In lieu of reminiscing on the best and worst bathroom experiences, bathroom marketing experiences, that is, of my past year (as I have in the past), I thought I would contemplate some recommendations for small enterprises and local businesses who truly want to cover all their bases, so to speak, when it comes to customer experiences.

When it comes to bathrooms… it stands repeating: we don’t give them enough attention. You would think after a few years of this Bathroom Blogfest-ing business, we’d have raised some awareness, but nonetheless, there’s still a LOT of improvement to be done in this area. My only fear is that, in this new age of Twitter, that folks will start tweeting from the potty that they need more TP. But I digress….

One this is certain: customers now have a very loud voice, and they can use it to talk about anything they want.

Here’s my “what-if” of the day:

BAD IDEA: Instead of having a gross bathroom and running the risk of an unfortunate social network outcry…

GOOD IDEA: Create a bathroom experience that is outstanding. Then hang signs in the bathroom that say “If our bathroom is in need of service, please text a request to xxx.xxx.xxxx or speak to any one of our staff. If our bathroom is sparkling, please feel free to compliment us by tweeting @acmebiztweets.” Then, take the opportunity to do something nice for those who connect. This technique may sound outlandish, but it would seem the sort of tactic that could lead to a lasting relationship with the super-connectors among your customer base.

What do you think of all this potty talk?

I’m participating in the Bathroom Blogfest 2010, and here are links to a few of my fellow bloggers this week. Check them out!

David Reich wrote on My 2 Cents Bathroom Blogfest: Some Pay for Captive Audience.

Renee LeCroy from Your Fifth Wall asked Are You Overdue for a Bathroom Redo?

Steve Tokar in Please Be Seated discussed Bathroom Blogfest 2010: back to the 60s.

Valerie Fritz in the AwarepointBlog highlighted Customer Experience in Hospitals: Why Bathrooms Matter!

Paul Anater in Kitchen and Residential Design Blog wrote Still stuck in the 60s? That may not be a bad thing…

Jeanne Byington in The Importance of Earnest Service offered bathroom perspective and advice in Service of Nostalgia.

Joseph Michelli wrote about Quality Toilet Paper on Dr. Joseph Michelli’s Blog.

Christine Whittemore contributed New Jersey’s Best Bathrooms: Bathroom Blogfest 2010 on the Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog, reminded us in Flooring The Consumer that Water Matters. Bathroom Blogfest 2010 and put forth a content plan for the week on Simple Marketing Blog in Bathroom Blogfest 2010 Begins.

The more you venture into social media and online marketing for your local business, there more you’ll hear about two particular parts of this online/social world: 1) content and 2) relationships. But what do these two terms mean for you and your business online and locally, for your brick-and-mortar store experience? Well, as it turns out, they mean quite a bit.

What Content Means for Your Business
“Content is King” was the cry of the Internet for the first decade or so, and though other forms of interaction rise in the online world, content still holds top position. Content simply refers to any sort of valuable resource, usually information-based, which is produced and shared online. It’s information in a digital format; the posts on a blog are content. The sound files of a popular podcast are its content. A downloadable eBook is content. Frequent updates and notes on a business Facebook page are content.
For your local business, content is the way you get to prospects and turn them into fans, friends, and lifelong customers. When you provide – online – valuable, relevant content that your target market is interested in receiving, you provide the gateway for interaction, connection, and. wait for it… relationships.

What Relationships Mean for Your Business
Let’s step back and look at what relationships mean for your business in the offline world. You don’t need a marketing primer to know that building relationships – real, solid relationships – gives you a solid foundation for ongoing business. The more people like you, know you, and like your products and services, the more they want to do business with you. Relationships also have the positive effect of extending your business into a whole new circle of prospects with every relationship you make. If people really love what you do, they share it with their friends. You form more relationships, you build more business, and on it goes.

Relationships in online marketing and social media are no different. In fact, they have the added quality of spreading faster and further than “offline” relationships can. Because sharing information, reviews, and opinions is so easy online, people are more apt to do it; and more people can read about their information, reviews, and opinions through social media sites like Facebook. Friends can share with friends and the information keeps going.

