that’s cinnamon. Kokeshi? My daughter inquisitively smelled the toothpicks in the distinct red-orange packaging. Smells like flowers, Mom! I took a whiff and debated, no no, I don’t think so.

I peered through the cheap plastic receptacle and saw that the toothpicks were a different shape. I uttered to my daughter, must be because of this. I pointedly placed the bottle in front of her eyes. We weren’t satisfied. They did look different from the others, looking fancy for picking up appetizers. So, my daughter proclaimed, check Google! Check Google! And with the swipe of a finger, the answer arose –

Kokeshi

Kokeshi are simple wooden Japanese dolls with no arms or legs that have been crafted for more than 150 years as a toy for children.

They are symbols of hopes for bountiful harvests, wishes for good luck and fortune and embody an appreciation for craftsmanship and culture.

Now, this would have been a great answer, but in our case, it was REVELATORY.

I looked in front of me.

Standing peacefully erect on my daughter’s bathroom counter for as long as I can remember was…a…KOKESHI.

Not any kokeshi. A doll I lovingly received from my mom’s very close Japanese girlfriend, Misuko, back in 1985.

My daughter and I squealed with delight. The happenstance was nothing short of extraordinary! And to think, it only took 38 years or five times the length of my daughter’s life to discover it.

Sometimes, life throws you curveballs. Most of the time, you catch the ball like any other ball, on any other day, with the same approach and sentiment. But other times, life passes you inexplicable gifts—gifts that bring light and love into every inch of your being.

As marketers, throw and catch balls. But once in a while, BE the ball and notice the infinite bubbles of gratitude that permeate your life.

Peace y’all!

The Rule of Reciprocation

Next up – Dr. Robert Cialdini‘s Rule of Reciprocation!

Revelation. I’ve taken up something I’m sure a million (or more) of you do. I’m back to listening to ebooks while driving to work. Haha – and you thought it would be something more complicated! I did it before but found I was getting bored of it. I’m unsure if it’s the drone of narration or my susceptibility to zoning in and out. Probably a mixture of both. Alas, as part of my year of sharing insights, I thought it would make sense to dedicate myself to it again. 

So, today, I want to talk about reciprocity in marketing. From a psychological standpoint, this rule is simple. What you give is what you get. We tend to feel obligated to return a favour or gesture after receiving something from someone else. If I come back from the cafe with a donut for you, you will likely buy me a baked good the next time you’re picking up a coffee. 😉 

In marketing, this sense of indebtedness in our actions, or more specifically, messaging, can steer our audience to feel more motivated or compelled to make a decision that will impact their buying trajectory. For example, as part of our ABM strategy, I put together a booklet and sample kit for prospective customers. The act of sending and receiving the package in the mail is not only thoughtful but leverages something of value, something tactile and beautiful, something helpful and intriguing that, in turn, can help the receiving party better understand where our brand comes from and ultimately, our passion and intention of supporting the design and construction community through not only inspiring architecture but inspiration, in and of itself!

Creating this cycle of giving and receiving strengthens social connections and encourages cooperative behaviour among individuals and groups within communities, small and big. I see it as small steps of action becoming big sips of gratitude and many more meaningful opportunities in the future!

Have you taken a reciprocal step? In what way did it change the trajectory of your day? Your goals? Your journey as a marketer?

A brief Forbes article by Jeff Bradford sums it up pretty sweet – https://bit.ly/3NVpYUd

Not done yet! Reciprocity has even been known to foster creativity and innovation, such as this Adobe example in a short Medium article – https://bit.ly/48McaDl

2024 – The Year of Insights

I want to make 2024 the year to share some insights. I have time! You have time! We all have time! While perfecting pour-overs, tackling big hills on runs, or when driving into work – these are all great opportunities to listen and learn something valuable, even if just one small concept, it could turn into a big change-maker!

First up is the Cube of Creativity by marketing strategist Andrew Davis. This framework can help marketers leverage their creative process to promote innovation and encourage better outcomes.

To apply this shift in mindset, we need to be open to embracing constraints, defined by the four sides of a cube –

1 – Eliminate the Unnecessary
2 – Define a Single, Measurable Outcome
3 – Add Unreasonable Creative Constraints
4 – Raise the Stakes

To learn more, check out this episode of the Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael (Mike) Stelzner – https://bit.ly/3TV2D8T

You can also find more details here – https://bit.ly/3TRFJiF

Hope everyone is off to a productive and fulfilling new year!

What Is a Fighter Brand?

Fight.

Fight for what’s right.

Fight for it’s worth.

A fighter brand is when a company introduces a new, lower-priced product or brand to compete directly with its own existing products or with those of its competitors.

The purpose of a fighter brand is to target price-sensitive consumers who may otherwise choose a competitor’s cheaper alternatives, thereby protecting the company’s market share and overall brand image.

Pros

Market Segmentation: A fighter brand allows you to target different market segments simultaneously. It enables you to cater to both price-conscious consumers and those who are willing to pay a premium for your main brand, thus widening the client base.

Competitive Advantage: By offering a lower-priced option, you can directly challenge your competitors on price. It can capture clients who prioritize cost savings without undermining the reputation or sales of your higher-priced main brand.

Risk Mitigation: In the face of tough economic conditions or fluctuations in consumer preferences, the fighter brand can act as a buffer for your overall performance. If consumers tighten their budgets, they may switch to the more affordable fighter brand, maintaining sales for you.

