Are you in Engineering or Marketing?

How well do you know your product? Can you describe in perfect technical detail the full operation of your product, and can you provide the complete history of both your company and your product? Could you write the definitive book regarding every small change that has occurred over the lifespan of your company or product? If I wanted to find the absolute expert regarding your product, would your name come up first in a Google search, with your picture, and you smiling and waving?

Congratulations, you are an engineer. If your name tag or business card says, “Marketing”, you may be in trouble.

There’s nothing wrong with solid product knowledge. The last thing any company needs is poorly informed sales professionals, that cannot answer some level of technical questions that may arise, without picking up the phone and calling the home office... However, there’s only one person that is so deeply interested in your product that they can tell you every single small detail regarding it, and that’s usually the engineer that designed it. Salespeople, and marketing campaigns, occasionally fail because they forget that the ability to describe every detail of the product does not make a successful sales pitch.

When we become experts in the field, we sometimes forget that our target audience isn’t an expert. The customer is looking to the business to help them solve a problem or fill a need. Chances are, they seriously don’t care about every small detail, seeing as these minor details probably have very little to do with solving the customer’s problem or filling the customer’s needs.

It is the role of a sales person, and a marketing campaign, to inform the customer that your product can best solve their problems or fill their needs, without getting bogged down in the minor details. In one on one sales, this approach is easy; you simply say, “How can I help you?”, listen to the problem, and provide answers that can solve that customer’s needs. The more questions that the sales professional asks, the better they can answer to the customer’s individual needs. When you are working on an advertising campaign, you don’t have the one person that you can turn to and say, “How can I help you?” You have to assume you know the question. The trick is answering the right question, without it being asked of you.

Successful marketing provides brand identity, showcases the product or company as the best solution to the unasked question, and does so in a way that is memorable to the target audience. If your message is simply about brand identity and being memorable, you have only partially completed the overall goal. Spend some time finding out what the unasked questions are. Mine your social media to learn these questions. Ask your customers in one on one situations for their answers.

Treat your engineers well, since they provide your product. Just remember, don’t send them out into the field to do all of your sales work, too.

True Mobile Site Versus a Mobile Face-lift

I read a lot of marketing blogs, and recently, I’ve noticed a huge increase in something we’ve been talking about for awhile: Mobile Websites. All the stats point to people accessing websites on mobile more often than on desktops by 2013, and so the race is on to get your site redone. The research I’ve either done or read shows that around 25% of websites are optimized for mobile.

The question that I hear most often is, “Do I need a completely different website, or can I just put in new code that changes my page so it looks better on a mobile?” Is a mobile website simply a carbon copy of your traditional website, that simply loads faster by stripping out the glitz and glamor? Does it need to cut out certain features, and limit your website to a few pages? If that’s your goal, then chances are, you can create a mobile page for short dollars. If your goal is to simply change the look of your site so that it can load on a mobile phone without having to wait forever, and to avoid the pinch/drag/zoom nightmare that is trying to fit 17 inch displays onto a 4 inch screen, then sure, just reformat your CSS and you’re well on your way.

In my opinion, I would assume that the reason a customer goes to a mobile website versus going to a desktop version is not simply because the only device handy is said mobile. I think a mobile user is looking for something a little different. A mobile user’s goal is to get off of your website as quickly as possible, and still accomplish the reason for visiting in the first place. They aren’t typically there to browse.

For example, let’s look at a pizza place. If I’m sitting at my desktop, there’s a good chance I want to look at a menu, figure out what I want, and then pick up the phone and call. Ordering online is neat, but I don’t want to have to fill out 12 different pages of forms, especially if I’m planning on paying cash. However, if I’m on my mobile, and I’m looking at the menu, then there’s a good chance I’d find it convenient if I could simply check off some boxes, and be told it’ll be ready in 15 minutes. I’m already on the phone, since most data packages don’t allow for web surfing and phone use at the same time. Also, I don’t like having to figure out the perfect angle that I can hold the phone, talk into it, and read the screen, all while listening to you read back the order, etc. My arm only bends in so many different places, and unless you have eyes like a gecko, you’re not reading the webpage, holding the phone to your ear and mouth, and carrying on a conversation where details matter.

If your website’s main purpose is to sell products online, you need to make sure that it is easy to sell on your mobile device. Many times, the store software that works great on a desktop platform does not translate well to mobile. Avoiding extra steps is critical for mobile users. Setting up stores that can tap into other existing data, such as tying into the Facebook API, enables you to capture a lot of the user information, without forcing the customer to fill out a long login form.

A mobile website should be high on your list of things to get working for marketing purposes. Before deciding how you want to create your page, spend some quality time figuring out what type of mobile site would benefit your customer the best.

Can you really fix my problem at a lower cost?

Our answer is yes. Over the course of the past 50 years, the advertising industry has transformed to encompass all new media that fall under the advertising umbrella. If you recently haven’t reviewed your marketing strategies and costs when working with an agency, you should. You might be losing a fortune.

I read an article today by a former head of creative at a major ad agency that read how he had witnessed a large amount of frustration by Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) caused by how their agencies charge for creative and account services. The author says he had an epiphany and that maybe charging by the FTE (full time employee) should be a thing of the past. He states, “the fact that agencies charge more money when they put more people (or say they do) onto a project,” is wrong. No kidding.

I have always felt that the standard advertising agency model he wrote about is broken. In this model, ultimately agencies are compensated greater when deadlines are not met or only sub-par work is delivered. I’ll explain.

Let’s say that your agency presents you concepts for a new campaign. Its employees have been working on storyboards, scripts and ads for weeks while billing you for the time. You take a look and see nothing you like and say to the agency, “I need to see more concepts.”

If the agency uses this standard model, ultimately, it just hit the lottery. Now it can go back and create additional campaigns and of course bill you more money. If the agency presented you great campaigns in the first presentation they lose potential income. The agency is being rewarded for delivering inferior work.

I’ve always wondered why CMOs put up with type of agency model.

Now you’re probably saying, “This isn’t the relationship I have with my agency. I would never agree to this type of arrangement.”

The truth is you might have a similar type of relationship but don’t realize you do. Are your invoices always much higher than the initial quote? Are hidden fees popping up each month? If you answered yes, let me tell you how Davis Advertising can help.

At Davis we can operate using a fixed pricing model to help businesses of any size. This model has our clients pay a locked-in price or a pre-determined monthly fee (not retainer) that covers all required services for the completion of a project or campaign. This fixed pricing model would penalize us for creating campaigns that were not accepted by our clients at the first presentation. At Davis Advertising, if our first presentation is not great we will not be compensated for future concepts. Clients are invoiced only once we get it right. Not only does this method make us work more efficiently, this method is fairer to our clients and saves them time. So when you ask your agency if it can fix your problems and save you money be sure to also ask which model is used.

By Andy Davis

Defining Customer Expectations

There are certain phrases that are overused all of the time. I remember sitting in a meeting, getting ready to hear about innovative, out-of-the-box ways to exceed customer expectations, and I waited to see what it is, with almost baited breath. The answer? A coupon. OH MY! Yup, you blew away the customer with that!

