Where I come from, when you say brand, people immediately think about a dusty corral with a large group of new calves just brought down from the foothills huddling in one corner. Someone ropes the closest calf, drags him out into the middle of the pen close to a small fire with a couple iron handles sticking out of it. The calf is thrown onto his side, castrated, then the hot iron is pressed against his fleshy backside muscles. Antiseptic salve is applied to all his new wounds, he's given an injection, an ear tag is clipped on, then he's released to scamper back to the group.
No wonder they are huddled tightly in the corner.
This brand becomes a visible scar that the animal wears for the remainder of his short life before he becomes a freezer full of juicy hamburger, steaks, roasts and sausage.
When you think about branding a business, the process is not nearly as cut and dried, pun intended.
A brand is much more than a symbol that you hope people will recognize and associate with your product or service. To build a brand you have to be ready to invest time, money and research.
First, you have to answer a few questions.
What do you know about your customers?
Where does your company fit into their needs and wants?
What makes you different from your competitors?
Create a picture in your mind of the ideal target customer.
What do they wear? Where do they live? What do they eat? Where does their money come from? What outside influences impact their daily lives?
Ok, now develop a slogan, or individual selling statement (ISS).
Your ISS has to offer a solution for your customers.
It has to offer them a perceived value.
It has to imply that you are the ONLY solution out there.
Once you have an ISS in mind, it's time to develop a logo. This is what you are going to burn into your company's ass to make it instantly recognizable to your customers.
The logo has to create a clear idea or image about your company that must be consistent with your ISS.
The visual brand is not just your logo. It is the colors you select and the font you choose to use.
Now it's time to build your reputation. Customer service, value and more customer service are the keys.
You don't necessarily have to have the best prices to build a successful brand. Companies like Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, BMW and Macintosh all built successful brands around products that were much more expensive than their competitors. They built a brand around superior and specialized products that gave customers a good feeling when they shelled out twice the going price for their products.
For their customers, price point implied quality, status and good taste.
Other companies centered their brands around value. Wal-Mart, PayLess Shoes, and, in the beginning of their onslaught on the American car market, Toyota and Datsun (Nissan) offered cheaper products. Their brands were built through a growth of trust and credibility. Smaller businesses can use the same concepts. The steakhouse/cantina downtown can create a brand by making his place become the spot to be seen among the local movers and shakers. By the same token, the sandwich shop on the corner can build a brand around affordable, fast lunches for the working class.
Once you have started down the road to branding you have to go back to marketing basics. You have to advertise and attract business. The primary branding rule in visual and audio advertising is to keep your message consistent. In order to do this you have to be absolutely certain that you have created the brand that's going to work for you. You can't be consistent if you keep changing the message, or fonts or brand colors or ISS.
Keep the branding message consistent. Offer consistently excellent customer service and provide a product or service that's relevant to your customers.
In other words, don't slip when applying the iron, make sure the cuts are clean, make sure the calves have plenty to eat, their water's clear, and your fences are tight.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Guerilla Marketing - Cheap, Easy, Fun, Effective
The term guerilla, according to Merriam-Webster is derived from the Spanish word, "guerra" meaning "war." So, the word, guerilla, is the boiled down version of guerrilla, or, one who engages in war. Over the years, the term has been used to describe those small bands of fighters who use unconventional tactics of hit and run to harass and demoralize a larger, opposing force.
If you believe a ton of higher educated people than me who are just a Guerilla Marketing Google search away claim that Guerilla Marketing was invented by Jay Conrad Levinson in and around 1983. I think NOT.
Levinson may have coined the phrase in his 1983 book Guerrilla Marketing, but, come on... we've been guerilla marketing since the ice age.
When the first muktuk maker started handing out free samples in front of his igloo, guerilla marketing was born.
What is it?
It's viral, buzzy and when pushed to it's most extreme form, is extremely effective.
If you have your logo on the side of your company car, you are a guerilla marketer. Which reminds me of a funny tale, one that works along the lines of my previous entry that talks about never allowing the owner to dictate your marketing. I worked marketing for a guy who had a fleet of company trucks, he spent a good deal of money placing his logo's catch phrases and contact information on all his trucks. He allowed his staff to take the vehicles home with the understanding that they were allowed to . He wanted me to come up with a plan to help him brand his company. I suggested a blitz of local boards, some corporate sponsorships of local events, a solid pr campaign, all efforts to get more visibility for the company. Then, one day he saw one of his trucks at Wal-Mart on a Saturday and decided that his employees were taking advantage of the company truck privilege and it was costing him money. So, he installed GPS trackers on every truck and subscribed to a tracking service. This was all very expensive. Much more expensive than the cost of an occasional trip to the local market, or a side trip to Pizza Hut on the way home. Anyway, he tripped over a dollar to pick up a dime. Having his highly visible trucks all over town, in busy parking lots, at high school sporting events and rolling through busy intersections was the best branding opportunity he had. Never let the owner of the company dictate marketing.