Brand Loyalty: Clients who begin their journey with the fighter brand may eventually move up to your main brand if they have a positive experience. It can create brand loyalty within the client base, potentially increasing long-term client retention.

Cons

Cannibalization: One of the significant risks associated with fighter brands is the potential for cannibalization of sales. If the fighter brand draws clients away from your main brand without attracting new clients, overall revenue could suffer.

Brand Dilution: Introducing a lower-priced brand may lead to a perception of reduced product quality or brand dilution. If not managed carefully, it can negatively impact the image of your main brand, especially if clients associate the fighter brand with inferiority.

Marketing Costs: Successfully launching and maintaining a fighter brand requires investment in marketing and advertising. If the returns on this investment are not significant, it could strain your financial resources.

Logistical Complexity: Operating multiple brands can add complexity to your supply chain, distribution, and inventory management processes. It requires careful coordination and management.

Impact on a Growing Company:

For a growing company, introducing a fighter brand could have several implications:

Competitive Edge: In a competitive market, launching a fighter brand could help you gain a competitive edge by offering a more affordable alternative to your existing products and those of your competitors. This could attract budget-conscious clients and win market share.

Revenue Stability: Economic downturns or fluctuations in any industry can affect purchasing behavior. The fighter brand could help maintain revenue stability during challenging times by capturing price-sensitive clients.

Customer Acquisition and Loyalty: The fighter brand can act as a stepping stone for clients who are initially hesitant to invest in your main brand’s premium products. If they have a positive experience with the fighter brand, they may become loyal clients and eventually upgrade to the main brand.

Product Diversification: Introducing a fighter brand allows you to diversify your product portfolio and address the needs of a broader client base. This diversification can reduce reliance on a single product line and expand market reach.

Challenges in Brand Management: You must carefully manage your marketing and positioning of the fighter brand to avoid brand dilution and cannibalization. Clear differentiation between the fighter brand and the main brand is essential to maintain their distinct identities.

Operational Considerations: The introduction of a new brand may require adjustments to your processes, supply chain, and distribution channels. Proper planning is necessary to handle the increased logistical complexity.

In summary, a fighter brand can be a valuable strategy for a growing company. One main benefit of developing a fighter brand is that clients who initially purchase from the fighter brand might be enticed to upgrade entirely to or add-on different products and services as their needs and budgets evolve. This can foster long-term client loyalty (a longer term marketing strategy). To solidify a fighter brand’s market position, you would need to develop a clear communication strategy to explain the relationship between the main brand and the fighter brand to avoid confusion among clients.

I’m going to share more explorations on brand types in coming posts, so stay tuned!

Saccharine

Critical Mass – Studying Team Endurance

When Friday Turns to Saturday…

Member A – Marketing is a constantly evolving landscape. 

Member B – Ideas ignite and fizzle away.

Member C – A structured and creative ebb and flow transpires.

Member D – New campaigns take flight. 

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Evolution.

We seek out different and diverse points of view, embrace and respond to change, and plan only to a level sufficient to ensure effective prioritization and execution. We find ourselves encountering a phenomenon called—CRITICAL MASS.

Akin to when celestial planets align, critical mass is that single yet multifarious moment when our efforts transcend the ordinary and catapult into the extraordinary. It’s a transformative point when our brand’s message resonates with such force that it achieves unstoppable momentum, similar to a cascading waterfall or an awe-inspiring avalanche.

Achieving critical mass can ignite a spark in the collective consciousness of a team, sparking a wildfire of enthusiasm that spreads contagiously through diligent becomings – social networks, word-of-mouth, and media channels. One clever idea can transform into an iconic cultural touchstone, etching your brand’s identity into the minds of engaged onlookers everywhere.

When an idea reaches critical mass, it propels forward and impacts a team’s ability to meet goals.

Here are some ways your team can make that impact based on some common marketing objectives – 

Boost Brand Awareness

As your name, products, and services become more recognized, brand awareness will naturally increase. When your brand reaches a certain level of visibility, popularity, or adoption, it triggers a self-sustaining momentum (critical mass), fostering a positive feedback loop that fuels growth and solidifies your brand’s position in the market.

Obtain New Clients

Your team can focus on targeted campaigns to showcase your USP (unique selling proposition) and differentiators while also highlighting your clients’ success stories and effectively communicating the value of your product to attract a steady stream of interest (demand generation), then ultimately converting that interest into actual sales and new clients (client acquisition).

Strengthen Relationships with Existing Clients

You can contribute to this effort by implementing a preferred client program, personalizing your internal and external communication via channels like social media, email, and content, and creating a detailed plan and strategy around launching new products that address client challenges, needs and pain points. 

Increase Sales

As your market presence and brand awareness expand, so does sales potential. A larger customer base combined with the effective execution of a strategy will lead to more opportunities. Your marketing team can collaborate closely with your sales team to generate and nurture high-quality leads, provide sales enablement materials, and optimize the customer journey to convert prospects into loyal clients.

So, what do you think?

Critical mass is a powerful catalyst for any growing team. By reaching this point of substantial growth and influence, your team’s efforts – recognizing ‘critical mass’ as it occurs and creating models to emulate its course – become pivotal in driving continued success. 

Inspiration can be a behemoth, and it is waiting for y’all!