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Looking for some great reading?

December 8, 2007

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Do you know what’s impossible about this blog?

December 5, 2007

Well, to be honest, neither did I.

Which is why I was so excited when I received notice that Drew’s Marketing Minute would be the first blog EVER to be critiqued by the Kaiser (and Marcus Brown) in the new and free service….5 impossible things you didn’t know about your blog.

I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment of reading the assessment, so all I will say at this point is that I’m going to write about beer very, very soon. 

And I know it’s difficult to control yourself, but do try.

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Keep your eyes right here!

November 30, 2007

According to Evan Carmichael, we should be watched!  Okay, he didn't mean it that way!

Drew's Marketing Minute was named one of the Top 50 Marketing Blogs to Watch for 2008!

My thanks to all of you for making this an environment ripe for vibrant conversations.  It makes it so much easier to create content, knowing that your thoughts, questions and explorations make each and every post better.

I also want to thanks Evan for creating the list.  For those of you not familiar with the site,
EvanCarmichael.com is an amazing resource for small business motivation and strategies. With over 240,000 monthly visitors, 1,600 contributing authors, and 35,000 pages of content, there's something there for everyone.

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Age of Conversation: Time to play in the big leagues

November 22, 2007

4 months.  Over $11,000 raised for Variety the Children's Charity.  Pretty impressive — thanks to the talents and efforts of the 103 Age of Conversation authors.

But truth be told, 90% of the book sales came within the first 60 days and have trickled in since.

So, we've decided to try something different.

In the lead up to Christmas we have another opportunity to raise another $10,000 or maybe more, but to do this we need to break out of market that we have made.

We need to take advantage of the booksellers list and the opportunities afforded by online retailers. What we're going to do is to list the Age of Conversation with Amazon and all other book sellers around the world.

The proceeds to Variety will remain constant — they will get as much per book as they always have.

But a few things need to change to make this happen, based on the rules set by the online book sellers.

As of November 30th…

• The hard cover version of the book will be discontinued.  (You can still buy it in bulk)
• The paperback version of the book will no longer be available directly through Lulu.com (again, can still be bought in bulk)
• The e-book will remain on Lulu.com for the same price

All of that makes way for:

The paperback version will appear on Amazon and other book sellers throughout the world.  (at an increased price to cover the book sellers' commissions.)

A bum rush event on 12/14.

A new surge of blogger activity, virtual book tours and other great word of mouth marketing efforts.

Please jump on board…help spread the word and participate however you can.   And if you want to buy copies of AoC for yourself, clients, family members or library — grab all three versions before November 30th!

Update:  The soft cover book is currently $16.95 (US dollars) and will go up to $30 (so we can cover the book seller's cut).

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Gavin Heaton: Take the chill out of cold calling

November 21, 2007

I have never been good at cold calls. Not good at making them, and not good at taking them.

But I do like good technique. I like a good performance. And also, I clearly understand that the person calling me has a job to do, a quota to fulfill or an inventory to shift. And as I work in marketing, I feel it is my duty when someone cold calls me, to listen.

But surprisingly, very few cold callers are prepared for someone who listens well.

And over the years I have noticed the same mistakes being repeated call after call. So, if you or someone you know, is responsible for cold calling, here are some things you might want to consider.

1. Know me — if you called me, you should know who I am, what my role is, the name of my company and something about it.
2. Know your offer — be ready to answer the simple questions and the off-beat. Know why your product/service is better than the one I am currently using, and be able to tell me why.
3. Don't ask me about my weekend — I don't know you, and we aren't friends. You have something to sell me and I am giving you the opportunity to tell me about it. Don't waste my time or yours.
4. Cut the jargon — you might understand the acronyms and the industry speak, but I don't. Make it simple for me to understand.
5. Put a smile in your voice — speak in an upbeat manner. Not too friendly. Not too chatty. And not too fast. Record yourself and play it back. If you sound like a chipmunk, slow down.
6. Follow-up and follow-through — if you promise to do something, do it. Then let me know you have. Make it personal for me so that it is harder for me to forget you.
7. Make me look good — you know, we all have bosses (even if we are self-employed). You thought your job was to sell me something? Wrong. Your job is to help me look good. Do that, and the sales will come.
8. Hang up gracefully — first impressions count and so do your last words. Leave me with something to remember you by.
9. Never lose your temper — even if I am rude. Really.