I digress... Guerilla marketing... I saw a paintless dent repair company out in the Lowes parking lot after a major hailstorm sticking waterproof business cards under windshield wipers. Genius!!
A newly-opened restaurant in my old home town set up a booth on the opening morning at a local three day bike rally. They claimed to have the "best breakfast burritos in town". They must have given away thousands of them. They walked through the crowd with a little red wagon, just handing them out. For the next two days, the restaurant was packed, and whenever someone rides through town on their bike, guess where they stop to eat?
Guerilla marketing... it's cheap, it's easy, and it's effective.
Maybe I'll post some ideas. Please leave your ideas in the comments section.
If you believe a ton of higher educated people than me who are just a Guerilla Marketing Google search away claim that Guerilla Marketing was invented by Jay Conrad Levinson in and around 1983. I think NOT.
Levinson may have coined the phrase in his 1983 book Guerrilla Marketing, but, come on... we've been guerilla marketing since the ice age.
When the first muktuk maker started handing out free samples in front of his igloo, guerilla marketing was born.
What is it?
It's viral, buzzy and when pushed to it's most extreme form, is extremely effective.
If you have your logo on the side of your company car, you are a guerilla marketer. Which reminds me of a funny tale, one that works along the lines of my previous entry that talks about never allowing the owner to dictate your marketing. I worked marketing for a guy who had a fleet of company trucks, he spent a good deal of money placing his logo's catch phrases and contact information on all his trucks. He allowed his staff to take the vehicles home with the understanding that they were allowed to . He wanted me to come up with a plan to help him brand his company. I suggested a blitz of local boards, some corporate sponsorships of local events, a solid pr campaign, all efforts to get more visibility for the company. Then, one day he saw one of his trucks at Wal-Mart on a Saturday and decided that his employees were taking advantage of the company truck privilege and it was costing him money. So, he installed GPS trackers on every truck and subscribed to a tracking service. This was all very expensive. Much more expensive than the cost of an occasional trip to the local market, or a side trip to Pizza Hut on the way home. Anyway, he tripped over a dollar to pick up a dime. Having his highly visible trucks all over town, in busy parking lots, at high school sporting events and rolling through busy intersections was the best branding opportunity he had. Never let the owner of the company dictate marketing.
I digress... Guerilla marketing... I saw a paintless dent repair company out in the Lowes parking lot after a major hailstorm sticking waterproof business cards under windshield wipers. Genius!!
A newly-opened restaurant in my old home town set up a booth on the opening morning at a local three day bike rally. They claimed to have the "best breakfast burritos in town". They must have given away thousands of them. They walked through the crowd with a little red wagon, just handing them out. For the next two days, the restaurant was packed, and whenever someone rides through town on their bike, guess where they stop to eat?
Guerilla marketing... it's cheap, it's easy, and it's effective.
Maybe I'll post some ideas. Please leave your ideas in the comments section.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Local business must use print
Okay... I touched a nerve. A friend of mine who owns a successful weekly newspaper took offense to my implications that print advertising wasn't producing results. Apologies...
The fact of the matter is local businesses who need to get the word out have no better vehicle than the local paper. But be smart in you implementation.
You gotta' have a plan. Don't think that just because you drop a business card ad in the paper, customers are gonna line up outside your store.
You need to know who your customers are, and what you are trying to sell them. Then you need to craft a message that will work in print.
One of the biggest mistakes I see when people run print ads, is T. M. I.
They try and disseminate waaaaaay to much information.
For example... you bought a large quantity widgets from a supplier at a great price. You regularly sell these for $50 a piece, but got them a such a great price you can afford to undercut your widget competition and sell them for $25. Great strategy so far, right?
So you contact the paper and set up an advertising plan that spans the next couple of months and involves a quarter page ad a week. This represents a significant investment, but if you can move all those widgets, you'll turn a healthy profit, gain some new customers, get local exposure and do some vitally important local branding for your company.
A simple, white-space intensive ad that says in BIG block letters...
The fact of the matter is local businesses who need to get the word out have no better vehicle than the local paper. But be smart in you implementation.
You gotta' have a plan. Don't think that just because you drop a business card ad in the paper, customers are gonna line up outside your store.
You need to know who your customers are, and what you are trying to sell them. Then you need to craft a message that will work in print.
One of the biggest mistakes I see when people run print ads, is T. M. I.
They try and disseminate waaaaaay to much information.
For example... you bought a large quantity widgets from a supplier at a great price. You regularly sell these for $50 a piece, but got them a such a great price you can afford to undercut your widget competition and sell them for $25. Great strategy so far, right?
