Sunday, November 29, 2009

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

Did you know that Marketing Pilgrim is more awesome than Google?

Seriously! I can prove it!

Google has just announced that Google News is now more mobile friendly–meaning it will recognize that you’re viewing the site from your iPhone, Droid, etc, and serve you a page optimized for your phone.

This new version provides the same richness and personalization on your phone as Google News provides on desktop. Our new homepage displays more stories, sources, and images while keeping a familiar look and feel. Also, you can now reach your favorite sections, discover new ones, find articles and play videos in fewer clicks. If you are an existing Google News reader on desktop, you will find that all of your personalizations are honored in this mobile version too.

Here’s how it looks:

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

So, how are we better? We had a mobile-friendly version of Marketing Pilgrim up WAY before Google did. Point your iPhone to www.MarketingPilgrim.com and you’ll find a streamlined version of the site:

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

See? We.Are.Better!

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

[Via http://ecommercesnews.wordpress.com]

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Raio X: Hotelaria

Foto: http://portal.anhembi.br/

Você gosta de receber os amigos em casa? Fica querendo agradar, arrumar tudo com antecedência, desde o lençol e toalha que o visitante vai usar, até procurar saber o que ele gosta de comer, quais atividades pode fazer, pra onde levar na cidade? Então talvez você tenha o perfil de hoteleiro! O curso de hotelaria ensina como superar as expectativas do cliente, fazer com que ele seja tão bem tratado, que se sinta em casa! O Bacharelado em Hotelaria possui matérias básicas de um curso de administração, como marketing, matemática financeira, contabilidade, introdução à administração, inglês, TI etc, e também possui matérias específicas para o mundo da hotelaria: recepção, alimentos e bebidas, enologia, governança, lavanderia, entre outros. O profissional de hotelaria pode atuar em diversas áreas, como hotéis, spas, bares, restaurantes, parques de diversão, shopping centers, entretenimento, eventos, cruzeiros marítimos, catering, hospitais e empresas. Algumas áreas que começam a crescer são a hotelaria empresarial e hospitalar: Dentro das empresas, o hoteleiro é peça fundamental para atuar na qualidade do serviço prestado, desde como a empresa atende seus clientes no telefone, qual tipo de revista deixa na sala de espera, como serve um café, quais profissionais precisam vestir uniformes e muito mais. Na saúde, vários hospitais de alto nível contam com departamento de hotelaria, cuja função é trabalhar para receber bem os “hóspedes” e seus visitantes. Para crescer na carreira de hotelaria, o profissional deve ter fluência em outros idiomas, estar disponível para viagens e até mesmo para mudar de cidade ou país. É uma carreira sem rotina, pois cada dia traz desafios novos. É também uma carreira que exige muito trabalho, horas extras e disposição. Portanto, para ser hoteleiro precisa-se gostar de trabalhar muito e ter facilidade de lidar com todo tipo de pessoa. É gostar de servir o próximo, seja num hotel cinco estrelas, num evento ou mesmo em casa, recebendo um amigo.

(Isabela Munhoz)

[Via http://talentoeatitude.wordpress.com]

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Personas

Personas are an attempt to keep it real:

Personas are fictional characters designed to help you empathise with people, usually customers or clients. They do this by forcing you to imagine the life, emotions, motivations, strengths, weaknesses and habits of the people you want to reach. Aiming to reach everybody is dumb.

They’re a tool for anybody who’s in the business of service, information or learning - In the broadest senses of the words. This means Information Architects but it also includes receptionists. It’s most everybody who has a job in the 21st century.

The general advice about personas is that you:

  • Base them on real people
  • Make them as ‘lifelike’ as possible (including giving them names)
  • Stick them on the walls and talk to them when you’re designing stuff
  • Take the three suggestions above literally

Here are some guides on how to ‘do’ personas:

Data Driven Design Research Personas View more documents from Todd ZakiWarfel.

