Dear Traditional Advertising Agency:

Reference: See my previous post about the three key elements of a brand.

Leaving your client’s web site URL off of their print advertising does the following harm to your client and it wastes all of their money:

1. This mistake gives you nor your client any way to measure the value of the print advertising by tracking incoming traffic to the web site.

2. This mistake leaves the reader (and potential business prospect) with no real actionable place to go to learn more without making a phone call. (In 2010, we just need a URL. Period.)

3. Worst of all, this mistake leaves the impression that your client is behind the times and isn’t worth considering for important business.

Instead of allowing this sort of image torture to happen for your client, I would recommend that if you insist on pushing print advertising into your client’s budget that you at least implement the following strategies to give the ad spending the best shot at giving a return on investment:

1. Build a vanity URL (www.clientname.com/magazinename).

2. On this specific web page (within your main web site), put valuable, advertisement specific copy, images and links to a wealth of business information, testimonials, and include another call to action to the prospect into your sales funnel deeper. (How about asking them some information about them or providing them with a valuable tool for free to grow their loyalty towards your client’s business?)

3. Put a call to action in the print ad that answers the “What’s in it for me?” question for the prospect and lures them to the vanity URL you created earlier.

4. Collect the data about who visits the page including geography, what else they look at on the site, what information is working and not working and conversion to next step or other actions within your sales funnel.

5. Help your client make adjustments in their process based on this new business intelligence.

Sound simple? Well, it really is pretty simple. No matter how complex the business model, a simple strategy like this followed through to the end (with measurement and continuous improvement) will show your value to your customer as an advertising professional.

There are a million ways to kick that idea up another notch, but for now, let’s start with getting that URL onto the advertisement in the first place and having a web site that’s ready to accept traffic. That’s the first step to building credibility and brand legitimacy in 2010.

Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,
Marianna

Andy and I work with several media outlets – both traditional and new media outlets – to help them “do it better.”

There’s a lot that media can do “better” these days. Here are few ideas that come to mind immediately:

1. Connect & engage with consumers/readers/viewers/listeners better.

2. Provide better value to advertisers.

3. Distribute information better.

4. Build better communities.

5. Give better PR.

That’s right. There’s a lot that media outlets can do to make the event of giving PR – or media coverage, press mentions, etc. – better. Better for whom? Everyone. For the media outlet itself, for the business or person getting the coverage (assuming it’s positive) and for the consumer.

Now, keep in mind, I’m framing this in terms of what you, my readers, care about – and that’s getting or receiving coverage for your small, locally owned business. There are a million caveats to this situation, but for now, let’s focus on the “what if” of a media outlet giving a small business or local business owner some positive coverage of some sort.

One easy way that media can give better PR is to simply include the URL of the small business’ web site into the coverage.

For example, I was just reading a local magazine that had lots of fashion shots where models were dressed in clothing from many boutique shops around town. The brand of the clothing was mentioned and the name of the boutique was mentioned – the place where the model was posing was even mentioned. That leaves THREE opportunities to include three different business URLs in the caption as well. Why would including the URLs into this coverage have made better PR?

1. It would keep me, as a reader/listener/viewer from getting frustrated that I saw something I liked and then didn’t know where to go find it.

2. It would make the media outlet look thorough in its reporting (it is 2010 afterall).

3. It would make the small business owner very happy and even more likely to share the coverage with their network of customers and prospects (which leads to better circulation for your publication).

I think all of those boil down to the consumer having a better feeling towards the media. And when consumers love the media – advertisers love the media. It’s what’s good for the media outlet: to give better PR.

How can you give better PR while maintaining journalistic integrity? There are lots more that come to mind for me – what about you?

Photo Credit: xvaughanx

Andy and I were talking about customer service and customer retention yesterday, especially as it relates to local business types, and he said something that grabbed me.

“Businesses must quit treating customers like terrorists.”