So you contact the paper and set up an advertising plan that spans the next couple of months and involves a quarter page ad a week. This represents a significant investment, but if you can move all those widgets, you'll turn a healthy profit, gain some new customers, get local exposure and do some vitally important local branding for your company.
A simple, white-space intensive ad that says in BIG block letters...
WIDGETS, $25 each, Limit 2, Bubba's Gadget Emporium.
Good stuff. It'll pop off the page. It'll talk directly to the people who buy widgets with a clear and concise message.
Here is where the best laid plans generally go awry. A wise man once told me that you should never... ever... let the owner of the company dictate the advertising content... ever.
Why?
Because the owner, who is the person parting company with those hard-earned marketing dollars suddenly realizes that he is going to be spending money... a lot of money... and has decided that he is going to get the biggest bang for the buck. That this ad is his magic bullet to get rid of all those woozles, heffalumps, gidgets, and fifteen other items he has left over from Christmas. Oh yeah, he also needs to let everyone know that he also offers repairs on all of that stuff. Now he figures the ad is a way to win one with the grand kids and offers to have their photos appear in the ad as well..
Now what you have is a quarter page ad crammed with so much information that readers will take one look at it and run screaming from it's scrolled borders. The original message about the great deal on the widgets is lost in the confusion of cute grand kids, and the offers on the heffalumps, woozles, gidgets and repair service. And that pretty white-space ad that popped out its simple message is now just another gray box in a newspaper full of gray boxes.
Keep it simple. Keep it concise. Keep it clean.
Print advertising works, especially in the local publications. The weekly papers that get read from cover to cover are by far the best venue for delivering a specific advertising message.
Get them in the store. Then you can show them all the Heffalumps you have left over from Christmas.
Good stuff. It'll pop off the page. It'll talk directly to the people who buy widgets with a clear and concise message.
Here is where the best laid plans generally go awry. A wise man once told me that you should never... ever... let the owner of the company dictate the advertising content... ever.
Why?
Because the owner, who is the person parting company with those hard-earned marketing dollars suddenly realizes that he is going to be spending money... a lot of money... and has decided that he is going to get the biggest bang for the buck. That this ad is his magic bullet to get rid of all those woozles, heffalumps, gidgets, and fifteen other items he has left over from Christmas. Oh yeah, he also needs to let everyone know that he also offers repairs on all of that stuff. Now he figures the ad is a way to win one with the grand kids and offers to have their photos appear in the ad as well..
Now what you have is a quarter page ad crammed with so much information that readers will take one look at it and run screaming from it's scrolled borders. The original message about the great deal on the widgets is lost in the confusion of cute grand kids, and the offers on the heffalumps, woozles, gidgets and repair service. And that pretty white-space ad that popped out its simple message is now just another gray box in a newspaper full of gray boxes.
Keep it simple. Keep it concise. Keep it clean.
Print advertising works, especially in the local publications. The weekly papers that get read from cover to cover are by far the best venue for delivering a specific advertising message.
Get them in the store. Then you can show them all the Heffalumps you have left over from Christmas.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Customer rewards and direct mail = recession-proof marketing
Your marketing efforts have been ridden hard and put up wet. You've bought and produced that eye-popping 30-second TV spot and run it on local cable and on the broadcast affiliates. It ripped a chunk from your budget and left it bleeding with little or no measurable results. Then, the advertising rep from the local paper convinced you to buy three weeks of full-color quarter page ads that looked great and bolstered your brand --and your ego, but you got very few new customers from it... at what price? Remember it is much, much more expensive to buy new customers than it is to keep your old ones.
Although it is important to keep reloading your customer base, think about this. Who is responsible for your continued success? The masses? Or the loyal few.
If we follow the 80 - 20 rule of business... i.e. the Pareto Principal, we know that it is the loyal few. Remember that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. In most cases, that 20 percent is made up of the same group of consumers from month to month.
Crack open your customer and sales histories and figure out who these people are. If you aren't capturing this information in a comprehensive, easy to manipulate data base, you should be.
Once you have that list, make a plan. Host an exclusive, after-hours, 10-percent-off sale. Invite them to a parking lot barbecue, send them a gift card with a letter of thanks, or a logo ceramic mug (about $2 each from your area promotional items vendor).
Start a rewards program. Giveaway a hot new item like a Nintendo Wii. Have drawings for dinner at the local steakhouse. Buy four season tickets to your home town's pro or semi-pro team and hook up your best customers to seats at a home game.
Set up a direct mailing list for these people and correspond with them. Send them newsletters, thank you notes, "we miss you" notes, birthday cards, anything. Keep your brand on their mind with offers, rewards and reminders that you are still here. Don't try and sell them something with each mailing. Sometimes a simple thank you has more affect than an exclusive offer.
