Part 3 of 3 Phases of Successful Marketing

Welcome to Thursday and the conclusion of this 3-parter from Small Fuel:

The 3 Phases of Successful Marketing

Expert marketers know that the true goal of their craft isn’t simply to land the initial sale; instead, it is to cultivate an ever-growing base of loyal repeat customers. But many people have a hard time getting the customer to feel satisfied and ready to do business with them again, never mind getting customers so satisfied they’ll spread the word about their offerings.

To make sure you don’t leave money on the table, you need to give your customers the attention and service they deserve at all three critical transaction points: Before, During and After the sale.

Read on to discover if you are doing all the right things that turn a one-time customer into a consistent stream of income for your business.

The Third Stage: After The Sale

When the sale is final, it is critical that your follow-up system makes the customer feel safe, secure, and valued. At the minimum they should receive confirmation emails after their order and upon shipping so that they have a sense of connection with the order and know you haven’t forgotten them once their credit card has cleared (incidentally, these emails are prime opportunities to also let them know about additional offerings, since your customers are still in the buying mood).

Beyond the order and delivery, few things match the marketing effectiveness of “check-in” follow-ups. Contact the customer to ask them whether they are satisfied with their purchase (and make things right if they aren’t). Offer them special deals in the future as a way to show appreciation for their purchase. Offer them free information on complementary services or help them learn about new ways to take advantage of what they have already purchased. Go the extra mile to show them you still want to help solve their problems, even when there isn’t a transaction attached to it, and enjoy the positive word of mouth advertising that flows from your efforts.

How Do You Measure Up?

When it comes to your business, are you just “pushing sales,” or are you truly trying to wow your customers and develop long-term relationships with them? Set aside some time this month and ask yourself how you are treating the customer in each of these three areas, and what you might need to do differently to increase the lifetime value of your customers. Then put the answers you come up with into practice, and enjoy the boost in sales that comes with making your customers feel valued before, during and after every sale.

Read and comment on full article...

SmallFuel Marketing, Inc. 126 E 2nd St, Suite A, Media, PA 19063
Copyright (C) 2008 SmallFuel Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Wednesday Wrap Up

Clickable Headlines and Stories from my sources today:


Chicago Tribune to Cut 80 Newsroom Positions
The Chicago Tribune began informing staff Tuesday it will eliminate around 80 of its current 578 newsroom positions by the end of August and reduce the number of pages it publishes by 13 percent to 14 percent each week. There also will be a reduction of jobs in other Chicago Tribune departments, but that number was not immediately available. A paper spokesman declined comment. Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune reports. more »

Yang: Microsoft Squashing Us On Purpose
The Wall Street Journal
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang says that "to trust (Carl) Icahn and his board is really a bad choice," adding that Microsoft is trying to squash the company's share price without any real desire to complete a deal. Yang of course is responding to yesterday's news that Microsoft would be open to restarting acquisition talks with Yahoo if Icahn, the billionaire corporate raider, is able to wrest control of the company in a proxy fight next month. Icahn has said he would replace Yang if he succeeds.

Yang's position is that Yahoo is ready to strike a deal now, so why does Microsoft need to wait for a new board and CEO before reopening talks? He described Microsoft's unwillingness to negotiate "baffling". Microsoft, in response to Yang's claims, pointed to a statement the company issued on Monday: "We have concluded that we cannot reach an agreement with them. We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election, Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo."

Yang, meanwhile, now has to convince shareholders that he and the board should remain even if Microsoft is unwilling to work with them. "I think that I can bring stability back to Yahoo, and I want to get on with building company," Yang said. "I think that the destabilizing by Microsoft has become more and more intentional. I am not happy about it." - Read the whole story...

Google's 'Me Too' Virtual World
GigaOm
After 18 months of persistent rumors, Google finally launched its Second Life rival, unveiling a virtual world known as Lively on Tuesday. Sort of. GigaOm's Wagner James Au says Lively is more like "a series of virtual world chatrooms" than a "contiguous, immersive, fully user-created metaverse" like Second Life. Either way, he says, "Lively seems too similar to several existing (and very large) MMOs, making it an also-ran without a key market distinguisher to be truly compelling (besides being from Google)."

That said, you can do some cool things with these chatrooms, like embed them on your Web site, but ultimately, the cutesy, cartoonish avatars and classic virtual world feel amount to little that's original, Au says. "Without some special magic that I'm not seeing as yet, it could easily wind up being a virtual world version of Google Video, easily eclipsed by the YouTube-level dominance of Habbo Hotel/Club Penguin/Gaia Online/etc."

Then there's the 64 million dollar question: Why is Google, the Web's leading search provider, getting into virtual worlds in the first place? How does this fit in their world domination plan to organize all the world's information? - Read the whole story...

Report: Online Ad Growth To Slow On Weak Economy
Adweek
A new survey claims that America's slumping economy is having an effect on online ad growth. Conducted by William Blair & Co, the new survey forecasts that the gloomy economic outlook will contribute to slowing growth. The investment bank queried 150 Chicago-area interactive marketing companies about their budgets, and two thirds of respondents said economic conditions would affect spending.

According the results, the respondents expect Internet advertising to grow slightly more than 16% in the next year, less than the 19% William Blair tracked in previous surveys. Respondents pegged paid search and ROI-based direct response ads as the sectors most likely to thrive.

