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Marketing leaders from The Tom James Company, Paramount Farms, and En Pointe Technologies on:

Transparent Marketing Strategies: Promoting Your Products and Services to the Omniscient Customer

Christian Boehm VP Merchandising and Marketing, The Tom James Company

Dominic Engels Vice President, Global Marketing, Paramount Farms

Ali Din Senior Director, Strategic Development, En Pointe Technologies

This ExecBlueprint is all about how you can inspire your customers to become fans of your company and brands while being as honest as possible. While part of the trick is taken straight from Marketing

101 (learn what motivates people), there are other strategies that may surprise you. One is to not shy away from conflict. Did your industry suf-fer a recall? Take the lead by building a Web site to inform consumers about the FDA’s progress in keeping consumers safe. Another is to provide the “back story” about your products and services, such as how a par-ticular fabric is made. Others include directly eliciting customers’ own opinions on your latest product (and then publishing them in your market-ing materials), seeking third-party case studies on your offerings, and add-ing a local angle to all messages. Of course, never forget to remind your customers how your product actually can make their lives more healthy, stylish, and convenient. And finally, be useful — as a consultant or expert. If you can attain this credibility, your messages will assuredly carry a lot more weight than plain-old “in your face” advertising. n

Action Points

I. What Are Common Challenges of Developing Transparent Marketing Strategies?The challenges (e.g., responding to a product recall, finding new customers in a down economy, differentiating your messages in a media-saturated environment) are similar to those faced by traditional campaigns. Your core dilemma, however, is: how do you provide customers with truthful information about the issue while still making the sale?

II. The Bottom LineOwing to their subtle nature, transparent marketing methods can be difficult to evaluate. Moreover, sales that were initially inspired by such efforts could be credited to another source, such as a call from a salesperson. However, using search engine optimization practices, you can learn how many people have found you and are requesting contact.

III. Must-Have Questions for Entering New Markets If you want to grow, you will need to develop new markets, i.e., new lines of business and/or different regions. Before jumping, however, you need to ask: How will new products/services fit with our present offerings? How can we establish credibility in a new country? Transparent marketing approaches can help provide some answers.

IV. The Golden Rules for Engaging the Omniscient CustomerThanks to the Internet, today’s customer is more informed than ever about the quality, functionality, availability, and price of your products/services — as well as those of your competitors. However, using transparent marketing, you can turn customers into fans by sharing interesting features about your products and seeking their real-time feedback.

V. Essential Take-AwaysWhen you decide to use transparent marketing approaches, you are basically committing to being as truthful as possible in your messaging, even while still addressing the needs and characteristics of your audiences. Best practices include building credibility through white papers, posting questions to customers in blogs, and then sharing their responses.

Contents

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.2

Christian Boehm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.3

Dominic Engels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.9

Ali Din . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p.12

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points . . . p.15

© Books24x7, 2009 About the Authors ExecBlueprints �

About the AuthorsChristian BoehmVP Merchandising and Marketing, The Tom James Company


Ali DinSr. Director, Strategic Development, En Pointe Technologies

Christian Boehm joined Tom James Company right out of Ohio State in 1991. He worked his

way through the direct sales ranks and

asserted himself as a direct seller and master clothier.

Today he serves the company as direc-tor of merchandise and VP of marketing.

Dominic Engels is the vice presi-dent of marketing at Paramount Farms International. A wholly-

owned operating company of Roll International, Paramount Farms is the world’s largest grower, processor, and marketer of pistachios and almonds. He began his career with the Roll Corporation in 2005 leading strategic marketing and business development ini-tiatives. Quickly identified as the person uniquely qualified to lead the Paramount

Farms global marketing effort, he was moved to his current position less than one year later.

Mr. Engels has more than 14 years of consumer goods, retail, and food industry experience. Prior to Paramount Farms, he served as director of U.S. stra-tegic operations for Gap, Inc., where he helped guide a large-scale performance transformation for Gap-brand stores. Prior to Gap, Dominic was an engage-ment manager in the retail practice

at McKinsey and Company. He has also held several general management positions in the sporting goods industry.

Ali Din is currently senior director of marketing and business devel-opment at En Pointe Technologies.

En Pointe is a national IT products and services provider representing Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee, HP, Cisco, and other top-tier technology companies

Mr. Din has 15 years of experience in the IT/VAR (value added reseller) channel. He has responsibility for partner relations, marketing, and e-business. He holds a B.A. in Economics from UC Los Angeles, and a M.B.A.

in Marketing from the University of Southern California (USC).

