The Marketing Spot - Small Business Marketing

Conversation Starters: Differentiation, Pricing, and Presentations

2009-11-07T09:07:00.006-06:00

I. Differentiation vs. Branding

Yesterday, I returned from a trip to Seoul, Korea, where I was speaking at the Global Golf Marketing Conference, attended almost exclusively by Korean golf facility executives. The conference organizer requested that I speak on differentiation. It seems there is no Korean word for branding and I was asked not to use the word. Not only did I have to re-write my branding presentation, I had to re-think the terminology I use.

This got me thinking (maybe too much) about branding and differentiation. Are they really the same thing or different marketing disciplines? So I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my copy of 2001's Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin (a recommended read). An argument could be made that the book could have been titled Brand or Die, although it doesn't quite have the same ring. Chapter 2, "Whatever Happened to the U.S.P.?" could be "Whatever happened to the brand promise?"

Questions: Is "Branding" just a marketing jargon word? Is there really a difference between differentiation and branding? Or am I catching a case of Marketers' Overthink?

II. The Ryanair Pricing Model

A couple of weeks ago I had a golf course owner tell me that he has substantially lowered prices on his green fees to compete in an overbuilt industry during a tough economy. He intends to make up the revenue by raising the prices of items not included in green fees. His reasoning? He says that people will call and ask "How much are your green fees?" but they never call and ask "How much is your beer?" He called it the "Ryanair pricing strategy."

Ryanair is the Ireland-based airline that is famous for it's low-price, no-frills flights. I've never flown Ryanair, but from what I hear, you get what you pay for and nothing more; a seat on an airplane. If you want more, you pay for it. Ryanair has used this pricing strategy to become the world's largest international passenger airline, and Europe's most profitable airline.

Questions: Is pricing really the most important factor right now in consumer decisions? Should we forget about branding or customer service? What's marketing's role in all this?

III. Presentations and the Customer Experience

During my trip to Korea I read Carmine Gallo's new book: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (a recommended read). Gallo dissects and analyzes Jobs most important presentations, then uses them as a platform to teach good presentation skills. The book is divided into three sections or "Acts": Create the Story, Deliver the Experience, Refine and Rehearse. I think this is also a good marketing formula for delivering a customer experience.

Create the unique story about your business, deliver a remarkable experience, then refine the experience and rehearse it with your employees until they deliver it flawlessly. If you are a marketer or small business owner, you are also a presenter. Every day you are making presentations to your customers. Business owners would be wise to read this book and develop a presentation on their customer experience.

Questions: What do you think about teaching employees presentation skills? Could you make a presentation about your customer experience that people would want to watch?

Feel free to discuss.

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Conferences, Networking, Social Media and BlogWorld

2009-11-01T18:16:00.003-06:00

(Note: I’m in Seoul, Korea this week speaking at the Global Golf Course Marketing Conference on differentiation and the customer experience. I’m keeping my marketing eyes open for unique ways to differentiate and present your brand, then tie that in to a cool customer experience. I’ll post this week before leaving Korea)

Last week I was a guest on Matthew Ray Scott’s Marketing Story Podcast. Matthew couldn’t make it to this year’s BlogWorld and New Media Expo, but I did, and he wanted the scoop. We discussed:

- Social Media effectiveness and it’s future in marketing.
- My top three BlogWorld takeaways.
- Networking at conferences and conventions.
- The ‘panel’ format that is now popular at conferences.
- The lost art of the speech.
- You have to make time to get away from your business!

I like that Matthew injects his own personality into the production of the podcast, he creates a different and off-beat feel. But, he does live in Portland, after all.

Take a look and a listen here: Marketing Story Podcast w/Jay Ehret

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The Marketers Roundtable - A Discussion of Current Marketing Issues

2009-10-29T15:16:00.007-06:00

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Episode #41 of Power to the Small Business podcast.

Hear ye, Hear ye! Interested citizens of The Internet, you are invited to the second gathering of the Marketers RoundTable.

Whereas marketers like to congregate and discuss marketing,

And Whereas I am a marketer with a podcast,

Therefore, let them gather at The Marketers RoundTable to discuss marketing issues for all to hear on Power to the Small Business.

Guests:
Al Lautenslager – Author of Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days
Stephen Denny - President, Denny Marketing
Connie Reece - Chief Community Officer, New Media Lab
Jay Ehret - (Host) Chief Officer of Awesomeness at The Marketing Spot
Length: 34 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers - If you don't see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #41 (for personal use only)

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call the audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Marketers' RoundTable - A discussion of current marketing issues:

Selected quotes from the show:

ON MARKETING PLANS:

AL LAUTENSLAGER: “People want to plan it out just right, get it perfect. I have an old saying: “Done is better than perfect."

STEPHEN DENNY: "Very often it’s just more important to get something going than it is to be absolutely, positively, 100% that you’re absolutely, positively right.”

JAY EHRET: "There are no tactics that are right for everyone."

ON SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY AND LISTENING FIRST:

STEPHEN DENNY: "So much is social media centers around this idea of listening and dialog, and interestingly I’ve found that it’s the other way around that makes more sense.”

JAY EHRET: "Can you imagine Jesus sitting down with the 12 disciples and saying: “Ok, tell me where you think I should be on this issue."

CONNIE REECE “It’s useless to talk or listen, if you haven’t decided what your business is at its very core. Know thyself. That’s just fundamental."

ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:

JAY EHRET: "Social media marketing, while I like it…I think this notion that it’s better than all other forms of marketing is unproven. There’s no data to back it up."

CONNIE REECE: “It’s one tool in the arsenal. I don’t ever think anybody should say, ‘oh, we’re just going to do social media marketing. It needs to be a compliment to the traditional marketing you’re doing."

STEPHEN DENNY: "Blogging, social media, Facebook, Twitter, whatever you happen to be engaged with is almost as much a cultural decision as it is a business decision.”

AL LAUTENSLAGER: “The ‘I’ in ROI is free, but time is money."

ON MARKETING OF BOOKS BY AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS:

AL LAUTENSLAGER: “I’ll take that risk every time of over-promoting a book…Because people will sometimes just buy the book, take you home with them and put it on the bookshelf."

STEPHEN DENNY: "The marketing starts before the book writing starts.”

CONNIE REECE: “If writers want to continue being published, they have to learn how to join their marketing efforts with the publishers."

JAY EHRET: "Publishers do want the authors to promote their own books, and if that’s the case, …do you really need a publisher?"

Show Links:

Stephen Denny: Denny Marketing, Note to CMO
Al Lautenslager: Market for Profits, Certified Social Media
Connie Reece: Every Dot Connects, New Media Lab
Jay Ehret: The Marketing Spot, Power to the Small Business

A complete archive of all past episodes can be found here: Power to the Small Business

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Your Online (and Offline) Marketing Mix

2009-10-24T11:19:00.005-05:00

It's never all about one thing. That why you have to be careful with hype. So when you hear all the hype about "It's all about social media" or "it's all about community," be wary. A year ago it was "all about content." Really it's about the mix.

