5 Tips to Remember When Marketing to Moms

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

5 Tips to Remember When Marketing to Moms

Moms spend more than 2.5 trillion dollars per year

…yet 91% of them feel that advertisers don’t understand them.

Marketing to moms occurs across most industries. However, healthcare is an industry where moms are very specifically targeted. With healthcare prices rising, consumers getting smarter and reviews online influencing purchase decisions, healthcare marketers have an opportunity to lead the conversation and provide helpful information that creates consumer loyalty. Let’s look at some facts we compiled that may help healthcare marketers look at moms a bit differently.

1. Mom is the decision maker when it comes to healthcare.

80-90% of all healthcare decisions are made or influenced by women. This rings true with doctor and hospital-related decisions and with drugstore purchases. Mom decides what’s best for her children and her husband, and an often time relays this information to family and friends.

2. A mom’s best resource is another mom.

Technology that connects friends is a top choice for moms seeking health-related information. 84% of moms turn to friends online as well as online communities to seek advice, recommendations, reviews and information. And, 65% of these moms have made a purchase decision based on a recommendation they saw online. Engaging in and managing online relationships is imperative in this digital age – encourage online reviews from customers/patients, provide helpful information that makes their jobs as moms easier and responds to the difficult questions or comments about your services. Transparency and open conversation go a long way.

3. Many are new at this mom thing.

There are over 4 million babies born each year, 40% of them are born to first-time moms. If you’re a mom, think back to the first years of your child’s life. It’s a blur, right? With schedules, lists of what to feed/what not to feed, sleepless nights, balancing work/family/friends, etc., Moms sometimes just need a helping hand – and this doesn’t get any easier as kids grow up. Marketers can enhance their relationships with moms by thinking about their everyday lives and what they can do to help.

4. Price is important.

The median household income in the U.S. was $53,891 in 2014 and healthcare spending accounted for 6% of this income on average. Families across the U.S. are struggling to save and keep their heads above water each year. This paired with the fact that 72% of moms use search engines to compare prices proves that healthcare marketers should consider more transparent pricing structures.

5. Not all moms are the same.

In the United States, the traditional family structure that you saw on old sitcoms doesn’t represent the moms of 2015. 4 out of 10 children are born to mothers who are not married. 2/3 of children are born to mothers under the age of 30. 71% of moms are working full-time. 2/3 of new mothers have at least some college education. About 20% of children in two-parent households are part of blended families. Think about the different moms you are speaking to and that she might not relate to your marketing if you only talk to suburban 34 year old stay-at-moms who are married. It’s time to be more inclusive and solve problems for moms instead of alienate them.

We recommend you spend a good amount of research time understanding your audience and their every day lives. Whether it be moms, dads, single bachelors or teen girls, knowing your audience WELL can only increase efficiency of marketing efforts.

If you want to talk more about the marketing to moms, marketing in the healthcare industry or understand your audience, connect with us today. Email Vice President Dan Diveley at [email protected], tweet at us @GeileLeonSTL or connect with us on Facebook!

Helpful links:

Marketing to Women Quick Facts
The Top 30 Stats You Need to Know When Marketing to Women
Marketing to Moms is More Important Than You Think
Surprising Facts about Birth in the United States
Profile America Facts for Features Mother’s Day
Fast Facts
Single Mother Statistics
Marketing to Moms Coalition

MOBILEGEDDON: Three Critical Points to Survival

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

MOBILEGEDDON: Three Critical Points to Survival

Google’s SEO astroid hits the Web

Google’s search algorithms are changing to benefit the user. This means mobile-friendly websites are now coming up at the top for mobile searches. This has caused a bit of an uproar, known as Mobilegeddon. Here are three critical points you need to know about Mobilegeddon and your business:

1. THE IMPACT
As of right now, this change will only affect mobile traffic – the searches happening on mobile devices. For now, your tablet and computer rankings are not in danger. However, be aware that 62 percent of total Web traffic comes from mobile – and that number will continue to increase.