☛ Read Christian’s insights on Page 3

☛ Read Dominic’s insights on Page 9

☛ Read Ali’s insights on Page 12

Christian BoehmVP Merchandising and Marketing, The Tom James Company

© Books24x7, 2009 Christian Boehm ExecBlueprints �

Demographic CharacteristicsOur company caters to business professionals. They are affluent, highly educated, and at the top of their industry’s income scales. In terms of age, they are typically late-20s through mid-60s; 85 percent are men and 15 percent are women. We have always had custom cloth-ing; it has been our primary prod-uct line since our inception in 1966. Because of this, our customer base tended to be affluent and older simply because custom clothing was a luxury product that few could afford. In the 1990s we started to offer ready-made cloth-ing at a competitive price point to capture the younger market. We were successful! Since then we have added sportswear, six lines of shoes, and a whole beautiful line of acces-sories. We were able to get in the door with the younger clients by offering the same great “we come to you” service with our ready-made product.

In late 2005, however, we opened a new fabric mill and custom pro-duction facility in Chile, which enabled us to offer an opening-range custom product that competes directly with ready-made clothing at the better-made clothing retail stores. We can now, therefore, offer

custom-made suits for men and women that start at very affordable prices. Because we can offer this opening range, more and more people are discovering the benefits of custom-made clothing, and this opening-range product there-fore enhances our already well-established custom line.

We know that opening-range products are important because they enable us to capture more new business. Our company felt it nec-essary to reinvigorate our opening range products with a custom option because custom clothing is who we are, our core business. Then we can grow with these new customers as they rise in their careers and can afford our better-made custom clothing.

Knowing How Your Customers Learn About Your ProductOur customers learn about us in several ways. First and foremost is the almighty referral from an exist-ing client. This is our primary source of new business. Our profes-sional clothiers are well-trained on how to ask and get referrals effec-tively. Customers also learn about us through the Web and other direct-selling strategies, such as direct-mail pieces followed by a

call from a professional clothier to set an appointment.

Our customers make their purchasing decisions based upon several criteria:

1. Convenience

�. The experience of their professional clothier

�. Their relationship with their clothier

4. Price

5. Quality of the goods received

Creating a Transparent Marketing StrategyTransparency creates loyalty, enthusiasm, and customer

Christian BoehmVP Merchandising and Marketing

The Tom James Company

“At Tom James, we believe that if you tell your clients who you are, what you stand for, and where you are going, you create a loyal customer who wants to become part of your team.”

• With company since 1991

• Began in direct sales; now director of merchandise and VP of marketing

Mr. Boehm can be e-mailed at [email protected]

Participation in social media might not get your phone to ring immediately; however, we do view these channels as a valuable way to attain feedback from our customer base, help with brand building, and create exposure to our brand in the online community.

Christian Boehm

VP Merchandising and Marketing The Tom James Company

Christian BoehmVP Merchandising and Marketing, The Tom James Company (continued)

© Books24x7, 2009 Christian Boehm ExecBlueprints 4

evangelism. Customers today are very interested in the origins and history of the different products that you produce. They become real fans and are enthusiastic about learning interesting features and facts that relate to the products they buy. Customers are fascinated that we share as much as we do. Our Web site is filled with historic information about our products and collections as well as about lifestyle and current trends that are important to them. If the content is relevant and interesting, they become a fan and are inspired to be a part of our company’s growth — not just a paying customer. Transparent marketing strategies will help us create a more loyal customer base because they feel a connection to the brand and to the company.

Recent Transparent Marketing Strategies Our company recently underwent a re-branding strategy. We invited our customers to participate in the evolution of our brands. For exam-ple, before rebranding, we had four collections that were mostly distin-guished by price only. While simple to understand, this strategy did not produce brand loyalty to any par-ticular collection; instead, custom-ers were loyal only to our company. Through engaging our customers, we revamped our collection sets and retooled our manufacturing to give clear and concise features and benefits for each brand we pro-duced. Now customers have a reason to upgrade to the next col-lection. This activity, combined with the intrinsic value of all of our products (e.g., styling and lifestyle imagery that supports each brand)

helped fuel the growth of the new brands we introduced. Today they are some of our most successful product lines.

Utilizing New Social Media Forums to Connect with the CustomerRecently we have begun reaching customers and future customers through our Tom James blog. This feature, in addition to fan-based groups in social media arenas such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, has given us a great resource for customer feedback. In addition, it has enabled us to build trusting and lasting relationships with our cus-tomers — and has given us instant feedback on our products or brands. Prior to the advent of this technol-ogy, we would have had to pay an agency an exorbitant fee for this type of thing. Through these social media channels, we can receive accurate information at no cost. They provide a real win-win for our company.

However, the jury is still out on measuring the strategic effective-ness of these new channels. The results of transparent marketing and social media forums are some-times hard to quantify because you might not learn about all the sales that result from those specific efforts. But some are easier than others to measure. For example, we hired a firm that specializes in SEO (search engine optimization) and under their direction, we rede-signed our Web site. We know we can track a return on investment for SEO because the process picks up keywords used in discussions, which give you a better chance of being found when someone types those keywords into a search

engine. This direction enabled more prospective customers to find us on the Web. We know this because more people are now signing up to have a professional clothier call on them through our Web site. We can also measure some of what we do through common IT practices such as conversion rates and click-throughs.