“Exceeding Customer Expectations” is a great idea. It’s a phrase often times mentioned in staff meetings, to rally a sales force before a big event, or in board meetings prior to a new campaign launch. Unfortunately, it is most often used as a euphemism for giving good service. This more common usage has turned the phrase into a cliche, and it’s time for us to take this phrase back. In order turn this motto into a functional call to action, we need to re-examine how and why we use it.

Before you can exceed customer expectations, you should probably try to figure out what the customer expects. Of course, you can go with the old generic standbys, like “The customer expects great service!” or “The customer expects a friendly atmosphere!” The problem with these general, all encompassing “Expectations” is that they are idealistic. It’s hard to fix real shortcomings with idealistic, sweeping statements.

Realistically speaking, a customer may expect to be able to walk into a store, pick up an item, and pay for it in cash, without having to provide the customer’s email address, zip code, and or telephone number to complete the transaction. Perhaps a customer’s expectation is to schedule an appointment at 2:30 and the services starts at 2:30. I think it is a reasonable expectation for a customer to be able to complete a sentence before the sales associate interrupts with a question.

So, before you can exceed expectations, you need to be able to meet them. The only way to meet them is to drill down, ask the right questions, and think like a customer. When I was training sales associates, I always made the new employees go mystery shop elsewhere, to see the purchase experience from our competition, and see what it felt like to be a customer. It is impossible to meet a customer’s experience without knowing the possible frustration firsthand that they may feel.

Once you’ve met the customer expectations, then, and only then, can you try to exceed them.

For market research into what your customer expects, and for an analytic approach to creating better marketing and advertising, contact us today.

8 in 10 Connect to Brands on Facebook

Edison Research and Arbitron found that 80% of US social network users preferred to connect with brands through Facebook. Twitter is tied with "Don't know" for a very distant second place.

We'll revisit this data in a few months when we know more about Google+ and the effect it will have on the customer/brand relationship.  But, for now, it's fairly clear where brands should continue to focus.

Consumers Expect Something for "Like"

According to ExactTarget, 58% of Facebook likers expect both access to exclusive content, events or sales, and discounts or promotions through Facebook.  Only 37% do not expect anything to happen.

What does all of this data mean?  In short, it means that the "If you build it, they will come" mentality only works in the movies.  Just as it is with every other medium, you need to give visitors a reason to engage with you.

What exclusive content are you providing to your likers?

Worcester Center for Crafts Holiday Festival

Davis Advertising has assisted the Worcester Center for Crafts over the years on a number of annual campaigns to deliver direct mail, radio spots, print ads, billboards, posters and eblasts to invite new and existing students alike to take courses or one-night workshops in a variety of media.  Whether it is a pottery course in the original location at 25 Sagamore Road, or a glass-blowing class at the glass studio at 35 B New Street, the WCC is open year-round for students of all levels. 

Together again, Davis Advertising and the Worcester Center for Crafts have delivered the 2011 Festival of Crafts campaign. Above, here's one piece of artwork Davis created. This annual event takes place on Friday, November 25 to kick off the holiday shopping season. This festival runs through Sunday, November 27.

Brand Pages come to Google+

As we’ve mentioned in the past, Google Plus is a wonderful new social media channel, that has attracted around 50 million people since it’s inception back in June. It came out of Beta, and became open to everyone in September. Until Monday, November 7th, only individual users were allowed, and businesses couldn’t form a page, as they can on Facebook. Google politely asked businesses to wait, and many obliged. By enforcing their Real names only policy, many small businesses that tried to cheat the system were bounced from G+, as were some notable personalities that have functioned under pseudonyms on other sites.

All that has changed. 

Google officially welcomed businesses to the Google Plus universe on Monday, November 7th, 2011. This was done in a two step process, and only a couple of businesses that had a heads up were allowed initially (Only top tier business, like, say, The Muppets!) in order to make sure that the services were set up in place correctly.

Online marketers rejoiced, and then many began to build their G+ pages (See ours, click here!), and pretty much mirror their Facebook pages. They brought over their image galleries, links to YouTube, etc. They set up their company information, and posted some public welcome messages, and tried to bring their Facebook followers over.

The question we are asking today is, “Should companies create a separate strategy for Google+?”

With the ability to set up hangouts, and to set up Circles to share information with, should company pages focus more on the type of communication they are trying to accomplish? Is your company planning on mirroring your Facebook page on Google +, or have you begun to think of different ways to engage with your customers and employees?

Please give us your opinions below. Should your company be on Google +, and should it have the same strategy as Facebook and Twitter, or are you hoping to provide a completely different experience?

We have some definite opinions, but are looking to see what you all think first, before voicing ours.

Worcester Academy's International Students

As a school rich in tradition and focused on excellence, Worcester Academy is known as a premiere learning institution. The knowledge and experience that the students receive prepare them for college and life in the future. Worcester Academy pulls from a pool of local, national and international students who strive to make a positive impact in the world around them.

With that in mind, Worcester Academy came to Davis wanting to make an impact with their open house materials, as well as their international brochures. Davis Advertising provided them with a comprehensive strategy that included direct mail, web banners and email blasts, PPC, print and signage.

A tri-fold brochure for International Students.

Sign for Open House

For more images from this campaign, please click here. 

How's your newsletter?

One aspect of marketing that has become more popular is either an email or printed newsletter, that is published monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, or annually. The goals of a newsletter are pretty straight forward:

• Create customer retention and brand loyalty.
• Demonstrate your expertise in the field, and “lightly” educate your customers.
• Keep your company profile in the customer’s mind.
• Gain sales, whether immediate or long term.

Although the goals are obvious, the necessary steps to achieving them are often times nebulous. A newsletter is more than a simple list of articles stating what your company has done recently. In order to fully meet all of the objectives of a successful newsletter, you need to focus on both the content and the delivery.

We’ll begin with the content. Simply stating the accomplishments of the company, or discussing every new product that has been developed, is only going to accomplish the first part of goal #2. And let’s face it, how many of your customers want to become experts in your field? You need to demonstrate your expertise, not make your customers experts. Therefore, a newsletter filled with technical jargon, that tries to make every reader fully understand every aspect of the business, is probably going to fail.

In order to generate usable content, the focus must be on the customer, not on the products, or even on your business. If you think of your newsletter as an actual periodical or newspaper, you begin to see the entire picture. Consider the front of any magazine you have ever seen. The articles listed are about how the reader can change their life. “10 Great New Widgets That Will Improve Your Life!” “How Starlet X Lost 50 Pounds in a Week!” These articles are meant to help the reader in some way. They are more than simply product descriptions.

The tricky part is making sure it does not come across as a sales pitch. If you are truly focused on the customer, you should be okay.

In addition to your product, your newsletter should try to connect with the reader on a personal or emotional level. Does your company do good things for the community? Include an article about that. Once again, this doesn’t mean you should be generating a report on how wonderful you are. As an example, if your company recently gave money to a school, you could talk about the wonderful improvements made to the school. You don’t need to emphasize that they could do this based on your charitable donations; the fact that you are publishing the news alone tends to point that out.

