April 23, 2008
One of the things I enjoy about Google is that they understand that they don’t always to take themselves so seriously.
The way they play with their iconic logo/home page graphic is so smart and attention-getting. The fact that they only do it for holidays is also brilliant. Too often and it becomes common. Here was their offering for Earth Day.
How could you play with your brand in a noticeable, talk worthy way?
MoreApril 22, 2008
An Iowa based insurance brokerage called TrueNorth Companies recently announced to its staff that they will now function under a new name, Bearence Management Group.
All well and good, right? No doubt they have given this a great deal of thought. So let’s listen in as they explain their new name. (I swear to God, I did not make this up.)
"Bearence is a word we’re still looking to define," company president Schwartz said, "but it obviously toys with definitions of "bear" and "bearing."
WHAT? Ah, it gets better. Here’s what the CEO added.
"We’ve grown dramatically over the last three years in Des Moines and feel our new name more accurately reflects our overall vision of redefining risk," Chairman and CEO Joe Teeling said.
Umm, how can the new name better reflect anything if you haven’t defined it yet?
The company launched a new Web site after a meeting with employees to reveal the new name and discuss the company’s future.
I wonder if the employees could explain the new name to their leaders?
To add another layer of disbelief to this story — the site doesn’t seem to be live. Staggering.
Re-naming a company isn’t something to be done lightly. Or at the speed of light. But even if you are going to do it without a lot of thought or time — please, have a clue what it means before you announce it to the media or your employees.
More
April 21, 2008
We’ve talked many times about pricing strategy but here’ s a little twist.
What does your pricing strategy say about your brand? Are you like everyone else…$9.99 instead of $10? Or register for our webinar by May 25th and get $200 off!
How about the early bird discounts at conferences?
Lots of sameness. Not right or wrong. Just the same as everyone else. How could you modify your pricing to reflect one of your brand’s values?
Walmart is by far the world’s largest retailer, with the promise of the lowest possible prices. Their current tagline is "Save money. Live better."
Walmart promises that they’ll sell us stuff as cheap as they possibly can. And they demonstrate that by not using the $9.99 standard price point but instead we’ll find items marked $9.83 or $19.67. Those pinpoint prices speak volumes. Without saying a word, Walmart is reminding us of their brand.
They’re using price as a tangible demonstration of the company’s commitment to their brand promise.
Pricing is one of the many tools of brand design and management. Your strategy should be as much about your brand as it is about your costs of goods or any other operational consideration.
How do you using your pricing strategy to reinforce your brand promise?
MoreApril 19, 2008
When the tip in card promoting a book includes raves from Jack Trout, Tom Peters, Al Ries, Jay Conrad Levinson and others — you have to conclude one of three things:
Tsufit (think Cher and Sting, no last name needed) is a former attorney who left her law career to become a "seek the spotlight" coach. Her book, "Step into the Spotlight…’Cause ALL Business is Show Business!" is her guide to getting noticed.
As you might expect, a book about promoting yourself includes a fair amount of promotion for the author. But that aside, it’s a fun read. Tsufit draws wonderful pictures with her words and brings to life many scenarios where the reader could use a good kick in the rump to get out of the shadows and onto center stage.
This book is a little bit personal branding, a little bit public speaking, a little bit networking and a little bit publicity garnering. What’s great about this book is that it’s broken down into bite sized stories and tips. You’ll find yourself nodding and earmarking pages.
Perhaps the biggest value of the book is that Tsufit’s enthusiasm is contagious. She gets you excited about promoting yourself and your business. Mix that enthusiasm with plenty of "how to" tidbits and you should be shielding your eyes from the bright lights in no time.
MoreApril 18, 2008
You get a call or an e-mail. You resist the urge to jump up and down. Boy, this one sounds good. They fit your client profile and they contacted you. Their buying signals are flashing like the Bat Signal in the sky they’re so blatant. You know you could truly help their business.
You might as well print off the contract now, right?
Not so fast, my friend. Any of these ever happen to you?
So how do you figure out if they’re really a buyer? Here are some signs that you can at least put the champagne in the fridge to cool:
If you answered yes to all five does it mean you are on Easy Street? You know better. But at least it means the opportunity is probably a good one. Now, it’s up to you.
MoreApril 17, 2008
It’s April. Which means that all of you seniors who are graduating in a few weeks are getting a serious amount of pressure from Mom and Dad to send out those resumes.
And so you will. I thought I might offer a few helpful hints.
It’s tough enough to get a job in this field. Don’t let laziness or sloppiness make it even harder for you. I know you think the above is an exaggeration but I just deleted an e-mail that made 4 of the 5 listed mistakes. All in one cover letter!
Want more….read this free e-book written specifically for college grads and this post on what I would do if I were a college grad, looking for that first job.
Last piece of advice — hang in there. It’s as much fun and as rewarding as you think it will be.
Okay, I lied. One last thing. If you are going to try to impress me with your creativity — then A) Be creative. and B) Don’t let spelling and punctuation errors spoil the delivery.
Check this out. See if you can spot the errors (both in the video and description). Instead of helping himself by going above and beyond, he’s just proven that he hasn’t even mastered the basics.
MoreApril 15, 2008
I’ll be damned. Don’t believe me? Check it out or order it here. (Hey Seth…I want an affiliate’s cut!)
MoreApril 15, 2008
Ask any executive or business owner if it’s important to them to listen to their customers and you will get an enthusiastic "of course!" Then, ask them what programs or tools they have in place to listen. Suddenly, for most companies, the silence is deafening.
