My Family Christmas Tradition is Weird

I have a special arrangement with Santa Claus.

I'm cool like that, yo.

Santa Claus made a deal with my family three generations ago that he would deliver our Christmas tree (versus our putting one up ourselves).  There are other holiday decorations, but no tree, all the way to bed time on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, we get up to the beautiful, fully-decorated tree, with all the presents (previously hidden) arranged around it.  From nothing to everything, overnight!

Of course, since this deal is with my family, my husband insists that the lack of the childhood tradition of setting up and decorating the tree together as a family - stringing popcorn and such - is just plain weird.

From his point of view - and probably the majority of Americans - he's right, it is weird.  But it's only part of the story - why do we do this weird Christmas Tree/Santa thing in the first place?

I'm saying Grandpa would
 have been thrilled to get a saw.

You see, until very recently, my family was pretty darn poor.  We simply couldn't afford much outside of the basic necessities of life, and sometimes, not even those on a regular basis.  It was during this period that the deal was struck with Santa.

The reality was that my ancestors would wait for the tree lot to close on Christmas Eve, and they'd go steal a tree off the lot and bring it home.  They were often crooked, with bald spots and dropping brown needles.

By all accounts, it didn't matter - the kids always woke up Christmas morning with the most beautiful tree they'd ever seen.  This was the sign that Santa hadn't forgotten them, and that the spirit of the season wasn't necessarily about getting presents.

In modern times, we simply put up our artificial tree after our kids have gone to bed - so now, the arrangement is more "Santa sets up the tree" than outright brings it, but the core of the tradition remains.

When my older daughter let us know she no longer believed a few years ago, I let her know the full story, and why it's important to keep it in place.  We should remember and honor where we came from, and how we took something weird, and made it wonderful.

This blog will be on break over the holidays, and will return in 2014.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you have an wonderful (and weird) holiday!

Four Ways To Make A Coupon Rock

Many businesses depend on coupons as a part of their marketing plan. Rightfully so - they are wonderful drivers for many kinds of businesses.

Coupons can be used to drive traffic on certain targeted days or times of day, they are a great way to get new customers to try your product or service or introduce something new, and they can be a great way to introduce something new to your customers, and they are fabulous tools to capture customer information for future marketing efforts.

However, done poorly, they can be a colossal waste of time and money.

So, here's four ways to help your next coupon blitz work for you!

1) BARCODE THOSE SUCKERS

You will get sick of these
awesome little guys.

You have got to track your coupons - at a bare minimum, which coupons were redeemed, when, but ideally, if you have mailed/emailed them out, uniquely barcoded to each recipient of the coupon.

You have to make sure you understand exactly how many coupons were redeemed (and thus the cost or margin erosion) versus revenue collected.

You need to know that they were redeemed properly - for the right product, the right discount, and within the right restrictions (such as date and time).  You need to understand the positive and negative effect of the coupon on your business.

But it's incredibly difficult to do that if you don't barcode those coupons.  It's not hard to use a basic barcode, and at worst, you can redeem them "back of the house" post-sale to get the information you need.

2) CLEARLY STATE THE RULES ON THE COUPON

Sometimes, there are exceptions to what the coupon covers.  It could be a specific product or product line, time/day of redemption, etc.

Typical disclaimer?

Make sure those rules are CLEARLY stated on the coupon in nice big text, so that your customer knows the rules and won't be frustrated when they get to the point of purchase and the coupon can't be used.  This is especially important when there is a limited redemption period - both start and end dates (and times) need to be VERY clear.

Also, it's wise to state on the coupon that it has no cash value and that the coupon applies while supplies last (if applicable).  Your local jurisdiction may have other rules that you must comply with in regards to disclaimers, so make sure you know what they are.

3) KEEP IT SIMPLE, SILLY!

Don't get too cute with your exceptions and rules in order to try to maximize profits from the coupon.

Yes, really.

It's frustrating for your customers when they find out what they want or need isn't covered by the coupon, and it's difficult for your employees to enforce or explain.

I call this the "yeah but" problem - that coupon is valid, yeah, but only for (x), when you do (y), in combination for (z), when the moon is full, and if you're wearing a yellow hat.

So only make exclusions/rules where you absolutely have to - make it easy for your customers to redeem and your employees to explain.

Also, as part of keeping it simple, only have one discount per coupon - mixing messages is very difficult to understand and explain.

4) AIM AT THE RIGHT CUSTOMER

You wanted the standard target
image - DENIED!

My idea of roughing it is no room service, so I don't see the point of squatting in the dirty woods in the heat for days on end and using a bug-infested shack for a toilet for a vacation.  No, I am not what you'd call "outdoorsy". 

If you were a marketer, would you send me a coupon for a discount on, say, camping equipment or tents or maybe a free weekend at some camp site somewhere?  Please say "no"!

Yes, granted, it's possible I'd want such a thing as a gift for someone else, but don't bet on it!

Make sure you aren't sending coupons to people who have the highest likelihood to want your product or service - choose the method of distribution wisely. That way, the coupons will have the volume you're looking for, but also, the customers have a higher likelihood of return without a coupon in the future.

Ever have a coupon that succeeded beyond your wildest dreams?  I'd love to hear about it!

The Old School's Demise Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

As a marketer, I'm always interested in the latest and greatest, the cutting edge, the newest, freshest way to "do" marketing.  I think, as a profession, we tend to draw people who are naturally interested in the shiniest, newest toys to play with.  It's interesting and fun.

Back in my day, we hit customers with baseball bats to
sell our products, and they liked it!

However, I also know that just because it's old or traditional, doesn't mean it isn't useful, valid, or relevant in my marketing mix.