Photo credit: Raelene G

The Marketing Mix

Research shows that marketing is more effective when you mix it up. A recent report from Group M showed that consumers exposed to a company's mix of influenced social media and paid search exposure were 2.8 times more likely to search for that brand's products than users who who saw only paid search. Adding ingredients to your marketing mix produces a compound effect. So what is this marketing mix?

Click on the graphic to download a PDF copy

The three big funnels of marketing media are:

Owned - Created by you
Earned - unpaid conversation about you
Paid - Exposure you pay for in other channels

In the online marketing world, that translates to:

Your web presence
Social media and online conversations about your business or brand
Paid search ads, sponsorships and other forms of online advertising

In the offline world, the media mix translates to:

Your store front, office or any physical location
Word of mouth about your business
Advertising and promotional efforts

Be Strong Somewhere

With all those choices, it would be tempting to try to be everywhere. But juggling too many spot can spread your resources too thin. Start with one thing and get good at that before you add another ingredient into the marketing mix. I recommend you start with the offline world. Once you have solidified your offline marketing mix, start sprinkling in the online ingredients.

Does your marketing have mix? How can you compound the effectiveness of your marketing by adding ingredients to your marketing mix?

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Diet Cherry Limeades and the Power of Elaboration

2009-10-22T10:07:00.005-05:00

My wife is a brilliant marketer even though she's not in marketing. Her secret weapon: Diet Cherry Limeades. But really, her secret weapon is elaboration. Even though my wife has never had formal marketing training, she intuitively knows that elaborate marketing messages are stronger.

My wife is a pharmaceutical sales rep and one of her drugs is a "triple combination" drug, meaning it combines three drugs in one pill. Here's how she uses elaboration to help doctors remember the benefits of her drug. She arrives at a doctor's office with some Diet Cherry Limeades from the local Sonic Drive-In, and asks the doctor if he's heard of them before. She then explains that they are delicious and offers the doctor a taste. Then she equates the three ingredients of Diet Cherry Limeades (cherry, lime, lemonade) with the three ingredients of her triple combination drug. She explains how the three ingredients of her drug work together to minimize side effects, just like the diet part of a Diet Cherry Limeade minimizes the calories.

This is quite a different approach than is taken my most pharmaceutical reps who cite research and information from product inserts (which my wife also does). And the tactic works quite well. Doctors will later, almost exactly, repeat my wife's message to her in subsequent calls. Her triple combination message was sticky because it was elaborate.

Elaborate for Memorable Messaging

As I wrote last year, elaborate messages are stronger because the extra information given at the moment of learning makes learning better, especially if that extra information is not complex. As Caroline Latham explains over on Sharp Brains, elaboration improves memory by creating a rich context of extra-sensory information. "By weaving a web of information around that fact, you create multiple access points to that piece of information."

My wife involves several senses in her presentation: sight, sound, taste and touch. Then she combines two unrelated and unexpected products into one powerful elaboration cocktail. Her triple combination message has more significance because elaborate details add meaning.

So how can you add meaning to your marketing message to make it more elaborate? Diet Cherry Limeades anyone?

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Tom Hopkins Discusses The Sales-Marketing Mix

2009-10-21T06:05:00.003-05:00

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Episode #40 of Power to the Small Business podcast.

Businesses cannot survive on marketing alone. At some point you need to sell something and that's where sales comes in. Marketing is the plan and selling is making the plan come to fruition. Whether you have defined sales department or not, you should have a defined sales system and a regular sales training program.

Tom Hopkins is recognized as the world’s leading authority on selling techniques and salesmanship. In this episode of Power to the Small Business, master sales trainer and best-selling author Tom Hopkins discusses the relationship between sales and marketing. How do sales and marketing work together in a small business? Tom also addresses the myth of the natural born salesperson.

Guest: Tom Hopkins – Tom Hopkins International, Scottsdale, Arizona
Length: 25 minutes

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call our brand new audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Show Notes:

Selected quotes from Tom Hopkins:

“If you really want to have profits, you have to work as a team. Don’t let barriers get built between groups…or separating marketing from selling."

"Leadership…has to let everybody know that from the top of this company to the very bottom, we are all in sales.”

"Don’t wait to hear it’s better to start working, start working now and you’ll be way ahead of the competition"

Show Links:

Tom Hopkins International
Book: How to Master the Art of Selling
Book: Selling in Tough Times

A complete archive of all past episodes can be found here: Power to the Small Business

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The Uncharted Waters of Social Media Marketing

2009-10-19T11:50:00.008-05:00

What you should understand before you commit to a social media marketing program.

Social media evangelists have been selling the idea that social media marketing is the must-do marketing strategy. But is social media marketing better, or more effective, than other forms of marketing, including traditional media? The answer is: I don't know, and I think that neither does anyone else. Because there's no widely, authoritative available data to prove it. Social media marketing's popularity is built on opinion, hype, and anecdotal evidence that it's better, but there's no real proof.

My Aha! moment came this past weekend while I was in Mari Smith's "Facebook & Twitter Success" session at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo. Mari Smith, has been called the Pied Piper of Facebook, and I've learn a lot about Facebook from her blog, Why Facebook?. During the Q & A portion of Mari's session, I asked her, (paraphrasing) "is there evidence that Facebook and social media marketing is more effective than traditional media?" After a minute or so of rambling, she stopped, then told me to talk to her about it later. She didn't answer my question, and it occurred to me that she couldn't answer my question, because she didn't really know.

(Note: I reached out to Mari via a Twitter direct message and asked to meet with her to discuss the topic and she has not yet responded)

Where's The Research?

I've been searching for verifiable data that social media marketing is better than other forms of marketing, but as of yet, have found no numbers to support the hype of social media marketing. There are numbers on social media usage, but no numbers on effectiveness. Yes, a lot of people are using social media, as many as 95 million Americans and 300 million people worldwide are on Facebook, but does that make it a viable marketing channel? After all, 284 million Americans watch television.

(Note: I called Forrester Research this morning and asked for some data. They said they will send me some information in 24-36 hours.)
(10/20 update: Forrester has responded with no specific data and informed me that I must be a paying customer before they can provide me with any information.)

Here's the data that's available, and what you usually see quoted in support of social media marketing:

Members
Followers
Views
Hits

There are also case studies and success stories of incredible success. But these examples are anecdotal evidence and not proof that social media is the most effective way to market your business. Case studies can be cited for the effectiveness of traditional media too. In fact, case studies can be found to support any claim. Where are the metrics to prove the overall effectiveness of social media marketing vs. other forms of marketing? Without that data, all the social media hype is just that: hype.

The Relationships Argument

As I shared these thoughts with other marketers on the final night of BlogWorld, they pushed back: "But social media allows you to have relationships with customers and potential customers." That's true. So what about the relationships? Does that justify starting a social media marketing program? No it doesn't.

