Have you built a marketing megaphone?

August 1, 2012

I spent a few days in Vegas recently and the 24/7 chaos was overwhelming. It’s pure overload for all your senses – tons of people everywhere, driving billboards, TVs in the restrooms, a wide array of smells, and a cacophony of sounds at full volume.

It’s a little like how we’re assaulted by marketing messages every day. Over 5,000 messages a day – aimed at all of our senses, pretty much 24/7.

As consumers — it feels like an attack we have to guard against.  As marketers — it’s like a mountain we have to scale.

But somehow our message needs to fight its way to the top and actually be heard. How do we make that happen?

We need a marketing megaphone. (Download 8.5 x 11 version by clicking here) Something that amplifies our message so it gets right where it needs to be.

But that megaphone has to be built in the right order and contain the right elements.  Otherwise, it’s just more noise.

Here’s how to construct a marketing megaphone that actually works.

It starts with you: To break through the clutter – you need to be crystal clear about your core messaging. You need to completely understand how you’re different from your competitors, why you matter to your customers and how you can improve their world.

Imagine your voice in the din of over 5,000 messages. You’re whispering and counting on the next layers in the marketing megaphone to magnify your message. So it sure better be the exact right words/sentiment.

Once you know yourself, you need a plan: Marketing doesn’t happen by accident. You need a clear-cut vision for how you’re going to get out the word. Over 90% of businesses operate without a marketing plan and yet they wonder why they have to work so hard for new sales.

A marketing plan eliminates stutter (you hurry up to market when you’re slow and then stop when you get busy, losing all momentum along the way) or inconsistent marketing.

Your inside advantage: One of the most costly mistakes made by companies is that they forget how vital their employees are to their marketing efforts. A team that’s left in the dark can’t possibly help amp up your message. In most cases, they have the contact with your customers and prospects. So why wouldn’t you want them to be completely plugged into your core messaging and your marketing plan for spreading the word?

Be worth bragging about: Another way to turn up the volume in your marketing megaphone is to give your current customers something to talk about. If you delight them or are the kind of organization they’re proud to be associated with – they’ll shout it to the world via their social networks, their in person networks and through referrals.

All too often, we forget to romance them once we actually get the sale. But, by making them feel wanted and special – you not only create recurring revenue at a lower cost of acquisition but you create a legion of cheerleaders, all out there, putting some oomph into that megaphone.

The exact right prospects: One of the key benefits of truly understanding your brand is that you learn who your perfect customers are. You will identify who really needs what you offer and who would be elated to buy it from you. When you have a profile of exactly who that is – you can aim your marketing megaphone right at their ear and not worry about the rest of the world.

Getting heard isn’t easy but with the help of a properly built megaphone, your message can rise above the din and get to the right audience every time.

Want a full-sized jpg for your own? Click here to download one.

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The Google Yourself Challenge

July 30, 2012

Forget egosurfing for a second and ask yourself, how much can people learn about you by simply Googling you?

The idea behind the Google Yourself Challenge is this: friends, relatives, recruiters, hiring managers, and even strangers may be searching for you on the web.  Why not Google yourself first and control what people can learn about you online?

Here are some statistics on who is looking for your data:

• 81% of millennials Google or Facebook their date before going out
• 79% of recuiters and hiring managers screen applicants by information available online
• 86% of hiring managers have rejected someone based on information available online
• 7 in 10 internet users search online for information about others

Check out some of these stats in this infographic…and then go Google yourself.  (And your employees, employer, parents and kids!) You might be surprised at how much Google (and everyone else) knows about you!

From: BackgroundCheck.org

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Any brand can become talkable

July 28, 2012

Are you talkable?

On this blog, we often explore the importance of brand and the power of word of mouth. It seems that many business owners/leaders believe that you can just plan on something being spread by word of mouth and voila, it happens. (Sort of like planning for a video to go viral).

The reality is — to become a brand that is worthy of being talked about is hard work.

It’s about being very purposeful in every little detail of your business.

That’s why I love this video series by John Moore from Brand Autopsy.  John’s listed a bunch of attributes (29 to date) of a talkable brand — like believable, measurable, and emotional to mention a few.  And he’s done a video for each “able” that makes your brand talkable.

The videos are part education, part entertainment and part inspiration.  I think you’ll enjoy the short (less than 4 minutes each) offerings.

Check out the series (click here) and then come back and tell me which of the “ables” you think your business has already mastered.

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Start with Why

July 27, 2012

One of the 20 most watched TED talks of 2010 was given by Simon Sinek and speaks directly to anyone who is trying to market or sell something. Sinek’s premise is simple.