Blogs, social media posts, and other channels, on the other hand, are harder to measure because we consider them an impression like any other form of advertisement. While social media and blogs are new and innovative, they might not drive the bottom line immediately. You must therefore be very focused regarding what you want to get out of them. Participation in social media might not get your phone to ring immediately; however, we do view these channels as a valuable way to attain feedback from our customer base, help with brand building, and create exposure to our brand in the online community. If the phone rings and appoint-ments are made, that is gravy at this point.

However, we have found that younger clients have definitely responded more to Web, social media, and other forms of elec-tronic marketing. Some prefer to communicate this way instead of actually speaking over the tele-phone. I also think that this age gap is closing as electronic marketing has become standardized and more and more people are learning how to use these different types of media in their personal lives. Our younger clients may be more familiar with these new and innovative methods, but our older clientele is learning at a fast pace.


© Books24x7, 2009 Christian Boehm ExecBlueprints 5

In a direct-sales company, I do not believe that these media will ever completely take the place of traditional sales methods (such as getting referrals or prospecting), but they can aid your direct sales professionals in their efforts.

Employing Transparent Marketing Strategies for New MarketsOur newest emerging market is the women’s sector. Since we have engaged them as a separate client group, our women’s business is up 7 percent. We measure this using overall sales, referrals, product mix, and repeat orders. Moreover, the women in our demographic are very brand-loyal and become a great referral source — even more so than our male clientele. We have found that the quicker they trust your company, the faster they try your product. If they like it, they are always more apt to encour-age their friends to try the product and spread the word. Therefore, we have found that transparent mar-keting strategies are even more important with this rising market.

Today’s female executives are time-challenged. Most have two jobs: their professional job and their families. We want our Web site and clothing professionals to serve as their portal for everything about fashion and how it relates to their hectic lifestyle. Today’s woman executive might not have the time to shop and understand what is current in the market. If our Web site, clothing professionals, and other marketing efforts can convey that information in a quick and concise manner, we become a val-ued asset that reaches beyond just providing their clothing. Based on

customer feedback, our blog will be used to strengthen our ladies’ collection.

Looking for Opportunities to Improve in New MarketsTechnology is always a challenge for the direct-sales professional. When I started in the business 18 years ago, people had secretaries that either took messages or put you through to the client or pros-pect. If you were good you could develop a good-enough relation-ship to get in front of them. Today our clients and prospects have voice mail and caller ID. You can dial the phone 200 times but 195 of those calls will go directly into voice mail. In addition, our

customers are very mobile, so if you don’t get a mobile number you may find it very hard to get through. E-mail and text messaging, how-ever, also provide a form of direct communication, and with a grow-ing number of clients, we are finding that it is the preferred channel.

However, because our clients and prospects are lambasted with messages, we know that it is now imperative to develop good rela-tionships with our clients; otherwise we will get lost in the sea of infor-mation that surrounds them. We also are battling for client attention with the traditional retail model that usually has a much bigger advertising budget. Therefore, we

The Top Five Criteria for Evaluating Strategy Effectiveness

1. Bottom-line sales

2. Customer loyalty

3. Customer participation

4. ROI of the marketing campaign

5. Overall exposure received



must always look for ways to gain an advantage in communicating directly with our clients in a personal relationship-building man-ner, so that we can continue to keep our brand and our message in front.

The Role of Managers and Employees in Developing Marketing CampaignsAs a direct-selling company, we have many useful advantages that we can tap into. One of our biggest is that every one of our managers has achieved their position by first proving themselves in the direct sales arena. Because of this experi-ence, they offer abundant opinions and directions on a regular basis. We have found it best to tap into the creative part of their collective experience by forming venues for our employees to express their interests, thoughts, and opinions. An example of one of these forums is our “Owner’s Voice.” This is a formal committee composed of an elected chairperson and representa-tives from sales, manufacturing, MIS, and admin support, and it changes each season. The board has an e-mail address and intranet blog so that employees can com-municate with them on all matters from marketing to what kind of food should be served for break-fast at our next semi-annual meeting. However, while lots of good suggestions and comments may originate in such forums, the marketing director must still provide the overall vision and direction for all of our marketing efforts.

The Changing Role of MarketingOne of our company’s shortcom-ings was that, not too long ago, we had no marketing presence. We grew so fast during the 1980s and ’90s simply by capitalizing on a great concept, hiring good sales professionals, and receiving refer-rals. We enjoyed little competition in our industry and grew to be a formidable company of over $250-plus million. Today, we are selling in a different world. Our world has gotten smaller and more competi-tion has entered into our unique market niche.