Customers don't need to have a relationship with every business at which they will some day spend money. People just don't have time, nor the desire, to have a relationship with every business where they may someday purchase something. Do I really need to have a relationship with my plumber, my dry cleaner, my grocery store, my realtor (who I use once every seven years), or every restaurant I frequent?

Is Social Media Really Free?

Then there's the issue of cost. Traditional media marketing costs money, and sometimes a lot of it. Social media marketing is alluring, and perceived to be better, because it's free. Well, social media is free like a puppy is free.

The biggest decision about social media marketing is time, not dollar cost. What every small business owner needs to evaluate is, will the time you invest in social media be worth the return you can get from a social media program? I'm talking about ROI, in this case return on time invested. Social media evangelists are notorious for saying that you cannot measure the ROI of social media programs, often using arguments like "What's the ROI of your logo?"

But you better think about ROI, because social media takes a lot of time, five to ten hours per week, and sometimes more. Time is your most valuable resource. How much is ten hours of your time worth? You can buy a billboard advertisement and it can work for you for 30 days without you having to do a thing with it. Cost vs. time investments need to be weighed.

Should You Do Social Media Marketing?

You may get the impression that I don't think you should do social media marketing. But I'm not a social media marketing detractor. In fact, I'm a full participant. I have this blog, a Facebook Page, a Twitter account, a podcast, and a YouTube Channel. It's just that there is this hype, this belief, that everyone should be doing social media marketing. It's a belief that flows from an unfounded assumption that social media marketing is better than other forms of marketing. We just don't know if that's true.

The cheerleading comes from those who make their money selling social media advice. I'm not saying they're wrong, I'm just saying they don't really have the data to back up their stuff. I'm just saying they can't be the authority you use to decide. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use social media marketing. It can be effective. Just not for everyone and not all the time.

You have to decide on an individual basis. Is social media marketing right for you and what should you do if it is? Do you have the time to devote to a marketing tactic that really has not been yet been proven to be more effective that other forms of marketing?

Note to marketers and researchers: Please share if you have research and numbers.

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Billboard Rewind - Still clever, or more effective?

2009-10-13T08:31:00.008-05:00

Back in April, I posted the picture below of a Tarleton State University billboard on I-35 in Waco, Texas. My opinion was that while the billboard was clever, it was probably not effective (See: Clever? Yes. Effective? Probably Not). My main beef with the board was that it told me nothing about the Tarleton State brand. What is Tarleton State University, other than another state university that teaches kids? A good discussion followed in the comment section.

Last month, new artwork replaced the old, clever billboard. Compare the two pictures below. How did Tarleton State do with their new message? Do you get an understanding of the Tarleton State brand?

Tarleton State University Billboard - April, 2009

Tarleton State University Billboard - October 2009

Looking at the new billboard, I would guess that the Tarleton brand is preparedness. But did you notice the website address change? The Tarleton - Waco campus is an extension campus at the local community college. I wonder if the targeted website will confirm my brand guess. A trip to the special Waco website features this video:

Email subscribers and feed readers, to see the video: click here)

Unfortunately, the video is standard education institution fare and does not advance the brand. It's simply a list of products available, with no insight into what's special about Tarleton State University. It just says "here we are, here's what we sell."

A quick look at the website doesn't reveal much more:

Notice the emphasis on the "I am" in the two student videos in the lower right corner? That "I am" theme is occasionally sprinkled throughout the Tarleton State University parent website as well. Is that the Tarleton State brand? If so, does it carry any weight and do what a brand is supposed to do?

My maxim is that no advertising or promotion should be done that doesn't advance your brand. Now that you've had a chance to compare the billboards, watch the video, and visit the website, what do you think? Is the new Tarleton State billboard more effective? Do you have a clear understanding of the Tarleton State University brand?

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Taking Product Reviews Offline

2009-10-12T08:25:00.004-05:00

Product reviews are a proven way to increase sales online. But what if you don't have a website that lists all your products? And then there's the cost, finding good review software and integrating it into your website can be expensive. So why not just post reviews offline, in your store?

Yes, even if you're a local, independent retail store, you can use product reviews. Just put them right there on your product shelves or display cases. Your biggest decision will be how to do it physically.

Product Review Binder

Many businesses like to keep a brag book of positive letters they receive from customers. Transform your brag book into a review book or binder. Get a small binder for your products that receive reviews. When you get a review for that product, just slip it into a clear sheet cover and put it in the binder. Leave the binder right there next to the reviewed item.

Solicit Product Reviews

Make it easy for your customers to provide reviews. People are comfortable providing reviews online. It's easy for customers to fill out a review in the comfort and privacy of their home. Help your customers provide an offline review by giving them an offline review box in the form of a self-addressed postcard. Just tell the customer you're placing it in their bag and then ask them for the review. There is the issue of postage, you will have to make the decision whether or not to provide postage.

What to do About Negative Reviews

Don't trash negative reviews! Keep them and include them in your review book. They add credibility and can actually help enhance sales. It also gives you the opportunity to make product improvements. When you do, include your own response to the negative review and thank the customer for providing the necessary feedback.

Tips on Getting and Using Product Reviews

- Allow the customer to provide the review anonymously. You will find, that even with the anonymity option, most customers will still provide their name.

- You may want to provide incentives to customer who provide a review, such as a 10% off next purchase coupon. Ask the customer if they would provide a review after they've used the product (using your review postcard), if they agree, hand them the coupon.

- To jump start your product review initiative, use your in-house mailing list and send product-review postcards to past customers. Start with a trial of about 100 to test the response. If response is good, mail to everyone.

In-store product reviews are quite uncommon, but there's no reason you can't be a trailblazer, right?

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The Importance of a Marketing Plan for Small Businesses

2009-10-10T16:50:00.008-05:00

Special bonus podcast, a re-broadcast of Fred Castaneda's Finance For Startups podcast.

The great thing about a marketing plan is that eliminates much of the guesswork associated with marketing. If you do the hard work of building a marketing plan, you no longer have to market by trial and error. Fred Castaneda recently invited me to be a guest on his Finance For Startups podcast to discuss the importance of a marketing plan for small business. With Fred's permission, I'm sharing that episode here. I recommend you subscribe to Fred's Finance for Startups podcast as well as his other production, The Struggling Entrepreneur.

Email Subscribers and feed readers, click here if you don't see the audio player: Marketing Plan Podcast

Length: 46 minutes (Click on the play button to listen)
Download the audio file for personal Use: Importance of Marketing Plan

Now build your plan with this free Build Your Marketing Plan series:
Build Your Marketing Plan - A free, eight-part tutorial series, complete with worksheets.

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Made to Stick Messaging

2009-10-08T15:24:00.008-05:00

My Top Three Takeaways from the Decker Communications Made to Stick Messaging event.

When I watch TV commercials, I'm dismayed that the messaging is just so bad. Virtually none of the TV commercials you watch have a chance of being remembered 15 minutes into the future. They're just not sticky, and it's easy understand why. Those commercials are produced using a creative framework, and instead should be produced using a stickiness framework.

