Lessons from Sheila Marcelo, the Founder & CEO of Care.com, on Starting Your Own Business

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to conduct a podcast interview with the Founder and CEO of Care.com, Sheila Marcelo, on behalf of American Marketing Association. I am currently serving on the Board of Directors of SoCalAMA both as an elected Board Member and VP of  Strategic Alliances and one of my main goals is to connect our members with successful business executives such as Sheila. I believe it is of incredible value to get some real insights and genuine advice from individuals who have excelled remarkably in their respective fields.

Sheila is without a doubt one of those business professionals whom you would feel privileged to listen to. She has started her company Care.com in 2006 and managed to create an exceptional business model and a multi-million dollar company in a very short time. Just a year later, her company was recognized by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business as Best New Company of the Year.  She has since become a household name having been appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s The Early Show and ABC News Now where she had provided families with care planning advice.

You are probably already curious about Care.com as a business.

My first Triathlon!

It is more than due for me to write about my  first triathlon experience, which took place last month in Malibu, California. I can happily and proudly let you know that I managed to complete the whole race properly and in one piece. It took me 2:52 minutes in total to swim (0:21:57), bike (1:29:02), and run (45:15:00) a grueling 1/2 mile ocean swim, 18 mile bike and 4 mile run course. Overall, the whole experience was excruciating, but I would, without a doubt, do it all over again.

Eight months ago when I decided to do this triathlon, I was not exactly aware of what I was putting myself into.  I said to myself since I can run 3-4 miles every four or five times a week, I should be able to complete a triathlon too, right? Soon, I realized that I wasn’t exactly right.

Cause-Marketing with Honey Bees by Haagen-Dazs: Is it real or just a “buzz”?

Haagen-Dazs has been widely credited for transforming the ice cream business from a commodity product for children to a premium product for adults. Their delicious flavors sold in small packages goes beyond just any ice cream, but provide a short-lived pleasure and happiness for consumers. I don’t know how many times after a hard long day, I found myself scooping the whole pack followed by usual dietary regrets. But this is not the topic of my post today. I would like to talk about their first cause-marketing effort: “Haagen-Dazs loves Honey Bees”.

Their cause marketing effort kicked off with a designated website at www.helpthehoneybees.com and a viral bee boy dance crew video on YouTube  aims to get attention on the problem of vanishing honey bees in the US. According to the information provided, honey bees are responsible for pollinating 1/3 of all the foods we eat, including many of the natural ingredients used in ice creams. The bad news is that over the last three years more than one in three honey bee colonies has died nationwide. Chief reason is identified as Colony Collapse Disorder, in other words, bees abandoning their colonies in search of pollen elsewhere and never returning back, most probably dying on the fields.

If honey bees die, simply put, our food supply is in serious danger! From a humanitarian perspective there is no doubt that this problem should be addressed and resources should be allocated to mitigate the damage. All causes are equally important. There is really no such thing as big or a small cause. Meanwhile, from a marketing perspective it is worth to discuss the selection of the cause and how it relates to the overall brand strategy. As it relates to this specific example, lets breakdown the fundamentals of cause-marketing success and discuss the extent to which the honey bee saving mission is performing at each level.

Creative Process: Try it for yourself!

Most recently, one of my friends, who is an exceptional instructor and also the President of American Marketing Association (SoCal), asked my help for a visual identity project for a brand-new academic program at the College of the Canyons. I accepted it right away. In addition to my professional roles, I also love to channel my experience and energy to volunteer projects concerning educational institutions and non-for-profits and contribute in some minor way to their missions. Moreover, this project specifically excited me because the program’s mission was very unique and unprecedented. I was honored to have a small part in it.

The program, entitled “Arts and Business Learning Community” at the College of the Canyons, is going to be an interdisciplinary program targeting both Business and Fine & Performing Arts students. Curriculum will be designed to teach business students different art forms in a way that will foster their creativity, at the same time will teach students of Arts (acting, dancing, painting etc…) the fundamentals of business. This program is addressing a crucial and yet an unmet need for both areas: for business people learning to be more creative and for artists understanding the business of the arts performed. There is no other similar program in California, offering this type of an educational bundle and bringing together two distinct but actually quite complementary disciplines.

Marketing to Moms: Lets look at some hard data!

Moms have always been at the center stage of many marketing efforts. Smartly so, because they are the ones who do the shopping and are the main decision makers for many low-involvement products related to food, home and personal care. Even for high-involvement products such as electronics and cars, research shows that their involvement and influence is significant. According to Marketing to Moms Coalition, 85% of household spending is controlled by moms and they are worth more than $2.1 trillion to American brands today. Despite their significant importance to companies, 70% of moms state that marketers do not understand their needs and fail to connect with them (Marketing to Moms Coalition). This finding is rather surprising for me because I know that, many companies have substantial and successful experience in targeting moms over many years. What has really changed? It looks like moms are changing and marketers are not following as rapidly.

Creativity in Advertisement: Why doesn’t work?

Zyman (2004) found out that 84% of award-winning advertisements incorporated entertainment, humor, satire, slapstick etc. to their ads. Nevertheless, only 22% made a call to action. Meaning resulted in increased sales. At the end of the day, we all know the purpose of advertisement is to sell. If we can not manage to increase sales why do we advertise then? As Bhargava (2006, p.163) is suggesting “in most cases, if you manage to entertain your audience but do not generate a benefit for your brand then you have essentially engaged in public service, not a marketing campaign.”