An introduction to personas and how to create them from Step Two Designs

Developing Personas from usability.gov

The Origin of Personas by Alan Cooper (who is the ‘daddy’ when it comes to personas)

Crappy Personas vs Robust Personas by Jared Spool

Using Personas to Create User Documentation from Cooper Consulting

Personas and the role of Design Documentation from boxes and arrows

Personas are not a document by Jared Spool

A little thing about personas from Adaptive Path

“We don’t use personas. We use ourselves” from 37signals

Perfecting your personas from Cooper Consulting

Examples of persona design:

Persona Patterns from eightshapes

Persona details - example

Persona Pattern from eightshapes

Design Ethnography from Semantic Foundry

Persona Pattern

Persona Pattern (visit site for larger version)

Real or imaginary: the effectiveness of using personas in product design from frontend.com

Persona Example from frontend.com

Example Persona from frontend.com

This last one’s not really about personas, but about empathy mapping. It’s from Dave Gray, founder of XPLANE, and I love it. Empathy Mapping

Empathy Mapping from Dave Gray





[Via http://cleavefast.wordpress.com]

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Why Writers Should Say No to Writer Mills and Yes to Free*

Do I really think writers should write for free? No. As I’ve written before, writers should be paid for their time, expertise and skill. More specifically, writers should be appropriately paid for their work.

Am I encouraging writers to say no to $15 for a 1,000-word article at Demand Studios (or similar mills), but yes to writing for free? Yes.

*But only in certain circumstances—such as those listed below—should you consider unpaid writing opportunities.

  • It’s mantelpiece worthy. If there’s a publication where you’ve always dreamed of seeing your byline, it might be worth it to you to write for free (or, at least, what feels like free). For me, it’s an indie magazine that I’ve been reading for years. They pay writers very little but offer lots of opportunity. Many of the mag’s contributors credit their bylines there with new high paying, high-profile work.
  • Your portfolio is anemic. If you need a portfolio piece or two to get into a new industry, it may make sense to craft copy in exchange for work samples. Should you go this route, try to do the work close to home, such as for a non-profit you support or through contacts you trust. Be sure your client understands why the work is at no cost and get permission to use the work on your website. If the client is extremely happy with the results, don’t be shy about asking for referrals!
  • You need a good deed. Many non-profit organizations are in need of specific skills and your way with words could help. Now, I’m not recommending that you do grant writing for free or on spec. But you can give back by editing a newsletter or helping to refresh stale web copy. Bonus: Thinking this can help with your tax bill? Not likely. Check out June Walker’s tax advice for indies if you want more information.
  • It’s better than writing a check for advertising. If a guest post on a highly respected industry blog can get you in front of your prospective clients and give them a taste of your expertise, then it’s better than advertising. Ideally, you’ll build this into your marketing plan and treat your investment (your time) as part of your budget. Using her own experiences with Mashable and Copyblogger, Maria Schneider (of Editor Unleashed) offers 5 Questions To Ask Before You Write For Free. I’d like to add a sixth question: Is your next client reading this blog/ site/ publication?

Writer mills are not good options for meeting the circumstances above. Here’s why:

  • Writer mills don’t have PIE. Michelle Goodman describes PIE as “paid in exposure,” meaning that you actually benefit from the low-paying or free work through new work that pays you what you’re worth. Places like Demand Studios, LoveToKnow, eHow, AllVoices and the like are not destinations for editors scouting new writing talent or marketing managers seeking a sizzling copywriter.
  • You have to write and promote. With writer mills, you are responsible for promoting your articles through avenues such as your own blog and social media accounts. Your efforts are to drive traffic to the company’s site. If you write a guest post for a popular, highly respected site in your industry, that site can help generate new readers and even new clients for you without you having to do any promoting. The benefit is yours.
  • You’re making someone else a whole bucketful of money. Erik Sherman’s WriterBiz blog digs up the truth on these sites and shares the chilling numbers. For example, Demand Media (also known as Demand Studios) has received more than $355 million in venture capital since 2006. Compare that to paying a writer $15 for an article and the numbers don’t add up.

As always, when it comes to writer mills and writing for free, there are arguments on all sides. Personally, I was disappointed to learn that Copyblogger doesn’t pay its guest bloggers. It’s such a fantastic site for writers that I just assumed the posts were paid. And, I admit it, I still think it would cool to see my byline there. Something tells me it gives great PIE.

