Blockbeta Marketing: Unique Perspectives and Resources for Small Businesseshttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/Marketing, internet marketing, low and no-cost ideas and toolsen-US2008-07-24T02:54:48ZSquarespace Site Server v5.0.0 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Avoid These Website Mistakeshttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/7/14/avoid-these-website-mistakes.htmlRobbin2008-07-14T16:37:03ZQuick TipsJakob Nielsen is the undisputed king of usability on the Web. If you're doing any of these things on your site, stop it now! I particularly like the list of tips about writing for the Web. Use the following to make your website easier to read:

subheads
bulleted lists
highlighted keywords
short paragraphs
the inverted pyramid
a simple writing style, and
de-fluffed language devoid of marketese. Note from the editor: whatever does he mean? ;>)

]]>Why You Need Marketing, Not Just Saleshttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/7/13/why-you-need-marketing-not-just-sales.htmlRobbin2008-07-13T22:28:13ZRants & PhilosophiesI have had several clients who are so busy running around doing personal selling that they have little time to run their businesses. It seems to happen more around the $2-3 million gross revenue point, but it can happen at lower targets as well. Why is this? When a business is small, it doesn’t take as many clients or customers to cover costs. And the shortest, least expensive path to getting customers seems to be sales (I say “seems”, because there are better ways to combine the two). Naturally, as the business grows, it takes more money to cover expenses, which means the company needs to do more business, and therefore more selling.

You Can’t Clone Yourself

Many businesses of this size may have an extra salesperson or two. But the owner makes the best salesperson, because they have the most knowledge. Finding and hiring an owner clone can be difficult and expensive. Plus, the new person will require training and management – more time the owner may not have to spare. Sometimes the owner is the only one that can close the bigger deals. Or the owner may just not be comfortable taking a chance on someone else doing it. For many prospects, only the owner will do.

A Crucial “P”

Businesses of this size typically don’t do much in terms of marketing. What I mean by marketing here is the promotional side; one of the crucial four “P’s” (product, price, place, promotion). The value of marketing in this sense is to drive customers to your business, rather than always chasing after them.

Marketing promotions involves strategic planning and the marketing mix. The “mix” includes personal selling, public relations, events, advertising, Web marketing, etc. You may have noticed that I included selling in the mix, which is not atypical of most marketing textbooks. I may get a lot of flack for this, but personal selling is part of the mix; not something that should stand apart from marketing. This does not diminish its importance. It simply implies that all the elements have to work together to effectively and efficiently accomplish the goal – that is to grow the revenue of the company.

Why Marketing Promotions Makes Sense

There are two key benefits to this approach. One, less time is spent chasing customers: sourcing leads, prospecting, cold calling and following up. In fact, marketing is great for warming up those cold calls.

Two, people who contact the business (rather than the other way around) are in a buying mood. That is, they’re interested and they want it now. It could be called judo marketing, because they're already leaning in the direction you want them to go.

If you play your cards right, you can have your website and materials do most of the selling (ahem, marketing) for you. In other words, save the close for the close. That’s a huge time saver. And having people come to you first, gives you the upper hand and places you in a better negotiating position, so you may even be able to get a better price.

]]>How to Get Visitors to Interact with Your Websitehttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/7/7/how-to-get-visitors-to-interact-with-your-website.htmlRobbin2008-07-07T18:08:38ZWebsite StrategiesIntroducing the TEMPSTM Index

This is the second in a series of articles on how to use your website more effectively to build relationships with customers. The first article Build Relationships with Prospects, One Web Page at a Time, discussed what it takes to get visitors to stick around. Next, we’ll show you how to deepen the relationship by getting visitors to interact with your site and stay longer.

Rather than focusing on selling products, many websites are designed to capture leads, drive repeat traffic, build community or grow membership. For content sites, portals and social networks, these objectives are essential for advertising revenue survival.

Accomplishing these goals is a matter of establishing a relationship with the website visitor. The right content is a good way to attract an audience, but it’s important to understand how to get the visitor to interact with your site to create a deeper relationship.

In the olden days of the Web, people would readily engage with a website, providing their email and other information without expecting much in return. Not true today. Scary stories about privacy and overflowing email inboxes have made website visitors cautious. Established brands don’t scare people as much. Smaller, newer businesses have to work that much harder.

