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Enough with the phone books already.

cpankey 2 Comments

Ok this might be a the most negative thing I ever right. But enough with the phone books. If you are a business owner out their why do you continue to support a product nobody wants.

Time for us to wake up and realize that you can get more leads today by follow ing twitter or joining LinkedIn then you will the phone book.

I have now received my third phone book for my house and my county has a total of 50,000 people in it. Can you are wasting your money. Maybe I am wrong and the phone book is now free!  Next time the phone book calls listen if you want to all their online offerings, but do not buy another display ad.  90% of the public already knows who they want to call and are only looking for the number, you only need a listing.

Don’t let your ego get in the way and make you believe you must be as big as MR> Jones.

Sorry for the rant but I just can’t believe I have three books now filled with advertisement messages that will never pay for themselves.

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Have you forgotten the basics in Marketing?

cpankey 7 Comments

I read a great article this morning written by Steve Howard, author of Powerful Marketing Minutes and Corporate Image Management,
11 key marketing trends. In a vast world of marketing opinions this article hit me as very intuitive, and well thought out. It tackled the question that many of us are asking ourselves about the new marketing world we live in today.

The tip that caught my attention was number 6) Marketing fundamentals

— Marketing Fundamentals are as important as ever. Too many marketers and organizations have gone astray in recent years jumping on the bandwagon of “hot” marketing trends like customer generated content, viral marketing, and mass email marketing.

The marketing model mixing 1) product, price, place, and promotion with 2) positioning strategies based on customer needs, wants, desires, likes and dislikes and 3) an understanding of customer perceptions of the product and corporate brands to create a compelling value proposition to customers is not broken.

It has merely been misused in recent years by a) inexperienced neophytes who think naming a product is equal to branding, and b) by senior managers more focused on quarterly profit statements than on building brands that open vast marketing opportunities unseen and untapped by competitors.

Those who focus on knowing and understanding what customers truly value will create sustainable businesses that deserve customer loyalty. Those who do not will continue to fall by the wayside.

Product, Price, Place, Promotion, four simple marketing basic that we often forget when the next trends come swooping in a create the panic to catch up.
Do you have the right Products, at the right price, where the target consumer wants to get them, and have you told them about it?
I can recall hundreds of business visits I have made where the store had a fantastic product that I had no clue they carried. How often do we as business owners go to trade shows and buy inventory in a great new product line but then come back and not promote the item? Instead hoping that our current customers will find it their next visit and just have to have it.
So let’s take a step back here from Steve’s marketing tips and get a solution for these key marketing practices in todays media environment.

  1. Product – Do you have the right product? In todays information super highway It is hard to understand how a business can not know what their target consumer wants? It seems that with a simple Google search you can find trends and analysis on almost anything. But maybe the most organic approach today is best, use twitter and Facebook to ask your consumer base what they want and need, imagine being at the next trade show, snapping a picture with you phone of a new design and posting it on Facebook seeking feedback. (of course I assume you have developed a Facebook fan page and base of targeted consumers) Todays Social network are a great sounding board for likes and dislikes. A business must invest in the relationships prior to these tactics but can you se the potential?
  2. Price – Again with the world of information at your finger tips and Social networks filled with people sharing information you can determine both market value and competitor pricing with the click of a mouse. No you just need to decide on a pricing strategy and implement.
  3. Place – Location, Location, Location – the most basic marketing principle most often ignored. Location or place has become complex, with the growing inventory of shopping outlets online and the ability for companies to literally buy locations on the internet, place has changed. If you are a bricks and mortar store front location is still crucial to your goals and future. But on the web, you can be in any location you wish and can target consumers at the very place they wish to meet you. The challenge is that the locations are often changing, so you need staff or expert help in how to place your business in the multiple locations that your target consumers are at this month.
  4. Promotion – Wow has this category changed in the last 10 years. Don’t let the new technology scare you in promotion, think of the added connections you now have to promote your products at a value that still will give you ROI. I understand that in the past you could not afford to place a new product in your newspaper or TV ads because you would never receive the ROI needed for that single product to make it worth the expense. However with the internet and social media, you can now have independent marketing campaigns for every one of your products, targeted, geographically, social economically, behavioral etc…. and the cost can range from Zero to a couple hundred dollars per qualified lead.
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Mass Mailing VS. Targeted 1 to1 Mailing

cpankey 12 Comments

Typical advertising mail.
Image via Wikipedia

No doubt at some point in your business cycle you have tried either Direct Mail or E-mail Marketing and found the results to below expectations. Like many you may have even decided that it just does not work and would be a waste of your resources to try again.

