Marketing is People!

I Just Need A Couple of Ads

2011-06-22T13:57:00.002-05:00

Here is a short scenario for you, perhaps it sounds familiar:

Client: "I'd like to market my business can you help me with that?"

Me: "Great, let's talk about your challenges and goals and see if I can help."

Client: "What I need are radio ads and maybe something in the newspaper."

Me: "Okay, you're interested in advertising which should be a part of your marketing. Let's discuss your goals and see if radio and newspaper will help you with those."

Client: "Don't I just need to let people know about me? I really think I just need some ads."

I understand where my clients are coming from and why they are confused. For most small business advertising and marketing are the same thing. When business slows down you're suppose to put some ads out so people will come into the store, right?

But advertising is only one component of marketing. Advertising is what you do to promote your business, to make your target market aware of you, or to communicate a message to your potential clients. Marketing is everything that touches your customers. Everything.

"My accounts receivable person sends out invoices to customers isn't that touching my customers? Surely that isn't marketing."

Actually it is. So is your packaging, store front, web site, customer service, advertising, press releases, Facebook page, email blasts, logo, receptionist and anything else that comes in contact with your customers or potential customers. That's a lot!
Which is why it is so important to have a clear, consistent and detailed marketing plan. You can't very well have advertisements that say you are the people friendly tech company only to have your technicians scowl at customers who drop off their computers.

Yes, marketing can help you with your business goals and advertising may be a piece of the overall marketing plan. But advertising without a marketing plan will not lead to success.

Why it's okay to outsource social media

2010-09-21T12:23:00.000-05:00

Marketing trends reveal themselves fairly quickly if you read more than 3 to 4 marketing related e-newsletters a day. The trend I've seen lately, that I find surprising, is the advice to keep social media in-house.

As social media has matured we've learned it is a marketing tool and belongs in the marketing department. Some companies have tried to have their in-house marketing departments develop daily content, respond to customers and be the easy to talk to voice of the company. The problem has been there isn't always a person in the department who can write both casually and professionally. It also requires a significant time investment and the learning of new tools. In response, companies have begun to hire social media professionals to assist them.

Outsourcing in marketing is nothing new. We do it all the time with designers, copy writers and research companies. We are comfortable relying on experts to help us best deliver our message. So why balk at outsourcing social media? It's being written that outsourcers aren't capable of producing content that fits your marketing brand, speaks to your customers as you would or that it comes across sounding like an ad. They don't understand your passion point so how can they convey it to your customers?

Bollocks I say.

If we can clearly communicate our brand to copy writers, designers, heck to our own customers, then we can communicate it to social media professionals. Why would you not hire a professional that can bring more value to your company? They will offer advice on setting up social media campaigns to meet your goals and then track the effectiveness of the campaigns. They are experts at generating content, identifying communities, putting a personal face on your company, listening to your customer base and letting you know what's being said.

Social media marketing requires a special skill set we may not have in our own marketing department. We may simply not even have the time. I see no reason why social media marketing can't be outsourced just like any other marketing activity. Take the time to find the right social media professional to meet your companies needs, whether it be in-house or out.

Social media

2010-07-06T14:20:00.000-05:00

Social media. It's the name of the game currently and everyone is trying to figure out the angles. In truth it's a tool. When you market your small business you use a variety of tools. The excitement over the latest tool, social media, is that it allows you to have immediate and direct contact to your customers. It has the advantage of allowing two way communication between you and your customers. That's the angle.

If you are using social media to broadcast your marketing message you're missing the point. Stop telling your customers what you offer, why you're the best and why they need to shop with you. Instead start conversations, listen to responses and then respond. You'll learn more about your customer base, what interests them, why they do business with you, who matters in their world and how they interact with others. All of this information allows you to create a closer connection with your customers. If you're sincere, honest and if you listen and respond you'll become part of your customers' group, their community.

But you must be willing to take the time to engage. If you don't respond to posts, questions or complaints and don't post questions or conversation engaging posts then you are wasting your time on social media. If you use it like a broadcast email you're missing the angle. You may even be alienating your customer base who understand that social media is meant to be...well social.

Here's a profile www.facebook.com/#!/SecretsStJames I've been following for awhile on Facebook. I hope to take an island vacation some day and thought I'd follow this resort to see what I could expect. They aren't perfect, but they do try to respond to posts. They post pictures, ask questions and post about events at the resort. They've encouraged open communication from visitors and potential visitors. They are working the social media angle.

There is still discussion on how effective social media is at driving sales, but if you want to be part of your customers' community social media is an excellent start. Just work the angle.

A Pleasant Surprise - Raising a Confident Daughter

2010-05-07T10:08:00.000-05:00

I’ve recently rekindled my love affair with fitness. I was ready to start making fitness part of my daily routine, but worried that my hour an evening working out would be taking time away from my 11 year old daughter.