You might hear suggestion box or a customer service toll free number or even an e-mail address. On a rare occasion, you might hear customer satisfaction survey or personalized follow up phone calls.
But, I suspect it will be a rare company that says "RV."
Yes, RV.
The folks at Freshbooks (a web-based time tracking and invoicing tool) decided to hit the road. For two weeks, they lived and traveled on an RV as they toured 11 cities in the southern U.S. Along the way, they stopped to host BBQs, met customers, and hung hangover kits on the hotel doorknobs during SXSW.
This is a company that gets customer engagement. They didn’t sit back and passively wait for a customer to shoot them an e-mail or take an online survey. They got up and went to their customers. Literally. They didn’t do a hard sell, they let their brand’s personality dictate how they interacted.
No wonder 99% of their customers said they’d recommend them to a peer.
This worked because:
The RV/road tour isn’t the right answer for everyone. But aggressively listening is. So…what’s your best, most talkable listening tactic? If you don’t have one…get any ideas from the Freshbooks gang?
Related posts:
Listen up!
Are you really listening?
Marketing lesson from Walt: Listen and Respond
April 13, 2008
I’ve worked many an odd job during my illustrious career but the one that gets the most raised eyebrows was my job as the Jack of All Trades at a beauty salon. Mostly, I did clean up, hauled heavy boxes, stocked the hair dye shelves and swept up a whole lot of hair.
I was about 14 and couldn’t get a "real job" yet so I took this one for cash under the table. The salon was a throwback to the 50s, where ladies came to get their hair done weekly and gossip. While the job itself left a lot to be desired, there were some real life lessons (and marketing truths) among the tendrils.
Being noticed matters: While some patrons took notice of the teen-aged boy in the all woman territory, most didn’t. In fact, for the most part, I was invisible. They might absentmindedly lift up their feet as I swept around them or hand me something to throw away, but I was just the clean up kid. They didn’t really take notice of if I was tall or short, blond or dark-haired, or what my name was.
For those few ladies who actually took a moment to greet me or ask me about my work, I was immensely grateful. Being invisible stinks.
Marketing truth: Our clients/customers feel the same way. Being ignored or invisible is actually worse than getting bad news or bad service.
If you listen to a group of people with something in common, you’ll be stunned what you learn: Okay, so the one advantage of being mostly invisible is that I could listen in on the patrons conversations without them paying any attention. It was quite an education for a 14 year old guy!
Like all hair salons, the chairs were close. So pretty soon, 5-6 women between the stylists and the customers, would be knee deep in a no-holds barred conversation. They quickly drove the conversation to those things that were top on their mind. When given the opportunity, they talked about what mattered to them.
Marketing truth: You can gain incredible insights if you create an environment that allows people to be themselves and share their thoughts.
In the end, people are hungry for approval: Many of the women who came to this salon were very wealthy, had everything they could want and yet, they still stood a lot taller once a clerk or stylist complimented them. People, no matter how successful, all together or intelligent still crave being noticed and appreciated.
it didn’t just change their posture — it changed their entire demeanor. You could see it in their eyes and how they interacted with everyone around them. There was a bounce in their walk as they left the salon.
Marketing truth: It is a brand’s ultimate success if being associated with it says something complimentary about the consumer. If owning a Harley says I am cool, bravo to Harley. If being an Apple fanatic says I am creative, high five to Apple.
Why am I sharing this, you wonder? It’s part of an on-going writing project started by Robert Hruzek. Ironically Marcus Goodyear had started a very similar project. (hat tip to Robyn for finding this project.) And I believe that in every experience, we can learn a little something about marketing. If I can learn some marketing truths while sweeping up hair…I know you’ve learned a thing or two along the way.
Okay, I shared my weird odd job and what I learned…your turn!
MoreApril 12, 2008
Things have been a little busy lately. We just launched a huge campaign for a client (had to go from creative concept to on the air in 34 days), I’ve had this little thing called Blogger Social going on and then there’s Age of Conversation ’08.
Many of you have e-mailed or tweeted, wondering how I’ve been juggling it all. Truth is…like all of you, sometimes I think I can’t possibly shoehorn one more thought into the day. But somehow, we all do.
Time is the scarce commodity today. I think it goes beyond the new, leaner organizational structure. Much of the blame should be aimed at our pagers, phones, PDAs, and people "buzzing" into our day and not only taking up time but also continually breaking our ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
Even when things aren’t so crazy (when is that again?), sometimes we need to carve out some time to think, write, be creative or power through a project. Here are some thoughts for shutting down the buzz so you can concentrate:
Plane ride for one. One of the best things about flying is that no one can reach you. Peace and quiet. So turn off all electronic devices and close the "cabin" door and just work in solitude. If you explain what you’re doing in advance, no one will begrudge you a little alone time.
Play hide n’ seek. Why is it that when you are feeling absolutely under the gun, your co-worker has a weekend she just has to tell you about? If you have a colleague who’s out or a vacant conference room, these make for great hiding places. When you’re not where you belong, people assume you’re just not around.
Get out. It’s difficult to be strategic or creative when you are sitting in the same place, looking at the same wall, day after day. When you have big picture planning to do, grab your team and get out of the office. Find a coffee shop, park, or other haunt that you can just escape the daily grind and let your mind run free.
As marketers, we’re forced to be creative on demand. Sometimes you have to give yourself a little edge to get the job done.
How do you give yourself an edge? What’s your favorite time bending trick?
More