This all sounds expensive, but think about how much that last print ad campaign cost you. Granted, you may have reached 100,000 sets of eyeballs every week or month, but you're just throwing money at the masses and hoping something sticks. Throw your money a little closer to the bottom line. The targets are easier to hit and these people are like promotional Velcro. Whatever you throw at them is going to stick. Just remember that whatever you offer, make sure they have to come in the store to get it. Once you get these proven spenders inside the "killzone" they'll spend their money.
Although it is important to keep reloading your customer base, think about this. Who is responsible for your continued success? The masses? Or the loyal few.
If we follow the 80 - 20 rule of business... i.e. the Pareto Principal, we know that it is the loyal few. Remember that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. In most cases, that 20 percent is made up of the same group of consumers from month to month.
Crack open your customer and sales histories and figure out who these people are. If you aren't capturing this information in a comprehensive, easy to manipulate data base, you should be.
Once you have that list, make a plan. Host an exclusive, after-hours, 10-percent-off sale. Invite them to a parking lot barbecue, send them a gift card with a letter of thanks, or a logo ceramic mug (about $2 each from your area promotional items vendor).
Start a rewards program. Giveaway a hot new item like a Nintendo Wii. Have drawings for dinner at the local steakhouse. Buy four season tickets to your home town's pro or semi-pro team and hook up your best customers to seats at a home game.
Set up a direct mailing list for these people and correspond with them. Send them newsletters, thank you notes, "we miss you" notes, birthday cards, anything. Keep your brand on their mind with offers, rewards and reminders that you are still here. Don't try and sell them something with each mailing. Sometimes a simple thank you has more affect than an exclusive offer.
This all sounds expensive, but think about how much that last print ad campaign cost you. Granted, you may have reached 100,000 sets of eyeballs every week or month, but you're just throwing money at the masses and hoping something sticks. Throw your money a little closer to the bottom line. The targets are easier to hit and these people are like promotional Velcro. Whatever you throw at them is going to stick. Just remember that whatever you offer, make sure they have to come in the store to get it. Once you get these proven spenders inside the "killzone" they'll spend their money.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
School administrator reaches out and touches yours truly
I emailed the administrator of the Milford, Connecticut school district where the no touchy policy has been put in place. And... get this... HOLY CRAP he replied. We went back and forth a bit on the issue and... like a good administrator... he never placed blame or admitted fault.
But it does say something about his character that he took the time to respond to my email.
Maybe someone in the news media should give him some air time as well.
He will either bury himself, or justify his principal's actions.
But it does say something about his character that he took the time to respond to my email.
Maybe someone in the news media should give him some air time as well.
He will either bury himself, or justify his principal's actions.
No touchy!
Okay, a deviation from marketing. Principal Catherine Williams of East Shore Middle School in Milford, Connecticut has implemented a no touching of any kind policy for her students after an incident where a student was injured in the groin and had to be hospitalized.
Are you kidding me?
Me thinks that the principal's inability to enforce the existing "no kicking fellow students in the groin" policy is the root of the trouble.
Here's a message to the administration.
Fire your principal. If she has so little disciplinary control over her kids that she needs to implement an unenforceable policy of no physical contact, she is ineffective as a principal.
Obviously the current policy of no kicking in the groin was not enforced. Can no one in the district see that this is not a problem with the kids? It is an administrative problem where the students have grown accustomed to a lack of disciplinary control. I have kids who attended schools with disciplinary troubles. Increased oppression of the kids was never the answer. Competent administration was.
Is there no one in authority in the district who can see this?
Are you kidding me?
Me thinks that the principal's inability to enforce the existing "no kicking fellow students in the groin" policy is the root of the trouble.
Here's a message to the administration.
Fire your principal. If she has so little disciplinary control over her kids that she needs to implement an unenforceable policy of no physical contact, she is ineffective as a principal.
Obviously the current policy of no kicking in the groin was not enforced. Can no one in the district see that this is not a problem with the kids? It is an administrative problem where the students have grown accustomed to a lack of disciplinary control. I have kids who attended schools with disciplinary troubles. Increased oppression of the kids was never the answer. Competent administration was.
Is there no one in authority in the district who can see this?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Pyramid Marketing Scams
Since I've been looking for work now for six months...
...God bless our new president and his unemployment extensions and $25 a week raise for those of us legitimately looking for work.
In the course of my desperate search, I have come across more and more of the pyramid marketing scams... a.k.a. multi-level marketing, where one person is paid commission to recruit others who pay fees to become "associates" for the company... and so on.
If you are one of the "chosen ones" you are made to market nothing more than the scheme (read "scam") that you got sucked into in the first place. Commissions are paid to you for everyone you enroll, but they are also paid to whoever enrolled you, and whoever enrolled them and so on and so on. These types of schemes are illegal in some places and just a huge waste of your time and money.
If what the company does... i.e. what product or service they offer... is not made apparent in their job posting... It's likely a multi-level scam.
