Marketing

A simple definition of marketing is engaging people to “Know, Like and Trust You,” so that you may help solve their problems - or help them have what they want – so they buy from you, and ultimately become your referral champions.

I spent five hours on Sunday, focusing on a love of mine, photography.  And, it reminded me of a very important marketing lesson for business, current economic issues and much more.

A new perspective on focus:  Did you know that when you photograph something through a wire care, the wire disappears when you put your focus on the subject?  Yes, it does.  I was a certain “doubting Thomas” at first.  Still, amazing!  It is true.  Take a look.  This beautiful bald eagle was shot through wire cares at the Fort Worth Zoo.  Amazing!!!

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Scan the headlines each day and you won’t have to get very far to stumble upon the word “recession” or its more palatable cousin “economic downturn.”

It’s times like these that send many small business owners on a quest for the magic recession-fighting marketing tip. Today, I would like to share my top seven quick-fix marketing strategies with the caveat that you understand nothing beats building a marketing system based on a narrowly defined ideal customer and core message of differentiation.

Being the practical guy I am, though, I also know that sometimes you need to hear about ways to start getting out of a hole before you can really listen to the message of long-term fix. The good news is that these seven strategies, applied effectively, can help you make your business recession-proof and unswayed by the various and inevitable cycles in the economy.

Take these seven tips and re-energize your marketing today! read more

Before the Internet, when business was literally done with a firm handshake, small business types relied solely on local customers. The Internet has changed that forever. It allows us to communicate in ways unimaginable only a few years ago. It also makes it possible to discover an endless supply of information with just a few clicks. And these clicks, performed by strangers half-way across the world, may lead to new customers. But there is no possibility of converting clicks into customers if they can’t find us, which is still a challenge frustrating the majority of small businesses.

Back in the day of the firm handshake, the principles espoused in Dale Carnegie’s landmark book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” were used by millions of business people with great amounts of success. Although the book was originally written in 1937, it’s as relevant today as it was back then. In fact technology amplifies Carnegie’s philosophies allowing them to impact more people than Carnegie himself could have ever imagined.

And quite possibly the best example of winning friends and influencing people in a Web 2.0 world is President-elect Barack Obama – who many feel has just completed the most successful Internet marketing campaign ever. Here are a few ways Obama’s campaign infused Carnegie’s original concepts with Web 2.0 tools and strategies in order to win and influence millions of people.

Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely

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The debate is as old as the web itself – what is the role of marketing in a medium that is so clearly driven by interaction and communication? I have a lot of thoughts about this topic, but a recent Ad Age article roused me to address one of the most irritating myths out there: That somehow social media and marketing don’t mix.

Titled “P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook,” the article quotes Ted McConnell, Manager of Digital Marketing Innovation at P&G in Cincinnati. The money quote: “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”

As I read on, I became certain that the article, which has gotten a lot of attention given P&G’s profile in the marketing world, took what was clearly McConnell’s nuanced view and gave it all the subtlety of a Michael Bay film.

“Social networks may never find the ad dollars they’re hunting for because they don’t really have a right to them, said Ted McConnell,” the article begins. It then goes on to lay out the reasoning behind such an assumptive lead: McConnell doesn’t like random banner ads, and Facebook’s targeting, which purportedly solves the issue of randomness, leaves him cold. Given those two things, Ad Age drew what I must say is an extremely lazy conclusion: Advertising on social networks doesn’t work – look, a senior guy from Procter says so!

Well, I’m here to call bull on this myth.  And I’m pretty sure McConnell would agree with me. read more

When the market is rocking and all you have to do is show up and take orders, marketers can get a little lazy.

It’s when things dry up a bit that businesses must sharpen their marketing efforts.

Here’s the bad news — business is down, people are nervous and not spending like they were. Here’s the good news — there is plenty of business to be had, but you make need to take it from someone and somewhere else. Now, I don’t wish ill on any of your competitors, I list this as good news, because it’s not that hard to do.

The simplest way to up your competitive game is to get much more direct about your marketing intentions.

Here’s what I mean by that. read more

This past Monday was the New York Times Small Business Summit. American Express OPEN was the founding sponsor, and they invited me to participate in something called the OPEN Advice Cafe.

The OPEN Advice Cafe consisted of an area in a meeting room where business owners could come in throughout the day and grab a cup of coffee, check their email at public terminals, have their story filmed for the OPEN Forum, and also meet with me for advice.

I talked with numerous business owners one-on-one, and also hosted 3 round-table discussions (one of them is pictured). I thought you might be interested in what was top of mind for other business owners, based on the topics we discussed in the round-table discussions (I am sharing only public discussion topics, not anything conveyed confidentially):

Online Marketing, Partnering and Hiring Among the Key Issues

Partnering – Interest in partnering with other businesses to share leads and referrals was big. Typically it is a good option for consumer-based services such a home remodeling, interior design, electrical, landscaping — as well as for some professional services, such as business plan consultants teaming up with CPAs and attorneys. An IT consultant who services Mac products pointed out that he got business from being listed in Apple’s website for Mac certified consultants, and by getting referrals from the local Apple store. read more

You probably already know who your best source of more business, more leads, more referrals and more growth is, right? Yes, it’s your current customers.

If you’ve grown complacent with your current customers, often a symptom of an up market, now is the time to go back to this precious resource and beg forgiveness. Or, at least, set up some processes to capture their hearts and minds before they drift away.

Find out what they think

The Best Research You Can Do - The next time a customer refers someone to you run to the phone and ask them why. Ask them what it is that you do that made them think you worthy of such an honor. Ask them the exact words they used when then told the referral prospect about you.

It’s my belief that most small businesses don’t fully understand what makes them special or unique, but their ideal customers do. read more

On November 13th, 10:00 am Pacific, O’Reilly is conducting a free teleseminar called “Twitter for Business.” I’ve read the report that the teleseminar is based on, and it’s quite good so I encourage you to listen by clicking here. The teleseminar will explain how businesses can use Twitter. The presenter is:

Sarah Milstein, a consultant on Web 2.0 and editorial strategies, and an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at UCBerkeley, was previously the Chief Publishing Evangelist for O’Reilly Media. Prior to that, Sarah was O’Reilly’s Managing Editor, Senior Editor, and Editor, leading the development of the Missing Manuals, a best-selling series of computer books for non-geeks.

If you’re thinking of using Twitter for your small business, you should definitely listen in. read more