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Get your brand on

September 20, 2012

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times — your brand is not your logo. It’s so much more.

Want to explore what branding is really about and how it can completely change the trajectory of your company? Then you need to get to Chicago on October 11th for my friends at The Brand Establishment’s one day seminar on brand. (read more here)

What We’ll Cover:

Brand – The Most Oversold, Yet Least Understood Word In Marketing Today
The Definition of a Brand – Finally
 Branding vs. Brand Development
 Where The Brand Lives
Your Brand On Steroids
Build From The Inside Out
Your Brand Essence
Internal Brand Strategies – Moving Every Employee From Hearing About A Brand To Believing There Is A Brand To Becoming The Brand
Brand Management For The Long Haul
Business And Brand Strategy Alignment
Brand Touch Points – “Promises To Delivery” Mechanisms
The Brand Establishment’s BrandLab™ Approach – Looking Through The Brand Lens Brand Momentum – Monitor, Measure And Adjust
The Strategies Behind Successful Brands
Secrets Of Successful Brands
Who’s Doing It Right Today
How To Implement In Your Own Company

Presented by two of the nation’s leading brand experts, Jim Hughes and Tom Traynor; this seminar will provide today’s working marketing executives with the knowledge, tools and techniques needed to lead their organizations to greater profits and category domination, even in a slow economy.

At the end of this rigorous one-day session, you will be awarded a Level-One Certificate of Achievement from the country’s foremost authority in brand development, branding and brand management – The Brand Establishment. (Read the brochure)

I know these guys and they’re the real deal. So if you can get to Chicago (or are already there) this would be an eye-opening, business changing day. Hope you make it there.

(Click here for more info, registration links etc.)

The magic is in the media mix

September 18, 2012

The other day I got a direct mail solicitation from Google. Yes, that Google.

It was a good reminder me (and now to you too) that none of us can afford to get lazy when it comes to media mix.

If the King of Online recognizes the power of a printed piece, then we should probably pay attention too.

We know that people need to hear our message on average 8-13 times before they even notice we’re talking to them. But, in this age of being fascinated with all things digital — we need to remember to keep focused on creating a media mix — and that means adding some offline efforts into your overall marketing plan.

In fact, some are arguing that the hottest “new media” in terms of performance is direct mail. We’ve all rushed away from printing anything. Which means the mailbox is a lot less cluttered than an email inbox these days.

Best of all, by mixing your media, you can use one to point to the other. Your direct mail can drive traffic to your website. Your blog or FB page can encourage people to request a product sheet or attend a meet up at a trade show. (Oh…you’d forgotten that face to face is a media too, didn’t you?)

As you plan your next campaign, consider these “old school” off line tactics and see how you can blend them into your media mix — and connect them to your shiny new digital efforts.

PR placed article in a trade pub — driving online trials
Face to face meetings that result from an email invite
Direct mail, driving them to an online video
Voicemail message, inviting them to a webinar
Radio spots inviting listeners to download a podcast
Hard copy white paper/article which introduces them to your online library of content

I’m not suggesting that you always need to cross promote between on and offline. I just wanted to show you what’s possible. And how going old school with your media mix should be part of your plan. I don’t care how hip and cool what you sell may be.

Social Media Primer – yours for the asking

September 13, 2012

There’s so much going on in the social media world — it’s hard to keep up. But don’t worry — we’ve got the answer for you.

We’ve created a new educational series called 60 Ticks to Social. (Drew’s Marketing Minute…get it) When you sign up, we’ll send you one email a week for about 18-20 weeks. Each email will give you a quick overview of some aspect of social media and sometimes it will also include a link where you can download even more info, if that would be helpful!

It’s 100% free — free of hype, free of jargon and free of any strings. We hope you’ll sign up, tell your friends to sign up and that, most of all, it will be helpful to you.

I promise — it will be worth the minute it takes to read it. If you’d like to sign up, all you need to do it click right here.

Email open and click rates – are they rising?

September 11, 2012

(download full-sized infographic made by B2BMarketing.net)

Interestingly, the answer is yes. And no. According to a recent study done by Experian Cheetahmail (download the white paper) shows that open rates are up but click rates are down a little bit in the 2nd quarter of 2012. (As you can see by the infographic above, different studies reveal slightly different numbers but the interesting and important thing to notice is that they’re pretty darned close.)

According to the study, the total open rate for Q2 2012 was 21.9%, an improvement from the previous year, which was at 21.6%. Similarly, Q2 2012’s unique open rate of 15.2% was up from a year earlier (14.8%), but down from the previous quarter’s 15.5%.

A June report from Epsilon found the benchmark email open rate for Q1 to be 26.2%, up on quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year bases.

Most of the other metrics tracked by Experian Marketing Services saw year-over-year declines in Q2, yet many saw less pronounced decreases when measured on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

For example, Q2 2012’s click-to-open rate of 15.4% was a significant drop from 18.2% a year earlier, but represented a smaller decline when compared to Q1’s 16.3% rate. Q2’s unique click rate of 2.5% was down from 2.7% in Q1 and 2.8% in Q2 2011.