Now that’s a strong statement, but let’s unpack it for your locally-owned small business.

Terrorists are folks with whom we should never negotiate. We have a policy of “no negotiation,” and we should stick with it – because the potential for recourse is too scary. Negotiating with terrorists could lead to chaos, anarchy or being overtaken by the manipulations of the enemy. Terrorists are enemies that harass and threaten our safety and security.

Do you look at your customers as enemies who harass you, threaten you or risk your safety and security? I hope not. But if you really squint, you might realize that deep down maybe you sometimes do view them this way.

Do you treat your small business customers with generosity, patience, respect? Or do you answer their questions briskly with distraction? Do you give them your full attention at every point of interaction – or are you bothered by their interruption? When you mess up – or they are confused about how to use or engage with your products or services the best way, are you wary of helping them fix their problem? Are you afraid that you will open a can of worms if you do the right thing? Does your safety and security feel threatened by the potential of fixing customer problems?

There are a million other scenarios that I could suggest along this realm, but let me stop with those, and instead point you to a better way.

Customers are NOT terrorists.

Let me challenge you to change your attitude and perspective towards your customers today. No matter how positively you feel towards your customers, there is always room to improve and kick it up another notch, so to speak. Here are some ways you can change your attitude toward your customers – and in turn, drastically improve your customer loyalty, customer retention – and yes, grow your business simply and aggressively.

1. View your customers and their problems as your primary marketing opportunity each and every day.
2. Remember that remarkable customer service experiences lead to many remarks by the customer to their many friends (often 100s of friends on social networks).
3. Consider the lifetime value of the customer in relation to fixing the small problem or time spent giving personal service, explanation or help today.
4. Remember that word of mouth marketing is the best marketing you can never buy (or if you make folks unhappy – the worst marketing you can never buy your way out of).
5. Remember that going through a trial with your customer will make them more loyal and mean more steady and secure income for you for a long time to come.

Try This Idea.

Dedicate a portion of your small business marketing budget and time to fix problems in a way that far exceeds “making it right” and that makes your customer exceedingly happy about you and your business.

What do you think? How can you grow your small business by taking advantage of problems today?

Editor’s Note: I fleshed out this idea and six others related to customer service and customer retention for the upcoming print issue of Greater Jackson Business magazine to hit newsstands in the next few days. Be sure to check it out.

Photo Credit: jm3

Chatting with my BFF the other day about how best to convince small business owners and restaurateurs that online marketing was worth paying money for. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Well, I dunno… perhaps that over a year ago 63% of all American consumers across every demographic looked online first before making a brick and mortar buying decision. Most of the folks we’re talking to are targeting a higher end demographic, and it’s a year later, so that number has to be much higher………

BFF: I didn’t ask you why they should be online. I’m talking about how to convince them within their existing worldview why this is worth spending money on.

Me: The money is online.

BFF: But are they going to see value in spending money online?

Me: (insert scream of frustration)

It’s seriously this bad. In small businesses and restaurants and boutique hotels across America, folks have their heads stuck in the proverbial sand.

I hear things like the following:

“I know we’ve got to do it, but I just don’t have time.”

“I just don’t see the value in it.”

“Well, I just spent $90,000 on new merchandise, so that website upgrade to allow me to make my own frequent updates to my website…that sounds good, but it will have to wait until next year… I just don’t have the money for that right now.”

“Well, I’m in a contract with the local lifestyle magazine, and I’m running some cable advertisements and sales have been really down lately, so I just don’t have the money to invest in online. I know it would work, but I just can’t afford it right now.”

How about this, Mr. small business owner? What if you could spend half per month what you spend for an ad in the local lifestyle magazine, and you could track feedback, gain market intelligence – and oh yeah, sell more stuff and know that it was a direct result of this marketing effort? Would you do it?

Would you spend the same amount if you could get that kind of measurable results?