And finally, if you really do believe what you have will change my life, don't give up.

Drew's Note:  Most of you will recognize Gavin Heaton as my cohort in the Age of Conversation.  But long before that, he'd done some pretty impressive things.  He's been in publishing, the agency business and on the client side.  So, it is safe to say that he really does understand marketing from a 360 degree perspective.  And like Greg, he's one of the good guys.  He just has that cool Aussie accent to go along with it!

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Greg Verdino: Love Your Haters!

November 20, 2007

I've discovered a surefire way to get a room full of marketers to go quiet.  Just bring up the notion of reaching out and bonding with the consumers that hate their brand the most.  Just a few weeks ago, I suggested this very thing to a client.  You could hear a pin drop in that room.

Now, I've written about the notion of "loving your haters" at my own blog and to me it seems like a no brainer.  You seek out the people who are your most vocal detractors and you listen — and I mean really listen — to all the reasons they don't like you and how they think you might improve.  You engage them directly, show them why you do things the way you do them, and make them full fledged partners in helping you turn around.  You actually implement some of the things that they'd like to see.

At a minimum, you get some great ideas for how you can make your business better.  Beyond that, you might even earn yourself some new customers, committed fans who feel like they were part of the solution. 

After all, isn't that why people complain in the first place?  Not simply to let you know you've let them down but also to prod you along the path toward better business.  Right?
I admit that I live inside the social media "echo chamber" where any conversation — even disagreement (maybe disagreement most of all) — is good conversation.  And I'll also admit that, out there in the real world, not every detractor has your best interests in mind; some people really do want to see you go down.  But if someone has taken the time to let you know that you've let them down — by calling your customer support line, by writing a letter, by complaining to their sales rep or (increasingly) by writing a negative blog post, uploading a video to YouTube or starting a negative thread in an online forum — isn't that exactly the kind of person you should engage?

McDonalds did this very thing earlier this year, when they put together a small panel of health- conscious moms and asked them to provide their unvarnished feedback about the restaurant and its menu choices.  Was this a risky move?  You bet — after getting a bit of an inside look at McDonalds any one of these moms could have walked away with a worse impression of the brand, and gone on to tell their entire network of (real world and online) friends about it.  But one look at the women's public and (to my knowledge) unedited journals show that the gamble paid off.  That's some pretty powerful marketing, if you ask me.

And here's the thing — you don't need to be a Fortune 100 company to do this kind of thing.  I'd bet that any business — no matter how small — can find five or six unhappy customers or (even better) former customers who left after a bad experience.  Find them.  Make contact.  Bring them in.  Let them know what you're doing and why.  But most importantly, get them to talk about what they would do differently and how they think their recommended changes would benefit your current customers — and win you new ones.
What's the alternative?  Let the feedback get worse and worse until you have a real problem on your hands?  Sure, I suppose that could work…

So think about it — what are some of the ways your company can partner with its biggest critics to have real, positive impact on your business?  And if anyone out there is already headed down this path, I'd love to hear your stories – I'm sure Drew would too.   

Drew's Note:  Greg Verdino is Chief Strategy Officer for Crayon and writes his own blog as well.  Greg's blog is a great place to keep track of trends in media and marketing, especially in the arena of new media and marketing disruption.  He's an in demand speaker and all around great guy.

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Putting out the welcome mat

November 20, 2007

Today begins my family's annual pilgrimage to the mouse house!  That's right, we're Disney bound. 

Last year, you'll remember that I wrote a series of posts about the magic of Disney marketing.  (You can download the PDF)  This year, I decided to take a break and really enjoy the down time.  But I didn't want to leave you high and dry.  So, I invited some of my smartest marketing blogger friends to pinch hit. 

Every day, there will be at least one new post from a marketing blogger that you are going to love.  They're going to cover everything from social media to cold calling.

Enjoy their wit and wisdom.  And behave yourselves — we have guests in the house! (was that my dad's voice I just heard?)

My biggest fear is that you're going to love them so much you're going to start a collection basket to keep me in FL!

You're going to love them….and to my guest bloggers — a sincere thank you for stepping up, especially over a holiday week.

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Age of Conversation: Three months later

October 29, 2007

A little over 3 months ago, we launched Age of Conversation with our fingers crossed.  We came screaming out of the gate.