Other Interesting Findings:

The overall transaction rate dropped slightly from the previous quarter and previous year.
The average revenue per email in Q2 was $0.12.
Average order declined to $156.37 from $159.93 in Q1 and $160.27 in Q2 2011.
The bounce rate dropped to 2.6%.
The unsubscribe rate also fell, to 0.15% in Q2. The Q1 rate was 0.16%, while the Q2 2011 rate was 0.2%.
55% of brands had statistically significant year-over-year increases in open rates.

Going back to the infographic — look at how the research tells us we can improve our own open and click thru rates:

A better subject line will increase opens by 40%
Personalizing the email will increase opens by 32%
If the subject matter is on target, you can increase opens by a whopping 55%
Sending your email from 10 am – 1 pm in the middle of the week (Tuesday is the #1 day) also will increase your odds of having that email opened

If you want to learn even more about smart email marketing, check out the brand new book by Jason Falls and DJ Waldow called The Rebel’s Guide to Email Marketing*

*Affiliate link

Content that your audience loves

September 8, 2012

I saw this on Scott Monty’s Facebook status…and loved it. I couldn’t track down the creator but if I do, I’ll update the post.

Just wanted to give you something to chew on over the weekend.

The most important job any business owner has

September 6, 2012

You know…sometimes we make things so much more complicated than they need to be. Do you want to own or work for a company with longevity, a strong reputation and customers who are your best advertising?

Then follow this advice from The Little Blue Book of Advertising. But I warn you…the simplicity of the advice is also what makes it so stinking difficult.

“Taking care of your brand (building it, managing it, protecting it, and yes, if necessary, reviving it) is the single most important job you’ve got. Whether you’re the president of the company, the EVP of marketing, or the newest employee in the advertising agency’s design department.

Your brand will last longer than any of your jobs. It’s even likely to last longer than your company. So taking care of your brand is also a smart career move–if you take care of your brand, it’ll take care of you. No one ever made the cover of Forbes magazine by getting a raise. But the covers and pages of the business press are filled with people who championed a great brand.

What’s the easiest way to take care of your brand? Take care of your customer. Know who she is. What he wants. How she uses–and thinks about–your product, service, brand.

It’s that simple. And that hard.”

Facebook fun can also equal profits

September 4, 2012

It seems like every business is rushing to build a Facebook Page. But once they get it built — they’re not too sure what to do with it.

Many just ignore it, publishing once a week or less
Some use it as a sales channel — pushing out deals and wondering why people are ignoring them
Others share the same links that they share on Twitter

But very few organizations actually have a good time on their page. They don’t trigger conversations with their fans and they sure don’t turn their page over to their customers. But the folks at PostCardMania.com decided to have some fun with their fans.

Early this year, they were trying to come up with some ways to get more of their customers to like their Facebook page. Their CMO was out doing some shopping (every great idea is not born in a brainstorming session!) and spotted those wax lips and wax mustaches that they sell in the candy section. She bought some and took them back to the office.

She was able to convince her CEO that it would be fun to send the lips and mustaches out to a list of customers who had not placed an order within a year as part of a Valentine’s Day effort. In the package was the request that they take a picture of themselves wearing the lips or mustache and post it on the PostCardMania Facebook page wall. Everyone who posted a photo would also get a free book written by the CEO.

500 packages were sent out. They increased their likes by about 50 people and had 20 or so clients add their photos to the wall. They also connected with their customers in a very personal, memorable way that generated a lot of goodwill.

On top of that — within 4-5 days of receiving the package — that list of customers placed over $120,000 worth of orders.

Here’s the takeaways for us in this little case study:

They never mentioned postcard or direct mail in their communication
They didn’t put together a long list of rules about what kinds of photos could be posted or who had to be in the photo, etc. They just opened the doors
There was no coupon, QR code or any sort of offer in the package

This is a great example of creating a love affair with your customer. PostCardMania simply reached out with something fun and invited their customers to take part. There was no hype, spin or sell. They just were having some fun and voila — they sold $120K worth of stuff.

Delight your audience and watch what happens. I dare you.

Rules of the Hunt – do you know what they are?

September 3, 2012

There’s a new book called Rules of the Hunt* that is unlike many of the business books on the shelf today. No witty parables, no acronyms for an overarching belief, in fact it’s absolutely void of anything trendy or theoretical. Instead, this book is just down to earth and friendly advice like you might expect from a trusted mentor.

Did you ever have that one teacher, uncle or boss who you could just sit and listen to for hours? That’s how I felt about this book — like I was learning from someone I could trust.

The author, Michael Dalton Johnson, shares a lifetime of learning and earning. Along with his practical business insights and observations, Johnson shares some powerful leadership rules that I suspect you’ll use more than once.

