Marketing

A while  ago, Staples and Angus Reid released their latest “STAPLES Canada Small Business National Quarterly Index,”

It looks like we believe we are over the hump. 70 per cent of business owners expect at least some improvement to their business over the next six months (compared to 58 per cent in March 2009).

Now that you’re feeling better, get out there and make sure that your customers will come to you rather than your competition when they are ready to buy.

Chances are you are a little tight for cash, so here are 10 low-cost ways to market better we’ve worked out with help from Joanna L. Krotz, co-author of the “Microsoft Small Business Kit”. (If you haven’t already, check out Advice for Entrepreneurs at www.microsoft.com/canada.)

• Stop servicing break-even customers. By now you know this is a theme with us. every second you spend with a customer who doesn’t help you make money you are short-changing those who do.
• Make every customer feel special. Always add something to the purchase,whether it’s a hand-written note to a consumer or a recommendation on the latest greatest business book to a business customer.
• Create business cards that prospects keep. How about a good-looking notepad with your contact info and tagline on every page? Or a free or low-cost trial offer on the back, real estate that’s valuable and often wasted.
• Develop an electronic mailing list and send old-fashioned letters too. E-newsletters are cheap to send, but you can quickly stand out by occasionally sending personal, surface mail letters to customers and prospects too.Just make sure the letter delivers something customers want to read.
• Boost your profile at point of sale, trade shows and conferences. You can quickly create your own signage, glossy postcards with your contact information, product news inserts or an event mini Web site even if you are not a software pro.
• Combine business with pleasure — and charity. Spearhead an event, party or conference for a cause you care about. That puts you in the position of getting to know lots of people, and shows off your small business leadership skills.
• Create a destination. Indigo Books & Music has its coffee bars. Ikea offers child-care centers and cafeterias. Steal this idea. Add a free advisory service. Add customer loyalty services, such as free delivery for second-time buyers.
• Become an online expert. This is the “free sample” approach to bringing in business. Research active e-mail discussion lists and online bulletin boards that are relevant to your business and audience. Join several and start posting expert advice.
• Court local media. Editorial features convey more credibility with prospective clients than paid advertising does. (Check our recent article on how to get PR.)
• Finally, don’t let customers simply slip away. It costs a lot less to retain a disgruntled or inactive customer than to acquire a new one. Send a personalized e-mail (you can automate this process), inquiring whether all is well. For a customer who suffered a bad experience, pick up the phone, acknowledging the unpleasantness and ask if there’s anything you can do. A discount can’t hurt either.

Being kind to customers is the smartest low-cost marketing you can do.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin, Marketing, news
Posted on August 6th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

The marketing potential of social media has been recognized since its inception. And, for just as long, there have been those people who are willing to manipulate that potential. One of those ways has been the posting of fake reviews. This involves filling blogs and sites full of ostensibly genuine, satisfied-customer-written reviews, extolling the excellence of a product or service, when in fact, the reviews are churned out in-house, or by a review-generating mill. Another is stuffing the ballot box, as it were, by sending a flood of fake good reviews to the review listings for your own product, or fake bad reviews lambasting a competitor’s, on retailer websites, such as Amazon.com.

In his Social Media Safety Warning post of 15 July, Andy Sernovitz reports in the Huffington Post on the New York Attorney General fining a company $300,000 for fake reviews.

[The company] employees published positive reviews and comments about the company to trick Web-browsing consumers into believing that satisfied customers were posting their own stories. These tactics constitute deceptive commercial practices, false advertising, and fraudulent and illegal conduct under New York and federal consumer protection law. The settlement marks a strike against the growing practice of “astroturfing,” in which employees pose as independent consumers to post positive reviews and commentary to Web sites and Internet message boards about their own company.

“This company’s attempt to generate business by duping consumers was cynical, manipulative, and illegal,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “My office has and will continue to be on the forefront in protecting consumers against emerging fraud and deception, including ‘astroturfing,’ on the Internet.” —excerpted from the NY Attorney General Media Center

Sernovitz points out that this ruling now makes false reviews illegal. It’s no longer a gray area, open for broad interpretation. This is a boon for ethical social media marketers, businesses, and customers. It is now a time to rebuild trust and establish brand integrity.

Sernovitz lists six ways for businesses to market safely in social media:
1. Never pay for posts or reviews.
2. Stay away from fake-review or mass-blogging services.
3. Create a formal, public policy.
4. Train your team.
5. Bind your agencies.
6. Monitor.