As explained in Part 1, relationships are built over time through a series of actions on your part and theirs in a fair exchange, evolving the visitor from someone who simply lurks to someone who actively participates in the website. This engagement is essential if you want to know what the visitor is thinking. And the more you know, the better you’ll understand their needs, wants and the value they place on what you have to offer. But how do we figure out what’s fair?

The TEMPS Index

TEMPS (time, emotion, money, privacy, sweat) is a way to measure a visitor’s willingness to commit to your site. The higher the TEMPS, the more involved they are – the very definition of a relationship. Your goal is to raise the stakes, but the more you want someone to give, the more you’ll need to provide in return.

Time: Literally the amount of time it’s going to take the visitor to perform an action. If your site is designed well, it will take the visitor less time to perform an action. Less time means a smaller perceived level of commitment. Time becomes less of an issue as the visitor’s overall perceived value of the site increases.

Emotion: Represents the visitor’s desire -- to be more involved. It’s where making a personal connection with the visitor becomes so important. Really knowing your visitors – their psychology and behaviors especially – will help you express the right style and tone, which in turn helps creates emotional involvement. You want them to fall in like with you (can you say Apple?). It’s also an important part of what makes a site “sticky” (when a visitor stays longer, visits more pages and visits repeatedly).

Money: If you’re asking for money, well, we all know that price and perceived value are integrally related. In other words, whatever I’m buying better be worth it. And if it isn’t a tangible product, but rather information, for example, it needs to come with a hefty reason why I should be paying for it.

Privacy: As I’ve said before, people these days are really hesitant to provide personal data, unless of course you’re talking about those who participate in social networks, and that goes only so far. Asking for social security numbers and other financial data drives the TEMPS Index even higher.

Sweat: Apart from actual time spent, this accounts for the effort a visitor has to expend. It includes: thinking, sourcing information, typing, scrolling, clicking, waiting for page loads, etc. The more trouble, the more sweat. Once again, designing a site for ease of use is important for reducing this perceived commitment.

Applying TEMPS to Your Site

Think about how you build relationships with customers in the real world

Outline how you could replicate this process on your website by thinking about the various ways you’d like visitors to engage with your site. Start with the end result: Are you looking for members? Newsletter sign-ups? Survey responses? Contact? Then think about the steps someone might take from first hearing about you to that final result.

Here’s a sample list, from low to high TEMPS:

Learn more
View Demo
Download
Blog, comment
Sign up/Register
Contact
Join/Become a Member
Buy

At the beginning of the process, the TEMPS index is pretty low and there’s little at stake for the visitor – they don’t have to give up any information, and they don’t have to expend much effort or time in doing so. Asking a visitor to click a button to “learn more” is a fairly low TEMPS request.

Determine what you can offer in fair exchange for those actions

You’ll need to offer visitors something of sufficient perceived value to get them to want to give of their precious attention, time, effort and information. The higher their TEMPS, the more you’ll have to give. The idea is to offer something that costs little, but has high value to the visitor. Here are some ideas:

Downloads of information not available elsewhere (i.e., white papers, research, articles you’ve written, etc.
Access to resources (i.e., links, descriptions, etc.)
Event updates (i.e., via a newsletter)
Membership only access
Community (i.e., social network)
Permission to participate (i.e., in a blog)
Promotional opportunities (i.e., sale notifications)

Don’t try to ask for too much without giving something in return

From the moment someone lands on your page, a gap exists between what he or she wants and what you want the visitor to do. Asking visitors to do something they’re not ready to commit to can be alienating, leaving them with a bad feeling about your site and possibly your business. Better to start slowly with requests that don’t require a big investment on their part. Create alignment, gradually and at their pace, to ease the visitor from passive viewer (reading, surfing) to active participant (signing up, commenting, calling, etc). At each point, as the visitor moves towards their goal (and yours), you provide them with a reward for their time, effort, and personal information.

Be clear about what the visitor can expect in exchange for this higher level of commitment

When someone makes a purchase, it’s clear that they’ll get the goods. Services are nuanced, requiring more explanation and a bit of a sales effort. As you move towards high TEMPS requests, be sure they know in advance what to expect. For example, when soliciting emails for your newsletter, you could provide access to past issues in an archive, let them know how often the newsletter is published, or provide a beneficial summary of the type of information they might expect.

