The lessons learned from my 9-year tenure at MCI–2 in sales, 7 in advertising/marketing–are many.

As an aside, I recently had the pleasure of explaining what MCI was to a Gen-Y (or perhaps Gen-Z or AAA or whatever comes next) business professional who had never heard of the company–and perhaps had never used a landline.

One of my favorite MCI lessons, which I still use with clients today, was “management by press release.”  I call it the “Headline Test.”  When developing a new product, offer, line of business,  start-up company, or even refining an existing offering, try writing the press release FIRST.  This process will force you to take a market-focused view at the beginning of the product development cycle, which achieves several important benefits:

• Requires you to crisply articulate the market problem you are solving, which I call the Customer Elevator Rant (i.e. “To address the rising challenge of XXXXXX in the XXXXX marketplace, NewCo today announced…”)
• Forces you to think about and define the high level messaging and distill it into succinct language (i.e. the headline, subhead and lead paragraph).  (i.e. NewCo today announced the first XXXXXX product that delivers XXXXXX”)
• Enables you to clarify the positioning of the product or business vs. competitors, substitutes and alternatives in the marketplace. (i.e. “Unlike other products, NewCo’s solution enables…”)
• Perhaps most importantly, the Headline Test is a tool for eliciting feedback and, ultimately, gaining consensus among the executive team–based on their understanding of the market, research, customer interviews, etc.–before the major investments are made in product development.

Of course, the Headline Test doesn’t in an of itself validate a new product or business idea.  But when you sit down to write your press release, if it “writes itself,” then the product or business has a good starting point: some intuitive appeal and the ability to be quickly understood by the target audience.

I’ve used the Headline Test in client engagements many times over the years, and it has achieved the above benefits every time.  Clients have appreciated the test as an exercise that helps them refine their initiative.

Next time you’re starting the process of launching a new business or product, don’t wait until you’re ready to launch to write the press release.  Try the Headline Test at the beginning.  It shouldn’t take more than an hour; if it does, you might have to revisit the core value proposition and positioning.

Bob London is President of London, Ink, a marketing and communications consulting firm based in the Washington, DC area.  He can be reached at bob@londonink.com.

  An Inside-Out Branding Guest Post by David Frankil, President of NAFCU Services Corp. (bio)

About NAFCU Services

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) represents approximately 800 Federal credit unions. NAFCU Services Corporation is the for-profit, independent subsidiary of NAFCU that works with leading companies including American Express, Securian, Deluxe, Affinion and others, that provide services that help credit unions increase efficiency and productivity in areas such as member retention and acquisition, information security, new products and services and investment advisory services.

Background

NAFCU Services has 28 ‘Preferred Partners,’ including American Express, NCR and SAS Institute, that are focused on financial services in general and credit unions in particular. Program participation requires a fee from Partners, and they have a choice of levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) with fees and activities scaled proportionately. All profits from NAFCU Services go to the parent association to support their programs.

 

When I became President of NAFCU Services in July, 2006, it was being run as a typical trade association affinity program, which is to say it was (essentially) a mechanism for giving select vendors an opportunity to support NAFCU programs . In exchange Partners received the right to use a logo, great space at the annual trade show, some networking opportunities with Board Members, and that’s about it – best of luck with sales and marketing. Clearly not a balancing of value from the vendor perspective, and a major reason why many of these programs have high turnover rates and lagging revenues.

 

Priority One: Create a Solutions Mindset

Turning the program around required a shift in philosophy and strategy to a solutions mindset, making it more effective for all parties involved. The goal: positioning our Partners as thought leaders in their respective areas and leveraging marketing activities to open dialogue and create relationships with prospects.

 

So the first and foremost responsibility is for NAFCU Services to understand the challenges faced by credit unions every day for growth and productivity. Where is the next round of profitable revenue coming from, how to cross-sell and up-sell Members, how to attract new Members, and so on. And how to run operations more efficiently, more effectively, more securely, at lower cost, etc.

 

The Marketing MRI

We call the process of understanding and pinpointing credit unions’ challenges—from their point of view—the Marketing MRI.  This involves in depth interviews with credit union executives, fine tuned with surveys and of course ongoing discussions with our board.  Most importantly we synthesize what we’re hearing and learning based on our experience in the marketplace. 

 

Once we understand credit unions’ challenges in a particular area—say member retention, we look for a solution from within our current roster of Preferred Partners. If not, then we look to recruit a top quality, market leader to join the program, following a competitive RFP process that includes an evaluation by an Advisory Committee of credit union executives.

 

At that point, we have credit unions A, B, C perhaps even through credit union Z that need a solution, and Preferred Partner B that has one. Here’s where that Marketing MRI comes in again.  Sharing what we know about the needs of the credit unions with the Preferred Partners, we help distill the partner’s value proposition to a laser beam, and then – call it multi-modal or multi-channel marketing – using all the tools at our disposal to communicate the value proposition and establish thought leadership for the Partner.