What Education-Based Marketing Means for Your Business
Education-based marketing is simply a strategy for sharing content that leads to building relationships? You start by sharing information (content) that is educational; it should tie in to your business somehow. For example, if you run a winery, you could start a blog all about growing grapes, choosing wines, pairing wine and food, finding good wines on a budget, storing wine, etc. Anything that provides educational information about a topic closely related to your business becomes valuable content that can lead people back to your business.

Perhaps you have a great local boutique selling home goods, decor, and gift items; your customer’s love your taste and you often get into long conversations about color schemes and decor. The natural step is to take your expertise online. Start up a Facebook page and start writing notes, sharing little tips and ideas. With very little initial set-up, you can easily start producing videos online, leading anyone who views through simple decorating tutorials or sharing tip, hints, and ideas.

The main idea is that before you try to sell, you simply share valuable, educational information. Your target market will naturally be drawn toward that information and will see you as an expert and a resource. It’s not marketing as much as it is simply being useful and thus, building relationships, but the end result is that all that usefulness creates valuable relationships, which end up building your business.

Photo credit: velkr0

Cheap or free marketing that works really does exist – especially for small business owners. Guerrilla marketing is still alive and well! In this post, several creative and marketing savvy small business owners share their top off-line marketing ideas to increase sales.

Remember these three things when applying these tips:

• Have your goals in place so that what you’re trying to accomplish with any marketing.
• Then, make sure that you have a strategy. This is the tone or slant that will make each of these tactics your own – or even dictate whether the tactics will work or not work for your business.
• Finally, remember that all marketing, even off-line marketing, works best when you use your domain name (your web site address) to extend your brand and your customer experience.

1. Print Customer Loyalty Coupons.
Adeena Mignogna, former retail store owner and author of Cute Little Store: Between the Entrepreneurial Dream and Business Reality, recalls using her own customer loyalty coupons to make the shopping experience fun and memorable while leaving customers with a strong incentive to return for another visit!

“We always had a theme to go along with the coupon. Often it would be a set of different coupons, related to the season or a major holiday coming up. We would make it a lottery and have all the coupons in a bag. At check-out time, the customer would take a coupon from the bag. Since my retail store was very kid and family focused, often the kids would pick the coupon and have a lot of fun doing it. We frequently saw these coupons come back into the store!”

2. Be an Educator.
Shel Horowitz, author of six books on marketing, including his latest, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, says that he picks public speaking as his favorite cheap or free marketing tip.

“When you have 50 or 100 or 500 prospects in a room who are there to hear your message and learn from you, it does great things for your business!”

3. Label Stuff.
Dave Greenbaum, owner of a small computer repair business, recommends using magazines and mailing labels to market your small business. We think that this is a great concept that could be adapted for many uses. Keep in mind that most waiting rooms are known for having old, out of date magazines…

Here’s how this works:

1. Get magazine subscriptions at a discounted price.
2. Read the magazines and enjoy them, as appropriate.
3. Print a label or sticker that says “Magazine Compliments of…” and include all of your contact information (including web site address) and logo.
4. While visiting your local auto repair center, coffee shop or doctor’s office, leave behind a stack of current magazines with your label on the back (with the blessing of management at each location).
5. Reel in referrals from those who see the label and those who ask office management about “that guy that left the magazines.” “Doctor Dave” tells us that employees at each location rave and add value to the referrals.

It’s a win-win proposition on many fronts. Adapt this one creatively to your own business’ service or product offerings.

4. Take advantage of advertising “remnants.”
Bonnie Harris at Wax Marketing reminds us that “ALL traditional media sell what are called ‘remnants.’ These are open ad spaces in print magazines, outdoor vehicles (like a billboard or bus sign), radio ads” etc. that haven’t sold. She recommends knowing ahead of time what traditional media best fits your business and marketing strategy. Then “call the advertising reps and let them know that you are always interested in hearing about remnant ad deals.” Bonnie warns however, “You have to make a decision quickly. Be available to the rep and have your ad ready to go right away.”

Bonnie says that she’s gotten some incredible deals this way…including a block of drivetime radio ads on a top station for $5 per ad!

5. Wear your marketing.
Beverly Solomon, creative director at muse-solomon, a high-end art business, tells us that she loves wearing her marketing…literally. Beverly says, “I had a run of high quality knits done with our muse-solomon name on it. Yes, it is in effect a fancy t-shirt. However, I can wear it to elegant functions and openings. I also wear it for travel. We also give knits to our models and photographers.”

