WHEN MARKETING… MAKE THE INVISIBLE, VISIBLE!
Tags: Branding, Business, Charles Schwab, Colonel Sanders, Dave Thomas, Henry Block, Joel Hyatt, Marketing, Wolfgang Puck
Potential buyers are hesitant to consider products and services that they cannot see, so they emphasize what they CAN see. As a result… visual symbols of a service become important.
Many services recognize this principle… that services are simply relationships amongst people. Visualize the following business leaders that focus on the person behind it. Charles Schwab, Henry Block, Colonel Sanders, Dave Thomas, Joel Hyatt and Wolfgang Puck. Ad agencies have consistently visualized their services through their people.
Consider the leather binders that financial firms use to symbolize prosperity, the dark columns that many law firms use to symbolize tenure and longevity, or the padded shoulders in military uniforms… and colorful medals that the armed services use to symbolize strength and honor.
Prospects look for visual clues for a service, and if they have none… they tend to look to services that do provide clues. So, provide clues in all you say and do. Make sure people see who you are throughout all of your marketing and promotional efforts… as well as in the experience you provide. You must create these visual surroundings, from the parking lot to the last page of your proposals… that will enhance the client’s perception of your quality.
Watch and perfect the visual clues that you send.
THE STICKINESS FACTOR
Tags: Barnes & Noble, Design, LOUD! Creative, Malcom Gladwell, Marketing
Our society has clearly become overwhelmed with advertisers clamoring for our attention. The New York based firm; Media Dynamics, now estimates that the average American is now exposed to 254 different commercial messages in a single day. There are billions of websites vying for your browsing time. Cable systems routinely carry hundreds of channels of programming. A glance inside the magazine section of any Barnes & Noble bookstore will reveal the thousands of magazines and periodicals that come out each month.
In the advertising world, this is called the “Clutter Problem.” Clutter makes it increasingly more and more difficult to get any single marketing message to “stick.” Much of what we see and hear, we simply don’t remember.
How “sticky” is your marketing collateral? Is your website original, relevant, fresh and inviting? Does your print collateral blend in with the mediocrity of junk mail that crowds your mailbox? What does your email marketing look like? How about your television and radio ads?
And I am not just talking about design. Looking your best is certainly crucial, but your message… your content is equally, if not more, important.
The name of our company is LOUD! Creative Group. We exist to empower our clients to be heard… to be seen, and to rise above the clamoring clutter of their competition.
Evaluate your marketing collateral, and your message. How much does it stand apart from the rest? How memorable is it? How sticky is it? How worthy is your message of being passed on by others?
THERE IS STRENGTH IN WEAK TIES
In my journey through the book, The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell… I drew some pretty solid insights. In this book, he shares the following…
Mark Granovetter; an American sociologist, once performed a 1974 study that became a classic… “Getting A Job.” He studied hundreds of professional and technical workers that lived in a Boston suburb. He discovered that 56% of people in this community who found jobs, found them through a personal connection. 18.8% found their jobs through formal means… newspaper classifieds, advertisements, headhunters, etc. Another 20% roughly applied for their jobs directly.
This is not surprising. The best way to get in the door is always through a personal connection. Granovetter found that of these personal connections, the majority were weak ties. Of those that used a contact to find a job… only 16% saw that contact often. 55.6% saw their contact only occasionally, and 28% saw their contact rarely. People weren’t getting their jobs through their closest and dearest friends… they were getting them through their acquaintances. What’s the point?
When it comes to getting information, leads, ideas, and business connections, weak ties are always better than strong ties. Afterall, your friends occupy the same world that you do. They might work with you, or live near you… and go to the same churches, schools and parties. How much then would they know that you don’t already know? On the other hand, your acquaintances occupy a very different world than you. They’re much more likely to know something or someone that you don’t.
To capture this apparent paradox… Granovetter coined the phrase, “The Strength In Weak Ties.” The more acquaintances you have, the more powerful you become, especially in your business position. Understand the importance of familiarity, and ties to other connectors. Don’t underestimate the power of relationships, even the seemingly insignificant ones.