One good consequence that emerged from our changing role was the re-branding of our com-pany. Our logo, colors, and brands, which had been used since our company’s inception in 1966, really needed to be freshened up and made more relevant to our global market. (Today clothing retailers may re-brand themselves every sea-son to create a new story or newfound excitement in their brand.) Our re-branding, married with the launch of several new and exciting brands, helped the rest of the company to understand the importance of marketing. It created a new synergy and excitement with our sales professionals and our cus-tomers ate it up. Our marketing efforts have therefore driven rele-vance back into our traditional brands while driving new business to brands that appeal to newer demographics.

Transparent Marketing in the Near FutureIn the next 12 months, we will be employing more transparent strategies. In today’s tough

economic times the world is on sale. Everyone is clamoring just to get sales or dump inventory no matter the cost. It is easier for our customers to commit what I call “Tom James adultery” simply because they get tempted by a competitor’s sale. We are a luxury product and therefore are at a dis-advantage in a tougher economic climate. With our average suits sell-ing for more than four times the national standard, we need to espe-cially emphasize the convenience, expertise, and quality of our apparel in a down economy. This can be done through transparent and value-added marketing.

We also must continue to stress the added value we provide to our customers in our marketing mes-sages. A good example is the latest free service we will offer this fall (2009). Our sales professionals will send their clients special invitations to receive a home visit and profes-sional walk-through of customer closets. We have trained our sales professionals on how to work through their client’s closet and suggest what to keep, throw away, repair or alter, and reserve for a rainy day. The client will only be charged for any necessary altera-tions. We are hoping our busy executive clients will find this service to be very relevant.

Then, we will encourage our customers and sales professionals to visit and post discussions, com-ments, and suggestions on our blog and fan groups in social media forums. We plan to use these com-munications more than we have in the past in our more traditional marketing pieces, including bro-chures, Web, and communications with our client and prospect database.



Evaluating What Works A year ago, our marketing was focused on luxury and lifestyle. For example, we sold several suits made from worsted spun vicuna, which is an extremely rare and exclusive fabric from the prestigious Holland & Sherry fabric mill in Scotland. The suit retails at $70,000. Our PR company was then able to secure many media stories about this spe-cial cloth. While we have sold many expensive suits this year, they have been fewer and the media now is less likely to run such a story. So, we have accordingly changed our focus from luxury in the extreme to the more relevant “affordable luxury” strategy. Our customers are still buying clothing, even expensive clothing, but they might not be buying as much of it. Our whole focus, therefore, has changed to find the customers with the money to spend. They are out there but harder to find.

Using this new “affordable lux-ury” approach, we will also attempt to attract new customers to our custom-made clothing. For exam-ple, we are introducing a beautiful new collection of custom-made suits that start at affordable prices. We created this collection for several reasons:

1. To attract a traditional ready-made clothing buyer to custom clothing.

�. To spark new sales from existing customers.

We know that most of our cus-tomers buy seasonally through us. However, there is nothing we hate hearing more than, “Call me back next season,” or “Given the econ-omy, I think I should wait until next season to see what happens.”

Even when a customer has money, they are being influenced by all the media hype from radio to newspa-pers to the Internet that is telling everyone not to spend. During these times, therefore, you need to be able to offer something of great value to get in the door. Once inside, you can then assess their situation, and make proper recommendations.

Assessing and Addressing ChallengesWhile this new collection and “affordable luxury” approach will certainly drive sales and help us get into new doors, good companies know that nothing stays at the top forever, and nothing stays at the bottom forever — including the economy. It is important that we do not make the “affordable luxury” our primary focus and that we continue to stand for who we are: an exclusive and luxury retailer. I believe that luxury companies like ours need to retain the exclusivity of their most affluent customer base by targeting specific themes and marketing insights that are specific to them. We do not want to downgrade our customers into a

lesser-quality product or bombard them with the typical retailer sales approach.

Accordingly, our primary Web focus and marketing messages will still focus on wearing the very best. We must continue to educate our customers on the advantages of wearing refined clothing and to consider our very best collections. An example of this is our new “Prestige” collection, which we will launch at the same time as our new entry-level custom program.

Effectively Planning CampaignsOur most effective brands deliver a sense of prestige but are relatable and thought-provoking. Customers feel a sense of “that’s me,” which spurs interest in our brand. Our future marketing campaigns will revolve around educating the client (through brochures, the company Web site, and the professional clothiers) about seasonal trends and how they can incorporate them into their lives through our cloth-ing. Our merchandising team uncovers emerging trends approxi-mately two years before the customer gets there, so we know

Expert Advice

A good example of how it can be difficult to measure ROI from transparent mar-keting strategies is this: One of our professional clothiers posts a discussion to a local group that he or she has joined. The message may have been derived from corporate and adapted to his or her market. He or she gets a call or an invite to meet from an interested party, and a sale is made. While this contact clearly resulted from the skillful message that was communicated over the blog, the credit will be reported to the salesperson. The sale is therefore not directly correlated with the original message from marketing.