A recommendation from a satisfied customer can be one of the most powerful marketing messages you can use. It is in your very best interest to collect them, and use them, but only if they are real!

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Tags: branding, customer reviews, ethical marketing, fake reviews, illegal, legal, Marketing, news, social media
Posted on July 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

When I attended my first marketing and public relations classes in college, the professors stressed the strength of customer word-of-mouth marketing. In that B.I. era (Before Internet), the accepted ratio was one satisfied customer will tell one other person. That was considered good. If a customer was treated poorly they’d threaten to tell everyone they knew, which translated to their telling twenty other people. That was bad.

Today the many faces of the Internet, individual publishing, and social media have made the good better and the bad horrendous. Websites called companyxxxstinks.com proliferate, and social media word-of-mouth dissing now reaches multi-millions of people through keyword searches, RSS feeds, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, et al.

Unfortunately, many businesses haven’t woken up to this fact, and behave as if bad customer service doesn’t affect them. Or perhaps they feel they are so big they don’t have to care. That’s a big mistake.

Here is a recent example of one man’s clever, entertaining, word-of-mouth condemnation of customer disservice, in this case by United Airlines. I first saw this on 8 July 2009 when my co-editor Sara sent me the link to an online posting on Huffington Post’s Business section. It had already attained a Most Popular listing on YouTube’s front page where it was originally published on 6 July 2009.

Here we see the power of viral marketing, where the message is passed along from person to person, usually farther than the original sender could reach. In this case, the message is coming back around to harm the company. When an unhappy customer says they are going to tell everyone about their horrible customer disservice experience, that translates to telling half the world! For a company like UAL, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, giving bad customer service and pretending no one will hear about it, or that it won’t matter is dangerous, risky business.

Don’t let this happen to you. Focus your attention on providing good customer service or risk being trashed to millions of people every day.

Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

P.S. As I’m publishing this post I’m seeing that this story has already been picked up by U.S. and Canadian mainstream media, and had elicited an official statement from UAL by 8 July.

“This has struck has a chord with us. We are in conversations with one another to make what happened right, and while we mutually agree that this should have been fixed much sooner, Dave Carroll’s excellent video provides United with a unique learning opportunity that we would like to use for training purposes to ensure all customers receive better service from us,” the statement said.

Wouldn’t this have been better for everyone if it had been handled by good customer care in the first place?

Tags: news
Posted on July 9th, 2009 | 4 Comments »

Should your small business use Twitter? Corey Perlman has the answer for you.

Yes…and no. Allow him to explain in his Mplans.com article, Should a Small Business Use Twitter?.

Corey Perlman, author of the #1 Amazon.com bestseller eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business, is our newest Mplans.com contributing author. In his debut article with us Corey outlines a program to help small- and medium-sized businesses determine if Twitter is a good social media fit in their marketing programs.

Once you’ve completed the test program, evaluate how Twitter is working for you. Bottom line: is it worth your time? Just like with any other marketing strategy, you have to evaluate and be willing to abort mission if it’s not producing results. That might be the best time-saving decision you’ll ever make.

Corey Perlman is the President of eBoot Camp, Inc., an education company that provides people with the knowledge and skills to effectively market their business on the Web through interactive books, seminars and workshops. Since 2005, Corey has conducted over 200 eBoot Camp workshops and seminars to public audiences as well as small- and mid-size companies all over the United States using layman’s terms and learn-by-doing approach. Corey’s book, eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business, hit #1 on the Amazon.com bestseller’s list in the marketing, retail and ecommerce categories.

Click here to read the article on Mplans.com.

Tags: Corey Perlman, eBootCamp, Twitter
Posted on June 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

I’m happy to bring to your attention a brand new  article on bplans.com by one of our newest contributors, Maisha Walker.

Maisha is the Founder & President of message medium, a 10-year old New York City Internet Strategy firm that focuses exclusively on Small Businesses.  You can follow Maisha on Twitter or learn about her upcoming Web site and Internet Marketing Classes.

She will be a regular contributor to Bplans.com and the Business in General blog over the next several months. And her first article on social media marketing is one not to be missed.

“I was fascinated by the analysis of the Obama campaign. In many ways, Obama’s campaign and its success is a big, bright, “LCD sign” of the times. New media has come of age in a very public way.”

Enjoy! And welcome, Maisha!

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

Tags: bplans.com, Maisha Walker
Posted on May 13th, 2009 | No Comments »

You expect a business to have a telephone. Well, these days, a business is expected to have a web site as well—it’s a credibility issue.