This past Tuesday I participated in Decker Communications Made to Stick Messaging event, featuring Made to Stick">Made to Stick'>Made to Stick co-author Chip Heath and Decker Executive VP Kelly Decker. It was a full-day seminar and training session on how to create messages that influence. Sticky, or memorable, messages need structure, they need a framework. Sticky messages are not simple recitations of facts, figures, features, benefits.

"You can't build believability out of a mountain of facts and figures. You can't even build it out of stacks of elegantly crafted words."
- Bert Decker, You've Got to Be Believed to Be Heard

So what makes something sticky? What enhances a person's ability to not only re-call a message, but also be influenced by it? At the end of the event, without referring to my notes, I jotted down the top three things that stuck with me.

Take away #1: Don't Bury the Lead

The lead is a journalism term that means the most important information. It's the most essential thing your audience should know, and they should know it up front. When you craft a marketing message, you should ask yourself, "What's the one thing, the most important thing, I want people to know?" Lead with that one thing. Don't bury it in a mountain of data or toward the end of some intricate, clever story. Give people the most important thing right up front.

Leading with the most important thing makes it easy to structure the rest of your message and it makes it easy for your audience to understand what you are trying to say.

Take Away #2: Eliminate Abstractions.

What do these phrases mean:

"We specialize in dimensionalizing your offerings for greater impact."

"Our mission is to take your business to the next level."

"These initiatives will make America better place to live."

They're abstractions and to most people, they don't mean anything. They're just not sticky.

"Abstraction makes it harder to understand an idea and to remember it. It also makes i harder to coordinate our activities with others, who may interpret the abstraction in very different ways."
- Chip Heath & Dan Heath, Made to Stick

The solution is to be concrete. What makes something "concrete"? Chip and Dan Heath say in Made to Stick that "If you can examine something with your senses, it's concrete...concreteness boils down to specific people doing specific things." That can be as simple as attaching illustrations to your abstract language.

For example, "We do the heavy lifting for you" is an abstract claim. What does that mean if you are a HR management company? You can make that abstraction concrete by substituting an illustration or example of what you mean by heavy lifting, such as saying "it's like taking all those résumés you receive and loading them on a forklift, we drive that forklift away and process every résumé for you."

Take Away #3: Have a Cool Title...Or Be Unexpected

At the start of the Made to Stick Messaging event, each participant had to stand up and deliver a simple introduction. I stood up and declared that I was the "Chief Officer of Awesomeness" at The Marketing Spot. Almost everyone I spoke with for the rest of the day made a comment about my title. Even as we sipped wine at the after-event social hour that evening, someone asked me how I got that title. Why was my title so sticky? Because it was unexpected.

People expect you to have a title like CEO, President, Sales Manager, but they don't expect you to be the person in charge of awesomeness. Unexpectedness captures attention and enhances memory. Your marketing message works the same way. If you only say what's expected, no one will notice. Commercials filled with price, features and benefits are expected, and quickly forgotten.

Implementing Stickiness

How can you add concreteness and unexpectedness? What can you do to make your marketing message sticky? For information on creating memorable messages, you can read The Secrets of Stickiness or buy the book Made to Stick. Decker Communications also has several communications training programs that help you frame your message.

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Word of Mouth is Still Sexier Than Social Media

2009-10-02T10:46:00.007-05:00

Social Media is sexy. Word of mouth is still sexier. Yea, I know, everyone wants a date with sexy social media right now, but trust me, word of mouth is the one you want to take home to meet your parents. Word of mouth is that long-term relationship that can turn into marriage. And I have the sexy numbers to prove it.

Photo Credit: Tiago Ribeiro

Yesterday morning at the Austin Social Media Breakfast, WOM Enthusiast John Moore, of Brand Autopsy, gave the numbers to about 40 marketing and social media students.
(*John Moore graciously sent me his cheat sheet with all the stats you see here.)

- 76% of consumers believe companies are untruthful in their advertising.
(Source: Bold Mouth’s “Perceptions, Practices, and Ethics” report 2006)

- 78% of global consumers say recommendations from other consumers are the most credible form of advertising.
(Source: Nielsen’s “Truth in Advertising” report 2007)

- The typical American takes part in 125 person-to-person/voice-to-voice conversations per week that discuss products and services.
(Source: Keller Fay Talk Track study)

- Specific brands mentioned 90 times per week in person-to-person/voice-to-voice conversations
(Source: Keller Fay Talk Track study 2009)

- 90% of brand-related conversations take place offline versus 10% online.
(Source: Keller Fay Talk Track study)

- Ranked from highest to lowest, the most common activity where word of mouth (WOM) occurs:

Face-to-face conversations - 75%
Voice-to-Voice conversation - 15%
Text message - 3.2%
Email - 3.1%
Social media - 1.3% <----- Are you stunned by that figure?
(Source: Keller Fay Talk Track study 2009)

- Positive WOM comments out-weigh to negative comments by a ratio of 6:1
(Source: Keller Fay Talk Track study)

- 22% of all brand-related conversations are sparked directly from advertising.
(Source: Keller Fay Talk Track study)

- 78% of brand-related conversations are sparked by something else:

Great customer service
Explaining how something works
Remarkable and entertaining stuff

At this point, you may be wondering why social media seems like it's so much sexier than word of mouth. After all, social media gets all the press these days, and social media gets all the dates with the a-list marketers. In my opinion, that's precisely why. The a-list marketers and bloggers are heavy users of social media, and consequently, social media seems sexier. I believe it's borne out by this statistic:

- 5% of Twitter users account for 75% of all activity on Twitter. And 75% of Twitter users joined in 2009. 94% of users have less than 100 followers.
(Source: sysmos “Inside Twitter” report 2009)

How to Score a Date with Word of Mouth

Social media looks good on your arm when you walk into a marketing meeting. All the other marketers will wink at you and tell you how good your Facebook page looks, how clever your tweets are. But you'd better pay some attention to traditional word-of-mouth, because that's where you can really score. How? John Moore had some relationship advice for those trying to court word of mouth.

1. People don't want to do business with a boring brand.
What's exciting about your brand? It's not enough to deliver good customer service and sell quality products. Anyone can do that. Create a little excitement by doing something unusual and unexpected.

2. A brand's personality is the best form of advertising.
Let your personality shine in your business. Are you outgoing, gregarious? Maybe you have a great sense of humor and you like to be playful? Whatever your personality, make it evident in your brand. Your brand is an extension of you.

3. Remarkable things get remarked about.
Customers don't recommend the ordinary. Add some magic spots to your business; products, services, and experience, that customers have to talk about.

4. Create an experience that sparks conversation.
Creating a remarkable customer experience may be the best way to earn word of mouth. Think of interaction with customers as the opportunity to write a customer story that they can re-tell to their friends and family.

Now that you know, who do you want to date? Sure go out with social media for some good times, meet some new friends. But now that you know the numbers, don't you think word of mouth is sexier? How will it affect the way you market your business?

