Are Your Customers Dumping You?

This is a surprisingly good parable put out by Microsoft illustrating the way most companies advertise to their customers and what the customers think about it. This is why customer engagement is so important.

So, You Want to be Steve Jobs

Are you a small business owner? Did you ever question why you are in that business? As in, "I went to college to become an accountant or I was destined to take over the company from my dad. But I sure wish I owned some hip, cool business like Google or Apple."

Okay, we ALL wish we could own some hip, cool business like Google or Apple! But I bet you might have had that thought on a smaller scale. Maybe a motorcycle chop shop, a social media company or an advertising company. The thing is, you probably do have that company now.

Let's watch and listen to Tom Peters explain it. By the way, consider this video as a recruitment tool to your particular industry.

Defining Personal Branding

Personal branding is a hot Internet buzz word. It has been for the last couple of years. To some personal branding means choosing one's own cereal. To others it means applying a hot iron to your favorite head of cattle. And to others it has something to do with marketing one's self...or something like that.

If you were in the personal branding business, do you think that a single, accessible definition of personal branding might be helpful to potential clients? Sure you would! A group of folks in that business thought it might also, so they got together and created this definition:

Personal branding describes the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility, advance their careers, and build self-confidence.

The method in which our group of personal branding experts defined personal branding is fascinating. You're probably familiar with it. They used a Wiki. You've no doubt used a Wiki yourself... as in Wikipedia.org?

Did you ever want to work on a project with people who are scattered about the country, the world? Maybe you're in a business mix group and you'd like to put your collective brains together and come up with a social media policy for your coworkers. Create and use a Wiki. The cool thing about using one is it could be accessible to more folks at your company. This way they can interact with the workers at the other companies and get stuff done.

Here is the Wiki that our experts are using (it can be an ongoing process) to define personal branding.

Interested in starting your own Wiki? Go here.

Photo credit, Yodel Anecdotal

Why Executives HATE Social Media (from DemingHill)

Note:  This excellent white paper on executive resistance to social media and why executives should reconsider is getting a lot of play online.  While it was written for large company executives, it is equally applicable to small business owners.  If you're unsure about social media and consider it a waste of time, it might be worth a small investment of time to read this white paper.

Source:  http://www.deminghill.com/blog

Reprinted With Permission

I’m an executive and I HATE social media.  There, I said it.  It’s finally “out there.”  But before you Twitter a flaming flash mob link to assemble pitchfork-wielding Second Life villagers outside my door, I urge you to take a deep breath, put down your double frappuccino, remove your earpiece, step away from your iPad, and set your iPhasers to stun, for I come in peace.  If you’ve ever wondered why your CEO ALSO hates social media, social networking and, well, socializing in general, I urge you to continue reading.  Just as Fox TV’s Masked Magician series demystified the tricks of the world’s most famous illusionists, I offer the following as both a behind-the-scenes peak and a confessional of sorts, into the mind of the executive.  For to truly understand the conflicting yet predictable stonewalling in this domain, one must search deep below the surface, plumbing the depths of the executive psyche, motivations, and worldviews, for only then will you be able to “crack the code,” engage us in our native tongue and communicate in a vocabulary and language to which we will respond.  Consider this your own personal backstage pass to the inner sanctum of the Executive Suite.

Executive: More Perception Than Position

For starters, the term “executive” isn’t a title as much as it is a mindset or a set of attributes – often leading to career success and the achievement of such rank – but what might surprise most is that this ambition and executive mentality often begins to manifest itself early in life.  For example, while most were partying and hanging out in high school, we were already taking college-level classes while holding down several part time jobs.  And when most were “finding themselves” in college and still deciding on a major after three years, we were serving in student leadership, doing internships, or doubling up on classes to finish college a semester early.  And when most were finally in the workforce, instead of clubbing and playing in multiple softball leagues, we were completing an advanced degree in night school, pursuing professional certifications, and framing out retirement plans.

Executives are high achievers – that’s just how we’re wired.  Give me a mountain and I’ll climb it.  And if you don’t have a mountain, I’ll find my own mountain and I’ll climb it.  And if I can’t find a mountain, I’ll build one – just so I can climb it. But here’s what most people don’t get about executives. Once a CEO climbs a mountain, he doesn’t feel the need to Tweet to the world that he did it.  He doesn’t have the natural desire to blog, “Look what a great climber I am” and include multiple pictures with links to his Facebook and LinkedIn account.  He did it because it’s in his DNA.  He doesn’t require the attention, approval, or applause of others, and therein lies the fundamental source of the problem – executives are non-narcissistic in a YouTube world.  We’re outliers.  In a society that brags, blogs, and Tweets about the tiniest personal minutia, we could care less because, frankly, we expect success, it’s normal to us.  It’s like Vince Lombardi’s admonition to his running back after an overly exuberant display, “Next time you make a touchdown, act like you’ve been there before.”