2. THE RISK
If your audience uses mobile devices for the internet, which we can assume most audiences do in this day and age (see stat above), then you could be at risk of losing 1/3 of traffic to your website. Obviously, this is going to affect your business.

3. THE RESOLUTION
Stay calm. Connect with your Web developer (or ours) about a mobile-friendly website. As soon as your website converts to mobile-friendly, then your site is back in the rankings.

Take comfort in knowing that you aren’t alone – 67 percent of Fortune 100 companies are not mobile-friendly – but it won’t stay that way for long. We don’t always recommend following the crowd, but this time it’s definitely the right choice for your business and we are here to help.

If you want us to contact you with more information about how to build and optimize a mobile-friendly site, please fill out the form below.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’0358cafe-f200-42d7-8e5d-f372c2060315′]


RESOURCES
Google has provided resources to help guide businesses through this change:

Statistics provided by SumAll.

Trending Now from G/L: Industry Support, Quirky Brands, New Apps and more

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending Now from G/L: Industry Support, Quirky Brands, New Apps and more

TRENDING NOW FROM G/L

Every Monday morning, the G/L office starts our week by meeting together and updating everyone on new business, old business, this week’s needs, last week’s successes – all the good stuff. We always take time at the end of these meetings to discuss what is trending now in our marketing and design world. We decided that what we talk about isn’t only beneficial to us, but to our clients and followers – so every Monday morning we share our favorite trends with you.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Last week, we talked about companies moving ads onto Instagram, a designers project The Urban Type and more. This week, we are talking about grabbing a beer with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Joe Boxer’s support for binge-watching shows, Samsung embracing the unboxing video trends, breaking up with IE8, Facebook taking on the video space and an app that reads your facial expressions to save pages for you.

“GRAB A BEER”

If you weren’t thirsting for a beer before, you may be after seeing this site. Anheuser-Busch InBev recently launched a digital campaign entitled “Let’s Grab a Beer”. The site is aimed at promoting the beer industry as a whole. In fact, if you weren’t looking for who made the site, you may never know it’s from A-B InBev. The site includes infographics, photographs and memes in a Pinterst-esque look and feel. This is a good example to show that your audience wants to hear about the industry, not just about your brand – and ultimately, if the industry benefits then the company does too.

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 10.57.37 AM
See the website here.
Read the full article from AdAge here.

INACTIVITY MOTIVATION

Joe Boxer is known for its wacky yet clever ads, specifically around holiday seasons. The brand mentions that in a slow time of year, they came up with something to put them back on the radar – it is known as their Inactivity Tracker. A spoof on exercise trackers, this band rewards users for doing nothing. The brand says it encourages slowing down and spending time in pajamas in this crazy world – but does so while showing the quirky personality of the brand. The product is accompanied by a video, a content hub and a PR push.

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 11.07.35 AMRead more about the product, and how to get it, in the article from AdAge here.

SAMSUNG EMBRACING THE TRENDS

“Unboxing” videos have become wildly popular in the tech world. Consumers record themselves taking their phone out of the box for the first time and reviewing the look, feel and features on camera. Samsung acknowledged that this is a steady trend in the tech world and made new ads out of their own professional unboxing videos. The brand uses each unboxing video to introduce the product and (at least) one specific feature to the viewer. These ads show that Samsung is in-tune to what their tech world is consuming and committed enough to tailor their style of reach to what the audience will already be looking for. Though action packed and filled with drama, the message the ads convey is the same message a tech reviewer at home would post.

Watch the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll0iK6fIsI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=40&v=NEhhIM6K_2o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efjaZeGFWis

Read the full article from AdWeek here.

