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24 Feb This post is from from my other blog here
While out to eat with friends recently, I heard a story that so caught my attention that I couldn’t wait to write about it. A former co-worker and now close friend of my wife and I humbly relayed something she’s started at work. She’s not the type to boast or draw attention to herself and to further put this in perspective, she’s the antithesis of the corporate, political-playing title climber. She’s got an incredible personality, truly enjoys people, and rarely is found without a positive glow. So, can you imagine that she’s potentially changing the way a Fortune 500 listens and communicates with its employees and customers? Well, she is and she’s doing it with a chair. She works in Communications for a very large retailer based in the Midwest who has thousands of stores worldwide, thousands of employees, and a bustling technology-filled corporate campus filled with energetic people trying to climb the ladder and change the world of retail. Then there is Jill. She had a simple idea that - at first - was met with opposition. But, her perpetual optimism won over management and they told her to give her idea a try. So, she plopped down two chairs in the heart of this busy corporate campus and put a sign over the two chairs calling out a topic for the day. She occupied one chair and then waited. And waited. And waited for another employee to sit down and discuss the topic she had posted. No technology. No motives. Just a person genuinely interested in her co-worker’s thoughts and feelings. Well, her wait was short. People started to sit and talk. One at a time, Jill sat and spoke with employees. Taking notes on employees concerns and feedback, she promised their input would be anonymously passed on to upper management - and it is. Would you believe that at times there are lines waiting to talk with her? They trust Jill and love sharing their thoughts with her. There are plans to not only increase the frequency of when she’s there to talk, but now she might sit at stores and talk with customers about their experience. Again, two chairs. A topic. No technology. The whole world of business broken down to its simplest form - face to face, honest communication. Here’s the copy that is used to advertise The Chair: “The Chair” is designed to spark open, face-to-face, one-on-one conversation with employees in the simplest way possible: by offering employees a topic to talk about, an empty chair to sit on and an Employee Communications team member to listen to them (really listen - without a laptop, cell phone or Blackberry in the way). “The Chair” gives us a pulse-check on employee opinions, thoughts and ideas, while giving employees a place to be heard. “The Chair” is set up every other Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to noon for corporate employees, with plans to expand it to store employees in the future. With all the texting, blogging, IM, emailing, chatting, Twittering, etc. isn’t it awesome that a simple thing like this is having such a dramatic effect on a very large company? With any company, constructive feedback from employees and customers is not easy to get. As a marketer, I practically jump off the ceiling if I can get a customer or employee to sit down and tell me honestly what they think of our products or marketing plan. Honestly, I’m not sure just anyone could pull this off. If you could meet Jill, you’d instantly know why this is working. But, I think more companies need to try. Listening is so important to understanding, and understanding customers and employees is what empowers businesses to improve. Like a lot of corporate environments, people are falling all over themselves trying to take credit for the idea, but in the end it was all Jill. She’s loving it and has truly carved out a niche for herself in corporate America. If you’d like to learn more about this effort, let me know and I’ll put you in contact with Jill. What are your thoughts on The Chair?  none
06 Feb This post is from from my other blog here
1. Have you ever wondered if trade shows are more of a drain on your organization than a benefit? 2. Do you start to sweat when the business leaders in your organization begin asking about the return on trade shows you attend? 3. Are you routinely asked to attend trade shows that you do not believe will add value? 4. Do you have people in your organization that are emotionally charged about attending a show? Deciding which trade shows to attend can be a difficult decision when emotions enter the decision process. It seems that every show has a strong advocate trying to convince the organization to attend. Statements such as, “all our customers will be there”, “the market will think we have disappeared if we don’t attend”, “the trade publications won’t think we are a serious player”, and “this is the largest show in our biggest market segment” are a reflection of feeling, not fact. Conversely, with very tight budgets and demand to show ROI, deciding which show to attend can prove to be just as difficult. While establishing better goals and metrics is a usual course of action to prove marketing return, trade shows can be particularly challenging. To ensure the show success it is important to set up quantitative and qualitative metrics prior to deciding to exhibit. If you establish goals such as the number leads, number of customer meetings, and the number of brand impressions you can mitigate emotional decision making. Driving to Trade Show ROI To measure ROI it is important to fully capture the costs and benefits of a show. Below I propose some metrics that can be used to demonstrate the benefit of a show. Three metrics in particular are the calculation of Advertising Equivalence, cost savings from customer meetings, and monetizing brand impressions with speaking engagements. I would recommend the development of a standard template that includes the elements listed below. It is also important to consider the timing of when you validate the results. I have found that it is important to check at least three times: Immediately, within a month or so and then again when deciding to attend the show again. Trade Show Costs Event Sponsorships/Exhibition