I admit, I get my hackles up whenever I read generic statements like:

"Direct Mail doesn't work and is too expensive"
"Email is old-school and nobody uses it"
"Stop wasting time on promotional materials"

These are all paraphrased from a variety of sources that I've read over the past few months.  Sure, sometimes, people say this in order to be provocative and get attention (and views, shares, likes and comments).  But most of the folks posting this stuff probably believe it.

Some of us like to act like if it isn't on the cutting edge it's useless, and older tactics are so antiquated we might as well be using cuneiform on clay plates.

I'll grant that they could only be using technology less than 10% of the population uses in order to drive a gajillion dollars in sales. It's possible. Sure.

Did that sound a little skeptical?

Just because it's more than a year or two old, doesn't make it obsolete!  It's marketing, not a cell phone or tablet!

For example, I literally laugh out loud when people call email marketing "old school". I remember when it was going to be the absolute death of direct mail - which, by the way, was the cheap channel compared to broadcast and display advertising - and that was in this century, mind you.

Yet, I do still get lots of direct mail pieces in my mail box every day. Weird.

So let's say you keep chasing that shiny object and never develop skill in these supposedly "old school" techniques.

If you're not using iCrown©, you're a dinosaur!

What happens when you engage a company that doesn't have a sophisticated CRM software but still needs to do targeted direct marketing and customer relationship management right now? Do you know that you can do it without a CRM tool?  Do you know how?

What happens when you work with a business whose customer base isn't that wired?  Just because you're on Twitter and Tumblr and Snapchat and Instagram and whatnot, it doesn't mean your customer base is.

What happens when a massive system failure happens (and it will, my friends), and you can't execute a cutting-edge marketing technique?  What do you have as a backup plan?  How else will you reach your customer if you can't do it online?  Will  you just... not market?

I think you need to make sure you have more in your arsenal than only the latest and greatest.  I think you need to make sure you're not projecting your love of a new technology or technique onto your customers and clients.  I think you need to take another look at the old school, because they do still work much of the time!

Above all, keep this front of mind:  Tactics and techniques should always be 100% focused on what the customers want and need.

Sometimes, that means an old-school technique is the preferred and most effective method to use (usually, it's more complex than that, but still...).  Be open and prepared for that, as a marketer, and as a business owner.

Got an "old school" channel working wonders for you?  Don't know how to fix the CRM problem above?  Think I'm a crotchety old coot, waving my cane around yelling at you kids to get off my lawn? Let me know!

This Doesn't Have to Be Hard

It's not unusual for small business friends of mine to say, "Yeah, but you're a marketer - you're supposed to have a blog and a dozen social media channels.  I don't have the time to do any of that."

Does that sound like you?

And boom, there goes another Tweet!

Well, let me let you in on a little secret.  I'm a small business too, and like you, I don't have tons of time either.  I have my business, family and hobbies to balance (not to mention sleep).

I am writing this post on November 19, 2013.  I'm having to stay close to the house because both of my kids are home from school sick.  I had to cancel several meetings and appointments for today.

Note the post date on this post... see that?  December 10, 2013?  What am I, some sort of crazy time traveler?

Nope.  I'm making productive use of this unexpected unbooked time, by writing blog content and I'm scheduling social media through the first and second week of December. 

I use Blogger, and I can write any time (sometimes I have three to five posts in progress) and I can schedule my post far out into the future.  I can also schedule the associated social media mentions of my blog the same day, once the post is scheduled.  You can do the same with Wordpress and many other blogging applications out there.

I aim to post twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday mornings), but you can post less frequently than I do in many cases.  So I can write and set up posts now that I can post a month or more in the future.

This is especially great when you start developing content calendars and themes - you can easily pull together themed posts on your blog and in your social media all at once while the topic is top of mind.

A tool I swear by is Hootsuite.  I've talked about it before, and yes, I know there are more powerful tools out there, but I believe its simplicity for newbies is hard to beat.  Plus, it's free for less than five accounts.  Great for the most commonly used networks of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.

I've been advising lots of businesses lately to try Pinterest in their social media mix, but you can't use Hootsuite to schedule pins.  There are tools out there, and here's a discussion you might want to read if you use Pinterest: How To Schedule Pins on Pinterest.

If you must do this stuff yourself, using the right tools, it isn't hard at all!

On a weekly basis, block out time for you to sit down and do this stuff (mine in Monday morning).

When you find you get a gift of extra time - like I did today - use it productively and get ahead of the game, if you can.

Need tips?  Maybe some help with a content calendar?  I can help - let me know!

Tending the Farm: Slow-growth tactics and why you need them

I've written about slow-growth marketing tactics a little bit before, mostly here, and we discussed short-term high impact tactics (and ways they can go awry) here and here.

Ooh, red delicious marketing leads - yum!

So let's talk about the slow-growth, long-term tactics I like to call "farms".  These tactics function as leads engines once they get going.

Think about your typical real-life farm - or rather, let's think about an apple orchard.

When you build an orchard, you have to find the land, buy the land, prepare it for planting, do the planting, tend the plants as they grow into maturity, fight off pests and disease to keep the trees strong, and eventually, the trees will bear fruit.  If you do a good job tending the orchard over time, they will reliably produce apples every season for you to enjoy.

Some marketing tactics are a lot like this orchard.  It takes a lot of work to prepare the environment and for the tactic to grow, but when it does, it will produce marketing "fruit" pretty reliably going forward, as long as it is properly maintained.

As I've mentioned before, "farm" tactics include (but aren't limited to) the following:

• SEO and web sites
• Leads Referral Groups
• Content marketing

In all of these, it is highly unusual that the tactic will reach its full potential in a very short period of time, so please, don't beat your head against a wall if they don't pay off quickly.  It's not going to pay off quickly, so don't set an inappropriate expectation for rate and timeliness of return.