IT’S OVER, IE8

I think most of us at G/L broke up with Internet Explorer long ago, but because of a influx of new users and the six year anniversary of IE8, a website to help you realize your worth and relationship needs out of a browser has launched. This is the break-up with your IE8 browser site…and it is harsh. The website walks you through the break up, it tells you why you’re ready to let it go or encourages you that your choice to leave is the right one. Once you make your decision, this website has you tell IE8 in 100 characters why it just isn’t working out and then these reasons get displayed on the website for everyone to relate to.

Check out some of our favorite break-up statements:

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 11.25.41 AM

See the website for yourself here.

FACEBOOK IN THE RUNNING

Brands (such as Popsugar, BuzzFeed, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and more) are creating video specifically for use on Facebook, leading to Facebook’s transition as a leader in video streaming. This appears to still be unfolding, as there are many thoughts to pre-roll ads, user experience and insights – but marketers are interested in learning more. Facebook targets by age, gender and location among other benefits, so it would be no surprise that brands start investing more in videos tailored to Facebook instead of (or in addition to) YouTube. Facebook has been approaching this from a small and medium size business perspective as well by encouraging them to learn more about the benefits of video uploaded to Facebook and how that performs compared to photos and text posts. In addition to Facebook’s push to keep more content within their platform, we’ll be keeping an eye out to watch this shift continue to unfold.

Read the full article from AdWeek here.

SMILE SUGGEST: SMILE FOR YOUR FRONT FACING CAMERA

Smile Suggest is an app for your browser that (when turned on) uses your front-facing webcam to detect when a website makes you smile. Once it detects a smile, it saves the page for you that you can revisit later or share with friends. It’s a little bit of creepy and awesome at the same time – who knows, it could be the first step to never needing to navigate manually again, like the Xbox Kinect.

Watch the video.

See the website here.

Want to talk these trends with us? Did you see an interesting trend we haven’t talked about? Let’s chat. Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook.

Did you miss the last trends we shared? See them here.

Equine Web Design: 5 Brands Telling Their Stories Well

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Equine Web Design: 5 Brands Telling Their Stories Well

Marketing, PR and advertising all aim to tell stories of the brand. Telling a story digitally can be a challenge – especially in an industry where the audience is knowledgeable and looking to connect personally in a digital experience. The Equine industry is one that features many great stories of the relationships between humans and horses. In addition to being a labor of love for many involved, it is also a booming business which includes millions of horses and more than 1.5 million jobs. We have learned in our time working with our client, Manna Pro, that success is achieved in the equine industry (and many other similar, niche industries) by telling the audience a story and showing authentic personality through all communication mediums.

A number of companies and organizations accomplish storytelling through custom imagery and video that shows personality. In a world where stock images are everywhere, websites that have their own images really stand out. Some G/Lers met with our Web designer and came up with equine websites that we think successfully connect to their audience by showing personality – from imagery to content:

Note: Our Geile/Leon team has worked on Equine Web Design projects, including Manna Pro Product’s Equine blog. (We got all this knowledge from somewhere!) For the sake of staying as unbiased as possible, we haven’t included that project in the list below, but certainly feel free to check it out!

Screen Shot 2015-04-15 at 3.48.46 PMhttp://info.mannapro.com/equine
trainwithtrust.mannapro.com 

1. Cavallo

Website: Cavallo makes horse boots, saddle pads and equipment for riders. Their website stands out because of strong imagery, easy navigation and a focus on telling the story of how their products help both horses and riders perform at their very best. In addition to the store, the site’s content is boosted by a robust blog, general information on riding as well as testimonials and other information about the company.

Personality: Our team enjoyed how Cavallo invested in original imagery that shows the brand personality and their love for horses. They’re not just selling a product, but also selling a lifestyle. Putting the president of the company with the horses they work with every day makes her seem very down to earth.

Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.08.53 PMScreen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.09.07 PM https://www.cavallo-inc.com

2. Justin Boots

Website: The website for Justin Boots conveys a tone that shows the brand’s origins dating back to 1879 while also focusing on how they’re continuing to improve today. There’s a lot of rich imagery showing different age groups enjoying their products. In addition to still photos, they utilize a decent amount of video to tell more complex stories.