Because you cannot track every sale, there is a faith factor to social media and transparent marketing, which might prove to be a hard sale when fighting for budgets and resources from your accounting partners.



exactly what trends, colors, and styles we will be promoting for the upcoming season.

Customer feedback through blogs and social media groups is a newer source for identifying trends, but it has been effective. Although customers will tell you what they want, the information they provide is for right now, not two years out. For years we had depended on our top producers to provide this feed-back. With the onset of transparent marketing, however, we can now receive unsolicited feedback straight from clients or future clients and even spot certain trends that may have not been uncovered through our clothiers or other traditional research methods.

Because we know what we want from our transparent marketing efforts, our team designs discussion posts for blogs and social media that will elicit useful responses. We have found that you can get what you need from social media if you ask engaging questions rather than just post advertisements or infor-mation. Some people do not even read blog posts unless they contain replies; therefore, your posts must not only be informative, they must also prompt an engagement in dialogue between you and your customer.

We are learning to combine our traditional research with these new tools to create our central cam-paigns for the upcoming seasons.

Dealing with ChallengesYou still have to manage your mar-keting, IT, sales, and merchandising resources. You have to know where to put the emphasis. Right now we are in a down economy, so the main emphasis is to teach our pro-fessional clothiers how to find the people that have money to spend. Our marketing and IT efforts must also support this effort so that we target those who can use and afford to spend money on our brand.

Factors to Consider when Creating Strategies for International MarketsFactors such as language and cul-tural differences need to be consid-ered when developing transparent marketing strategies for interna-tional markets. Because the lion’s share of our market comes from the U.S. (and the marketing direction and creative is done here in the U.S.), we have found that a best practice is to develop a committee that represents our different mar-kets. For example, we have a strong market in the U.K. When a bro-chure, Web piece, or company mass e-mail is developed, we give it to a man and a woman who determine first if it can be used and adapted to their market. Nine times out of 10, we have found the piece can be used with very minor adaptations, such changing “color” to “colour” and “dress shirt” to “formal shirt.” Once in a while they will ask us to

develop something specifically for their market.

We are currently expanding and looking for new international mar-kets to enter, where we believe there are greater opportunities for growth. We recently opened up in Melbourne, Australia, and Paris, France. American goods and styles have great marketability across the pond. While we, as Americans, think some products are chic because they are European; Europeans and Asians also think the same way about Western prod-ucts and styles.

Since we expanded internation-ally, one of our biggest successes has been the development of three distinct collections with significant styling differences. The idea for this came from our CEO and top designer, Sergio Caselana. He noted that in our industry there are cul-tural differences in the way men like to wear their clothing. How-ever, what we did find was that all three collections had appeal in all of our markets; they were not limited to the market for which they were developed. One reason for this is that style changes with popular culture. The hottest thing now in men’s clothing is the classic Americana vintage look of the Ken-nedy era — a preppie varsity look but with a slim and softness to it. But, just a year ago, European styl-ing from our friends in Italy was all the rage. n


© Books24x7, 2009 Dominic Engles ExecBlueprints �

Changing DemographicsOur core demographics are moms between the ages of 35 and 54, middle-to-upper income. They want to feed their families well. Alternative diets have become more prevalent, which is good for the nut business and cuts across all genera-tions. More folks today understand that whole foods, including plant-based proteins, are good for you, and have numerous health benefits.

These changes in our customer demographics have pushed us to do things like mount our Web site, pistachiohealth.com. We are an active participant online and engage consumers on conversations rang-ing from the health benefits of nuts, active lifestyles, and alternative proteins.

Defining Transparent StrategiesHonesty is a core company value. To improve our environmental

sustainability, we have engaged in initiatives, and as one of California’s largest farmers, we look to com-municate the facts around those initiatives. One of the most success-ful has been our recently opened 1.1 mega-watt solar energy plant, one of the largest single-site, pri-vately owned solar plants in the U.S. The alternative power gener-ated by the plant reduces fuel con-sumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 2,600 tons per year (the equivalent of removing 511 passenger cars from the road for one year).

Best PracticesRecently our industry was impacted by a voluntary recall, involving one processor, Setton Farms of Terra Bella, California. Thankfully, no illnesses were involved. Our com-pany worked shoulder-to-shoulder with industry leaders and the FDA to launch www.pistachiorecall.org, the first-ever consumer resource of

its kind. The site offered a list of confirmed-safe pistachio products and brands and is an example of our company’s transparency. I involved everyone on our team — from administrative assistants to R&D personnel — and together we

Dominic EngelsVice President, Global Marketing

Paramount Farms

“Honesty is fundamentally a big part of how we think about marketing.”

• With company since 2005

• Over 14 years of experience in mar-keting consumer goods in the retail and food industries

• Previously director, U.S. strategic operations, Gap, Inc.