You have to let the trees grow, and the fruit to ripen.  This takes a lot of patience, and when resources are thin, it's very easy to give up too quickly and waste your efforts.

Let's take SEO.  While there are times you will see rankings improve quickly, overall, it's well-known it takes time for a well-crafted SEO strategy to see results.  Check out what they say about it at the Search Engine Journal, HubPages, and for a more complicated viewpoint, here's SEO Theory.  If your search rankings don't improve dramatically overnight, it doesn't mean SEO doesn't work, or that the partner you're working with isn't good at what they do - it's simply the nature of the channel.

Leads referral groups and content marketing are the same way - it takes time to figure out what works for you, but when you do, they are reliable engines for leads and growth.

Having the appropriate expectations in place when you take on a "farm" tactic will save you a lot of frustration, worry, and money.  So if you need to build leads fast, don't expect these tactics to do that for you - set off a "bomb" like an event or sale instead (but don't expect a "bomb" tactic to produce long-term results).

A good marketing plan will include short-term and long-term tactics, as you need both fast leads ("bombs") and longer-term lead engines ("farms") to grow your business.

What's your favorite "farm" tactic, and how did you get it bearing fruit for you?  I'd love to know! 

FoM: Get It Done!

Have you ever missed a marketing deadline, because you had to get it just right?

Wait, is that carmine or maroon?
Our customers hate maroon.

You know what I mean... you spend hours pouring over copy, trying to get the phrasing just right, trying to find that perfect adjective or adverb, picking that right image, and finding the right color palette.  You look at it from every angle, making sure that every part of it is just so.

And you end up with a marketing emergency as you miss every production deadline. It's possible that this obsession with the minutia makes it too late to execute at all, wasting your time and money.

True story:

It's late March. We were getting ready to go to press with a postcard invitation to a gift giveaway taking place in early April.  Just as it was going on the press, I get an emergency call from the event manager asking if it was too late to change the piece.

Was there a problem with the gift?  A date change?  Legal problems?  Venue change?

No... you see, they'd been talking and they thought the piece was "too Christmas-y".

(We went to press as it was, and the event was as successful as projected.  And to the person who made that phone call - love ya!)

Hey, what's the word for "cool"
in Elvish?

Why does this happen?  Procrastination?  Indecision? Perfectionism run amok?  Yes, all of those, but I think this really happens because of fear.

Fear of saying the wrong thing the wrong way, in such as way to invite ridicule or blame, and ultimately, fear of wasting your time and money. Fear of appeasing a co-worker or boss.

It's the classic perfectionist's problem:  do it right, or not at all.

Well, here's the thing:  you just have to do it.  You have to do marketing.  You have to let your customers know when your next sale is, or how great that new product or service is, or how to reach you so you can serve them!  You do not have the option to skip it.

So, how do you get over your fear and just get it done?  Remember this:  It is highly unlikely any customer or potential of yours will scrutinize your marketing collateral like you do.

They will not notice if the color is slightly different than usual.  Their behavior will not change if you use the word "stunning" instead of "amazing".

You will obsess over it like a literature student's examination of "The Lord of the Flies" and speculate on the depths of meaning of every word ("What does the author's use of the color red here mean? Y'know the part where the stabbing is happening?"), every image, and every square inch.

On the other hand, your customer just wants to know what's going on, what's in it for them, and what they need to do to get it.

Yes, brand identity and style are important, of course.  But they aren't the ONLY item of importance, and when time is short, you have to go with the clarity of communication.

Don't let your fear keep you from getting out there and promoting your business.

Need help getting past the perfectionism?  Let me know - I can help!

BABY COME BACK! Luring back the lapsed customer

I wrote about segmentation here, and now I want to expound a little more about a specific segment that I think it's important we address.

The lapsed customer.  Who are they?

• Perhaps they are one-time only purchasers (assuming they can purchase more than once).
• They could be customers who fall into groups that may be less-than-ideally served by your business - such as people who always choose the lowest price vs. a good value.
• It's conceivable that these customers had a bad customer service experience with you at some point.
• Maybe they are customers that never got assigned to follow-up with, and they fell through the cracks.
• It could be they've been "captured" by a competitor and have become loyal to them.
• Or maybe they've simply moved away or are no longer in need of your service for reasons completely out of your control.

Note that not all customers in this segment are completely gone.  Some just have one foot out the door and are still transacting, but just not as much as they used to.

Lapsed customers fall into two basic groups:  customers you have a chance to win back, and customers you don't.  Put the customers who have disappeared off the face of the earth and those who are less than ideal belong in the latter group, so don't bother to try.  The rest fall into the first group - those you have a chance to win back.

Next, set out to win them back and hopefully, keep them.  Here's a few top-line ideas for things to try:

• Contact them and ask them how you can serve them better.  This can draw out some of the reasons that they have dropped off that are within your control that you may be able to address.
• Offer a "come back" special that's really attractive
• Look for ways to connect with them on a more personal level - invite them to business mixer functions, leads groups, and community events.  This is especially cool if you can acquire "VIP" treatment for them at the event.

The mission is to find a way to reconnect, and reestablish these customers as established customers.  They liked you at one point - find ways for them to like you now. Their business will follow.

Got any great ideas or stories of how you brought 'em back? I'd love to hear them!

Everybody Is Not The Same: Basic Ways to Segment Your Database

Hello, Ms. Small Biz Gal.  You've built yourself a pretty nice database there.

You have a good clean list, you are recording basic info like important milestone dates (first date of contact, first transaction, last transaction, birth dates, anniversaries, etc.).  You can tell the difference between prospects and actual customers, and you can, in some ways, record sales to your customers.  (You're awesome, by the way - and miles ahead of lots of your peers.)