Even so, I couldn’t let worries keep me from bettering myself. I needed to be strong and healthy. So the evening workouts began. While my husband and I worked out our daughter played or read, but always near-by. I noticed that she would “peek in” on us and once found her reading my Oxygen magazine. Next came her questions:

“Mom, can I try your yoga work out?”

“Sure!”

Followed by,

“Can I do your warm up with you?”

“You bet!”

And then last week she asked if she could try our chest and back routine.
“Wow! Really? Ok!”

I was excited at her interest in fitness and her desire to work-out. She didn’t see it as time spent away from her as I had worried. That’s not to say we don’t have our ups and downs. She does get annoyed that mom can do more push- ups, but she’s also delighted that she’s the only one in the family that can do reclining bound angle pose. It’s my hope that the lessons she’s learning in fitness will carry over to other aspects in her life.

1.       Do what you can and don’t worry what everyone else is doing.
2.       Even when you think you can’t do anymore try to do one more- you may surprise yourself.
3.       Change happens a lot slower than we would like.
4.       A positive attitude allows you to achieve much more than a negative one.
5.       Being good to yourself allows you to be good to others.

As moms and maybe even as humans we often resist doing things in life because we worry about how it will affect others. But what a pleasant surprise, by doing something for myself, by being good to myself I’ve given something good to my daughter.

It's from who?

2010-04-06T12:23:00.000-05:00

Do you e-mail your customers? I'm guessing you do, at least occasionally. I know you take the time to create interesting content, add links to your web site, perhaps even include an engaging photo. That is important and you should be doing it, but have you considered your subject line and your from line?

Imagine your customer sitting at their computer scanning their in box. They come across an email and they don't recognize the name in the from line and the subject line is non-specific. They're thinking, spam or they may be worried it contains a virus especially if you added an attachment.

After you've created your email sit back and think of a four to eight word summary for the content. Yes, it should be appealing but it should also be clear. If you send a weekly email consider having a name for it to create consistency. The from line is also important. It is fine to have your name as the from, but somewhere either in the from or the subject line, you should list your business name.

Here are a few examples of good from and subject lines. I opened all these emails.
From: Manhattan 24/7
Subject: St. Patrick's Day Celebration in Manhattan

From: Lisa-Marie at Emily Rose
Subject: Pick of the Week - Purple Passion (these arrive weekly and the subject line always begins "Pick of the Week" and is followed by a description.)

From: Michael Katz | Blue Penguin E-Newsletter
Subject: Publish or Perish

All three of these examples tell me who the email is from and give me an idea of the content in three different ways.

You spend a lot of time creating your emails, make sure they have a chance for success. Let your customers know up front the email is from you and what's in it for them.

Emily Rose Gets It Right.

2010-01-07T15:35:00.011-06:00

I get happy when I come across a company who “gets it”; one that understands their products, their customers and then markets the company honestly and authentically. I love watching such a company succeed. Here’s an example for you.

Emily Rose at www.dollsclothes-emilyrose.com

I first discovered this company 2 years ago while searching for American Girl doll clothes for my daughter. Emily Rose came up just below AmericanGirl.com in my search. Nice SEO job. The site itself was clean, easy to navigate, lots of detailed photos of the clothes, customer reviews and icons indicating it was a trust worthy site. Two of my biggest concerns were addressed up front.

1. Are the clothes high quality and stylish? Why yes they are and here are detailed photos for you along with customer reviews.

2. Are the clothes too expensive? No, they aren’t. Here is the retail price and here is the Emily Rose price. Of course, I had done some price comparisons and realized I was getting a good deal, but the visualization helped excite me.

So I purchased clothes from Emily Rose. Next I found out their customer service was excellent and they exceed my expectations. Each outfit came neatly folded in tissue paper, inside a custom Emily Rose box. Even the pair of jeans and a t-shirt it arrived as if it were a special gift.

I’ve watched the company grow and succeed as they continue to hit the mark with all their marketing efforts. They’ve added a Facebook page where they engage customers and have expanded the business model to include home parties with the heartfelt wish that other moms can work from home. Free trading cards arrive with each outfit and include the beginning of a story to get girls excited about imaginary play. Now a blog is in the works which will no doubt speak directly to customer interests. Each time they introduce a new aspect of the company it always feels right. Because they understand their customers, reach out and engage those customers and continue to deliver beyond expectations.

Would you like to see an example of how Emily Rose gets it right? Check out this dress

https://www.dollsclothes-emilyrose.com /ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=INS81 5

I love this dress. My daughter loves this dress. It’s medieval fantasy fun. When I got the dress I couldn’t help but wish I had one just like it. Seriously. I was a little girl again myself, dreaming of knights and castles. And this isn’t some slopped together, fall apart in a week play thing. It’s unbelievably well made, as if it was expected clumsy little hands would be pulling it on and off. And remember the detailed photos I mentioned earlier. Use the zoom feature, the dress looks exactly like that in person.