Eagles Don’t Flock

Executives are “eagles,” and unlike seagulls, eagles don’t flock. We’re not joiners and we’re not groupies, which is why we overwhelmingly prefer challenging single-person sports like running, cycling, weightlifting, and our one concession to “group sports” – golf (which is still technically a single-person sport, but more fun in groups).  Lance Armstrong didn’t win his titles without leaving the peloton, and ditto for greats like Sampras, Tiger, and Arnold.  They had to go above and beyond the group to achieve greatness, and for this reason it truly IS lonely at the top (not that we mind).

Social Networking: The Problem is “Networking”

The reason we hate social networking is the same reason we hate REGULAR networking.  Exchanging small talk for 2 hours in a room full of strangers, with a drink in one hand and a business card in the other, and a “Hi, I’m Doug” nametag peeling off my lapel, and standing – my goodness the standing – and looking unsuccessfully for ANY food with some protein in it, and wondering if this guy with the too-firm handshake is going to see if we can “LinkIn” after sharing an elevator ride, before glancing at my watch and counting the minutes until I can leave and get back to work.  It’s a nightmare.  Why?  Because – surprise, surprise – most executives are actually introverts, who value their time and their privacy and are constantly evaluating the ROI tradeoffs of every hour of every day.  (Quiz:  How many times have you heard a CEO describe himself as a “People Person”?)

To say that we are ANTI-social would be a huge misrepresentation, but when you combine the word “social” with “networking” – let’s just say it sends shivers up my spine.  Do I like the company of others?  Sure I do – but I want the time to be well spent.  Instead of random, shallow, unfocused SMALL talk, CEO’s would much rather sit around with a small group of peers for 2 hours and discuss BIG specific challenges – and their solutions.  In fact, the reason so much business gets done on the golf course is because it’s one of the few places leaders actually congregate and feel relaxed enough to discuss what’s really on their minds.

Social Networking: The Problem is “Social”

The next hurdle for executives with social networking are the implications of the root word “Social”, and, by its very spelling, its association to Socialism. Socialism is defined as, “Any system of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively,” and further, “An economic and political theory based on public ownership or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.”  (At least that’s what someone wrote on Wikipedia). The premise and value of the “social media” movement is the power of the collective in the production, distribution, and ownership of goods, and the reason executives resist this model is that it flies in the face of their existing worldview which, quite frankly, has been pretty successful to date.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Most of us have a pretty big chip on our shoulders, attributing our career success to the years of diligence, education, ambition, delayed gratification and sacrifices we’ve made to reach the leadership levels we’ve achieved.  Therefore, the anti-capitalistic notion that my work and contributions would be homogenized with the uninspired masses, and that ultimately my value would be determined by the randomness of the collective is a jarring and unpalatable departure.  I want to control my company!  I want to control my brand! I want to determine my destiny!  It’s too important to leave it to chance (or simply be outvoted by the uninformed bourgeois)!  Unfortunately and tragically for us executives, the beauty and power of social media is only fully unleashed when we LET IT GO, and that, my friends, is the hardest thing for us to do (…and also explains why we hate checking luggage at the airport).

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

Okay, I promised that this would be a confessional, so here’s a shocker.  Over time, there is a tendency for CEO’s to get inflated EGO’s.  Now granted, a healthy ego can serve as a necessary defense mechanism to provide protection from the relentless attacks from subordinates, peers, and the media, but too much amounts to just plain pride.  We like to think of ourselves as a pretty smart bunch, and our position is such that even if we don’t completely understand something, we often project to our colleagues that we do.  A classic example of this phenomenon transpired during the Enron debacle, where ranks of senior executives refused to admit that they couldn’t comprehend the mechanics of this powerful conglomerate, until it was too late.  It’s the same with new advances in technology, which has accelerated during our careers from “hit or miss” to “mission critical,” going from bricks to clicks and from mortar to mindshare, while serving as a platform for everything from infrastructure, billing, and product development, to security, scheduling, and sales.  The rapid rate of change in digital innovation has caused CEO’s to feel EXTREMELY vulnerable around technology because it is something on which we have become VERY reliant, but which we understand and “control” so little, and this vulnerability leads to fear, and this fear to irrational decisions and suboptimal outcomes.  When CEO’s don’t have the confidence in their staff to delegate, or lack the humility to admit their ignorance regarding technology advances, they get defensive and act out in fear – or fail to act altogether.

Social Media: Justified Fear?