Newsletters can also focus some attention on the community in general. Has a local sports team done something wonderful recently? Make mention. Has a new restaurant opened in town, that you enjoy? Write them a review. Newsletters can positively focus on other local events, that will also lend readability to your publication and give your readers something they will enjoy reading.

As far as delivery goes, your focus needs to be ease of use. For emailed newsletters, they must be accessible to all readers. Focusing your attention on clean coding, proper email etiquette, including proper titling, unsubscribe options, etc. It should be viewable as a website in addition to an email, for those who are using email services that are more restrictive. The ability to download the email as a file, and be read offline, is an additional feature. For more on email distribution, click here.

In summary, your newsletter needs to be enjoyable to read. No one outside of your company wants to read a book about your company. However, if 50% of your newsletter is soft sales on your products, and 50% of your newsletter focuses on the community and things that will most likely interest your customer, based on your customer demographic, the chances of your newsletter being deleted or thrown away without being viewed is much lower.

The Spice(s) of Life

I recently started a new exercise regime, along with a new diet. Have you read some of the diets that are out there right now? I came across one that is based on chocolate cake! It begins with what they called “Prep Week”, and all you eat, for a straight week, is chocolate cake. Then the real diet starts. Luckily, because by the end of that first week, you feel so sick, the thought of eating chocolate cake turns your stomach, and the act of actually eating it is sickening. Your body and your taste buds rejoice at the healthy varieties of foods. Never again will a plain salad taste so good!

I’m not going to go on that diet. It was interesting to read, however, and full of psychological reasons why it works, and how it keeps you off of junk food for a while.

Think for a moment about your marketing style, and current advertising structure. How often do you serve the same chocolate cake? Week in and week out, are you simply serving up the same exact ads, and hoping that your customer’s sweet tooth is still excited to see it?

If variety is the spice of life, perhaps your marketing needs a little spicing up.

One reason for adding in variety is to try and capture different customers. Geiko has its little lizard, and he tells you all about how 15 minutes can save you 15%. The company has a caveman who finds it insulting when you use him as the basis of comparing ease of use to his level of sophistication. Who can forget the man asking a rhetorical question that gets answered in another set of commercials, with bears doing what they do in the woods, and the little piggy screaming in the backseat on his way home. Or perhaps you remember the stack of money with the googly eyes fondly... There is a variety of style, which can potentially reach everyone. The brand message is not getting placed in stale commercials.

Of course, you need to keep the actual brand messaging the same every time. You don’t want to completely reinvent your company’s image every time you put out a new commercial. The rest of the ad should have content variations. This will allow you to continue to reach customers, and not just become white noise. The more out of the box the commercial, the more likely it can generate a buzz. Changing the buzz, in order to keep your customers talking about you, is the goal of advertising.

Even if your ad is brilliant, it needs to be relaxed for a while. I was pleased to see a Wendy’s commercial that features a man buying a retro t-shirt, which reads, “Where’s the beef?” Random people then read his shirt aloud as he walks down the street. I wouldn’t have been excited, and probably wouldn’t have noticed, if they hadn’t stopped this ad for 20 years. I can’t tell you what the last thing the Energizer bunny did, since he hasn’t changed his ways in a couple of decades.

The moral of the article is, no matter how great your current ad campaign is, let it go. Get something new. If it was truly great, let it rest, and see what happens if you re-launch in a couple of years. Don’t simply serve chocolate cake every day for the rest of your business life. Sometimes, a little raspberry sorbet will hit the spot, instead.

And sometimes, the bland salad tastes great, after eating just junk for a week straight. Although the jury is still out on that one...

Written by Chris Gregoire

Defining Great Customer Service

We could get out a dictionary, or check out our friends over at Wikipedia, and see what they think Customer Service is, but we think that it would be more fun to see what you think it is. We took a quick poll, and came up with a few of possible definitions:

• Great Customer service is best described as “The Customer is always Right!” Do what the customer wants. 
• Doing what is best for the customer, no matter what. Sometimes, the customer is wrong, but letting them fail, just so you can say, “Well, we did what you told us to” is poor customer service.
• Be available to your customer whenever the customer needs you. Setting up call centers, answering email requests at any hour of the day, etc. 

Of course, great customer service can vary, depending on the industry. What is considered great service in the restaurant industry may not be considered great service in the construction field.

In order to market yourself to a customer base, you need to provide for the new and existing customer base excellent service. Otherwise, your marketing attempts will fall on deaf ears.

Today, we’re looking for your answer. How would you describe “Great Customer Service”?

You Don't Sell In a Vacuum

The title is obvious, right? You don’t sell in a vacuum. You have to pay attention to what your customers want, what’s going on in society right now, and what the trends are. Of course you must pay attention to seasonal changes, holiday schedules, and change accordingly. You must watch your competition, and make sure that if they are offering a sale or discount, you know what they are doing, so you can remain competitive. All of this is common sense.

The point of this article is to watch your third parties. Often times, we get so wrapped up in what we are doing versus our direct competition, that we forget that there are other businesses that are related to us, that are not really our direct competition, that can either adversely or positively affect our business.

My wife wants to “re-do” our dining room. Maybe I will get lucky, and it means she simply wants to paint it a different color. I like the idea of us spending only $30 on paint and rollers to “re-do” it ourselves... However, there’s a better chance that she wants to do some more expensive upgrades. Where to start? There’s two major changes she could want us to start with: the floor, or the furniture.

Does a furniture store consider a flooring business to be competition? Perhaps they should. They are both competing for the same dollar. As a customer, if I am on a limited budget, I must decide what to start with first. If I find a couch in my price range, that matches my existing carpet, the furniture store wins. If I find a carpet that accentuates my existing furniture, and changes the dynamic of the room, then maybe I’m done with just the floor...

We’ll leave my old dining room alone for a minute, and return back to the overall discussion. If businesses start to look not at who their direct competition is, but rather what businesses could have a positive or negative effect on the company income, there may be a way of creating relationships that would benefit both businesses. Those third party businesses, that don’t directly compete against you product for product, or service for service, could possibly be costing you business. Rather than trying to compete with them, if you had a symbiotic relationship, and could do some cross promotion, there’s a strong possibility of increasing your customer base, and being mutually beneficial.

Thinking about my dining room again, if we were to find out that we could save an additional 25% on the furniture from Merchant X if we buys the new flooring from Merchant Y, there’s a strong chance that we are going to spend more money overall. The two businesses win, and the customers win.

This type of marketing strategy can be hard to start. Networking may not be your thing. Work with your marketing team to figure out how to best begin these commensal business relationships.

Written by Chris Gregoire

SEO, Reviews, QR Codes, and other terms that your marketing department likes.

Today’s free advice has to do with improving your search engine results. There’s a whole lot of things that go into how well your website is optimized for search engines, which is why there is a whole field of marketing devoted to helping your website achieve higher results. We’re going to focus on one piece of this today. One that your business needs for non-SEO reasons as well.