Use persuasive architecture and content

Determine what you want your visitor to do once they hit your site, using navigation and links to guide them through from passive to active. Use compelling content to encourage them to move forward. Think about why the visitor might not want to do what you’re asking – then write your copy to overcome their objections. Keep in mind that there will be repeat visitors who already know what they want to do. Make this easy for them, following the rule of thumb of no more than three clicks to get them to their desired destination.

Experiment with different options and track results

By engaging customers, you’ll have the opportunity to test different promotions, messages, and website content to see what people are interested in. Use Web analytic data, like bounce rate, time spent on site, number of pages visited (and which ones), to get an understanding of the visitor’s behaviors. You’ll be able to determine how deep a visitor goes beyond your home page and how long they’re engaged, which will lead you to making better decisions about your site. Don’t worry so much about daily stats, unless you get lots of traffic; better to review over a period of time, say from 2 weeks to a month to spot trends.

Quick Writing Tips

Using the right words might be enough to convince someone to take an action. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Always take your visitor’s point of view, considering their WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)
Make sure what you’re offering matches what you’re asking for – it’s the give to get.
Offer a bit of news (on the next page), intrigue (hint at something bigger), or ask a question they can’t help but want to know the answer to.
Add an incentive, such as a bonus offer, free download, discount or contest.
Give a reason to act quickly, such as a deadline, expiration date, or limited availability.

]]>Build Relationships with Prospects, One Web Page at a Timehttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/5/26/build-relationships-with-prospects-one-web-page-at-a-time.htmlRobbin2008-05-26T20:58:46ZWebsite StrategiesUse your website to market your services more effectively

Using your website to market services, rather than tangible products, isn’t easy. Prospects can’t see, touch or try them before they buy. It can be confusing figuring out the right supplier, because services are often difficult to evaluate or compare. The buyer has to make their decision according to intangible attributes, rather than physical characteristics, like these:

All this evaluation homework can require a significant investment on the part of the buyer – in time and money. This means services are typically considered high involvement products (a low involvement product might be something like a tube of toothpaste, which doesn’t require much of an investment on the part of a buyer. They’re low-risk in that there are few if any consequences, even if the buyer makes the wrong choice).

Getting someone to purchase a high involvement product means building a relationship with the prospect first, because they have to get to know you to trust you. Your website can help facilitate this process by providing a place where the prospect can learn more about you without needing to make any kind of commitment. However, that won’t be possible if the visitor leaves immediately or only stays for a short time.

Second Impressions are Everything

Once a prospect has become aware of you, say through a search on Google, an ad, a press release, networking event or other marketing activity, their next stop is more than likely your website. That makes it an essential tool for making that all-important second impression.

Once they’re at your site, you want to do everything you can to keep them there and to get them to take some kind of action, like getting them to go deeper into your site. What you’re trying to do is create opportunities to engage the visitor, moving them through a series of stages from passive viewer (reading, surfing) to active participant (signing up, commenting, calling, etc).

Get the Visitor to Stick Around

Getting a visitor to stay on your site longer helps you begin the process of creating that virtual relationship with the visitor. Relationships are built over time through a series of actions on your part and theirs. It should be a fair exchange.

You’ll need to consider what a visitor is thinking when they hit your home page and respond to those concerns: Is this the right site for me? Will it lead me to solving my problem? Can I get my questions answered? Is the site credible? Can I trust what I find there?

It’s been shown that most site visitors leave after only viewing three pages, and in many cases, only one. To prevent that from happening, make sure your home page does the following for the visitor:

Make it very clear what you do – if they’re not getting it from your logo, header and in the first paragraph, they’re gone.
Use imagery to reinforce the message. Keep the important stuff above the fold (in other words, they shouldn’t have to scroll down to find it. They won’t). To borrow a term from the movie industry, use an “establishing shot” or an image to set the tone for the entire website.
Be professional in design and text. Packaging goes a long way to demonstrate competence and credibility. Match the style to your audience.
Visitors should be able to identify with the site. In other words, does this business understand my needs? Can they solve my problem?
Emphasize your strengths and what makes you different, considering the visitor probably just came from a competitor’s site.
Provide some level of pizzazz with imagery, fonts, copywriting and possibly color to make it memorable and to stand out. Take a creative risk, but be sure it supports your message.

