Business Archives - Page 7 of 13 - McLellan Marketing Group

Free isn’t necessarily cheap

March 5, 2012

I was having a brief conversation with @NealShaffer on Twitter yesterday and the gist of our conversation was:

Half of small & medium businesses are using social media for marketing (Neal)
Yes…but few are doing it well. They don’t apply marketing smarts (Drew)
True, but huge potential to maximize social business (Neal)
No doubt. But when done wrong, potential for damage is equally large (Drew)
I agree completely (Neal)

See — that’s the problem with free. Business owners (or many so called social media experts) look at the price of entry for having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or (fill in the blank for whatever’s hot in SM) and they think….”you can’t beat free! Even if I suck at it, it didn’t cost me anything.”

Wrong. So wrong.

Would you buy a TV commercial that had misspellings? Or instruct the announcer to swear or say something off color? Or better yet…would you buy radio time and then not put anything there…so you basically bought :60 of silence?

Would you promise that your newsletter would be packed with useful information and then blather on about yourself, your sales and your products when you get around to sending it?

I’m sure you’re saying (or at least in my head) “No, Drew of course not.” So why in the world do you (universal you, not you you) do it on your social media sites?

We see unprofessional behavior on FB pages all the time. And abandoned blogs, Twitter accounts etc. And the biggest sin of all — being boring because you can’t stop talking about yourself.

Here’s the thing. People have gotten a little numb to selfish, self-centered marketing in the traditional marketing space. It’s not right, but it’s been going on for so long — we accept it as the norm.

But social media is different. Social media promises real people. It promises relevance. It promises a relationship. It promises timely interaction.

And if you violate any or all of those promises, here’s what happens:

The good feelings I had for your brand/company are gone
I feel like you lied to me/tricked me
I will simply choose to disconnect from you
I won’t be interacting with you anymore…which means my feelings for you have no chance at turning more favorable

Keeping those promises takes a lot of time. And keeping your eye on the big picture. It’s easy to get sucked back into old habits and begin marketing instead of connecting. If you really want your social media efforts to work, you have to make a big investment. No, it may not be money (unless you hire some help) but it’s a time crunch.

Maybe this analogy will help. When you do social media badly — you are basically enticing someone to come close to you with the promise of a gooey, fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookie and when they walk in and reach out their hand for the cookie — you smack them with a ruler, over and over until they leave.

The cost is huge. The damage is real. And too many businesses are stumbling over themselves as they rush to a “free” marketing opportunity.

So what does a small business do, Drew? you ask. (again, perhaps it all takes place in my head). You put together a social media strategy that is built on SMART goals and best customer personas.

How do you do that? Come back on Thursday and download the absolutely free 18 page e-book that walks you through how to build that strategy, step by step.

It’s a tool we use at MMG with clients every day. And we’re glad to share it with you. Really.

And….there’s not a sales pitch or MMG promo in sight. I promise. Would I offer you a cookie and then smack you with a ruler?

Marketing tip #83: Less but better

February 29, 2012

I just wrapped up a 4-part webinar that focused on creating a marketing plan that you’ll actually use. The final element we covered was marketing tactics.

Now that I know why I am doing this (goals), who I am talking to (best customers), what to say to them (key messaging), how much I can afford to spend (lifetime value of a customer) and the stories I can tell to generate interest, word of mouth and attraction — WHAT am I going to do?

Most people are looking for some secret answer. The one marketing tactic that they hadn’t heard about or the trick to doing something in a way that no one else has heard of. That’s actually not the secret.

The secret is — before you add more marketing tactics, take the time to examine what you’re already doing and ask yourself — could we do this better?

You’re far better off to do fewer things but do them better. Less but better is greater than more. Seriously – repeat after me. Less but better is greater than more.

Look at the marketing tactics you’re already deploying. Could you do it:

Better?
More often?
More consistently?
More fun/funny/memorable?
More professional look/feel?
Shift from being about us to being about them?
More storytelling and less telling?
Give up some control and let your audience drive the conversation?