Personality: The website has some authentic photography that features their products and the people that use them. This provides another glimpse into the personality of the brand and how it connects to horses and horse lovers. Reaching across different audiences is tough, but the varying photography also shows how the products work for everyday life as well.

Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.11.13 PM Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.11.01 PMhttp://www.justinboots.com

3. Reinsman

Website: The western riding equipment heavily leverages their celebrity/athlete partnerships to highlight the competitive quality of their products. Their equine content is very crisp and well organized.

Personality: Seeing people with their horses and the actual Reinsman products makes the site more authentic. Their focus is more on how the products are more competitive and built to help you compete – showcased well by using images of well known professionals using the products.

Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.18.30 PMScreen Shot 2015-04-15 at 3.42.00 PMhttp://www.reinsman.com

4. Grand Meadows

Website: The imagery on the Grand Meadows site does a good job of blending the quality of the product with the effects of what that product brings to the end user. By making that personal connection, it makes the site about more than just e-commerce. Also, having that combination of regular blogging and more in-depth feature articles also helps the site bring in inbound traffic.

Personality: The focus on helping horses grow makes them seem like they truly care about the horses wellbeing, which is really awesome. Seeing the owner insert herself into the brand and the industry also adds a strong personal touch.

Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.22.34 PM Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.22.44 PM Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.22.23 PMhttp://www.grandmeadows.com

5. Noble Outfitters

Website: Another great example of digitally highlighting the culture of the brand. The Noble Outfitters online magazine is updated more than once a week with a good mix of product features and info related to those who might use the product.

Personality: There’s a lot of great original photography that makes them stand out. Their focus seems to be on highlighting the brand will help end users perform better while looking stylish in the process.

Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 12.20.15 PMhttp://www.nobleoutfitters.com

Does your brand tell a story well? Share it with us! Connect with us via @GeileLeonSTL, or just email us at [email protected].

Interested in more of our equine work? Check out our previous blog about equine web design!

Marketing to High School Students: The Digital College Research Experience

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Marketing to High School Students: The Digital College Research Experience

Marketing to High School Students

While high school seniors are making their final college attendance decisions in the spring, higher education marketers are planning to connect with students attending college in 2016. Student visits start in the fall and the search for the perfect school is underway.

Thinking about this process, the amount of options out there and the current audience landscape, what’s the best way to market to these students? How can you most effectively provide them the information they need to help with their decision-making process? The following infographic highlights students’ digital research habits and ways they are using platforms to help make their college decision.

What does it tell us?

What the research tells us is that higher education marketers should be paying attention to mobile devices and social media as research mediums for high school students. For example, if 4 out of 5 students view a college website via mobile devices, then colleges should be investing in mobile-friendly Web design, even more so now that Google has updated analytics to recognize mobile friendly websites with higher SEO.

Digital Marketing to High School Students
Infographic by Leanne Maher

This information was pulled from a recent report published by Chegg and Uversity. Read the full report here.

Trending Now from G/L: Ads on Instagram, an Art Director for Change, Honda’s Never-Ending Ad and more

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending Now from G/L: Ads on Instagram, an Art Director for Change, Honda’s Never-Ending Ad and more

TRENDING NOW FROM G/L

Every Monday morning, the G/L office starts our week by meeting together and updating everyone on new business, old business, this week’s needs, last week’s successes – all the good stuff. We always take time at the end of these meetings to discuss what is trending now in our marketing and design world. We decided that what we talk about isn’t only beneficial to us, but to our clients and followers – so every Monday morning we share our favorite trends with you.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Last week, we talked about brand storytelling, social media wins, Web design and knowing your audience. This week, we talked about companies moving ads onto Instagram, a designers project called The Urban Type, Honda’s never-ending commercial and brands targeting audiences for long-term loyalty effects.