Transportation
Travel
Promotional gifts/collateral
Resource Costs (Time x salary)
Customer Meetings
Show Benefits (Included both quantitative and qualitative measures): Leads
Public Relations
Customer Relationship Development and Savings
Market Research Insight
When using criteria such as the above, you should be able to add the total costs and the total benefits and ultimately be able to calculate the shows ROI (benefits-expenses/expense). Hopefully, this provides some additional insight into the measurement of trade shows. Do you see anything that is missing from this list? none
05 Feb This post is from from my other blog here
In the meantime I’m very excited to announce that Tom Teynor - a successful marketing professional and good friend - has agreed to be a guest contributor on the Lonely Marketer. I was excited to hear that Tom will be an author here because he brings tons of good experience from many areas of marketing. Tom has over 10 years of sales and marketing experience and is currently the Sr. Director of Marketing at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services - a B2B software and services company. Tom is currently responsible for go-to-market strategy and is responsible for marketing management, internet marketing, creative service pricing, and market research. He has also led product management. Aside from work he enjoys spending time with his family, biking, kayaking, golfing, and snowboarding. Tom’s first article will be published tomorrow. Welcome Tom! none
27 Jan This post is from from my other blog here
Joe Pulizzi has been a long-time contributor to the Lonely Marketer community so when I saw his site, Junta42, come out with an incredible list of blogs that focus on content marketing, I knew I had to write about the effort. The Junta42 Top Blogs has a little something for everyone and is a very well put-together, comprehensive list of some of the top marketing blogs around. Here are the top 42 (and yes, that is the Lonely Marketer proudly sitting at #33):
I’ve actually found some great new blogs in here that I didn’t know about before which is why these lists are so fun! none
07 Jan This post is from from my other blog here
This is not your large company marketing group. We don’t have a group for web marketing, a group for developing sales campaigns and related marketing tools, a group for print advertising, and on and on. I found myself looking for someone that has a little experience in alot of things rather than someone that was specialized in one area of marketing. Now, if you are specialized don’t freak out about what I’m writing. Larger companies, agencies, and self-employed marketing professionals are all excellent locations for someone that has specialized. I’m writing from the small business perspective and what I need in that role. Here are some of the major elements of experience for which I was looking:
I found the whole process very interesting. I never took a step back before to really put down on paper the experience that I thought the small business marketing manager should have. It’s a fun and exciting juggling act that at times can be stressful and at times be immensely gratifying. none
26 Dec
17 Dec This post is from from my other blog here The announcement of the new Local PlusBox by Google Adwords which places geographical information in the top paid search location changes the PPC strategy for those using more local targeting. The new expandable feature allows advertisers to bid to the top spot in an effort to have the opportunity to display such valuable information as a map, address, driving instructions, and phone number, in addition to the location name that appears beneath the last line of the paid search ad. You can read the rest of my thoughts on this new feature in my article - AdWords Local PlusBox A Great Addition - over at Search Engine Guide. none
13 Dec
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This is a true story and you need to read it.
If the answer to any of the following questions is true, the tool below might be for you.
If you’re a regular visitor to the Lonely Marketer you’ve no doubt noticed that regular posting on the site has slowed a bit. A combination of a more demanding job and a growing family have been the culprits. But, I’ve missed the writing and interfacing with readers and am hoping to get back to a more regular schedule soon.
I found myself recently in the position of backfilling a position that I held as a small business Marketing Manager. Not only was I overly picky about selecting candidates to interview, but I found myself amazed at the amount of experience for which I was looking. Today’s small business Marketing Manager position has evolved into so much.