And although it’s a complicated subject, once launched, what could be easier than using the internet to spread your marketing message, educate your prospects, and convert prospects to clients?

In the early days of the web, businesses thought they could just put up a site and expect the phone to ring. A successful web site today is a tool that integrates and connects all of your marketing efforts. It’s where your prospects begin the process of knowing, liking and trusting you and your business.

A properly constructed web site will:

Build awareness – it’s where many prospects start their search for what you’re offering.
Shorten the Selling Cycle – prospects get to know you, your business and your product before they even meet with you.
Provide Access to Information – prospects in the market for your product or service can find out what they need to know any time they choose.
Become a Referral Tool—people recommending your business can simply refer the prospect to your web site as an easy starting point.

Forget about a home page with some lame “welcome” message—get right to the facts of the matter with a compelling headline about how you solve your prospects’ biggest problem or frustration. Keep the copy short and to-the-point and include pages on:

Your Difference – why dealing with you is a better experience than with your competitors.
How You Work – some information up front will help your customer to know what to expect if a transaction takes place.
Your Story – this humanizes your business—customers like to know how the business got started and how it has evolved.
Your Ideal Client – sure, go ahead and describe the kind of customer who really benefits by doing business with you. That way, prospects will know where they fit with what you’re offering.
Your Products/Services – of course this is all-important. Give brief, but accurate descriptions and pricing—show pictures where applicable.
Case Studies – these help prospects visualize what the product or service might do for them and they are proof of your success with others.
Client List – if applicable, list your satisfied clients. This is also a good place to work in some client testimonials—further verification of the worth of your product.

Every page should have your contact information: name, telephone, fax, email and your address—why hide it until the end?

Now there is much more to a web site than we’ve covered here—design, navigation, linking strategy, blogs, and search engine optimization to name but a few things. We’ll get to those in other articles. But for now, start thinking about your new or revised web site, because if you’re not harnessing the internet, you’d better prepare to become obsolete.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on May 11th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Our friend Dave called last night, he’s started a small engine repair business and he asked us to review a sales letter he’d written. Dave’s letter was actually pretty good; the only problem was that it did not give a really good reason why anyone should do business with him! There was no incentive; no “special introductory offer”; no inducement for anyone to dash to the phone and call him. Of course we offered to rewrite the letter.

The number one objective for a sales letter is get the letter read. And the second is to persuade the reader to take an action and start a business relationship.

How do you do this? First, create a powerful headline with an immediate clear benefit for the reader, not some wishy-washy “Hi, here we are” statement. Ask a question that shows you understand their needs,

Are you still looking for someone who can guarantee your mower, tractor, trimmer, cultivator or compactor will be ready to work when you are?

This show’s you understand their needs and are not just jumping into a “rah rah” selling pitch.

Then tell them you have the solution,

Our 10 point small engine tune-up will keep you running strong all summer long-we absolutely guarantee it.

Give them your business credentials. Dave could say, “I’ve been repairing all makes of lawn and garden equipment for over 15 years and I love it!”

Now offer them something they can use, in other words: tell them what’s in it for them if they buy your product or use your service right away. Don’t be afraid to be bold. Use Capitals, underline, or bold type–let the offer leap off the page so that if they read nothing else, they’ll at least see the offer you’re making.

Take advantage of our FREE get-to-know-us offer!

Now add some credibility-people want to know what others say about you, so tell them-add two or three testimonials.

Be sure your letter has a high interest factor by adding some free advice or tips and tricks. Dave could tell how to make an engine run better by selecting proper fuel mixtures or how to keep a lawn mower blade sharp.

Clearly state what the next action should be and give them a reason why it’s important to act right away.

Be sure you’re ready for the growing season–call us NOW!

Use plain language and don’t use language that you would not normally use–be sure it sounds like you.

Thank the reader for reading your letter and sign it personally. If you know the reader, add a note at the bottom in your own handwriting.

Last, add a P.S. This is a great place to reiterate the offer and maybe even sweeten the deal.

Take advantage of our FREE “get-to-know-us” offer by April 30th and we’ll throw in a free tank of gas for your mower or tractor.

Of course you must have a good list to send this out to–one that is accurate and up-to-date. Sending a great letter to a non-existent person is a waste of time, so phone your contacts before you mail and make sure your list is up to date.

Do a test. Send out a few dozen per week, and follow up by phone. Vary the offer and see what happens.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on April 28th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

I’m fascinated by the hubbub that Tropicana created by changing their branding.

Have you seen this?

