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.