Executives justify their fear of social media by pointing back to a historic drumbeat of disappointment and unfulfilled promises.  They recall with vivid detail the never-ending parade of new online engagement vehicles and “paradigms” introduced over the past 15 years by turtleneck-wearing gurus with names like Kip or Seth, which were then propagated by self-proclaimed “New Economy” experts sporting titles like “Chief Innovation Officer” and “Director of Chaos,” and then championed by sideburn-wearing hipster foot soldiers who never metafilter they didn’t like.  In the 90’s, we were promised that customers would beat a path to our door if we created something called a “web page” and then “posted” it on this thing called the Internet or World Wide Web or something.  Then they convinced us to buy electronic lists and send out “Email Blasts” to our target markets, and next it was a website redesign, push technology, pull technology, exchanged links, partner intranets, eBusiness, eCommerce, blogging, webinars, podcasts, search engine optimization, YouTube videos, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, yada, yada, yada.  Each time they promised that THIS TIME it would be different, and that this new product/protocol/portal/potion would somehow (magically??) drive revenue, increase efficiency, and optimize utilization (or some other buzz word or invented metric).  You told me to blog, so I blogged.  You told me to Twitter, so I Tweeted.  What’s it going to be tomorrow – scan my body into a mashup simulator to create a hologram so I can telepresence myself into sales calls in Madrid via FourSquare using Flickr?  All I know is that I’ve spent a LOT of time and money on a series of disjointed initiatives and campaigns and so far NONE have performed as advertised.

Don’t Feed Me Another Fad

Look, executives aren’t that complicated.  While I can handle the many nuanced “grey areas” of business leadership, I prefer to see things in black and white; victories and defeats; profits and losses.   I don’t mind making significant, strategic multi-year investments and committing to enterprise-wide initiatives which will improve the future performance of my company – in fact, I ENJOY it – what do you think got me to the Executive Suite in the first place?  Just don’t insult me.  I don’t want to waste any more time or money on the hype of  “the next big thing” or the newest tool or toy, only to be disappointed when the latest flash-in-the-pan fad fades and goes the way of Harvard Graphics.  It’s not that I have a fear of commitment – frankly, it’s just the OPPOSITE!  I have a healthy fear and distaste for doing things randomly just to be doing something; or because someone saw an article in USA Today, or CNBC did a story on it, or out of fear that I’ll be the last one in my circle to “get on board.”  (Believe me, the things that keep me up at night can’t be solved in 140 characters or less).  The truth is, I would LOVE to commit to social media in a significant way, but so far nobody in my organization has stepped forward with a cerebral, strategic, multi-generational, integrated, systematic, and sustainable methodology and roadmap for synergistically capitalizing on this medium over the long haul.

Your Network is Your Net Worth

Executives are uniquely conflicted because we know better than anyone the power of relationships, and the truth of the old axiom, “Your network is your net worth,” yet we are inherently introverts, and gravitate towards solitude versus socializing.  We understand on an intellectual level that none of us individually are “too big to fail,” and that even the Lone Ranger had Tonto and Batman had Robin, yet we find initiating conversations and exchanges with others to be draining, distracting, and exhausting rather than invigorating and inspiring.  Hence we yearn; as a group we pine; for deep within our heart of hearts burns a great bright hope that somehow and in some way this social media movement or platform or culture or whatever could be harnessed and leveraged to cross that chasm and create valuable, authentic exchanges and relevant, real-time dialogue with stakeholders of all persuasions. If we could just develop an all-encompassing framework for how this would integrate into our enterprise-wide strategy, and manage it like a mission-critical project (complete with milestones, deliverables and accountability instead of fuzzy metrics like “buzz”), I am supremely confident that we could achieve escape velocity and – for the first time – truly establish and be able to articulate a synergistic, sustainable, and quantifiable strategy for leveraging “Best-In-Class” social media options to achieve desired corporate outcomes and maximize financial returns.

A Gift From Media To You

You know, it’s interesting.  Somewhere in the convoluted catharsis of composing this confessional, I came to a surprising realization.  Maybe I don’t HATE social media after all.  Maybe I just hate the Quixotic context in which most social media conversations exist, featuring a perpetually moving target, combined with an obsessive, cult-like worship of the default worldview, “If Something is New = It Must Be Good”, and where subjective criteria like “mindshare” and “impressions” are considered quantifiable deliverables and irrefutable barometers of success.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s high time that a C-level individual engaged this topic, and – once and for all –created a high-level overview and synopsis, crystallizing all of the strategic benefits and critical value streams, and distilling them into a language that speaks to executives everywhere in our native tongue – bottom line stakeholder value.  So here you go.  I’ve done the work for you.  What follows is an “Executive Summary” of my findings.