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From the Trenches: An Entrepreneur's View of Marketing

2009-09-29T15:17:00.007-05:00

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Episode #39 of Power to the Small Business podcast.

It's easy to get marketing advice from a marketer, not so easy to get front-line marketing advice from a small business owner who know's what she's talking about. So we shift the paradigm in this episode of the Power to the Small Business podcast, to bring you a discussion with Megan Duckett, an entrepreneur with the heart of a marketer. Megan is just like most small-business owners. She learned about business and marketing after she started what is now a successful theatrical curtain business: SewWhat.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, Megan Duckett shares what she's learned about marketing in 13 years of building a successful business. Get a taste with this 34 second preview. If you like it, listen to, or download, the full episode below

Guest: Megan Duckett – Owner of SewWhat, Rancho Domingo, California
Length: 24 minutes

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call our brand new audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Show Notes:

Selected quotes from Megan Duckett:

“You have to understand what you’re selling, you have to know the people you’re selling it to. It’s just not enough to have a good idea, I don’t think that flies.”
"Price point and service don’t always meet in the middle. You cannot be the provider of the greatest service and the lowest price point.”

"If you can re-direct your mind to consider the customer’s need, not was is easiest for (you). Making decisions that make the customer’s day simpler, friendlier, easier…. A client will pay more for that type of value."

Show Links:

Megan Duckett's Company: SewWhat

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Classic Spot: The Customer Experience Map

2009-09-26T11:00:00.004-05:00

The customer's experience may be a small business' important marketing function. Rewarding your customers with a memorable experience goes way beyond providing good service. Here are some classic articles from the Marketing Spot Blog archives to help you create your own remarkable customer experience.

Building Customer Loyalty

Why is loyalty so elusive? Because good customer service is not good enough. The answer lies in the 100% Solution presented in this audio slidecast:

The Word-of-Mouth Spark

The customer experience is where you convert preconception in to customer evangelism. Here is an illustration of how that works: Critical Intersection: Your Customer's Experience

People need something to talk about. That something is not good service or good people. The spark to word of mouth is created by memorable moments, those out-of-the ordinary interactions you have with your customers. I call them: Magic Spots in The Customer Experience

The Customer Experience Map

But the real secret to creating a remarkable experience is to map it out, start to finish, using a theme to tie all the elements together. I have created a tool to help you design such an experience. You can download the tool, complete with a tutorial, for free: The Customer Experience Map

What's remarkable about your customer's experience? How are you inspiring loyalty and sparking word of mouth? Share your ideas in the comment section below.

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What's Unconventional About Your Customer's Experience?

2009-09-24T08:00:00.007-05:00

People will go out of their way to experience something that's unconventional. Why else would 30,000 people descend on Atlanta clad as Storm Troopers and Starfleet officers for Dragon Con, an event billed as "the largest science fiction and fantasy convention in North America." Actor Ben Browder (Farscape, Stargate SG1), who was appearing at Dragon Con, said "It’s like Mardi Gras in space."

You could write it off as a just a gathering of geeks, and there was plenty of that, but Dragon Con is also a clue to delivering memorable customer experiences that keep people coming back. It doesn't require outfitting your staff with Vulcan ears, sometimes all it takes is a departure from the norm. Something unconventional.

Photo credit: Master Scorpion

T Scott Gross calls it Positively Outrageous Service which he describes as; "surprise, fun, unexpected, not necessary, playful, caring, entertaining, outrageous." Read those adjectives again. When is the last time you had a retail or service experience described as "surprise, fun, unexpected, not necessary, playful, caring, entertaining, outrageous?"

it doesn't take much to be unconventional. Underwood's Cafeteria in Brownwood, Texas serves up some pretty tasty bar-b-que and some mighty fine cobbler. And just like in most cafeterias, they have servers come around to refill your beverage. But here's where they get unconventional. They also have servers prowling the floor with fresh, hot-out-of-the-oven rolls, hot enough to melt the butter as soon as you slather it on. But wait, there's more. Another round of servers pull up to your table with a bucket of whip cream! "Whip cream for your cobbler, sir?" I challenge you to say no. Pray that Underwood's doesn't open in your town or you will gain an instant five pounds.

Then, there's Bush's Chicken, a regional chain of fast-serve chicken restaurants in Texas known for their sweet tea. But also a little unconventional. Pull up to the drive-through and you'll find that little speaker box missing. There's no chance to order your chicken the conventional way. Instead, you will see several servers in red shirts running from car to car taking orders. Bush's treats your car like your table. A server takes your order, runs back inside and assembles it, then brings it back to you without sacrificing too much time.

The retail and service experiences that get remembered, anticipated, and talked about, are the unconventional ones. Do you have a Mardi Gras in Space? What's your departure from the norm?

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Setting the Right Customer Expecations With Your Brand Promise

2009-09-22T08:31:00.013-05:00

In a recent blog post, Susan Abbott tells us how expectations color the customer experience:

"...it is delivery against expectations that largely determines whether your customers are unhappy, just okay, or advocates for your organization."

True. And the expectations your customers have are set by their preconception of your business. That preconception is established through your brand, as Susan explains:

"The whole point of branding is to create a set of expectations. It's the brand promise, right?"

Yes. The brand promise is where the expectations balancing act begins. And, it's where many an entrepreneur's stomach is tied up in knots. You want a big brand that creates excitement and attracts customers, yet that also creates big expectations.

The Expectations Balancing Act

1. Big Promise = Big Expectations = Big Disappointment

A small business will make a big brand promise, because it wants to attract a lot of people. So the promise will include words like "The best," "The most," "The greatest" and so on. The intent is to appear larger than life, the result is to create expectations that cannot be met. What's the alternative?

2. Small Promise = Little Expectations = No Disappointment

So if you never want to disappoint customers, do you set expectations so low that you'll never fail? Those types of brand promises include generic words like "dependable" and "quality," Unfortunately, this is not the answer because it does not create a preconception of your business that attracts customers. So what should you promise?

3. True Promise = Realistic Expectations = Customer Satisfaction

Promise what's uniquely you. Too many entrepreneurs approach branding and customer attraction from the wrong side of the equation. The thinking is "what can I promise that will attract customers?" The thinking should be: "What promise can I alone make?" Each business has it's own unique personality. You, as the business owner, have your own exclusive combination of capabilities and values. Build your promise around that combination and you have a true brand that will establish realistic expectations.

Set the right expectations by setting true expectations. Promise what is uniquely you. It's a key fundamental of branding.

Which expectations equation are you using? What promise are you making?

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Micro-Scripts: A Big Marketing Lesson for Small Business in the Health Care Debate

2009-09-20T13:13:00.004-05:00

A guest post by Bill Schley

Small business can learn a ton from watching the big political contests going on in the capital right now. Why? Because everything comes down to a do or die vote-- a “one day sale for 100% market share.” No time to waste on anything but ultra-effective communication.