YEAH… BUT I LIKE IT
Tags: American Express, Branding, Harry Beckwith, Marketing, Visa
Why do people buy what they buy? Many marketers assume that buying decisions are made fairly logically. A prospect for a service adds up the cost, and benefits of one service, compares it to another’s, and chooses the service with the better score… right?
But seemingly sophisticated prospects for even sophisticated services do not behave this way, as the strange case of Visa versus
American Express clearly suggests. Consider the evidence.
Visa cards are accepted in almost 3 times more locations than American Express cards. You can pay back Visa immediately, or over time. You must pay on an American Express card at the end of each month or suffer substantial penalties. You pay $20 for a basic Visa card, and $55 for one from American Express.
Now… what “truly rational” people want from a credit card is utility relative to price. “Truly rational” people want to pay as little as possible for credit card benefits. A “truly rational” person; in other words, chooses a Visa card. Perhaps all of Earth’s rational people do choose Visa… but that leaves 25 million Americans who use American Express cards. Why?
Because of prestige, apparently. This is to say… American Express emphasizes that “Membership has it’s rewards.”
“What’s the point,” you might ask?
Appeal only to a prospect’s reason, and you may have no appeal at all.
This is an excerpt from one of my favorite books, Selling The Invisible, by Harry Beckwith. I highly, highly, highly recommend that you buy it, read it, re-read it, then read it again.
MAKE SURE YOUR DUCKS ARE IN A ROW
Imagine this… What if you were to highlight the details of a business problem to the executives of a particular organization. What do you think their response would be?
The CFO would likely say… “It’s a resource problem.”
Human Resources would likely say… “It’s a people problem.”
R&D would likely say… “It’s an information problem.”
Marketing would likely say…“Let’s double the marketing budget.”
While I fully advocate that marketing is an absolute necessity for any business or organization to thrive… more marketing isn’t always the answer. To be successful, any organization needs to have their ducks in a row. Marketing; however, is just one duck.
Better marketing is good. A better reality is even better! Evaluate your business, your service, your systems, your leadership, your marketing. Keep getting better at what you do.
Your brand is the perception your clients and prospects have of your business or organization. Keep improving your brand.
THE LOW COST TRAP
I’ve known business owners that have made a strong marketing case for becoming and/or being the low cost provider… but it’s been my observation that the low cost position can kill a business.
The great low cost providers are vulnerable from multiple angles. Just when the system for lowering costs has been fully refined… somebody else inevitably comes up with a better system and cheaper suppliers. And as if this problem isn’t enough… these business owners find it virtually impossible to inspire their employees due to limited budgets, meager surroundings… and a constant need to recruit under-paid and under-appreciated workers.
Always remember, your clients and consumers can almost always find a cheaper way to get your products and services, and few efforts are less rewarding than trying to compete with the cheaper ways of those bottom-dwellers.
Stay away from the rock bottom.
YOU’RE KNOWN… BUT ARE YOU BEING NOTICED?
Tags: email marketing, Facebook, Marketing, Twitter
How easy it is for your business or organization to be known… but how frequently are you being noticed? In an era where there’s more work to be done than time to accomplish it… when the term “business” should more appropriately be spelled “busy-ness,” it’s your job to make sure that you’re not getting lost in the white noise of the marketplace.
QUESTION: If you’re looking for a plumber… where would you start? You might have answered Google, Yahoo, Bing… or perhaps the Yellow Pages (online of course.) But you’d be wrong. The first place you’d check would be your memory. Your prospective clients and customers will hop on the search engines if and only if they don’t have a quality resource readily stored in their minds. Your customers and prospects are busy, convenience is everything. If they have a need or problem, your name should be on the very tip of their tongue.
Make sure you’re being noticed. Are you regularly staying in touch with your existing customers? Are you utilizing tools like email marketing, Facebook, Twitter… and other social media tools? Are you advertising? Your customers and prospects start forgetting you within minutes of their last interaction with you. If you don’t stay connected, noticed… your competitors will.