Social Media Value #1:  Unfiltered Feedback

As you already know, some of the scarcest (rarest) yet most valuable information a CEO can obtain is honest, unfiltered feedback.  Think about it.  You interact all day with managers, employees, and handlers working to keep the boss happy and therefore keep their job.  Sure, being surrounded by “Yes men” can be more comfortable, but it can also insulate you from the stark realities of your business.  If done correctly, social media enables CEO’s to hear raw, candid feedback from real people – people who aren’t afraid of being fired because they CAN’T be fired.  The truth is, leaders with their ego in check are already fully aware that they work for the customer – the customer is his boss – so if the customer doesn’t like dropped calls on their iPhone or the sauce on their Domino’s pizza, it’s their job to make it better.  Now, every customer is not always right (or wrong), but if 850 out of 1000 user comments say that the new Sketcher’s Sport shoe caused them to sprain their ankle, then something needs to be fixed – and FAST!  CoolCleveland’s Founder Thomas Mulready is a perfect example of a CEO with this customer orientation.  After emailing out his weekly eMagazine for 7 years, he decided that it needed to be updated, and set about introducing a new format with much fanfare.  In doing so, he also did something revolutionary – he asked all 90,000 of his readers for feedback on what they thought of the new style – and boy did they reply with scores of comments submitted over the span of a few days. But then he did something else revolutionary – he actually listened, modifying and improving the new site to reflect reader tastes and preferences.  Yes, it takes humility (“Who are these people to give ME feedback?  I invented this product! Don’t they know they can just click the links?) but the end result is an engaged audience who now feel genuinely empowered to provide even MORE feedback, emboldened by the knowledge that their  comments actually impact (and can improve) the end product.

Social Media Value #2:  Authenticity

Hand-in-hand with the unfiltered feedback above is the ability to leverage social media to authentically communicate with your employees, partners, customers (and non-customers), investors, and media, directly engaging ALL of your brand ambassadors efficiently and economically.  Rather than layers of staff, spokespeople, and sterile press releases, social media now offers an elegant and effective medium for disseminating information either “straight from the heart” or “straight from the horses’ mouth” depending on your preferred idiom. Dan Gilbert’s recent LeBron James “rant” would qualify as both, capturing the owners’ anger, frustration, and competitive resolve just moments after James’ announced his departure.  As you’ve probably noticed, NOBODY can tell the company story and embody the company brand like the CEO (think Steve Jobs) and by offering the ability to immediately and directly engage stakeholders – whether on a typical day, during a product launch, and/or especially during a time of crisis – social media provides an invaluable medium for maximizing brand value and minimizing potential brand degradation.  Social media helps firms “Keep it real” but couches it in a positive brand-reinforcing context.

Social Media Value #3: Six Sigma (Low Cost)

In case you were wondering, executives LOVE things like Six Sigma because, 1. It reminds us of our Greek fraternity days in college, 2.  The other soccer Dad’s don’t understand Value Stream Mapping, and 3. Six Sigma and lean processes are all about SPEED and COST SAVINGS, two of our favorite topics.  By its very architecture, social media is positioned to leverage firms’ Six Sigma orientation by expediting interactions, exchanges, customer service, feedback loops, product launches, marketing, and advertising, AND enabling it at a fraction of the cost of traditional media, to a much more targeted audience, and in a far more nuanced and contextual value exchange.  Social media options allow your message distribution format to evolve from shotgun to sniper, from billboard to message board, and from broadcast to narrowcast.  PLUS, it takes your marketing posture from a one-way, blanketing, bullhorn approach to a more intimate, just-in-time interaction; offering the opportunity for a more detailed, valuable and more PROFITABLE conversation and connection with your audience (and you don’t need a Black Belt to do it).

Social Media Value #4:  Balancing Transparency AND Privacy

The only thing worse than NOT using social media tools is using them in the WRONG way.  Your firm could very easily invest time and money on social media, and then end up spending even MORE time and money doing damage control because you did it wrong the first time – talk about a lose-lose situation.  With social media, there’s a “right way” and a “wrong way” to do things – so if you’re GOING to do it, do it RIGHT.  Remember, anywhere-anytime-anyone social media channels must be handled as the “nuclear options” that they are, with the capability to destroy your brand value in a single Twitter, email, or YouTube video that goes viral.

With great power comes great responsibility, and a healthy respect for the global reach and impact of social media must emanate directly from the CEO, who knows better than anyone that the same programs allowing firms to connect and influence the marketplace can also be turned against you to alienate them.  And just as social media can provide the market with a transparent window into the soul of your company, it can also showcase you at your worst, doing more harm than good.  Let’s face it, your firm is ALREADY dabbling in social media as it is – so you might as well manage your risk and liability by codifying corporate expectations, establishing specific ground rules, and educating your stakeholders regarding proper use of these seemingly innocent yet powerful tools.

Social Media Value #5: Supporting Statistics

Executives rely on market research to support and substantiate any designated course of action, and devour facts, stats, and data-points like shrimp at a wedding reception.  Summarized below are a few statistics buttressing the explosion of this social media trend, and detailing how Corporate America is leveraging it to realize significant revenue and market share growth going forward.