"Online's healthy, but the economy is definitely having an impact," Sean Riegsecker, CEO of Centro, a Chicago ad service for newspaper sites, told Adweek. "In a weak economy, people are going to move more towards direct response. We're seeing brand advertising take a much bigger hit this year." - Read the whole story...

Google Shows User Tracking Has Its Benefits
The New York Times
Most people who follow Google know that the company records the unique Internet Protocol addresses of every computer that connects to its products and services. For example, everything you've every searched for is retained by the search, although per a European Union mandate last year, the company now severs the link between IP addresses and search logs after 18 to 24 months. Privacy watchers and industry critics often wonder whether the potential privacy costs are worth it for consumers.

However, The New York Times' Saul Hansell says Google's user tracking has its benefits, too. Earlier this week, the company announced that Gmail users would soon have the option of seeing which computers are logged into their accounts and can read their mail. Like other Web mail programs, Gmail allows users to keep a given computer signed into their account so they don't have to keep retyping their user name and password. Of course, this means that if you check your mail on someone else's computer and forget to log off, the next person could read your mail. Google's will now give users a link that shows all machines currently logged into their account. It displays the type of machine (PC, mobile phone), the IP address, and how long the machine has been logged in, giving users the option to log out of any machine they don't want reading their mail.

OK, so this may not put to rest the argument about whether Google should be storing all that user information, but it is a handy feature that wouldn't be possible without user tracking. - Read the whole story...

YouTube Falls Short Of Expectations
The Wall Street Journal
YouTube will fall short of revenue expectations, generating about $200 million for Google this year, The Wall Street Journal reports in a revealing article about the state of the video-sharing giant. Earlier in the year, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company was working on new and innovative ad formats for YouTube, but according to the report, Google is merely planning to start accepting pre and post-roll ads, a format long shunned by the search giant because consumers don't like them. In fact, the Silicon Alley Insider reports that Google recently found that 80% to 90% of video watchers flee instantly the minute they see a pre-roll ad.

Meanwhile, most pages on YouTube are advertising-free. So why, you ask, doesn't Google start pasting AdSense ads all around the site? That's because, as The Journal reports, Google is actually scared to sell ads on 96% of its inventory. "Fearful of fueling allegations that it is profiting from copyright infringement, Google will only sell ads against YouTube clips that have been posted or approved by media companies and other partners -- roughly 4% of the total, says one person familiar with the matter."

The report claims that Google's fears stem from the billion-dollar Viacom suit, which alleges that Google profits from the dissemination of advertising on copyrighted material. According to SAI, this means that "either Google's going to need a legal ruling that gives it the go-ahead to make money on its copyright-violating inventory -- or it's going to have live with diminished expectations for its $1.65 billion business." - Read the whole story...

Out-Of-Home Alcohol Consumption Taking A Dive
by Karlene Lukovitz
[Food and Beverage] Although Americans traditionally drink as much--if not more--alcohol when economic times are tough, new data suggests that out-of-home alcohol consumption is dropping right alongside the economy. The hardest hit? Bars and restaurants on either coast, and wine, which is most often consumed in restaurants. - Read the whole story...

Kmart Strikes Deal To Become Dark Knight Headquarters
by Karl Greenberg
[Retail] Kmart is getting in on the promotion of the upcoming "Dark Knight" installment of the Batman franchise via a new licensing deal with Warner Brothers and DC Comics. The deal, which will render KMart "Batman Headquarters," includes exclusive merchandise and branded boutiques. - Read the whole story...

CMT, Wal-Mart And Others Gear Up For Elvis Week
by Sarah Mahoney
[Retail] Elvis Presley passed away on August 16, 1977, and every year the week of his death is commemorated by millions in their own way. For Wal-Mart that means being the only retailer to offer a new Presley-themed film, Elvis: Viva Las Vegas. CMT, meanwhile, will air the movie on August 11. Today, Elvis would be 72. - Read the whole story...

Harley-Davidson Reaches Out To Women
by Karl Greenberg
[Automotive] Any number of barriers prevent women from buying a Harley, and the legendary motorcycle brand will address as many as it can in the coming months as it kicks off an all-out push to woo more female riders. - Read the whole story...

Sony Ericsson Goes All Out On Purple Push
by Laurie Sullivan
[Telecom] Sony Ericsson is offering its Z750a cellular phone in a new color, purple, and is asking consumers to help spread the word by taking pictures or shooting videos of what purple means to them. - Read the whole story...

Avis Offers Digital Books And Tunes In Rental Cars

Chevy Launches New Compact, Cruze

Denny's Kicks Off Next Leg Of Casual Dining Push

Office Depot Says Economic Conditions Impacted Performance

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Local Connections

There's lots of ways to stay connected to friends, family, clients, and prospective clients. If you have a website, do they know about it?

Are you on an social networks? There is LinkedIn and Plaxo to name a couple that I am registered with, that are professional (and free).

If you are on Facebook, and or MySpace, be careful. There are things that could come back to bite you if you have crazy, fun loving friends.

We have a couple of social networks that are closer to home. There is Smaller Indiana, and the Fort Wayne Forum.

And if you were not yet aware, the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce's updated website is now on line.

And you can also check out the Chamber's blog, the Daily Dose, and subscribe free while you're there.

Click away and get connected!

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Ted's back

Just a quick media note, while listening to my local NPR station I heard a familiar voice.