Before you add a thing — add some quality, value and depth to what you’re already doing. That may be exactly what needed to be added.

No small business has the resources (time or money) to be everywhere. So be significant and memorable in the few places you choose to be. Less but better really is greater than more.

Let’s talk business, social and joy!

February 25, 2012

I’m fortunate that I am invited to guest blog in some of the most prominent and cool spots on the web.

Every once in awhile, those opportunities converge and it’s raining Drew‘s thinking everywhere you turn.

Come join in these conversations around the web:

Marketing Profs Daily Fix: In this post, I suggest that many business owners would be smart to think differently about how size matters. By staying focused on your organization’s sweet spot — you can actually get smaller while your profits, reputation and opportunities get bigger.

Come read what I had to say and join in the conversation by clicking here.

Marketing Executive’s Networking Group’s Blend: In the social media space, we sure seem fascinated with toy talk. Pinterest is our latest obsession. But we often lose sight of the most important social media tool of all. Do you have it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Click here to read/share.

IowaBiz: Some companies just exude a cultural joy that makes you want to do business with them. And guess what — that doesn’t come from some company manual or marketing plan. It comes from letting the employees share their genuine joy.

Come see a very real example of this sort of joy and tell us where else you’ve see it by clicking here.

I’d love it if you wanted to jump into any or all of these conversations!

Put your email auto response to work

February 11, 2012

With the volume of emails we all get every day, we can’t afford to let our emails go unattended. We don’t want the people who email us to think we’re ignoring them, so if we’re going to be out of the office — most of us use some sort of an automated response system.

You know what I’m talking about: “I will be out of the office until Tuesday, March 3rd. If you need assistance, please call my co-worker Biff at 555-123-4567.”

And that does the trick. They don’t freak out if we don’t answer within an hour or two.

But if you’re at a conference, spending the day shooting a TV spot or attending a strategic planning retreat (or doing anything else that establishes your expertise) why not let your your email auto response do some marketing for you?

I’ve spent the last couple days conducting a workshop. During the workshop, I emailed a link to the participants and got this back from one of them:

I am attending a conference of leading PR/MarCom agencies from around the country to discuss new MarCom trends and techniques and will be out of the office through Friday, February 10th.

I will be checking my email periodically.

Brilliant! What did this auto response tell this person’s email senders?

That he’s considered one of the leading PR/MarCom agency professionals in the country (otherwise, he wouldn’t have been invited)
That he’s honing his skills and staying current
That he believes in investing in his professional development

Who wouldn’t want to work with him? We certainly get a better sense of who he is and what he’s about than if he’d used the standard language.

Often we think marketing has to be complicated, expensive or done over a long period of time. But every once in awhile — it can be just this simple.

How could you leverage this idea?

~ Drew

Stock photo courtesy of www.BigStockPhoto.com

The 5 things that will derail your marketing in 2012

February 8, 2012

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade but the truth is — most organizations’ marketing efforts stink. And they stink for reasons well within the marketing department’s control.

If you’re worried that your own efforts might fall short — beware of these five danger zones that can derail you in a blink!

Inconsistency: Does your monthly newsletter go out 5 times a year? Does your copy tone/style fluctuate between somber and casual? Are your weekly sales calls happening every week?

Inconsistency not only waters down your results but it also waters down your brand. If you can’t get your newsletter out on time — why in the world would I, a prospective customer, think you can deliver what you want to sell me on time?

Not having a plan: One contributing factor to inconsistency is the wishy washiness that comes from winging it. Without a document that maps out where you are going…in the rush of the day, you end up on detours you never intended. Or worse, you end up on the sidelines trying to figure out your next move, rather than moving forward.

A marketing plan doesn’t have to be a leather bound edition, but it does need to be in writing and it needs to be something you reference at your weekly/regular marketing meetings.

Trying to do too much: I want to hear a collective sigh of relief as you read this. You simply cannot do it all. So stop trying. You are far better off to do a few things consistently and well, than try to manage too many marketing tactics.

