Strategy

Seeing the other side

May 26, 2007

Think about it for a minute. There’s the work you.  The family you.  The buddies at the pub you.  The girls at poker night you.  The I’m so tired I could cry you.  The blogger you.  The marketer you.  The consumer you.  The son you.  The trying not to laugh during church you. 

So many faces.  All of them you.  Each honest, real and unique.  But each one slightly different because of the circumstances, surroundings, or people involved.

That’s a very important thing to remember as marketing professionals.  No one is just a 35 year old Caucasian man, with a wife and 2.3 children.  Many faces.  Many passions.  Your marketing needs to push beyond assuming you know what the aggregate whole wants.  You need to let your audience help you define why they need you.  Because each 35 year old Caucasian man may want something slightly different.

See their many faces.

That’s what intrigued me about David Airey’s Face Behind the Blog post.  Basically, he is reminding all of us that we’re more than the face we hold out as we author our blogs.  He’s suggesting it would be interesting and insightful to share a photo of ourselves that puts us in a different light.  That shows another face.

So far, several others have jumped on board.

Gayla at Mom Gadget
Char at Essential Keystrokes
Paul at Reflections
Rob at 2Dolphins
Zep at The In-Sect
Ingo at Stixster
Stevie at Lost In Cyberspace
The Paper Bull at (oddly enough) The Paper Bull
Lisa Sabin-Wilson at Just A Girl In The World
Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com
Wendy Piersall at eMoms at Home
Dennis Bjørn Petersen at Petersen Inc.
Randa Clay at Randa Clay Design

I first read about it at Dawud Miracle’s blog and decided to join in.

So….step aside Blogger/Brander/Marketer Drew and make room for…

Table for One Drew?

 

I love this picture of my daughter and me.  We’re at (wait for it….) Disney World and we’re waiting for a show to begin in front of Cinderella’s castle.  This is us at our most comfortable, compatible best.  And apparently my head is indeed flat enough to rest a popcorn bucket on!

So what do you say?  Will you show us one of your other sides?

 

Update:  Here’s who has jumped in since my initial.  Is your name there?

Drew McLellan at The Marketing Minute
Becky McCray at Small Biz Survival
Phil Gerbyshak at Make it Great!
Steve Woodruff at StickyFigure
Dave Olson at Live the GREAT life that you desire
Greg at Become a Remote Control SEO
Ariane Benefit at Neat Living Blog

 

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Do you go where everyone else goes?

May 26, 2007

When you’re planning on marketing to a specific audience — do you go where everyone else goes?  In other words, if all your competitors advertise in a specific trade pub or in Times Square, do you go there too?  Or do you think it’s smarter to find a quieter street corner?

If you decide to go where all the noise is — how do you make sure you get heard? 

If you decide to go to the quieter street corner, how do you make sure the audience knows you’re even there?

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Make sure your mail isn’t junk mail

May 25, 2007

Direct mail, be it the old fashioned kind – snail mail or that new fangled e-mail, is still one of the most effective marketing tools around. If you do it correctly. 

So let’s look at how to do just that.

Right Audience

Sending your direct mail piece to the wrong set of people is probably the most common (and most costly) error made in mailings. Spend as much time on researching your list as you do on the creative aspects of creating your piece.

Unless the people on your mailing list have a desire or need for your product or service, they’re going a pretty tough sell. Offering Marlboro products to non-smokers just won’t work. I don’t care how great the copy is!

Right Message

Before you start writing a direct mail piece, make a list of the three things you want someone to get from the contact.  No more than three.  Rank them.  Now, eliminate one.

At best, people are going to remember one or two things.  If you want them to take action or remember a benefit – don’t muddy up your message by hiding it among many messages.  Be clear about the result you want.  And then, don’t get in its way.

Right Timing

Naturally, you need to tell them how much it’s going to cost. And you think the price is a real steal. But, make sure you share the price at the right time.

No matter what you’re selling, a price has no meaning until your audience knows what they’re getting and why they would want it.

Once you are ready to talk money, you need to tell readers what makes your price so great – in terms of benefits to the reader. Remember, all they care about is what’s in it for them. So tell them!