For the details, read this from my email from Tom Taylor:

Ted Koppel signed a deal with National Public Radio a while back to be a Senior News Analyst, and they’re calling him off the bench this afternoon to host “Talk of the Nation.” Two topics scheduled for the former ABC “Nightline” host: China/U.S. relations, and living with cancer. His guests on the latter topic are NPR.org “My Cancer” blogger Leroy Sievers (who worked on Nightline for 14 years) and Elizabeth Edwards. Her breast cancer re-surfaced during husband John Edwards’ recent presidential campaign.

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Website Wisdom

A couple of good articles concerning your internet presence:

Your goal should be to remove as much friction as possible from your sales process. Friction is anything that prevents the customer buying from you. Smart business owners know the secret to success is not to make it easier for the seller, but to make it easier for the buyer. (Adapted from the best selling business book, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark, Chapter 3, page 21, Friction and Customer Experience.)

The two stories today look at reducing friction on your website.

In this issue:

1. Is Your Website Answering Questions or Simply Looking Pretty?

2. Web Strategy in a Nutshell

1. Is Your Website Answering Questions or Simply Looking Pretty?

By Roy H. Williams

People are looking for answers online.

Does your website provide these answers?

Your website needs to deliver: Information. Clarity. Truth.
Your website should be a window into the soul of your company:

1. Anticipate your customer's question.
This is why you must embrace persona-based writing.
2. Answer the question transparently.
Statements that don't ring true will score against you.
3. Make the answer easy to find.
This is a function of website architecture.

Does it surprise you to learn that most website programmers think exactly backwards from how customers think? An organizational hierarchy that's perfectly logical in the mind of a programmer is often frustratingly illogical in the mind of a customer.

Your website architecture dictates your customer's experience. Architecture has nothing to do with graphics. Did your website have an architect? Or was it designed by the programmer? By the graphic artist? By you?

A programmer asks, "Does it function?"
A graphic designer asks, "Does it 'feel right' and represent us well?"
An owner asks, "Does it say what I want it to say?"
An architect asks, "Did the customer find their answer?"

Mass media says, "Create traffic first. Answer their questions after they arrive."
Search engines say, "Create answers first. Store traffic will be created by the answers you provide."

Your website should be a relationship deepener. Having already interacted with your expert, open-all-night website, customers will walk into your store the next day already sold. We're seeing it constantly.

Are you?

CONFESSION: Most of what I've shared with you today was gleaned from my daily chats with the Eisenberg brothers. A few minutes with these guys saves me a lot of time and money.

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Don't Let Your Marketing Evolve On It's Own...

"The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction, and malperformance." - Peter Drucker

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2. Web Strategy in a Nutshell

By Wizard Partner, Dave Young

Your website must...

1. Be findable in the search engines
2. Have persuasive copy
3. Be designed for easy conversion

1. The non-SEO solution for Search Optimization
If you write your site in the language of your customers, talking about what's important to your customers, you'll likely need very little help from an SEO specialist. Because, if you are using the language and phrasing of your customers, your organic search results will do quite well.

One of the best ways to start getting good organic search results for this type of traffic is to start blogging. If you're diligent and smart about your phrasing, you'll start seeing results quite soon after your new content is indexed.

In addition, you'll need to follow good technical practices to make sure your site is easily indexed and the search engines can find your pages.

2. Persuasion
Having a persuasive site is much more difficult that it would seem at face value. Not all of your visitors are persuaded by the same information. They have different values, they have different needs and they have different levels of patience to let you tell your story. Persuasion Architecture is our preferred method to design a persuasive strategy for your site from the very beginning.

3. Conversion
Have you made it easy for your visitors to do what you desire them to do on your site? Do you have strong and easily-understood calls to action?

The above is simple... but not easy.

PS From the editor. Dave Young is our Online Persuasion Specialist. You could spend months, possibly years experimenting with Persuasion Architecture, or you could simply hire Dave's team to do it for you. Your results will happen much faster. (If you are an Australian company, contact the Australian office of Wizard of Ads at infoaust@wizardofads.com.)

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Closing Thought...

One important ingredient most sales people lack... Business Experience.

"Unless you've actually built and operated a successful business yourself, you can't really understand the true concerns of the business owner." - Steve Kaplan

Craig Arthur


Wizard of Ads
Po Box 984
Townsville, Queensland 4810

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Words That Make The Phone Ring

Here's some excellent insight from Mark Ramsey:

The sound of no phone ringing

You're all acquainted with public radio pledge drives.

Often the pledging is done with the sound of ringing phones in the background, where each ring represents another contribution to the station.

The intention is to demonstrate that other listeners are calling to pledge and thus encourage you to do likewise.

Of course, when the phones are not ringing, the signal is that listeners are not pledging.

In one interesting experiment quoted in the new book Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, a home shopping channel changed six words in one of its pitch segments and that simple change caused sales to skyrocket.

They changed the words "Operators are waiting, please call now" to "If operators are busy, please call again."

That is, they signaled that operators were busy, not waiting. And that means people like you are calling, and operators do not have time to check their Blackberries or file their nails.

This is co-author Robert Cialdini's "Principle of Social Proof" in action. The more I think folks like me are doing something, the more likely I am to do it myself.

It's what makes a trend a trend, it's what makes a hit a hit.

And it's what does not happen when you see or hear a bank of pledge drive phones silent.