The average sized organization can only successfully produce and monitor a handful of initiatives at once. So plan it out carefully so you can deliver consistency and quality. Every time. That will be far more impressive than doing more every once in awhile.

Not matching your budget with your appetite: I see this happen all the time. A big company is stingy with their marketing dollars and does so little, they don’t even show up on the radar screen. Or the flip side — a small company saves up all their pennies and launches a huge splash but can only sustain it for 60 days and then goes quiet.

Marketing is for the long haul. You need to know you can sustain your efforts or their effect will be fleeting.

You. Yup, I said it. You’re actually the biggest risk to the marketing efforts. Why? Because you know when you’re doing something that isn’t going to work. You know what you can and can’t pull off. You know that you talk about yourself too and don’t talk with the audience about the stuff they care about enough. You know you should spend/do more and be more consistent. Maybe you even know you can’t do it by yourself but you’re too cheap to hire some help (either staff or an agency).

So what are you going to do to get out of your own way?

What do you think? Would you have a different set of obstacles? Want to add any to my list?

Stock photograph courtesy of Big Stock Photo

What you don’t know about your sales funnel

January 30, 2012

We all think and talk about our sales funnel a lot. We’re always saying things like:

We need to keep it full.
We need to stay active with the prospects that have been in it for awhile.
On average, it takes a prospect X months to move through it.
And so on….

But consider the statistic to the right. 60% of your sales efforts are what happens before you have actively put someone into the funnel. In other words — it’s not you who is doing the selling.

Who is?

Your existing customers
The customer who left and is working with your competitors
Your vendors
Your website
Review sites
Your social presence (or lack thereof)

How much do you know about your pre-funnel sales machine? Do you know what’s being said? Maybe the bigger question — how should you be influencing those conscious and accidental sales efforts?

Think about how you shop — whether it’s for work or something for home. Do you beeline for a salesperson or sales collateral? Or do you do a little bit of investigating first?

Get out a piece of paper and do this exercise. Write down the bullet points I have above (starting with your existing customers) and next to each bullet point — describe what you would ideally like a prospect to hear/see/experience from each source.

Then — go to each source and see what’s actually being said/experienced. I’m guessing you’ll identify some areas that require your attention.

After all — your prospects are paying attention to these sources — shouldn’t you?

5 questions to define your 2012 game plan

December 30, 2011

Define your 2012 game plan

Over the past month, I’ve been posing what I hope have been some head scratching, thought provoking questions to help you get ready for 2012.

If you can answer these five questions — I think you’re going to have a solid foundation for your marketing efforts moving forward.

In case you missed one, here are the five questions (with links to the whole post):

So — have the questions changed your plans or focus? Narrowed things a bit? Or were these all a slam dunk?

Happy New Year and here’s to a very prosperous, joyful 2012 to you and yours!

Stock photo courtesy of www.BigStockPhoto.com

Marketing insights question: What’s your legacy sentence?

December 28, 2011

What’s your legacy sentence?

Over the next few weeks, as we head towards 2012, I want to get you thinking about your business in a new/fresh way. I’m going to ask a single question in each post — but I’m warning you, these aren’t slam dunk questions.

I’m hopeful that as you ponder my question — it will give you some ideas for making 2012 a break out year for your organization. If nothing else — this exercise should fine tune some of your marketing efforts.

What’s your legacy sentence? If a customer/potential buyer was going to describe your business in a single statement, what would it be? Imagine yourself at a networking event and someone says…what do you do?

You can either say, “I’m a financial planner” or you could say, “I help women in transition get on firm financial footing.”

The first option tells me your profession. The second tells me 1) who you serve, 2) how you add value, 3) what to ask you next (as opposed to just saying, “oh, that’s nice.”)

Which one would you want people to repeat as they introduce you to someone new?

