26 Oct 09 Public Relations tips from Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas covered US presidents as part of the press corps for 55 years- and she learned some important things over her career, and from her experience she offers president Obama the following tips here.
My three most important (for presidents of small businesses at least) are:
1) Open up- while you can try to avoid tough questions, distort the truth or try to spin away your problems, eventually the truth will come out, and the more you have avoided, distorted and spun away the real issues, the more severe the repercussions later.
2) Have Courage- Truman famously once fired Gen. MacArthur for publically disagreeing with him. This was not an easy decision, but it sure was a courageous one. What important business decisions are you putting off because your are afiraid?
Most recently, I was staying at the Boulder University Inn and their afternoon help was clearly stoned out of his mind, giving some of my fellow businesses travelers no end of grief by not being able to find their reservations, and not being remotely helpful or competent. We were impressed because we found out he was fired right away for being stoned on the job. For the manager not to have been courageous enough to take the action of immediate termination would have communicated, at least on some level, that his actions were remotely appropriate
3) Your vision is your legacy-
19th century historian Henry Adams wrote about the presidency that it “resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek.”
As a president of a country, ship or small business, it is your job to have a goal to get to (your port) a plan on how to get there (your course) and appropriate tactics to get you to keep on course.
How many times do companies choose individual tactics to drive their ’ship’ without having a clear port? And when they fail to gain any momentum in any direction, isn’t that an obvious conclusion from not having a plan to meet your goals?
Yes, thank you Helen, many of your tips for Obama are just as good for our small business owners.
13 Oct 09 Speakers Wanted
If you are a small business owner and consultant looking to speak at the 2010 Hudson Valley Business Edge,Please apply now as we are setting the lineup for 2010- What we are looking for is:
- A Good Public Speaker
- A topic of interest to most small business owners
- Willing to share 3 key takeaways that can a small business owner can start implementing the next day.
Think you fit that description?
Fill out an application here:
http://qedbusinessedge.com/Main/CallForPresenters
07 Oct 09 New Duct Tape Marketing Class Starting October 26th
Starting on Monday, October 26th, another session of the Duct Tape Marketing Classes will be forming. This is a 12 session (10 group, 2 1 on 1 sessions) series of workshops designed to help independent professionals, Entrepreneurs and small business owners get more and better clients.
We are currently planning on meeting at Pizzeria Uno on Rt 9 in Wappingers Falls on the following dates, from 6PM to 8:30 PM.
October 26- #1 The Marketing Hourglass and how to use it
November 2- Your positioning statement
November 16- “Branding- what it really is, and really isn’t/ Getting your message across
November 23- Marketing Kits- How and why to build and use them
December 7th- Marketing Kits part 2:
December 14th- Advertising
January 4th- Public Relations
January 11th- Referral Flood, specifically how to generate one.
January 18th- Harnessing the Internet
January 25 – Search Engine Optimization basics
February1- Make up date in case of severe weather.
The two one on one sessions can be scheduled at any time you wish, on whatever topic you choose.
The cost of the class is a $500 deposit, and then $250 a month for the following 11 months. If you prefer to prepay entirely, I offer a 20% discount on the total amount.
I will need the deposits by October 19th to ensure that I have the materials for the class in time
Those Materials are:
Marketing Plan Pro (a $197 value)
The Ultimate Marketing System workbooks and CD’s (a $399 value)
Duct Tape Marketing- The Book (a $17.99 value)
Yes, The instruction I give is fully guaranteed- Meaning – If for whatever reason the strategy and tactics we discuss don’t help to significantly increase your business, I will buy back all of your materials and refund ALL of your money within 60 days.
Duct Tape Marketing- Simple, Effective, Affordable
Tags: advertising, Branding, Duct Tape Marketing Class, Duct Tape Marketing Class Subjects, Internet Marketing, Marketing Hourglass, Marketing Kits, Positioning, Public Relations, Refferals
04 Oct 09 Two Social Networking sites you OUGHT to be on but I bet you aren’t (And Why you should join another 2 networking sites)
I’m personally expecting a bad summer movie coming soon to a theater near you called “Not another Damm Social Networking Site!” And yes, like many really bad sp
oof comedies that there are way too many of, there are far too many social networking sites, and it is indeed full time jobs for folks just to keep them all up to date. What sometimes gets lost is the reason that you want to be involved with multiple social networking sites. The goal is to get someone to find you wherever THEY choose to find you and to get them to go to your own site, from the social bookmarking sites. You do that by linking relevant and interesting information onto the social media sites so that they find out about YOU.
So the first obvious question is: How do you possibly find time for all of the social networking sites? The answer brings up cheating, and why I highly encourage you to do so, and a great way to “Cheat” I’ve found is:
1) Ping.FM- (www.Ping.FM) is a brilliant (and FREE) site to use that will update your status on most of your social networks at once, saving you the time, effort and energy of posting the same link/photo/video/whatever at once. I spent about 20 minutes setting it up (helping it login to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and a few others) and from now on, when I have something to share with any one, any way they care to follow me I just need to go to one site and put it down in 120* characters or less (If I’m tweeting) and a minute or so later, ALL of my social networks have been updated.
One of the biggest frustrations I have is with Linked-In. It SHOULD be a good professional networking site, and it SHOULD be a great tool for anyone to spend lots of time updating and maintaining. But, let’s be honest.
It’s NOT.
Why?
Linked-in is designed by and primarily for corporate headhunters to have discreet conversations with higher level staff to see how they can ‘bag’ them for another corporation. If you understand this, it suddenly makes sense why it is harder than it should be to post an event, show off your expertise and connect usefully with others; but it’s quite easy to post a virtual resume online.
So you’ve heard read my rant about Linked-In. So what do I suggest as an alternative?
2) www.Biznik.com – Biznik.com is designed from the bottom up by and for people looking to grow their business through networking. While it isn’t highly used in the Hudson Valley yet, I think that will change once more people realize this site might be going somewhere soon. This site is highly search engine optimized (meaning that time you spend here will go a long way in sending people to your web site, which is a VERY good thing).
Looking for an invite? E-mail Randy@AimOneMarketing.com and in the subject line put in: Biznik.
Only (partial) down side- they don’t allow any pitching of MLM.
Tags: Biznik, Cheating with social media, Ping.FM, SEO with Social Media, Social Media
30 Sep 09 What is the Least effective form of advertising?
Ask Professor Aimone:
Q- What is the least effective form of Advertising?
A- For small businesses, I don’t think that any particular tactic- be it radio, TV, websites, billboards, trade shows or newspapers is inherently wrong (ok, maybe yellow pages). What I do find the least effective form of advertising tends to be when people are trying to implement the wrong strategy. If your sole goal is to “Get your name out there” and to execute a “branding campaign” your marketing efforts will probably fail if you need results in briefer than a 2-5 year period.
There is a classic analogy of your marketing budget as a glass of water, and the goal is to fill it to overflowing. Nice analogy, and yes, when you blanket the area you do increase the chances that someone notices you. So what’s the problem I have with that analogy?
What happens to the advertising you’ve poured in if you can’t afford to fill the glass to overflowing?
How do you know before you start how big that glass you need to overfill is anyway?
When you pour advertising into the glasses, how do you know you are pouring it into the same glass?
Answers upcoming-
Have a Question on Small Business Marketing for Professor Aimone? Send an E-mail to Randy@AimOneMarketing.com, and if your question is chosen, you’ll receive a free gift (of up to a $125 value)
Tags: advertising, Branding, braning campaings, Duct Tape Marketing, Overfilled waterglass, Professor Aimone, Randy Aimone
28 Sep 09 Need H.E.L.P. with your social media strategy?
One of my colleagues posted the following Blog entry, which I want to forward you to here:
http://www.marketingtwins.com/2009/marketing-coaching/4-business-guidelines-to-using-social-media/
He uses the Acronym “H.E.L.P.” to help you decide how to best use twitter, Facebook, linked-in and all 1000 other social media sites.
07 Sep 09 Business Lessons from the Phone Company
Business Lessons from the Phone Company
I look at what the phone company does and do the opposite.
- Craig Newmark
I’m expanding this to the cable company as well. They are, after all, now starting to offer each other’s core services with the same low level of actual service. Do I think now that most cable and phone companies have real competition that the service will start getting better? Yes. Are their current service levels yet acceptable? Nope- As a matter of fact- PLEASE- I want to hear phone company/cable company service hero stories!
1) The Phone Company spends little time, energy and effort on customer service.
Why? Because if you want phone service, you HAD to go through the phone company. So they feel they can afford to abuse customers because most people stay with them, because, let’s face it- many of us preferred having phones and giving our money to a company we hate, than not having phones. So if the phone company measured ‘loyalty’ after customer service incidents- I bet for years the retention rate was nearly 100%.
For the record, I recall noticing some national banks that are measuring loyalty the same measure recently.
2) The Phone Company is ignorant of current events.
Of the major phone companies 15 years ago, AT&T and Verizon are the only ones that started competing with cell phones by offering lines of their own. This transformed Verizon into a national company from a local one, and AT&T jumped on so late and so poorly that they felt they needed to change their name to Cingular to help erase their past mistakes.
3) The Phone Company lies to their customers.
During my last “job” I had invested in many tracking phone numbers that proved to be very accurate. The phone company in one of our yellow pages books ALSO was able to track the same number. This filled me with marketing geeky glee to see how accurate the calls we were getting from the yellow pages reporting really were.
Our count during one month- 14. The Yellow Pages count (same number, same facility remember. . .)? 32.
For the record- new sales leads from that number (our giant $1,500-a-month ad) was 4. New sales closes were 1, and that facilities normal closing ratio among all lead sources was around 65%. Math & Excel Wizards- feel free to do the math.
4) The Phone Company is just plain rude.
How many people have gotten estimates from their phone or cable companies that the technician will be there between 8 AM and 1 PM? And then the service person shows up at 1:45 and insists he’s on time? Yes, that’s happened to me too, you aren’t alone.
It should be very easy to give a more accurate estimate based on which location is first, second and third. And you ought to be able to get a call, e-mail and or text 20 minutes prior so you aren’t glued to your house. And if you’re taking a vacation day from work, at the very least they ought to let you to sleep in if you aren’t going to be first in line that morning.
So how are you making your customer unfairly wait on YOUR schedule? Are you asking them to account for expenses you should be taking up? Remember- to many people TIME is an expense.
5) The Phone Company fights for the right to do outdated business.
In my town of New Windsor, Verizon’s FIOS service is all around my home, and I know the Fiber-Optic cable passes right by my house (I watched them install it about 3 years ago), yet I can’t subscribe because Time Warner made a deal with the local government that FIOS can only be offered to new home construction. Does this keep me as a “Loyal” client to Time Warner?
Yes.
Does it mean that I try to make fun of Time Warner whenever possible, for example in this blog post?
Also, yes.
General Motors did this by lobbying for years at tremendous cost for lower fuel standards successfully. So now, they are in a much weaker position to compete globally because they weren’t even forced to keep up with the other global car manufacturers now that fuel efficiency is something many more people are taking into account when they purchase a car.
So did General Motors really “Win” by changing the playing ground to sell SUV’s for a couple more years?
Are the health insurance companies doing this now to combat health care reform?
Tags: Cable Company Marketing, lying to your customers, outdated business., Phone Company Marketing
01 Sep 09 Your Logo vs. Your Brand
Many people believe that their logo is their brand, and that they should make it as large, prominent and flashy to stand out from the crowd as much as possible- you know- to get noticed!
And that is why many advertisements fail.
What often gets lost in the ‘branding’ process is that your brand is much more than a cute logo, or your face, or how you write your company’s name. I work with many businesses that thought that if they displayed their expensive logo as large as possible people will walk/call/E-mail them and hand them thousands of dollars and say “Wow- you’ve got a very impressive logo- I couldn’t wait to give you my money! Thank you for taking it from me!”
So I ask you- how often have YOU had that conversation with someone you decided to do business with? Heck, when is the last time you paid more than a 20% premium on the “Brand Name” with no other clear differences? My guess is, as the savvy shopper I bet you are… is a long, long time ago.
So what is a brand really- and what builds up real, bankable brand equity?
A true “Talking Logo” is what your customers think when they think about your company. Hopefully, it is what you tell them your brand means- but many brands are simply what customers perceive you as. I know many people who pay a premium to the Sony name- Not because they spent an absurd amount of money on the font they write their logo with- but because the Sony name has a reputation for “Quality, innovative electronics.” So if I have a bit more money to spend on a TV/Computer/Game Console- I might choose to have a couple more features and slightly better quality that I expect from Sony as opposed to the other choices.
A graphical logo we have to be trained to understand, and associate with your brand. This takes countless repetitions and is very expensive to pull off… but for what purpose? If your graphical logo just means you need a size larger Yellow Page ad, billboard or newspaper ad- but the larger size isn’t getting you a single extra client- is it worth it?
Instead of spending time working with a graphical logo, try this instead:
Duct Tape Mad-Libs:
I think we all remember Mad-Libs from our childhood car rides- You just need to fill in the blanks for YOUR company:
I/We ___(Action)____ to/for ______(Target Market)___________ _______(Key Benefit)__________.
So your Duct Tape Mad Lib- if you are a Florist-
We create for homes and brides, delightful scents and images.
How do you know if you’ve come up with a successful Duct Tape Mad Lib?
After you answer the question of “What do you do?” with your Mad Lib, the next question you are asked is:
“How do you do that?”
Tags: advertising, Branding, Mad Libs
13 Aug 09 Aim One Marketing is now partnering with Swiftpage
SwiftPage can be a powerful tool for bringing your clients through the marketing hourglasss.
More Information on Swiftpage can be found here.
Swiftpage, the number one integrated email marketing solution for ACT! by Sage, introduces a marketing automation platform to its already robust service – giving you the tools to automatically reach out to your ACT! Contacts, Groups, Look Ups and Companies.
Swiftpage Service Highlights include:
On Demand Marketing
World -Class Email Marketing - Integrated into your ACT! environment gives you the ability to Create, Send and Track Email Marketing blasts.
Survey Tool - Gather valuable data from prospective or current customers and automatically build new or update your existing ACT! contacts.
Sales Force Automation -
Swiftpage Call List – A ranked list of your most interested contacts based on the way the interacted with your email marketing blast.
Send As - Allow one user to send on behalf of your entire sales team
Snapshot tab - Gather valuable contact profile information from the web with a single click and more.
Marketing Automation -
Swiftpage Drip Marketing – Swiftpage Drip Marketing blends simple functionality, like the ability to automatically send a sequence of marketing messages to a contact that fills out a form on your website, with intelligent technology that will send different messages to contacts based on their previous actions. For example, send a postcard to those that did not open the previous email – automatically!
Tags: Drip Marketing, Drip Marketing Hudson Valley, Drip Marketing Poughkeepsie, Email Marketing, SwiftPage, Swiftpage reseller, SwiftPage Trainer
23 Jul 09 KFC – How a Great Product can Outshine Mediocre Marketing
A recent Ad Age report (http://adage.com/article?article_id=137962) discusses how KFC in light of it’s recent Grilled Chicken un-think Oprah coupon blunder has actually caused Marketing Analysts to un-think their predictions of failure for the chain.
They thought telling a customer to un-think everything a brand usually stands for and go for something new and seemingly unrelated to southern home cooking was incorrect and doomed from the start. However, they now have a 3% increase in same store sales and positive numbers on repeat customers for the grilled chicken. In fact the article states that they are outperforming the entire fast food industry by 1% Why is that?
Truth is, it’s just a great product that the increasingly heath conscious and budget conscious consumer wanted. As long as KFC got the word out that this was available people were ready to try it. If you have a truly great product, even if you have some Marketing mistakes or nay-sayers, as long as you get the word out there and get people talking and walking to try the product it will succeed. However, if the product sucks and even if you have the best marketing, most likely it won’t do well for long once people catch wind of this. Always strive to come out with an awesome product/service that will not only get people talking but get people coming back. An 85% repeat rate for KFC is awesome and i hope more fast food companies start to un-think a bit and cater to this type of consumer.
Tags: advertising, AimOne Marketing, KFC, Marketing, Oprah, Sarah Lipkin