 

Many trade associations have the first part of this equation, a Preferred Partner-type program with the association’s stamp of approval. What differentiates NAFCU Services is the second part, where we (in essence) become a marketing consulting services firm for our Partners, generating webcasts, podcasts, articles, speaking opportunities, direct marketing initiatives, recommendation letters, credits for advertising and sponsorship, and much more. So from a Partner perspective, the value equation (investment in the program versus value received) is much more attractive.

 

Results

Since I joined NAFCU Services in July, 2006, we have grown revenue by 14%,  15%, and this year an expected 33%. We’ve significantly upsized deal size, and more important, have made our existing relationships far more effective. Key to the success has been instilling that solutions mindset throughout our partners’ marketing and sales teams by developing and leveraging the Marketing MRI approach.

See related post: David Frankil on London, Ink

 

David Frankil on London, Ink

Many trade associations have Preferred Partner-type programs in which the partner receives the association’s stamp of approval and pays for the right to display the logo. 

What differentiates NAFCU Services is the second part, where we (in essence) become a marketing consulting services firm for our Partners, generating webcasts, podcasts, articles, speaking opportunities, direct marketing initiatives, recommendation letters, credits for advertising and sponsorship, and much more. So from a Partner perspective, the value equation (investment in the program versus value received) is much more attractive.

Given that there are so many moving parts in our business model – our aggressive marketing mindset means that Partners are involved in numerous initiatives throughout the year – planning is essential to maximize results. 

So we brought London Ink in to create individual strategic marketing plans in partnership with our higher level Partners, i.e., looking at each partner’s value proposition and target audience, honing it to a very fine point, then mapping those against the available marketing tools and channels, from PR to print ads to webcasts and podcasts.   This plan becomes the roadmap for how partners can maximize the value of their investment in NAFCU Services. 

One of the lessons of this process has been that the development of a strategic marketing plan helps every partner be more effective, whether they are one of the largest players in financial services markets, or an up-and-coming technology innovator.  This is a testament to the value brought to the table by London, Ink.  In fact, we have added the “London Plans” as an explicit benefit of coming in at a higher level in our Program.

Bob London has delivered marketing plans for more than 15 NAFCU Services partners—each with a finely tuned format (which we now use internally as our standard marketing planning template!) and insights we might not have had without his independent, objective point of view.  Bob has helped NAFCU Services deliver real value in terms of our partners’ results and their satisfaction with the NAFCU Services Preferred Partner Program.  Bob’s presentations at our annual partner conferences on topics such as leveraging Web 2.0 and his Inside-Out Branding have also been practical and thought-provoking.

See related post: David Frankil on “The Marketing MRI.”

London, Ink Previews Latest “Executive Perspectives” E-Newsletter Here: http://tinyurl.com/62h83p.

 

About ServerVault Corp. Founded as a secure hosting company, ServerVault is still remembered by many people as the company with the giant Hummer H-1 (not one of the cushy new ones but the original military-style model) cruising around town bearing the ServerVault logo. Now under the leadership of CEO and President John Kraft, ServerVault is a leading provider of highly secure, federally compliant hosting and IT infrastructure management services for government agencies, commercial enterprises and system integrators with sensitive, security-driven applications.

 

John Kraft on Turning the Corner

“When I joined ServerVault as CEO in 2003, the challenge wasn’t how to generate flash and attention (hence we no longer needed the Hummer with the giant ServerVault logo on it), but rather to rebuild the operation and the company’s market legitimacy. Together with great leaders like Seth Finkel, who I worked with at PSINet, and John Curran, who had been CTO XO Communications and BBN/GTE Networking, we retrenched not only operationally but strategically.”

 

“Hosting as a standalone business had changed. You either had to achieve massive scale as a collocation or infrastructure provider or find a niche in a growing segment. We chose the latter approach based on a careful analysis of the market’s requirements and ServerVault’s assets and strengths, including:

 

• Legacy positioning in secure, bulletproof hosting, including the ServerVault name;
• Industry-leading physical, logical and procedural security;
• Proximity to the booming federal IT market; and
• Proliferation of federal IT security regulations, notably FISMA.

“Building on our strengths in secure hosting–which was a solid positioning but not enough to distinguish ServerVault from much larger players–ServerVault is now a leader in providing secure and compliant hosting and management services that help government agencies and corporations save time and money meeting major IT security regulations such as FISMA, DITSCAP / DIACAP and DoD 8500.2.

 

“As a result our clients save time and money by outsourcing their sensitive applications rather than having to build compliant data center facilities. While we can’t divulge much of the work we do for clients for security reasons, we have announced deals with IBM to provide secure, compliant infrastructure for the DISA NCES system, the military’s major new collaboration platform and with Northrop Grumman to secure, maintain and operate the DoD’s Web-based travel system.

 

“The results have been terrific in terms of customer wins, revenue and margin, and ServerVault is better known than ever in the federal IT sector–both agencies and system integrators. The future looks bright indeed.”

 

Read related post: John Kraft on London, Ink.

 

Bob London is president of London, Ink, a Maryland-based marketing and communications consulting firm, and serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for growth stage companies that need an injection of marketing experience and leadership to drive key initiatives and results.