• B.A., German Studies, Dartmouth College

• M.B.A., JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management

Mr. Engels can be e-mailed at [email protected]

As with any company, there are lots of marketing opportunities, but if they do not squarely address one of [our] objectives — localization, evangelization, distinguishing, or activity at the cashier — then we do not spend our time on it.

Dominic Engels

Vice President, Global Marketing Paramount Farms

In California, there is a popular food truck that serves Korean/Mexican tacos. They have developed their whole business, including a very loyal following, on Twitter. On any given afternoon, there is a two-hour wait for food, so the power is undeniable.

Dominic Engels

Vice President, Global Marketing Paramount Farms

Dominic Engels Vice President, Global Marketing, Paramount Farms (continued)

© Books24x7, 2009 Dominic Engles ExecBlueprints 10

reached out to more than 1,000 different food-related blogs and discussion boards. This kind of marketing was not somebody’s job in one corner of the building; rather, everybody in the depart-ment became involved. We all dove in to communicate the facts and have honest discussions. We tried to be as local as possible by bring-ing our company to the customers through our marketing.

Evaluating a New Marketing StrategyHonesty is part of our marketing, and we look to ensure that we are always challenging ourselves in our unique selling proposition to under-stand what motivates our consum-ers. Those are our two key criteria by which we evaluate our new marketing. If we are not reinforcing that unique selling proposition — honesty — then we have to aggres-sively prioritize. In service of these goals, we have developed a Paramount Farms marketing wheel (see box). As with any company, there are lots of marketing oppor-tunities, but if they do not squarely address one of the objectives shown — localization, evangelization, dis-tinguishing, or activity at the cashier — then we do not spend our time on it.

These four components make up our marketing wheel. The first piece in the wheel is to localize our marketing. We try to decentralize our approach and get closer to the market. In order to be as close to the market as possible, we translate our materials and work in local firms with their employees.

Second, we evangelize the health benefits of our products. It is our responsibility to ensure that people

realize that not only do our pista-chios taste good, they are also good for them.

Third, we distinguish our prod-uct in the marketplace, and that means first and foremost that we identify its California origin. In some of our international markets we compete with products from other countries. Therefore, we need to distinguish our product through world-class branding, and the deployment of best practices and standards to ensure our brands are always correctly represented.

Finally, and most importantly, our true action is making the sell at the cash register. From previous metrics, we are aware of the effec-tiveness of our marketing, and the most important measurement comes at the point of sale.

Moreover, above and beyond those four components of the mar-keting wheel, we always challenge ourselves to make sure we under-stand our unique selling proposition for pistachios. We then communi-cate that in a clever but always honest way.

Paramount Farms’ marketing wheel is an enduring marketing framework that

helps priortize activities

Dominic Engels Vice President, Global Marketing, Paramount Farms (continued)

© Books24x7, 2009 Dominic Engles ExecBlueprints 11

Implementing Technology Technology is here to stay, and if the tools change, we will learn to adapt. What’s popular today may not be popular tomorrow. Nevertheless, we use technology to help deliver our transparent mar-keting campaigns. From a market-ing standpoint, the Internet and its numerous resources (e.g., Twitter,

Facebook) offer a great way to attain a lot more economical breadth through amplification of the word-of-mouth effect.

Small companies and commu-nity-based enterprises are alive and well because of the Internet, and there are myriad ways to develop a loyal following. One of the nuances of this emergent social

media that you need to understand, however, is that the networking guides a lot of opinion develop-ment and trends. If you want to be part of the conversation, then you must be there. It’s as much an opportunity to speak as it is to listen. n

Ali DinSenior Director, Strategic Development, En Pointe Technologies

© Books24x7, 2009 Ali Din ExecBlueprints 1�

Demographics of CustomersOur target customer is in the IT department of businesses between 500 and 3,000 employees. These companies tend to have fairly sophisticated IT departments that are aware of the latest technology. They also tend to have professional buyers who are focused on reduc-ing the purchase price. Over the years, we have seen procurement get more advanced, making the competitive landscape even more fierce and margins razor thin.

Likewise, consumers are becom-ing “omniscient.” The Internet provides complete transparency on pricing for virtually any product or service out there. Whether it’s Epin-ions that offers advice on quality, TripAdvisor that rates hotels and destinations, or aggregation sites like PriceGrabber or CNet, con-sumers can find out the price and quality of nearly any product or service. In addition to this transpar-ency concerning products that is provided by Web sites, consumers now are armed with real-time, peer-to-peer information through the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and similar sites.

Defining Transparent Marketing“Transparent marketing” generally refers to providing a truthful mes-sage to the audience. Rather than using traditional, “in your face” marketing, transparent marketing messages are presented in a more meaningful and relevant way. For example, you can think of this as a product placement in movies, or how Amazon utilizes features such as “Others who bought this, also bought…”.

