Face it. Saturday night is a throw away night for network TV. I have some other videos for you to watch right here.
From Seth Godin:
Some brand new juicy videos from American Express. Special incredible bonus: Tom Peters, too.
From my email this week:
Here's how you EARN someone's attention and respect
I appreciate getting them because it helps me make this blog useful to you, the readers. But, what I appreciate even more is when the person doing the pitch actually makes an effort to personalize the interaction which is in direct opposite to what happens most of the time - I get a generic e-mail (no doubt sent out to 100 of my closest blogging friends) and just filling in my name at the top.
This is NOT a post about how to pitch a blogger. I think it's about PR and building relationships, as opposed to the mass production mentality of just doing a mass mailing and wondering why no one picked up the story.
I'd like to tell you a little about two pitches that stood out and the results of those pitches.
John Rosen, author of Stopwatch Marketing
A few months before John's book was released, he started reading and commenting here at the Marketing Minute. He also engaged me in a genuine e-mail conversation about the work we both do, his familiarity with Des Moines and eventually his book.
By the time he asked me to review the book - we knew each other. So when I got his book - I read it right away (my review here) and shared it with my readers within the week. (Keep in mind, I get 2-5 books a week and am always struggling to keep up. Normally, he'd have had to wait a month or so.)
Then, John really proved that he was a savvy marketer. He didn't need me anymore (in terms of his new book) but he continued to invest in the relationship. We e-mail, comment on each other's blogs and stay in touch to this day. When we were looking for giveaways for Blogger's Social - John was willing to donate copies of his book. Having your book in the hands of 100+ smart and vocal marketers is a wise strategy.
John understands the power of relationships and investing your efforts before you ask for the favor. Smart.
Bob Bloom, author of The Inside Advantage: The strategy that unlocks the hidden growth in your business
Bob Bloom is the former U.S. CEO of advertising mega-giant Publicis Worldwide. Suffice it to say, I had heard of Bob's work. Pretty sure he had not heard of mine. I received a pitch to review his book and it came from Bob's publicist. As you might expect, the publicist followed none of John Rosen's techniques, so the book got tossed into the pile and I reviewed it about 2 months after receiving it. (My review here)
I thought it was an excellent and insightful book and said so. Bob is not just a marketing guy, he gets business. A valuable and rare combination, in my eyes.
Fast forward about a month after I posted the review. My desk phone rings and I pick it up. Who is on the line - but Bob Bloom. He called so that we could get to know each other a little bit and to thank me for the review. We ended up talking for about 15-20 minutes and much like my contact with John Rosen - it was genuine. We talked about clients and he told me about his new effort - working one on one with business owners.
Bob went out of his way to listen, comment thoughtfully and I completely forgot what a big deal he was...which just goes to prove what a big deal he truly is.
Two different approaches but some common threads:
As we continue to slog through the economic downturn - these truths don't cost much but can yield long-term gains. How can you bring these truths to life in your dealings with customers, prospects and the media?
Sphere: Related ContentNot surprising, but in case you needed the numbers:
Oct 20, 2008
The HuffingtonPost.com saw its user base soar a whopping 457 percent
From the folks at BusinessKnowHow.com:
by Kelley Robertson
author of Stop, Ask, and Listen
Do you have prospects that seem to give you the run-around? They expressed interest in your product or service when you first contacted them but now they don't return your calls, reply to your emails or seem interested in making a buying decision.
Persistence is an essential trait that successful sales people possess. The ability to stick with a specific task, continue in the face of adversity, or use different strategies to achieve your goal is critical if you want a long-term career in sales and business.
However, there is a distinct difference between this and beating your head against a wall trying to convince a prospect to buy your product or service. Recent conversations with some of my newsletter subscribers reminded me how often people get caught in the trap of thinking they can (or should) close every deal that comes their way. Simply put, there comes a time when you have to let go and give up.
However, if you're not quite prepared to do that, here are five suggestions that may turn that cold potato into a hot one.
1. Consider creating an email list and adding those people into a monthly email campaign. Some of them will have their situation change and still others are simply very busy with something that is more urgent. Without monthly email follow-up, you can lose the people that were temporarily distracted as well as those whose situation changed.
2. If you have another contact in the company ask them for input or to find out why the decision has been stalled. This is particularly effective if you have developed a good relationship with that person especially if they can act as your champion or cheerleader.
3. Develop a 'keep-in-touch' campaign to keep your name in their mind. They may not be ready to buy now, but their situation could change in the future and you want them to remember you. You can stay in touch via postcards, letters, articles, newsletters, etc.