Take this QR code.  If you scan it, it will bring your phone to a review for Davis Advertising. Now, there’s several different places we could review your business. We could have created a QR for Yelp, (Although Yelp doesn’t allow for mobile reviews, unless you go to a non-optimized site.) The problem with directing a customer to one of these specialty review sites is that in order for the customer to leave a review, the customer needs to be logged into that specific site. As not all customers are members on review sites, the odds of the customer getting through a review for you, and then taking the time to sign up to the service to actually leave the review, are slim.

That’s what makes the QR code above perfect. It asks the customer (you, if you scan it!) to leave a review on Google Places. Google scrapes other sites to get reviews, but also allows for customers to review directly on the Google Places page. With more than 50% of the smartphones sold being Android devices, and with many non-Android devices still being signed into at least one Google service, the chances are very high that the customer that scans this QR is already logged in as a Google User. That means no annoying login screens, or sign-up screens. It’s as simple as, click the number of stars, write the review, and get on with your life!

As we’ve discussed previously, word of mouth reviews are now living in your social media sites. Increasing the number of reviews that show up when customers are searching for your type of business increases the likelihood that new people will do business with you. On top of the fact that people do more business with existing, established businesses that have reviews about them, Google gives higher precedence to pages that have reviews. Active reviews increase your SEO, and make your website stand out more.

So, by using a QR code like the one found above, you can:

1. Increase your SEO.
2. Add reviews for your future customers.
3. Show existing customers you care about what they think.
4. Reach a more technology driven demographic.

For help creating your custom Google Review QR code, like the one above, contact us.

Business Social Media Policy (suggestions)

We’ve talked about social media business policy in the past, and how having a poorly written social media protocol can hinder your business. Today, we’ll be a little more specific on some of our recommendations. The main problem most company people have is a lack of understanding, which forces companies to rein in the creativity and sharing way too much, and it chokes out any chance of an organic feel to your social media channels.

Therefore, we’re going to list some simple do’s and don’ts for the business professional to follow when he or she is on the company Facebook page.

Do’s Don’ts

Post on your company Facebook wall positive comments about current promotions.	Claim any inside knowledge of promotions currently going on at your company.
Participate in community related posts (Did you see the Sox game last night?)”Yes, what a mess!”	Complain about work in any of your posts (Did you see the Sox game last night?)”No, I was stuck at work.....”
Represent yourself as a nice person.	Represent yourself as a mouthpiece for the company.
Like positive comments others make about your company.	Defend your company’s honor by conversing with negative comment makers.
Share your company’s pics, tag yourself in photos, etc. with your friends and family, if you feel the urge.	Post pictures on your company wall.  If you have something the company should share, give it to your social media team.

Test time!!

If your company posts, “We’re having a great sale on widgets tomorrow. Come on down and check it out!”, the appropriate thing to do is:

1. Like the post.
2. Comment: “Yeah, it’s going to be a blast! See you all tomorrow!”
3. Comment: “I can’t wait to buy the widget. What a deal!”
4. Like every single comment that follows the original post.

You are reading through your company’s Facebook page, and someone wrote on the wall, “What a horrible place to do business!” the appropriate thing to do is:

1. Comment: “I feel you buddy. That place sucks!”
2. Comment: “No it doesn’t. What’s wrong with you?”
3. Do absolutely nothing on Facebook. Email your social media team that the comment exists on the page.
4. Comment: “Sorry you feel that way. Can you tell me what they did to you? Maybe I can help.”

Your social media team posts: “Congratulations to John Smith for 25 years working with us.” You should:

1. Like the post.
2. Comment, “Great job John! That’s awesome!”
3. Comment, “You stayed there HOW LONG! Are you insane?”
4. Answers 1&2.

I hope I didn’t throw you any curve-balls. The answers should have been fairly straightforward. (1,3,4 for those that need everything spelled out...) Your social media policy should be easily summed in one or two sentences, “Represent your company’s values by being a polite, friendly person. Do not act on behalf of the company in any way while you are on the social media pages, but feel free to be an active fan of the company.”

Capitalizing On Your Niche

I was watching “Yo Gabba Gabba” yesterday with my 19 month old daughter yesterday. Thank you for your sympathy. It did remind me of something that I haven’t really thought of since I was an elementary teacher, many years ago. It brought up the concept of “Everyone has a talent”. As adults, we tend to think of this idea as simply a means of building up children’s self esteem, so that if they are lacking at one proficiency, we can point to another skill and say, “There’s your talent.” It goes hand in hand with the idea that “Everyone is special.” 

That concept is usually taught young, and then driven out of us, the older we get. Today, I ask that you look at your business through the five-year-old’s rose-colored glasses. Without trying to determine what makes your business special, you cannot accurately build an emotional connection with your customer base, and in turn cannot have an effective social media strategy. Without thinking about what makes you special, you cannot brand your business as filling a niche.

Sometimes, this means you’ve got to dig deep. As a teacher, it wasn’t always easy to figure out what character trait or skill I was going to emphasize with a student, in order to help that child feel special. It can be equally challenging for your business, too. For example, if you run a small retail establishment, similar to every other corner store, how can we define you as providing a niche?

If your business is so cookie cutter in actual goods and services, and you are unable to point out anything that we can market as a niche, perhaps you need to look at defining the personality of your business. Can your store be considered the most helpful, friendliest, personable? Think of all the establishments that have separated themselves based on a personality trait, rather than services rendered. There is even a restaurant in Boston called Dick’s Last Resort, who has created a niche by being rude to its customers! The expression, “To each his own” defines capitalizing on a niche market.

Companies often fail to capitalize on a personality niche because they try to define their own personality, instead of looking at how others view them. As a teacher, if a child wanted to claim a talent trait and state he was the next Andrea Bocelli, when in reality, the child sounded more like Biz Markie, it was the responsibility of the teacher to steer the child in a different way. Steer them not to demolish the student’s self image, but to point them in a direction that was realistic, and help them develop. The last thing you want to do is advertise based on a niche you do not possess. Just because you want to think of your business as “The most fun Store ever” doesn’t make it reality. Do some market research. See how customers see your business.

If you can figure out what makes you special, you can better advertise it. If enough people do business with you, because of what makes you special, then you have effectively created a niche that needed to be filled in the market. Doing this creates a loyal customer base, with lots of return business.

And you’ve made your kindergarten teacher so proud.

Written by Chris Gregoire

Is this a good idea?

We built this image, color coded it to match our background, and incorporated our logo into the center of the QR. It works, and brings you to a non-mobilized contact page. We feel that branding a QR should happen around the code, not inside of it, and are using this as a “Not to do”. Instead, we feel you should keep the QR black and white, and add your brand messaging around the code. How do you feel? Comment below, or on Our Facebook page.


We'll update this blog on Monday, with our reasons why we feel the way we do.

Are social media jobs dead?

This does not make you a social media strategist

Before answering the title question, take a moment and ask a second question: Is there a print ad specialist?  Someone that knows everything about print ads? The question sounds silly, right? Because we know that print ads need first a creative influence, and then a good copywriter, and a great artist, to be effective.  Next, you need a media buyer to put the newly created print ad in the correct publications or locations for it to reach the target audience.  Not to mention, if you want the print to tie into other parts of an effective marketing campaign, you need the print to sync up with radio or television, as part of a full spectrum campaign.

