Here, I share my thoughts and suggestions for weak brands:1) Accept reality: A realistic assessment of the brand’s situation is critical for an appropriate marketing strategy to address the challenges and problems. Management should have the maturity and guts to accept reality and act on it. Ignoring or falsifying reality will not make the problems go away.While it sounds like the most obvious thing to do, it doesn’t happen easily as acceptance of reality is also an admission of failure. It is even more difficult when people involved with the brand carry an irrational belief that “my baby is the best” or suffer from the “I am OK; you are not OK” mentality.2) Re-align with reality: The next step is to re-align strategies, resources and expectations in line with the accepted reality. Marketing mix and market place behavior should be altered to be in consonance with the brand’s position in the market.Setting ambitious goals is good, but it is also important to be realistic about expectations. Turnaround will be slow and return on investments will be low. Unrealistic expectations, which are very often a reason for the brand to become weak, will result in more strain on the brand, resources and people.3) Avoid deterioration: Re-aligning with reality is not to suggest that compromises should be made. Measures initiated to shore up the bottom line should not adversely impact the product quality, after sales service, customer experience, advertising and price. Deterioration of these would only give the consumers and trade even more reasons to reject the brand.4) Don’t wait for the big idea: Weak brands should not waste time and resources in waiting around for that one big idea. It will never come. Instead, resources should be spent in ensuring that the right things are done better, time and again. This will eventually pay-off when the stronger brands commit unforced errors. Gains will come only in random small doses.5) Don’t give up too soon: Strategies and programs should not be discarded prematurely just because immediate improvements are not visible. Consumers take a much longer time to respond to stimuli from weak brands. They need time to notice, process, re-evaluate, seek reassurance and then act on the stimuli. This process, depending on the strength of the stimuli and the purchase frequency, could sometimes take years. The cycle is much shorter for the stronger brands as consumers do not re-evaluate and seek reassurance every time.In the perpetual search for the success formula weak brands should not jump too soon from one program to another. Frequent changes would confound the consumers in the evaluation process. Implementing short-term measures to hasten the recovery process will only be counter productive.6) Focus on consumers; not on competition: Weak brands should not allow themselves to be distracted by the activities and success of the stronger brands. Consumers should be the sole purpose of the brand. Marketing programs should be initiated in response to a consumer need and not in response to a competitive activity.7) Focus on strengths; not on weaknesses: This will help the brand to identify and prioritize the right products, unique propositions, strong markets and profitable customers. Limited resources are better invested in defending and growing strengths. By focusing on strengths the brand could avoid drawing attention to its weaknesses.8) Overcome trust and credibility barriers: The biggest challenge a weak brand could have is to build trust, credibility and emotional connect. Better products, unique propositions, claims, etc might not work if the consumers are not willing to believe the brand. Credibility will come when the brand claims are tangible, demonstrable and unique, supported by a good reason to believe.Trust and emotional barriers are far more difficult to gain. Positive WOM of existing customers will definitely bridge these barriers far more effectively and efficiently than advertising claims. Marketing programs should mandatorily include the existing customers.9) Leverage Advantages: Weaker brands do have a few advantages over the stronger brands. Programs should be in place to identify, assesses and exploit all these advantages.· Strong brands take consumers for granted; weaker brands can’t afford to.
· Strong brands could be pre-occupied with heavy operations; weaker brands might not be.
· They have a lot to loose; weaker brands have nothing to lose.
· They have heavy competition; weaker brands don’t have competition.
· By default strong brands become everything for everybody; weak brands are not everything to everybody.10) Don’t ignore the future: Non-stop fight for survival should not be an excuse to ignore future needs. Ignoring the future will only widen the gap further. For many weak brands, the solution could actually be in the future and not in the present. Relative to the bigger, stronger brands it would be easier for the weaker brands to adapt to changes faster.Weak brands definitely need better marketing. The suggestions above are purely based on my observations of and experiences with weak brands and the people involved with them. They are by no means exhaustive or exclusive.Please do share your experiences, thoughts and suggestions.