By setting up your home page correctly, the visit will last longer, you'll get time to demonstrate your expertise, and you'll begin to develop that all-important relationship with your potential customer.

Here are a Few More Tips for Your Home Page:

Make it clear where to start in the journey of discovery about you (this has a lot to do with page layout and content -- prioritize the order in which you want to deliver information).
Let visitors do and find what they want in as few clicks as possible. In order to do this, you’ll need a good understanding of your customer’s buyer behavior.
Give visitors freedom from choice: don’t give visitors too many choices of what to do next. This is too much work and will lead to indecision. Visitors may be gone before they make that level of time commitment.
Set expectations: be sure to tell people what they can expect next if they press that button or hit that link. If it’s to view a demo, let them know the format. If it’s video, let them know the download time. If they know what to expect, they won’t be annoyed by a long wait, and they’ll probably stay for the show.

In our follow up to this article, which we'll post in a few weeks, we’ll talk about how to motivate your site visitors to take action -- because the more involved they get, the better it is for building relationships and growing your business.
]]>From Paella to Positioning: How to Figure Out Your Competitionhttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/4/15/from-paella-to-positioning-how-to-figure-out-your-competitio.htmlRobbin2008-04-15T19:15:37ZMarketing How-To'sLast night, after giving a talk about using the Web to romance customers, I sat down next to a sales manager of a local, historic meeting facility.

While we sipped sangria and tucked into our paella, she told me she was having a tough time figuring out her competition. She had tried to make a comparison to other facilities by number of rooms, capacity, menu, catering, etc. I suggested she was looking at the problem from an insider’s point of view rather than the customer’s. According to Al Ries and Jack Trout in their seminal book on the subject, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, “…you position the product in the mind of the prospect.” In other words, she needed to understand how an event planner might be thinking about her property among all the other ones they knew about...but not all event planners are the same.

I suggested she step back a bit and really think about who her customer was based on what she had to offer. It turns out that her facility is one of the few historic places in the city that hosts events. Therefore, we could try to go after a market that was interested in historic properties only, but that seemed a little narrow. I thought we should broaden our perspective to include sites that offered something beyond the typical hotel meeting room, because the event planner we were after might be looking for an unusual space to add interest to their event. They may not be thinking historical only – their thought process might be, “What space will make my event more exciting for my guests?” Once again, it’s important to put yourself in the mind of your prospect.

That made a place like the Olympic Sculpture Park Pavilion a competitor. Looking at it this way makes it clear who the competition is, and it makes it a whole lot easier to make comparisons to figure out your strengths and weaknesses.

By the time we got to the flan, it became clearer what the Sales Manager needed to do to market her property more effectively. Focusing on her property’s strengths, the messaging should center on the history and the significance that may bring to the planner’s event. She could offer tours, or co-market with groups who appreciate the history and architecture, like art museums or historical societies. Marketing activities could include sponsorship, donating space for meetings, and getting articles into their newsletters.

When you understand who you are and the market that appreciates your attributes, it just makes it a whole lot easier to understand your competition.

]]>LinkedIn: Now Offering Company Profileshttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/3/22/linkedin-now-offering-company-profiles.htmlRobbin2008-03-22T17:39:40ZMarketing How-To'sLinkedIn, the B2B social networking site known for its professional listings, is now offering the ability to view Company Profiles.

According to their blog, "you'll be able to see over 160,000 profiles of companies on LinkedIn, ranging from Fortune 500 companies (e.g. eBay) to philanthropic organizations (e.g. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) as well as LinkedIn's own Company Profile page."

The information could be useful, whether you're researching an industry, writing a business plan, or trying to find sales leads by company. It could also help you get some exposure for your own company. Information in the Company Profile includes:

Number of people in your network who work at that company
New hires, recent promotions and changes
Most popular profiles
Individuals in the news
Related companies
Key statistics: location, industry, type, company size, revenue, year founded, web address and employee stats

According to the LinkedIn blog, data is aggregated from LinkedIn's own database and is combined with basic industry information from Business Week.

Be careful when reading any stats like this however. There may be inaccuracies in how individuals report and the way LinkedIn puts the information together. Plus, LinkedIn is saying any company, no matter how small, can have a profile, but it's not clear how you do that yet. And the only way to get to the Company Profiles is by going to an individual's profile first -- not the easiest navigation.