See the PDF at http://www.londonink.com/pdfs/WSJ%20Case%20Study%202.pdf

Bob London is president of London, Ink, a Maryland-based marketing and communications consulting firm, and serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for growth stage companies that need an injection of marketing experience and leadership to drive key initiatives and results.

COMPANY PROFILE: McKinley Marketing Partners, Inc.

Leading National Provider of Interim Marketing ManagersSM to Fortune 2000 companies.

SITUATION:

McKinley’s crack business development/sales managers are responsible for the target businesses in their respective geographic territories.

To raise awareness among the target audience prior to follow up calls by the sales team, McKinley has been doing a successful quarterly direct mail campaign.

SOLUTION:

For 2005 we took a step back and spoke to prospects about how they make decisions regarding interim marketing resources.

We found that, since their needs are event-driven (new launch, key manager on maternity leave), McKinley needed to increase mindshare, thus increasing the odds that they will contact the prospect when the need is active.

Since the business development managers cannot physically call each prospect every month, London, Ink recommended increasing the frequency of direct mail from four to ten per year.

Additionally while awareness of McKinley’s overall value proposition was high, there are many benefits that were not as well known. The increased frequency of mailings was an opportunity to showcase different key benefits and support points.

RESULTS:

The increased frequency of the direct mail campaign has been a better fit for the McKinley sales team, since they no longer have to contact each mailed prospect each quarter. The mailings do the work for them by keeping the McKinley name and benefits in front of the prospects.

Bob London is president of London, Ink, a Maryland-based marketing and communications consulting firm, and serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for growth stage companies that need an injection of marketing experience and leadership to drive key initiatives and results.

COMPANY PROFILE: Media/Professional Insurance
Leading national underwriter of media, professional and cyber liability since 1979. A division of AON Corporation.

SITUATION:

For 25 years Media/Professional Insurance (MPI) has been a pioneer and innovator in underwriting media liability insurance for many of the country’s leading media companies. MPI has leveraged its leadership position in media liability into two other very successful businesses: Cyber Liability and Professional/Specialty Liability.

The company’s new CEO and his leadership team faced a series of challenges in adjusting sales and marketing operations to market expectations, specifically among its key distribution channels.

MPI also needed to enhance its positioning and messaging to the market to reinforce and extend its leadership position.

SOLUTION:

With the CEO, London, Ink defined a Phase I in which a situation analysis and marketing plan would be delivered. This analysis and plan became the company’s road map to enhancing market performance via a number of high priority initiatives.

Bob London serves as the company’s Virtual VP of Marketing and leads or supports several critical programs, including:

• Restructuring the way MPI manages its main distribution channel;
• Working with its marketing partners to drive awareness and new business; and
• Developing the company’s marketing and sales support materials with an upgraded positioning and messaging.

RESULTS:

MPI’s CEO has reported that, due in large part to the new situation analysis and marketing plan, the company has become more focused on its new mission and has successfully reshaped its priorities. As a result MPI now views marketing as a pro-active, value-added function.

As a result, the bottom line is that MPI’s new business numbers—which account for approximately half of its annual revenue—have already shown significant upward movement.

London, Ink is now developing a Phase II marketing plan to build on the current momentum by developing several key marketing awareness, acquisition and retention programs.

Bob London is president of London, Ink, a Maryland-based marketing and communications consulting firm, and serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for growth stage companies that need an injection of marketing experience and leadership to drive key initiatives and results.

See the PDF at http://www.londonink.com/pdfs/search%20engine%20article%20quotin g%20BL.pdf

COMPANY PROFILE: MAP ROI Systems, Inc.
(Now Synchris, Inc.)

Emerging leader in government business development and capture management solutions.

SITUATION:

MAP ROI is a Sterling, Virginia-based company that has developed G-Force, the first end-to-end system for identifying, qualifying, proposing and managing Government business.

SOLUTION:

I was introduced to MAP ROI’s founder and CEO, Christopher Stahl, by one of his key advisors, a very senior public relations executive in the mid-Atlantic region. At the time this self-funded company was considering hiring a Vice President of Marketing, but the advisor recommended Mr. Stahl discuss the Virtual VP of Marketing concept with London, Ink.
Upon meeting with Mr. Stahl, it was apparent that MAP ROI needed help prioritizing and executing some of the key marketing initiatives that had been lagging.
The initial priorities were to:

• Determine the company’s ideal go-to-market positioning and messaging;
• Incorporate the positioning/messaging in the company’s first corporate Web site;
• Develop sales support materials that reflected the company’s value proposition and key benefits; and
• Perhaps most importantly, reduce the CEO’s day-to-day involvement in marketing planning and execution.

RESULTS:

London, Ink first designed the company’s first corporate Web site and sales literature, including entirely new messaging that delivered the company’s value proposition and key benefits.

Based on the success of these projects, Bob London was then retained as Virtual VP of Marketing to lead the company’s key marketing initiatives, manage its existing staff and drive day to day progress on all branding, partner marketing and infrastructure such as the sales and lead generation process.