Republicans have been winning today’s marketing battle, because once again, they are the masters of the Micro-Script. That is—a very short set of vivid, memorable words that conger up a story, that people can instantly repeat.

For example, the right side of the aisle has given us: Death Panels, pull the plug on Grandma, “the efficiency of the Post Office with the Compassion of the IRS,” Rationed Care, It’s socialized Medicine, Government Care, It’s the French Plan, Obamacare and on and on.

From the left side…even after the President’s speech to Congress… I challenge you to think of one. The Republicans have furnished everyone with simple word ammunition that people can easily say, remember and most of all repeat in order to persuade others.

Think of how important Micro-Scripts would be for your small business or any business. Vivid, take-away language that not only keeps re-playing in the customer’s head-- but that customer champions can repeat to their colleagues and their boss, to sell you up the organization.

Great marketer’s invented Micro-Scripts – and the best use them today. Airborne—The cold preventer invented by a second grade teacher. Or "It’s made from sugar so it tastes like sugar. Or "Friends don’t let friends drive drunk."

Small businesses create some of the best Micro-Scripts I’ve ever seen--just by taking their honest passion and business knowledge —and translating into the kind of words one customer would say to another across the back yard fence. Or in a one sentence email. They also listen—and hear great Micro-Scripts told to them by their loyal, satisfied customers.

Today more than ever, it’s not what people hear, it’s what they want to repeat that gets you all the traction and breaks through the noise, even makes you go viral. And what people like to repeat are Micro-Scripts.

Bill Schley is President and Chief Creative Officer of David ID, a brand development firm in Connecticut, USA. He is an award winning marketer, author and speaker on branding and communications. His new book, The Micro-Script Rules is due in 2010 (a free eBook is available to download).

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Building, Protecting, Destroying Your Online Brand

2009-09-18T15:01:00.010-05:00

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Episode #38 of Power to the Small Business podcast.

15 years ago, branding was a lot different. Websites were new and shiny and there was no such thing as social media. Now, your brand is likely to be everywhere, and you must be diligent. In this episode of Power to the Small Business, we take a look at your brand online. Simon Salt of IncSlingers helps us understand how to build, protect, and avoid destroying, your online brand.

Guest: Simon Salt – CEO of IncSlingers, Austin, Texas
Length: 24 minutes

Press the play button on the player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call our brand new audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Show Notes:

Selected quotes from Simon Salt:

“In the same way your brand exists in the real world, it very much exists in the online world.”

"The most obvious way to destroy your brand online is to disregard your audience.”

"People’s expectations now of a company… is that there’s going to be an element of interactivity."

Show Links:

Simon Salt's Company: IncSlingers
Simon's Blog

Tutorial: The Brand Promise

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A 6-Pack of Quick, Easy, and Free Marketing Tactics

2009-09-16T08:36:00.013-05:00

So your marketing budget is empty and you're getting itchy. You need to do something. Here are six things you can do today, and they're all free.

1. Add analytics to your website

Website analytics will change your life. You will be able to see how visitors use your website, what brings them to your site, where your visitors are actually located, and how long they stick around.

How is this about marketing? Well, it helps you adjust your site copy, content and product offerings. You will be able to see what pages get the most traffic, and which pages visitors avoid. You can even see what search engine terms bring people to your site. Google Analytics is free and fairly easy to install on your site. If you don't want to do it yourself, get your website manager or the most techy person on staff to do it for you.

Once you get comfortable with Google's Analytics, you can check out some more advanced, for-pay, analytics packages. I use one called VisiStat, that gives me live analytics and allows me to drill deeper into the numbers. VisiStat normally offers a one-week free trial, but if you use the promo code: MSPOT, you will get a 30 day free trial (up to 100,000 page views).

2. Email Your Existing Customers

You should be collecting email addresses from every customer that allows you. Now use those email addresses to email your customers! Send them monthly announcements of new products or feature clearance items.

Here's the big email success secret: (ssshhh) Ask your customers to buy something. You will be surprised how often it works. Almost every time I get an email from Shoestring Winery, I make a purchase. Why? Because I love their wine and they ask me to buy.

If your email list is small, you can send emails from your webmail account or from Outlook. However, most services will let you send a limited number at a time. If your email list contains hundreds or more addresses, you should try an email service. iContact offers a 15-day free trial and Constant Contact offers a 60-day free trial with no credit card required. They also let you do fancy things with your email like adding pictures, and giving it a newsletter look.

3. Claim all Your Online Listings

Up to 30% of all search queries include city, state, or zip code. That means people are looking for information locally. Enhance your search engine visibility by claiming all your free listings. Each of the search engines lets you claim your listing and add basic information, pinpoint your location, and even add pictures and video. All for free.

Optimize your local, online business profile and then claim your local listings here: Google Local Business Center, Bing Local Listing Center, Yahoo Local, Yelp for Business Owners,

4. Create a Facebook Page

This week, Facebook surpassed the 300 million user mark, with about 70 million of those users in the United States, 19 million in the UK, and 12 million in Canada. As many as half of all Facebook users access their accounts every day. If you have a customer base that is active on the Internet, it makes sense for you to create your free Facebook page.

Facebook pages are not regular Facebook accounts (profiles). Profiles are for people, pages are for business. Unless you are a Facebook whiz, it can get a little confusing. First read these free eBooks about maximizing your presence: How to Use Facebook for Business (PDF) and About Face. Then create your own here: Free Facebook Page.

5. Use the Telephone

In the age of email, personal conversations stand out. You already have a telephone, so use it to connect with customers. But don't just call random phone numbers and say "I'm just calling to check in on you." Have purpose for your call that benefits both you and the customer. A really effective tactic is to ask for feedback.

After a purchase, within one day, one week, or whatever criteria you decide, place a follow-up phone call to your customer. Ask them: 1) Do you have any questions about your product and how to use it? 2) What did you enjoy / not enjoy about your purchase? 3) How can we improve your experience with us? 4) Are there any additional products or services you would like to see us offer?

You will be surprised at the positive reaction you receive. You will also form a personal bond with the customer that might create some word of mouth. Plus you'll probably get some good ideas to improve your business.

6. Place an ad on craigslist

craigslist is the wildly popular online classified ads site used by 55 million Americans. But it's more than just a place to buy furniture. craiglist allows commercial ads for local businesses under the "services offered" category. Here's an ad I posted last night for The Marketing Spot.

To place your free ad, you will need to set up a craigslist account. First, go to your local craigslist site by using this web address: http://(yourcity).craigslist.org - replace (yourcity) with your actual location. Create an account, and then post an ad under the "services offered" category.

Are you using all these free marketing tactics? Do you have other suggestions? Add them in the comment section below.

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10 Best Small Business Marketing eBooks

2009-09-14T07:54:00.013-05:00

About a year ago I started collecting marketing eBooks. As of last week, I had 95 of them stashed away in my eBooks folder. That's a treasure trove of marketing advice and a data base large enough to create a "best-of" list.