Have you had experiences working for free that you would or would not repeat? The floor is yours!

Bookmark and Share

[Via http://jesakalong.com]

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cause marketing campaign by HP

HP have launched a new cause marketing campaign created by Goodby, Siliverstein & Partners at http://summitonthesummit.com as part of their “the computer is personal again” campaign.

Some celebrities will be climbing Tanzanian Mt Kilimanjaro starting January 7th 2010  in order to raise money for clean water globally.

Through the website you can donate money to the cause by sponsoring a foot whereby 1 cent is equivalent to 1 litre of clean drinking water.

The celebrities climbing the mountain will record their experiences using video, images, blogs and tweets created on their HP notebooks which will be displayed on the 16, 709, 709 pixel high site represented at the altitude the media was created. Additional data such as the celebrities heart rates, weather patterns etc will be displayed on the site.

You can also tweet the team and download a badge which can be distributed through various social media channels.

Check it out in January.

SRC AdWeek

[Via http://jaxinteractive.com]

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Case of the Missing Referrals

One day, the phone just stopped ringing. At first, you may not have noticed it. You were busy serving your clients, keeping up in your field, and getting the bills paid, like all good professionals do. But then a project ended or a client quit, and you didn’t have a replacement waiting in the pipeline.

Suddenly you realized that it had been quite some time since any new prospects were referred to you. Yikes, what’s going on?

Whether you’ve been in business ten months or ten years, it can take you by surprise when referrals suddenly dry up. When business is thriving, referrals routinely arrive in one of two ways — either you hear from prospects who say they were referred by someone else, or people in your network pass along the name of prospects who need you. If neither of those things are happening, you have a problem. Without referrals, you’ll have to work much harder to get new business.

But where have your referrals gone? You may need to put on your detective hat and do some sleuthing to find out. Here are some of the most common reasons why referrals disappear, and what you can do to get them back.

1. You’ve dropped out of sight. When was the last time you attended a networking event? Volunteered on a committee? Wrote an article? Spoke in public? Sure, you’ve been busy, but if you stop being visible in your target market or professional community, people forget about you.

Clues: The only appointments in your calendar are client meetings. When you run into colleagues, they say, “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

Solution: No matter how busy you are with client work, make it a practice to do at least one thing each month that keeps you visible.

2. Your network has stopped expanding. When your contacts are limited to people you already know, your referrals are limited to only the people that THEY know. Without anyone new in the circle, there’s nowhere for fresh referrals to come from.

Clues: You haven’t added any new names to your contact database in months. You can’t follow up with your network to stimulate more referrals, because you’ve already talked to everyone you know.

Solution: Ask the people you know to introduce you to any of their contacts who might be helpful. Spend some time getting to know these new folks. Then they will become your contacts, too, and your network will automatically expand.

3. You’re networking with the wrong people. Perhaps your clients are consumers, but your networking contacts mostly have a corporate market. Or all your networking is through your professional association where most of the members are direct competitors.

Clues: You’re in touch with many people on a regular basis, but no one is referring to you. When a referred prospect does contact you, their needs aren’t a fit for what you do.

Solution: Identify categories of people who have regular contact with your target market, and are likely to encounter needs you can fill. For example, a small business accountant will be more likely to get referrals from networking with attorneys, financial planners, and bookkeepers than by spending time with corporate consultants, health practitioners, or other accountants.

4. People think you’re too busy. When you give the impression you’re overwhelmed with work, your contacts will stop referring to you. But if you wait for your workload to lighten before putting out the word you’re ready for more, it will usually be too late.

Clues: You hear that one of your old referral sources sent business to a competitor. Someone tells you, “I thought you weren’t taking new clients.”

Solution: Return phone calls and emails from referred prospects promptly, even when you’re too busy to help them. Refer them on to someone else you trust, then thank the person who sent them to you. This will encourage your contacts to keep referring in the future, as they know their referrals will always be taken care of.