4. Befriend the decision-maker's executive assistant and tap into that individual's insight and knowledge. In some cases, the E.A. can help you find a different way to approach the executive. In other situations, they might be able to give you a reason why the sale did not happen or even what you could do differently in the future.
5. Ask yourself 'How important is this sale?' If your answer is 'very important' determine what other actions or approaches you are willing to take to make the sale happen. If this was the most important sale of your career would you give up or would you find a creative way to pursue it?
When a hot prospect turns cold and you have done everything possible to move the sale forward but they aren't responding it's time to drop that cold potato and focus your attention on other opportunities. It is essential to recognize that you only have a limited number of hours in a given day, week or month. That means you need to invest this time wisely because once it is used up you can't get it back. Spinning your wheels trying to convince an unmotivated prospect to make a decision may not be the best way to use your time.
Many people fail to realize just how valuable their time is. If you spend an inordinate amount of time trying to close a sale that has a low probability of success, then you are not generating a high payoff on your time. That means you need to engage in activities that will have the highest payoff. A simple rule of thumb to follow is asking, "What is the best use of my time, right now?" You should also consider the potential value of each sales opportunity. Chasing a high-value sale is a better use of your time than following up on a sale that is of low value (revenue and/or profit). A good friend of mine used to go after every sale that came his way. However, after several years of chasing leads that led to few sales, he now targets his efforts on the high-value opportunities. This has substantially increased his revenues in a very short time.
While it is mentally difficult to drop a potential sale, this strategy will free up your time to focus on higher quality leads which will lead to higher sales. When you have done everything in your power to capture that sale but it has completely stalled or hit a dead end, then you need to make an all-important decision. Is it worth your time and effort to continue following that lead? Only you can make that choice.
Copyright 2008 Kelley Robertson, All rights reserved.
From Mediapost:
by Karlene Lukovitz 
by Sarah Mahoney 
This story appeared this week is USA Today:
Wal-Mart sees shifts in shoppers' buying habits
Economic pain is leading to what Eduardo Castro-Wright termed "disturbing behaviors" among shoppers over the past few months.
For instance, more families are buying baby formula at the start of the month when they are more likely to have money. In the past, he said, the chain hadn't noticed such surges in formula sales.
A double-digit decline in credit card use at Wal-Mart stores in the second quarter this year sharply contrasts with the first quarter of 2007, when a vibrant economy was resulting in double-digit increases in card use.
"Credit has been declining dramatically," said the Ecuador-born executive who has run Wal-Mart Stores USA for three years. "That decline in credit means people have to make choices about how they spend their hard-earned money."
Many don't have a choice when it comes to their form of payment.
"They have maxed out on their credit limits," Castro-Wright said in an interview after a speech to Town Hall Los Angeles, a non-profit that provides a forum for public figures and opinion makers. "Customers are really going through some hard times."
The observations are significant because of Wal-Mart's massive scope, with 4,000 U.S. stores. Castro-Wright said nine out of 10 American families shop at Wal-Mart at least once a year.
How financial hurt is showing:
•Money worries. About 80% of shoppers cite "personal financial security" as their top concern in internal surveys, up from 65% just a few months earlier, he said. A year ago, the price of gasoline was the top concern.
More consumers worry: "Will I have enough to put on the table so my family can eat?" Castro-Wright added.
•Fewer name brands. Wal-Mart has seen a rise in purchases of staples instead of discretionary items. Shoppers have more then doubled purchases of private-label items, eschewing name brands. Castro-Wright said, however, that Wal-Mart has no immediate plans to change the stores' merchandise mix to take advantage of the trend.
•Changing shopping patterns. Some shoppers aren't coming to the stores as often so they don't have to drive as much. Others, who may be unemployed, are coming more frequently to buy a few items when they have money in their pockets, he said.
And more sales are showing up around paydays. Wal-Mart has seen a 2.5% increase in sales at the start and the middle of the month, when workers are paid, compared with four months ago.
Wal-Mart is responding to slower growth by cutting back on capital investment and not opening as many new stores.
He also pointed to the chain's program to sell generic prescription drugs at $4, which he said has saved some of the neediest consumers more than $1 billion.
He also pledged that Wal-Mart won't cut back on philanthropic spending this year, though other corporations may be forced to reduce their charitable donations.
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We are in the home stretch for the political advertising. But even without all those ads, we need to be sure we are doing what we can to reach the eyes and ears of buyers.