Notes to eBook Authors: In reviewing 95 eBooks, I developed a few best-practice suggestions
#1 Create your eBooks in landscape format. Computer monitors are wide, not tall. It is difficult to read an eBook with a portrait format.
#2 Include a link back to the eBook's web address so that readers can easily share it with their friends.
#3 Include practical, actionable advice. Use eBooks to teach, not as a platform to tell people what you think.

I developed a scoring system to make the selection process as objective as possible. Here are the criteria used to select the best marketing eBooks:

The content must be useful to entrepreneurs and small business owners
It must deliver useful, practical advice. No manifestos and no theory only.
The eBook helps the reader understand the concepts behind the advice.
Free, and available to download with no registration or membership of any kind.
Easy to read
Not just a commercialized, self-promotion piece
Most Important, it positively answers the question: Will you be a better marketed business by reading the publication and following its advice?

Based on that criteria, here are my ten best small business marketing eBooks, including download links. These are the ten best I have seen. Do you have a suggestion that's not on this list? Would you rate these eBooks as helpful to small business? Use the comment section at the end of the list to add your voice.

1. How to Use Facebook for Business - from HubSpot

Excellent resource for the Facebook novice. Even tells you how to get started advertising. Thorough with lots of helpful graphics. Could be a little stronger on tactics.

Download Link: How to Use Facebook for Business (PDF)

2. The Plot Thickens: Why Case Studies Studies Create New Customers - By Charles Brown

Really well written. Explains concepts as it gives instructions on how to create your own case study. Read this and you will know how to do it.

Download Link: The Plot Thickens (PDF)

3. New Rules of Viral Marketing - By David Meerman Scott

Great examples and step-by-step suggestions. You won’t get exact how-to advice, but it will create ideas and give you a major shove in the right direction.

Download Link: The New Rules of Viral Marketing (PDF)

4. Twitter for Business - By John Jantsch

Honest assessment of whether or not you should use Twitter for marketing. Good basics on getting started and using Twitter for business.

Download Link: Twitter for Business (PDF)

5. Email Marketing Metrics Report - From MailerMailer

Not just a metrics report, it’s a blueprint for better email marketing. Combines metrics with lessons learned from those metrics and translates them in to tips. Surprisingly, it’s better than MailerMailer’s Starter Guide eBook. (Although that’s a good companion)

Download Link: Email Marketing Metrics Report (PDF)

6. About Face - From The Advance Guard

A step-by-step how-to on getting the most from your Facebook Page. The only way it could be better is if they did it for you.

Download Link: About Face

7. Marketing Apple - By Steve Chazin

While this is not hands-on how-to advice, it is very practical on how to position your business and your product.

Download Link: Marketing Apple (PDF)

8. Converting the Believers: How to turn website visitors into buyers - From usereffect

Explains the big concepts then breaks them down into practical examples. Leans a little on the selling products online side, but good for all businesses trying to convert visitors on their website.

Download Link: Converting the Believers

9. The Twitter Power Guide - By Christopher S. Penn

If you want to use Twitter as an active marketing strategy, read this eBook. It's filled with advanced tactics and is not a book for Twitter beginners.

Download Link: Twitter Power Guide

10. Where the Hell Are You? - By Lindsay Polson

The eBook purports to be about advertising a restaurant, but it has some good lessons on business signage and guerrilla marketing tactics.

Download Link: Where the hell are you?

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Polished Authenticity

2009-09-12T09:50:00.005-05:00

You may have noticed that transparency is all the rage. Some say transparency is the new marketing. But do you really need radical transparency to be a good business? More importantly, do your customers need to know everything about you to be your customer?

Transparency

Transparency means disclosure, I agree to a certain extent. But you don't need you to disclose everything. In this age of transparency, many believe that the line between personal and professional is erased. I say keep that #2 eraser in your desk. There are times when transparency gets in the way of your cause, or your message. Too much transparency can hurt you. Customers don't need to know everything about you to do business with you. They just need to know what's important, and they need to know you're who you say you are.
Don't be transparent, be authentic.

Authenticity

Fakery doesn't work, and least not for long. This is why most advertising is ineffective. In the world of advertising, every business is perfect. It's filled with big boasts and claims of perfection. Too much hype is not part of authenticity and grows old quick.

It's authentic intent that earns trust and loyalty from customers. Businesses that struggle with customer trust should examine their intent. Do you just want to sell stuff to customers or do you have a greater mission in mind? There's nothing wrong with just wanting to sell stuff, it's what Wal-Mart does. But it's inauthentic to declare a higher purpose when there is none.

Real authenticity comes from communicating and delivering your values in everything you do. Take an inventory your customer interactions. Are you communicating what you're really about? Do your values show through? Authentic companies have a customer family that can accurately describe the heart and soul of that business.

So authenticity means being real, but it doesn't mean you have to be boring. You should polish your authenticity.

Polished Authenticity

Being polished means not letting things get dull and scuffed. Time to inventory your business again.

Are you presenting your authenticity in an appealing way? While you gotta be you, you should be the interesting you. What can you do to make your authenticity shine? Start with your your values and your mission and apply some theater. Look for innovations and new ways of doing things. If you're mission is to provide the best customer service, apply some polish to your customer service system, like Best Buy did with TWELPFORCE.

Customers don't need to know everything about you, they just need to know you're for real. You can be authentic without being too transparent, and you can be authentic without being boring.

Are you authentic? More importantly is your authenticity polished?

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Superman, Clark Kent, and Your Brand Identity

2009-09-10T06:08:00.007-05:00

Your branding thinking might be all wrong. Building a remarkable brand identity isn't done asking the "What?" and the "How?" questions. Instead, super brands are created by asking the "Who?" and the "Why?" questions. And the most famous love triangle of all shows us why...

(Email & Feed Readers: Click here to see the video)

Now, Brand Your Business!
Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot offers a special one month branding consulting package to build your true brand. For more information, call 254-399-8093 or email jay [@] themarketingspot.com

Related articles on brands and branding:
The Basics of Marketing: What is a Brand?
Branding is About Self Discovery
Growing In to Your Identity

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Time is Your Enemy

2009-09-09T07:01:00.000-05:00

This is a guest post by Tamsen McMahon

They say time is money. Most of us take that to mean: "Spend more time, spend more money"--like that's a bad thing. Like every minute that ticks by is money out the door or money that we could be making, and aren't.

But look at it the other way: what if spending more time meant making more money?

Think about it: what successful business ever got that way by spending less time? Success may have come quickly (or at least appeared to), but time was not the cause of success. Yet a lot of us put far, far too much stock in time.

The other day I was reading a pre-release chapter from Gary Vaynerchuk's http://garyvaynerchuk.com/ upcoming book Crush It! http://crushitbook.com/. Gary is well-known as a small business marketing success story: he went from running a local wine shop to $50 million in sales, all through a daily wine blog integrated well and thoroughly with social media (Facebook and Twitter, in particular). But while most people focus on his 2006-to-now meteoric rise, he points out that the path to his current success started when he was...16. (He's now 34.)