I had the chance to ask the author the same questions I enjoy asking all the authors and here’s what he had to say:

If you had to describe the content of your book in a single sentence (no run ons) what would it be?

An old dog’s advice to improve one’s business game.

What one book that you’ve read do you wish you could claim as your own?

There really are none.

In your opinion, what is the one trait that all uber successful business people possess?

I think they all share a real love of the game. There is an abiding excitement and sense of adventure that comes with business success. I doubt you would ever hear one say, “I hate what I do.”

What’s the biggest business mistake you’ve ever made and what did you learn from it?

By far the biggest mistake I’ve made was selling a business prematurely. Back in the nineties, about a year before the Internet boom, I was a partner in a small technical publishing and marketing firm. The champagne corks were popping when we sold it for several million dollars.

About a year later, when the Internet gold rush was in full swing, a like sized competitor sold their business to a fortune 1000 company for 70 million.

The lesson, of course, is to not sell a soon to be appreciating asset. We could have probably seen the Internet investment frenzy coming had we bothered to get quality research on business and investment trends. We never even thought of it.

Why did you have to write this book? What truth or insight was missing from the human consciousness — that you’ve now answered?

My motive was not as lofty as adding to the human consciousness. I have witnessed, and continue to witness, business people making easily avoidable errors. I see many that are doing just so-so and others missing big opportunities, losing money and destroying their health. I wrote this book to give them small advantages to play a better and more rewarding business game.

After someone is done reading your book — what do you hope they do as a result?

I would hope they reflect for a moment on the author’s soaring genius and then start enthusiastically recommending the book to friends, family and strangers at Starbuck’s.

Seriously, I hope the reader will simply remember and use these rules.

Note: If you purchase the book on Amazon (see the * affiliate link above or click here) and then go to the Rules of the Hunt website (click here) you can get a bunch of extras from other authors like Zig Ziglar, Jeffrey Gitomer, and Bob Bly.

Marketing tip #93 How to make the most of a trade show

August 28, 2012

It seem intuitive to us that if we’re heading to a trade show as an exhibitor we should be thoughtful about how to maximize that time and dollar investment. Yet somehow, when we’re attending a show or conference as an attendee, we don’t seem to give it the same consideration.

I suppose many people make the assumption that if you go to a conference and learn something – it’s time and money well spent. That’s certainly a good start, but if you’re smart about it, you can get so much more out of your trip.

Location, location, location: Assuming the trade show is not in your home town – take advantage of the change of venue. Is there a prospect you’ve been romancing from a distance that happens to be located within a reasonable distance from the event location? If so, fly in a day early or fly out late and schedule a face to face.

Create a hit list: Usually the conference will publish a list of attendees ahead of time, to entice others to join in. If they don’t publish a list – do a Twitter search to see who is talking about the event. Once you’ve seen the list or at least a partial list – identify three to five people you absolutely want to meet and connect with.

Seek them out (not in a creepy stalker way) and be ready to engage them in a conversation. Your goal – to get to know them well enough that you can reach out to them after the show and stay connected.

Be a connector: Make it your goal to help one new person a day. That help might be introducing them to someone you know, it could be sharing a resource or as simple as inviting them to join you for lunch.

For many people, attending a trade show (especially if you’re alone) feels very isolated and even the most gregarious person can get a little shy. But if you’re the one being helpful, that’s takes a lot of the discomfort away.

High five the presenters: No matter how often someone speaks at a conference or trade show, it’s still a bit of a nerve-wracking experience. Even if they’re a superstar in their field, they still will appreciate a “way to go” or “I learned a lot” from you. Want it to be even more sticky? Tweet the “atta boy” to them and then follow up with a question. Odds are, you just added someone cool to your network!

Pace yourself: Most trade shows over-pack their events with speakers, socials, minglings and exhibit hall time. They want you to know that you’re getting your money’s worth. But no human being can go at that pace for several days in a row. Identify the two events each day that are “must see” and a couple more that are “would like to do’s.” Don’t let the schedule over schedule you.

Schedule an extra day at the end: I know it sounds ridiculous. You’ve already been out of the office for several days. Why add an extra one? If you don’t do your conference follow up (write blog posts, shoot off some emails, enter the business cards into your database with your notes, make some follow up calls and appointments) before you get caught up in the hustle and bustle of your regular work life – odds are, it will never get done.

If you aren’t going to set yourself up for success and all you want is to learn something new – save your money and watch a webinar or two. But if you really want to make the most of your investment – grab a couple of these tips and hit the ground running.

How does your customer use what you sell?

August 24, 2012

An exercise we don’t do often enough (especially if you sell a service rather than a product) is taking a look at how our customers actually use what we sell them.

When you make the time (not take…make) to actually dig into the functionality, the how and where they use it, and what they have to do to it to make it more practical/useful, etc. you learn some very interesting things and it’s a great way to innovate an existing product.

How do you suppose Puffs came up with the tissue box that fits into your car’s cup holder?

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