OIL AND WATER: INSTANT GRATIFICATION AND MARKETING

In a world of instant gratification, instant messaging and instant coffee, some things take time; a day is still 24 hours long, the seasons (at least for now) come and go in rotation, and building a good reputation doesn’t happened overnight…though destroying it can, but that’s another post.

Especially in the online world, so many people seem to think that it’s all about flooding everyone with tons of information and hoping some of it will stick. Unfortunately, in some cases it seems to work and this encourages others to try the same.

Over 90 percent of email is spam. That’s an amazing amount; 9 out 10. Much of this unwanted garbage is “marketing”, whether for a male “enhancing” pill, someone who wants to pass $2,000,000 through your bank account (have you noticed that the dollar amounts seem to have dropped lately), or people wanting to tell you how to get out of debt.

Look at social media. The “social” part of that term implies interaction and communication. Alas, from Twitter to Facebook, blogging and beyond, the social media world is becoming like the email one, lots of people shouting their message and few listening.

Television, door-to-door salespeople, various causes outside well-know stores, advertisements, banners, signs, business cards…they’re all one-way. YOU MUST BUY / GIVE / USE. If you’re lucky you may hear the “why”.

In my humble opinion, and I don’t profess to be an expert, this isn’t marketing. In my (still humble) opinion, marketing is about having a product or service (or whatever) and informing people about it.

But hang on, isn’t that what everyone is doing?

To some degree, but many seem to have lost the focus that the relationship is as important as the product. It seems to be more about the hit-and-run approach and on we go.

Perhaps I’m a little old-fashioned, but I’m not in the business of trying to ram my products down anyone’s throat. Much of my marketing effort is focused on working with and helping clients, expanding my network and giving.

Did he say “giving”?

Relationships are built on trust. Many first dates don’t start with a kiss, but if all went well, they might end with one….after people get to know each other just a little.

Marketing is no different. Perhaps getting to know me a little and being sincere might lead you to realized that I don’t need or want your product, but you know what, I might know someone who does…and you might learn something…

That is marketing.

POWER OF THREE (part iii)

If you’re seeing this subject for the first time, you can catch up with parts 1 and 2:

• POWER OF THREE (part i)
• POWER OF THREE (part ii)

The topic of today is next next part of “TORCH”, the “R” or “Resources”. Thus far, you should have:

• 3 target audiences (“T”);
• 3 objectives (“O”), 1 for each;

Now we need to determine what resources (time, money etc) that need to be applied in order to achieve the objective for each target.

I call this “reverse engineering”. We know ultimately what we want and who we want it from, but in order to get from here to there, what’s it going to take?

Now is the time to put down what you realistically are going to have to spend to get from here to there. I used the term ”spend” a little loosely. A resource is anything that has to be used in order to achieve a goal. This does not have to be money. It could be time and effort. It could be another person or company.

In order to really understand what resources you’re going to need, you’re probably going to start formulating your plan or “how”. This means jumping around a little between the “R”, “C” (Calendar) and “H” but that’s okay.

WIDGET INC

I’m going to continue to use “WIDGET INC” as my example, but so as not to run on forever, I’ll focus on just one of their three items. If you remember, WIDGET have decided on:

Target: plastic dinosaur factories

Objective: $100,000 in new income

So, they now have to ascertain what it’s going to take to generate $100,000 in new income. They figure that every five leads turns into an actual paying client. The average paying client spends $5,000 in a given year. So, to apply the reverse engineering strategy, this means they would need 20 paying clients (20x$5,000=$100,000) in a year to meet their target.

In order to get 20 paying clients, they’re going to need five times as many prospects (1 in 5 becomes a paying client). So, they’ll need 100 prospects. A “prospect” in WIDGET’s case, means someone who has made contact, whether by phone, email or in person.

WIDGET’s marketing team determines that they’re going to use a three-pronged approach: a mailer, coupled with a blogging campaign and email incentive. They figure that if they can get email addresses then they will have an audience they can marketing to repeatedly. However, in order to get these email addresses, they’ll need to do something a little different, so they’re going to do an old-fashioned mailing to all the plastic dinosaur factories in the US (1,000).

They’re also going to set up a blog to discuss elements of their widgets aimed specifically at plastic dinosaur manufacturing called “AGE OF THE DINOSAURS”.