Gary pairs two seemingly opposing forces together as secrets of his success: hustle (the willingness to work slavishly hard for what you want) and patience (the willingness to wait for all that work to pay off). What he doesn't say--but what is very clear--is that he took time out of the equation. As he explains, "How did someone like me, who is so obviously not a patient guy, cool my heels for so long? Because I was 100 percent happy. I loved what I was doing. I knew down to my core that my business was going to explode, but even if I had fallen flat on my face, I would have had no regrets because I was doing exactly what I wanted to do, the way I wanted to do it."

He was willing to work very, very hard to make himself, his business, and his service the best they could possibly be. You can't do that if you're trying to do it faster. Faster is the enemy of better.

I know, I know, we all learned that the holy trinity of success is "faster, better, cheaper" (particularly if we can use those words in our marketing!). But when you're developing your business, the trio is different. It's "faster, better, easier"--where "easier" means the level of effort you're capable of sustaining, marketing or otherwise.

And you can only pick two.

If you want success to be fast and easy, your quality will suffer--and you'll get your lunch handed to you when someone with a better product eventually comes along (and they will). If you want that better product, but still want--or need--it to be easy, then it will take longer. If you want it fast and great, you're going to have to turn yourself inside out to do it...and there are still no guarantees.

Because really, it's not about fast. It's about best.

Best will win out every time. Best is the only thing that survives long-term. Everything else is a tradeoff between speed and sacrifice.

So take time out of the equation--and see how fast time flies.

Tamsen McMahon is the Director of Digital and Strategic Initiatives at Sametz Blackstone Associates, a Boston-based brand strategy firm, and is the editor of their blog, 'Round the Square. A self-described intellectual magpie, she finds what shines in social media, branding, and life.

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Marketers RoundTable - A Discussion of Current Marketing Issues

2009-09-08T06:05:00.005-05:00

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Episode #37 of Power to the Small Business podcast.

Hear ye, Hear ye! Interested citizens of The Internet, you are invited to the first gathering of the Marketers RoundTable.

Whereas marketers like to congregate and discuss marketing,

And Whereas I am a marketer with a podcast,

Therefore, let them gather at The Marketers RoundTable to discuss marketing issues for all to hear on Power to the Small Business.

Guests:
Paula Pollock – Director/Owner of Pollack Marketing Group, San Francisco, California
Steve McKee - President of McKee Wallwork Cleveland Advertising, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Esteban Kolsky - Principle/Founder of Think Jar , Reno Nevada
Jay Ehret – Chief Officer of Awesomeness at The Marketing Spot, Waco, Texas

Length: 34 minutes

Press the play button on the player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call our brand new audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Marketers' RoundTable - A discussion of current small business marketing issues:

Selected quotes from the show:

What impact is economic uncertainty having on both corporate and small business decision makers?

STEVE MCKEE: (When the economy recovers) “There’s going to be a huge pent-up demand for all kinds of services, and when the economy does heat up, we’re going to have problems of a different sort…We’re going to have capacity issues.”

PAULA POLLOCK: “There is a huge lack of an ability to pull the trigger…They’re kicking the tires, they’re asking for proposals, they’re looking around… and they say maybe I should just sit back and wait a little longer.”

JAY EHRET: “If businesses have a…marketing consultant, those types of companies are more aggressive anyway. (They) tend to be better business because they’re out there working for business all the time…They understand the importance of marketing as a function of doing business.”

ESTEBAN KOLSKY: “The money is there, the ability to do the projects is there, but the uncertainty of what’s going to happen in the next three, six months, a year, is essentially causing all these projects to be stalled, and is causing companies to not have the resurgence that they need.”

What is the impact of spam on social media?

PAULA POLLOCK: “It is degrading the viability of Twitter, Facebook, and all of these great platforms for those of us that are actually trying to add value."

STEVE MCKEE: “Twitter is the equivalent of the wild west, and we need a sheriff. I think the only sheriff can be Twitter.”

JAY EHRET: "Wherever there are applications like this (Twitter), you’re going to have dishonest people, and they’re going to try to game the system no matter what you do."

ESTEBAN KOLSKY: “If we can start implementing some levels of reputation management so we can verify the person…is actually who they say they are, that would go a tremendous length to avoiding spam.”

Is customer service becoming the new marketing?

ESTEBAN KOLSKY: “The rise of the CMO, Chief Marketing Officer…is due to the fact that we have recognized the customer experience, and marketing essentially, should drive a lot of the operations.”

PAULA POLLACK: “The fact that the boundaries are starting to bleed, I see it as a good thing for the customer.”

STEVE MCKEE: “There never have been boundaries on the customer side…but on the delivery side, we’ve had these boundaries."

JAY EHRET: “The customer experience is an extension of your brand, and it’s also the launching point for word of mouth, plus it’s the number one factor in customer loyalty. So how can you not pay attention to the customer’s experience and customer service and identify it as the most important marketing function of your business.”

Is social media blindness causing businesses to use the wrong social media tools?

JAY EHRET: “For most businesses, especially on the local, small business level, Facebook and Twitter are not the correct tools to be using for social media marketing. “

PAULA POLLOCK: “What are these platforms for? They’re for relationship building. You’re not going to make a sale on Twitter or Facebook. You’re going to build a relationship.”

ESTEBAN KOLSKY: “The most misunderstood, and under-utilized component of social media is strategy.”

STEVE MCKEE: “All that matters is, does what you’re doing in those media affect your business?”

Show Links:

Steve McKee's Book: When Growth Stalls
Paula Pollock's Company: Pollock Marketing Group
Esteban Kolsky's Company: ThinkJar
Jay Ehret's Company: The Marketing Spot

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Upcoming Marketing Conferences, Workshops, Seminars

2009-09-04T09:32:00.006-05:00

Here's my schedule for the next few months. If you need a marketing speaker for your conference, trade-show or industry association event, please contact me. More information is available here: Jay Ehret Speaks

October

BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Las Vegas - (Attending) Great event if you want to learn more about blogging, podcasting and social media. But I think the best benefit is networking with like-minded folks.

Texas Self Storage Association Annual Convention and Trade Show, The Woodlands, Texas - I will be hosting a discussion “Using Social Media to Market Your Business”

Midwest Golf Course Owners Association Annual Conference, Oakdale, Minnesota - Presenting the keynote address on the importance of marketing as function of business.

November

Global Golf Course Marketing Conference, Seoul, Korea - I'm presenting two sessions: Differentiation, and Designing a Customer Experience.

International Association of Golf Administrators Annual Conference, The Woodlands, Texas- I'm leading two sessions on social media marketing.

February 2010

National Golf Course Owners Association Annual Conference, San Diego - I'm hosting a panel of golf course owners about their experience in building a marketing plan, and then leading a session on building your marketing plan.

For updates on new articles: Receive The Marketing Spot by Email or Get The Marketing Spot in a blog reader