What Can We Learn About Marketing from Ketchup

In this issue

• ON STRATEGY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT MARKETING FROM KETCHUP
• WHITE PAPERS AVAILABLE FROM STAMATS

OUR FINAL ISSUE IN 2005

This is our final issue of QuickTakes for 2005. Thank you for reading along. It is our hope that you will have a restful and joyous holiday season.

STILL TIME TO REGISTER!—DOUBLE FEATURE: TOP 10 MARKETING MISTAKES COLLEGES MAKE & MESSAGES THAT MATTER

Please make plans to join us for our final online seminar for 2005. It is a double feature: Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Colleges Make and Messages That Matter. It will be held December 8, 2005 from 1:30-3:30 PM CDT.

Please go here for more details.

GET IT ON YOUR CALENDAR: STAMATS STRATEGIC INTEGRATED MARKETING (SIM) CONFERENCE

Next year's Strategic Integrated Marketing Conference will be held July 24 (pre conference) through July 27 in Chicago at the Marriott Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile. We will provide full details in January, but you might want to add it to your calendar now.

ON STRATEGY: WHAT WE CAN LEARN ABOUT MARKETNG FROM KETCHUP

Every college in the country, at least at one level, is friendly, caring, and supportive. They all purport to have excellent faculty and outstanding instruction. They all have libraries and parking lots and a core curriculum. And to an outsider looking in, they are all virtually identical.

We know from reading Trout and others that identical is a death wish and differentiation is critical. His book, Differentiate or Die, makes that case strongly. I always modify the title somewhat, recognizing that colleges are tough, to read Differentiate and Thrive. However, regardless of how it is nuanced the point is critical: If the marketplace does not differentiate you from your competitors, you are in trouble. I believe this is true, important, and essential. But what happens when, no matter how hard you look, you discover that you are not that different? What happens when you discover that you are like ketchup?

Most of us are familiar with Heinz Ketchup (see below).

It's red and has those 57 ingredients we have come to cherish. The problem for Heinz is that their ketchup tastes like everyone else's ketchup. Even Sam's Club ketchup. Because of this, it is difficult to charge a premium dollar for sameness.

So, did Heniz change their ketchup? No. Instead they changed how they presented their ketchup. To differentiate themselves they flipped their lid (see below). Same ketchup. Same taste. New presentation.

But that was the first step for Heinz. As they became more comfortable, and learned to trust the research, they moved on to green ketchup and purple ketchup. And if they haven't done so yet, I think they are likely entertaining salsa ketchup (after all, salsa is the number one condiment in the U.S.)

But there's more to learn. Look at the two bottles of orange juice presented below. Which one grabs your attention? The one on the left or the one on the right. Did you even know there was an orangina? You do now!

One final example: pomegranate. I don't really know what a pomegranate is and I am not sure I would ever want to eat one. But I did buy a bottle of their juice Why? Because the presentation was irresistible.

So, what have we learned here? Well, if you are not that distinctive; if three of your four Ps (product, price, and place) are largely similar to those of your competitors, then you should make sure your presentation is better. In other words, present what everyone else is presenting, but present yours with verve, style, and an attention to detail that is truly mind-boggling. People will notice.

Do remember that a great presentation will not protect an inferior product or service. It will, however, give you a chance to engage a market that might otherwise overlook you.

WHITE PAPERS AVAILABLE FROM STAMATS

One of the most popular features on our Web site is the White Papers we have available as PDFs. The full range of titles are presented below. You can find them at Whitepapers.

COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRATED MARKETING WORKBOOK AVAILABLE

An Integrated Marketing Workbook for Colleges and Universities, authored by Dr. Robert A. Sevier, is now available from Strategy Publishing.

The book is written for college presidents, administrators, and faculty who are interested in how integrated marketing can help them more effectively build an image, recruit students, and raise dollars.

Designed as a workbook—each chapter concludes with a series of discussion points and questions that will reinforce key themes and clarify decisions—the book contains the most comprehensive integrated marketing checklist ever published. In addition, budgeting, an often overlooked topic, is treated in-depth.

The book is available from Strategy Publishing at www.strategypublishing.com.

STAMATS ONLINE SEMINARS

Thursday, December 8, 2005 from 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. CDT

Double Feature:

Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Colleges Make & Messages That Matter
Presented by Dr. Robert A. Sevier

This online seminar is a double feature, two presentations for the price of one. The first session, The Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Colleges Make, will run from 1:30-2:30 PM Central and the second session, Messages That Matter, will run from 2:30-3:30 PM Central. You get both sessions for the single price of $249 per site!

Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Colleges Make
What are the 10 biggest mistakes made in marketing and recruiting? How do you know if your institution is guilty? How can you avoid making the same mistakes in the future? What are the most overlooked keys to success in recruiting and marketing efforts? This session will address these important questions and more. The top 10 will draw on some actual experiences and examples shared by colleagues at conferences over the last several years. The names, of course, will be changed to protect the innocent.

Messages That Matter: Strategies to Help Get the Word Out
Getting the message across to a busy audience in an overcommunicated society is one of the biggest challenges that colleges and universities face. This highly visual and fast-moving session reviews a handful of critical messaging tools that will help you communicate messages that are relevant, remembered, and repeated.

For more information about the online conference, please contact Brandy Huseman at (800) 553-8878 or brandy.huseman@stamats.com. You can also check out the Stamats Web site at www.stamats.com.

Register today at .

Cost: $249