THIS ISSUE INCLUDES: •  What's New? •  Going, Going … Gone! •  Resource Referral •  Lessons Learned •  Tips & Tricks •  Community Leaders •  Member Spotlight •  Community Stats •  Your Account Summary •  Special Thanks •  Last Laugh

Advertisement Prove the ROI for Marketing Expenditures Wharton Professor David Reibstein will show you how to win support and resources. (Premium Plus members have a free pass!) Join us for an MP virtual seminar on May 5.

WHAT'S NEW?

Dear Askers & Answerers,

I have something VERY new to announce today. MarketingProfs has NEVER done this before. And we're pretty darn excited about it.

We are going LIVE with a series of in-person workshops featuring our most popular online seminar presenter of 2004: Gerry McGovern. Gerry will be on tour in New York, Chicago and San Francisco in June. He'll be teaching techniques for creating killer Web content to a live audience of MarketingProfs members.

Our own Shelley Ryan (SRyan ;]) is directing this event. She and other members of the MP team will be on-site at each workshop. Please consider joining us! You can get more info here. (Or click "Events" in the horizontal navigation bar at MarketingProfs.com.)

We are also in the middle of assembling our Affiliate Program. Next week I'll be inviting KHE's Top Experts to participate. Then, when the kinks are worked out, we'll open it up to the broader community. Until then ...

Happy exchanging,

Val Frazee
Moderator, Know-How Exchange
MarketingProfs.com

GOING, GOING, GONE!

Here are KHE's 10 oldest questions. They're likely to close soon. Have an idea to offer? Better do it now!

1. Travel industry forums and networking
2. Is our website any good?
3. New hard hitting tagline required
4. Name for a Real Estate office
5. How to market hand made tea of high quality?
6. Launching a Consultancy Business
7. Factors that influence new product development.
8. how to convince people to buy an old rusty car
9. USP ideas for marketing a Real Estate Project?
10. Am I a top level marketing person, how to know

RESOURCE REFERRAL: LIST BROKER

This week's resource referral comes to us from jillc. The site she recommends belongs to Edith Roman Associates, the self-described oldest and largest list brokerage company in the U.S. What I like about the site is that it's easy and free to do searches for targeted lists. That makes it a handy tool for budget planning for direct marketing campaigns.

Resource: Edith Roman Associates: Marketing List Broker

Browse 318 other resources recommended by our members in KHE's Resource Library. Or add one of your own!

LESSONS LEARNED: ENGINEERING INTERFERES WITH BRAND

Earlier this week, Premium Plus member bpease asked the community how much harm would be done by engineering (on its own) designing a new product with a different color scheme than usual. Read on to hear the experts' thoughts.