For us, transparency also means consistency. We look to our field sales team as messengers of our positioning. Scattered throughout the U.S., our corporate marketing department faces a challenge in ensuring that our several sales indi-viduals are providing a consistent message. Therefore, everyone needs to know our strategy and is on the same page. Achieving this level of transparency requires strong com-munication. We need to make sure that:

1. We are effectively communicat-ing to our field sales and tele-sales teams about our current initiatives and what we’re eval-uating so they know exactly where the company is headed.

�. We provide our sales teams with enough information in the necessary method or for-mat (e.g., brochures, Web content, or any other type of

Ali DinSenior Director, Strategic Development

En Pointe Technologies

“The key is to share your positive results with management — and sales — so that they are on board with transparent marketing.”

• Over 15 years of experience in IT/VAR channel

• En Pointe: national IT products and services provider

• B.A., Economics, UCLA

• M.B.A., Marketing, USC

Mr. Din can be e-mailed at [email protected]

Our message is that we are different because of the value-added services that we provide. In one market, this might be anchored by a Microsoft message, but in another market, where we are a very strong Symantec partner, we might adjust the same message to focus on our strength there. As long as the core message is not altered, we find it helpful to localize the message.

Ali Din

Senior Director, Strategic Development En Pointe Technologies

Ali DinSenior Director, Strategic Development, En Pointe Technologies (continued)

© Books24x7, 2009 Ali Din ExecBlueprints 1�

communication) so that they do not have to self-generate messaging. (Owing to the large entrepreneurial spirit in our company, people will develop things on their own if they do not have the necessary resources.) When that happens, we lose consistency in our messaging in the marketplace.

Starting with Transparency from InsideBecause our company is entrepre-neurial, people are likely to envi-sion and develop their own ideas — provided they have the band-width to do so. However, we make sure that they bring the idea back into the corporate marketing department so that we can ensure messages about a brand are consis-tent. However, we are open to encouraging everyone in the com-pany to create new ideas, and we are willing to try different methods for outreach. It is also important to realize that each market will be slightly different, and what may effectively attract a customer in one portion of a city may be very dif-ferent from messages used on the other side of the country.

Over time, the involvement of our employees in our messages has evolved. We have tried to encour-age the generation of new ideas and publicize more success stories. As more employees have shared ideas, we have become more collaborative.

All the while, we have continued to ensure that we are being trans-parent because we feel that it is a very good communication method. To meet this objective, we have a weekly conference call supported

by a Web meeting so that our entire company can hear and see our ini-tiatives. Because not all of our salespeople are physically located in an office, this has been an espe-cially successful practice. Our virtual salespeople, for example, need to receive this touch point with the organization, so that they know exactly what is going on inside the company, and are hear-ing from people around the country.

New MarketsIn the process of maintaining a transparent message to customers and prospects, we also want to ensure our message is genuinely useful. If we are accepted as the IT advisor within our customer base, then our unbiased consulting will lead to sales. However, to assume an advisory role, one must build credibility. This is done through white papers, blogs, speaking engagements, and third-party-spon-sored case studies. Customers look to these channels to inform

White papers

Blogs

Speaking engagements

Third-party-sponsored case studies

Sponsorship of events that can serve to proliferate product use

What Are Effective Channels for Disseminating Informative, Transparent Content About Your Product or Service?

Ali DinSenior Director, Strategic Development, En Pointe Technologies (continued)

© Books24x7, 2009 Ali Din ExecBlueprints 14

themselves about products and ser-vices that we are able to provide. We either develop or sponsor these vehicles in the hopes that we’ll be perceived as specialists in that field. In the process, we are able to con-vey that we are a provider of the needed services without blatantly advertising.

Sponsoring events and examin-ing different ways to proliferate product use can also build aware-ness and your brand. For example, Tylenol sponsors several events, including a popular skateboarding tournament. However, instead of posting signage at the event, they simply provide free product to trainers and therapists. These experts’ “endorsement” is a lot more effective than “in your face” advertising.

Challenges and SolutionsLike many other marketing organizations, we do not analyze our customer database or transactional data effectively. We don’t have a team of analysts, which are essential for keeping a pulse on marketing trends.

We are, however, starting to use technology to help us address these challenges. In the beginning, it is proving to be labor intensive as we attempt to determine how

technology can aggregate the data and what kinds of dashboard reports will be most helpful. We utilize Microsoft’s CRM product and Sharepoint to review data. Products such as Microsoft’s PerformancePoint show promise for being able to access data easier than previous systems.

Best PracticesOur department’s best practices for creating transparent strategies involve consistent messaging around our credibility. For exam-ple, if our core message is to be the IT advisor to our customers, we discuss this in newsletters, blogs, white papers, etc. The key to trans-parent marketing is not to clutter the newsletter with ads; informa-tive messages more effectively pre-vent your prospect from coveting their wallet as they read your message.