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Part 2 of 3 Phases of Successful Marketing

Yesterday I gave you Part 1, Tomorrow you get Part 3. Today, our focus is on Part 2:

The 3 Phases of Successful Marketing

Expert marketers know that the true goal of their craft isn’t simply to land the initial sale; instead, it is to cultivate an ever-growing base of loyal repeat customers. But many people have a hard time getting the customer to feel satisfied and ready to do business with them again, never mind getting customers so satisfied they’ll spread the word about their offerings.

To make sure you don’t leave money on the table, you need to give your customers the attention and service they deserve at all three critical transaction points: Before, During and After the sale.

Read on to discover if you are doing all the right things that turn a one-time customer into a consistent stream of income for your business.

The Second Stage: During The Sale

Unfortunately for many companies, a customer who was won over by effective marketing decides to abandon the transaction during the buying process. From a business perspective this is a tragedy – and an avoidable one at that. Don’t allow yourself to be one of those marketers who is so focused on capturing a sale that you lose sight of the customer’s experience when they are ready to buy.

Some customers leave because of “impersonal” buying issues. Perhaps you’re not making it easy to find the return policy or the satisfaction guarantee. Maybe your online shopping cart is awkward or your telephone order lines are busy. Or you may even lose customers due to lack of features, like overnight shipping or gift wrapping. As a savvy marketer who is dedicated to understanding your customers, you should recruit someone outside your business to test drive the buying experience to discover if there are any rough spots that need smoothing out.

Other times, the issues that cause customers to cancel a transaction are entirely personal. Perhaps when the order line is finally answered, your operators are less than friendly or unable/unwilling to answer the customer’s specific questions. This kind of painful first impression can lose you much more than the initial sale, as it will leave a bad taste in the customer’s mouth – and you can be sure the word will get around. This is the key reason why many marketers use “mystery shoppers” to test the customer’s buying experience (and you should, too). Make the buying process painless and enjoyable, and you’re well on your way to seeing repeat business and referrals in your future.

Read and comment on full article...

SmallFuel Marketing, Inc. 126 E 2nd St, Suite A, Media, PA 19063
Copyright (C) 2008 SmallFuel Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Tuesday Night Clickables

As it says, Click on the headlines to read more from Mediapost:

Health And Wellness Category Defies Economy
by Sarah Mahoney
[Healthcare] While skyrocketing food and fuel prices change how consumers go about their day, those devoted to health and wellness products continue to go about their purchasing habits undeterred, according to a new study from the Natural Marketing Institute. - Read the whole story...

Kia Brings Out Trademark Humor For Borrego Campaign
by Karl Greenberg
[Automotive] Kia's new spot for the Borrego, its first body-on-frame SUV, continues the automaker's tradition of irony and self-deprecation in advertising--despite the new CEO's alleged disapproval of the company's sense of humor. - Read the whole story...

Fey, Scorsese Team Up For New AmEx Spot
by Aaron Baar
[Financial services] American Express has recruited comedienne Tina Fey and filmmaker Martin Scorsese for a new TV spot that highlights how its Platinum Card can "take care of you" when traveling. A corresponding print campaign will be shot by Annie Leibovitz. - Read the whole story...

Kohl's Launches Back-to-School Effort
by Karl Greenberg
[Retail] Department store chain Kohl's is launching a back-to-school campaign that ties in it with its existing "Inspired by Artists, Worn by You," effort. The "Inspired" campaign ties denim brands to pop culture and music stars and their products, a la Avril Lavigne and her "Abbey Dawn" line, and Tony Hawk's line of apparel - Read the whole story...

New Guidelines Recommend Reduced-Fat Milk For Toddlers
by Karlene Lukovitz
[health] Reduced-fat milk gets a leg up thanks to a new set of guidelines published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to the group, feeding children low-fat milk now can help prevent several health complications later in life. - Read the whole story...

Cadbury Becomes First Sponsor For MTV Interactive TV Poll
by Laurie Sullivan
[media] MTV Networks is trying to increase audience retention through commercial breaks with a new interactive poll feature. Viewers will be asked a poll question at the beginning of a commercial pod that they can answer via remote control, and the answers will appear when the show returns. Cadbury is the first sponsor. - Read the whole story...

Holiday Inn Reels In Biz Travelers With 'The Smart Show'
by Tameka Kee
[Tourism] Holiday Inn Express is launching a second season of "The Smart Show," a Web-based video series geared toward business travelers. Viewers will also find business travel and tech blogs, a crowd-sourced Deal of the Week (D.O.W.), as well as the chance to win a new car through the "Ultimate Road Warrior Challenge." - Read the whole story...

AutoTrader.com Taps Critical Mass

Target Readies Shaun White Line

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Read this before you Raise your Prices

From MarketingProfs.com:

Raising Your Prices? Read This.

It's getting more expensive to do business. And whether you face direct challenges like spiraling costs for transportation and raw materials, or simply feel the secondary effects, you might find yourself taking a deep breath as you prepare to raise your prices.

In a post at Harvard Business Online, John Quelch offers his advice for the best way to handle the situation. Here's a sampling:

Invest in market research. According to Quelch, the assumptions you hold about your customers won't necessarily hold true. "You must get out into the marketplace yourself," he says, "and talk to consumers directly to understand their pain points and how they are changing attitudes and behaviors in response to price inflation."

