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Are you deadline driven? Good.

October 20, 2007

People moan and groan about deadlines and the pressure that comes with them. But, that’s exactly why we should love them.

Here are some of the benefits of deadlines.

We get things done: If there’s no deadline, there’s no incentive to actually complete the task. You can stay in testing mode forever.

We don’t over-think: Over-thinking leads to the homogenizing of an idea. The more time a group (especially) has to think about an idea, project or action – they more they can worry it to non-existence. Sometimes, you just have to leap off the cliff.

People have to overcome their issues: Teams inherently have conflict. A deadline forces each teammate to determine which conflicts are actually worthy of addressing and which ones they just need to put aside to get the job done.

Things keep simmering: When I know I have a deadline looming, even when I am not actively working on the project, it’s simmering on a back burner Ideas bubble up to my consciousness and when I do sit down to get it done, I’m already halfway there.

What do you think? Are deadlines good or bad? How do they help or hurt your efforts?

Additional sales tips/lessons from readers

October 19, 2007

A week or so ago, I offered to have a drawing for a free copy of Jill Konrath’s excellent book, Selling to Big Companies. All you had to do was share in the comments or e-mail a sales lesson, tip or horror story we could learn from to be entered into the drawing.

We got a few entries via the comments but several more in e-mail. I thought I would share them with you and then announce the winner!

Without further ado….

My biggest sales mistake is when I don’t know enough about the company or the person I am meeting with. If I can’t talk about them and their challenges, then the only thing left to talk about is me and our product. Once we start going down that road, I know I am sunk.

In the late 90’s I was invited to travel to Tokyo and meet with the man who could open up the Japanese market to our company.

Having completed cordialities, we started our very formal meeting. After about 20 minutes of fact finding conversation from both sides, I asked him through his interpreter if our design firm could prepare a proposal for him and send it over for he and his staff to review.

In amazement we watched him look down at the table, ponder for a moment, slowly push his chair back and stand up. He bowed. Said nothing and walked out of the boardroom. The corporate interpreter said the meeting was over and thanked us for coming. We were in the elevator just as fast as she could bow and say goodbye. Our personal interpreter said that he would share with us at the bar what had happened.

It turned out that I had put him on the spot. By asking him my question, he was unable to answer it without total disgracing himself in front of us and his staff. I had asked him a question that he would ultimately have to take to his subordinates to discuss before it could be answered. So, he was now in a shameful position because he could not answer properly. The only way he could deal with the situation was leave! Meeting over.

I know this is probably been said a thousand times, but I get on the good side of the gatekeeper. She holds the key to where I want to get and she can make or break my efforts. I have found that you don’t have to get ridiculous. You just have to actually notice that they’re there and engage them in conversation. Most people treat them like they’re invisible.

Offer an guarantee. The reality is, most of us have an implied guarantee anyways. So why not make it explicit?

Ask open ended questions that require more than a yes or no. And then build off that answer, asking a more probing question. Get the prospect to tell you stories to illustrate their pain points. If I hear myself talking for more than 60 seconds or so, I know I need to ask a question and then shut up.

Do something they will remember and tell other people about. Odds are, they are talking to several vendors. You need to be the one they remember. Do something remarkable enough that you know they won’t be able to resist telling someone about it.

And the winner of the book — John Siberell, one of our e-mail entries. Congrats John. Watch for an e-mail from me!

Don’t forget that Jill is also throwing the sales conference that’s a not to be missed for women who want to take their sales skills to the next level. Minneapolis. November 5-6. You’ll learn enough within the first hour to cover the investment and more.

Serve a steady stream of snack-sized messages

October 18, 2007

Ever hear those radio spots where the poor on-air talent is talking so fast it sounds as if they didn’t take a breath for the entire :60 seconds?

That’s an example of the "shove it all in" thinking.

Many business owners believe that they have to cram all the facts, figures and information into every single ad, sign, brochure and web page. They are in a panic, imagining that they might never have another chance to tell their story.

Of course, when they create marketing tools that are over-packed, that’s exactly what happens. The audience turns a deaf ear.

When you think about creating a marketing piece — think bite-sized snacks. One piece, one message.

Have you ever over indulged on Thanksgiving and when you finally pushed away from the table, you felt like you might burst? Contrast that with how you feel when you eat several mini-meals throughout a day.

Your marketing tools should be like mini-meals. Tasty treats that your audience will look forward to because they are not too filling and were created to delight the consumer.

Mason Hipp of SmallFuel Marketing, gets this concept in spades. His excellent series, Small Business Marketing 101 breaks down his counsel into 9 bite-sized posts. Could he have written one mammoth white paper? Sure…but his readers would have felt bloated and saturated.

Be a smart marketer. Don’t drive your audience away by drowning them in details. Give them plenty of time and space to slowly absorb your message. One bite at a time.