Let's say, for the sake of this post, that you're contacting all these folks via email, although this is valid for any of your channels in which you talk directly to customers.

Hypothetically, you're going to tell them about a great new deal you have going - you're going to give a discount to new customers. This is what you want to send:

Hello, new customers!  We're so excited about the opportunity to add you to our family, we'd love to offer you 10% off your next purchase with Ms. Small Biz, Inc! Offer expires in a week, so hurry in - we can't wait to see you!

Is this the right thing to send... to the entire database?  If you think about it, you know the answer - which is NO, of course not.  This is only good for your prospect list!

So why are you sending this out to customers that aren't prospects?  How do you avoid making this mistake?

The simplest answer is to use a very basic database segmentation.  And here it is:

Of course, for your business, what a "new" customer might mean may be slightly different, and the same with "lapsed".  And of course, you can sub-segment each group any number of ways, if you have the time, tools, and strategy to manage that complexity well.

In our hypothetical case, the email above can be sent to the prospects only, and not the rest of the group.   Simple.

Lots of people violate this every day, by not taking the time to create the basic segmentation above - I'm always surprised as I get this from people I think should know better (aka, other marketers).

Truly, without this basic segmentation, it can make your direct marketing far less effective.

So, Ms. Small Biz, take a moment and assign the segmentation to your database as noted above, and keep it up as you onboard new customers and as their status changes (yes, there are tools for this).

Need help?  I can do that, y'know.  Let me know!  Drop me an email!

DOTC: Imagery Is Everything

Images in your social media and on your blog will be far more engaging than those without.  Don't believe me?

Let's ask the experts.  Hey, Hubspot?  What do you think about using images in social media?

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33800/Photos-on-Facebook-Generate-53-More-Likes-Than-the-Average-Post-NEW-DATA.aspx

As a result, our study revealed that photos on Facebook Pages received 53% more Likes than the average post. We also compared each businesses' average comments-per-photo to their overall average comments-per-post and found that photo posts attracted 104% more comments than the average post, too.

 How about you, smart guy Jeff Bullas?

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/28/6-powerful-reasons-why-you-should-include-images-in-your-marketing-infographic/

Engagement rate on Facebook for photos averages 0.37% where text only is 0.27% (this translates to a 37% higher level of engagement for photos over text).

Be sure to click the links and read both articles - good stuff.

Okay, so where do you get the stock photos?  You can't just Google a few keywords and take images from the internet willy-nilly.  If you are doing that, stop now! You have to have rights to those images - and they can cost a lot of dough, especially when the rights are restricted to one medium or another.

Ah, but this is a DOTC post, so I'm going to give you three sources of FREE images. 

Free Stock Photos are AWESOME!
Yes, Hubspot, yes, they are.

First, and my favorite, is Morguefile.  All sorts of great and interesting images to use, and usually, it doesn't even require attribution for use.

Second, Hubspot has offered some really nice images for your use, here and here.  They also put out a bunch of nice holiday themed ones here.  Go download these immediately, I use them all the time. 

Third, I use www.freerangestock.com.  Most of these images require you to notify the creator you used the image and you have to attribute the image (but not all).

Yes, there are others, but these are the ones I use most often.  Most are fine to use in all applications except to place on items to sell (so, you can use it on your blog, but not sell them on a t-shirt).

So now you have no excuse not to make your marketing a lot more interesting!  Let me know if you have any favorite free image sources you like!

P.S. A word on meme images:  they are technically illegal and use of them will risk you getting in trouble - I do not advise that you use them.  That being said, Meme Generator is an easy place to make your own.

Look at your calendar - it's 2014.

You're looking at your calendar and saying, "What? It's freaking November, you goofball!"

A party so good, you don't remember it yet.

Nuh-uh, my friend, Thanksgiving is but a pleasant memory, Christmas returns are underway, and you're not quite over that New Year's day hangover.  In fact, it's almost time for that NFL "Big Game" party (I hope it's featuring this team right here).

Because, in marketing terms, it's January (or even February or March), my friend.

If you haven't planned out January/February/March already (much less the whole year), you're already behind and you may miss critical deadlines for marketing things you want to do, including:

• Advertising in publications such as magazines
• Direct mail or catalog runs
• Display advertising
• Television and radio advertising

Look, you don't want to find yourself on January 2 saying to yourself, "Hokay, now what am I going to do now?"

Now - today - is the time to sit down, think about next year, and decide what your tactics and budget is going to be, and start engaging partners if needed.

Q1 is a period that is soft for many of us, so get on it NOW, because if you don't, you may find your leads and your business drying up, and you don't want that, do you?

Need help?  Drop me a note here: AbanicoMktg@gmail.com

Marketing Is More Than Leads

Even fictional characters know this.

When we talk "marketing" we usually talk about generating "leads", that is, new customers to our business.  It's where we spend the most of our time and energy.

This can be a huge, huge mistake.

There are more studies than I can count that show that retaining customers is cheaper than going after new customers.

Here's just a few I found with a quick search - check 'em out (but come back, will ya?)

http://www.customerforlife.com/blog/salesforce/2013/03/26/retention-vs-acquisition/
http://www.cmo.com/articles/2013/7/18/customer_retention.html
http://www.camfoundation.com/PDF/Cost-of-customer-acquisition-vs-customer-retention.pdf

The numbers vary slightly, but they all show a retained customer is cheaper than a new one.  I verified this myself in my days in the corporate world, so I know it to be true.

So what does this mean to you and your marketing plan?

While yes, you obviously need to chase leads and plan accordingly, you also need to plan and budget for a retention program for existing customers.

So what do you do with them?