The secret to avoiding the “feast or famine” cycle that plagues many professional service businesses is to stay visible instead of hunkering down in your office, and nurture your network even when you don’t need it. In order to keep a constant flow of referrals coming, you need to give your referral-building activities the same high-quality, consistent attention you give your client work.

That way, you’ll be able to focus your detective skills on solving problems for your clients instead of having to worry about where your next client is coming from.

Copyright © 2009, C.J. Hayden

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need” at www.getclientsnow.com

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Cultural Object of the Week: The Tampon Stun Gun

Yep, you read that correctly, there is a stun gun that exists that is shaped like a couple of tampons.

The stun gun, named “The Pink Stinger,” was created for women who was to carry a stun gun, but do so discreetly. It as 50,000 volts of power.

My initial response to this object was “awesome.” However, having thought about it a little bit more, I’m not quite sure how I feel about it, other than that it certainly is interesting.

Is it taking a women’s product and making is powerful, thus empowering women? Or, is it reinforcing negative stereotypes of women being “crazy” while menstruating? It openly acknowledges the fact that women are more likely than men to be the consumers who purchase stun guns, which opens up discussion about rape, sexual assault, and gender.

Discuss. What do you think of the tampon stun gun?

Source:Inventor Spot

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

#2 | Cursuri Online Gratuite: Dezvoltare Personala, Bani Pe Net, Marketing & Afaceri Online

Click http://www.AlexTita.com/vip Cursuri Online: Cum Castigi Bani Adevarati Pe Net RAPID cu Afaceri Online REALE! Eliberarea de Limitarile Actuale, Putere & Influenta, Relatii Armonioase, Implinire!

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Click http://www.AlexTita.com/vip Cursuri Online: Cum Castigi Bani Adevarati Pe Net RAPID cu Afaceri Online REALE! Eliberarea de Limitarile Actuale, Putere & Influenta, Relatii Armonioase, Implinire!

 

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Quando il guerrilla marketing diventa guerrilla urbano

Mailorama.fr, una società web francese, ha avuto la geniale idea di inventare un guerrilla marketing di forte impatto.
L’idea era quella di regalare (anzi, gettare letteralmente) buste con denaro contante da un autobus ai passanti di Parigi. Erano stati stanziati ben 100.000 euro in contanti; preparate 5.000 buste contenenti dai 5 ai 500 euro.
L’autobus avrebbe dovuto girare nella zona di Champ de Mars sabato 14 novembre 2009.
Dico avrebbe, perchè le forze dell’ordine hanno bloccato l’iniziativa.
Sì, proprio così. Per motivi di sicurezza la società Mailorama (una controllata di Rentabiliweb) ha dovuto cancellare l’azione di guerrilla, perchè nei pressi della torre Eiffel nel giro di poco tempo si sono radunate circa 5.000 persone, tutte pronte a raccogliere le buste con i contanti.
Secondo voi queste 5.000 persone come l’hanno presa questa ordinanza di sicurezza?
Direi non bene….
Lanci di frutta contro automobili e negozi della zona, piccole risse con i giornalisti e (sembra) distruzioni di auto delle forze dell’ordine; insomma da un guerrilla marketing pianificato ad una guerrilla urbana improvvisata.
Che dire…con la crisi che c’è in giro forse Mailorama avrebbe dovuto pensare ad un guerrilla non a sfondo economico.

…o forse le forze dell’ordine non dovevano revocare la manifestazione?

Una cosa è certa: il guerrilla non è stato fatto, Mailorama ha risparmiato 100.000 euro e adesso il suo brand è su tutti i giornali nazionali e internazionali; in fondo l’obiettivo è stato raggiunto.
Che avesse pensato anche a questo?

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Doug Richards School for startups! Entrepreneur & Businessman

I’m Excited today, I had the pleasure, along with about 150 people to spend 8 hours in the pressence of a Dragon…Yes A Dragon!  Doug Richards. Courtesy of  the Business Hub at Essex University(free tickets for new and existing businesses in Essex and Suffolk)The crowd was a real eclectic group from unversity students with bags of enthusiasm(comes from a Greek word “entheos” meaning God within)to entrepreneurs well on their way to their first million!