Name recognition and conversation starters are both key in business marketing. Instead of regular t-shirts and polos, consider a fashionable clothing run that serves you well in most environments. There are so many options out there now! Just be ready if you wear your marketing to tell your story!

6. Help customers find you again.
Kerri Halligan of Athena Creates in Jacksonville, Florida reminds small business owners to make sure your customers know how (and when) to find you if they want to do repeat business. Unfortunately, as Kerri so aptly points out, we sometimes miss some of the most obvious marketing opportunities! Kerri explains, “I get so many repeat customers that sometimes they turn a so-so day into a great sales day. My repeat customers seem to buy more than new customer initial purchases because they now have confidence in my products. I see many other businesses that transact with a customer, but they don’t provide ANYTHING that has the business name or how the customer can find them again.” What a shame, but it’s so true! Aside from great signage, here’s what Kerri does to make sure her customers can find her again:

1. All products have some sort of tag that includes the business name. (We would recommend she also include logo and URL on each of these tags if she’s not doing it already!)
2. She hands out business cards to all shoppers or tucks one into their bag at the time of purchase.
3. Her cash register is programmed to include her business name, logo and web site onto all receipts.

What say you? What are the most effective cheap or free marketing ideas for your business?
Photo Credit: ecastro

I’m a car person. Or at least I aspire to be. I usually get a new-to-me car/mobile office every couple of years, mostly by necessity. In my mind, I make practical car-buying decisions – like never buying new. That practicality, of course, balances out my tendency to want to “look good” in my car. I justify my choices by telling myself that I need to feel comfortable in my car because I spend so much time in it – upwards of 50,000 miles a year between work and play. My car is quite literally my mobile office in many respects, and it also needs to make a good first impression (note to self: maybe I should remember that and try to keep my interiors more orderly).

In my short professional life, I’ve driven a very nice limited edition Ford Explorer, some sort of sporty Lincoln 4-door, a mommy wagon for the baby years, and now a sporty Volvo SUV.

In my opinion, however, it’s definitely getting time for an upgrade… it’s been over three years, after all.

When thinking about a new(er) car/mobile office upgrade, there are a lot of features that are out there now that would make our life soooooo much better/easier/more convenient/efficient. All of which lead to an improved bottom line and happier, more sane business partners/married people/parents (in our case since we do all of that together).

Here are a few of the features I have in mind:

1.    Extra “power” outlets for our various equipment, so that we can practice the standard traveler’s motto: ABC – always be charging.
2.    Audio input for iPod/MP3 player.
3.    Fuel efficiency. At 50K miles a year, a couple of miles per gallon improvement in fuel efficiency means a lot.
4.    Handsfree Bluetooth phone capability – the safety and convenience of this feature multiplies itself with the miles, in my opinion.

Enter Patty Peck Honda. We got an e-mail back in March from Bob Aubrey (@bobaubrey1) over at Patty Peck Honda (@pattypeckhonda) wanting to setup an initial consultation with us through HALO Business Advisors (our business marketing consulting business that specializes in new media/social media marketing). Through a series of consequent conversations, we ended up on a Spring Break test drive of the Honda Pilot (fantastic, but more on that later).

When we returned and gave our feedback, Bob Aubrey, the GM at Patty Peck Honda, recommended that we try out the new Honda Accord Crosstour for a while. It was a car he had been driving for a few days, and he asked us to drive it and give him some feedback.

Bob, here’s your feedback. (And I think Andy will be supplementing with his own feedback shortly.)

To be honest, I was slow to the party. I loved the Pilot – and I like an SUV for kiddie-hauling. But more than that,  I’m a skeptic by nature, so I was looking for all of the problems in this new model – sure that its newness would surface problems, mistakes, functionality flaws, etc.

After two months in this car, I can’t imagine a better long-term solution for the mobile-office folks out there, or for me. I have claimed the car as my own, and relegate Andy to the old car.