And I don’t encourage you to start SHOUTING your name from the rooftops either. Find ways to gently remind people you’re around and eagerly waiting to serve their needs. For example… send a hand-written notecard, or call to wish someone a happy birthday. Giving back is a great way to be noticed. Provide tips to your audience on how to save money, or how to avoid a business pitfall… how to be more efficient, or how to grow and market their business. Tell stories that inspire and motivate them. Let us know when you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. We’re willing to listen when you have something valuable to say… valuable to “US.”
BUILD YOUR CASE
Tags: Marketing
Notify your clients of documented successes. Frequently let your clients know of recently successful projects. Your clients won’t know unless you tell them.
ROI IS NOT THE SINGLE MEASURE OF MARKETING SUCCESS
Everyone loves to talk about ROI. The benchmark has firmly planted itself in the soil of marketing doctrine, widely accepted as a measure that makes it simple to evaluate marketing programs and gauge spending levels. “Return On Investment” enables financial types to evaluate marketing initiatives with the same approach they use to evaluate capital expenditures and acquisitions.
There is a fundamental problem with overemphasizing ROI as the single measure of marketing success: It is often impossible to accurately quantify the impact. Although the world of marketing has come a long way in terms of analytic capabilities, applying financial numbers to the marketing equation is not always possible or preferable.
Take branding, for example. For many companies, brands are their most valuable assets. Determining the precise value of a brand at any given moment is nearly impossible. If the value of a brand cannot be precisely calculated, then it’s impossible to solely use ROI to evaluate the decisions that impact the brand.
Click Here to read this article in its entirety, written by Dr. Tim Calkins and Dr. Derek D. Rucker for AdAge.com. Dr. Tim Calkins and Dr. Derek D. Rucker are both professors of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management.
MARKETING ISN’T A DEPARTMENT
It simply doesn’t matter how much marketing and media you produce… If the clerk at the end of the line fails, everything fails.
The buyer [client] doesn’t return, and tells all of her friends about her experience. Marketing is EVERYBODY’S job. Review every step from how your receptionist answers the phone, to the message at the bottom of your invoices.
Every act is a marketing act! Every employee is a marketer for your company!
POWER-SHIFTING TO REVERSE
It’s easy to calculate the investment cost for marketing… since it’s always at the bottom of the invoice. But how much is it costing you for failing to market your businesses to its maximum potential? Consider this “reverse-analysis” case study.
ASSUMPTION
Let’s assume a business sells its average product/service for $5,000, and that a new website to market your business costs $10,000.
QUESTION
What is the “least” number of new clients that would call, email or visit your doorstep… if your were to invest into a new website that was fresh, visually stunning, inviting, relevant, easy to navigate, up to date, a truer reflection of your brand… and more effective at shadowing your competitors?
FORMULA & RESULTS
If you were to only add 1 new client per month, at an average rate of $5,000 per each new client, you’d be adding $60,000 of newly found revenue over the next 12 months. If you were to add 2, you’d be adding $120,000 of new revenue. If the investment for your new website is $10,000, and the potential revenue from a new and more effective website ranges from $60,000 to $120,000… then the minimum cost of “not” upgrading your website is between $50,000 to $110,000 to your business over the next 12 months.
SUMMARY
Marketing is essential to the success of your business… and in this technology age… your website plays no small part in your marketing strategies. While counting the investment cost for your new website, brochure or any other marketing effort… be sure count the cost of “not” investing into your marketing and brand. You’ll inevitably find that it’s considerably more expensive to do “nothing” than it is to do “something.”
Computers, paperclips and office furniture are merely an “expense,” but your website and marketing efforts are an “investment” that deliver large financial dividends when executed effectively. How much revenue have you already forfeited in 2008 alone? Be a smart marketer.
DON’T TOUT YOUR CREDENTIALS
You work hard for your achievements. You have reason to be proud, and to assume others will be too. They will… but far less than you’d suspect.
Consider the research that studied the effect of expert credentials on jurors. Do jurors place “more” faith in experts with the better credentials… higher degrees, or a longer list of articles in respected publications? They don’t. They place faith in the experts that communicate the most clearly.