If you haven’t seen or heared Doug Richards speak. You need to get across to Schools for startups and book your self onto one of his courses. Doug Richards talks about business both of common sense and about stuff that is intuitive and counter intuitive. He really knows how to seek those hidden assetts and opportunies in a business and then help you to realise them. He demonstrated that money is not the only asset, but a creative mind and some balls are equally as powerful. Doug is really amazing and if I could get him to be a partner or a mentor I would pay the price. He would certainly shake my little world up!

School for start ups Event hosted by Essex University

Please leave  a Comment and get over to his site or google him.

Yours Positively Richard Saupe 07538538138 01206 43 43 43(Colchester Office) 66 Kendal Road Co1 2BS Ps. Not Your Normal marketing coach. I walk my talk, and I don’t talk if I have Nothing to Say.  I only work with dynamic busy people that have made a commitment to working a plan! Oh and before I forget… I offer a completely Free service if What we do has no effect on your business or you don’t like me(the latter is not really my goal)! Pps I know time is the most important commodity that people in business have, that’s why I operate a Fast Track Implementation (NO Drival, NO BS) Just a Clean Logical Process for increasing Your online and Offline domination. I offer this in 2 ways, I show You how to do it in 10-20 mins a week, but this has a massive upfront commitment from you. probably 2 months if you work alone or I can Implement and then show You the 10-20 mins ritual per week to keep it Going. I equate it to walking up a ski slope with your skis on, a rack sack full off books and  a laptop and holding a coffee in your mitted hand, while resiting your national anthem back wards! it has taken me 6 months to get my head around keywords SEO SERM and google with all it’s tools and social media networking eg face book, twitter and wordpress. Oh did I add I’ve been a programmer for 15 years and it was in no way intuitive. I don’t say any of this to scare you because I’ve had so much fun learning, doing and dominating! I just want you to understand it is time consuming.

 Pps Call Now. Before I get too busy.  I have lots of personal interests related to my passion (business).

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Are you coming back?

There are a lot of stores to choose from to buy just about anything, and there is still just 24 hours in the day (and typically very few to dedicate to shopping).  Of course now you can buy almost anything online as well.  While online shopping has its limitations it wins big for convenience.  I recently attended a seminar and the audience was asked, who has bought something online after 10pm—nearly everyone in the room raised their hands.

I’ve shared the statistic before; that the number of hours Canadians spend shopping has drastically decreased.  Just ten years ago the average Canadian spend 140 hours a year shopping—that number is now down to just 40 hours.  So what are you doing to keep your customers coming back and spending time in your store?

I encourage my clients to think of their competition as far broader than other businesses in the same category.  Today each and every business competes for the most valuable commodity – your customers time.

Given the decreased shopping hours, increased shopping choice and the overscheduled consumer, retailers have never had to work harder to keep customers coming back.  I admire the tactics of some of the American retail chains.  Many retailers of highly consumable goods bring their customers back regularly by printing out a time-limited coupon with the customer’s receipt. 

Couponing was a very important marketing and product trial tactic for decades, then in the 1990s couponing rapidly declined in popularity, but with the Internet and now mobile marketing, coupon is back and stronger than ever before. 

I am a big fan of both Michael’s Craft Supply Store and Bath and Body Work’s couponing programs.  At the time of purchase both of these retailers print out custom coupons to motivate customer to return for a discount (or free product) during a time-limited period.  These coupons work (for me anyhow) because:

  • The type of products they sell.  You can return frequently to these stores and always find something to buy.
  • The coupon cannot be used immediately—you must come back – usually about one week later.
  • The type of discount.  Discounting can be a dangerous game that must be thought-out for the long-term strategy.  You do not want to create discount dependant customers.  Discounts should be positioned as time limited or as a customer reward.

Could you start a discount program that rewards your loyal customers without devaluing your product or creating a dependency on coupons?