For more info, read the LinkedIn blog

]]>Howard Schultz Speaks at Starbuck's Annual Meetinghttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/3/19/howard-schultz-speaks-at-starbucks-annual-meeting.htmlRobbin2008-03-19T18:38:28ZSeattle Area Business NewsI just came from the annual Starbucks meeting held at Seattle Center's McCaw Hall. Or rather, I was next door in the exhibition hall, being that the main room gets filled up fast.

Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, appeared in triple big-screen and on various monitors around the filled-to-capacity room. Many stood sipping coffee and nibbling miniature Top Pot Donuts as he gave his opening remarks about how the down economy has affected Starbucks' performance over the past year. Although he said he wasn't trying to make excuses, it sounded like an excuse to me. It seems that many people who have bought Starbucks coffee have never really been that price sensitive. Perhaps the slowdown in coffee sales is due to increasing domestic competition and over-saturation of the Starbuck's brand. No wonder why they are focusing on growth in overseas markets. Maybe the bloom is off the rose with consumers -- people are seeking alternatives to corporate sameness.

Howard proceeded to say that the company would, "reaffirm our coffee authority"... in the "specialty coffee" industry they built. He said Starbucks had lost its edge and receded into "mediocrity and bureaucracy"..."we're humbled by the position we're in." He continued to say, in response to the falling stock price, we are "highly motivated to correct the situation."

Schultz added that the increase in commodity prices, especially for dairy, was a drag on their operating margins. Plus the slowdown in the economy has reduced store traffic.

"Blueprint to transform the company"

So what's the big plan? According to Schultz:

1) Improve U.S. business

2) Reignite emotional with customers

3) Identify long-term investment opportunities

"There are no sacred cows"

Schultz said Starbucks will review all areas of the existing business, and they'll put their "feet in the shoes of our customers."

Some of the new initiatives include:

New machines with a smaller profile that let baristas make eye contact with customers (also with better steamer for creamier foam and individual cup controls)
New Pike Place Blend and Brewed Coffee initiative (reduced hold times, reduced batch sizes, and no more pre-packs)

MyStarbucksIdea.com

A new website initiative was also introduced. It's basically a social site where registered visitors can offer their own ideas about Starbucks. It will be interesting to see how much is edited. 48 Starbucks "experts" will be devoted to reading and responding to the site's visitors. Schultz himself will appear regularly (writing his own blog posts, we can only hope). Just tried to sign up myself, but the server froze. Maybe Starbucks should be using some of Amazon's leftover capacity.

Customer Freebies

Schultz went on to announce a loyalty program launching in mid-April. It will include free WiFi, free refills when you buy coffee beans, and Starbucks will be picking up the tab on extras, like syrup, on espresso drinks.

Starbucks Buys Clover

The "big" news is that Starbucks just officially announced the acquisition of, "The Coffee Equipment Company and its proprietary Clover® brewing system." It's a Seattle company started in 2004 that makes $11,000 brewing machines. For insiders and coffee purists, it seems like a really big deal. Now don't get me wrong, I love coffee and I'm really particular, but I'm not sure I get it. So is this just a gimmick? Is it ego? Is your average Starbucks drinker going to notice? Or is it, as stated by Schultz in today's press release issued by Starbucks, “The Clover brings drama and theater to the brewing process and enables our baristas to have emotionally rich conversations with our customers... ."

No Steak Without the Sizzle (or rather, no espresso without the foam?)

Of course, the meeting was not without a bit of sizzle and PR. There was a story about a Starbucks barista donating a kidney to a customer. An incredibly funny Stephen Colbert spoof on the 3-hour closing called by Schultz. The Founder and CEO of Conservation International, Peter Seligmann, appeared to talk about Starbucks' relationship with CI since 1998. He announced a "new chapter in the partnership" to build on their shared geography to "take conservation beyond the farm." Seligmann went on to say that, "scale is important when dealing with a global issue like climate change." Starbucks is issuing a new coffee bag seal to symbolize the partnership with CI.

But What About the Stock Price Howard?

Being that Schultz began his talk by saying that operating margins were hurting the company, I'm not sure what any of this has to do with improving that situation. The upshot is that Starbucks will slow growth in the U.S. market. They've closed stores and will continue to close 100 additional stores this year. The plan is to grow the international business instead.