Redefine value. In inflationary environments, Quelch says, customers think in terms of absolute price rather than overall value. In other words, they'll choose a 99-cent can of soda over one that offers 50 percent more volume for $1.29. Repackaging your product or service to hit key price points might serve you well.

Unbundle. While customers might have appreciated bundled pricing in the past, the most cost-conscious might now consider the chance to select stand-alone products or services.

The Po!nt: Says Quelch, "The key here is to educate the consumer, apologize for the uncontrollable price increases, give price-sensitive consumers some promotional options, and reemphasize product benefits."

Source: Harvard Business Online. Click here for the full post.

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Build a stream of referrals

Joe Dager at Business901.com sends out a regular newsletter. These tips were included in his most recent:

Creating a Referral Strategy
In 7 Simple Steps

Step #1 -
Create a referral target market(s) - you must create a target list of companies and individuals who can be motivated to refer. This can be clients or a network of related businesses.

Step #2 -
Identify your ideal referral client - In order to receive high quality referrals you must be able to quickly communicate the exact type of person or business that makes a great referral.

Step #3 -
Create and communicate your core referral message - you must be able to easily explain the value you can bring to anyone who is referred. "We show remodeling contractors how to become famous in their specialty."

Step #4 -
Design a referral education system - When you meet with a potential referral source you can substantially increase the number and quality of referrals if you systematically educate them on: Who makes a great referral, what's in it for them to provide a referral, how to refer you, and the exact steps you plan to take with that referral

Step #5 -
Outline your referral lead offer and system - this is the heart and soul of the system. This is where you devise the creative offer that makes people want to refer you. Example: "Earn a 100% refund on your tax return preparation when you refer 4 people who become clients."

Step #6 -
Create a referral conversion strategy - what good are referral leads if they don't become referral clients? You must map out a specific set of steps that will allow you to convert your referral leads. What do you do if the phone rings?

Step #7 -
Identify a referral follow-up strategy - to bring your referral system full circle you need to devise two follow-up steps. 1) a way to continue to market to your referral leads that don't immediately turn into employees and 2) a way to systematically communicate the progress of a referral back to your referral sources to keep them motivated.

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Word Of Mouth Research

From the Church of the Customer Blog last week:

Online vs. offline word of mouth

Posted: 01 Jul 2008 03:28 PM CDT

People who do a lot of online research are significant sources of advice about products and services compared to adults who don't do much research, according to a new study of 15,727 people by BIGresearch.

"Do you give advice to others about products/services you have purchased?"

	Active online researcher	All adults
Regularly gives advice	47.0%	29.4%
Occasionally gives advice	49.8%	63.4%
Never gives advice	3.2%	7.2%

Source: BIGresearch, SIMM 11 (December 2007)

After searching, how do you communicate with others about a service, product or brand? (Check all that apply)

Face-to-face	72.7%
Email	63.2%
Telephone	55.0%
Cell phone	35.3%
Instant messaging	17.7%
Text messaging	13.1%
Online communities (e.g. MySpace, Facebook)	11.8%
Blogging	6.8%
Other	1.8%

Source: BIGresearch SIMM 11 (December 2007)

Contrast those numbers with a new study from Keller Fay which says 75% of word of mouth occurs in person, 17% on the phone, and just 7% online using instant messages, chat rooms, email and blogs.

BIGresearch and Keller Fay both found that three-quarters of adults tell others about stuff in person. But Keller Fay's numbers for brand conversations via the phone and online tools are markedly different than those from BIGresearch.

"Apparently, the value of eye contact, voice and perhaps even non-verbal communication provides a boost to credibility and the likelihood that we'll do something about what we've learned," said Brad Fay, a study co-author.

Here's what I consider a flaw with that thinking: The frame of credibility. Being credible isn't dependent solely upon the medium in which a recommendation occurs. Credibility comes from an established position of trust, whether it's in-person or online, or from a preponderance of independent evidence, such as a collection of reviews on a product site like Amazon.

When Virginia raves about Costco on her blog, I trust Virginia and her opinion. In my eyes, she's a credible source regardless of the medium. Years ago, Amazon established the Real Names system, which attaches a person's actual name to their review of a product, reducing the likelihood of widespread sock puppetry.

Conversely, I may regularly come into contact -- online or offline -- with someone whose taste is dissimilar, or has trouble with evidence. Their rave about a product or service is going to be less credible in my eyes, even if it's in person.

When it comes to word of mouth, the medium is not necessarily the message. The person is.

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WoW 'em

Word's of Wisdom on Customer Service:

Welcome to this week's business insight by Shep Hyken. This
week's insight is titled:

The "Wow" Factor

This is a powerful one. You may have recently noticed a number
of books and articles about a concept called the "Wow" factor.
Many consultants and business experts have been talking about
this for years, but it was probably Tom Peters who really brought
it to the forefront.

The "Wow!" factor boils down to one thing; not just meeting, but
exceeding the expectations of the customer. In short, the basic
idea is to bring the element of surprise into your business. The
concept of Wow! yells out, "Surprise! Aren't you glad you
decided to do business with me!"

A couple of years ago I bought my wife a new car. Normally the
quest for purchasing a new car is not one I look forward to, and
this time was no exception. However, to my surprise, the
experience was great, and the follow-up even greater. The owner
of the dealership knew I was surprising my wife with the car. He
called the next day, on a Sunday, to see how she liked the
surprise. Wow! A few days later we received a thank you note
and a fruit basket. Wow!