Which one of these people, listed above, would you list as a “Print Ad Ninja?”

Social media strategists have been looked at the wrong way by the industry for a long time.  This is mostly because of the technical requirements that differ from other types of advertising.  In the past, it could be claimed as a completely different form of media because the skills required to make the advertisement come to life were found in the technical departments.  Therefore, the ability to claim Social Media Guru, Ninja, Master, etc. were left to people that may not have the marketing skill, but who had the technical skill to make it happen.

Creating a marketing strategy, no matter what the medium, is more than simply the medium’s technical requirements.  The ability to code in HTML, CSS, PHP, etc does not necessarily mean that the person can market.  Just because I can string sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into pages, does not make me the next Stephen King.

A social media strategist has a lot more to do with the strategy, and a lot less to do with the use of technical tools.  A true social media strategist is concerned with how to blend a marketing campaign into a medium that listens instead of speaking.  Simply put, a social media strategist should be a part of your creative process, not a part of your IT department.

The influx of a younger generation that knows the ins and outs of the tools of social media does not worry the true social media strategist, the same way that the creation of blogs did not scare the professional writer.  An architect is not afraid of a carpenter, is he?  The fact that there is a plethora of new users in business that can help to build effective campaigns is a dream come true to a social media strategist, as this means he or she can spend less time doing the day to day process and can focus more on building strategies.

In answer of the question, “Are social media jobs dead?” the answer is a resounding “NO”.  However, the ability to hide behind simple coding processes, the ability to claim Ninja skills based on technical computer literacy, is dying.  To the true social media strategist, it couldn’t have happened soon enough.

Using YouTube for Increased Customer Service

This weekend, weather permitting, I am installing a floodlight on the top of my garage. It’s going to be one of the motion sensor type that will probably get set off 5 times a night by the stray cats in the neighborhood, but it’s what the wife wants, and she typically gets what she wants. This may come as a surprise, but I am not an electrician. Marketing, yes. Wiring, not so much. I managed to electrocute myself this past weekend while painting around a light switch, so there’s a good reason for some concern.

For this purchase, I simply picked the closest box off of the shelf at Home Depot. The light I bought came with written instructions. I guess someone could try to read those over and over until it sinks in. I’m not big on reading instructions, so I turned to YouTube, to see what was there. I simply typed, “How to wire a light,” into YouTube’s search bar, and I was on my way.

In a perfect world, I would watch a video on the installation of the exact light that I am about to install. Unfortunately, the light I bought did not have a video online. Instead of watching a video made by the maker of the light I purchased, I watched one of its competitor’s videos. Who do you think will earn my future business?

In order to keep your customers away from your competitors, a part of your marketing strategy (Now we get to the part I’m good at..) should use some video. Overall, your entire strategy should be based on two things:

1. Showing your devotion to positive customer service and experience.
2. Showing your product and company as the best choice, and the expert in your field.

Video can add to your customer satisfaction by increasing the level of usability of your product, and your website. Does your site have a frequently asked questions section? Each question can be asked and answered in individual short videos. Does your product require an instruction manual? Create videos showing proper assembly, usage, etc. Do you have a trouble-shooting section? Create a walkthrough video of the most common errors customers have with your product.

Not only does video help by educating your customers, it also lends credibility to your company and product. Walk into a cell phone store and ask the employee working there how to access email on one of the smartphones. Can that employee answer your question? Then chances are, you would be willing to buy the phone from him. Videos are proof to your customers that you know how to use your own product, and that you can answer all of their questions in the future if there are issues.

A couple of quick suggestions:

• Tutorial videos should be clear and concise, but do not need to be professionally shot. They can be done on a handheld camera.
• Your videos should live on YouTube, and play from your website. You don’t want to send your customers to YouTube, as they may wander to someone else’s video. However, you want people looking on YouTube to be able to wander onto yours.
• Always show your video to someone who has no knowledge of what you do with the featured product or process before uploading. If they don’t understand what they watched, assume your customer won’t. Remember, you’re the expert. You aren’t the best judge whether your video can teach someone foreign to the subject on how to use your product.

Remember, these are videos for customer service, created to help your customers. They are not a direct sales tool. Although they may help to sell a customer that knows you have them, that customer is being sold on your higher level of service. If you are building a video to sell your product or company outright, you need a professional quality video. Do not think the two are interchangeable.

Increasing Your Word of Mouth Advertising

When was the last time you needed something, and turned to Google Maps to get the answer? I had to visit my in-laws last week, and knew that afterwards, I was going to want to go someplace nice to eat. I’m not real familiar with the restaurants around them, so I figured I would take a peek at what was in the area.

I loaded up the town, and saw several restaurants in their immediate area. Now, rather than just basing where I went by the name of the establishment, I looked at the reviews showing on Google. I’m sure I’m not the only person that has done this...

What we’re talking about is virtual word of mouth. Every business nowadays has reviews online. It’s not limited to restaurants. If you show up on a map, chances are, you have at least one review. How often do you go and look at your reviews? And how often do you encourage people to add new ones?

As I read through many of the reviews, it was obvious that some restaurants weren’t encouraging people to review. There were only extremely good reviews, or extremely bad. It was the “Everything was perfect, come here - oops, I mean, go there - often!” style review, which was obviously written by an employee of the establishment. There were also the “If the restaurant burned to the ground, they would finally be able to say they cooked the food.” type of review from someone whose only goal is to hurt the business.

When I was at my in-laws, I asked them where they would go, and got a real review. They told me that the place was quick, good food, and that the staff was nice. They told me that the parking was a little rough, since it was only on the street parking, but it wasn’t that hard to find a spot. Lastly, they told me it was kid friendly, and that they were used to having an 18 month old throw the occasional fit. Now, that’s a review!

How many customers would actually give you a real, useful review, if your business made it easy for them? The problem is, unless your service is either extremely good, or extremely bad, most people won’t bother.

My free suggestion for businesses today is to create a QR code that links to your Google Places Page. Simply find your business on Google maps, and click on it. Once it opens into the Google Places page, use the “Link” button to get the direct URL to go to this page, and create a QR code for it. Post it in your business. On this QR code, tell people that you want their feedback. And then check it often! Watch for trends, and take the advice that people offer.

Chances are, you will get flamed more than once, but understand that these people probably would have given a poor review without your encouragement. By showing you care about their review, you are automatically going to increase the positive vibe from the average customer. Now, go get some virtual word of mouth!

Don't Open a Twitter Account

Unless, of course, you can properly staff it.

I know, I know -- 100 million people use twitter; 150 million tweets per day are sent; it’s a great way to interact with customers, etc.

There are lots of stories about how Twitter has been used to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Additionally, a number of books can be found on the topic of Twitter -- providing everything from the basics, to excellent examples of how to use this powerful tool.

Of course, with the good comes the bad.

