The Eyelet.

Why Professional Services are Being Commoditized. And How to Respond.
Article Abstract
In many professional services categories, an oversupply of talent, access to a pool of global service providers, and the “legal zoom” effect have tipped the supply of competent service providers over the existing demand for their services. The result? Increased commoditization and pressure on profit margins. This article provides indicators of this reality, and offers recommendations on how to respond.

View the article as a PDF on Scribd or click “Read More” below to read the full text version in HTML.

Read more

Occasionally a brand brings its philanthropic endeavors to the forefront so much so that the lines between their brand purpose and promise get blurred – but that’s a good thing (see my previous blog post “A Brand Strategy Framework Addressing  Associates and Prospects Alike” for explanations of brand purpose and promise). A primary pillar in TOM’s Shoes brand is that they donate one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes sold. Providing footwear to needy kids across the world so that their daily existence can be just a little bit more tolerable is a pretty lofty purpose. Such complete integration of the brand’s purpose is unusual and very difficult for established brands to incorporate. However, established brands often have cause-related marketing efforts, and while not synonymous with a brand purpose, they do bring the brand and company to a higher calling and reason to exist.

Integrated “Cause” into the Brand

One of our clients, Wendy’s, has a couple initiatives born out of causes that were very near and dear to founder Dave Thomas’s heart. Many people that have come into contact with the Wendy’s brand knows of  its commitment to adoption and the Dave Thomas Foundation. Many high school athletes across the country are also aware of the Wendy’s High School Heisman program which recognizes well-rounded young men and woman who excel in learning, performing, and leading in the classroom, on the athletic field and in their community. Reaching out to these up-and-coming leaders isn’t just good community relations, it’s good business. Please check out our video that talks about Wendy’s program and the new website supporting its efforts:

Click here to view the recently redesigned Wendy’s High School Heisman site.

Many agencies, depending on their level of strategic engagement, often have their own approach to creating a brand framework for their clients. Since we at Mlicki give equal emphasis to our clients’ associates as we do their customers, our framework has two dimensions – one is more outwardly focused and the other more inwardly focused. However, especially in a service brand environment, the two are not mutually exclusive. They strongly influence one another, and each of the four components spills over from a primary sphere of influence to a secondary one. The following is the Mlicki brand framework which we utilize in formulating brand strategy for our clients:

Positioning and Personality are more outwardly focused – they address the end-user audience (client or consumer) and they are typically the most widely understood and utilized components in marketing communications strategies.

- Positioning charts out a unique space and audience in the market for your brand or product (what it provides, for whom and why it’s better/different).

- Personality is the soul and human-like characteristics of the brand (the tone and voice).

These are pretty easily understood and widely used so I won’t spend any more time on them. Our other two components are not as commonly harnessed and could use some more explanation:

- Promise is the brand experience each and every field and support level associate should be striving to deliver to customers and prospects every day. It’s the reason customers are motivated to use your product or service. The brand promise isn’t as widely used, at least consciously, by nearly as many brands as the aforementioned components.

- Purpose is why the brand and its supporting company exist. It motivates and connects your employees and stake-holders emotionally to the brand and company.

A brand’s purpose isn’t nearly as intuitive as the other components. It’s not the obvious tangible objective of the organization. It’s not about delivering an above market return to shareholders. It’s not even about consistently providing your product or service -that’s the promise. It’s about a higher calling – a greater good. At Mlicki, we occasionally employ an exercise to uncover a brand’s purpose we call “A World Without ______”. What would the world be missing if your brand or company no longer existed? If Apple didn’t exist, would the world miss out on more intuitive user-friendly technological equipment and devices? Probably not – somebody would quickly fill the resulting void. But we would miss out on a forward looking company that brings technological advances to the masses unforeseen by others in order to make life easier and more enjoyable beyond imagination.

These four components create a brand architecture that not only addresses the consumer or prospective customer, but is also the first step in engaging the brand’s associate base. In an increasingly service based society, making sure you associates are fully enlisted, engaged and are faithfully delivering the brand experience should be a key component to any marketing plan. To learn more  about our brand strategy framework or how to engage your associate base, please leave a comment.

The economic roller coaster is in full gear, fueled almost as much by fear and anxiety as it is by hard facts. More announcements of major employers laying off (even titans of the tech sector like Cisco), political instability in key countries (including the USA) and escalating unemployment numbers (no 9% here in Ohio) are real enough to scare the heck out of consumers. Just when it looked like the restaurant industry reached some sort of equilibrium and started to settle into a new world of reduced but at least stabilized traffic, it looks as though we’re about to enter another phase of instability. How are consumers going to react to this latest round of scary news? Here are a 5 things we can expect and what operators can do to adjust.

1. Weekday dinner – My experience has been that the visit occasions with the highest price inelasticity are the ones that get hit first and hardest. The early week dinner “don’t feel like cooking” or “life’s too crazy tonight” occasions are quickly lost to leftovers and the microwave. These occasions are driven all about value – building multi-person promotions that protect ticket and total contribution margin work best. That’s how Applebee’s 2 for $20 promotion was first conceived 10 years ago during the 2001 recession. Read more

We often work with our clients to help them determine the proper hierarchy within their brand architecture. What exactly does this mean? Many brands, B2B and B2C alike, have a family of brands under which they market their portfolio of products and services. How these brands are structured to work with one another is an important strategic component in their marketing communications. The role the parent brand has in the marketing communications tactics (like print ads, packaging, merchandising, etc.) could, and generally does, have significant impact in the consumer’s perceptions of that specific product and service. For example, if a new electronic automobile, say the “Charge” was to be introduced in the US market, wouldn’t the consuming public have a different collective perception if this car was introduced as a new division of GM but with ties to GM being very understated versus introducing it under its current Chevrolet badge? The overall image of the parent brand plays a huge role in the decision to whether or not products or services should be marketed separate from the parent brand or in conjunction with it (and to what extent).

Back in the 90’s, Al Reis wrote a book called “Focus” whose main premise was to keep a brand’s positioning tightly and specifically defined and if market dynamics force a significant change or if there’s an opportunity that is beyond that market definition, a different brand should be created to exploit that new market or opportunity. To a degree, this theory flew in the face of the prevailing attitude and practice of the preceding decade where “product extensions” were all the rage and pretty much ran amuck. SO how do you know what the relationships should be between your master brand and your various product and services brands? Here’s a quick guide: Read more