INSTAGRAM ADS

Instagram (owned by Facebook) is a social platform for mobile image sharing. Recently, Instagram announced the launch of carousel ads. Brands including Showtime, Banana Republic, Old Navy, L’Oreal Paris and Samsung are now using this new feature.

Screen Shot 2015-04-13 at 2.32.43 PM Screen Shot 2015-04-13 at 2.32.31 PM

Read the full article from AdWeek’s Social Times here.

THE URBAN TYPE EXPERIMENT

An art director in Chicago set out to grab people’s attention on a commonly ignored platform. You’ve all probably seen them at some point – the signs which beg for help along the streets. Each week, this art director sets out to meet a new homeless or less fortunate individual asking for help on the streets. He listens to their stories and creates a custom sign for them and then catches back up with them to measure the results.

Take a look:

Screen Shot 2015-04-13 at 2.37.45 PMScreen Shot 2015-04-13 at 2.38.37 PM

See all of his signs and follow his story here.

THE NEVER-ENDING AD

This is the ad that never ends…literally. Honda worked with mcgarrybowen agency in London to create the first never-ending YouTube film showing a Honda on an “infinitely” looping road. The companies shot the film with effects of day, night, sun and rain. The film recognizes the time and weather and displays the car driving in that scenario.

See the making of the ad below:

Read the article from Creative Review here.

CREATING LOYAL CONSUMERS FROM CHILDHOOD

Brands target children and teens all the time – but some specific brands have sought out ways to target a younger audience that will gain turn them into loyal consumers for the rest of their lives. Advertisements and marketing materials for female products have switched gears from speaking to the moms and big siste   rs of the world and are going straight to the awkward conversation with Tweens. Brands like Kotex and Aerie are catching on.

See an example of an ad targeting the tween girl below:

Read the full article from NPR here.

Want to talk these trends with us? Did you see an interesting trend we haven’t talked about? Let’s chat. Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook.

Did you miss the last trends we shared? See them here.

Trending Now from G/L: Brand Storytelling, Groupon’s Social Win, Web Design and Knowing Your Consumer

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Trending Now from G/L: Brand Storytelling, Groupon’s Social Win, Web Design and Knowing Your Consumer

B2B

TRENDING NOW FROM G/L

Every Monday morning, the G/L office starts our week by meeting together and updating everyone on new business, old business, this week’s needs, last week’s successes – all the good stuff. We always take time at the end of these meetings to discuss what is trending now in our marketing and design world. We decided that what we talk about isn’t only beneficial to us, but to our clients and followers – so every Monday morning we share our favorite trends with you.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

Last week, we talked about innovative technology, how brands are positioning themselves and algorithm changes to know for clients. This week, we discussed amazing ways brands are telling stories, a social media win by Groupon, Web design and knowing your audience.

BRAND STORYTELLING

By Generation
Nike came out with a new ad called Ripple. This ad is the epitome of storytelling as it shows two generations of golf meeting one another, involving the brand through the entire journey. Nike isn’t prominent in the video, you may not even know it is a Nike ad until the very end. This is a characteristic of great brand storytelling – get your audience to remember the story and they will, in turn, remember the brand telling it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdhWhgA8Y0A

Using Real-Time
Baseball is a sport of history. This year, Major League Baseball moves forward with a real-time approach to what baseball is and means to all of us right now. This isn’t just one ad, but a season-long campaign called “This Is Baseball.” This campaign will celebrate memorable plays and outstanding players and teams as the season unfolds.

Read the full story from Ad Age, and watch the new ads here.

GROUPON FTW

So often we see brands failing on social media, this week we talked about Groupon winning at planned social media. Groupon knew that the product they were promoting strongly resembled a very, very different product. They knew the joke, with a product like this, how could you not? Instead of cowering away from the subject, Groupon embraced it and planned the post knowing it could be trolled and prepared for the responses.