• In the last 7 years, Internet usage has increased 70% PER YEAR. Spending for digital advertising this year will be more than $25 billion and surpass print advertising spending (forever)

• Lenovo has experienced a 20% reduction in activity to their call center since they launched their community website for customers

• Blendtec quintupled sales with its “Will it Blend” series on YouTube

• Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

• Naked Pizza set a one-day sales record using social media: 68% of their sales came via twitter and 85% of their new customers

• Software company Genius.com reports 24% of social media leads convert to sales opportunities

• Dell has already made over $7 million in sales via Twitter

• 37% of Generation Y heard about the Ford Fiesta via social media BEFORE its launch in the US and currently 25% of Ford’s marketing budget is spent on digital/social media

• 71% of companies plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40%

• A recent Wetpaint/Altimeter Group study found companies that widely engage in social media surpass their peers in both revenue and profit

(Sources for Statistics: meyersreport.com lenovosocial.com George Wright Blendtec Mashable.com econsultancy.com businessweek.com )




Getting Your Board On Board


Lest we forget, even the Boss has a Boss – they’re called the Board of Directors – and these are the people that recruit and hire CEO’s for the purpose of serving as a charismatic and visionary leader of their organization.  And so I urge you, don’t disappoint them when it comes to leveraging social media within your organization.  The “Bang for the Buck” value proposition is too compelling to ignore, and the fact is – your competitors are already entering this arena and establishing new service baseline norms and minimum threshold expectations – so standing still amounts to losing ground and therefore is not an option.  What you need is a plan.




An Offer You Can’t Refuse


My associates and I are going to go out on a limb and try something a little crazy, something we’ve never done before.  We are going to offer senior leaders an exclusive, live, invitation-only Executive Briefing entitled“Maximizing Your Social Media Strategy” and presented by the top brass at DemingHill.  This executive-to-executive webinar will feature a deep-dive into the ROI and business case for leveraging social media, and will allow participants to ask questions and interact real-time with the authors of this article. (Because there is no charge, we must limit this event to executives and/or members of their management teams. Held August 10 & 11th).


Do I STILL hate social media?  No, BUT I’m only going to embrace it on the “executive terms” that have served me so well to this point in my career and they are, “If you’re going to do something, go ALL IN and do it right.”  From now on, all social media, social marketing, and social networking will be discussed in the context – not of a CAMPAIGN (which starts and ends) – but as part of an ongoing, strategic, and systematic DIALOG with our stakeholders and marketplace.


Executives have the focus and vision to roadmap strategies playing out 3, 5, and 10 years into the future.  But, we’re also “plodders” and are comfortable with short, measured, consistent steps – day in and day out – as long as we know that they are aligned with reaching a desired goal.  When we discuss your social media strategy, the focus will be on consistency and sustainability over the long haul.  Remember, executives don’t have the ego needs, risk profiles, or the TIME to be on the bleeding edge, or even the cutting edge.  We just want it to work.


I can confidently predict that every month for the next 100 years there will be a new “Must Have” application, portal or community that one of your employees will discover, and then try to convince you that your company will implode if you don’t immediately join, link, or Retweet.  In five years, all but three of these ideas will probably be forgotten.  During our meeting, we will discuss how to frame out an enterprise-wide social media strategy, predicated on the foundation of proven tools and that have stood the test of time and offer “Best-In-Class” results, so that you will be empowered to handle these conversations proactively in the context of a larger roadmap, rather than reacting to these weekly ambushes in a dismissive defensive way.  Remember, our goal for social media is not a lark, but a LIFESTYLE, and work-shopping a strategy which builds on stable, scalable tools, yet also affords the flexibility to address unprecedented “Black Swan” technology developments, provides you with a welcome buffer from being whipsawed by a weekly website.  Between the two of us, we’ll finally take that reliable “80/20 Rule” and apply it to social media, and then spend time focusing on the 80% of stakeholder value that can be extracted with 20% of the effort (while knowingly and purposefully ignoring the remaining 20% of value which takes up 80% of the effort).




The Bottom Line


In the Forward of Geoffrey Moore’s bestseller “Crossing the Chasm” Regis McKenna writes:


“Fundamentally, marketing must refocus away from selling product and toward creating relationships. Customers don’t like to be ‘owned’ if that implies lack of choice or freedom. But they do like to be ‘owned’ if what that means is a vendor taking ongoing responsibility for the success of their joint ventures.  Ownership in this sense means an abiding commitment and a strong sense of mutuality in the development of the marketplace. When customers encounter this kind of ownership, they tend to become fanatically loyal to their supplier, which in turns builds a stable economic base for profitability and growth.”


While there will always be a “me” in media – social media, social marketing, and social networking tools were designed to work best as a conduit for enabling information exchange, establishing a dialog, and creating a two-way conversation with your audience.  At the end of the day, social media is simply about creating and maintaining relationships – and even and executive can do that.


Authors:

Douglas J. O’Bryon- MBA

Chief Marketing Officer VendorCert

Nathan Kievman- MBA

Chief Executive Officer DemingHill

Randy Schrum

Executive Vice President DemingHill

Customer Dog

Over the weekend, I stopped by a pet store to pick up some dog food. Outside the pet store, one of the Animal Rescue Societies had set up, and was giving away dogs. I noticed a small dog, with long floppy ears. This was the goofy, lovable dog that seemed to have the traits of a half dozen breeds.

“Ah, the classic American mutt,” I said, reaching down to pet the dog.

“I’ll have you know that’s a special breed of dog,” said a volunteer with Hank on his nametag. “Everybody wants him, but they often overlook him.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of breed is this?”