Bill Gates, multi-billionaire and chairman of Microsoft, recently
wrote a book on the future of technology, The Road Ahead.
Surprise! The book included a CD with the entire book and more
on it to be popped into your nearest computer. He predicts that
books on CD ROM will be the norm in the future. And shouldn't
his book "practice what it preaches." If you travel with a
laptop computer that has a CD ROM drive you don't have to even
take the book with you. Just take the disk and read from the
screen. Wow!

A few years ago I bought some fruit baskets from Harry and David
for some of my clients. Harry and David is a high-end catalog
retailer that sells food through the mail. One day the mail came
and I was surprised to find a gift box from Harry and David. I
couldn't wait to open it to find out who sent me this delicious
box of chocolate truffles. Surprise! It was a gift from Harry
and David saying thank you for doing business with them. Wow!

The list of examples can go on and on. The "Wow" comes from,
"Surprise! You weren't expecting this, were you?" How can you
build this into your marketing and business strategy? It doesn't
always have to be something tangible that might cost a lot of
money. It can be a follow up phone call or a simple thank you
note. It is meant to make the client feel good about doing
business with you. I remember getting a phone call from a
restaurant that some friends and I had been to the night before.
I wondered why they would be calling me. Did I leave my credit
card there? No, they just wanted to follow up with me to make
sure I had a great meal and experience at their restaurant.
That's all. Wow!

Copyright © 2004– Shep Hyken, Shepard Presentations

Shep Hyken, CSP is a professional speaker and author who works
with organizations who want to build loyal relationships with
their customers and employees. For more information on Shep's
speaking programs, books and tapes contact (314)692-2200 or
Shep@hyken.com. (www.hyken.com)

Shepard Presentations, LLC
711 Old Ballas Road, Suite 215
St. Louis, MO 63141

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Don't Cut & Run

I've seen it happen over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, (and again.)

Business owners that think that advertising and marketing is optional, and so when times are tough, they cut their advertising.

That makes as much sense as trying to get better gas millage by not putting anymore gas in the tank.

Sort of stupid, right?

Well, now I'm not the only one that thinks so. Read on:

Marketing in an Economic Downturn: Mistakes, Challenges and Opportunities

Some 60% of American Marketing Association member marketers say halting or reducing spending on key marketing programs is the biggest mistake marketers can make in an economic downturn, according to (pdf) a recent AMA survey.

Focusing on short-term tactics and sticking to the status quo are additional missteps, marketers say.

In all, 66% of respondents to the May survey say the current state of the economy is having an impact on their marketing plans. Marketers most often say it is a challenge in this economy to…

• Demonstrate the value of marketing when sales are decreasing
• Realign marketing strategies to match businesses’ changing objectives
• Focus on longer-term brand strategies

The AMA offered four strategies to enhance marketing plans in a downturn - shape the message, don’t slash the price; focus on whom not to target; stand apart from the crowd and invest in innovation; and sustain the brand:

1. Shape the message, don’t slash the price

Only 3% of American Marketing Association marketers say it is important for marketing functions to adjust pricing strategy to help sustain and grow business during an economic downturn.

Implications for marketers: Conduct research to understand your competitor’s positioning and your target audiences’ perception of the economic environment; hone and refine your messages; highlight the value of your product or service, rather than slashing the price.

2. Focus on whom not to target

Some 67% of AMA marketers say it is important to mitigate the impact of an economic downturn by refining target audiences.

Implications for marketers: Assess which segments of potential customers you do not want to target; don’t market to inappropriate market segments (simply stated, some customers are more costly to serve than to lose); focus marketing strategies on customer segments that will produce the greatest ROI.

3. Stand apart from the crowd and invest in innovation

Most AMA marketers, 66%, report that they would take the same amount or less risk with a new product and/or service innovation during a time of economic uncertainty.

Implications for marketers: Differentiate through innovation with a product or service that performs in a faltering economy; invest in R&D now to ensure that your company is in a position to compete when the economy rebounds.

4. Sustain the brand

63% of marketers say they can lessen the impact of a downturn by investing in brand building as part of their marketing plan.

Implications for marketers: Establish access to executive officers to understand ongoing shifts in business strategy; realign marketing strategies to match business objectives quickly to demonstrate a commitment to the bottom line; qualify and quantify results quarterly to establish an ongoing dialogue with executive officers.

About the survey: From May 6, 2008 through May 16, 2008, the American Marketing Association conducted online interviews with 244 AMA members in the continental United States.

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Another Local Site to Check Out

I recently wanted to find stories on our cities upcoming 40th Three Rivers Festival that I'm involved in. So I set up a Google Alert.

Yesterday, in my email was a link to another advertising blog maintained by someone I have yet to meet but will soon. It belongs to Beth Heironimus. Click here to go there.

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Part 1 of 3 Phases of Successful Marketing

Last week, this came in my email from the folks at Small Fuel. After reading it and bobbing my head up and down in agreement, I decided to give it to you in bite size chunks over 3 days.

So let's get started:

The 3 Phases of Successful Marketing

Expert marketers know that the true goal of their craft isn’t simply to land the initial sale; instead, it is to cultivate an ever-growing base of loyal repeat customers. But many people have a hard time getting the customer to feel satisfied and ready to do business with them again, never mind getting customers so satisfied they’ll spread the word about their offerings.