• Vevolution: I don't know if it will hurt you, but it sure isn't going to help you. If it's not too late, you should discuss reverting to the original color palette with engineering. If it is too late, then you need to find out how this product is SO unique from the rest of your products that it needed to stand out on its on, and then use that in your marketing.
• damomc: Keeping the colour scheme uniform will do no harm to your brand recognition - if your brand is recognisable, that is. If, however, you feel your brand image is tired, this may be an ideal opportunity to inject some new life into it.
• W.M.M.A.: If you cannot change the scheme, your marketing department will have to be very creative. You will be changing the appearance of your entire company. Your branding must begin again. If these are 'better' products, then introducing them as a Premier Line could be a boost for you. If it is a lesser line, creativity will be the key.
• mccarthy: In a word, "Yes," this is a serious blow to your brand identity. Machinery is one of those items that is clearly associated with the brand. It's packaging. And any time you change packaging, you risk confusion in the marketplace. ... Changes in equipment design are expected, but changes in color schemes (your brand identity) signal outsourcing of manufacturing, change in quality, change in ownership (did these guys just get bought out?) and a myriad messages that may or may not be correct. The bottom line question is this: Does your current color scheme (brand) hurt sales? If the answer is not a resounding "Yes," then only a real rookie (or engineer) would even consider doing a Michael Jackson treatment to your visual trademarks.
• pkemper: I think there is a more fundamental issue: engineers should not concern themselves with product colors. They should concern themselves with making technology work. Product design is driven my brand and thus marketing, more than by engineering. Of course egineers will have influence, but only to try to build a product casing that fits as closely as possible with the brand and would still be feasible to manufacture.
• Vevolution: It would be helpful if you could convene a joint meeting of all the stakeholders in launching a new product. Everyone needs to understand that the path to success is via close coordination, not one group making unilateral decisions.
• kwinters: I am going to go against the grain here, but I do not think it is that big of a deal ... as long as you still identify the machinery with your name and logo the same as before. New colors mean new products and hopefully more color will communicate better product.
• ASVP/ChrisB: Sorry to differ from kwinters but IMO it is a big deal. ... Look at it like this: Engineering redesigns a machine, and relaunches it with different colours. Next time, maybe they change the shape, and the time after, the manufacturing cost, the performance, who knows what? What drove the decision to change the colour? It was no accident. Who has to sign off on these things? What do the people who authorised the decision know about the customer? This is NOT about a Marketing vs. Engineering turf war. It’s about an issue of critical survival for the company: Who’s running it, who’s making decisions, and why? And what are the strategic implications of their decisions? And do they understand that? Decisions like this MUST be made by the whole business leadership team with advice from the key areas where responsibility rests. ...
• rob: I agree with Chris. Before you walk into battle with guns blazing, check out the scene for any snipers. Do a little research in what drove the color change. Certainly your engineers are smart enough not do do this kind of thing unilaterally. So, the command must have come from somewhere. And as marketing, you should be aware of who and why the call was made. And if it was the CEO, then be prepared for the discussion in terms of potential impact on the business and ROI, rather than just talking about the actual colors themselves. There's plenty of content out there to support the statement that a strong brand, which includes being consistent in your presentations to the public, have better financial health then troubled brands.
• stevea: Most companies which develop a brand by accident are unaware of the value it has in the market. I have several examples of clients who, to their surprise, discovered that the value of their brand exceeded their fixed assets when they came to sell their enterprise. No company that paid a small fortune to establish such a market identity would endanger it by playing footloose with the paint pots. I also agree with the cautionary notes: Find out who signed off the design changes. If it was the chairman/CEO, then you have a challenge on your hands to explain the potential downsides. If it was the engineering director, you have a different challenge. The product might well be a superb development and you will not wish to alienate a fine engineer.
• dwillis: It's really quite simple. Call your field service techs. Have them identify one key account where you have multiple machines in one environment. Speak to the head of machine maintenance there. Ask him what your machines look like. You will have your answer. (If he can tell you off the top of his head, don't change a thing.) I spent ten years selling capital equipment. I would venture that most of your team has never been in one of these environments, let alone picked your equipment out from across a 200,000 sq. ft. facility when stacked cheek by jowl against a competitor's.

Question: New Color For Machines - Need Advice

Do you have something to add? Feel free, if you like. Even though the question is closed (and you can't earn points for it), the Asker will be alerted to your response.

TIPS & TRICKS

In these days of information overload, many of us protect our email inboxes with spam filters. They can be a great tool. But they can also cause trouble by blocking mail you actually want to receive.

This happens to KHErs quite a lot. So there are two things I recommend you do. First, visit your Manage MP Mail page at MarketingProfs to manage your mail preferences. Be sure to opt-out of any mail you no longer wish to receive, rather than using the "Spam" button in your email service to block the mail. You can get to this page from the "My Account" link in the left navigation bar or at the bottom of MarketingProfs.com.

Second, be sure to whitelist the KHE general delivery email addresses if you want to receive new-question alerts or our Daily Digest emails. You may also want to whitelist my email address to be sure you receive my replies to your emails.

• exchange@marketingprofs.com


• support@marketingprofs.com


• val@marketingprofs.com

The way you do this will vary depending on what software you use to block spam. Look for instructions in your Help Menu for designating safe email addresses.

Have a question? Ask the experts.

Post a brief synopsis below, and invite other members to offer their feedback.

My Question Title

COMMUNITY LEADERS

As of this week, these are our superstars! The Most Resourceful are those who have contributed the most entries to the Resource Library. The Most Expert are those with the highest number of Expert Points (earned by answering questions).

NOTE: These are our top members as of midday April 30, 2005

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MEET SANJEEV KUMAR VYAS

If you've been in the forum at all lately, chances are you've run into Sanjeev Kumar Vyas. This Top 25 expert has been with us since October. In April, alone, he published 102 responses to forum questions. Read on to learn more about this active participant.

Where are you based?
I am based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

What do you do in real-life?
I am marketing executive at Green Packet.