“It’s a customer dog.”

“A customer dog?”

“Yep. Well, I should say he *was* a customer dog. Right now, he’s gone back to being a prospect dog, but he wants to be a customer dog again.”

“So he was a customer dog, but is now a prospect dog and wants to become a customer dog again. I see,” I said, though I didn’t know what the guy was talking about.

Read More at Contracting Business

A Dozen Miscellaneous, Marketing No Brainers - Part I

When you’re busy running a business, it’s easy to overlook low hanging fruit. We don’t do some of the simple things that would make our lives easier, companies better, and marketing more effective. Here are 12 miscellaneous no-brainers.


1. Create a Facebook Fan Page

Facebook has passed Yahoo for traffic and is closing in on Google. It keeps users engaged more than three times as long as Google and Yahoo. You can create a fan page for your business for FREE. Why don’t you? Put coupons on the page every week. Recruit your customers, family, friends, and employees as fans. Encourage them to recruit their friends.


2. Collect Customer Emails & Market to Them

Everyone may be overloaded with email, but we still use it and still read it. If you can collect your customers’ email addresses, you dramatically reduce the cost of communicating with them. Unfortunately, some people will give you their social security number before their email address. You must give people a good reason.

Based on a member suggestion, the Service Roundtable created a great script and employee bio form for collecting email addresses. The call taker informs the customer she wants to send the customer a bio and a picture of the technician who will be coming to her house and asks for an email address. People usually provide the email address. The bio offers the added benefit of providing potential points of commonality with the technician (e.g., the homeowner who volunteers for the humane society will instantly connect with the technician who works with an animal rescue organization).

Other contractors simply ask for an email address so the call taker can send the customer a coupon she can use on the current call. In essence, the company is buying the email address with a discount.

Sometimes all you need is a good newsletter and people will give you their email address without much prompting. It works. The Service Roundtable is a seven figure company that largely evolved from the Comanche Marketing email list.


3. Complete Your Local Search Profile

Local search is becoming more prominent with Google and the other search engines (e.g., local.google.com). Claim your business name and location (it will be verified), fill out the complete information, and encourage customer reviews. It will give you better billing in the “ten pack” of local search results. Again, the cost is FREE.


4. Create a List of Your Prestigious Reference Jobs, Including Pictures

When we purchased our pool, the company we initially selected had done work for several local professional football players. It made the pool contractor seem like a safer choice. Work you’ve done for well known people in your community or on well-known buildings will make your company seem like a safe choice for equipment installations, remodels, and project work. When consumers are spending thousands of dollars, being the safe choice may make the difference between winning and losing a job.

Write up a list of your prestigious work. Include pictures as evidence. Make this a part of your sales presentation.


5. Make Everyone a Winner For Contests and Drawings

When you hold a contest or drawing to give something away at a home show or otherwise, give everyone “honorable mention,” which is a gift certificate with your company. A gift certificate is little more than a coupon that people keep.


6. Include a Call to Action

Any advertising or marketing you do should inform the prospect of the actions you want him to take. In other words, advertising and marketing should always include a call to action. Give the prospect specific instructions…

Visit our website…
Call now…
Ask for…

NEXT WEEK: Part II

Business Card Marketing

One of the simplest and lowest cost forms of marketing can be surprisingly effective. It’s the business card. It’s amazing how many companies underutilize business cards. Their cards are plain, containing little more than basic contact information, the same information that’s available from an online Yellow Pages. A decade into the 21st century, they’re using 20th century business cards.

Click to Read the Article in Contractor Magazine & Get The Marketing Ideas

Understanding Graphic Design

This is a good presentation on graphic design fundamentals. If you're not familiar with these, you might want to page through it a couple of times. Follow these simple rules and your marketing material will improve, whether you do it or simply approve the work done by others.

Trends in Local Marketing For 2010

This is a good presentation on local marketing trends. It's consistent with the things I see.



The presentation was created by Balihoo, which helps national companies who market through franchisees and dealer organizations get their dealers to market the national brand. For franchises who share the national brand this makes sense all the way around.

Dealers with their own brands who lack local exclusivity with the national brand need to carefully evaluate the value of promoting brand they do not own. If the co-op is sufficient and/or the competition is sparse and/or the public cares about the national brand, promoting your affiliation may make sense.

However, I would still build the local brand first. After all, it's the only brand you own, the only brand you solely benefit from, and the only brand that cannot be take from you.

Top 10 Cities For Coupons

The top ten cities for coupons according to Coupons Inc are:

1. Atlanta, GA 918 Index (100 = National Average)
2. Tampa, FL 522
3. Cincinnati, OH 511
4. Saint Louis, MO 468
5. Minneapolis, MN 351
6. Nashville, TN 308
7. Charlotte, NC 306
8. Cleveland, OH 272
9. Pittsburgh, PA 254
10. Kansas City, MO 254

Atlanta residents are 9.18 times more likely than the average citizen to redeem coupons. 