GROW THE EXISTING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

Also known as upselling, there's several ways to incentivize customers to buy more:

• Perhaps they can grow the dollar value of each transaction but not change the frequency of purchase.
• Or, they can do the opposite - they can increase the frequency of transactions but the value remains constant. 
• Or, they can do both.
• Or they can increase frequency but reduce value per transaction (but grow overall revenue from the single customer).
• Or they can decrease frequency and increase value per transaction (which can also grow overall revenue).

You can try a variety of tactics - sometimes it's a loyalty program where you give a reward for increasing business.  This is the foundation of loyalty marketing and the real purpose of every loyalty program that exists.

USE THE EXISTING CUSTOMER BASE AS A REFERRAL SYSTEM

Most commonly, you'd see this as a "bounty" system, where a reward is given for so many referrals given to you by your existing customer.

If you use such a system, make sure the "hurdle" for rewards is easily reached and has enough value to be attractive (but it doesn't have to be crazy huge).  You can have more than one level or you can keep it very simple: "For (x) amount of referrals, you get (y) rewards".

You can up the ante for referrals, and if the referral becomes a paying customer, the reward is greater.

But there are lot of other ways to get your existing customers to sing your praises to new potential customers.  Ever heard the term "brand evangelism"?  This is a holy grail of marketing and advertising - think about the Nike customer who buys their branded gear and wears it out.  That's free advertising!

THE BEST RETENTION TACTIC OF ALL

Provide excellent customer service.  I've ranted on what this means before (here, here, and the saga of epic fail starting here) but just remember - it's your job to solve your customer's problem.  Do it promptly, with value, and with respect, and your customer will love you, buy from you again, and refer you.

So, as you're working your plan, do not forget to build in marketing tactics and processes to grow your business using your existing customer base.  It's cheaper, it's easier and you'll find it pretty rewarding.

Do you have a great can't-miss tactic to grow revenue and referrals from your current customers? Let me know!

FoM: Slay the Social Media Monster

There's dozens of examples out there about the ways brands (and individuals and celebrities) have had major screwups in social media.  Feel free to search for them if you're so inclined.

Bring it, Twitter.

Such tales might have put the Fear of Marketing in you - in this case, you're avoiding the Social Media Monsters.

You may be aware that there are "best practice"  (i.e. rules) for every channel.  And generally, this is true, developed over time and experience as these channels have been used, even though there's some debate on these.

Don't let these rules intimidate you or stop you from getting out there.

To paraphrase what I said in my FOM introductory post (right here) - making a social media post or a tweet or whatever is not like getting a tattoo.  It's here, and it's gone, just like that (and you can delete what you dislike if you really want to in the future).  It's so very temporary, it really is hard to screw it up permanently.

However, to avoid potential problems, this is the what you need to do:

• Negativity or sarcasm can easily go wrong, so I advise newbies to avoid it.
• Make sure you read it several times (watch for typos and grammatical errors).
• Get out there and try.  Just broadcasting things like sales or blog posts is fine to start.  You will get more confidence as you practice.
• If you post something you don't like, delete it!  It'll be gone, just like that!

You don't have to be a channel expert in, say, Twitter, to start tweeting for your business.  Just get moving.

Got a Marketing Monster you want to slay?  I can help!  Drop me a note in the comments or email me at AbanicoMktg@gmail.com

The Fear of Marketing (FoM) - a series

If you're reading this blog (and thank you very much), you'll see me make "DOTC" posts - Doing it On The Cheap.  These posts are about the cheapest tactics I can find and have either tried myself or have found others doing effectively.

Oh, hi!  I'd like to talk to you about
my product and/or service!

Today, I'm going to start up a new series on this blog, based upon a speech topic I've been developing.

It's called the Fear of Marketing (FoM).  This comes from my experience in working with my clients, in my corporate marketing jobs, and observing small businesses around me.

I think that lots of us are just terrified of marketing!

Lots of us are are confused and overwhelmed by channel choices and best practice, or really afraid of making a huge mistake that will ruin our businesses, or, somebody will find what we're doing offensive or hurtful.

FoM posts will be about this - how to get over being afraid.

Because, my friends, you can't run or grow your business with no marketing.  Let me say that again.

YOU CANNOT RUN OR GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITHOUT MARKETING.

Yet, time and again, we avoid doing great marketing (or any marketing at all) because we're afraid.

Keep this one thing in mind, as you see FoM posts:

Doing marketing is not like getting a tattoo.  Most of our marketing is temporary and fleeting, to be published and forgotten as we come up with the latest and greatest.  It is the exceedingly rare campaign of any kind (great or awful) that is remembered past its execution period.

So don't let fear stop you from doing something potentially great!

Can't wait to explore this topic more!  Do you have any True Tales of Frightful Marketing? Have you ever let your fear stop you from growing your business?  Let me know!

Bombs Gone Wrong (Part 2)

Let's keep talking about "bomb" marketing tactics - and avoiding blowing your own house up in the process!  (Start at Part 1)

Shortcut Shenanigans

Nope, this won't hurt a bit.

I shared this story via Twitter once before, but I'd like to talk about it a little more here, so go read it (I'll wait):

A Confession: I Bought 50,000 Twitter Followers

This "bomb"  literally bombed, didn't it? Not only did it compromise her integrity (as this is cheating, kids, no matter what anybody says), it didn't even work!

You will be tempted to engage in shady bomb tactics - such as passing out flyers on the sly at an expo where only exhibitors are supposed to do marketing, such as buying likes or followers on social media, and other tactics that are shortcuts and opportunities only suckers won't pursue.

Some people will imply that you have to do such things to be successful or get ahead.  I call shenanigans!

My advice?  There are no shortcuts and don't compromise your integrity, ever.

Good Bomb, Bad Target

Bomb tactics need to be well targeted in order to be most effective.