Right Call to Action

As you create a direct mail piece, you should know exactly what you want the recipient to do. Call for more information, log onto your website, bring the postcard in for a 20% discount – whatever.

But be reasonable. No one is going to call up and buy a $50,000 car after one postcard.  Match your call to action with where the audience is, at the moment.  Good direct mail is about getting to the next step (asking for a sample, coming in for the test drive, answering a 5 question survey, etc) but to do that…you need to identify what the steps are and strategize how you are going to systematically move from one to the next.

Also, don’t assume they know what you want them to do. You should tell them several times exactly what you want them to do. Be specific. Let readers know exactly what action you want them to take — tell them, and tell them again.

Where do you need to improve your direct mail offerings?  Which one of these could have the most impact on your ROI?

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How to use a survey effectively

May 23, 2007

I responded to a survey called "Media Relations in Practice" generated by PR News and recently received a "preview" of the results.

Let me share a couple of the graphs (screen shots from their website) and then make a couple points and get your feedback.

 

Some interesting results.  Apparently they will be covering the findings in more detail in an upcoming issue of PR News.  One of the charts I did not include was tied to the question "how do you track your PR efforts?" The overwhelming majority answered either Google or Yahoo.

But what interested me even more than the results was the way the survey results handled.   As a respondent, I was sent a note of thanks and a web link.  Oh yeah…and an "additional bonus for responding" a $50 off coupon for one of their products.  Good for 90 days.

Here’s what I might have done differently.

• I would have sent a web link but also offered each individual chart as a jpg (or some other format) for easier sharing.  After all, their own respondents told them how important blogs and other social media are.
• I would have solicited comments/examples to make the results come to life and used them in the upcoming article.
• I would have attached a free white paper on a related topic, based on the results received, rather than the coupon.

How about you?  Any a ha moments from the results?  How would you have handled distributing the results or thanking the participants?

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Silence kills a relationship

May 22, 2007

You know what drives me nuts?  When I am ignored, like I’m barely visible.  The silence is deafening.

We have a vendor/partner who does very good work. But they have a cultural habit that is resulting in my agency deciding to look for new vendors. They go silent.

When we run into a snag, we call or e-mail.  They say they’ll check into it.  I have no doubt that they’re doing something and trying to figure out the solution.  But we don’t hear a word.  We are left waiting.  Our client is asking for updates and we have nothing to offer.  We e-mail and e-mail or call and call, and finally we will get an update. I’m pretty sure (and yes, I have asked) that their culture says — focus on fixing the problem and then report the solution. 

I want more than that.  I want over communication.  It’s not that I don’t want them to expend most of their energy on solving the snafu, but also I need them to recognize that I’m in the dark and how uncomfortable that is.

I want a daily update that gives me something to offer our client.  I want to know what is working and what still has them stumped.  I want anything but silence.

I think one of the most damaging things we can do is ignore a client.  Because in essence, that’s what silence is. 

When your clients are in crisis (or their own perceived crisis) how do you handle it?  What do they want?  How do you know it’s what they want?  Are you guilty of keeping them in the dark?

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You want my name and e-mail address? What’s it going to take?

May 14, 2007

So, part of your marketing strategy is to capture contact information off your website.   You might offer a free webinar or white paper.  But what will be enticing enough for your visitors to cough up their info?  And actually give you real data?

MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm did a survey to ask just those sorts of questions.  Here are some interesting stats from their research summary. You’ll be able to view all the results on KnowledgeStorm’s website in a few weeks.

What will prompt someone to register?

The golden oldie — the white paper still reigns supreme.  But case studies are close behind. Vendors are clearly more tolerant (which makes sense) than users.  But even product literature is at a respectable 45%.

Will I go by Drew McLellan or Derek Monohan?

This is the chart that fascinated me.  I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but it has never even occurred to me to put false information into the form.  I am sure it speaks to my own  foolishness or something.  Makes you want to come try to sell me something doesn’t it?  But, it’s fascinating to study what people guard and what they’re pretty free with.  Why would someone lie more often about their title than their name?  And who cares what industry you’re in?

This chart reminded me of a very insightful post that Matt Dickman wrote in March about the impact of trying to collect too much data too fast. 

