Five Questions with Brian Cameron from Premium Retail Services
At Atomicdust, we’re lucky to partner with brilliant business owners and marketing professionals. Our clients and partners span various industries — from healthcare, to restaurants, to professional services and consumer goods — and with each project, we learn as much from them as (we hope) they do from us.
This month, Brian Cameron, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Premium Retail Services, discusses the power of simplicity, value and emotion in effective marketing.
“People are naturally hardwired to listen to stories, and great brands are master storytellers.”
How do you approach marketing? What’s your marketing philosophy?
Strong marketing tells a simple, relevant story. People are naturally hardwired to listen to stories, and great brands are master storytellers. So set the stage, lay out the plot and make sure whatever you’re marketing is the hero of the story. Talk about the big picture, winners and losers, how your product or service can make the consumer a winner and prove that you’ve done it all before, better than anyone else.
Your story must also present value. The old mindset of closing has evolved into helping. Whether it’s making someone look good in front of their boss, improving their life or simply providing a unique solution, great marketing delivers something useful and lasting beyond the sales pitch. Sometimes it’s a key learning or the kernel of a fresh idea or perspective.
“Never underestimate the power of goosebumps, laughter or tears.”
Finally, if you can engage the prospect on both an intellectual and emotional level, you’re more likely to cut through the noise and deliver marketing that transcends that of your competition. Never underestimate the power of goosebumps, laughter or tears. If you need an example, Google Johnnie Walker’s Dear Brother and have a tissue ready.
What has been your most successful or favorite marketing effort? Why do you think it was successful / a favorite?
So much of what we do requires client confidentiality that it’s difficult to name a specific effort. But the one trait that all our best pitches share is our willingness to go deep inside our prospect’s brand to try and understand what makes them tick. It’s much like Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why.
Once we understand the “why” behind a brand, we map our solutions to their needs and find the common traits between our respective cultures while telling our story largely in their terms and on their palette. Of course, all of this is a balancing act with our own brand. When done properly, it helps establish credibility, shows that we’ve done our research and illustrates why we are the perfect partner to seamlessly represent their brand at retail.
On the flip side, what is the biggest risk you’ve taken? What did you learn from it?
Several years ago, I championed a customer relationship management tool for our growing business development team. I felt that it would improve collaboration, help us recognize trends in our client relationships, establish a robust sales pipeline and improve workflow between business development and marketing. We partnered with the industry leader in CRM and set up a customized version of the tool for our company. The entire effort failed right out of the gate.
“When you’re introducing a tool or process that is perceived to require more work to do the same job, you should employ an internal marketing plan to make it stick. Simply sharing the technical possibilities, features, benefits and success stories is not enough.”
I learned three important things from the experience. First, implementing such a systematic change to the way a longstanding company operates requires discipline and support at every possible level. Secondly, when you’re introducing a tool or process that is perceived to require more work to do the same job, you should employ an internal marketing plan to make it stick. Simply sharing the technical possibilities, features, benefits and success stories is not enough. And lastly, I learned that it’s sometimes best to wait for a specific, pressing need before introducing a solution. Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
What do you think is the most significant marketing challenge facing your industry today?
The evolution of retail is staggering, thanks to technology. We live in the age of Amazon Prime, where anything you want can be delivered directly to your door inside of two days. The way that people discover, research and sometimes fund products, their expectations of the in-store experience and ever-expanding purchase channels are fundamentally altering the way that retail marketing agencies operate.
To thrive, companies like ours must leverage our own experience, hard data and insights to inform development of innovative tools and strategies that will deliver value to manufacturers and retailers not just in store but also online.
What is the most helpful business book or resource you’ve come across?
Despite the clutter, I find a lot of great content on LinkedIn. Recently, I discovered a powerful framework for presenting a company’s capabilities that helped us reimagine how we position Premium in today’s fast-changing retail world. Organizing brand assets, improving culture, motivating and empowering your team… if you have good connections and you look hard enough, it’s all there.
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