Here are a few of our (more appropriate) favorites:

Screen Shot 2015-04-06 at 12.21.54 PMScreen Shot 2015-04-06 at 12.26.09 PMScreen Shot 2015-04-06 at 12.22.26 PMRead the full story from Ad Week about how Groupon planned the post here.
Read the full story from Ad Week about the responses to the post here.

(If you are reading this at work, then you’re welcome for not including a picture of the Banana Bunker with our brief; can you imagine what your co-worker would think? Product shopping for your produce while on the job is a definite no-no.)

NOT JUST FOR YOUR CLIENT

When we share trends, we like to keep in mind what will move our clients’ brands forward as well as our own. If we’re always giving the best advice to our clients, we should do the same for ourselves, right? So, if you are a part of an agency, consider the next few trends to assist in processes for your clients and your own brand.

Web Design
Screen Shot 2015-04-06 at 11.58.44 AMFrank Chimero, a Brooklyn Web designer and Missouri State University , created a website interpretation of his talk from Webstock 2015. The website shows the process of Web design from Dial-Up to the future and all the challenges that designers and brands may face along the way with how to overcome them. We encourage using his talk and website as a resource for Web design and transformation.

View his website here.

Big Music Needs Big Budget
Established songs and artists require high financial stakes. It makes sense for a brand to want to associate itself with an already successful piece of culture; however, it also speaks volumes for a brand to connect with an artist on-the-rise and take advantage of the opportunity to build campaigns and partnerships that benefit both parties. The artist gets some much-needed exposure and the brand gets a sound of its own without the price tag (which frees up some budget to be reallocated to support the campaign).

Read the full assessment from Ad Age here.

4 Out of 5
IBM released a study stating that 4 out of 5 consumers feel that a brand doesn’t know them as individuals. Even more, 80% of marketers think they understand their audience. Yikes. As an agency, it is part of our job to research and connect our brands to their audience in an authentic way. So where is this divide coming from? How do we fix it?

Read the full story from Bulldog Reporter here.

The long weekend brought us a lot of information; want to talk about these trends with us? Did you see an interesting trend we haven’t talked about? Let’s chat. Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook.

Did you miss the last trends we shared? See them here.

ProductCamp 2015 – Consumer Insight, Product Launches and Outsourced Manufacturing

Dan Diveley
VP of Business Development

ProductCamp 2015 – Consumer Insight, Product Launches and Outsourced Manufacturing

productcamp_featured

The Event

I recently attended ProductCamp 2015, organized by the St. Louis Product Management Group, a not-for-profit organization based in Saint Louis that coordinates regular in-person meetings and events focused on product management among other product related topics. Out of hundreds of attendees, most of the ones I met are involved in product management.

The Twist

Attendees selected which presentations would be included by casting votes for four of the forty-six proposed presentations. The top thirty made it on the schedule. Of these, I attended several presentations and have several key points to share.

The Takeaways

1. Win Or Lose, You Can Still Get Valuable Consumer Insight

Product managers can still reap value even when their products/services are not the winners in a sales effort.

Shelly Azar, principal of Insight Researchers, presented her approach to Win/Loss Analysis and showed how, if done correctly, product managers can get insights into the minds of B2B customers. By having a process to consistently survey customers after a win or loss, companies can measure how their products are comparing to the competitors’, what is important to the buyer, how decisions are made, etc.

For Example:

  • One of the questions she often includes in her surveys determines how far removed the main contact at the prospect’s organization is from the final decision-maker. This will tell you if your sales efforts are targeting the best level instead of some lower level function.
  • Another recommendation was that someone other than sales should conduct the interviews to remove any bias. Interviewees may not be as forthcoming with important information when they are talking to the sales person.

After seeing Shelly’s methodical approach to data collection, I’m convinced that companies should work with a trained researcher to help them determine what information to collect, conduct the interviews and report the findings. This should be an ongoing process to look for trends and make any adjustments needed.