Case in point:
Fortune 500 clients outsource (enter impressive company name here: i.e. Corporate Marketing Solutions, etc.) to help improve their existing customer retention, new customer acquisition and increase their market share. We provide the professional people to represent our clients and the services in which they can provide. Therefore, we cross train candidates in sales and marketing, training, finance and administration. This cross training allows candidates to advance within the company to a senior role within 12 months.
Arighty then. I know you are asking yourself, "Self, wtf was that?" Any clue what they do? Me either. It's a pyramid scam. Avoid it like a truckload of teenagers at Sonic.
...God bless our new president and his unemployment extensions and $25 a week raise for those of us legitimately looking for work.
In the course of my desperate search, I have come across more and more of the pyramid marketing scams... a.k.a. multi-level marketing, where one person is paid commission to recruit others who pay fees to become "associates" for the company... and so on.
If you are one of the "chosen ones" you are made to market nothing more than the scheme (read "scam") that you got sucked into in the first place. Commissions are paid to you for everyone you enroll, but they are also paid to whoever enrolled you, and whoever enrolled them and so on and so on. These types of schemes are illegal in some places and just a huge waste of your time and money.
If what the company does... i.e. what product or service they offer... is not made apparent in their job posting... It's likely a multi-level scam.
Case in point:
Fortune 500 clients outsource (enter impressive company name here: i.e. Corporate Marketing Solutions, etc.) to help improve their existing customer retention, new customer acquisition and increase their market share. We provide the professional people to represent our clients and the services in which they can provide. Therefore, we cross train candidates in sales and marketing, training, finance and administration. This cross training allows candidates to advance within the company to a senior role within 12 months.
Arighty then. I know you are asking yourself, "Self, wtf was that?" Any clue what they do? Me either. It's a pyramid scam. Avoid it like a truckload of teenagers at Sonic.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Social Networking - It's like living in a global Mayberry RFD
LinkedIn, Plaxo, Tweeter, Facebook, Myspace, etc., etc.
I've been working on a freelance story about blogging this week. The experts I spoke with say that while blogging remains important, the newest trend among progressive PR and marketing peeps are the social networking sites.
OK. Whatever. I know these sites.
I was told by my own personal social networking maharishi guru: my 20-year-old daughter, "Just start someplace... you'll figure it out." Then she sidebarred, "Just don't build yourself a Myspace page, Dad. Forty-five-year-old men on Myspace are... uh... creepy."
OK... since there are about a trillion social networking sites out there, I looked into it.
I now am a member of LinkedIn. This is a valuable tool that I use in my ongoing quest for gainful employment. I think I have amassed as many as 20 connections so far! LinkedIn is social networking for professionals, we can leave recommendations, join industry specific groups and enter into engaging dialogue forums, but in itself it serves minimal function to social network marketing.
Okay, I digress. Here is what my slowly growing experience and extensive research in using social media has taught me.
In order to crack into the PR bennies of social networking websites, one has to engage in forums and chats, yet be a "listener". Listen to what the networkers are saying... even if the conversations are seemingly irrelevant and going nowhere. These people work hard to be heard and opinion leaders emerge. Identify with them and build relationships with them. Make comments only when they are relevant and will enhance the current conversation. Never EVER incite these people. They will turn on you like a pack of Shih Tzus hyped up on Sobe and Snickers.
Be true to who you are at all times. Any untruths will snowball and bury you in the end.
Start your own personal blog and brand yourself. This is your communications brand.
Communicate often. Don't try to control it. Let your network grow. Join others when invited and invite everyone else in. Get a sense of humor... not like offensive Comedy Central roast stuff, just simple humor.
Your goal is maximizing eyeballs. Get read. Get connected. Stay true to your brand.
Snailmail is to email like email is to social media. Email is so yesterday, social media is already more popular. Twitter is the breaking news of today.
Social media creates a sense of community. It is the Mayberry RFD of the digital age.
If you grew up in a small town, you already know the skills necessary to be successful at social networking.
You have integrity.
You are proud of your neighborhood and want to keep it looking nice.
You want your neighbors homes to look nice too.
You know that talking across the back fence is better than on the phone.
Backdoor friends are better than doorbell friends.
Everyone is held accountable, but if you fall into hard times and fail at something your neighbors will forgive you.
You all root for the same team: the home team.
When you live in a small town, you learn that a roll of wire, a working lawnmower or a six pack of microbrew has much more value than a manicure or a treatment of Botox. Why? Because you can loan someone your lawnmower, borrow a length of wire to fix the gate with and share a six pack of brew.
Social networking is exactly the same. Bring something to the conversations that others can use. Show your expertise where you can. But remember, others have their own fields of expertise and sometimes they overlap with yours.
Follow everyone who follows you and then some. Read their twitter tweets, comment on their blogs. Be respectful and embrace the transparency of it all.
Absorb and consume.