I’m going to continue to be loyal customer of Emily Rose because they’ve given me every reason to be and no reasons not to be. They provide great products at reasonable prices and continue to add value with contests, free trading cards and other items of interest to doll owners. They keep me engaged by posting specials and updates to Facebook. As far as I can tell this is not a huge company. It started with one woman with a passion who is transferring her passion to others. It’s obvious in how she runs her company and engages her customers. Bravo.

Proof Perfect

2009-12-02T11:00:00.005-06:00

Double check and test your work always.

I know how it is. You've worked on a piece for days, weeks or months. You're sick of seeing it and you're sure everything is right. After all you've poured over it a dozen times. But as much as you want to get it out the door take the time to switch gears and be an editor. If at this point you can get another person to review the work all the better. It can be a co-worker, spouse, friend or anyone you trust to be honest and thorough. Even if such a person isn't available check the work yourself.
1. Read each word out loud, exactly as it is written. Read contractions as complete words. Is it "it's" or "its"?
2. If the word looks wrong check the dictionary. Don't rely on spell checkers.
3. Test all links and email addresses. Are they working? A few moments of testing could save you a wasted campaign that sends readers to a 404 error page.
4. Check dates and days with a calendar. Make sure December 24th is Thursday and not really Wednesday.
5. Print it out. Looking at your work in black and white makes it easier to spot mistakes.

Even if you are up against a deadline and you absolutely must turn the work in take the five to ten minutes to do steps 1 through 5. You'll save yourself the Homer Simpson, "D'oh!" moment and possibly a wasted campaign.

Was it something I said?

2009-10-26T14:57:00.005-05:00

Hey, what happened to that great customer/client you used to have? You did a great job getting them interested in your company, you developed a relationship with them providing reliable products and outstanding customer service. But now you realize (hopefully you're tracking customer interactions) you haven't heard from them in awhile.

Did you do something wrong?

This may seem to simple, but call them. If you feel you need to soften them before a call send a personalized email letting them know you miss them and will be contacting them soon. When you call ask if it is a good time for them to talk. It's ok to admit to them you miss their business and are wondering if there is something you can do to win them back. Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't. Sometimes they have changed jobs, have different needs you can't meet or (gulp) have gone out of business. But if it is something you can change or negotiate get in there and do it. Don't make empty promises. And make sure to track your contacts with customers, you may find recurring reasons for why customers/clients are falling off.

Wondering why you are losing your best customers is a waste of time. Let them know you care by calling them, and at the same time find out if an area of your business needs improvement.

Missed Opportunity

2009-09-13T17:20:00.007-05:00

I attended an elementary school band meeting this week. That's when all the kids in the school district and their parents interested in band show up for one big informational meeting. At the end of the meeting we were given the opportunity to meet the local music shop owner while he showed off the instruments and provided information.

Chaos ensued.

Two very stressed out gentlemen jogged from one end of a long table to other simultaneously telling children not to touch the instruments on display and tossing tri-fold information brochures into the hands of adults. They also simultaneously disappointed the kids and the parents. Here's why.

Most of the kids had an idea of what instrument they might like to play but had never seen the instrument up close or had never held it. They were excited. They were ready to pick out an instrument, try it on for size and then beg their parents to get it for them. Instead they were glowered at and told not to touch the shiny objects. If they wanted to touch they had to go down town to the store and try the instruments there. I saw a lot of disillusioned faces. I saw a missed opportunity to bring additional staff to the meeting with older instruments to show the kids how they were held, what they sounded like and let the kids hold them for a few moments.

The parents were given a tri-fold black and white sheet that outlined the dos and do nots of the store's rental policy. No pricing sheet was included to inform parents of the pricing differences between renting and buying. The kids only have about 10 instruments to choose from, so a price sheet would have been easy item to provide. There was no sign up sheet in case we wanted to be contacted about lessons, in-store promotions or just more information about their rental program. They weren't smiling and they were being rude to the kids. Parents don't appreciate you being rude to their kids. I saw some angry faces and a lot of missed opportunities.

If all the buying/renting information would have been presented by friendly staff willing to show kids their products and offering a special promotion, maybe a number of free lessons with purchase of an instrument, they would have made some sales right there. Instead angry parents and disappointed kids walked away. They walked away thinking, why would I pay higher prices at a local store with grumpy, unhelpful staff when I can buy or rent the same product online for less? Our local music store gave us zero reason to give them our business, no worse than that, they turned us off from doing business with them.

Taking a bit more time to develop detailed pricing sheets, paying a few more employees for an extra hour and wearing a smile instead of growling could have meant a profitable night for the store instead of a fistful of missed opportunities.