If you wouldn’t – then why are you in business? Because it seems like you’re only there to support the dinosaurs. As for me, I’m going to stay in business by selling more stuff. Online.

Photo Credit: blakeimeson

If you do social media right for your small business, your customers will become more loyal. If you do social media wrong, you will lose customers. But how do you know which category you fit into for certain?

We’ve been seeing a lot of situations where business owners are blasting their Facebook connections too frequently on Facebook with a pushy sales message, and it’s turning off customers. How do we know? Facebook provides outstanding Insights for Page administrators now, and one of the metrics you can monitor is the number of fans who have chosen to hide your posts from their News Feed. This means that you didn’t LOSE the fan, per se, except that you really did because they have hidden you from their view by removing you from their News Feed. This is bad…very bad.

Unsubscribes indicate that you were saying worthless stuff or being too annoying or in their face with your small business Facebook messages. Your business was basically spamming it’s Facebook connections. Think whatever you like about them, but their opinion matters and on Facebook they can do something about it – they click the “hide” button, and you’re outta there. Never to market directly to them again via their News Feed. Not cool.

So, what I recommend is taking  a closer look at your Facebook Insights.

1. Go to the Insights, click on your Page name on the left hand side of the screen (it may default to your Page if you only administer one Page).

2. Then, right under your Page name on the left hand side two words will appear: Users and Interactions.

3. Click on “Interactions” and the top graph they show will be for “Daily Story Feedback.”

4. This graph shows the number of “likes,” “comments” and “unsubscribes” for each day.

5. If you see a spike in “unsubscribes” on a certain day, look to see what you posted on that day or around that day. And don’t do it anymore. If you see a steady stream of “unsubscribes,” that also is an unhealthy sign because you might need to re-think your Facebook strategy and messages overall.

However, if you only get a rare unsubscribe, congratulations, that is an indicator that you’re doing Facebook well, and is a sign of Facebook health – that can only lead to increased customer loyalty since they hear from you more often and in a more valuable and meaningful way.

If you do Facebook the right way, lukewarm customers will become fans. And existing fans become super fans as they follow – evangelists that spread the word and point new customers to your business through social media in droves. The personal relationship, access and frequent top-of-mind provided by Facebook and social media usage in general secures customer loyalty like nothing else can. Check those Facebook Insights and measure your own Facebook marketing health.

What are your Facebook Insights telling you? What other Insights do you find important for your business? Share with us in the comments section below.

One of the number one questions that we get lately is NOT how to get on Facebook initially… it’s how to fix Facebook missteps. What if you messed up and you did it wrong? How do you now go about fixing it – or should you even worry about it?

The answer is a resounding YES! You should definitely worry about it, and you should definitely FIX your mistakes.

Facebook Mistake #1: I set up a Facebook personal Profile for my business or organization instead of a Page. How do I convert it to a Page?

First off, here’s WHY you must convert it to a Page. This isn’t an optional activity, and maybe the necessity will motivate you despite the possible short-term repercussions:

Here’s what happens if you violate Facebook’s Terms of Service and insist on using a personal Profile for your business or organization. Facebook can and will discover your plight eventually – usually after you’ve amassed a significant and active following – and they will, without hesitation or warning – disconnect your Profile. They owe you nothing, but they do leave you with an explanation screen that looks something like this picture below:

(NOTE: This is a picture that my friend Cary Tyson sent me in confession of his own Facebook blunder and the resulting Facebook fall-out. If you’re a follower of this blog, you’ve seen this image before, but apparently it stands repeating since so many of you are still in violation of Facebook’s very specific Terms of Service.)

Yes, this means what you think it means. If this happens to you, you just lost all of your contacts, connections, conversations, photos, goodwill, social capital and any other goodness you may have held dear on your Facebook Profile.

Now… If you find yourself in the predicament of having created a PERSONAL Profile for your business or organization’s Facebook presence, here are a few easy steps that we recommend (without going into the detailed in’s and out’s of how to create a Facebook Page) to convert your following over to a new Page:

1. With a real person OTHER THAN your existing, wrongfully created Facebook Profile as the administrator, create a “Page” for your business or organization.