UPDATE: Got this note via e-mail:

From a 20 year radio guy- THANK YOU!!

I loved your example of trying to get too much in a radio commercial.

The main reason radio’s getting bad press is our own dumb moves. People as a whole are still satisfied with radio’s delivery quality- and the dirty little secret is they’re also satisfied with hearing their FAVORITE songs (look at most people’s iPod most played lists).

Three things to remember when you write a marketing plan

October 18, 2007

Last week we explored how to set a marketing budget and in that post, I emphasized that every marketing budget should be tied to a measurable marketing plan. So it makes sense that we should talk a little about some key do’s and don’t’s in creating your marketing plan.

Do less, but do it better: Most business owners make the mistake of being too ambitious with their marketing efforts. Which results in starting many things, but never doing them consistently and well.

You’re much better off to do fewer things but do them more often and better.

Balance your audiences: It’s a natural urge to invest all of your marketing resources on getting new clients. But, that’s shortsighted. The two most important audiences are your employees and your current customers. Be sure your marketing plan gives them enough attention.

At least half your budget and effort should be aimed at these two critical groups of people.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: One of your goals should be to deliver a business’ key messages through a variety of mediums. No matter how much you believe in word of mouth, direct mail, e-newsletters or an interactive website – don’t land on any one medium.

Stack up impressions by varying the media that carries your message.

What do’s and don’t’s would you add to this list?

Ready to show off your marketing smarts?

October 17, 2007

Think you’ve got what it takes? Are your marketing ideas usually the ones that are greeted with a hallowed hush of awe?

If so, then step into the ring with other marketing virtuosos.

My friend Gavin Heaton and the fashion mavens at The Bargain Queen have cooked up quite the contest. The entries will be voted on in round-robin style — being narrowed down until there is only one left. This means that no one and everyone is the judge of what makes a great campaign. This should be fun!

What’s in it for you? If you win, you get bragging rights, get to stretch your mental marketing muscles and the grand prize is an Apple iTouch.

Before you scoot over to Gavin’s blog to get all the details, ponder this.

For the cost of an Apple iTouch — do you suppose this little contest will drive traffic, links and subscriptions at the Bargain Queen? Seems like quite the bargain (no pun intended!) doesn’t it?

How could you harness this idea for your own?

Now that we’ve decided blogs are potential PR engines…

October 15, 2007

Ah, the good old days. PR pros bombarded reporters, news directors and radio jocks with their pitches, releases, and freebies.

But it’s a new day my friends and suddenly PR firms, publishers and business owners have decided that blogs are as viable as the daily paper, when it comes to getting out the word about a new product, book or idea.

All that is well and good. When it’s done right. But most often, I get e-mails like this:

Hello Drewsmarketingminute,
I found your site http://www.mclellanmarketing.com/ and I wanted to
know if you could Blog or write an article about XYZ (changed because I am a nice guy)! You can write your own article; alternatively you may use this recent press release below. You also take a look at the XYZ samples and information on our site at http://www.XYZ.com Thanks!

This guy has never read my blog. He found me on a list or technorati search. He didn’t use my actual name (unless I have become Drewsmarketingminute) and he insults my integrity, suggesting that I would just run his release verbatim.

I get several of these a day. I ignore several of these a day.

Ogilvy PR has the right idea. They’ve created a bloggers outreach code of ethics. I, and many other colleagues think they’ve got the right idea. I hope that all of us who live in the marketing world and may be pitching bloggers take note. If you want to reach out to a blogger…this would be a fine primer to study before you make that first contact.

We reach out to bloggers because we respect your influence and feel that we might have something that is “remarkable” which could be of interest to you and/or your audience.

We will only propose blogger outreach as a tactic if it complements our overall strategy. We will not recommend it as a panacea for every social media campaign.

We will always be transparent and clearly disclose who we are and who we work for in our outreach email.

Before we email you, we will check out your blog’s About, Contact and Advertising page in an effort to see if you have blatantly said you would not like to be contacted by PR/Marketing companies. If so, we’ll leave you alone.

If you tell us there is a specific way you want to be reached, we’ll adhere to those guidelines.

We won’t pretend to have read your blog if we haven’t.

In our email we will convey why we think you, in particular, might be interested in our client’s product, issue, event or message.

We won’t leave you hanging. If your contact at Ogilvy PR is going out of town or will be unreachable, we will provide you with an alternate point of contact.

We encourage you to disclose our relationship with you to your readers, and will never ask you to do otherwise.

You are entitled to blog on information or products we give you in any way you see fit. (Yes, you can even say you hate it.)

If you don’t want to hear from us again, we will place you on our Do Not Contact list – which we will share with the rest of the Ogilvy PR agency.

If you are initially interested in the campaign, but don’t respond to one of our emails, we will follow up with you no more than once. If you don’t respond to us at all, we’ll leave you alone.