Here's a story from my casino days to illustrate this problem.

INCOMING!!!

In order to have a big day, Casino X wanted to do a prize giveaway on a very competitive night of the week. Usually such giveaways were given to customers with certain behaviors - the ideal would be generation of an "incremental" trip (that is, for a person to come into the casino when they typically wouldn't have) so usually, they would target people who aren't as frequent or were high value so the incremental nature of their visit was offset in top line revenue.

However, they wanted to have a HUGE day, so they went very deep into their database and included their very most frequent, high-redeeming customers (for this market, some of them were at the casino every single day).

Result?  More than twice the anticipated redemptions (they ran out of prizes and had to issue rain checks), very long lines full of very angry customers, gummed up operations for hours, and a lot of customer care needed post-event.  Plus, the people who actually came were the very ones who didn't need an offer to come in the first place.

Great bomb, wrong target.  Completely missed the mark!

If you're going for a high-impact marketing bomb, just make sure you:

1. Plan and execute follow-up
2. Collect and record results
3. Keep your tactic above-board
4. Choose the right audience for your tactic

Do you have any horror stories of bombs going off in your face?  Let's talk about it!

Bombs Gone Wrong (Part 1)

On Tuesday, I wrote about marketing tactics, using the metaphors "farms" for slow growth long-term tactics, and "bombs" for short-term high-impact lead generation tactics.

I love the smell of marketing in the morning.

A bomb tactic will generate a lot of leads or attention or revenue, but the impact is very short-term. This would include promotions, events, sales, grand openings, coupons, sweepstakes, giveaways - anything that makes a big noise but has very little ongoing effect after the fact.

Setting off a marketing bomb is awesome and fun, but done poorly, it can be very bad news.  Setting one off the wrong way can at best waste your money, and at worst, damage your business (sometimes irrevocably).

Here's some examples of bombs going wrong.

Follow-Up Failure

You bought a booth at that big, well-attended, high-visibility expo.  You gave out a tons of stuff, collected a lot of leads, talked to a lot of great people, and got a lot of attention.  You just really had an awesome show...

... and then you just dropped the ball, as you did not plan time and process after the event to follow up and close with the leads.  Eventually, you might have gotten around to it weeks or months later, but by that time, it's no use, the "halo" of your event is now gone and those leads are now stone cold.

I'd bet this is the number one mistake we make with this kind of tactic - the lack of adequate follow-up.

When you set off a marketing bomb like an event, you MUST have a follow-up plan in place.  If you have to do it yourself, clear time in your schedule and put a process in place.

If you don't follow up, don't waste your time and money with the event.

Coupon Collapse

Or let's say you decide to send coupons out to drive business during a specific period.  Awesome, you have a huge uptick in leads, trials or sales during the coupon redemption period.

The coupon equivalent of the unmarked bill.

You didn't have in place a way to measure redemptions associated to sales nor did you plan out time after the redemption period to do this analysis.  So you're not really sure, objectively, what your margin erosion on sales associated to those coupons was nor what lift you may have had vs. a non-coupon redemption period.

Also, you decided to saturate the community with these coupons - and now, you've given away tons of margin without any way to follow up with the individuals who redeemed the coupons.

You've got to track what any tactic does for you!  You've got to have a way to follow up with customers!  Without that, you are just giving money away.

I'll continue expounding on this in Part 2 on Tuesday.

Need help with the issues I bring up here?  That's right up my alley!  Let me help - contact me today or leave a comment below!

Farming, Demolition, and You

When you "do" marketing, do you ever get frustrated when it takes a lot longer than you'd like?  Or how about the opposite problem - you do something that takes off so quick, it's hard to keep up?

Coming soon:  a fresh crop o' sales leads.

That's because marketing tactics (basically) fall into two categories.

Some tactics take a long time and lots of work to start generating leads, but when they do, they keep bearing fruit as long as you maintain and monitor them.  These tactics are "farms".

Others are quick hits for a big spike in business, but have little to no "tail" afterward, like a bomb going off.  These will generate a lot of leads quickly, but can't be maintained to continue producing leads (they must be replaced with a new campaign).  These tactics are "demolition".

Farming tactics include:

• SEO and web sites
• Leads Referral Marketing
• Content marketing

Demolition tactics include:

• Events
• Discounts, coupons and "sales"
• Sweepstakes, contests and promotions

A good marketing plan will include both categories of tactics, strategically placed in your marketing calendar, with the right measures and expectations in place.

Got any stories of the results of bombs or farms in your marketing plan?  I'd love to hear about it!

Sick of it All

Insert witty comment here while I take a nap.

This is not the post I was going to make today.

Instead, I'm on day two of a pretty nasty bug I've picked up.

I made the decision to stay home and get better quickly, rather than push it and make myself sick longer (I find, as a I age, this is definitely the wiser thing to do).  I also wanted to avoid spreading whatever I have.

On the one hand, I'm lucky - I don't have a boss to try to convince I'm sick enough to stay home.

On the other hand, it's seriously impacting my business, and there really isn't anything I can do about it, as I am a one-man shop, and there's only me - nobody will cover me.

Automation tools have helped my online presence, at least, and I can keep doing a lot of that at home, but I'm a very hyper-localized business, and I need to be out and about seeing folks in order to generate billable hours.

So I have a question for you - what do you do when you're sick in your small business?  Let me know!

Burn Your Money

Mmm, tasty marketing fail.

Do it.

Put it in a pile and set it on fire.

I'm not kidding.  Well, kind of not kidding.

You are setting fire to your hard-earned cash when you engage in marketing tactics without a plan in place.  The big advantage of the burn-your-money school of marketing planning is at least you get a tasty toasted marshmallow in the process.