2. Create a “profile picture” on the new page that is different from the existing Profile that you are moving away from. This helps prevent confusion for customers. Ideally, I would recommend that the new profile picture be a custom graphic that includes both your business or organization’s logo as well as some sort of witty message stating that this PAGE (the new spot) is the “official Facebook presence” for this business. That lets folks know that they are at the right spot. Profile pictures can change as frequently as you’d like, so this “official Page” wording on your “picture” – which can yes, really be anything graphic or photo related that you desire – is just a temporary measure to aid the conversion process.

3. Add the wrongfully created personal Profile as an administrator to this Page. (You don’t want them to be the ONLY one, because if/when the profile is disconnected, it would also leave you disconnected from your new Page.)

4. Invite all of the friends of the Profile to “like” the new Page.

5. Send personal messages to all of the movers and shakers on your existing Profile and ask them to “like” the new Page and to also comment in some fashion.

6. Post on the Profile that you are ceasing activity on that Profile space immediately and where folks can go to stay in touch. Encourage them to “like” the new Page, so they don’t miss a thing.

7. Make certain that you are actively posting, interacting and growing the community on your new Page right from the start. Don’t invite folks to a dead space. Post photos, wall posts, information on the information tab, and other multi-media content and custom content BEFORE you invite folks over. That way they don’t miss a beat, aren’t confused and hopefully love the new Facebook Page more than the old Profile.

What else would you add to this process? Have you already undertaken a Profile to Page conversion? How did it go for you? Post your comments and let’s help others along this path!

Each case is a bit different and would require some custom strategic moves, I imagine, but hopefully this encourages you to get started on your quest for Facebook compliance and ultimate success!

For some reason this recession is breeding mediocrity at a rate I've never seen before. I mean, really? That's the best you can do? Is this the best I can do? I don't think so. No settling here…

So, I'm taking the economic "situation" as my own personal "Dip." (Read Seth's book by the same name.) And, I'll admit, I'm bored. Or exhausted from watching the news. Or distracted by life. Whatever the reason, it's time to shake things up…a LOT.

I hate mediocrity. It upsets my case in a big way.

I'm inspired by Seth's words (which I can now more fully appreciate thanks to the Seth Godin action figure that my buddy Darrin sent me) in The Dip that say:

Seriously: how dare you??? Don't waste a good thing. Hey, Mr. Main Street manager… quit wasting time on the same old same old and do something remarkable to change your local world. Hey, Miss retail store owner, be the winds of change in your community. Quit griping and letting life get in your way. This is life at its best. Be the success story that paves the way for others. Do something different. Don't just use Facebook, innovate with Facebook. Don't just be on Twitter, reinvent your business with it. Don't just have a web site… blow minds with it. Be the best in your world. If you must advertise in the local newspaper, get attention. Don't wonder if it got attention – make sure it does. Go the extra mile to over deliver on promises, to amaze customers, to be the most memorable thing that happened in their life today…and tomorrow.

Me? My mission is to inspire you to be revolutionary. "Passion" is an overused term. But I have a zeal, a passion, a burning, unceasing desire for you – yes you blog reader – to be the best in the world. Do you have that desire? Does it burn in your belly? Do you stay up at night trying to figure out how to make it happen? I want that for you. And I want you to sink your toes into the beaches of Costa Rica in a few years and laugh with the simplicity of it all. It's so simple…

Revolution: a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving.

Be that. Be a focused, laser-intentional revolutionary.

Around here, we're shaking the cob webs off and leaning into our revolutionary thinking. We're eliminating wasteful ideas, work, habits and spending. We're getting rid of mediocre (or at least making a valiant attempt)… and we'll do it live this week on this blog just to prove that it can be done. Watch.