A while back, Tropicana decided to change their boxes from the straw in the orange look to a new, cleaner looking box with a “crate and barrel glass” filled with juice on the edge of the box.

The move, as I read at the Daily Heller,  was pushed as a “historic integrated-marketing and advertising campaign… designed to reinforce the brand and product attributes” and “help consumers rediscover the health benefits they get from drinking America’s iconic orange-juice brand.” Wow, that’s a pretty big job for a simple box redesign.

What was the result of this “historic” push?

It lost money. Either because people didn’t recognize the branding anymore or were turned off by the “generic” look of the new box. Personally, I like the clean look of the new branding, but the thing that used to say Tropicana doesn’t say Tropicana to me anymore.  It says Orange Juice.

Maybe they should have talked with Naota Fukasawa who designed new fruit juice packaging meant to mimic the look and feel of the fruit inside.

Updating your packaging and by extension, your brand can be important to keep current in the fast moving world, but at what expense?

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager

Tags: branding, Marketing
Posted on April 20th, 2009 | 9 Comments »

My drive home is usually fairly boring. It’s a straight shot from my office in Eugene to my house in Springfield. Takes, on average, 15 minutes to drive (the speed limit) and if I catch the lights right, I only have to stop once the whole way there.

There isn’t much traffic to speak of so mainly everyone on the road is content to putter along to get to where ever it is they’re going.

Unless it’s a fairly nice day out (which can be rare in an Oregon Springtime) then, for some reason known only to them, the normally very nice drivers turn into ragers on the road.

Friday, a rather rickety pickup truck came zooming up behind me at an alarming speed, whipped around traffic, into my lane, just in front of my bumper, squeezed past and around another car, again, just barely clearing and screeched to a halt at a red light. Once the green turned, the pickup floored it and maneuvered through a new line of traffic until it thankfully drove out of sight.

Why mention the Friday evening traffic?

Because the pickup had his business name and phone number all over it.

I’m sure quite a lot of us he’d cut off or recklessly zoomed around took notice of the name of his company. And I am also fairly sure I won’t be the only one who never uses his gardening services.

Not all of us walk around with a billboard of where we work or what our business is hanging on our backs.  But for those who do-  For those companies who advertise on their car, or wear the company t-shirt to the 7-11 to pick up a soda, don’t you have a responsibility to act in accordance to your business image?

When you are in your company car and are reckless, rude and dangerous – what kind of message is that sending your potential customer?

‘Chelle Parmele
Palo Alto Software

btw, the truck in the picture used is entirely blameless of Friday shenanigans.

Tags: branding
Posted on March 30th, 2009 | 4 Comments »

Right now in Canada, almost 85% of the population uses the Internet and it’s safe to say this number will continue to expand. So why wouldn’t you use your web site to support the advertising you do in all other media? You do have a web site, right?

Here’s the scoop: If you read our article last week on “Two Step Direct Response Advertising” you know we recommend ads that ask the reader/listener to make a specific response or action.

If you have, and use, a web site, the action requested may be to go to the web site to get more information; download a coupon; buy on line; join a “preferred customer” group or whatever will further, or complete, the transaction process and establish a relationship with that most valuable person, a customer or potential customer.

Your web master, or increasingly, you yourself, can easily create a new “landing page” that is specific to your current offer e.g. – your web site is www.abc.com and you create a new page called www.abc.com/offer.  Feature this address in your ad to create a super highway right to your specific offer page—most people who are interested will go there within 30 seconds of seeing your offer and you can watch the visits add up as they happen!

Customers have now driven right up to your site and you can bet they will also browse whatever else you have on the site while they are “in the store”—you have just given them another way in.

Why do this? Because whether newspaper, magazine, radio/TV or billboard, the space/time you buy is limited—on your web site, the space you need is almost limitless.

You can add all the details, all the pictures and all of the downloads you want—and what’s more, you can make it transactional! That is, in many cases you can make the sale right on the page by adding a PayPal link—how great is that!

It goes without saying that the way we buy has changed radically in the last decade. According to Internet World Stats: In 2008, Canadian retail e-commerce tallied its fifth straight year of double-digit growth. Online sales more than doubled in Canada from 2003-2006, and nearly half of Canadian retail firms now have a web site, compared to the 42% that did in 2005.

It is expected that the average amount that Canadians spend online will grow strongly over the next three years. Canadians are already either on par or ahead of their US peers in purchasing electronics, travel and event tickets online.”

So get with the program—put that web site to work in your advertising.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: advertising, Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on March 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »