october 2008

What’s the best way to come up with a new marketing campaign? Just watch the news.

Krispy Kreme is running a promotion just for Election day. If you stop by any Krispy Kreme next Tuesday - election day - and wear your I Voted sticker, they’ll give you a free patriotic donut. Of course you know if you’ve ever had a Krispy Kreme, you can’t have just one. So you’ll probably buy an extra or two. And maybe throw in a cup of coffee. And maybe pick up a dozen for the office. In any case you’ll probably spend a few dollars, just for stopping in for a “free” donut.

Sounds like a great promotion to me. There are so many ways you can play off of current events. You can imitate a Krispy Kreme campaign, and give something away for free just for stopping by. Or send something out to your customers based on a current event - and include a coupon for future use.

Visit with your favorite promotional products vendor. Or visit Oriental Trading Company. You’re sure to find something you can build a fun campaign around.

I’m so excited for this weekend. We’re stepping away from our office for the next 4 days, and having our own company retreat. We’ll be planning for 2009 - and enjoying a little fun and sightseeing on the side.

So all week I’ve been gathering things to bring with us. I know when you start planning and doing things, the universe returns with the things you need. So I loved getting my latest Trendsetter ezine by Springwise in my mailbox this morning.

Springwise is filled with amazing new business ideas. Sometimes its just fun to browse and see what others are coming up with.

Like Sarah’s Smash Shack. Who would ever think you could build a business off of smashing dishes, glasses and other breakables?

One thing that appears again and again in every issue is concentration on green and eco friendly products and services.

I loved Kids Konserve. They purposely make you think about how much waste is created everyday at your local school. And as a mother with a daughter who is very much into recycling and conserving, I know this product will make us both happy. Plus its a great example of a website that gets it.

What about the trend of virtual office space? As a person who works out of my home, I’ve been to a lot of virtual office space. And it pretty much always looks like office space. What if you has something new and well, “wow” driven? That’s the concept of Meet at the Apartment. A great way to host meeting in not-so-officey looking space.

With each of these ideas, I use them to come up with my own ideas for 2009. Green living ideas? You bet. As a business owner you have to look at the trends and use them to help your own business. Adding a little “wow” into what we do? You bet. That’s what keeps the business side fun.

Stay tuned…

What’s the difference between a simple homemade site, and one professionally designed? Looks and traffic.

Your site is your image to the world. When people enter your site, they make a decision in under 10 seconds whether to stay on the site, or move on. Frontier Cabins approached us after living with a homemade website for a number of years. They were ready for a clean updated look, and a more professional appearance.

Their new website focuses on their cabins through photographs and a virtual tour, and gives potential visitors more information on what to do in the Wall, South Dakota area. We focused on providing a site with quality information, and a visually stimulating look and feel. 

We also incorporated a backend management system that gives Joan the ability to change out certain information fields - like the specials located on the home page. The more you have control over, the easier it is to run your business.

Thanks Joan and Frontier Cabins for becoming a part of the Vision family!

Just when you get what you want, they change all the rules and make you want something else.

When I was out of college and at my first, big corporate job, I enjoyed quite a bit of traveling. We would spend two weeks out of the office, flying from city to city visiting with our clients.

One of the things I enjoyed most was visiting new restaurants and new stores on nights and weekends. It was fun seeing and experiencing new things in a place far from home.

But that’s getting harder to do these days. With big box stores popping up everywhere, every corner looks like the one in your own home town. Even on a recent trip to Cabo San Lucas, I was surprised to find a corner with Costco and fast food chains on it .

Now that we have achieved big box mentality, is that truly what people want?

The key to making big box mentality work is to get the best price on the largest quantity of goods possible. In many cases it means importing goods from far away locations. So now that we have the big box mentality, more and more we see a switch back to local producing businesses that can give us a more green way of living.

Grown Locally hangs in the aisles of your supermarket. 

Fuel shortages give an edge to local suppliers of products and services.

As a business owner, it all adds up to one dynamic trend that could impact the way you do business. Can you appeal to local chains? Can you offer great products and services to those in your community - with the help of the big box as your advertising partner?

The future is up for grabs.

photo source clix

Today is Blog Action Day - the day bloggers from around the world get together and blog on one common topic related to their blog focus. And the topic this year is poverty. With 10, 667 blogs participating, I’m anxious to see what the rest of the world has to say.

I pondered what to write about for quite awhile. During an amazing election year and some of the most turbulent times we’ve had in decades, we have more than enough right here in America to talk about.

For me, my topic has always been and will always be education. Overall, high school graduation rates stand around 70% depending on the source. For African-Americans and Latino students, the number dips way down below the 50% mark in some states.

How can this be? In a country that has always provided the best opportunities - how can so little be dedicated to helping all gain at least a high school education?

Studies also show that a person with a Masters degree earns on average almost $32,000 more per year than a high school graduate.

So why isn’t more being done to educate our children? It doesn’t stop just in America - its a worldwide issue. The more education a person has, the more they contribute as a whole to society. Education does more than teach a certain subject or a certain philosophy. It opens up possibilities. It allows a person to understand where and how to find answers to questions, and opens them up to ideas that simply aren’t possible with a wide range of education.

The world grows as education levels rise. Volunteer at a school. Give books to organizations - reading is mandatory to raise education.  And the more we educate, the more we can help to reduce poverty.

I start my days pretty much the same. I sit down and go through email, spend my time on my social sites, and then start in on client work.

Today as I maneuvered through my email, one of my mentors Dan Kennedy had a great piece on thriving in a recession.

4 things to succeed:

1 — Keeping my wits about me and will to win while most others around me were losing theirs …

2 — Having the intellectual agility to quickly modify, re-package, re-title, re-invent, and re-articulate what I was offering to harmonize with the dominant desires, fears, and beliefs of the times …

3 — Redirecting my efforts at better, more likely buyers (as in those least and last effected by the recession).

And 4 — Knuckling down and working, maybe a little bit harder — certainly more diligently — to optimize the value of every lead and every customer I could get my hands on…

After I ready his message, I continued working. But then I started thinking about his 4 points. How true. And yet even in good times, how many small business owners truly follow these 4 steps?

In today’s world, the key to reaching an effective target market is to create a dynamic online presence.

It’s more than building a website. It’s more than having a few pages online describing who you are and what you offer.

It’s about having a well thought out strategy for your entire online experience. What do you want them do from the moment they find you, and as they follow you through the many places they should be finding you online?

A small business marketing strategy should include:

• a website
• a blog
• links to other sites
• directory listings
• online advertising
• social networking profiles
• articles and reports
• email marketing campaign

If you don’t have each of these in place for your business, isn’t it about time you explored what your business could truly be like?

I’m sure you have some ezines that you look forward to. I know I do. I’ve been on hundreds of lists over the years. And over the years, there are a few that I’ve been on for a long time, and still read when they pop into my email box.

One of them is by Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania. PostcardMania is a printing company out of Florida that prints millions of postcards every year. And because of how well her company has done, Joy now speaks and writes very effectively on marketing for small business (and shows you how to use postcards effectively.)

Today’s title intrigued me:

I Hate To Say It, But Most Of You Are Missing The Boat

And the statistics she listed really made me open my eyes (see her blog):

• Out of 450, only 92 had a way to capture the contact info of the visitor and only 4 did it on the homepage! With the other 88 I had to search around the site to find the fill-in form.
• 29 of them left their website addresses OFF THE CARD COMPLETELY! And believe it or not (this really shocked me),
• 118 of these businesses do not have a website at all. What do you think most buyers do before they call or show up?

If these people are spending money marketing - even in the current bad economic times - wouldn’t they use every tool at their disposal?

Apparently not. 

Above all, the most important tool available to every small business owner is a website. It has unlimited potential, and can be used to enhance every marketing promotion you have.

Back to postcards. The best way to mail a postcard campaign is to make an offer and drive them to your website for a special. And of course they must sign up, giving their email address for future promotions.