Always start with why.

Sinek began his adult life as a student of anthropology. His fascination with people led him to a career in advertising and he found himself combining his chosen work with his earlier studies to try and understand what motivated people.

All of that pondering led to his book Start With Why*, his focus on how leaders motivate companies and customers and his famous TED talk.

His findings are very applicable to us as we market our products and services.

In the vast majority of marketing today, the lion’s share of the language and imagery we use is self-focused. We talk about ourselves, our products, our services and our organizations. When we don’t think that is enough, we dissect even deeper, breaking down the facts into bullet pointed lists of features that detail and justify the claims we make.

It’s not that anything we are saying is inaccurate. In most cases, it’s spot on. But we are blathering on about facts and figures. That’s the what. We know that people buy base don emotions and justify that purchase with the facts…but all too often we just feed them the justification with first holding up the emotion.

We rarely get into the why of something.

The why of something inspires. It makes a consumer want to believe in you. It leads them to want to give your product a try. It makes them feel as though you’re on the same team.

I’ll give you an example. I never really paid much attention to which brand of dishwashing soap was on my sink. My theory was – they’re all pretty much the same so I’ll buy whichever is the cheapest. I’ve probably seen hundreds of commercials for dishwashing soap over the course of my adult life. But they all talked about how well they cleaned dishes. The facts. And it all sounded pretty much the same to me, so not one of them stuck in terms of brand loyalty or preference.

But when Dawn started showing the commercials of the oil spill rescue workers using donated Dawn to clean up the wildlife covered with oil – all of a sudden, we had a common why. We love animals.

Did you see what happened? It went from them and me to we. And now, when I go to buy dishwashing soap, I don’t think about getting clean dishes. I think about ducks covered with oil and how Dawn is going to make a donation if I buy their product.

All the other dish soaps are still talking to me about removing grease or their aromatherapy scents. They’re talking what. And they are talking to me. But Dawn talks about how we are going to protect and care for the world’s wildlife.

You don’t have to align yourself with a cause move from what to why. You just have to re-frame the way you think about and talk about what it is you market.

This gets back to a question we asked a few months ago. What do you really sell? If your answer is your product or service – you’re in trouble. Whether it’s insurance, a boat or a complicated piece of equipment – you’re a commodity. Someone else out there does (or will do) what you do.

Harley Davidson creating a community of bikers that rule the road, have plenty of attitude and join together at rallies, rides and for causes. People don’t buy their motorcycles. They buy being a part of the Harley community.

You need to find your why and own it.

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Funny doesn’t sell well

July 25, 2012

Apparently, other people were pondering the same question I was last week when I asserted that advertising can’t just be funny.

Now — a recent study is showing that funny doesn’t really sell well. One in five TV ads are funny, and Super Bowl ads are three times funnier than the rest.

But none of this makes much difference in selling stuff, according to new research by syndicated ad-testing firm Ace Metrix.

Funny ads do get more attention and are better liked. But Ace Metrix found funniness had little correlation with effectiveness in a scoring system that incorporates watchability, likability and persuasion among other factors.

In fact, funny ads were slightly less likely to increase desire or purchase intent than unfunny ones. Those same commercials were less likely to increase desire or intent to purchase than commercials that played it straight. In other words, funny ads are useful for entertaining viewers, but are not the most effective way for advertisers to convince those viewers to buy the product.

This study takes the first-ever large-scale, scientific look at the role of humor in video advertising. According to the study, entitled ‘Is Funny Enough?’, consumers found 20 percent of more than 6,500 TV ads that aired between January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, to be funny.

Consumers found ads from Doritos to be funnier than any other brand (6.4 times funnier than average), and Target to have more consistently funny ads than any other brand, with 85 ads above the Funny Index average.

So before you go for funny, ask yourself what your ultimate goal is. If it’s sales — perhaps you should consider a different avenue.

 

Photo courtesy of BigStockPhoto

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Does your funnel need fixing?

July 23, 2012

People come to your website every day.  They pop in and pop out.  Some spend a few seconds while others read page after to page, lingering for many minutes.

Wouldn’t it be incredible to not only know who those anonymous visitors are but what links, pages and information they clicked on?

Well, now it’s possible.  And you can have it for the bargain price of nothing. LeadLife Solutions is now offering a free tool called Funnel Fixer.

The free tool captures critical information about website visitors browsing your site, including detailed information on pages viewed, providing you with powerful sales and marketing insights.

“Many businesses are still struggling with lead and opportunity visibility – their websites are great marketing tools, but they’re also something of a black hole that doesn’t reveal who is visiting and why,” said Lisa Cramer, President and Co-founder of LeadLife. “Funnel Fixer not only identifies who is coming to your site, it also tracks their digital behavior so you know what products, services and demos have their attention and for how long.”