What do you think?  If you had to give your website a letter grade today — how are you doing on this stuff?  Are you offering the right mix of enticements?  Are you asking for too much or too  little information?

What could you do differently that would improve your results?

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What does an elephant have to do with branding?

May 12, 2007

An excellent question!

When John Godfrey Saxe crafted his famous parable, he probably didn’t know he was telling a story about branding.  But he was.

Find out how 6 blind men and one very patient elephant are all about branding in my first post over at Small Business Branding.

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Why would you take a swing at your competition?

May 10, 2007

Over at the Daily Fix, Spike Jones (a great baseball name if I ever heard one) raises the question "why would you ever call out your competitors in your ads?"

He goes on to make some valid points.

But…

All of Spike’s arguments are based on the assumption that the only audience for advertising and marketing tactics are prospects.  They’re not.

Who’s the most important customer?  Right, the one you already have.  They can either be out there, spreading your brand’s good word or they can not care enough to choose you again if the other guy is cheaper.

But when it comes to building brand loyalty and love, sometimes a little bashing goes a long way.  Comparison ads do just that. They hold up two choices and they make a clear distinction between the two.  And in doing that, sometimes they create or reinforce the building of ownership and pride in a brand.

Case in point — the Mac versus PC ads.  Do I think that those ads sway some PC owners to come over to the other side?  Sure.  But what I think they really do is get us Mac people to thrust our fist in the air and shout a little.   They reinforce our buying decision. They give us talking points so we can  go out and  spread the brand’s good word.  They make us feel smart and special.

Which means that when its time to buy another….

Smart.

And now, for your viewing pleasure.  Imagine me giving a little cheer.

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Stop selling!

May 4, 2007

I’ve had this conversation about four times in the recent weeks.  All with different people, marketing different products or services.  But they all started out the same.

"I’m not closing very many sales.  What am I doing wrong?"  In digging a little deeper, it was inevitable that what the marketer was doing wrong was pushing for the sale. 

People will buy what they decide they want to buy.  They will not buy what you’re selling. Your job as a marketer is not to sell.  Your job is to help the customer want to buy.  A distinct difference.

Sellers talk.  They have a pre-ordained speech that they offer up to potential customers.  They know how to weave in the features.  They might even have a favorite customer success story or two to tell.  They’ve got a great graph that clearly highlights the superiority of their product over the competitors.  They’re sincere.  They believe in their product and genuinely want to help their customers.

So what’s wrong with that?

One thing is missing.  The customer.  In that cavalcade of talking, there was very little listening.  There weren’t questions asked. For the most part, it could have taken place without the customer being present.  And that’s the key word.  Present.

To be a good salesperson, which let’s face it, is what a marketer is – we must be present.

Being present means that you start by listening.  And when you’re done listening, you ask a few questions.  Which demands more listening.  And you repeat that pattern until the person either says one of two things.  They either say thank you and goodbye or they ask if you will sell them your product.

What would happen if you didn’t push for the close but instead let your customer push for it?

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Hows strong is your brand’s voice?

April 28, 2007

Consistency is one of the immutable laws of marketing and branding.  Inconsistency will erode awareness, loyalty, and trust.

When most people mention consistency, they mean visual consistency and there’s no doubt that is critical.

But today, I want to focus on a different kind of consistency.  Voice.

Often times, how you say something is more important than what you say. 

You should have a clear idea of what your company’s voice is. And regardless of how many different writers are involved, your materials should always be in the same voice. How do you "sound" in your communications pieces? Are you formal? Conversational? Do you use short, choppy sentences or long, descriptive paragraphs? Do you strictly adhere to grammar and style rules or do you take some liberties? What about slang or industry jargon? What does each of those choices say about you?

Don’t assume the right answer is based on industry stereotypes. Imagine the tone and style differences between a corporate law firm and a law firm that specializes in family law.

Your voice goes beyond the written words. What is the attitude of your radio spot? How about your signage? Is your voice consistent in how you answer your phone? The signature line on your e-mail? What about your press releases and sales promotions materials? Your on hold message?

Think of all the ways you communicate to your customers, potential customers, employees, and vendors.

How consistent and strong is your voice?

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