Granted, customers might get a better deal, especially on the "extras" discount (as long as regular prices stay the same). And, when speaking to this type of crowd, it's a balancing act to please stockholders who are probably also some of Starbucks' best customers.

]]>KBCS: Community Radio in the Newshttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/2/25/kbcs-community-radio-in-the-news.htmlRobbin2008-02-25T15:53:40ZKBCS is the Bellevue/Seattle community radio station I've been volunteering for over the past year. Last Thursday, while we were busy putting together the week's One World Report news program, The Seattle Times did interviews and snapped loads of pictures. It's the station's 35th anniversary this month and going strong. Read the Times article

By the way, we're always looking for volunteers. Come learn the art of radio, and you too could become a producer, DJ, reporter and more.

]]>The PO Factor: Ignore It at Your Own Riskhttp://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/2/24/the-po-factor-ignore-it-at-your-own-risk.htmlRobbin2008-02-24T17:31:40ZRants & PhilosophiesWith all the articles out there about the importance of customer relationship management, it's amazing to me how companies continue to ignore the effect of poor communication.

Case in Point

I received a direct mail piece recently from my health club. I've been a loyal customer for about 7 years, not because I think it's the best gym in town, but because it's somewhat convenient, they have classes I can't get anywhere else, and I paid a big initiation fee. That's not to say though that I don't keep my eye out for an alternative, especially considering all the mail I get enticing me to join other clubs. I could have written to them to complain, but there have been many times my complaints about cleanliness, broken hot tub, or lack of notice about cancellations have fallen on deaf ears. Yet I hang on for the reasons I mentioned. But I digress.

Tearing it Apart

I received this nicely designed 6"x9" envelope in my mailbox. The teaser read, "inside: a special opportunity for you to pass along the gift of health." Thinking that I had yet to experience consideration for being such a loyal customer and not reading the teaser as carefully as I should have, I quickly tore into the envelope. The, "...to pass along" should have been the tip-off.

The package included a letter, two "gift certificates" with envelopes and a promo piece.

The Letter
Thumbnail of Letter

The letter opens with, "...thank you for being a dedicated member of [deleted company name]." Woo hoo. I'm going to get something for free to thank me for being such a loyal customer. They continue by telling me how I'm experiencing the benefits of better health. Now this is probably due to my commitment to going to the gym every week; not anything they've done. And yes, they acknowledge this by saying, "...your hard work is paying off." Wow, they really care about me.

Then the light begins to dawn, "And now, you have the opportunity to pass along better health to the people you care about." They probably thought they were being very clever with this transition which takes them into their pitch: "Right now your friends and family can pay the same monthly dues you currently pay and get FREE initiation and pay only a $24 processing fee.^*" I'm sure the copywriter was tearing their hair out over this one. Are you as confused as I am? Maybe the difference between an initiation fee and a processing fee makes sense to the people who work at the company, but $24 still sounds like I'm paying for them to set up my account. And why do I need to do that? And as I stated in the beginning, I believe the initiation fee is really designed to keep you from jumping ship.

What's the Big Deal?

The mass-mail nature of the letter required them to say, "...the same monthly dues you currently pay... ." It was either this or personalize the letter with an actual dollar figure, requiring them to use my personal payment data to achieve this feat. Either they couldn't merge the data or they thought the deal sounded sweeter without a dollar figure. Maybe they thought I had forgotten how much I pay. So I checked my credit card statement, then went to their website to see what kind of deal it really was. Looks like a comparable, regularly-priced membership is about the same price -- only $2.52 less per month. At right, you'll notice that they've removed the initiation fee entirely. It seems like everyone can be a friend or part of my family. I'm not feeling special any more -- especially since they squeezed in the, "$24 processing fee." And yes, according to the letter's small print, your friends and family have to pay first and last too.

Gift Certificates

So now you're supposed to pass along these gift certificates with the nifty envelopes, but lousy offer, to your friends and family. As if I'm going to use them to pretend I'm giving something of value to them. Hey forget buying a gift this year, just give your best friend one of these! The company is basically asking you to do their marketing work for them, with no consideration given to you. I don't know about you, but I try really hard not to work for nothing.

Who's the Biggest Loser?