Marketing Automation is an evolving concept and that’s why it does not come as a surprise that only a few marketing companies are actually using it. There are, of course, many companies waiting eagerly to climb the bandwagon, so it is a probability that we will see a decent surge in the number of companies and marketers using the direct marketing automation concept in the coming year.Modern marketers exposed to the evolving technologies and advanced tools in marketing believe that marketing automation would be at the core of marketing activities of businesses of all types and sizes, in the not-too-distant future and they could be spot-on in their assessment. Marketing automation can be used to bring together tactics, technology, strategies and software to automate and streamline tasks that are repetitive, saving marketing professionals time and effort. Direct automation software can also be used for accurately monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and initiatives.Create Winning Strategies and TacticsIt is commonsense that strategy and tactics are key elements of a successful marketing campaign. Strategies help create the main framework and provide marketers the big picture. Tactics involve the implementation part of the marketing plan. These two elements must work together in synchrony for direct automation to produce results.Automation tools must be customized to make an impact on every business, depending on the size and nature of operations of an enterprise. It must also be suitably tweaked to meet individual marketing strategies. However, some elements of marketing automation are constant to all. These include generation of quality leads, conversion of leads to sales, increasing revenue, nurturing prospects for future use, and personalizing the experience of customers. In many ways, marketing automation focuses beyond direct sales.Helps Nurture and Develop Long Term RelationshipsMarketers believe that by using the right marketing software platform, they can nurture human relationships more effectively. Nurturing long term relationships is central to effective marketing.Marketing Automation works through the process of automated tracking and monitoring of individual prospects on the company’s website. The marketing team can use the various automation tools to decipher prospect’s interests, needs and goals. It provides marketers the input needed to create personalized campaigns based on user behavior. Direct marketing automation tools can be used to create enticing offers that are sharply relevant to each individual prospect.With the best automation software, you will be able to collect data about prospects which can help in grouping them based on their common interests, behavior and demographics. The segmentation of customers is a much desired marketing activity because not only does it save marketers time but also helps take the guesswork out of larger marketing campaigns. Management of campaigns can become easier and the campaigns can become more focused and effective.Direct marketing automation tools are being effectively used for monitoring social media campaigns. Its growing popularity stems from the fact that automation is easy to use, affordable and has the ability to create strategies that can be long term winners.

Older people are the back bone of our society, yet they are frequently treated poorly and suffer discrimination when seeking health care. Many older Americans receive second and third class health care because health care professionals are either not trained to care for the needs of older people, or the provider doesn’t feel that the older person’s health is important enough to warrant better care. Ageism against older Americans is a widespread practice that affects over 50% of American households with older people.When a person reaches the age of sixty, health services are sometimes based on a person’s age. For example, some health care professionals decide not to run certain tests or prescribe certain medications and treatments because they don’t feel that the tests will be beneficial, or that the medication or treatment will work for the patient. Another reason that health care professionals hesitate to provide in-depth care to older people is because they don’t want to put the person though the procedure with the assumption that it would be too tiresome or too hard on the patient. If asked, older people want to go through the tests and procedures in order to take care of their health, but many health care providers don’t ask the patients what their wishes are.In spite of public acknowledgment that ageism by the U.S. health care system does exist, no steps have been taken by the system to remove its bias against older Americans. Ageism continues to be practiced in all levels of health care. In a recent interview with Joe Reynolds,* a 71-year old Oregon resident, Reynolds stated that because he is an older person, health care providers are reluctant to treat him, and some have refused him treatment because of his age. Reynolds has diabetes, and has undergone a heart bypass. He is angry and frustrated with the medical practitioners that he has seen because he has the insurance to pay for his care, and he feels that he can tolerate the tests, procedures and medications. He declared that none of the health care providers is willing to provide the real care that he needs to live as healthy of a life as possible. Reynolds stated, “I’m old so they don’t want to do anything to help me. They don’t ask me how I feel about anything; they don’t ask me for any input about my needs. They just don’t care.”Older people like Reynolds give up and die sooner than they might have if they had been able to receive the necessary medical care. They feel like the cast-offs of society, and rightfully so. Some older people commit suicide instead of being forced to live with pain and other treatable medical conditions that they are unable to obtain treatment for.Preventive care that is routinely provided to younger people is often denied to older people. Screening for life threatening diseases and conditions is provided readily to younger people, but is grudgingly provided to older people, if it is provided at all. Older people are routinely left out when it comes to treatments such as chemotherapy, even though an older person can tolerate it just as well as a younger person. Attitude is also a factor in providing care to an older person. If the attitude of the health care professional is predisposed against providing that health care, the older person will suffer the consequences.The U.S. Health Care System needs to work harder to remove its prejudice against providing adequate and equal health care to older people, and treat them like the deserving American citizens that they are. Older people are the reason that many of our luxuries and comforts are here today. Health care partiality is not the way to treat the people that made this country.*last name changed at the request of interviewee© Copyright 2007 Patti McMann. All rights reserved.