Money at WIDGET is tight, so they don’t have a lot to spend, but:

• The blog is free to set up, it’s just going to take some time to write the content;
• If they do a clever postcard mailer, they can hopefully grab attention enough to get people to visit their website and sign up;
• The website is already in place, but they’re going to set up a separate page with domain name so they can track respondents to the mailer more accurately.

POWER OF THREE

As you can see, a lot of the “how” is covered in the “resources”, so you’re doing some work ahead of time, but in order to accurately develop a plan, you need to know what’s going into the recipe.

Also, in your case, like that of “WIDGET”, you’re going to have three different plans. Hopefully you can see the benefit of spreading your resources and risk around.

HOMEWORK

The next assignment is to begin developing your plans. If you find that three plans are a little too much, start with one. You can always repeat the exercise for other plans.

What you’ll need at the end is a good idea of how much time, effort and money is going to be needed to achieve the goal.

• Be realistic and honest with yourself. If it takes more than you first thought, at least now is a good time to find out.
• Don’t allow the process or resources intimidate you. You’ve still got to do the “how” in full, and you’ll probably be surprised.
• Consider all resources, paid and otherwise. What “freebies” are there out there?

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Please let me know if I can be of any help.

POWER OF THREE (part ii)

In my last post(part i) I began discussing the “Power of Three” and TORCH, a marketing acronym (Target / Objective / Resources /Calendar / How). I left you with step one homework, selecting three different “T”s or target audiences for your marketing program.

I’m going to use WIDGET INC as my imaginary clients. WIDGET INC makes…you guessed it! They’ve decided they’re going to market to (1)factories, (2)construction companies and (3)janitorial companies. My first question would relate to number 1 – “factories”. That is a potentially vague market segment. After all, there must be thousands of different types of factories. It may very well be that WIDGET INC has a product or service that spans every conceivable industry, but they don’t, so I’m going to ask them to narrow the first item down. The second and third are just fine. So instead of “factories”, they’re going with “Factories that make plastic dinosaurs”.

STEP 2 : OBJECTIVE

The objective has to be measurable. “Making money” is not terribly measurable. How much money? $10? Okay, that’s more measurable. Remember, we’re picking an objective for each of our three targets. Things to consider as measurable objectives might include a certain number of sales, or a monetary return. It should be tangible and achievable. While I’m all for “the sky’s the limit”, I firmly believe that the easiest way to eat an elephant is “one bite at a time”.

WIDGET INC has decided on the following:

Target: plastic dinosaur factories
Objective: $100,000 in new income

Target: construction companies
Objective: 5 new clients (possibly with income)

Target: janitorial companies
Objective: $100,000 in new income

The second objective, “5 new clients” is a big deal for WIDGET. The construction industry is a new one for them, so there’s going to be some learning time. Their goal is 5 new clients in the first 6 months, something that’s realistic to them.

POWER OF THREE

Another reason we pick THREE different targets, clients, plans etc is to allow for backup. If one plan isn’t working as well as it might, we have two others to support us while we sort out the third. Not only is this a matter of spreading risk, it’s helpful (we hope) when it comes to motivation. While one or two plans might be having trouble, we have a third that should be doing at least “okay”.

YOUR MISSION…

…should you choose to accept it, is to now pick three business objectives for your three target companies or industries. These must be measurable goals. If they’re not measurable, how do you know you’re succeeding?

As always, feel free to contact me and I’ll see you for part iii.

POWER OF THREE (part i)

I thought I’d share one of my marketing development programs with you. It’s called “Power of Three” or “P3” for short:

• three markets
• three targets
• three plans

In a nutshell, the idea behind P3 is to pick three very different markets, develop three different goals, and the put a plan together for each.

Why three?

Well, I’m a big believer of not keeping all the proverbial eggs in a single basket. I am also a believer in not trying to do too much.

With P3, you pick three “markets”. These could be demographics, industries or other cross-segment of potential clients. This can be tricky. We all have our comfort zones. That’s why when I work with clients on the P3 program I specifically ask them to pick three unrelated market segments.

When done, pick three targets or “goals”, one for each. A goal (or target) is, in this case, defined as something that is you feel is achievable by you as it relates to the market.

Now, you put a plan together.

TORCH

In order to accomplish all of the above, I use a system called “TORCH” (Target / Objective / Resources / Calendar / How). It’s a process that can help focus your attention and hopefully give you some ideas.