This past Sunday, the area in which I live was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Irene. Now, I was prepared for the outage, so it hasn’t had too much of a negative impact. Quite frankly, I’ve enjoyed the peace and quiet that the electrical outage has afforded me.

My power company was quick to direct people to their Twitter feed for updates on restorations. Seeing that they appeared to be responding to people’s tweets regarding the outages, I tweeted them -- 3 days ago -- and never heard back. Come to find out, they were only responding to a small portion of the tweets they received. 

I’m using the above as a fairly drastic example (given the extenuating circumstances with the storm) -- but, unfortunately, there are thousands of cases just like this. People have come to expect that if you open an account, they can interact with you. In my case, I’ve essentially been on hold for 3 days, via Twitter. People expect a response just like they would a phone call, email or web form. You wouldn’t let any of those go unanswered, would you?

Don't make your customers work so hard to contact you. Make sure that if you open a Twitter account (or any other social media channel), you are properly staffed, either internally or externally, to make sure the customer experience is at the level it needs to be.

Buzzword Bingo

One of the greatest joys in building a marketing campaign is looking at the product, and trying to come up with words that truly exemplify the experience the customer will have with the product. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to return to the same well, and pull out several of the same words. There are plenty of lists out there of overused advertising buzzwords, and we aren’t going to make another one.

Instead of creating a similar list, what we are going to do is help you become more descriptive. If you click on this link, you will find an excel spreadsheet to download. Once you download it, you will see that there are six bingo cards filled out with words pulled from a list of 100 most overused words in Press Releases.

This is one game of Bingo you don’t really want to win.

If you’re reviewing your soon-to-be-released PR package, and it stands a chance of winning a game, you have too many buzzwords. This means that there is a good chance the average reader of your release will immediately think “Sales” and Pitch your copy directly into the cylindrical file.

The solution is to look at each of those buzz words, and examine them from the customer’s point of view. Domino’s Pizza’s brand image relaunch would have gone horribly, if they had said, “Domino’s crust is New And Improved”. Instead, what caught the general public’s attention was “Domino’s crust is cardboard and no one likes it.” Then, they explained that it was new, and improved. The fact that the buzzwords were implied, and not surrounded by bright flashing lights, made this campaign a huge success.

Writing smarter doesn’t mean use bigger, better buzzwords. It means connecting with your audience more effectively, so they have a better understanding. Write in a way that illustrates to the reader that you care about their needs, and are here to serve them, not just to WOW them.

(buzzwords for the cards were taken from a great blog, listed here:http://www.adamsherk.com/public-relations/most-overused-press-release-buzzwords)

Paid, Owned, and Earned Media, part 2

Now that each has a name, and we realize the differences, we can begin to understand how to use these definitions to help clarify some of your advertising.

We’ll use an imaginary flower shop, called Rosie’s, as an example. Rosie’s decides to increase its business. Rosie’s pays for print ads, email blasts, and some direct mail. All of this advertising looks good; there are sharp, crisp images, and the language clearly states that large percentages are being discounted for a precise period of time. Unfortunately, sales don’t increase. Is Rosie’s to assume that “Print is dead?” Why did this paid media fail?

This is why having a smart advertising company that understands the holistic approach to marketing is important. A good ad agency doesn’t look at the ad, and say, “This is great!” until they have examined what your competition is saying, what the physical restrictions to your business may be, and what the general population thinks of both you and your product. If Rosie’s is located in a small, hard to find place, a portion of the ad needs to address how to find Rosie’s a little more than, say, a BestBuy would. If Rosie’s was known for having poor quality in the past, the ad needs to address the reputation, and clearly state that there has been a change.

When companies most often fail with paid media, the failure is caused by thinking that the ads will run in a vacuum. Remember, everything needs to tie together, to have a full message. Just because you have the ability to say whatever you want with paid media, you still need to have ads based in reality, of what the customer should expect from both you and the product. Obviously, you cannot break the law, with false advertising. Beyond that, the ad must also have a certain level of credibility. How many businesses have put together ads that are too good to be true, only to have no customer participation? How many times has the phrase “tons in stock” actually meant “just a couple”? Bending the truth will eventually catch up with you, and your paid media will become less effective.

The easiest of these to repair is the most tangible; your owned media. By “Easy” I don’t mean “Inexpensive”. Get your websites under control. Make your physical location pleasant, clean, and accessible. Stock the products your customers want. Provide customers with a pleasant place to do business.

The hardest to wrangle is the earned media. Earned implies that a company cannot simply go out and buy it. You get it from the customers. In order to have a successful earned media presence, you need your customer service spot on. You need to give the customer avenues to talk to your company about any service issue that comes up, as well as an experience that they would want to share with others. Although websites fall under owned media, the comments from customers on your social media channels are most certainly “earned” media. Complete transparency and a way to discuss any issue that may occur is your primary concern. Building some loyalty through some fun, innovative ways, whether it be Facebook contests, loyalty cards, and rewards programs all have the potential to increase your positive earned media. Referral plans work to build word of mouth for some businesses. You can try to influence earned media, but a lot of it has to happen organically, and over time.

Paid, Owned, and Earned Media, part 1

Do you know the difference between Owned, Paid and Earned Media? Beyond the differences, do you understand the relationships of them; as well has how to direct each one in a manner that is most useful to your organization? 

Although all three are fairly obvious in hindsight, it is probably best to take a moment and define them. 

Paid- Stuff you bought. Radio ads, PPC, TV spots, print ads, banner ads, corporate sponsorships, etc. You spent money on these with the sole purpose of bringing in business through the door (or online). In summary, they are what you want people to think of when they examine your brand, and the message may not be 100% accurate to reality. For example, you could say you have the greatest prices ever with paid advertising, but it certainly does not make it true.

Owned - Stuff you own. Your website, your social media channel and presence on the social media channel, your inventory, the uniforms of your employees, the actual brick and mortar of your establishment, etc. All of these carry your company branding, and work as advertisements for your business. They are static, and relatively unchanging. In their totality, they most accurately show your audience or customer what you are really all about. Although there can be some manipulation of the owned media, people can examine your owned media for themselves, and make judgments.

Earned - Stuff you have little real control over. Word of mouth, the responses on your social media sites, reviews from news agencies and critics, your customer satisfaction indexes, your reputation, etc. These are what your market thinks of you. You can have the greatest facility in the world, and all the advertising you want, but if your reputation is bad, you are going to struggle with repeat business. You influence this, but you don’t control it.

Each of these areas is extremely important, although they function very differently. The overlap of some aspects, and how they share the same space, is proof positive that it is impossible to pay attention to only one of these types of media. For example, you cannot have reactions on your Facebook wall (earned) without having a Facebook Page (owned). Excellent reviews on Yelp (earned) won’t bring some customers into a store with bars on the windows in the wrong part of town (owned). Paying for a great radio spot to bring people into your horribly staffed, badly organized store (owned) can result in no new sales, and could actually hurt your word of mouth (earned). So you can see how they are all related, even though they are not the same.