Whether you’re talking about your personal brand/reputation or your company’s reputation — the rule is the same. You need a single sentence. Mary Stier wrote a blog post about this and she quoted Dan Pink‘s book Drive, saying:

“In 1962, Clare Boothe Luce, one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Congress, offered some advice to President John F. Kennedy. ‘A great man,’ she told him, ‘is a sentence.’

Abraham Lincoln’s sentence was: “He preserved the union and freed slaves.” Franklin Roosevelt’s was ”He lifted us out of the Great Depression and helped us win a world war.”

Luce was worried that Kennedy’s attention had been splintered and he wouldn’t be able to solidify the nation’s definition of his presidency.

How about you? Are you marketing messages laser pointed to a single sentence or are they scattered all over your features, benefits and copy hyperbole?

What single sentence can you use in person, on your marketing materials, in sales proposals, and in all of your sign offs and signatures?

Stock photo courtesy of BigStockPhoto.com

Introverted or not – this guide is a must read!

December 21, 2011

Lisa Petrilli’s guide for introverts

No matter what personality test I take, I tend to score off the chart on the extrovert scale. I like big crowds, I’m comfortable speaking in front of thousands of people and I get a buzz from being at conferences, networking events and new situations with new people.

So you might think a book titled The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership would hold very little for me. And boy, would you be wrong. I learned quite a bit by reading Lisa Petrilli’s guide.

For readers who tend to be more introverted — you’ll learn how to create a strategy that leverages your strengths while navigate networking events, relationships with key team members, and how to connect with influential leaders who can help build/grow your career.

You’ll also learn how to make sure your ideas and good thinking sees the light of day in your organization. Lisa also talks about how introverts can successfully motivate others, tackle decision-making, collaboration and asking for that raise or promotion. There are some great tips on how to manage/maximize public events like conferences too.

As an extrovert — many of the suggestions applied to me as well. I read the ebook, so I could highlight and take notes to my heart’s content! Plus, I gained a great deal of insight on how to work with introverts and help them bring their best to any project or team.

I’ve known Lisa for a few years and am more impressed with her as both a business leader and a person every day. She’s a natural storyteller which makes her book a fun and fast read. This would be a great read to fire you up as you get ready to take 2012 by storm.

You can buy the ebook by clicking here.

You can buy the Kindle version by clicking here.

And…you can buy the Nook version by clicking here.

Marketing Insights Question: How are you building your marketing foundation?

December 20, 2011

How are you building your marketing’s foundation?

How are you building your marketing foundation? We’ve talked a lot about the know • like • trust model. If you remember, the final leg of that equation is that consistency creates trust and trust leads to sales.

How do you generate that trust? By building a marketing foundation. And here’s how you go about that.

You do one thing on a regular (daily, weekly or monthly) basis that will add incredible value for your prospects and customers. This is something that, if you stopped doing it or skipped a week — they’d not only notice the absence but they’d actually miss it.

What is the one thing? It’s going to be different for every one of us — depending on our industry, our clientele, our position in the market place, our bandwidth and our organization’s culture.

It could be as simple as an enewsletter or as complex as a podcast where you interview leading experts in your field every week. It might be a cartoon or an ongoing video series.

No matter what form it takes, it must meet these criteria to qualify:

It’s scaleable so as your audience grows, you can include many more people
You are 110% committed to honoring your consistency pledge
It is not a sales piece — this is you creating incredible value
It is shareable (people can pass it along to colleagues somehow, even if that means tacking it up on a bulletin board)
It should be unique to you. Either no one else in your competitive set does something like it or you do it so differently that it stands out

This is going to require some creativity on your part. And some discipline. As soon as an idea starts to sound at all like a sales tool or gimmick, smack yourself. That’s the kiss of death. And it is the mistake 90% of all organizations make. They just can’t resist hinting at or outright asking for the sale.

If you truly adopt this effort — you will create long lasting relationships with clients and prospects. You’ll also create a word of mouth marketing machine, as your audience shares your offerings far and wide.

Start with that first building block…and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ve built something worthwhile.

« Previous 1 … 5 6 7 8 9 … 13 Next »