“T” is for TARGET, our intended audience. This could be a certain type of company, an income level or geographic region…depending on your industry, this will vary. But for the P3 program you need to pick 3 different ones.

In part 2, I’ll go into TORCH in more detail. For now, if you’re interested in giving this program a try, I’ll leave you with some homework:

Pick your three target markets. This is easier said than done. You’re looking for three sets of potential clients that you’d like to go after. Consider all options and pick the three that suit you best.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you’ve got any questions.

PERSONAL BILLBOARDS (AND CONVERSATION STARTER?)

I was working on my laptop the other day in at a Paradise Bakery in Phoenix (free Wi-Fi and an excellent "frequent flier" program) when I looked around at several other people, like me, all busily tapping away at their laptops.

Whether it was the potent mix of a particularly strong coffee coupled with a ray of sunshine that hit me just right I do not know, but I suddenly thought…"hey – all that advertising space".

• How many people have laptops?
• How many people use them in public places?
• How many people glance at them while walking by?

Imagine a simple ad on the back of the laptop lid…

"Ask me about…[insert product or service]"

or "Need [insert product or service]? Visit www.[insert website].com"

Nothing elaborate, and something that can be read from ten to twenty feet away. Buy a simple clear or white weatherproof label, print, stick and voila!

In this economy, anything’s worth a shot, right? Who knows what sort of conversation might ensue…

A GOAL A DAY…

What is it about that "Friday Feeling"? The anticipation of two days of no work? Having survived another week of the rat race? Sleeping in? Happy hour?

What ever the underlying cause for that slightly excited 4pm sense of excitement, many people feel a sense of accomplishment; and many wish they could feel that way every day. While this post comes under the broad heading of "marketing", it can apply to other aspects of personal or professional life.

The old proverb "an apple a day keeps the doctor (or dentist) away" has some conventional wisdom within. Take the proverb and substitute "goal" for "apple" and "apathy" for "doctor" and we’re on to something.

Last week I posted an article comparing a marketing campaign to a military one (see VENI, VIDI, VICI). In the article I illustrated that, like it’s military counterpart, a marketing campaign is comprised of a series of goals, each building on the former to achieve the ultimate goal.

Okay Dave, but what’s this got to do with-

Hang on – I’m getting there.

Take a look at your marketing campaign plan. Hopefully it’s broken down into strategic milestones, monthly or weekly goals. If not, perhaps you could consider doing so, and while you’re at it, break into daily goals too.

That’s a lot of work, Dave…

Is it really? The more detail you can break a plan down to, the easier it is to adjust the smaller components. But most importantly, you can set daily goals. This might be something as routine as "complete 10 marketing calls" or "5 ideas for flyers", but at the end of the day, it can be something you can put a line through and say "done". It’s a part of your campaign. You’re a step closer to reaching your goal and getting where you want / need to go.

Is it a "Friday Feeling"? Perhaps not quite, but you can look back at the day with a sense of having achieved something relevant to you and your business.

Happy Friday.

I write about different marketing strategies and techniques, both traditional and non in my online newsletter Webby’s Updates which you can read at www.JDELtd.com and subscribe to if you so choose. You can download this and other articles from by Small Business GENetics site, www.sbgenetics.com

VENI VIDI VICI : MARKETING ACCORDING TO JULIUS CAESAR

"VENI, VIDI, VICI"

Julius Caesar is attributed with saying these immortal words (translation "I came, I saw, I conquered") in 47 BC. The Romans, for a many years, quite literally conquered the world; and they did it one battle at a time.

A marketing campaign is like a military campaign: there’s a short-term goal and a tactic for achieving it. Notice I said "short term". A war is (alas) medium or long-term and a marketing program likewise. A marketing program (like the a war), is made up from a series of campaigns, each leading to what is an ultimate objective.

VENI

Now, this is "marketing according to Dave Segrove", not something I read somewhere else. While I consider long-term marketing strategies okay, I think they belong in the realm of larger companies or, preferably, nowhere.

Ooh – he’s picking a fight…

Not really, and here’s why.

I see this particularly with small companies, but the marketing plan (or campaign), becomes another word for "vision" : In two years, by doing this and that we’re going to achieve….