From the Wall Street Journal this week:
It's hard to cut through the clutter.
Even as customers are constantly bombarded with advertising messages, they are getting progressively better at tuning out the endless stream of come-ons. Companies then typically up the ante and try to out-shout their competitors to draw attention. All of which just leads to more shouting, and everybody is drowned out.
So, what can a company do to get noticed?
Here are five questions marketers should ask themselves as they craft new strategies to capture customers' attention in an increasingly noisy marketplace.
Can the marketing stimulus be delivered at a time when the customer has few other distractions?
Marketing messages should target customers at times when they are unoccupied, perhaps even actively seeking some sort of information to process. Consider, for example, an airplane on the landing path into an airport. Sitting upright, with in-flight entertainment and electronic devices switched off, passengers have little to do but to look out of the window and wait for the aircraft to land.
Seeking to capitalize on this opportunity, London-based Ad-Air Group PLC places advertisements flat on the ground over an area as large as five acres alongside flight paths in and out of the world's busiest airports. Depending on their landing approach, passengers are provided with an unrestricted view of an ad for more than 10 seconds.
Can the marketing message be designed to pique the customer's curiosity?
Piquing customers' curiosity can be more effective than inundating them with information. Stimuli that are carefully placed, so that they are encountered in sequence, can be particularly successful at this task.
Consider a series of billboards along a busy interstate proclaiming the approach of a business, but not really saying what the business does. To find out what the business is all about, travelers have to take an exit off the highway. While some may be disappointed with what they find and may not plan a second visit, there are always millions more of the uninitiated coming down the highway. This technique has been used to good effect by South of the Border, a Mexican-themed shopping and food cluster on I-95 near the border of the Carolinas.
Can the marketing message piggyback on another brand?
With television and newsprint media being increasingly saturated, marketers need to seek out new and interesting formats and media for their messages.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., for example, has teamed with Adidas AG on a range of motorsport-inspired driving and sports shoes. The soles of these shoes are made of rubber with tread patterns designed by Goodyear. If customers viewed the shoe purely as an Adidas product, Goodyear's contribution would remain unnoticed. However, the Goodyear brand is prominently displayed on the outsoles of the shoes. The result is that every person wearing the shoes is now a messenger for the Goodyear brand.
Can the product or service occupy a piece of the physical environment that the customer frequently interfaces with?
Consumers today tend to spend inordinate amounts of time interfacing with just a few objects -- for many, it is their computer screen at work. Marketers must consider how they can capture the customer's attention when they interface with these objects. Customers, however, guard access to these objects zealously.
Southwest Airlines Co. has figured out how to do this, using a small software application called DING! This application, which customers can download, occupies a space on the icon bar of a desktop computer. Limited-time offers and news from Southwest are announced with a sound and highlighted by an envelope that displays over the icon. Customers can react to the offers by booking trips to their favorite destinations.
Can your company build into its messaging a consistent stimulus that affects one or more of the five physical senses?
Successful marketing messages excite customers not only when they first encounter them -- they ingrain themselves into the customers' permanent memory. Once a message is embedded, customer resistance to processing it drops when it is encountered in the future.
Cough-drop maker Ricola AG, which uses herbs cultivated in the Swiss Alpine regions for its products, invokes the image of the Alpine mountains and meadows in its advertising, which often features herders who harmoniously sing out the word "Ricola" into open, echoing meadows. The singing is accompanied by the blowing of an alpenhorn -- a long, curved wooden wind instrument with a distinctive, booming sound that was used by Swiss herders to call their cows from the pastures. The company has employed the sound and the imagery with such remarkable consistency that today, for many people, the sound of the horn alone is sufficient to invoke the rich imagery and heritage associated with the brand.
Not each of these five questions will necessarily generate a great idea for every company. But they do provide a common language for comparing, debating and improving managers' proposals.
—Dr. Balasubramanian and Dr. Bhardwaj are professors of marketing at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, N.C. They can be reached at reports@wsj.com.Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
See these related articles from MIT Sloan Management Review.
By Tony Meenaghan (Fall 1996)
The author traces the recent growth in corporate sponsorship of various sporting events as a marketing tool and elaborates on some of the complexities of gaining sponsorship rights.
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/1996/fall/8/
By Fareena Sultan and Andrew J. Rohm (Summer 2008)
The mobile platform provides the perfect mechanism for reaching young consumers.
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2008/summer/12/
By Frederick E. Webster Jr., Alan J. Malter and Shankar Ganesan (Summer 2005)
In many companies, there has been a marked fall-off in the influence, stature and significance of the corporate marketing department.
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2005/summer/08/
By Hermann Simon (Spring 1997)
Hysteresis is a marketing phenomenon in which a temporary change in one factor causes a permanent change in another.
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/1997/spring/3/
Here's the latest from Craig in Australia:
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| Wizard Partners Australia. Call Us: (07) 4728 4866 |
My 2nd Jill Konrath article for the day:
Selling to Big Companies Blog |
What does "Joe the Plumber" have to do with sales?
Posted: 22 Oct 2008 09:38 AM CDT
The McCain camp had clearly identified their target market: uncommitted blue collar male voters who could still be swayed with the right message - big government taking their hard-earned money.
McCain's PR machine jumped on the "real Joe" after seeing him talk with Obama during a campaign stop. With a stroke of genius, Joe the Plumber became the new working-class poster boy.
And the conversation changed. Suddenly we were evaluating the candidate's proposals based on how they impacted Joe. McCain & Obama started talking to one person, not an amorphous group of nondescript citizens.
We need to do the same as marketers & sellers.
That's right. We need to create customer personas in order for us to fine-tune our messaging and ensure it's effective. Perhaps you sell to multiple decision makers. If so, then you need multiple personas.
Whenever I'm doing training for a sales organization, this is one area I cover almost every time. It makes that much difference. For example, if my client sells to Marketing, we may create personas on these positions:
If all these people are involved in the decision process, we need to know how they think in order to be effective. Specifically we need to know their:
Until & unless we really know Marnie the Marketer, we will struggle in our ability to ensure that our message hits home.
So that's why Joe the Plumber is important to us!
Sphere: Related ContentWe're going to find out if Google has the power to sell phones. First, here's the tv ad:
Next there's the advertising on the Google Search page:
From Jill Konrath:
Selling to Big Companies Blog |
Dealing with the "Close a Deal a Week" Manager
So Alex wants to know: How do I build a business case to convince my boss that it's worth going after these big companies?
Jill's Response
Alex, I have no doubt that your service will fit well with larger accounts. And, you're absolutely right about it taking more time to crack into corporate accounts and get their business.
However, I'm not sure you'll EVER get your deal-obsessed manager to value of the preliminary work you're doing to get your foot in the door.
People who think that sales is all about smiling & dialing literally have no comprehension of the new way of selling. For them, unless you're making calls you're not doing your job. They think research, analysis, and preparation time is all wasted time.
If you talk with your sales manager about your ideas, he may agree to let you give it a try. However, when the sales don't come in quickly, they start to panic. Then they start putting pressure on you to make more calls.
Before long, they want you to abandon your corporate account entry campaigns and go back to sure deals with little firms. Unless, of course, you happen to strike it rich with a big company right away.
I suspect that's not what you want to hear. But that's what I see – over and over. Management is under intense pressure to deliver short-term results. If they don't, their own jobs are at risk. So fear prevents them from investing in the very strategies that could take their sales to the next level.
So where does that leave you? In my opinion, you have 3 choices:
1. Keep pursuing the smaller accounts. Do what you're expected to do.
2. Keep pursuing the smaller accounts, but target a few big companies to pursue in addition to your normal workload. Let your boss know what you're doing, but don't make a huge deal out of it. Be willing to invest personal time on research, etc. When you get the business, that's proof enough.
3. Leave the company. If you truly believe in the "Selling to Big Companies" approach to sales, you'll have a hard time working for a boss who thinks it's all about dialing for dollars. There are lots of companies out there who are desperately seeking a true consultative salesperson.
If any of you have ideas on how to convince the "close a deal a week" sales manager that pursuing big companies is a good investment of time - even if it takes a while to get results - please share them ....
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Today's news, tonight:
by Sarah Mahoney 
by Aaron Baar 
by Karl Greenberg Going through my emails after work and I saw this from AdAge.com:
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| Taco Bell's 'Steal a base, steal a taco' ad. |
The Wall Street Journal reports on a trend I have seen in my town for the past couple of years already:
As mall and shopping-center owners lose tenants in the souring economy, they are at least gaining something else: more advertising space.
![[Mall ads]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vYy0LLn-CUAExZ9X3-2k4zXM-es-aF9MSCYqLhLKS1UtAppZv5KT6ynY4U1-lxtkaSgHOhTuNDbFWT2-gcldcDmtrJzrzUjR6vyW0bp_2qClABCNh0tRlwernIbRD4vaO73uwMeqAeqxkSgcgRdRPy=s0-d)
Inwindow OutdoorAn Inwindow Outdoor ad display on West 34th Street in New York City late last year.