Until next time

Melanie Taljaard

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Reaching Beyond Your Front Door

A few months ago I lived in a city with 4.5 million people.  I now live in a rural community of 16,000.  I’ve spent the past 2 years working with artists from across Ontario, and without fail each of them believes they’d be better off if they were showing their work somewhere else.  Small town Ontario artists have told me they “need to be in Toronto”, and large city artists have told me that they’d be better off being “a big fish in a small pond.”

I believe both are right.  In order to be successful, you need to have your feet in both worlds.

You need to build a strong audience for your work in the place you choose to live.  Be creative and seek out places and spaces where your work will be welcomed.  Engage your audience and ask them to participate in your growth by spreading the word about your work.  Build a community to support your work.

And you need to reach out beyond where you live in order to expand and grow.  No matter where you are and how large and diverse the population is, at some point you will reach a saturation point.  You may continue to sell work, or to fill halls, but sometimes you’re expected to repeat the same work over and over again.  Which can stunt your creative growth and make your career feel like just another job.

One way to do that, to reach out beyond your front door and test the market elsewhere, is to use social media as a marketing tool and as a tool for testing the creative waters.  There are hundreds of tools out there that are free to use.  Why not give them a try?

Over the course of this blog, I will be talking a lot about social media and encouraging you to give it a try. We’ll start with the very basics and take small steps.  One or two techniques for you to try at a time.  And tips for how to use the time you put into social media marketing effectively.

Step 1?  If you haven’t done so, sign up for a Facebook account and a Twitter account.  Facebook has 250 million active users worldwide.  And while it’s nearly impossible to get accurate numbers from Twitter, it is growing faster than any  other social media outlet.  These two will give you the most widespread and diverse audience for the work that you do.

OK.  Go.  I’ll check with you tomorrow.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Slow Your Social Media Roll

Social media can be very powerful for small businesses, but many try to do too much too quickly. Start by making a social media plan – write goals for what you want to achieve with social media, and try to keep your messaging focused on your target market.

Sometimes it can help to make a profile for your target market. How old are they, where do they live, what are some of their values. Having a detailed picture of who might be interested in your products will help you customize your messaging.

Action Steps:
- Write down the profile of your target audience. Give them names!
- Set goals for social media and keep them in mind the next time you Tweet!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Speaker Summary - Marcia Macomber, Cornucopia Creations

The advantage to writing your own speaker summary is getting to add things you forgot to say, or show samples of things you forgot to bring! Continuing along Patty’s theme of tips to help with managing the holidays, I reminded members that another product I offer individuals or businesses is custom holiday greetings cards (which I forgot to bring to the meeting). The examples shown below are my personal cards and one client’s, but it will give you a bit of an idea of what can be done with a little Photoshopping.

Ginny

Ginny Xmas Card 08

This brief example merely shows how I can dress up a non-holiday item (my dog) with holiday attire (particularly advantageous since most dogs don’t like to wear Santa hats of goofy holiday ribbons!)

 

Xmas Card 07

And the sample directly above merely demonstrates heavy application of Photoshopping with LOTS of elements that were not included in the original photography (including a fanciful vineyard view from my house and lots of decorations I’ve never actually applied to my house).

For some clients, I embellish their original logos and build upon them into a holiday theme. Here is one for Bayou Closets’ logo and holiday card:

The gator is frequently added to their promotional literature as a separate element, but it is not part of their logo. If you or anyone you know is interested in custom greeting card work, there is still time before the holidays are completely upon us. The printing cost is surprisingly competitive to the cost of off-the-shelf boxes of cards and is fairly quick in turnaround. Contact me for details.

For demonstration purposes I brought along a finished picture of my niece. Here are the “before” and “after” versions side by side. From the original I extracted the key element and eliminated scratches and poor coloring from the print before dropping in a very different background (her favorite color) to make nice gifts for the grandparents.

 

These techniques can also be applied to business photography. Here is an example of one of several print ads I designed for Sidelines, Inc. (and coincidentally, I also did the product photography since the clients hadn’t gotten the shot I needed). In this instance, I wanted to give the impression that the basket had fallen from a considerable height and had just landed. So this involved much experimentation and fanciful adjustment to achieve this effect with a still-life photo.