As you work your way down the list, the level of control shifts from your hands to others. For example, you can say whatever you want in your paid ads, based on as much fantasy as you want. They are your words. When you get to owned, there is a certain level of control. You can redesign your website however you want, you can paint your store, and you can dress your employees up in wonderful attire, but if your shelves are empty, you can’t fake it. There is some control. Bad reviews, based on misinformation, virtually destroyed Audi (the 6000 debacle) Ford (saddlebag gas tanks) and others. Your earned media can be influenced, but don’t think, even for a minute, that you can truly control it.

10 Reasons Why You Need to Have a Mobile Web Site

There are over 80 million people accessing the Web via their Smartphones. That audience is WAY too large to ignore.

Smartphones outsell PC’s. That was true at the end of last year. The gap between the two platforms is only going to grow.

Mobile Web sites reach all audiences, while apps do not. Sure, the idea of having a shiny new app is all sorts of exciting. But, focus your efforts on cleaning up your mobile Web presence first.

Most Web sites mobile traffic grew by more than 50% this year. More Smartphones means more traffic. Mobile Web use more than doubled in 2010, and there’s no reason to think the increase won’t be even greater in 2011.

In 3 years, more people will access the Internet via their Smartphone, than they do through a desktop. Over 80 million users and counting!

Desktop sites are sometimes difficult, and often impossible to use on a mobile device. Pinching to zoom in on desktop sites stinks. Mobile browsing is all about offering up a quick loading and easy-to-use experience.

43 Million people check email from their mobile phone daily. When your customers click on a link to your website from a mobile e-mail client, it should be visible, accessible, and optimized for mobile.

Your competitors have a mobile web site. And you don’t. I hope I didn’t scare you.

Reach your audience on the go. Good customer service means being there to assist them at all times. If you don’t have a mobile website, you aren’t truly there for them at all times.

Making your website more efficient

After taking a good, long, honest look at your business’s online identity, you have come to the realization that it is lacking.  Maybe the look and feel is reminiscent of an Atari game.  The only emails you receive from your website are from Nigerian Princes or offers to rebuild your website.  Even though your site is old and out of date, trying to load up your website on a Smartphone is an impossibility with all of the flash navigation you have on it.  Not to mention, the name of your site is www.2beornottoB.net, for all of your Shakespearean needs.  How do we fix this without completely starting from scratch?

First, we’ll conquer the domain name issue.  Your domain name is a main part of your branding.  If you cannot line up your business name with your web name completely, you’d better have something close.  Buying multiple domains, and pointing them all at the same site, is one way to help organize this.  Just for fun, type in www.coke.com.  Notice, it brings you to www.coca-cola.com.  Try www.cocacola.com.  Same thing, right?  If your name could be confusing, or if there’s a chance that someone will type it in wrong, go out and buy yourself some extra domain names, and point them all at your site.  Do your best to make sure that you have all of the possible names customer’s may accidentally put when looking for your name.

Next, if your website design hasn’t changed in the last couple of years, you probably need an overhaul.  For one thing, any pictures you have of people may seem dated, due to their outfits.  Even something as simple as blue jeans and a T-shirt can appear dated.  Colors have come and gone out of style.  Even your font choice may cry out “New, Inexperienced Company Here”.  Keep your site current, with new graphics and style cues.  Hint: there’s more than 16 colors allowed on computers now.

If you’re trying to get email from your website, have a form, not just your email address posted there for the world to copy.  A form will help to limit some of the junk mail.  Understand, there are still desperate people that will go and fill out your form, trying to sell you things, but at least they have to do it on your website.  They can’t simply copy your email address into their mass email program and pepper you over and over again.  It also makes things easier for your customer. For example, if a customer uses a web-based email system, like Yahoo, they have to copy your email address and LEAVE YOUR SITE to contact you.  Do you really want them going off, onto a different site to contact you? Or do you think that they could be distracted when they leave your site, and go to their email?  Who knows, maybe that Nigerian Prince has contacted them, too...

In case you didn’t know, people don’t want to read about your business.  How many “About us” categories does one business need?(about us, our history, our goals, what we do, how we do it, when we do what we do, our beliefs, meet our staff, meet our staff’s family, meet our pets, our pet’s history and goals, etc.....)  The primary subject of your website is your customer.  Your website needs descriptions of your products, FAQ’s on how to use them best, contacts for sales or customer service, and a limited amount of social proof.  Your website is a sales tool, to either directly sell your product or service right online, or to increase off-line sales.  Make sure the point of your website is one click away at most.  If you are selling goods, make the sales process easy.  Don’t force the customer to fill out 20 different forms before they buy, or they won’t bother.
Remember, it’s about ease for the consumer, not for you.

We’ll tackle mobile websites tomorrow.

Is Your Website Ready for Anything?

What would you consider the most basic defining character of a website? I would say that it is to share information.  The quality of the information, and the ease at getting this information from the website determines how good the website is.  Because the ease of getting to the information is what determines the usability of the website, if the user can’t get to it, your site just doesn’t perform.

You thought I was going to go technical there, didn’t you?

In order to determine if your site is ready for today’s world, we need to look at it in three different ways.  The first is the most obvious: on a desktop or laptop computer.  Chances are, you’re reading this blog on one of these devices.  If you go from this blog to your website, you will see what we like to call the “traditional” website.

Now, before we go any further, you need to remember why your potential customer visits your website.  If they can’t get to the primary purpose quickly, with one or two clicks, your website needs some major work... So,  stop what you’re doing and fill out the “Feedback” page located on the side of the browser window.  Your traditional website needs to be usable, and needs to provide the answers to any questions your customer may need before doing business with you. Once again, we can help with this, if your site is not up to par. Chances are, if you haven’t updated your website in the past two years, you probably have a problem.

The second place we need to look at your website is on a Smartphone.  Load up your website on your phone, and see how long it takes.  Before you start playing around with zoom features, can you read it?  Can you find the link to answer your questions, without squinting or zooming?  Basically, is your mobile website built?

A mobile website is not simply your traditional website, but smaller.  It should be  completely different website.  It should have nice, big buttons, that are easy to read.  It should have menus that are obvious.  You shouldn’t have to start by figuring out which way to best zoom your screen.  Your content should be different, legible, and instantly available to the user.  You don’t need to be able to answer every possible question your customer needs before doing business with you; but rather any question your customer needs to do business with you RIGHT NOW.  Setting appointments, buying services, hours of operation, etc.

Go to Amazon.com on your phone, and you can buy things.  You can search the entire store.  Does it look anything like Amazon’s traditional website? Yes, it does.  It carries the same brand messaging, and it has a similar feel, but it is obviously not the same exact page you see on your computer screen.

That’s two places, and I said, we needed to check three.  The third is your URL.  If I like your site, or your services, can I tell a friend your site?  Can it be passed along easily?  When you want to tell someone your website, do you need to say, “Here, let me spell it for you?”  You need to stay away from certain words, like 2 and to and two.  I’ll be too confused after trying to remember which type of TWO that I’m not going to go 2 ur site. (be careful of strange abbreviations, too!)

If you’re in good shape for all three places, Good job!  If you aren’t, stay tuned for suggestions on how to turn it around without starting from scratch.