This car has everything that I mentioned above as important features for the mobile office/car. It has great fuel efficiency, it’s amazingly roomy, it has power outlets everywhere and the hands free phone and voice command features keep my eyes on the road. Even more, it’s sporty, nimble, stable and fun to drive. It makes a great first impression. The cargo space looks big, and it functions even bigger – it’s got a LOT OF ROOM BACK THERE! It’s got the best seats ever placed in a Honda – although I definitely recommend the leather on the Crosstour. It’s a supportive, luxurious seat that passes muster, even on long trips, even with my very sensitive back issues. Bonus: the reverse view camera, warning sounds and mirrors that adjust to help me not back into anything while moving in reverse are the answer to all of Andy’s prayers for me to never hit anything while backing up ever again.

If you’re looking for something different – yet reliable – take a look at the Honda Crosstour for your mobile office, commuter car or SUV alternative. Yep, I said it: it’s an SUV alternative. With a backseat big enough to hold two car seats and a third happy camper – or three adults comfortably, this car is a winner all around. And since it’s based on the Accord, you know it’ll be reliable for a LONG time…

Thanks to Patty Peck Honda for believing in their product enough to wait for me to come around – that’s the stuff real relationships are built upon. And thanks to Honda for building vehicles that are immensely practical – and fun – for the workshifters, digital nomads and mobile office mavens of the world. We also just happen to be a pretty savvy group of influencers on social media that can share your products with lots of other people, too. I’m so glad I was encouraged to try a vehicle I never would have before – makes it easy to talk about it.

Disclaimer: Make sure you also say thanks to Patty Peck Honda for sponsoring the Results Revolution, which makes all of this great information available to you.

Another disclaimer: While I like frequent car upgrades, Andy drove the same 1992 Honda Accord until February of this year when we finally sold it to someone who asked to buy it basically once a month for three months. So, here’s to wishful thinking that I’ll ever get a new car………

Whatever the process you undertake for your community – from Web development to branding to market analysis to business recruitment to marketing in general – the planning stage should be long enough to point you in the right direction and short enough to keep the momentum going into the implementation phase.

Plans are only as good as their implementation, and we’ve seen far too many plans sit in drawers idle… a waste.

The preservation of your community and business lays in the hands of the preservers… you. Your community or business stands for something, embodies something. It is something special. It holds a sense of place.

Your community or business BRAND is a reputation, not a logo.

With that in mind, the first step to preserving your community’s or business’ brand is to preserve your reputation.

What is your reputation? What experience do you sell? What do people believe, think, feel about you, your community, your business? How do you make sure they keep believing, thinking or feeling that?

If you don’t know, how will you preserve it?

Once you have defined the nature of your reputation, also known as your defined experience, then you can create physical symbols – a bank, so to speak – that will embody and safely hold your reputation, your experience, your brand. These concrete visual symbols will carry the weight of your consistent, well-defined and well-preserved brand and be the beacon that will shine your reputation – your brand – into your world. Your world is your target customer – old customers and prospective customers, your community of supporters and preservationists…

When you get the definition nailed down, the visual brand should have three parts:

• Logo
• Color scheme
• Domain name

Slogans are optional. And sometimes used to excess, in my opinion. A great slogan is good. A bad slogan is harmful. No slogan backed by a great reputation and experience is the best.

It does come full circle, doesn’t it? A brand is just a reputation. It is the preservation of who you are as a community or business. With a well-defined reputation, you can create a physical, visual brand – or a logo, color scheme and domain name combo that embodies your reputation. And once you have this physical embodiment, you must continue to preserve your brand – your reputation – by continuously upholding, even enriching, your experience and allowing your supporters to help you in the business of preservation. Brand preservation is a community effort and the community is larger than your city limits.

What do you think? How has your branding experience worked? Has the planning led to great implementation? Tell us your stories so we can all learn.

So, it seems that the National Retail Federation got together for its sixth annual “Big Think” to “examine the industry through the prism of the economic crisis.” There was “remarkable consensus around some major theme.”

Really? “A growing acknowledgment?” Customer experience is important? You think?

Here at Team HALO, we’ve only been teaching the critical importance of the “experience economy” for ten years – and dabbling in customer relationships with ideas like “better customer communication” and gimmicks like “Talk with Tory” are basically a slap in the face of the consumer – in my opinion. Sounds like more “brilliant” ideas from the corner office at a traditional advertising agency that still doesn’t get it.