Today I want to try to challenge those results and offer up a few tips on why Direct Mail or E-mail Marketing could be your next best marketing campaign.

Most marketing pieces we receive in the mailbox or inbox are mass marketed products or services (junk mail) these pieces use the same strategy that newspaper sand TV use in that they are broadcasting your service to a large audience hoping to capture the reader at that buying cycle in their life. (thin market concept)  A well designed piece can actually educate, build trust , make an offer and make easy to purchase and still a 1-2% return is considered a victory in most Direct Mail campaigns.

However as technology has improved and business marketing company’s and P.O.S evolved we now have a great data base of customer information which could greatly increase you results. Direct Mail and E-Mail marketing can now be customized to directly speak to the consumer on an individual basis.  Imagine your best customers receiving a post card with their name and a reference to their last visit with you built into the copy, your chances of capturing that reader’s interest and emotions just increased significantly.

The concepts of 1 to 1 marketing have been around since the mid 90’s, however it is only in the last few years that printing technology has become a resource that almost any size business could take advantage of and increase communications with their customers.

I recently  have been getting educated on PURL’s (personalized URL‘s) and how they also can be added to a Direct Mail or E-mail Campaign. Now imagine that same prefered customer getting their own unique URL that links them to a website that is completely customized to them. You can capture additional data on that customer, track time and interests on the site and offer amazing personalized offers. I can only assume that most customers would then tell their friends of your company.

Have you had success using Direct Mail, 1 to 1 marketing, or e-mail marketing?

Share your thoughts and lets help others achieve great success.

Cold Calling vs. Social Prospecting

cpankey 2 Comments
No Cold Calling Zone

Image by markhillary via Flickr

I read a question today on LinkedIn that asked if the Traditional Cold Call was still an effective means of growing business.  One of the responses that was recorded basically refered to cold calling as an ancient tradition that had little place in todays marketplace, I believe they said it was a huge time sucker.

This torments me a little as I continue to learn and understand the power of social media.

In a Business to Business (B2B) sales world, has Cold Calling really become that out dated. I know I still make 30-40 cold calls each week in order to introduce myself and my business to new clients. In the last month the only contacts that I have made that resulted in sales were from Cold calls that turned into relationship building (face to face) and then the sale.

Now I do understand the time Sucker mentality, Cold calling often has a low rate of return and you must have a thick skin in order to take the rejections that come with the practice. It does take time and commitment.

Social Media can be used for prospecting and if you have a specific target I can see how you could capture huge groups of leads quickly with a basic search on your favorite social site. But it also takes a committed amount of time building that relationship to a trust level which creates sales. They don’t know you and if they are going to buy you are going to be building a relationship based on what? The written or video word, not a handshake, or conversation that relates interest and value.

So what do you prefer?

Are you still using cold calling, door to door, pound the pavement tactics? Are you spending adequate time daily prospecting targets in the social realm?

As I see it a B2B business must commit to both.  I know for a fact that business professionals in the majority of businesses still today do not have the time or the aptitude to build social media relationships. Face to face still has value to them. I also know that if I am targeting anyone under the age of 35 that if I am not in the social realm, I have little chance of earning their business. Social activity is mandatory collateral to this age group.

So tell me, what methods  do you use to build new business?

Inventor of Social Marketing… Jesus Christ?

cpankey 4 Comments

Ok so I am sitting in church today and the thought of Jesus walking among the people popped into my head. Not just walking among us but serving each of us, helping where we needed help most, providing information and guidance to all who asked. Yes he came to save us from our sins… let me not trivialize what the New Testament is meant for in our society, but have you ever stopped to think of the example he left for us in business and how we use social media.

We have been told that in Social Media and Social Marketing it is about what you give to a relationship that matters.  “Stop Selling” Bret L. Simmons says, social media is about giving information, giving assistance to those who need it, helping all that ask and are willing to communicate with you. It is about answering your critics with truth and knowledge. Imagine if Jesus would have had the internet 2000 years ago where we would be today with his message.

Is it that much of a stretch to think that Jesus Christ was the originator of what the makers of Facebook, My space and LinkedIn made so attractive to us all. The ability to communicate, listen, help and share to all that will listen and ask. 

This week as you twitter, Facebook, text, and link, remember the basic principles that we learn from Jesus:  Be truthful, be helpful, be a great listener, face your critics with integrity and truth and share all that you have in love.

Have a great week!