Marketing Archives - Page 52 of 67 - McLellan Marketing Group

Should you offer a guarantee?

March 25, 2007

You probably already do, implicitedly.

After all, if a customer is very unhappy with your service or product aren’t you going to do something — fix it, replace it, return it, repeat it, refund it– to make them happy?

Offering a guarantee is just merchandising and marketing your unspoken policy. But, the difference between letting it just be assumed and using it as a marketing advantage can be notable. Here are some of the advantages:

It reassures the first time buyer that they have a safety net
It sets the bar for your employees
It gives you a platform to have a "here’s what we expect" conversation with your sub-contractors
It clearly communicates your confidence in your product/service
It allows you to define the terms of how you satisfy an unhappy client up front

You’re going to make it right anyway — so why not use it as a point of difference?

What experiences have you had with a guarantee — either as the customer or the company? Do you have a nightmare to share? Has it ever saved a customer relationship for you?

Flickr photo courtesy of mrshawn.

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Give a little

March 23, 2007

Go on… give a little.

I promise you — if you give generously, without asking what’s in it for me — you won’t believe the rewards that come your way.

Lewis Green of bizsolutionsplus shares his thoughts about giving back…and has some interesting research statistics on how being selfless might pay off for your business.

Want some recent examples of how good giving back looks?

Gavin Heaton’s Servant of Chaos. He’s approaching his 500th blog link and in true Gavin fashion, he’s made it about giving. If you’ve never linked to him before and you introduce your readers to his thinking (a good idea anyway) and make a comment on his blog you might be the lucky 500th blog! If so, you’ll get to a guest post on Gavin’s blog and have the chance to introduce yourself to his many readers.

CK of the infamous CK’s Blog is on round two of her incredibly successful book club via Marketing Profs. The book this time is Al & Laura Reis’ The Origin of Brands. Whether you have read the book or not, jump into the lively discussions. What’s amazing about this is that everyone is giving. CK moderates and orchestrates the whole thing. The authors participate in the discussions and share their insights (when was the last time you got to brand banter with two best selling authors?) and Marketing Profs makes it all possible.

So what do you say…what could you give?

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In the pink or just ick?

March 23, 2007

Every time I walk by these at Target, I sort of shake my head. Do women really buy pink tools? Are they insulting? Empowering?

I understand the power of marketing directly to women. But I also understand that the danger is crafting women-centric marketing messages is that the kiss of death is to talk down to the audience. (In fairness…pretty much the kiss of death no matter who you are talking to.)

But don’t these tools somehow suggest she’s not quite up to the man’s set? (or is that my own biased filter talking?)

If you sold hand tools and your target audience was women — how would you sell them?

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How do you fuel anticipation?

March 21, 2007

Anticipation. (For the 30+ crowd, you should be singing by now.)

What a powerful and often over-looked marketing tool. How could it enhance our customer’s experience? Think about these buying situations:

A couple books a cruise 9 months in advance.
A client gets fired up during the discovery process but must now wait 3-6 weeks for a logo design.
A bike enthusiast puts in his order for the new Harley which will be off the line in 15 months.

Let’s face it, we want them to be counting the days. To be watching the clock. To be talking about the pending delivery to their peers and colleagues. We want them to be hungry for the pay off, right?

Here’s my question to you — how do you keep a client’s enthusiasm bubbling while you are back at the shop, toiling away? This is a question we still wrestle with at MMG. We’re not as good at this as I’d like us to be.

Looking for a great example of someone who does do it well? It won’t shock you to discover that Disney is always working on improving in this arena. Most people book their Disney vacation at least 6+ months in advance. They have an extensive Vacation Planning Kit, which includes a DVD that I guarantee you gets watched many times before the actual journey begins. By adults and kids alike. But they decided that wasn’t enough anticipation buzz.

So, they’ve just launched their new Customized Maps which allow you to create your family’s personal journey through each of the theme parks. After you’ve spent time deciding which attractions, shows and restaurants you want to visit — they will send you 5 full color 14" x 20" maps that are made to your specifications.

Wow.

Add up the time spent choosing the locations, marking each map and then the time studying the maps once they arrive. That’s building anticipation!

Fair enough, we’re not Disney. But it is a very potent reminder that even though we have a client’s money — we still need to search for ways to keep them at the edge of their seat.

How do you keep your clients psyched up while they wait?

Flickr photo courtesy of Mike ~heart~ Tiffy.

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Are we playing the wrong role in our stories?

March 20, 2007

Think back to the days when you played pretend. Given a choice between safety pinning the towel around your neck or being the damsel/dane in distress about to be rescued, who did you pick?

I don’t know about you, but I was all about being the "Toweled Crusader!" (I never wore the rubber gloves, I must admit!) It was much cooler being the smart, strong, resourceful one. Wasn’t it?

It still is today.

I’ve talked a lot (and will keep doing so) about the power of storytelling. One of the ways that many of us tell our stories is through case studies and testimonials. Most often, because we want to demonstrate our capabilities, we assume the leading role. Client X was struggling with Y, but we swooped in with Insight Z and their sales tripled.

Sound familiar? Basic story construction, right? We have a hero, a problem/villain, a victim and a glorious solution.

Uh oh. If we’re the hero, guess who we’re casting in the role of victim? Yup. Our client.

Remember that the goal of the case study or testimonial is to get prospects to identify with the clients in the story. "Wow, if they can solve that problem, they can probably tackle mine too," is what we want them to think.