Our initial outreach email will always include a link to Ogilvy PR’s Blog Outreach Code of Ethics.

What do you think?

Thinking of using a globe in your logo?

October 14, 2007

I was standing in Office Depot this weekend and noticed their "let us design your logo" display. And there they were. The painfully trite visuals that business owners seem to be drawn to when designing their own logo.

You know the ones — globes, shaking hands, the outline of your state, or the very popular paw print (you pick the animal of choice).

If you want your business to be perceived as unique — don’t use the same, tired visuals that everyone else has already used. A logo does not have to be a literal translation of your business’ name or deliverable.

Think beyond the expected. Think abstract. Think about building a brand by being fresh and different.

Think anything but a globe.

Dr. Marketer?

October 13, 2007

Sometimes, we get so caught up in discussing tactics or crunching numbers that we forget we’re in the human behavior business. At the very root of marketing is this reality:

Our job is to get people to do something. Believe something. Care about something. Our job is to affect human behavior. And to affect it, we must understand it.

I’m not saying we all need to run out and get our doctorate in psychiatry. But I am suggesting we’d better be avid students.

On any given day, a marketing professional might have to:

Understand what motivates a 33 year old suburban mom
Talk a client down from the figurative ledge because their boss is demanding instant results
Ask questions that get people to think in a new way
Write in a way that’s native and comforting to a person facing their death
Motivate employees to do superior work for a client who nitpicks and changes direction mid-stream
Take a furious customer from screaming to calm and feeling heard
Guide a group discussion to help a client unearth an uncomfortable truth about their company’s service
Figure out how and why three 19 year olds react completely differently to a new product
And so much more

I don’t believe a person can be successful in marketing if they don’t understand and care about how people tick.

Of course, the couch is optional.

What do you think? Am I placing too much importance on this aspect of marketing?

How much should I spend on marketing?

October 11, 2007

This is probably one of the most asked questions of marketing agencies and consultants. If you google the phrase, there are almost 17 million results. Guess it’s on peoples’ minds, eh?

I think one of the reasons why it’s on everyone’s mind is because there is no magic answer. Before we get into the methods of determining a right answer, let’s be very clear about these two points:

The exact amount matters less than having an amount. In other words, having and tracking a marketing budget, even if your initial number is off, is much more important than getting the number exactly right.

You can have the right budget and spend it on the wrong things. A marketing plan should always be tied to a strategic marketing budget.

Now, let’s tackle the question. Here are some of the more effective ways to set a marketing budget:

Percentage of gross sales/revenue:

This is probably the simplest method. Most experts recommend somewhere in the range of 2-8% of gross sales. McKinsey & Company is often quoted at 5%.

Most small businesses (less than $5 million gross revenue) should shoot for at least 7-8%.

Industry-specific:

Many industries have their own standard. For example:

Consumer package goods: Up to 50% of projected net sales to launch a new product
Industrial B-to-B: 1% of gross sales
Retail: 4-10% of net revenues
Banks/Credit Unions: 2-5% of assets
Law firms: 1-4% of gross revenues
Pharmaceuticals: Up to 20% of net sales
Hospitals: 1% of net revenues

Lifetime value of customer:

The idea is simple. You identify how much profit (on average) you make during the lifetime of that customer relationship and determine how much you are willing to invest per customer acquisition. If you choose this method be very careful that your numbers are accurate.

Goals/Plan driven:

The thinking behind this method is really a blend of some of the others. Identify measurable goals (# of new clients, % of revenue increase, etc) and then determine your sales equation.

For example: For every 100 prospects approached, you get 25 initial meetings. From those 25 meetings, you can expect to get 12 invitations to present a proposal. From 12 proposals, you will score 4 new clients. If your goal is 20 new clients, you now know that you need to approach 500 qualified prospects. You build your marketing plan to accomplish that and assign the costs accordingly.

Again, this method requires very accurate numbers to make the equations viable.

So what do you think? Which method do you currently use? If you don’t have a marketing budget, which method do you think would serve you best?

Do I need a marketing budget?

October 9, 2007

"How much should we be spending on marketing?" This is probably one of the most common questions we get asked. Or, on the flip side of that, we hear, "oh, we don’t have a budget. We’re just a small business. We just go with our gut."

No, no, no, no, no.

Let’s get to the most important message first. Every company, even a one person consultancy, should have a defined marketing budget. You absolutely, positively will mis-spend, over spend and wrongly spend if you do not have a budget. I promise you that.

Think of a budget as those bumpers you can use in a bowling alley. (even if you don’t have kids!) They keep you from getting too deep in the gutter. You can still get a little off center, but you can’t completely skip the lane. With the bumpers in place, you’re bound to hit at least a few pins.

You need a written marketing budget that is tied to your sales goals. Now that we know you need one, in the next post we’ll talk about how to create one.

For those of you who have ventured into the waters without a budget, any war stories we can learn from?

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