Google Executive Offers Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips.

This 10 minute interview was shot at a conference in 2007, so it's somewhat dated, but the advice is still relevant and clearly explained. A lot of search engine optimization (SEO) is really simple. Provide good content for users in a manner that the search engines can read.

Note the emphasis on local search through Google. At the Service Roundtable we've been pushing contractors to stress local search and have offered several tools to help.

Incredible Promotional Video Goes Viral

To promote reading, the New Zealand Book Council commissioned a stop motion video where Maurice Gee's book, Going West, literally comes out of the page.  This was a stop motion video that was all hand cut.  It consists of 3,000 frames and took eight months.  The camera work was done by a pair of single lens reflex cameras.

Imagine someone with a 10-A surgical knife making each cut by hand, positioning the paper, setting the lighting, and snapping the shot. I wonder how much it cost.

The video was designed to be shown in theaters and packaged on DVDs. Thus, it was designed for visual venues to encourage reading. As such, it's been highly effective.

A bonus for the New Zealand Book Council has been the viral nature of the video. It's been seen around the world and probably has near universal penetration in New Zealand.

Take a look. It's incredible...

Marketing Budgeting and Planning

During a contractor panel, Ben Stark was asked how much he budgeted for advertising and marketing. The contractors were interested because Ben built a large, prosperous company in a relatively short time. He employs over 30 people and has over 3500 service agreements.

Ben said his target was 6%, but laughed at the number. In 2008, he spent 8%. Last year he spent 9%.

He went on to explain that he bumped his advertising because of the economy. Good companies do that. They spend more on marketing during times when it's harder to find customers, not less. To retrench is to spiral down.

Ben noted that he's spent a much higher percentage than today. When he was starting out, marketing consumed 14% of his sales.

Steve McKee, president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland Advertising, which helps stalled companies kick sales to a higher level, is the author of "When Growth Stalls." Writing in BusinessWeek, McKee noted:

If you're in a services business, you might want to bump your starting point higher than 5%. For example, like most professional services firms, my company is more margin-oriented than volume-oriented, so fueling its growth requires that we spend a higher percentage of our revenues. Last year, our number was just over 8%, and I've seen companies spend upwards of 15% when warranted—especially young companies that need to invest to build their brand.

It sounds like Ben knows what he's doing (no surprise for those familiar with Ben or his company). Of course the budget will vary based on the nature of the company. McKee explains:

Volume-driven companies tend to spend a tiny percentage of sales on marketing, in part because their large revenues enable small contributions to add up fast, and in part because of the margin pressures they face in having to compete with other high volume companies. By contrast, margin-driven companies tend to spend a larger percentage of sales on marketing: They have room in their margins to afford it, and they're often working from a smaller revenue base.

The bigger question might be, "How do you spend it?"

The Service Roundtable recommends breaking your marketing budget down into three general areas...

1. Customer acquisition

2. Customer retention

3. Increasing your average ticket

The first two, getting and keeping customers, are obvious. Increasing your average ticket? Actually, this can be one of the most important marketing efforts you will make. Increasing your average ticket means dropping more to the bottom line on every call.

You can increase your average ticket by marketing add-on products and services on service calls. The marketing investment might be limited to producing a series of flyers for distribution to the customer in the field. Or, you could produce a full-fledged DVD explaining the wonderful things you can do for the customer and ask the customer to play it during the diagnostic or repair.

You can increase your average ticket by using financing to lower the monthly payments for homeowners so they are able to spend more. Every addition gross profit dollar drops straight to the bottom line. The marketing investment might be to buy down the interest rate or to offer 12 months same as cash.

How much you allocate towards each of the three areas of focus depends on the nature and position of your company. If your company is established, with lots of loyal customers, you will probably spend more on retention than acquisition. If your company is in a growth mode, you will stress new customer acquistion. And everyone should try to increase the average sale.

What's your marketing budget for 2010? What percent will you spend on customer acquisition? On retention? On increasing your average ticket? How much per month?

You can build your own spreadsheet, allocating your budget by month, focus, and ultimately program. The result is a marketing calendar designed specifically for your company.

Shameless plug... The Service Roundtable recently created a Marketing Planning Wizard for HVAC and Plumbing that streamlines and simplifies the process, guiding people step-by-step. It comes with the standard $50 monthly membership. If you're a plumbing or air conditioning company, check it out. Or call Liz Patrick, toll free at 877.262.3341 and ask or a free tour.

Seated at the Window

"Is it open?" my daughter asked when we found it. 

It was a particular restaurant my wife had read a good review about.  A glance through the windows revealed a number of set tables, but no one inside.  This was a far cry from the hustle and bustle of take-out and counter places one block over.  My family hesitated to walk in.

"Well," I said, "The sign says it's open from 11:00 to 11:00.  Let's go in."

We gathered at the entrance and waited for a man in the far corner to notice us and offer seating.  He was hunched over a newspaper muttering to himself.