I showed a few other samples of work, along with examples of others’ product promotion that I deemed ‘good’ (Kraftmaid cabinetry) or ‘bad’ (a banking ad) for the execution of their design and message in print. In short, it pays to get the message and imagery right the first time. Otherwise, it is a waste of your marketing investment dollars.

Brand advertising and awareness was discussed as opposed to simply product advertising and promotion. Both are quite valuable and are most effective when mapped out in advance how you will roll out simultaneous or sequential campaigns for greatest impact in the marketplace.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The 501 Strategy...

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, goes the old saying.

Though this is a saying that people ask in the middle of the day when wanting a drink, I believe it’s a question that anyone doing anything with mobilizing people need to ask with all seriousness.

If it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, then what happens at 5:01?

Too often, our goal is just to get to 5 o’clock. if we can just make it… we’ll be happy. Really? That’s all?

Over the past several years, I have had a front-row seat in watching some pretty amazing and huge events take place. I have also been a part of planning several meetings myself that last over a few days time. From retreats to business meetings, I have both planned them and ran them. In that, I can say from personal experience, for many of them, I was just thrilled to get to 5 o’clock.

Never once did I ask… what happens at 5:01?

Okay, great meeting, but, what will the attendees do with this experience? Generally, attendees will get pumped up and momentarily encouraged. But, by the time they go back home… it’s like playing a really bad game of telephone.

I know I said orange, but by the time it got to the other side of the room… the word was now… elephant. What? How is that possible?

In this, I am realizing how short-sighted I was. Not only was it critical to put on a quality event that stimulates thought, reflection, and change, but… I needed to spend a lot more time thinking about what that change looked like.

I needed to spend a lot more time thinking about what happens at 5:01. In other words, if my event is over at 5 o’clock, what happens next? How am I engaging people post event? How am I providing resources, areas of opportunity, action points for growth going forward… post event?

It is not enough to come into a city and put on an event, or to host a retreat,  or business meeting, and then leave.

What lasting effect will you leave behind?

In going forward, I would propose that before you launch a campaign or post an agenda, etc. about something you are planning, ask yourself one question… what will happen at 5:01 when this is over?

I would propose knowing the answer and have already developed the 501 strategy. Why? For this to be sustainable, don’t you need on the ground leaders who take ownership? Don’t you need boots on the ground at 5:01 ready to mobilize, engage, reinforce, build up, connect, train, and act?

Sure, it’s great to train these leaders up for action during an event. But, I would argue that you are training them to be reactive. But, at 5:01, we need them to be proactive. And to do that, you better have thought through your 501 strategy from the start.

Otherwise, we miss massive opportunities to transition mountain top experiences to life level applications. When we miss that opportunity, experiences can rarely stick.

In the book selling world for so many years, I often wondered… what happens when that guest walks out of the store with that book? Now, some might say… it’s just a book, relax. On the contrary, I believe the power of a good book and the connection that can be made with a good story. In this, what would happen if we developed a 501 strategy for that guest in particular to a specific book to help them dig deeper as to how that story can apply to their life?

Just getting our guest out the door with a book in hand is a great thing. But, getting them out the door with a book in hand …and a resource for us to walk together in reading that book after they leave the store is greater.

I had an opportunity to do this once with New York Times bestselling author, Paul Young for his book, The Shack.

For sure, we sold a ton. We also heard both sides of thought about the content of the book. Some was true and some was not true. But, instead of leaving it alone, we decided to develop a 501 strategy for our guests. In this case, we sat down with Paul and interviewed him. The result, a free website was built using wordpress. On this website, we posted the entire 120 minute interview with Paul.

Does anything say you care more about a guest than a post sale or post event ongoing engagement with them? Not just follow-up, but engagement.

Isn’t that what’s at the core of what I am trying to convey with the 501 strategy? I’m not interested in how you are going to follow-up. I am interested in how you will engage. don’t be confused, they are two different postures.

Conventions or large public gatherings should have 501 strategies too. And like selling a book, what is more important? Getting people to the event or what the people will do… post event?

Sure, sweep into a city and throw a party, in the process, pump the local economy up. But, what is the lasting effect? Is it sustainable? does it translate? Of course, you need to sell books or get people to an event to plant the seed of your message. But, how will that seed then grow?