Last time I checked an experience affected five senses and required a consistent replication of a CERTAIN experience over and over again. That means that a business would have to know what experience or feeling they were selling, then bring that “experience” to life in concrete, defined ways, and market it through real relationships in order to persuade the customer.

Small businesses of the world – it looks like the big boxes aren’t even close to being a real threat in this economy. You have a tremendous opportunity. Here’s your homework for the day – define the business that you are in by the experience that you are selling:

• Take time today to stop and ask customers how they “feel” about your business. Take notes. Listen to your customers and prospects. Then, write down what you want them to say.
• How do you want them to feel? Define it in a single word or phrase.
• Then, make a list of concrete ways that you can help create that feeling across all of the senses.

For me, today, I want to make you feel successful. How can I make you taste success, hear success, see success, touch success, smell success? It’s a big job, but it’s one step further away from mediocrity and towards business success for me – and for you. 

A critical question came through on the National Main Street listserv today. I don't respond very often – when I do, it's a topic I feel passionately about. When the responses started rolling in to refer GoDaddy and Yahoo SiteBuilder as viable alternatives that will actually GROW a business… I am saddened that we don't cling in the bad times to the truths about business that we know in the good times… So, here's the questions – and my response follows.

QUESTION:

I’m writing an article for our newsletter and wondered if there are any cheap/free website services out there for small businesses that you would recommend?  Amazingly enough, only about half my merchants even have a presence on the web, and some of those are very amateurish. Any advice?

MY ANSWER:

Your community of businesses is not the exception – they are the rule. Please see this article posted last week by the Center for Media Research regarding poor online presence by small business:

http://adjix.com/ybb2

An excerpt that strikes me:

“Webvisible found that online search and e-mail newsletters are the only forms of traditional media that are growing among consumers who wish to locate local products or services. Compared with two years ago, respondents report they use search engines and email newsletters more, while they use newspapers, magazines, direct mail and radio less.”

The unfortunate truth is that those who do have a web site have a dated web site that they may not be able to edit for one of two reasons (in my experience).

• Their web guy doesn’t keep up with them or has disappeared
• Or they are frustrated by using a free/low cost tool like GoDaddy.com (not to pick on anyone in particular) that is a tool only – without any education or ongoing support or marketing advice.

Web sites are no longer optional for small business owners. As you can see from just this single article (there are more out there to reinforce this if you Google for the info), online spending is growing – and provides an avenue for growth for our downtown businesses. Not to mention the customer loyalty/retention, marketing outreach and other benefits a good web site provides.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS143830+02-Jan-2009+PRN20090102

Let me repeat myself: A GOOD Web Site.  The problem with many “do-it-yourself” web site products is that they don’t educate the builder – and so the business owner – not an expert at web useability or search engine optimization – does what looks good to them (not necessarily what may look good to the customer) – or what frustrates them the least – in their web building – and their business suffers for it. What would you think of your best downtown business if you walked in tomorrow and found it in complete disarray with mismatched signage, poor lighting, and unorganized displays and more? This, in essence, is what happens with most do-it-yourself tools that come without education, coaching or ongoing human expert support. It doesn’t matter how cheap it is if the money washes down the drain. The purpose of a web site in today’s economy is to be the centerpiece – not an afterthought – of a small business marketing plan that includes both online and offline marketing tools.

Please encourage your business owners to make sure they understand the implications if they choose a big-box web hosting solution. This is not to say every big box experience is bad…but well, around Main Street circles, I think we can be honest and admit the track record. It’s no different with web hosting and mass marketers of web site products.

JonI completely agree with, if the budget is unavailable to embark on a valuable web site development journey – then tools like Blogger, WordPress and Typepad provide a solid, respected alternative in the short term.

For higher end functionality, search engine optimization and strategically designed web sites, Fox Web co. offers a solution that starts at less than $1000. (Fox is our sister company who specializes in small business, having the heart of a teacher and works almost exclusively with Main Street businesses – sorry for the shameless self promotion.) Another option that is popular right now is retrofitting existing web sites to allow business owners to make updates themselves for much less regardless of the hosting company.

Hope this helps offer a different perspective into this very important conversation for the future economic stability of our downtowns.