This week I have a very simple marketing tip of the week for you Make sure that in the rush of the holiday season and pushing out lots of marketing messages to meet those media deadlines that you make sure you match your marketing message with your call to action.

First off, why should the marketing message & call to action match? (And similarly, why is a call to action so critical to marketing?) Here are a few of the reasons:

1. You’ll get to your goal faster (and increase sales) by asking for what you want.

2. Your marketing will be more measurable – so if it’s not working you can quit wasting money and if it is, you’ll know where to focus.

3. Clear messages and action items are easier to share – which will expose your business virally to more new customers.

Case Study: Wrong Call to Action

We drove past a billboard last night that basically said “Losing Weight Can Start Online.”

And it displayed a phone number.

Marketing Tip of the Week: Match your marketing message with your call to action.

It’s a simple step-wise process to achieve this marketing tip:

1. Have a marketing strategy. (What is your goal? What do you want customers to do? How can you reach them and motivate them?)

2. Create a marketing message. (What marketing message will motivate folks to do what you want them to do? What can you say or offer that will inspire action?)

3. Insert a call to action. (Ask them to do what you want them to do. Don’t forget to actually HAVE a call to action – and make sure that the call to action makes sense with the message that you sent.)

Examples of Matching Messages & Calls to Actions

Marketing Message: Invitation to attend an event and RSVP for a chance to win!

Call to Action: RSVP online with an e-mail address (so even if they don’t show up, you have their contact information).

Marketing Message: Get updates on new merchandise & special offers

Call to Action: Link to sign-up for the e-mail list / URL for sign-up landing page

Marketing Message: Buy Gift Certificates for Christmas Gifts!

Call to Action: Buy Online or In-Store – include web site URL where gift certificates can be purchased and store physical address

Of course, what should have the billboard have done differently?

Of course, if weight loss starts online – then there should be a URL where I can start my weight loss. Not a phone number.

What marketing messages are you sending this holiday season? Do you have a strong and connected call to action in all of your marketing messages? What’s working well for you?

Photo By: SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent)

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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

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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

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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

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