I would encourage you to refrain from sounding immodest in your marketing efforts, which tends to repel people anyway. More importantly… always be answering the question your clients are thinking and asking… “What have you done for me lately?”
Your credentials are important, but they’re accomplishments of the past, and reveal little about your ability to satisfy the needs of your clients and prospects.
THE BEST SALES & MARKETING PHRASE EVER
The best sales and marketing phrase of the 20th and 21st century is without a doubt… “Would you like fries with that?”
Your best prospects are your existing clients. These are the people that already trust and appreciate you, and what you have to offer.
Create opportunities to sell additional services and products that will add value to your existing network, and you’re considerably farther down the road of closing your sale and earning additional revenue than if you were to send out a thousand brochures or emails to total strangers.
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM LOUD! CREATIVE
Tags: Branding, Brian Tracy, Business, Dale Carnegie, Harry Beckwith, Jerry Porras, Jim Collins, Keith Ferrazzi, LOUD! Creative, Malcom Gladwell, Marketing, Matthew Kelly, Michael Gerber, Patrick Lencioni, sales, Seth Godin, Zig Ziglar
First, I want to wish each and every client and reader a Happy New Year. I sincerely hope that 2008 proves to be the best and most prosperous year ever for you, your families and your businesses. I am grateful for your friendships.
For me, 2007 has been a journey filled with growing and learning. As you may already know… my intention for this blog is for it to be a
no-cost, value-add resource for you, and your business or organization. It’s here that I share from my experiences, my client’s experiences, and the various resources from which I study and read.
As you endeavor to grow and develop in 2008, I thought it seemed a thoughtful gesture to share with you some of the books I’ve discovered and studied personally… and from which I post to this blog quite frequently. I hope this is helpful. I recommend all of them.
Please feel free to leave your comments. Don’t be inhibited to call me at my office should there be anything I can do for you. Again, Happy New Year !!! Congratulations on all your successes, and may you have so many more.
Brian
BRIAN WEBB’S RECOMMENDED READING LIST
(not necessarily in this order)
ALL MARKETERS ARE LIARS Author: Seth Godin
SELLING THE INVISIBLE – A FIELD GUIDE TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith
THE FOUR OBSESSIONS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTIVE
Author: Patrick Lencioni
THE DREAM MANAGER Author: Matthew Kelly
THE DIP Author: Seth Godin
THE TIPPING POINT Author: Malcom Gladwell
E-MYTH REVISITED Author: Michael E. Gerber
E-MYTH MASTERY Author: Michael E. Gerber
DEATH BY MEETING Author: Patrick Lencioni
SECRETS OF CLOSING THE SALE Author: Zig Ziglar
THE INVISIBLE TOUCH, THE FOUR KEYS TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith
WHAT CLIENTS LOVE, A FIELD GUIDE TO GROWING YOUR BUSINESS Author: Harry Beckwith
GETTING REAL Author: 37 Signals
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE Author: Dale Carnegie
ADVANCED SELLING STRATEGIES Author: Brian Tracy
THE FIVE TEMPTATIONS OF A CEO Author: Patrick Lencioni
NEVER EAT ALONE Author: Keith Ferrazzi
GOOD TO GREAT Author: Jim Collins
BUILT TO LAST Author: Jim Collins & Jerry Porras
SLICED BREAD AND OTHER MARKETING DELIGHTS
Alright. You might already know that I am a fan of Seth Godin… a bestselling author, entrepreneur and marketing expert. I was just watching Godin’s presentation at the famous Ted Conference, which is held annually by some of the world’s greatest thinkers, doers and communicators… that speak on topics ranging from technology, entertainment and design, to business, science, culture, arts and global issues.
I was about to post some inspiration and information from my find… but I thought you’d enjoy experiencing Seth Godin’s presentation for yourself. Trust me… if you aspire to market your business, service or product more effectively and with greater impact… then you’ll definitely find that the 17 minutes of your time it takes to watch this video to be worth it. Seth is funny, engaging and illustrative in his communication style. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. If you like it, post a comment… but if you don’t like it or if you disagree… then still post a comment.