103 authors, most of whom have never looked each other in the eyes.  From 10 different countries.  Working together for a common vision — to publish a book they could be proud of and raise money for the world’s children.

So, how are we doing so far?

In the 90+ days since our launch, together we have raised $10,380.81! (That’s 1,351 books)

That’s the good news.  The bad news is that 98% of those sales took place in the first 60 days. 

It’s time to prove that we know how to market.  The holidays are coming and Age of Conversation would make a great gift for clients, business partners, family or friends.

We’ve got a couple ideas up our sleeve but would love to get some from you too.  How can we get AoC back on the radar screen and on everyone’s wish list this holiday season?

Could we raise another $10,000 in the next 90 days? 

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Additional sales tips/lessons from readers

October 19, 2007

A week or so ago, I offered to have a drawing for a free copy of Jill Konrath’s excellent book, Selling to Big Companies.  All you had to do was share in the comments or e-mail a sales lesson, tip or horror story we could learn from to be entered into the drawing.

We got a few entries via the comments but several more in e-mail.  I thought I would share them with you and then announce the winner!

Without further ado….

My biggest sales mistake is when I don’t know enough about the company or the person I am meeting with.  If I can’t talk about them and their challenges, then the only thing left to talk about is me and our product.  Once we start going down that road, I know I am sunk.

In the late 90’s I was invited to travel to Tokyo and meet with the man who could open up the Japanese market to our company.

Having completed cordialities, we started our very formal meeting. After about 20 minutes of fact finding conversation from both sides, I asked him through his interpreter if our design firm could prepare a proposal for him and send it over for he and his staff to review.
 
In amazement we watched him look down at the table, ponder for a moment, slowly push his chair back and stand up.  He bowed.  Said nothing and walked out of the boardroom. The corporate interpreter said the meeting was over and thanked us for coming.  We were in the elevator just as fast as she could bow and say goodbye.  Our personal interpreter said that he would share with us at the bar what had happened.
 
It turned out that I had put him on the spot.  By asking him my question, he was unable to answer it without total disgracing himself in front of us and his staff. I had asked him a question that he would ultimately have to take to his subordinates to discuss before it could be answered.  So, he was now in a shameful position because he could not answer properly.  The only way he could deal with the situation was leave!  Meeting over.

I know this is probably been said a thousand times, but I get on the good side of the gatekeeper.  She holds the key to where I want to get and she can make or break my efforts.  I have found that you don’t have to get ridiculous.  You just have to actually notice that they’re there and engage them in conversation.  Most people treat them like they’re invisible.

Offer an guarantee.  The reality is, most of us have an implied guarantee anyways.  So why not make it explicit?

Ask open ended questions that require more than a yes or no.  And then build off that answer, asking a more probing question.  Get the prospect to tell you stories to illustrate their pain points.  If I hear myself talking for more than 60 seconds or so, I know I need to ask a question and then shut up.

Do something they will remember and tell other people about.  Odds are, they are talking to several vendors.  You need to be the one they remember.  Do something remarkable enough that you know they won’t be able to resist telling someone about it.

And the winner of the book — John Siberell, one of our e-mail entries.  Congrats John.  Watch for an e-mail from me!

Don’t forget that Jill is also throwing the sales conference that’s a not to be missed for women who want to take their sales skills to the next level.  Minneapolis. November 5-6.   You’ll learn enough within the first hour to cover the investment and more.

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Ready to show off your marketing smarts?

October 17, 2007

Think you’ve got what it takes?  Are your marketing ideas usually the ones that are greeted with a hallowed hush of awe?

If so, then step into the ring with other marketing virtuosos.

My friend Gavin Heaton and the fashion mavens at The Bargain Queen have cooked up quite the contest.  The entries will be voted on in round-robin style — being narrowed down until there is only one left. This means that no one and everyone is the judge of what makes a great campaign. This should be fun!

What’s in it for you?  If you win, you get bragging rights, get to stretch your mental marketing muscles and the grand prize is an Apple iTouch.

Before you scoot over to Gavin’s blog to get all the details, ponder this.

For the cost of an Apple iTouch — do you suppose this little contest will drive traffic, links and subscriptions at the Bargain Queen?  Seems like quite the bargain (no pun intended!) doesn’t it?

How could you harness this idea for your own?

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