It will take time to build followers, contacts and friends, but be patient. Soon, you will be sucked into the mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world of social networking and, hopefully, if you're doing it right, you will be marketing to people without even realizing it.
I've been working on a freelance story about blogging this week. The experts I spoke with say that while blogging remains important, the newest trend among progressive PR and marketing peeps are the social networking sites.
OK. Whatever. I know these sites.
I was told by my own personal social networking maharishi guru: my 20-year-old daughter, "Just start someplace... you'll figure it out." Then she sidebarred, "Just don't build yourself a Myspace page, Dad. Forty-five-year-old men on Myspace are... uh... creepy."
OK... since there are about a trillion social networking sites out there, I looked into it.
I now am a member of LinkedIn. This is a valuable tool that I use in my ongoing quest for gainful employment. I think I have amassed as many as 20 connections so far! LinkedIn is social networking for professionals, we can leave recommendations, join industry specific groups and enter into engaging dialogue forums, but in itself it serves minimal function to social network marketing.
Okay, I digress. Here is what my slowly growing experience and extensive research in using social media has taught me.
In order to crack into the PR bennies of social networking websites, one has to engage in forums and chats, yet be a "listener". Listen to what the networkers are saying... even if the conversations are seemingly irrelevant and going nowhere. These people work hard to be heard and opinion leaders emerge. Identify with them and build relationships with them. Make comments only when they are relevant and will enhance the current conversation. Never EVER incite these people. They will turn on you like a pack of Shih Tzus hyped up on Sobe and Snickers.
Be true to who you are at all times. Any untruths will snowball and bury you in the end.
Start your own personal blog and brand yourself. This is your communications brand.
Communicate often. Don't try to control it. Let your network grow. Join others when invited and invite everyone else in. Get a sense of humor... not like offensive Comedy Central roast stuff, just simple humor.
Your goal is maximizing eyeballs. Get read. Get connected. Stay true to your brand.
Snailmail is to email like email is to social media. Email is so yesterday, social media is already more popular. Twitter is the breaking news of today.
Social media creates a sense of community. It is the Mayberry RFD of the digital age.
If you grew up in a small town, you already know the skills necessary to be successful at social networking.
You have integrity.
You are proud of your neighborhood and want to keep it looking nice.
You want your neighbors homes to look nice too.
You know that talking across the back fence is better than on the phone.
Backdoor friends are better than doorbell friends.
Everyone is held accountable, but if you fall into hard times and fail at something your neighbors will forgive you.
You all root for the same team: the home team.
When you live in a small town, you learn that a roll of wire, a working lawnmower or a six pack of microbrew has much more value than a manicure or a treatment of Botox. Why? Because you can loan someone your lawnmower, borrow a length of wire to fix the gate with and share a six pack of brew.
Social networking is exactly the same. Bring something to the conversations that others can use. Show your expertise where you can. But remember, others have their own fields of expertise and sometimes they overlap with yours.
Follow everyone who follows you and then some. Read their twitter tweets, comment on their blogs. Be respectful and embrace the transparency of it all.
Absorb and consume.
It will take time to build followers, contacts and friends, but be patient. Soon, you will be sucked into the mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world of social networking and, hopefully, if you're doing it right, you will be marketing to people without even realizing it.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Keep the faith in marketing
Retailers today are feeling the crunch as much as anyone. But my advice is avoid the temptation to minimize inventory and reduce marketing efforts as a way to trim the fat and cut costs. But this is not trimming fat, it's cutting good muscle from the bone.
Keep your shelves stocked.
A man in Dallas, Texas who owns a toy store told me he has increased his inventory over and above what he normally carries. This means he has the best selection over his local competition. Something he's eager to share with potential customers in his marketing efforts. As a result, he is enjoying higher sales this quarter over the same quarter last year.
A visit to a locally-owned clothing store recently revealed half-full racks and barren shelves throughout the store. I asked them if they are going out of business, because it looked like the tail-end of a liquidation. The manager answered, "No... We are trying to minimize costs by buying less inventory."
So the liquid assets are minimized, not only reducing the company's ability to offer their customers selection and size, but they have greatly reduces their collateral value in the event they need a shot-in-the-arm loan to get them through tough times.
Aggressive marketing is especially important when people are keeping a tighter grip on their dollars.
Think about this: Advertising mediums such as newspapers, outdoor, radio and cable and broadcast television are feeling the crunch as well. If you notice that the local paper has gone from a 36-page two section issue to a 16 pager, they need advertisers. Call you local advertising reps and negotiate for a series of quarter page ads over the next three months. You may get the deal of a lifetime.
Negotiate with everyone these days, especially the advertising sales reps. Be prepared to commit to a three to twelve month contract. You can save as much as 75 percent off rate card.
But remember, you better have something to offer your customers when they come through the door!
Keep your shelves stocked.