Tell us about your company.
Green Packet, Inc. is a leading developer of mobile Internet infrastructure providing a comprehensive range of software solutions for secure network access, WLAN-cellular integration, intelligent roaming and instant community networks. The sum total of Green Packet’s solutions is to enable the players in the pervasive wireless access value chain to provide mobile users with the ability and choice to form instant (and private) peer-to-multi-peer networking communities; and to stay securely connected, regardless of the nature and availability of wireless infrastructure.

Describe a specific KHE discussion you learned something from.
This is a hard question to answer because out of every 10 questions, I learn from at least seven of them. I learned a lot from a question about marketing with a budget less than US$100 or something similar. Many experts gave good advice.

What is your favorite marketing book? Why?
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker because it gives nice insights into being an entrepreneur and innovator.

What networking organizations do you belong to?
I am in Ryze, Linkedin, Friendster, Hi5 and MBAA.

How did you get started in marketing?
I have been in Marketing since 2000, though officially I started working in 2001. At the end of 2001 I started my MBA and came back to the workforce in 2003. I started off learning marketing on the job, and then I studied the subject while doing my MBA.

Do you have a mentor? What has he/she has taught you?
Not as yet. I am trying to find one. Any takers?

Describe one of your non-marketing interests.
Sports. I like to play any game, but I am good at cricket, football and tennis.

What is the value KHE provides to you personally?
Satisfaction. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to have helped somebody when they were in need. Security. I know I have a good bunch of trusted experts to fall back on when in need.

Have you made any offline connections with KHErs?
Not as yet, though I would like to. I think KHE should make the location of the members more obvious. That would help people in making offline connections. It would also help members to answer questions in a better way. In addition, a member can know from the expert's location if the suggestion is something that could work in their place as well.

Do you have any advice for new members of KHE?
This is a wonderful resource and we hope we all can help you and you can help us too. However you need to use it carefully. The better questions you ask the better answers you will get.

Do you have a favorite quote you want to share?
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It Does.” [unknown]

Is there anything else you would like to say?
This is a great place, and all of us are doing good work. I would like to say: "Keep up the good work!" Also I am currently planning to change my job and get into account management. So if any of you have an opportunity I would love to hear from you.

COMMUNITY STATS

Active Unique Participants (to date): 5,740
Closed Questions (to date): 6,308
Currently Open Questions: 489
Total Responses (to date): 45,736
Subscribers to this newsletter: 14,794

YOUR ACCOUNT SUMMARY

These numbers come directly from YOUR profile. Question Points tells you how many points you have available for asking questions in the forum. Expert Points indicates your standing in the community based on answers you have posted. Visit this FAQ, if you want to know more.

Question Points: %%PointsBalance%%
Expert Points: %%PointsCum%%

Click here to buy more Question Points

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you, Sanjeev Kumar Vyas and jillc for providing content for this newsletter. And thanks to all the following community members who have emailed or posted suggestions, technical reports or questions since the last issue. Your energy drives this community's development. We couldn't do it without you!

mgoodman, Stokefire, 1050113, admix, akyemkwa, barr, bpond, chlouw, ASVP/ChrisB, elambert, Peter (henna gaijin), Ezmi, FrankP, GFM, Vevolution, gsmagtoto, Jim Deveau/Catalyst, JBtron, Jett, jhedvat, jo, jscott, lee, babou, luluyogini, lynettecon, Corpcommer, Michele, GIS, ms, NEEWARP2004, pjohnson, RPM/TMGI, scotandy, shari, shields, smmckemie, fruitdog, FireFox 1.0.1, terry.ebdon, tjflynn01, tom_wen11, Pepper Blue, turqiz, vincentd, W.M.M.A., wwagner1 and Deremiah, *CPE.

Finally, thanks to my MP colleagues for making my job fun: Aaron, Sharon, Shelley, Achim, Ann, Roy and Allen.

LAST LAUGH

I like to close with a smile. So this space is dedicated to something amusing one of you folks have posted in the forum.

A few days ago, Stokefire asked the community for some feedback about a website. We can always count on LittleWhacky for a memorable response. Here's this week's example: "Remember Auntie Suze's famous phrase: 'Features smell, benefits sell.'"

Discussion: Thoughts On This Website?

Have something to add? Jump on in! This Question is still open.

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