2. Not All Product Launches Are the Same

Jeff Lash, Director of the Product Management advisory service at SiriusDecisions, gave a presentation I think all product managers should see: B2B Product Launch — You’re Doing It Wrong. His company has a very organized approach to helping project managers plan and execute product launches and they present it in a detailed way that would impress any technically minded person.

One take-away is to establish a formal set of tiers for product launches. Launches in lower tiers may not need the full product launch process, while upper tiers would require the full support of the organization. Jeff recommends establishing criteria for the tiers and then deciding the steps for each tier even before a revised or new product is proposed. This could help shorten the time to launch because now a process is established and procedures are in place for strategy, execution and growth.

Another suggestion is to view the goal of the launch in terms of what outcomes are needed. Jeff recommends assembling a cross-functional team to brainstorm the desired outcomes. The main goal is not just simply to introduce a product but instead, to accomplish a set of outcomes. Outcomes should be metrics that relate or contribute to how you define commercial success such as the number of distributors needed to carry the product, or how many end-user demonstrations need to be presented, etc. – these are small steps to accomplish the ultimate goal of increased sales.

Since research shows that peer-to-peer reviews are often the number one influence on the buying decision, Jeff stresses the importance of including a process to ensure your customers’ influencers are included in the launch package.

SiriusDecisions has many free resources relating to product launches, including this helpful article: Leveraging Buyer Insight to Impact Launch

3. Beware of Outsourced Manufacturing

Steve Matthews, IP attorney at Matthews Edwards, presented a very thorough set of concerns and safeguards when dealing with Asian outsourced manufacturing. I’ve sat in many meetings with clients who manufacture products and a common concern is that inexpensive, imported knock-offs are digging into their market share. This presentation really helped me to understand how difficult and problematic it can be for our clients.

Outsourced manufacturing to Asia can lower costs, but there are many factors to consider to protect against fraud. Most companies have a Manufacturing Agreement, however, often these offer little protection. Once the product is in the shipping container it is owned by the purchaser so it is imperative to have a systematic way to make sure the products are manufactured to spec before accepting them.

Steve recommends that before entering into an agreement, you should first find a Buyer’s Agent who is knowledgeable about the customs, laws and manufacturing facilities in the source country. He also warns manufacturers to carefully scrutinize the agent and take legal steps to ensure the agent is responsible for all aspects including product quality.

Other steps can and should be taken to help prevent production for fraudulent buyers:

  • Patent and trademark the product, not only in your country of origin, but in the source country as well.
    This provides a course for legal action against the counterfeiter, whether duplicating your product or using the trademark on other goods. While this may not prevent fraud, it ensures legal action can be taken if fraudulent behavior occurs to halt the sales of the offending goods.
  • Monitor the manufacturing.
    A fellow attendee’s company assigns its U.S. based engineers to live in the source country and visit the plant every day to monitor the manufacturing. They also take some of the dies back to their hotel room each night to protect against having the product unscrupulously made. These engineers rotate on a three-week basis, which provides a way to consistently monitor production while keeping the engineers based in the U.S.

After hearing many horror stories about issues associated with manufacturing in Asia, I believe that though not every manufacturer is corrupt, it is always a best practice to invest in the safety of your products before entering into a manufacturing agreement. A good way to do this is by speaking with an attorney, or, if you want to speak with Steve, please contact me and I can provide his information.

It is important for communication agencies to understand the way a client’s product management process works. To advise our clients to the best of our ability, and ultimately assist in increasing sales, we must know the ins and outs of a successful process.

If you have any questions or comments about my key takeaways, about any of the speakers or the St. Louis Product Management Group, please fill out the form below and I will be sure to connect with you.

[gl-hs-form form_id=’cec0216a-0904-4e9d-ba5a-4bbc542ae0a1′]

 

 

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