To make sure you don’t leave money on the table, you need to give your customers the attention and service they deserve at all three critical transaction points: Before, During and After the sale.

Read on to discover if you are doing all the right things that turn a one-time customer into a consistent stream of income for your business.

The First Stage: Before The Sale

When customers first discover you, they are looking for solutions to their important problems. They don’t want to have high-pressure sales tactics forced onto them. Instead, they want to feel that you understand them and are speaking their language. They want to know that you are more than capable of helping them deal with their need, and that they are dealing with someone with the experience and track record to deliver on their promises.

In short, they want to trust you. And the way to develop customer trust is to focus on understanding them rather than making them understand you. Take the time to provide them with all the information they need to make an educated choice about whatever it is that you’re selling. Help them see that you care about helping them make the right choice rather than reaching for their credit card.

Today’s consumer is jaded, skeptical, and less willing than ever to take you at your word. But actions speak louder than words, so make sure yours prove that you are interested in building a long-term relationship with your customers. Inform them. Enrich them. Give them something for free. Do this right, and the battle for the sale is all but done (without pressuring the customer at all).

Tomorrow, Part 2!

Read and comment on full article...

SmallFuel Marketing, Inc. 126 E 2nd St, Suite A, Media, PA 19063 Copyright (C) 2008 SmallFuel Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Monday Night After Hours

Clickable Headlines from today:

Online Behavior of Older Americans Mirroring Younger Users’, Even Teens’

Some 76% of Americans over age 50 say the internet is an important source of information for them - up from just 51% five years earlier - according to findings from AARP and the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for...

TV Websites Grow More Popular, but Viewers Still Prefer TV Sets

Despite the growing popularity of viewing television content online, most adults (94%) who subscribe to cable or satellite television services prefer to watch television on traditional TV sets, according to new research by The Nielsen Company. According to the study conducted for the Cable &...

55% of US Adults Have Home Broadband, but 10% Use Only Dialup

Some 55% of all adult Americans now have a high-speed internet connection at home - up from 47% in early 2007 and 42% in early 2005 - and among those who use the internet at home, 79% have a high-speed connection and 15% use dialup,...

The Incentive Engine Not Making Much Sales Headway
by Karl Greenberg
[Automotive] Edmund.com's Michelle Krebs says that Chrysler's $2.99 per gallon deal will only go so far. "They are heavily weighted in SUVs and trucks, and don't have anything sub-compact to offset those losses," she notes. "The smallest thing they have is Dodge Caliber, and they don't have competitive mid-sized cars." - Read the whole story...

Report: Gas Prices To Clobber Convenience Stores
by Sarah Mahoney
[Retail] "C-stores must prepare for a future retail landscape that will be filled with an increasing number of small-store concepts that home in on convenience," TNS Retail Forward reports, so they must add some kind of "destination appeal" beyond being near the gas pump. "Ultimately, convenience stores that reduce their reliance on gasoline by focusing efforts inside the store will be best positioned for the future." - Read the whole story...

Packaged Facts: More Pets Getting A Raw (Food) Deal
by Karlene Lukovitz
[Research] PF expects the fresh category to grow at a more modest CAGR of 23% over the next five years, to reach sales of $473.4 million by 2012. While that's still a relative drop in the water bowl against traditional pet foods' billions, the fresh growth rate significantly exceeds the 5% to 6% annual sales growth of the pet food market as a whole. - Read the whole story...

Allstate Targets The Worried Middle Class, Offering Help
by Laurie Sullivan
[Financial Services] While the bulk of the campaign runs nationally, television, radio and some out-of-home advertising such as wall ads, branded lunch trucks and pharmacy bags support a regional test campaign in Detroit. The TV ad features brand ambassador Dennis Haysbert, who portrayed the first African-American U.S. president on Fox's "24." The message: "Whatever you have, wherever you are, Allstate can work with that." - Read the whole story...

New Chili's Campaign Peppers In Some Brand Equity
by Nina M. Lentini
[Restaurants] The chain's emphasis on its bold flavors and fun atmosphere in its advertising campaigns since signing on Hill Holiday last year has helped Chili's "hold its own in the hard-hit casual segment by capitalizing on Applebee's weakness," according to a recent report by Research and Markets of Dublin, Ireland. - Read the whole story...

New-Vehicle Buyers Likely To Seek Out Online Content
by Karl Greenberg
[Research] Sixty-eight percent of car shoppers go to the Web to get information on television shows, and the reach of online television show content among new-vehicle buyers has increased by 22% since last year. The firm says TV show content, travel-related information and general news are the top three kinds of info new-vehicle buyers look for online. - Read the whole story...

Axe Proximity Sponsors Branded Content

Public Activists Seek Food Poisoning Protection

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Censorship?

From my email:

Legal Sea Foods Ads Banned In Boston
By Amy Corr , Monday, July 7, 2008

Legal Sea Foods launched a seemingly harmless campaign in May that landed the company in hot water.

Five different ads, created by DeVito/Verdi, were posted on the sides of the Green Line trolley in Boston, featuring different types of fish hurling insults at passersby. In this case, it wasn't the passersby that took offense to the creative; the conductors did.

Two of the five ads were deemed offensive in the eyes of the conductors' union, with a request that they be removed.