Funnel Fixer’s highlights include:
Visitor Insights™ – Companies will know who’s browsing their sites, even if visitors don’t fill out a form. Detailed page tracking includes time spent on pages, search words used, referring URLs, company information and auto-links to Jigsaw and LinkedIn. Daily emails with visitor detail are pushed to company users’ inboxes.

Prospect Interests™ – Links all previous anonymous digital behavior to a prospect once they fill out a form on your website. This sales intelligence is sent to your company’s inboxes on a daily basis. As a result, it is possible to tailor sales and marketing messages to the unique needs of each qualified prospect.

Buying Signs™ Outlook Add-in – Improves close rates at the bottom of the sales funnel by giving sales reps real-time alerts when prospects are reviewing information sent to them. Users that send emails via Microsoft Outlook receive detailed tracking on prospects’ opens, clicks, which web pages they viewed, and more.

Now, of course, this generous offering comes with a catch.

The catch is — they get to try to sell you their full suite of services, LeadLife.  I was given a guided tour of LeadLife and it’s impressive.  It’s marketing automation software with a twist.  The twist is… the people at LeadLife do most of the heavy lifting for you.  Each customer is assigned a lead management specialist who actually builds out the software solution for you, as well as advising you all along the way.

Check out this section of their website, where they outline how they’s solve:

• A sales productivity concern
• Maximizing revenue from existing clients
• Evolving your sales culture to a solutions sale

What’s possible with this technology is remarkable.  LeadLife makes it very easy to tap into both prospects and existing customers to increase sales, customer connections and the longevity of your customer relationships.

Fair warning — it comes with a hefty price tag.  But if you can’t afford the full solution — no reason why you can’t take full advantage of the free Funnel Fixer.

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Is your company ready for social media criticism?

July 18, 2012

A vast majority of CEOs agree that a company’s corporate reputation is more important today than it was five years ago. New technology and social networks are reshaping the landscape of how society convenes and campaigns on critical issues.

So you would expect those CEOs would be mindful of the importance of being ready for an unexpected problem online.  But a recent study shows that 72% of companies that have been subject to social media criticism however strong (ranging from a single complaint to a full-scale campaign) rated their preparedness as average or below, with 20% being completely unprepared, according to a July 2012 report by Ethical Corporation and Useful Social Media. Just 15% of companies reported that they were fully engaged with the problem.

This finding follows from research showing that social media users believe that companies are out of step in their use of the social tools. In fact, according to a Allstate/National Journal report from June, 64% of these users want to see an increase in companies using social media to respond to questions and complaints. 73% believe that companies use it chiefly for advertising.

What should those CEOs being doing to ready their companies?

• Create a robust crisis communications plan
• Learn from other’s mistakes and make adjustments
• Be prepared to take immediate steps if you are criticized online (but be sure you should respond)
• Don’t abdicate responsibility for your social media efforts

Bottom line — prepare, adapt, respond and take ownership.  Don’t be like the 72% who talk a good game but aren’t ready to respond in the heat of the moment.

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Advertising can’t just be funny

July 16, 2012

Don’t get me wrong.  I like funny.  Most of my favorite movies are funny.  The TV shows I watch — usually funny.  And I appreciate a funny ad.

But…it still has to sell something.  That’s the ad’s reason for existence.  No company runs a TV commercial just to entertain the viewers.

So when I see TV spots like this one for the California Milk Producers.  But for the life of me, I can’t understand why they thought it would inspire anyone to drink more milk — let alone California milk. (email subscribers, click here to view)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbpX5qdK9Gc&feature=plcp[/youtube]

Am I missing something?  Did watching this spot make you run to the fridge and pour a cold glass of ice cold milk?

My big issue with this series of TV spots is that it doesn’t even try to sell us on the benefits of the product, make the brand of the product cool or…even show the product.

Contrast that with the TV spots for Mike’s Hard Lemonade.  They’re funny but they’re also talking about the product. (email subscribers, click here to view)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrfX5JxbO8[/youtube]

AdAge and their partner Bluefin Labs have been studying how we react to TV spots in terms of social mentions.  Their findings — we TV viewers are beginning to view commercials as movie shorts and it’s pretty clear that TV viewers are increasingly willing to talk about ads in the same way that they talk about shows: as bits of entertainment.

All the more reason to make sure your TV spot (or any advertising for that matter) keeps its eye on the prize — selling your product or service.  If the viewing population is more likely than ever to talk about you, I’m thinking you want to give them something besides the funny parts to talk about.