While the prospect might identify with the challenge and be heartened by the solution, do they really want to see themselves in the victim role?

If we gave them the same choice we had as kids, would they opt for hero or victim?

What if we twisted our tale in those case studies or testimonials, so that our clients were the heroes? We shift to being the glorious solution. (Not a bad role to play) But we give the credit, spotlight and heroine’s role to the client. They are smart enough to see the problem and devise a solution. And, in the end, everyone lives happily ever after.

Perhaps it’s time to re-write the stories.

* This post was inspired by a chapter in Harry Beckwith’s You, Inc. I am telling you — you’ve got to read it!

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Learn about one of the most powerful marketing tactics known to man!

March 20, 2007

When was the last time you sat down and wrote a thank you note? To a customer? An employee? A vendor? (Thank you note…in the mail. The old-fashioned kind.)

It’s time to get to it. You will be stunned at the impact.

Gratitude is one the most powerful marketing tactics known to man. You get more business when you demonstrate that you have the grace to appreciate what you’ve been given.

Now you know the secret. Use it wisely!

P.S. I will never hire someone who doesn’t take the time and have the manners to send me a thank you note after the interview. If they don’t send one when they’re trying to get a job, they’ll never send one to a client.

Flickr photo courtesy of pinkbelt.

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Your comments, your brand?

March 19, 2007

We have many opportunities to extend our brand’s reach every day. Most of them are tiny little details that seem insiginficant. But they’re not.

Dawud Miracle raised this issue in a recent post where he suggests that people should be mindful of how they sign off on their blog comments. He makes a very strong argument for always using the same signature to build awareness and increase your "findability." He tells the story of how his frequent commenting on blogs has encouraged other people to look him up and in doing so, discover his blog.

Let’s go a little further. How a person comments — do they ask questions, do they tell stories, do they play devil’s advocate? Do they add to the post by sharing or illuminating? Answer those questions and you have a snapshot of a person’s brand. This, by the way, holds true on or off line. How you engage says a lot about you.

Want to watch a Master (or in this case, Mistress) in action? Start watching for Valeria Maltoni’s comments throughout the blogosphere. C heck out her comment on David Armano’s recent post. She’s amazing. Smart, engaging, collaborative — her brand is all over her comments.

We all have the same opportunity — how are you doing on maximizing yours?

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You need to read You, Inc!

March 18, 2007

Harry Beckwith gets it. Marketing. Branding. Communications. Relationships. Not only does he get it — he helps his readers get it.

Short, concise 1-4 page chapters. Each one punctuated with a summary lesson/thought. Compelling stories. And not just marketing lessons. Plenty of people lessons too.

Harry’s most recent book, You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself was just released. It’s as good as the rest (see links at the bottom of the post.) of his offerings but a little different. The earlier books took a more global, company-wide perspective. This book shrinks the focus down to the reader.

If you want to:

Communicate more clearly
Sell more — for the right reasons
Advance your professional stature and value
Improve your presentations skills and results
Find more satisfaction from your work life

then you need to read this book.

Beckwith is a master storyteller who never leaves the reader hanging. Together with his wife Christine (a much celebrated pro in her own right) he outlines very simple truths that can have a significant impact on your life. Professional or otherwise.

I’ve read some great business books already in ’07. This one tops the list.

Harry’s other books:

No business library should be without the complete set.

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Is your brand acid-test proof?

March 18, 2007

I love (and try to live by) the famous quote "character is what we do when no one is watching."

I believe branding follows the same path. For decades, we (marketers) have been trying to craft and control all of our marketing messages. Now, don’t get me wrong. Consistency is critical to marketing success. That’s us standing tall and saying "here’s our story and our promise."

We need to know and believe in that story. We need our employees to know and believe in the story. But that’s only half the equation.

What happens when "no one is watching" is the other half. It’s the grace under pressure. It’s the acid test of your brand.

It’s the instinctual response to any situation. Especially sticky ones.

How does your organization respond when a reporter shows up asking invasive questions
What do you do when the homeless man takes up residence in your lobby
A competitor leaks a story that implies you are unethical
Misuse of your product results in a man’s death
You discover that something you own holds the key to another company’s success…or failure
What do you say when a former employee solicits a current customer
How does your employee manage an angry customer who is making a scene?
What’s the next step when you accidentally get copied on an e-mail from an employee lambasting you

This is where the "our brand is our logo and our tagline" philosophy falls flat. That version of branding is skin deep. And skin deep will not hold together when there is no brainstorming time or strategy bullet point in the marketing plan.

Is your brand deep enough? Would you survive the acid test? Would you and all your peers react in the same way to the situations above? Or do you only have a skin-deep brand?

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Drew sucks!

March 16, 2007

Actually…

DrewSucks.com
DrewSucks.net
DrewReallySucks.com
DrewIsAJerk.com
DrewDoesn’tKnowSquat.com
ThatDrewisACompleteMoron.com

Any marketing strategy that J&J employs must be smart for all of us, eh?

Apparently the folks at Johnson & Johnson thought it would be wise to adopt the best offense is a good defense mentality when it came to their product Splenda. They’ve spent countless hours and dollars securing every possible anti-Splenda domain name they could think of.

Seriously…this is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. This isn’t smart marketing. This is paranoia.

Surely we’ve all learned that in today’s citizen-driven communications, if people want to create a forum to say good or bad things about a company or product — they will. No matter how many domain names you own.

A hat tip and thanks to Roberta over at Copywriting Maven for calling this to my attention.

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