Upstart companies have cinched deals in recent weeks to plaster ads across the growing number of vacant storefronts in U.S. malls and shopping centers. Ads also are multiplying in unconventional venues such as food-court table tops, parking-space divider lines and security vehicles.
Rotten times for retail landlords have added momentum to the emerging industry of in-mall advertising. Vacant storefronts are one of the fastest-growing ad venues. Vacancy rates at malls and shopping centers this year have hit their highest levels in at least seven years, and vacancies likely will increase next year, according to real-estate research firm Reis Inc. Among the retailers closing stores across the country are chains Linens 'n Things Inc., Wilson's the Leather Experts Inc. and Whitehall Jewelers Holdings Inc.
Amid mounting store closures and retailer bankruptcy filings, opportunistic ventures are offering mall owners a method to derive revenue from the empty spaces. Founded in 2005 by Boston entrepreneur Adam Dell, WindowGain Inc. sets up multiple projectors inside a vacant store to shine images out onto the store's exterior windows. The projectors allow WindowGain to cycle through as many as six 10-second video advertisements on a single surface to catch the attention of passersby.
Inwindow Outdoor LLC, started in 2002 by New York Internet entrepreneur Steve Birnhak, takes the more static approach of stretching high-definition vinyl overlays across the surface of exterior windows to hawk anything from Red Bull GmbH energy drinks to Delta Air Lines Inc. flights to LG Electronics Inc. televisions.
Both companies still are relatively new, but they are gaining converts. Inwindow this month struck deals to put its ads on vacant stores in more than 50 malls and shopping centers owned by retail-property heavyweights General Growth Properties Inc., Westfield Group and Developers Diversified Realty Corp. WindowGain has installed its ad displays at General Growth malls in Boston and Providence, R.I., and at Boston Properties Inc.'s Shops at Prudential Center in Boston.
The proposition has little, if any, downside for landlords. Inwindow pays landlords a flat monthly rate of $1,000 to $8,000, depending on the ad's size and foot traffic passing the site, executives say. WindowGain pays $2,500 to $8,500 a month, plus 10% to 30% of the rates paid by advertisers including Comcast Corp., SABMiller PLC and Verizon Wireless.
The only concern, mall owners say, is that advertisers usually want the certainty of a 30- or 60-day contract, and landlords might want to cut that short if a new tenant comes calling.
Absent that, a little revenue is better than none. Developers Diversified would rather have tenants in its vacant spaces, but "we recognize this [ad program] as potential for six-figure revenue year after year," said Marc Feldman, vice president of new-business development. Analysts expect Developers Diversified to report roughly $915 million in revenue this year.
What's more, the ads mask unsightly gaps in a mall's storefronts. "It enlivens a space that's dead," Inwindow's Mr. Birnhak said.
To be sure, the revenue that mall owners gain from selling such ads will replace only a fraction of the rent lost from departing retailers. For example, advertising and sponsorship revenue has increased by almost 50% in the past four years for Glimcher Realty Trust, the Columbus, Ohio-based owner of 26 malls. But that revenue, combined with short-term seasonal leases, still amounts to only 3% of Glimcher's overall tally.
In-mall advertising isn't a new phenomenon, but it has been viewed as mostly a side venture. Mall and shopping-center owners have marketed themselves to advertisers as a more effective alternative to traditional media.
For example, Simon Property Group Inc., the largest U.S. mall owner by number of properties with more than 300 malls, touts that the average visitor to its malls spends 78 to 84 minutes per visit. And they aren't ignoring ads as they would while watching TV. "They're predisposed to buy, and they're predisposed to explore," said Mikael Thygesen, Simon's chief marketing officer.
To capitalize on that, mall owners have found several inventive ways to place ads in their properties, allowing the landlord to gain additional revenue or defray costs.
Glimcher has allowed an Internet company to apply neon-green, adhesive ads that cover the tops of tables in its food courts at a Newark, Ohio, mall. At Glimcher's Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, a local Honda dealership provides two sport-utility vehicles emblazoned with its logo for use by Glimcher's security force, and employees of the mall's valet service wear shirts sporting the dealership's name. At other Glimcher malls, ads for insurance companies are glued to the painted lines separating parking spaces.
Write to Kris Hudson at kris.hudson@wsj.com
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