A man in Dallas, Texas who owns a toy store told me he has increased his inventory over and above what he normally carries. This means he has the best selection over his local competition. Something he's eager to share with potential customers in his marketing efforts. As a result, he is enjoying higher sales this quarter over the same quarter last year.
A visit to a locally-owned clothing store recently revealed half-full racks and barren shelves throughout the store. I asked them if they are going out of business, because it looked like the tail-end of a liquidation. The manager answered, "No... We are trying to minimize costs by buying less inventory."
So the liquid assets are minimized, not only reducing the company's ability to offer their customers selection and size, but they have greatly reduces their collateral value in the event they need a shot-in-the-arm loan to get them through tough times.
Aggressive marketing is especially important when people are keeping a tighter grip on their dollars.
Think about this: Advertising mediums such as newspapers, outdoor, radio and cable and broadcast television are feeling the crunch as well. If you notice that the local paper has gone from a 36-page two section issue to a 16 pager, they need advertisers. Call you local advertising reps and negotiate for a series of quarter page ads over the next three months. You may get the deal of a lifetime.
Negotiate with everyone these days, especially the advertising sales reps. Be prepared to commit to a three to twelve month contract. You can save as much as 75 percent off rate card.
But remember, you better have something to offer your customers when they come through the door!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Job search musings
Just relocated my blog from wordpress.com to blogger. Blogger is far more user friendly. I don't have hours to spend laying out my format, only to have it stumble onto some html code that's in the wrong place in my post.
This doesn't seem to happen in Blogger. So here I am. New location, same senseless rantings.
Still seeking gainful employment. To date, I have submitted more than 300 resumes for a wide variety of positions. I have been to dozens of job interviews. Everyone I speak with has told me they received more than 100 resumes. These are professional positions with specific requirements. I was actually hired twice. The first time, I was told by the business manager that I had the job - an operations manager. Then, the owner told me he had fired the business manager, and had to reorganize but he was making a spot for me. Next thing I know he has frozen hiring and will not fill the position until the soft market sets up a bit. c-r-a-p.
Another position was frozen by corporate right after the local manager offered me the job.
In both cases they were solid jobs at good pay rates in fields where I had expertise.
I still believe that the economy would be much better if the media and government would shut up about how bad it is. But for me it continues to be real. The bills pour in, we juggle and stay in touch with our creditors trying to keep the wolves at the gate from getting in.
We try and not have it impact our daughter, but she's smart. She knows we are struggling. She offers to make sacrifices and in some cases she has.
I have to ask the government. Where is my stimulus package?
This doesn't seem to happen in Blogger. So here I am. New location, same senseless rantings.
Still seeking gainful employment. To date, I have submitted more than 300 resumes for a wide variety of positions. I have been to dozens of job interviews. Everyone I speak with has told me they received more than 100 resumes. These are professional positions with specific requirements. I was actually hired twice. The first time, I was told by the business manager that I had the job - an operations manager. Then, the owner told me he had fired the business manager, and had to reorganize but he was making a spot for me. Next thing I know he has frozen hiring and will not fill the position until the soft market sets up a bit. c-r-a-p.
Another position was frozen by corporate right after the local manager offered me the job.
In both cases they were solid jobs at good pay rates in fields where I had expertise.
I still believe that the economy would be much better if the media and government would shut up about how bad it is. But for me it continues to be real. The bills pour in, we juggle and stay in touch with our creditors trying to keep the wolves at the gate from getting in.
We try and not have it impact our daughter, but she's smart. She knows we are struggling. She offers to make sacrifices and in some cases she has.
I have to ask the government. Where is my stimulus package?
Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce wants $400 million for a new convention center? ROTFLMFAO
Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Director Roy Williams must think we all fell off the turnip truck yesterday.
He took a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayers money and paid for a study of the Cox Convention Center. The result of this study told him exactly what he wanted to hear... that his convention center is lacking. He made a statement yesterday to the effect that the purpose of a convention center is to draw people into Bricktown where they will spend money. The convention center is not supposed to make money in and of itself.
Whatever... Ask the convention center in Vegas if it makes money. They will say yes. Ask the convention center in Ft. Lauderdale if it makes money... another nod. So why can't the OKC center operate in the black?
Ok, for the sake of argument, lets say that there is no way the Oklahoma City Convention Center will ever make money (snort).
In order to draw out-of-towners to Bricktown where they will empty their wallets and wear down the mag strips on their credit cards, Williams says he needs a 400 million dollar convention center. Who does he want to pay for it? That's right, boys and girls... get ready to cough up your own stimulus package. Are you kidding me?
Williams needs to look inside the chamber and stop blaming a perfectly good convention center for his own shortcomings. There are cities out there who would die to have a facility like the Cox Center.
A press release issued by the chamber that appears on its own website says, "The study also evaluated meeting planners' perceptions of Oklahoma City as a meetings destination and found most meeting planners were not familiar with the city."