What drives people to your website?

What was the last small to medium sized business website that you visited online recently?

Why did you visit it?

Often times, when small to mid-sized businesses begin the design of their websites, these two questions don’t come up. The businesses worry about the questions of, “How are we going to present our content? What are the colors going to be? How can we best highlight how up to date we are? Do we want a graphics and video heavy site, or go with something more basic?”  The questions are geared towards WHAT the website will be, instead of WHY.

Why have you visited a small business website? Was it to contact the business? Shop? Look for support on some issue you had after making a purchase or obtaining a service? Was it something as basic as “Where are they located?” or “What time are they open?”

Design elements are extremely important, and using your website as a platform that explains both your projected brand image and is visually pleasing is obviously such an important part of website design that sometimes the usage is negatively affected. Here are some solutions to making sure your website is functionally up to par.

1. Look at the emails you have received.
1. How many of these are asking questions that the customer should have been able to answer easily from reading your website?
2. Are there usage questions of your product that you could create additional pages/videos for? Perhaps a “How to” section?
2. Count the number of clicks to get to your main reason for having a website.
1. Do you sell online? How complicated is this process for the customer? Is there a one-click method for returning customers?
2. Do you take some form of application? How many clicks is it to reach said application? Is the application worth doing online, or would the customer find it too complex?
3. Simple usability.
1. How many different pages is your “About Us” spread over? (About us, What We Do, Our Story, From the Desk of, etc.)
2. Does your customer have to search for contact information? Business hours? Store location?
3. How’s your beautiful site look on a smartphone? Is it still usable?
4. How many levels down does your website go? Can you get back to your main menu with a couple of quick clicks of the “Back” button?
5. There are questions that your cashier/ service technician may hear all the time, that could be answered on your site. Be proactive.

Aesthetics count. No one goes to your business web page simply to see how pretty a website you have built. Make sure it delivers on content, and on functionality.

Is your brand out of date?

On the radio, I caught a little portion of a discussion regarding the idea that having an email ending with @aol.com can “Hurt your personal Brand” by making you seem outdated.  There were some facts that they were taking into consideration, such as the demographic of people currently using an @aol.com were over 40 years old, and using the email from home only.  This radio discussion went hand in hand with a push that Google is currently using, the Gmail Intervention. See the Mashable article here.

Can your personal brand go out of date?  Is there really such thing as a “Personal Brand”?

If you’re name is Oprah, Madonna, Gordon Ramsay, or Steve Jobs, then yes, there is certainly a personal brand.  If you are a small business owner, whose personal reputation is tied completely to the business, then possibly your personal reputation is fused with your business branding.  If you don’t fit into either of these two categories, you probably don’t have a “Personal Brand”.

You have a reputation.  You may project a particular, possibly stereotypical view of yourself.  Neither are a brand.

Sony, as a brand, is known for innovation in entertainment.  The Walkman, the Diskman, the Playstation, were at one point cutting edge technological advances in how we experience audio and video.  That’s a serious brand, with a concrete brand message.

Gordon Ramsay is known the world over for having impeccable taste in food with the highest standards of quality and service, along with a potty mouth.  You know if you step foot in one of his restaurants,  the quality of food is going to be bar none.  If you buy his cookware, you know its going to last.  That’s a personal brand.

If you meet a man named Joe, who says he is a plumber, does he have a brand?  It’s possible, that in his community, the name Joe’s Plumbing is known for excellent service, and it may extend to Joe, but not necessarily.

Individuals don’t have to worry about branding.  They need to focus on reputation, and having integrity.  Some of the same concepts come into play, such as treating people well, being a hard worker, etc., but it isn’t the same thing as having “Brand awareness.”

So, keep your aol.com email addresses.  Tell people, “I’m retro”. If you still have an old @CS.com, you’re vintage!  

Don’t worry about Google Page Rank

I had a discussion with a peer yesterday regarding the importance (or lack thereof) of Google Page Rank. I'm a firm believer that Page Rank us fairly useless. Here's a blog a wrote on the topic a few months ago regarding Google Page Rank.

Why? I’ll tell you why...

You can’t track Page Rank.

Typically, the most accurate Page Rank data is months old. Unless you can accurately and frequently get new data for a metric, it’s pretty much useless.

Page Rank has nothing to do with SEO rankings.

A website can have a Page Rank of 0, and still garner organic rankings and search traffic.

Page Rank does not take social results into account.

Increasingly, social media exchanges, real-time news and other social content are making their way into search results.

Page Rank isn’t a results metric.

The only metrics you should rely on are:

• quality leads
• customers
• revenue

Even Google says page rank isn’t important.

Don’t believe me?

So, what should you do? Don't worry about Page Rank. Instead, worry about creating engaging content, promoting it via social media, and converting those content readers into leads and customers.

Is your brand strong enough to start a movement?

Have you ever launched a new marketing campaign? Many times, a campaign is conceived based directly on the sales process, and then moved into the realm of advertising. That means starting with the sales process and expanding upon it. For those not in sales, and looking for a starting place, many times we begin with FAB, which stands for:

• Feature - what your product does.
• Advantage - what makes it better than the competition.
• Benefit - why the customer’s life is better with this product.

What if you have a really strong product, that completely decimates the competition? What if your advantage is so great, that in your opinion, the choice of going with the competition is actually hurting the customer?

Rather than focusing on simple advantages that your product gives over the competition, you need to start a movement against your competition. An example of this idea is Smart (the car brand). Their cultural movement is that buying a large, gas-guzzling vehicle is wasteful, harmful, and irresponsible. Spend some time on their Facebook wall, and you’ll see that they have created an environment that is less about the car, and more about anti- big vehicles. They have effectively created a movement. Let’s face it, there are lots of small vehicles that get comparable gas mileage. Yet none make the statement of “I hate gas guzzlers” like a Smart does.

The Nissan Leaf does the same thing, with making it less about the car, and more about how you cause no harm to the environment. They are focusing on their advantage to the point that the marketing becomes less about the product’s merits, and more about how the competition hurts you. In their most recent commercial, a polar bear hugs the owner of a Leaf. This clearly states that the goal of saving the environment can come about from the Leaf’s movement of eliminating gas burning vehicles.

Others have tried this, and haven’t been able to take it out of the advantage stage. Watch an AT&T or Verizon commercial, and the two spend a lot of time putting down the other’s service. That’s because they couldn’t turn it into a movement, but kept it at the level of a perceived advantage. No one signs a contract with Verizon thinking, “AT&T is trying to destroy the planet with bad service.” 

While we’re discussing cell phones, we have to touch base on Apple. That brand has so effectively become a movement that Apple Evangelist is in Wikipedia. There is even an Anti-Apple movement. We’re talking about computer devices, not political parties, although the discussion between an Apple Evangelist and a (Windows based) PC user can sound like a political debate.

So what’s the point you ask? How does this result in sales? Simple = people are always much more loyal to a cause than to a product. Can your product revolutionize how people think of your product versus your competition? Can you replace advertising for a product with informing the masses of your brand’s movement?