Anytime you are interacting with potential customers it's a sales opportunity, even if no money exchanges hands. Let those potential customers know you'd like to do business with them. Don't miss your opportunity to engage potential customers when they are ready to buy.

True You

2009-08-25T12:32:00.004-05:00

Be yourself. Have the knowledge to know who you are and the confidence to be that person. People can spot a fake and they don't want to hang out with a fake. They steer clear of them. If you are being true to yourself then some people will like you and some people won't. The ones who don't aren't right for you anyway.
Hey, that sounds a lot like marketing your brand.

Picture This

2009-08-21T09:41:00.007-05:00

Do you have photos on your web site of your store or employees? Take a look at them as if you've never been in your store before, you're peeking through a window and all you can see are the photos.
What message do your photos convey?
Many small businesses have heard it's important to include photos, but unfortunately they rush the process. Take time to consider what photos you want to include on your site and what you want them to say.

If you want to show your retail store consider tightly framed shots of individual displays rather than the entire store. Unless you have a lot of open space your store will looked cluttered and the viewer will not be able to discern details and determine what products you carry.

Staff photos should follow your brand. Are they happy and relaxed or professional and conservative? Consider the back ground too. Is it warm and inviting or a business office? Pictures of your staff are sending a message just as much as pictures of your store.

If you don't have any photo editing software find someone who does. Make sure the photo you post is not too dark, is in focus not grainy and has pleasing, natural looking colors. A bad photo is not better than no photo at all. You'll turn off your viewer and turn away a potential customer.

If you take away all the text on your web site would the photos be enough to tell your story? Would they tell the story you want heard? Your photos allow viewers to take a peek in your store window. Will they excite, encourage, engage the viewer to come in to your business?

What your signs say about you

2009-08-11T13:43:00.008-05:00

"Absolutely no checks accepted!!!"

Have you ever seen a sign like this? When I do it makes me stop and wonder, wow do they really want my business? Working with the public can be frustrating and it often seems people don't get the message. So we scream a little louder, but to what effect?

You want people to enjoy buying from you. If they're willing to spend their money on your products the least you can do is be polite and make it a positive experience. So instead of no, try yes.

"We gladly accept credit card and cash payments."

Yes, you may still have to tell people you don't accept checks. But I'll wager you won't have to remind very many people and in the meantime you've put a smiley face on your business rather than a frown.

Writing is a lot like exercising

2009-08-07T14:57:00.004-05:00

Writing is a lot like exercising. It's something you know you should do, but can think of several other things to do instead. You always feel better after you've done it and you feel of a sense of accomplishment.

It seems like everyone is writing these days. Social media has turned everyone into a writer, of sorts. In the world of marketing, writing used to be reserved for copy writers. But now most marketers are called upon to write. To be the personality of their company, their product or their organization.

But not every one has a personal, casual voice when they write. The writing of many marketers sounds, well, like a marketing message. It's insincere and affected because they're trying to be what they think the company wants them to be.

It takes practice to have a natural voice when you write. To not sound like your selling a product, but letting people know that you really care about your company and it's community. I suppose some people are gifted writers and it comes easily to them. Just like there our those who seem never to work out but are fit. The thing is, most of us need to exercise to feel great and look great. Most of us marketers also need to write frequently.
It takes commitment but you'll feel much better after you've done it.

Small Business Marketing

2009-08-05T11:20:00.000-05:00

Marketing isn't rocket science, or at least it doesn't have to be as complicated. I've found often times a small business owner will look around his/her business and think,
"Gee, we need more people buying more products more often. Let's put an ad in the paper!"

But here's the thing. When marketing is done successfully it isn't reactionary. There isn't a silver bullet you can shoot that will suddenly make the entire world aware of your business.

Instead, marketing is a combination of efforts helping you achieve a specific goal. Goal being something quantifiable, something you can measure. More people buying more stuff more often isn't a single goal, it's three goals.
And it isn't realistic to think everyone is your market so you're going to have to qualify "more people".
And those people won't be interested in all your products, so you'll need to qualify "more products".
And, that's right, you guessed it, they won't be buying all the time so you'll need to qualify "more often".

You need to be honest with yourself and take the time to define your customer base, understand the benefits of your products, and identify your seasonality. Once you've done this you can begin to ask yourself what goals you have for your business. Such as,
"Moms spend more money in my store. They seem to like to buy items for their children but usually just in the fall and before Christmas. I'd like to get more Mom shoppers into the store."

Now we're getting somewhere. Where do moms in your town go for information? What information do they find appealing and engaging? Put your ads, sponsorships, blogs, flyers in places that moms frequent and make the message about them. Help them solve a problem or appeal to their needs. Make the message about them, not about what you want them to know about you.

It's a lot of work, but it's the good kind of work. The kind that makes your business stronger and fitter and more focused on success.