Well, Roy! There's your problem right there!
If meeting planners have never heard of Oklahoma City, then someone at the chamber's not doing their job!
Is there a marketing plan for the convention center? Is there a markting budget for the convention center? How is that being spent? Are we attending trade shows? Are they the right ones? Do we ever call anyone who might be ameeting planner and invite them out? Apparently not, if we are to place any stock in that quarter-million-dollar report of his.
No new facility, no matter how big, cutting edge, or expensive is going to put OKC on the map if the chamber doesn't know how to market it.
The $250,000 taxpayers spent for the study would pay the salary for a dedicated convention center marketing professional for the next five years. The 400 million that Williams wants would fund the entire marketing budget for the chamber for the next half century....
Tax payers should not stand for Williams' smoke and mirrors act.
His request to place a burden on taxpayers at a time when everyone is finding it difficult to live within their means is not only ill timed, but ridiculous.
Trim the fat, Roy, like everyone else.
Lets work with what we have... make it better... and sell it strong.
If you need any help with that, drop me a line.
He took a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayers money and paid for a study of the Cox Convention Center. The result of this study told him exactly what he wanted to hear... that his convention center is lacking. He made a statement yesterday to the effect that the purpose of a convention center is to draw people into Bricktown where they will spend money. The convention center is not supposed to make money in and of itself.
Whatever... Ask the convention center in Vegas if it makes money. They will say yes. Ask the convention center in Ft. Lauderdale if it makes money... another nod. So why can't the OKC center operate in the black?
Ok, for the sake of argument, lets say that there is no way the Oklahoma City Convention Center will ever make money (snort).
In order to draw out-of-towners to Bricktown where they will empty their wallets and wear down the mag strips on their credit cards, Williams says he needs a 400 million dollar convention center. Who does he want to pay for it? That's right, boys and girls... get ready to cough up your own stimulus package. Are you kidding me?
Williams needs to look inside the chamber and stop blaming a perfectly good convention center for his own shortcomings. There are cities out there who would die to have a facility like the Cox Center.
A press release issued by the chamber that appears on its own website says, "The study also evaluated meeting planners' perceptions of Oklahoma City as a meetings destination and found most meeting planners were not familiar with the city."
Well, Roy! There's your problem right there!
If meeting planners have never heard of Oklahoma City, then someone at the chamber's not doing their job!
Is there a marketing plan for the convention center? Is there a markting budget for the convention center? How is that being spent? Are we attending trade shows? Are they the right ones? Do we ever call anyone who might be ameeting planner and invite them out? Apparently not, if we are to place any stock in that quarter-million-dollar report of his.
No new facility, no matter how big, cutting edge, or expensive is going to put OKC on the map if the chamber doesn't know how to market it.
The $250,000 taxpayers spent for the study would pay the salary for a dedicated convention center marketing professional for the next five years. The 400 million that Williams wants would fund the entire marketing budget for the chamber for the next half century....
Tax payers should not stand for Williams' smoke and mirrors act.
His request to place a burden on taxpayers at a time when everyone is finding it difficult to live within their means is not only ill timed, but ridiculous.
Trim the fat, Roy, like everyone else.
Lets work with what we have... make it better... and sell it strong.
If you need any help with that, drop me a line.
It's about confidence
The other day, a friend (client) of mine was shuffling around his clothing store. "You look pretty depressed," I told him.
"Nah," said he, "Not really depressed. That's too extreme."
I nodded in understanding. "Yah. It's probably just a recession your feeling."
I then gave him a handful of anti-recessant medication... I advised him to shut off the damned TV and quit listening to everyone fear mongering. If the feds would stop sitting on the panic button and quit telling us all how bad things are, people might just gain a little confidence.
Last week when Obama came on TV and told us all how bad things were and that we would not be out of the woods until next year, the Dow dropped more at that precise moment than it had for three days.
It's kind of a no-brainer. If he would have said, "Things are looking up, America. We'll be out of this by summer." I bet we would be.
It's about confidence, folks. It's just like gridlock on the freeway. It would clear up a lot faster if everyone would just step on the damn gas.
"Nah," said he, "Not really depressed. That's too extreme."
I nodded in understanding. "Yah. It's probably just a recession your feeling."
I then gave him a handful of anti-recessant medication... I advised him to shut off the damned TV and quit listening to everyone fear mongering. If the feds would stop sitting on the panic button and quit telling us all how bad things are, people might just gain a little confidence.
Last week when Obama came on TV and told us all how bad things were and that we would not be out of the woods until next year, the Dow dropped more at that precise moment than it had for three days.
It's kind of a no-brainer. If he would have said, "Things are looking up, America. We'll be out of this by summer." I bet we would be.
It's about confidence, folks. It's just like gridlock on the freeway. It would clear up a lot faster if everyone would just step on the damn gas.
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