The offending copy? "This conductor has a face like a halibut" and "Bite me." At least they weren't compared to monkfish. Has a face only a mother could love.

It gets better. Legal Sea Foods then launched a radio ad apologizing to conductors. And by apologize, I mean the ad referred to the faces of conductors as resembling groupers and flounders, as opposed to halibut, the original offending fish.

The conductors' union called for a boycott of Legal Sea Foods. The company retaliated with a full-page ad that offered a free fish entrée to conductors.

Then there's that issue with the two offending ads. Now that they were taken down, there was room for two new ads. You know where this is going.

Rather than run older, non-offending creative, two ads were produced. More accurately, the offending ads were tweaked.

The talking fish remained -- but its original insults were covered by the word "censored."

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said the new ads could potentially violate its advertising guidelines, but decided after a week that the ads could run without resistance.

Is anyone else surprised by the amount of hemming and hawing involved in a seafood campaign? I'd expect more action stemming from a campaign using gratuitous nudity.

Media Creativity for Monday, July 7, 2008: http://blogs.mediapost.com/media_creativity/?p=98

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The Microsoft vs Google Battle Update

From my email:

Inside Microsoft's War Room
by Steve Baldwin , Monday, July 7, 2008

THE TITANIC CLASH BETWEEN MICROSOFT (aka "The Evil Empire") and Google aka "The Don't Be Evil Empire") is accelerating, and while most attention focuses on the ongoing on-again, off-again Yahoo deal, the most significant elements of Microsoft's strategic plan are being laid irrespective of the deal's ultimate outcome.

What are these elements? What are their chances of success or failure? Let's take an imaginary walk through Microsoft's War Room, spend some time studying the "threat board," and assessing the major threats and opportunities as they might be perceived by a Redmondian. (Note: all points in this article are conjectural and have not been conveyed or even suggested by any living and breathing Microsoft employee).

Contingency Plans for a Google-Ruled Web
While most outsiders accept the proposition that Microsoft, with or without Yahoo, will do what is required to restore some semblance of parity to Web-based search queries, various contingency plans have been prepared to deal with a Web ruled by Google. These plans will only be implemented if Microsoft is unable to succeed in any of the following short-term tactical objectives, which include Delay and Defend (by lobbying aggressively against a Yahoo-Google search alliance), Acquire and Assimilate (by buying several large chunks of non-Yahoo traffic), and Bribe and Switch (using its new Cashback service). I very much doubt that we've seen all of these tactical objectives emerge yet.

One obvious plan that Microsoft hasn't tried or even hinted at might be called "Subsidize and Subvert," in which Microsoft would extend a reward offering to Google's thousands of Adsense publishers, enticing them to switch to a Microsoft contextual network through a direct subsidy or revenue guarantee. After all, Adsense contextual revenue constitutes 32% of Google's cash flow, and many of Google's long-tail partners have long ached for a more lucrative deal. Frankly, I find it remarkable that Microsoft didn't target Google's partner network a long time ago.

Let us assume, however, that all of the aforesaid tactical objectives fail, and Google (or Google-Yahoo) continue to grow query and click share to 90% and above within the next year or so. At this point, Microsoft would be forced to execute one of the following contingency plans:

Domination of the air. Most observers agree that the mobile era we're about to enter will represent the biggest platform change in computing history. Even today, roughly a billion mobile devices are shipped each year, and, as pointed out by experts such as AMR Research's Jonathan Yarmis, this number both dwarfs the roughly 100 million PCs sold annually and creates a much-faster evolving computing market (due to the short 21 month life cycle of such devices). The applications-driven nature of these devices creates an opportunity for an applications/OS vendor to dominate delivery of information services in a way that may replicate the control Microsoft enjoyed in the PC era. And while open source advocates like to point out that operating systems such as Symbian and Android provide more opportunities for innovative application development than a closed OS like Windows Mobile, business users are less interested in new and cool applets than in seamlessly extending their work environment to the mobile sphere. Microsoft can gain dominance by providing the best mobile integration of its industry standard Office productivity suite. After all, the 2001 consent decree that has been prohibiting it from integrating certain applications into its desktop OS does not extend to the mobile environment.

Complete control of the home. Xbox is the "Trojan Horse" whose characterization as a gaming console obscures the fact that it is a powerful multipurpose device capable of serving up the entire gamut of interactive services, including IPTV, VOD, media serving, and other next-gen entertainment content. Query-based search will be the primary interaction mechanism for accessing content on the Xbox, and Microsoft (through its internal efforts or through acquisitions) will control the serving of traditional text-based units, modular IPTV spots, rich media, and in-game advertising (projected to be worth about $2.5 billion annually by 2010). This new den-based computing platform is rapidly becoming, in the words of an associate of mine, "the new AOL" in the sense that it functions as a primary place for users to gather, surf, play, search, communicate, and shop. With worldwide sales at 19 million units (and more sales coming thanks to last week's price cut), Microsoft has made a long-term investment in a Google-proof fortress that can only be penetrated if Google buys Nintendo or Sony.

So there you have it. If Microsoft is unable to defeat Google in Web search, it will strategically retreat to higher ground (mobile and the home) and fight a long withering battle where Google's control of the territory is weakest. It is impossible to know at this juncture what this conflict's resolution will be, how it will alter the digital marketing ecosystem and change our own roles as marketers within it -- but it is our dollars that will ultimately separate winner from loser.

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