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Marketing in the Round (is your marketing a 360° effort?)

July 13, 2012

You know those people who modify who they are, based on who’s around or where they are? They behave one way at work, one way on Friday nights and another way on Sunday mornings. I think it’s difficult to trust people who don’t live one, integrated life.

We react the same way to brands and companies. Part of what creates a sense of trust for us as consumers is consistent, integrated behavior.

That’s why I’m recommending you check out a book called Marketing in the Round by Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich. (click here to buy*)

It’s not about social media. Or new (or old) media. It’s media agnostic. No matter what media you use (and you should use several) it’s about weaving them together so they are all stronger.

I got a chance to ask author Geoff Livingston a few questions and think his answers will give you a good sense of what the book might offer you and why I think it’s a must read.

If you had to describe the content of your book in a single sentence (no run ons) what would it be?

GL: Somewhat conservative methods to approach integrated multichannel marketing in the digital era.

What one book that you’ve read do you wish you could claim as your own?

GL: Oh man, if I could only claim From Good to Great as my own!

In your opinion, what is the one trait that all uber successful business people possess?

GL: Tenacity. We all face trials and failure, but successful people in all walks of life get up and move forward. Successful business people usually find a new way or approach to make their original idea work.

What’s the biggest business mistake you’ve ever made and what did you learn from it?

GL: Naming my company after myself. I think Livingston Communications had the right premise – social media boutique – at the right time 2006-9, but was limited by its ties to me. I could not sell accounts and have other people service them very easily. Also, it was harder to attract top senior talent.

If I was smarter, I would have insisted on a different name that would have made scaling easier. I have learned this lesson in other ways since then, too. I’ll never build a multi-person business again that revolves solely around a singular personality.

Why did you have to write this book? What truth or insight was missing from the human consciousness — that you’ve now answered?

GL: I don’t know if my co-author Gini Dietrich and I made a difference in the human consciousness, but I do think we restored some basic integrated marketing values to the general conversation.

Social media dominates marketing publishing titles for past five years to the point that the sector has grown myopic. Ask most CMOs which tactics are driving ROI, and almost all of them will say direct marketing, not social media.

It’s not that social media is a bad thing. Fractured interactive media have produced these very important eddies of conversations for businesses. At the same time, no one person I know consumes only social media.

We need a more holistic picture. I think this book has redirected the conversation in some ways towards that comprehensive view.

After someone is done reading your book — what do you hope they do as a result?

Step back and think from the stakeholder’s perspective. And if they do, they may use the same marketing tactics, but they should be more inclined to make them work together to better serve people.

 

 

*Affiliate link

 

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Hello? Is there a human inside?

July 11, 2012

Honestly — haven’t you felt that way more than once when you’ve dealt with a business?

Either their marketing materials are so full of corporate speak that you can’t figure out what the heck they’re talking about or the service you get is lackluster at best and that’s being kind.

As consumers continue to get more jaded coupled with the fact that every business has plenty of competition out there — what consumers want and need from us is to know that we’re human.  They don’t expect perfection.  They just want to know that you’re real, that you care and that you’re not blowing smoke up their skirt.  That’s how they are going to choose.  They’re going to pick the company they like the best and they can’t like you if you are invisible to them.

So the question becomes — how do you show your human side?  How do you give your customers and prospects a sense of who you are and what matters to you?  If you and your brand are playful — how do you reveal that?  If you have a deep passion for what you do, where does that show up?

I don’t think too many businesses ask themselves those kinds of questions.  But we need to.  We need to actually make a connection long before the cash register rings.  Depending on your business — you might be able to do that in a one-to-one way.  But for most organizations, that won’t cover it.  They need to find a mass produced way of being real.

Yup — a mass produced way of being real.  How?

Here are two great examples.  One is the note from the company CEO that comes inside every package of Cold-EEZE.  The second is a grocery bag from Capital Market. (Hat tip to Tom Narak for sharing the grocery bag photo with me)

 

Can’t you just hear their voices?  Can’t you feel their spirit and don’t you have a sense of what it would be like to interact with them?  I don’t know about you, but I want go to that grocery store.  I’d expect to be completely delighted by the experience.

I can hear you now.  “But Drew, those are consumer products.  In the B-to-B world, we can’t do things like that.”  I call bull on that.  Yes, you can.  Every company has a spirit.  We can call it your brand or your true north or your core reason for being.  But it’s there.  And it’s your job, no… your responsibility to show it to us.

All of us, every consumer on the planet, desperately wants to know if there’s a human inside.

Show us.

 

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