In order for a marketing plan, like a military campaign, to stand a chance of working in a small company (in my humble opinion), is should:

1. be short term (less than six months);
2. have clearly stated and immovable and tangible goals;
3. have a start and end date;
4. include a method to measure success;
5. have a plan to get there;
6. includes the necessary resources;

VIDI

The immovable and tangible goals should be engraved in stone. Again, I go back to the military analogy. The campaign to conquer a city will help win the overall war. Once the objective has been stated, is should not really be changed. The other parts of the plan may change, heck, plans do all the time, but if the goal changes, then a new plan must be called for.

When I work with clients, we often have to go back to basics, determining what their business goals are for, say the next couple of years, from which we can develop a marketing strategy, which is broken down into short-term plans. If plan A succeeds, we develop plan B. More often than not, we run several at once, building fail-over and backup into our game plan.

A marketing plan can be one page, but (in the Dave Segrove method), must include all 6 items. If you cannot develop a plan that includes all six, then perhaps you should question then plan idea and take a step back and look at your overall strategy.

VICI

With the proper planning and goals, you’re all set to go-a-conquering. Hail Caesar – and steer clear of anyone called Brutus.

I write about different marketing strategies and techniques, both traditional and non in my online newsletter Webby’s Updates which you can read at www.JDELtd.com and subscribe to if you so choose. You can download this and other articles from by Small Business GENetics site, www.sbgenetics.com

LEGACY MARKETING

"Oh boy, what’s he doing now?"

Excellent question and I’m glad you asked. Let me answer with another question: how do you want to be remembered?

"You mean….?"

Yes, when you get to "the end".

Kidding aside it’s a serious question. Personally, I want people to look back and think "there was a good person, who delighted in helping others".

So, the second question is: are you practicing your legacy in marketing now?

"Uh-oh, sermon…"

Actually, it’s not.

If you think about it for a moment, if you want to be remembered, or look back one day and say "wow, look what I was able to do," consider what you’re doing today in order to be able to have that vision to look back upon.

Are you building pyramids using the strengths of others, or are you building pyramids with others?

If you truly want to be remembered as a good person who helped people realized their dreams, or someone who dedicated their lives to a cause, or a committed individual who just wanted to see people grow, then consider putting that philosophy into practice now.

You only get one pass at this life, and you’re the driver. You may not care what you think in 20, 30, 40 or more years from now. You may care even less about what others may think. But you know something? I’ll bet it shows…

A GUARANTEED WAY TO GENERATE INTEREST

If you’re reading this, then it worked. A thought-provoking or challenging "hook" is the first step in getting attention. What you do with it after than, of course, is up to you.

In social media, products like Twitter rely on interesting "tweets" in order for people to converse. Tweets that are considered good are "retweeted". There are even awards ("Shorty Awards") for the best one-liners.

A captivating lead-in can make a huge difference, no matter what product or service you’re offering. Sometimes, the difference between you and your competition might just be getting someone to stop at your store or website and not the next guy’s.

For example, which sounds more interesting?

• EXPERIENCE IS AS IMPORTANT AS QUALIFICATIONS




• YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR : ASK ABOUT EXPERIENCE

Now, perhaps these aren’t the best of tag lines, but if you are trying to stand out from the crowd by virtue of your experience, both are adequate. However, in my opinion, the second tag suggests a slight "challenge", possibly that cheap isn’t always good…? Both articles or websites, blogs, flyers, brochures or whatever could have very much the same contents, but giving the prospect something to think about could be the margin you’re looking for.

When you’re writing your next article, blog post, advertisement, web site…etc, consider asking a question that people might not have thought about. Take a different view on an everyday subject. Be controversial. Stimulate discussion. Make them wonder what mysteries are inside

Bear in mind, that the content is important too.

I’ve written about being #1 on the major search engines (see SO YOU MADE IT TO THE TOP OF GOOGLE). Have a great seo-friendly site that gets you placed is important, but it’s no use if people aren’t staying on the site.

Ditto anything else. The content is as important as the title, but having a good lead-in certainly helps.

WEBBY’S : JULY 2009 ONLINE

The July edition of Webby’s Updates is now online at www.JDELtd.com. Simply visit the site and click on the “news” button to read it.

This month features include two marketing pieces, JDE client reviews, news, new website launches and, of course, Webby’s Trivia.

Happy 4th of July!