We are also very diligent in con-tinually making sure that our newsletters are effective. We tweak

them to ensure we are increasing our response rates, and that they are actually functional — not just something that people look at and discard immediately.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a StrategyTransparent marketing may still have the same objective of traditional advertising — to persuade a customer to buy a product. However, because of its subtle nature, it takes longer for transparent marketing to show its effectiveness.

In addition to standard tracking measures such as sales figures, cam-paign codes, etc., we also use short (two minutes or less) surveys to solicit feedback from the audience. Moreover, we involve our sales team from the beginning so that they are aware of the campaign and can provide us with anecdotal evidence through their interactions from customers. n

We are open to encouraging everyone in the company to create new ideas, and we are willing to try different methods for outreach.

Ali Din

Senior Director, Strategic Development En Pointe Technologies

© Books24x7, 2009 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 15

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points I. What Are Common Challenges of Developing Transparent Marketing Strategies?Because, by definition, transparent market-ing aims to provide customers with useful information about company products/services without the hype of traditional marketing methods, some of marketing’s classic concerns can prove to be even more problematic for such campaigns. On the other hand, if you can address issues using the more open approach advocated by transparent marketing, customers may end up feeling grateful and, hence, more loyal toward your company. Marketing chal-lenges discussed in this report include:

• How can you motivate customers to take your calls when everyone now has voice mail and caller ID?

• How can you make sure your messages don’t get lost in the sea of input (from e-mail, voice mail, text messages, instant message, the Internet, other media) that surrounds most people today?

• How can you continue to maintain acceptable margins when selling to increasingly more sophisticated procurement departments?

• What is your wisest approach toward handling a product recall in your industry?

• In a down economy, how can you maintain brand exclusivity while still making sales to price-conscious customers?

• How do you locate new customers when fewer people can afford your products?

II. The Bottom LineBottom-line sales are, of course, the mea-sure by which any marketing campaign is ultimately judged. Unfortunately, you will probably not be able to attribute all of your sales to your transparent marketing efforts. Nevertheless, the authors do discuss some ways for assessing the effect of your indi-rect marketing efforts. They are:

• Recording the numbers of referrals and contacts that are generated through various channels

• Tracking conversion and click-through rates resulting from your search engine optimization efforts

• Measuring the extent of existing-customer loyalty and engagement toward your brand(s) through feedback surveys or anecdotal information provided by sales staff

• Gauging the overall exposure your brand(s) received as a result of a particular strategy

III. Must-Have Questions for Entering New Markets In order to grow, your company will need to develop products/services for a different market niche, expand into new geographic regions, or both. In the process of selecting and cultivating such previously unexplored areas of business, you can employ transpar-ent marketing strategies to determine:

• What impact will establishing a lower-priced line of products have on your business — both in terms of attracting new business and maintaining the image of your brand(s)?

• How will your products/services be received in other countries and cultures? How will they be distinguished? What modifications (if any) will be needed?

• How can you specifically tailor your messages for these markets?

• How can your company gain presence and credibility in these new markets?

IV. The Golden Rules for Engaging the Omniscient CustomerCustomers today are, indeed, “omniscient” because Internet resources have empow-ered them with unprecedented amounts of information about your company and products — including peer-to-peer content that you can’t control. However, transpar-ent marketing strategies will turn highly informed people into your loyal custom-ers if you can connect them with your brand(s) in a meaningful way. Effective strategies to accomplish such a transforma-tion include:

• Offering multiple channels through which customers can communicate with you, including e-mail, texting, and social media sites

• Focusing your messages on who you are, what you stand for, and where you are going

• Educating customers about facts, trends, options, etc., regarding your products/services so that they can make informed choices

• Providing free, value-added services (such as home consultations)

• Seeking consumer feedback on the overall experience of your product/service as well as on specific re-branding efforts

V. Essential Take-Aways“Transparent marketing” generally refers to providing truthful, meaningful, and relevant messages to your audiences — as opposed to the traditional “in your face” approach that can feel more promotional than informational to customers. Such honest communications can inspire loyalty, enthusiasm, and even evangelism among your customers, who then become only too happy to spread the word. Best practices for creating transparent marketing cam-paigns include:

• Leveraging the power of the Internet (including blogs, social-media sites, and Twitter) to deliver portions of your campaigns

• Posting engaging questions on blogs and social media sites that will elicit useful responses from your customers

• Incorporating customer messages from blogs and fan groups into your print and online marketing literature

• Developing content that is as specific to the local market as possible

• Establishing credibility through white papers, speaking engagements, third-party-sponsored case studies, and event sponsorships

• Encouraging company staff to share new ideas and craft suitable messages (but making sure you have the final word)

• Ensuring that all of your marketing and sales staff understand your strategy and will deliver consistent messages n

© Books24x7, 2009 Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points ExecBlueprints 1�

Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points (continued)

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