"Excuse me," my wife half-shouted.  "Are you open?"

Startled, he sprang to his feet.  "Yes, yes, we're open," he said in heavily accented English.  "How many in party?"

"Party of four," I answered.

"Here, sit by window," the waiter said, direcing us to the one table where everyone could look out the window.

We were the only people in the restaurant, which doesn't usually bode well.  "The locals are supposed to frequent this restaurant," my wife said.  "I guess there's all still shopping."

"It's four in the afternoon," my oldest daughter pointed out.  "It's too late for lunch and too early for dinner.  That's why no one's here."

Whatever the reason for the scarcity of clientele, the food was excellent.  As I watched people pass by on the sidewalk, I asked my family, "Why do you think he seated us by the window?"

"Is this another one of your dumb jokes?" asked my youngest.  Everyone looked at me accusingly.

"No seriously," I said, "Why are we seated at the window?  It's not that the waiter was being nice."

Clearly no one was going to reply, so I answered my own question.  "It's to make the restaurant look like there's people here.  Seeing people in the window draws others."

They got it.  They remembered the hesitancy they felt when we walked up to an empty restaurant.  For most people, the only thing worse than a restaurant with long lines is a restaurant with empty tables.  We all tend to be herd-like or tribe-like.  Most people don't want to be the first to try something.  It's why we prefer to patronize popular businesses or seek companies that have been highly recommended.  Absent the good review and we may not have walked through the doors of the empty restaurant.  The waiter knew this.  He knew that people drew more people, which is why we were seated at the window.

So what about your business?  How can you seat people at the window?  How can you seat people at the window if your business doesn't really have a window?

Here are three ways to "seat people at the window" of your business:

1. Include lots of customer testimonials on your website.  It's amazing to me how many times I walk into a contractor's business and see glowing testimonials framed on the wall.  These are often inspirational to read and suggest this is the type of company anyone would want to do business with.  So why aren't they on the website where other potential customers might read them?  Why aren't they seated in the window?
   
   
2. Use yard signs.  Don't limit the use of yard signs to major jobs.  Use them on every service call.  A growing number of companies are following the lead of Hal Smith from Halco in Rochester, NY and are "paying people" to rent their yards for a month after every service call.  At the conclusion of the call, the Halco plumber or technician asks the homeowner if he would like to take another $10 off the final invoice by renting his yard for a month.  The plumber then explains to the curious homeowner that he can save another $10 by allow Halco to leave a yard sign in his yard for a month.  If the homeowner agrees, the plumber earns a $5 spiff.  Most do.  For $18 a customer ($10 discount + $5 spiff + $3 disposable yard sign), Halco is seating people at the window.
   
   
3. Create a Facebook fan page for your company.  When your customers become fans of your Facebook page, they are seating themselves at the window of your company.  Encourage Facebook fans by making special offers and providing unique news to your company's Facebook fans.

Seat people at the window.

Al Ries on Logo Shapes

What shape should is right for a logo? Marketing expert Al Ries suggests a ratio of 1 X 2-1/4.

Philip Kotler on Marketing

Philip Kotler is the top academic marketer in the world. He's marketing's counterpart to Peter Drucker. In this six minute video delivered at the London Business Forum, Kotler explains the difference between product management, brand management, and customer management.

The Continuing Relevance of Direct Mail

I ran across a good article by Herb Torgersen, president of Direct Innovations, about direct mail in the magazine, Direct. For small business, direct mail remains a great way to market, even as other forms of traditional marketing are losing their punch. Here's part of what Torgersen had to say...

It's an understatement to say the ability to reach consumers with a targeted message through mass media has become fragmented. Audience share on the big three networks has diminished considerably, cable options are endless, magazine and newspaper circ is down, and audience shares for radio have also taken a dip.

Through it all direct mail—if done properly—has continued to consistently produce return on investment on a consistent basis. The sheer amount of databases available enables any marketer to precisely pinpoint their audience. If marketers continue to apply the tried and true "principle of affinity"—a common denominator between product, offer and audience—they will no doubt be able to acquire new customers.

Read the rest of Torgersen's article.

Keep customers out of the Yellow Pages

From my latest Contractor column...

Whatever your opinion is on the Yellow Pages as a way to get new customers, you probably want to keep existing customers away from the Yellow Pages and all of your competitors' ads. Here's eight simple ways to keep them out of the Yellow Pages.

Read more at Contractor Magazine.

Personally, I'm kinda proud I got called a marketing "authority." Someone needs to tell my wife and kids I'm an "authority." They don't know.

The Social Media Leap of Faith

My new "Rant" is out...

Social media is sweeping the business community. Ford Motors, for example, is spending 25% of its marketing budget on digital/social media. Yet most contractors are slow to adopt it. Stunningly, there's apparently no shortage of industry skeptics willing to speak out and shout down digital technologies, proclaiming everything this side of email to be a fad.

Read More At ContractingBusiness.com

12 Ways To Build Memorability