You see, it's very common for small businesses to do this - jump straight to tactics without any clear goals in mind.  It's easy to do - tactics take up most of the discussion in the marketing world.

But without a plan, you end up with no consistent brand position, different messages in different channels, no consistent idea of who you're talking to or why... it becomes a huge exercise in mystery and frustration and chaos.

It's no wonder so many of us get so irritated with marketing!

This is so easily fixed!

Simply take the time to sit down, evaluate who your target audience is, how you can serve them, how you can solve their problems, and what they need to know about you.  Articulate the "why" (why customers should choose you) before you go to the "how" (what you will say and where you'll say it).

The rest of the planning process is a lot easier and far less stressful once you do this.

And you won't be burning your money any longer!

Psst, I can help you with this, if you need a little guidance - drop me a note!

DOTC: Barter Again!

Some time ago, I recommended that you consider using barter in your business.

I have several friends in small business doing this a lot, for both business and personal services and products.  In fact, I do this myself (for bookkeeping services, as I would rather chew on aluminum foil than do my books, thank you).

As you probably know, the big boys do this too.

Take Chrysler.

Recently, Chrysler was able to barter for a spokesman for their new Dodge Durango SUV.  And they got a big one:  Will Ferrell, in character as Ron Burgundy, for his upcoming movie, "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues".  Here's one of my favorites:

Chrysler gets a free (and memorable) pitchman for their ads, and Paramount Pictures gets free promotion for their movie release.  Win-win for all concerned.

Learn more about this here:

http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/10/will_ferrell_dodge_ads_anchorman_ron_burgundy.html

You stay classy, San Diego.

The Fear of Hope

Since 1991, I've been a huge fan of the Kansas City Chiefs.

If you follow the National Football League, then you know that the Chiefs have been pretty bad for quite some time now.  In fact, they lost 14 out of 16 games last year.

Even in good years, the Chiefs are somewhat of a joke, having failed to get past the first round of the playoffs since 1993 (that means we are 0-6 in the playoffs in twenty years).

Oh yes, I'm bringing it, buckaroo.

This year (as of this writing), the Chiefs are undefeated in five games. In fact, it's an unprecedented turnaround and Sundays are definitely more fun when your team is winning!

I expect, however, that my team will collapse back into mediocrity yet again, or, horrors, they will make the playoffs and get beat in the first game again. As usual.

History would suggest I would be wise to expect the worst - after all, in twenty-two years, that's what I've ultimately gotten, right?  Disappointment after disappointment.

Well, the thing is - this is a different team, a different year, and the circumstances are different.  Logically, it would be silly for me to think that the prior two decades has anything to do with this year's team.

But I just can't totally give in to the hope JUST yet. Because of the history, because of the pain of hopes getting dashed again.

Are you running your business this way?

Are you letting history override your good judgement and optimism for the future?  Things constantly change and are always in flux, so history, while an indicator, is not always the best way to guide your business.  Just because something worked (or failed) in the past, isn't always a fair indicator of how it might do in the future.

Sometimes you don't have the right people or plan in place to make a great idea work.

If you've had a lot of struggles in your business and have experienced a lot of failure, you might be tempted to just give it up as a lost cause.  I certainly have, as a Chiefs fan.  I remember how horrible it was last year, how embarrassing, and I felt like giving up my beloved team and latching on to another team that might have a modicum of hope of success.

Here's the thing - if  I'd quit my fandom last year, after the worst year in franchise history, I wouldn't be witnessing the greatest comeback in NFL history this year.  The experience I've had, as a fan this year, is unprecedented and joyful.  If I'd quit, I'd have missed this amazing experience.

What will you miss out on, if you allow the past to force you to quit?

Leads to Nowhere

I'm a pretty active networker.

I try very hard to practice the principle of taking care of people I network with (assuming they will take care of me).  Part of that is that I try very hard to find good leads for the people I network with.

Note:  GOOD leads.

Sometimes that means that there is a person I network with that hasn't gotten a lead from me yet.  It's not that I'm not trying, I just haven't found a "hot" lead I think is worth his or her time.

Take my friend Eric Spawn.  Eric owns The Spawn Group, which does home remodeling and roofing.  I've known Eric for about a year and a half, and I like him a lot.

In the time I've known him, I've given Eric one lead.

One.

That lead didn't even lead to a job.  But I recommended Eric to someone I care a lot about, and I recommend him to you, too.  Remember, I take recommendations very seriously.

I am constantly looking for ways to get Eric a referral.  But I won't give him "leads" that aren't going to help him.  I like and respect him too much to waste his time.  I want to be sure that Eric has a good chance to turn a lead into business.

I'm pretty sure there's a good lead in here somewhere.

Sometimes, especially if you are in a leads referral group and are trying to "lock in" membership that requires leads to become a member, you grasp at straws, trying to think of ANY name to provide as a lead.

While usually this is well intentioned, what happens is that the person given the lead tries to develop it, and it turns out, the referral isn't really ready or willing to engage in business.  So it's basically a dead end.

So before you provide a lead, consider whether there is a reasonable chance that it will develop, or is it just a shot in the dark guess that it might work out.  If the latter - hold off, investigate it a little more yourself, and if you have a good feeling that it will turn into business, facilitate the introduction yourself.

Your referral partners will appreciate it - and do the same for you.

What do you think?  I'd love to hear from you!

Do You Even Rec, Bro?

Recently, a couple of very nice people sent me a mass message on LinkedIn asking me to provide a professional rating on some site they want to use.   It's basically for a site hosting an 'online business card' with ratings and such.

I'm not going to do that.

Of the two, one is a person I have some direct interaction with (i.e., I see them a couple of times a month or so at small business functions), and the other, not so much.

I have never done business with either of these people, and I don't know either well on a personal level.