But if this isn’t clear, and the first thing a person sees when they visit your site, your marketing failed. You have to have a clear strategy in place for every step of your campaign, and make sure you are gaining as much exposure as possible.

In hard times, you need a vision.

[Want to talk marketing strategy?  We've been helping people for over 10 years develop strong, effective online marketing strategies. Let's talk.]

All right, I’m impressed.

As you know, I read a lot. I read at least one book a week, and usually have a half dozen books or so laying around between my desk and my night stand.

I buy a lot of business books, and they are usually a part of a promotion through a friends, or part of a promotion to gain traction with places like Amazon.

But the newest promotion is by Seth Godin, and really “wow’d” me. So of course I have to share.

Back in August, an announcement came out through my Twitter that Seth Godin had a new promotion. Pre-purchase his newest book, Tribes, to be released in October, and you’ll become a beta tester for his new social site, Triiibes. So of course I had to play.

I’ve been on Triiibes ever since, and try to participate in discussions daily. I’ve really grown to love the site, and met a lot of great people.

Today I received a package in the mail. Inside was Seth’s book, Tribes. It’s sitting on my desk, next in line to be read. But what struck me was the letter included with the book.

This isn’t the book I ordered through Amazon. Instead, Seth sent out a second book in advance for all of us to read ahead of time. With one request that when we receive the second book from Amazon, that we give the book to someone in our network that could use it.

What a promotion! WOW!

Imagine as an author having hundreds of books pre-sold before the publishing date.  Imagine these hundreds of people developing a social site, that will have thousands of pages built for you when the book comes out, and others venture in and decide to join as well. Imagine sending out hundreds of additional books, with a request you pass the book along - what kind of traction will this have!

I guarantee you a ton. Not only will I be sharing my book with some lucky client of my own, but I’m sharing the idea with you too.

Oh, and one more thing. As a special “surprise”, Seth used the beta testers’ profile pictures to create the inside book jacket. How cool is that. 

What can you do to create your own WOW promotion? Have you ever done something that made others say WOW?

You’ve been leaving phone messages and playing telephone tag with a top prospect all week. With just a few questions left, you’re sure you can turn this prospect into a client.

Should you continue to try and reach her over the phone?

Or can you effectively answer her questions by email, and convert her without a conversation?

That greatly depends on the type of person she is.

According to one study, email is most effective with those people whom you have a competitive relationship with. If you have a more cooperative relationship, face to face is the best choice.

But as we become more web based, and your client isn’t necessarily in a place for you to meet face to face, its becomes more important to use email effectively.

We live in a visual society.

Email is great - you can answer a lot of questions that way. But what about adding a video? Or a photograph of yourself? Especially if someone likes relationships, the idea of seeing you or listening to you answer a question may help convert them.

Also, post different profiles on social sites, and write a variety of articles and papers on different sites. Rather than just relying on a simple email, connect to a variety of sources online (not just your website and blog) and showcase your knowledge. People like trusting those who build relationships with others. And social sites can easily show how you’re connected to others.

Question of the day: I’ve been working with a web designer, and trying to get it to the point I like it well enough to actually release it to the public. The problem is its been 9 months since I hired him, and I don’t feel like I’m any closer now to releasing it than I was 9 months ago. He took my ideas and put them up, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. I’ve been tweaking, rewriting, tweaking some more … you get the picture. What should I do?

I’ve run across this question several times over the past week while I’m out and about talking to people.

What if you would have released your website 9 months ago? What could you have achieved?

Maybe several new clients.

Maybe linking up with an association for a speaking engagement.

Maybe a book deal.

Who knows. You never got your site up and running, so the entire past 9 months was like you didn’t exist in the online world.

Website is not synonymous with perfection. Having a website means you put out some information, and you tweak it. And tweak it. And tweak it some more. Websites are never perfection. Instead, they are a constant work in process.

Try something. If it works, stay with the same theme and add more. If it doesn’t, change things around a bit.

When you have a website, you have a base to build on. You have your starting point.

And from there its all downhill. 

image source Digital Direct Multimedia