Building a seamless 501 strategy is perfect soil to watch this come to fruition.

Anyway, just a few thoughts. Sorry for the ramble.

You follow? What are you planning? What are you selling? What does it look like in action?

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere… what happens next?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Brands With The Best Stories Win

Our Fresh team met with a potential client a few months ago.  This firm tried several marketing plans in the past that have cost them thousands of dollars, but produced minimal results.

This time we were pitching them on a Social Media marketing plan specific to their online storefront.

Their virtual storefront is their only presence – all online and they serve clients throughout the entire US market from their small physical location here in the Northwest.  Their client list reads like an A-List of firms – you would recognize all of them.

The conversation locked up when they struggled with the idea that a web-based buying experience could really make that much of a difference to their bottom-line.  (This conversation happened before Amazon.com’s most profitable quarter ever!)

An idea hit me to take a risk with this thought – I asked everyone in the room, including the Fresh team, what Seattle restaurant was their favorite place for a fine dinner.  Daniel’s Broiler for their nightlife and view, The Edgewater Hotel for it’s view of the sunset and fireplaces, the Salish Lodge for it’s ambiance, location near a waterfall, character, Third Floor Fish Cafe for its location on the water and so on.

Not ONE PERSON said anything about the food.  !?

When we go out to eat isn’t the food the most important thing??

That’s not the case.  Casa Bonita in Denver is legendary because inside transforms into another world.  You’re inside a structure so heavy that when it was built it began sinking into the ground from the weight of the concrete.  Inside looks like you’re dining outdoors in Acapulco, Mexico complete with a starlit sky, divers plunging off of high cliffs into water below, volcanic rocks, caves, mud pits and a city center of stores.

But the food at Casa Bonita is cafeteria quality at best.  You don’t go for the food.  You go for the experience.  And we see other models of this around the country including the Rain Forest Cafe (a step up from Casa Bonita fare) and at the Jordan Commons in Salt Lake City.

It’s the customer experience, the buying experience, how people feel about your brand that’s most important.

All of the Seattle restaurants mentioned above have fantastic food, but … our favorite place for exquisite dining in Seattle?  It’s called Tropea and it’s in a little strip mall in Redmond.  But the FOOD is simply fantastic.

Let me rattle off a few other brands you may have a gut feeling about – Starbucks, Nordstroms, T-Mobile, Marriott, Zappos.  These brands are not the lowest price, but they have award-winning customer service and experience.

The potential client I spoke of above is a Fresh client today as this illustration was a turning point for them.

Brands who can tell their stories win.  Are you ready for us to help you tell your story?

Contact me at mike@freshconsulting.com or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mikewhitmore

All the best,

Mike

Sunday, November 1, 2009

O cateringu

Catering (jak chyba każdy wie) polaga m.in na organizowniu przyjęć, posiłków..
Jakość wykonania świadczy o firmie cateringowej, dlatego też każda z firm cateringowych stara się zaprezentować najlepiej jak potrafi. Stąd też wielki naczisk na dobrze wyszkolony personel.

W ostatnich lat następował wzrost dobrobytu w Polsce, stąd też zwiększyło się zapotrzebowanie na usługi cateringowe. Oczywiście popyt na catering istniał od dawna, widocze to było szczególnie w wiekszych miastach- np. catering w Warszawie, jednakże duży skok “zapotrzebowania” usług cateringowych dopiero niedawno można było odczuć.
Wszystko układało się bardzo dobrze, do momentu kryzysu. Niestety kryzys ekonomiczny swój odcisk niczym stygmat położył także na wszystkim co okresla się słowem catering oraz gastronomią.

W tej chwili firmy z branży cateringowej odczuwają spory kryzys… np. catering Warszawa ma kilka już na wpół upadłych firm. Najbardziej dotkliwie skutki kryzysu w cateringu odczuły młode firmy.. nie mające dużej ilości referencji, które zapewniłyby im klientów na ich usługi cateringowe.
Niestety jak to mówia business is business.