I love the promo piece they included, positioned as a benefit in the P.S. of the letter, "Right now, you and your friends can take the first step towards better achieving your fitness goals. Pass along the enclosed flyer on our Biggest Loser personal training programs." Did they include any incentive to try their personal training? No. They must have thought that the original deal was just too good. Think again. You've already pissed me off; do you think I'm going to be interested in making additional purchases from you? And of course, this piece includes a partner pitch to, "...watch all-new episodes TUESDAYS 8:00/7:00c on NBC." Bet they cut a good deal with the network for this trade.

What really pisses me off about this whole thing?

Trickery: not only was I duped into opening a piece of junk mail, I was mislead in thinking they were really offering something of value. Talk about poorly managing your customer's expectations. Doesn't leave you with a good impression of the company, does it? The cutesy-ness of the gift certificates and matching envelopes really put the nail in that coffin.

No consideration: they asked me to bring them new business (from my personal network no less), and there's nothing in it for me. Where's my incentive and thanks, by the way, for being a loyal customer? And what do my friends and family get out of it? The least they could do is send me a free water bottle with their logo on it (heavy sarcasm). Plus, they wasted my valuable time opening, reading and of course ranting about it.

Make new friends, but keep the old: everyone knows it generally costs more to get a new customer than keep an old one -- especially when they're loyal. So treat your best customers very well. One thing I learned when doing tens of thousands of direct mail pieces for a huge corporation was how PO'd our loyal customers got when they heard offers made to potential customers that were better deals than the ones they received. Do corporate execs really think we're that dumb or are they just not thinking about it?

Environmental impact: what a waste of paper!

Professional Downer: this kind of stuff gives all marketers a really bad rap.

What have we learned?

Don't waste your customer's time with marketing messages that only benefit you.
If you want something from your customers, give something in return, especially if you want to develop long-term, recurring revenue relationships with them. It's what I call the Give to Get.
Maintain your image as a valuable asset. It can lead to greater loyalty, increased referrals and future sales. Don't sacrifice it for short-term gain.
Try to quantify the PO Factor whenever you communicate with customers or set policy. If you don't, its impact will be felt in terms of lost trust, skepticism of future communications, lost add-on sales, and customer churn (in other words, they'll head for the hills once they get a better offer from your competition).

]]>Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days!http://www.blockbeta.com/blog/2008/1/25/lose-30-pounds-in-30-days.htmlRobbin2008-01-25T17:59:42ZRants & PhilosophiesWe all want immediate gratification. Maybe that's why promises made to small business owners are so enticing:

Build your business plan in a day!
Create a 1-page marketing plan.
Learn our secrets to success.
Pay me just $10,000 for all the leads you'll ever need.

You want to believe it, don't you? They make it sound so good. It's the business equivalent of "lose 30 pounds in 30 days." But, unless you're very lucky or have a rich uncle, it just doesn't work that way. The very definition of luck is, "when hard work meets opportunity."

Making it in your own business takes work. Or a lot of money to pay someone else to do it. There are simply no easy fixes. Indeed, it's better to write the majority of your own business and marketing plans. They'll be more likely to contain your vision, and you'll be more in touch with how your business needs to operate. It's like doing your own taxes -- you really see where the money's going.

If you hire someone to help you with these essential documents, it's not going to be free or even low-cost. But, you'll save a lot of money if you do some of the work yourself. Then let the expert help you refine it. When your time isn't as valuable as their cost, then it makes sense to DIY.

A good example is when you need a contract. There are plenty of legal resources online that will supply you with templates. Start with those. Do what you can to customize them, then hand it off to a lawyer. If not, you're basically paying them to do the work that doesn't take as much expertise. Don't be shocked when you get a big bill. They're going to charge you the same hourly rate, whether that's to organize your papers so they can begin working or help you resolve a complex problem you couldn't do yourself without the training and experience they have. In short, saving their time will save you lots of money. The same is true for your taxes. Get all your paperwork together, then call the accountant. Business and marketing consultants -- write as much as you can. Do the research. Get your ducks in a row. Then meet with the expert. You get the idea. Sure, they'll probably charge you a lot per hour, but the idea is to make those hours count.

You probably didn't want to hear all this. The easy fix is just so enticing. But if you really love what you do and you're excited about your business, much of it won't feel like work. And the more you do yourself, the better you'll understand what it takes to be successful in your business.

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