No.  No I will not.

So to recommend or rate them (positively or negatively) would be disingenuous.

Or to put it more bluntly - it'd be a lie.

You see, when you recommend somebody, you are putting your own reputation on the line.

This is the same basic reason why, in leads referral groups, it can take some time to start seeing leads come your way (qualified leads, anyway). When a group member recommends you to a friend or customer, your performance reflects upon them, too.

And before you do that, you have to make sure that the person you're recommending is up to snuff and worthy of risking your own reputation.

This also applies to recommendations on web sites or in social media (especially LinkedIn).  I won't recommend anybody I don't know well, or I haven't worked with directly.

I want my recommendation to mean something.

So, do you even rec, bro?  If so - make sure it counts.

DOTC: Bouncing Back

In marketing, we tend to focus on leads acquisition - that is, bringing in new customers.

While that is absolutely a function of marketing, another major task of marketing that often goes neglected is growing revenue from our existing customer base (a third is activation of lasped customers, but we'll save that for another time).

And there, my friend, you can find a bunch of cheap marketing tactics that will work well to grow your business.

Let's take a classic loyalty program tactic - the bounceback program.

These can take a many forms -  I'll focus on a couple that don't require special technology or equipment and can be done for very little cost.

Jeremy is having a little difficulty
 with the punch card concept.

THE PUNCH CARD

This is old-school, and cheap.  Make up business-card sized punch cards - have your customer get a punch every purchase (or after spending (x) number of dollars).  After so many purchases, they get a reward.

Pros:  easy to execute and promote, inexpensive, low-technology

Cons:  people forget they have them, almost impossible to track results

Variant: What if you did this as a referral program?  Existing customer gets so many punches for referrals, getting a really good reward after the card is filled?

BOUNCEBACK COUPONS

These kinds of coupons are usually given after a purchase is concluded, in order to incite a return visit (a "bounceback").  Make sure your coupon has a relatively short redemption window - first, because you want them to return quickly, and second, because they will forget they have the coupon after too long a period.

Pros:  easy to execute, inexpensive, low-technology, easy to track results if coded properly
Cons: people forget they have them, doesn't work well for businesses that have a long repurchase window

Variant: If you have a long repurchase window, make this coupon a "refer a friend" coupon.  When the friend's coupon is redeemed, the person who gave out the coupon gets a reward

Do you have any favorite cheap ways to "bounceback" a customer?  Let me know in the comments!

DOTC: Pounding the Pavement

With “cheap” marketing tactics, sometimes, it’s easy to over-think things and overlook the obvious.

I was thinking about this as I received yet another Chinese food menu (with coupons!) on my door. I get at least one of these a month, sometimes two or three.  I get other fliers too, but for some reason, it’s the favorite tactic of Chinese food restaurants in my area.

You see, there’s a lot of marketing advice out there, and it is rare when I see anybody mention good old door-to-door flyers for small businesses.

Yes, that means pounding the pavement with fliers and putting them on every door in a neighborhood.

Sure, it’s not sexy, but for some businesses, such as restaurants, lawn care, martial arts schools and

Pro tip:  Skip this house.

gyms, and during tax season, bookkeepers and accountants – it would work as well as any other tactic.

In my opinion this tactic is best for those with physical locations but it’s worth trying if your target audience are consumers (versus other businesses) to see if it works for you.

The main reason small businesses need to consider this option is that it is cheap.

Depending on your design, it can be very inexpensive to run off two reams (200) copies.  (Hint: you can use half-sheets and get two per page – just make sure to use a good paper cutter to cut them in half if your printer doesn't do it for you).

You can saturate a neighborhood in one day for a fraction of the cost of postage.  You can recruit teenage relatives and their friends to do it for you on a Saturday!

Make sure your flier includes the following:

• What service or product your provide
• Contact information (phone number, email, web site)
• Strong call to action (such as “Call Now for a Free Quote!”)
• Offer – this should be tested, but try an offer that’s only good with this flier that you use nowhere else

Make sure that you can measure the result – that is, it took (x) people spending (y) hours in the neighborhood, and it cost (z) in materials, and I got so many responses and sales as a result.

Don’t be surprised if your first attempt yields poor results.  Most people need multiple exposures to take action, so in your plan, make sure you hit up the same neighborhood several times over a period of several weeks.

Be sure to know any rules surrounding this tactic in your local jurisdictions and HOAs before you begin.

Need help with this (or other cheap tactics)?  Have you done it, and have any great tips to share?  Let me know!

TMI!

There are, by my last count, about eleventy jillion sources of marketing, small business, entrepreneurship, and leadership information on the internet and in print.

I may have rounded that number there a little bit.

The thing is, while much of it is repetitive - how many times can we post about (x) number of tips for Facebook and nag us about not using the standard text for LinkedIn connection requests - there's a lot pretty good stuff out there.

You can read another post about how
to screw up on LinkedIn, or look at cute
cat pictures.  Decisions, decisions.

There are very interesting insights, genuinely useful tips, and critical information that might actually make a huge difference in our businesses and our lives.

The problem is, we can't possibly read or comprehend it all.  For most of us, it's not our jobs to track or curate this content (although it is mine, kind of - that's what I try to do in my social media networks, especially in my Twitter feed).

It becomes a huge amount of noise - useful, interesting noise. It becomes close to impossible to wrap your mind around it all.

I hear this from lots of my friends in the small business community - that they can't keep up with all of the information.  Honestly, I've been struggling with it myself.

So here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to hone in on a few outstanding curators of excellent marketing and small business information and stick to them from now on.  I may miss some really awesome insights, but that's the way it's got to be.

I suggest you do the same - but please keep me in your feeds, ok?  OK!

Let me know how you handle the information overload in the comments!