Creativity factor in broadcast media is important to break through the commercial clutter and grab the consumers’ attention. Especially if you think of the fact that, actual message exposure is 25 to 50 percent of program exposure. Brands are competing to get a share of the viewers’ already very limited time and attention. Under these circumstances, everyone feels the pressure for creating ads that are attention-grabbing and memorable. But there is a fine line here. Most of the time, we are missing the point. The whole point of advertisement is to get measurable results. Obviously, this means prompt increase in sales or enhanced brand awareness, which will lead to increased sales.

Re-capturing the essence of marketing with David Ogilvy

As a marketer, I have been trying to come up with a definition of marketing, which would encapsulate its essence, but at the same time would clearly demonstrate why I personally have chosen and love marketing as a profession. When I look at various descriptions of marketing, what I see are many plain and uninspiring definitions for a field that is, on the contrary, very creative and inspiring. One such example is the frequently-used American Marketing Association’s definition of marketing. According to AMA, “marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (AMA, 2007).

I do understand the needs to define marketing in a plain,  standard format. First, it is important to lay a basic foundation that can be built upon. Second, it is very difficult to come up with a definition that would be considered inspirational by everyone.  However, I would like to use this opportunity to articulate my own thoughts on the role of marketing and quote or cite Mr. Ogilvy in support of my arguments. Mr. Ogilvy’s video that I embedded here, is a great educational source for marketers and advertisers. It is a long conversation, almost an hour, but it clearly represents Ogilvy’s genius and his straightforward approach to marketing and advertising. I would highly recommend this video to anyone in this business. I know it is little old but there are timeless lessons to be learned.

4 key strategies companies can not afford to miss

Economic recession and the risk of near-depression are expected to change consumer behavior in major ways. The unsustainable credit card debt, record declines in real estate values and the unprecedented credit-squeeze by the financial institutions are leading indicators of what to expect as a response from American consumers. Nevertheless, the important question here is “How should companies respond to these unprecedented economic challenges and most-likely to permanent changes in consumer spending behavior and product and brand choices?”

Cutting costs and reducing prices is a widely-adopted initial response to any economic crisis. But the severity of this economic situation and world’s piling environmental and social problems call for a serious change in philosophy. I believe companies should focus on four key areas other than just cutting costs for long-term success:

1. Product vs. Brand: For many years, marketers have significantly focused on the brand as a stimulus for purchase. The importance of the product itself in terms of its performance and consumer relevance has been undermined. This led to so many “me-too” products with no real differentiation, except superior branding. This doesn’t look like a viable approach any more. In this economy and with its long term repercussions on consumer behavior, it is quite possible that consumers will prioritize their needs and desires and reduce redundant purchases. As a result, brands identified with high quality and relevant products will be the consumers’ choice.

Understanding Web 2.0 Consumers

Today’s consumer insights are suggesting a very different consumer profile. A consumer that is more informed, participative and demanding with higher expectations of products and services. This change can be attributed largely to consumer access and control over online media content. The rapid adoption of Web 2.0 (search engines, social networking, blogs etc.) has created numerous platforms for consumers to learn, share and discuss about new products. In 2008, 83 percent of all active internet users worldwide watched videos online, 73 percent read blogs and almost 40 percent of all users have launched their own blogs (Universal McCann, 2008). And 34 percent of the same group blogged specifically about products and brands. Online product reviews already have a major impact on consumer purchase decisions. More than eight in ten (82%) of all internet users who read online product reviews state that their purchase decisions are directly influenced by those reviews (Deloitte, 2007).

Armored with these instant and independent sources of information, consumers are becoming more and more cynical of messages conveyed through traditional branding and communication practices. This trend introduces a huge challenge and a new opportunity for today’s marketers. So far, marketers and researchers have mainly concentrated their efforts on understanding consumer behavior in relation to traditional brand-consumer relationships established through traditional communication channels. Nevertheless, these new insights should motivate the marketing community to seriously focus on understanding and defining the Web 2.0 consumers.

How running helps me as a marketer

One of my passion in life is long-distance running. I have been running for a long time now.  I have started when I was at college and continued pretty regularly with short interruptions for the last 8 years. Running did not only help me to gain physical strength but also  helped me to better realize the power in me, by constantly pushing and testing my endurance and determination. This is true for any sports but for me running fits the bill because of its demand for a solid plan, clear mind, and ambition. Characteristics that one has to posses and the steps one has to follow in order to see the finish line can be applied to the discipline of marketing as well.

Step #1: You must have a plan! Be very specific in defining your goals and strategies to achieve those goals.

Step #2: Target reasonably based on your past performance as well as your current physical and emotional state. Neither underestimate nor overestimate the power of will to achieve.

Step #3: Be content with gradual improvement. Do not expect to run a marathon (higher goal) before successfully achieving the smaller goals.

Step #4: Regularly evaluate how you are doing. For runners this might be monitoring your heart rate, for marketers it is putting systems in place to encourage constant feedback from consumers and other stakeholders.

Step #5: Accept shortcomings and mistakes, improve your plan, and try harder next time.

The process of how a runner or any sportsperson would achieve significant results is similar for marketing. As marketers, we all have seen at varying degrees executions with little planning, aggressive efforts with no real evaluation of the results and professionals neither accepting nor learning from their mistakes. The complexity of the marketing world combined with pressing competition, tight deadlines and the need to respond fast, can lead marketers lose sight of the big picture and neglect some of the important aspects of baseline planning, execution and control.  As a result, I always remind myself these simple but very important terms of running and reflect them into my professional life as well.