Somebody has a great mind for marketing...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479835,00.html

Found this story on Fox News yesterday- Steve Cohen, who's the general manager for the Brooklyn Cyclones, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, came up with this great idea. Even though they're a smaller team, they've made national news just by coming up with a great hook to last year's history-making elections, and the upcoming inauguration on Tuesday.
They've got enough ideas to make it interesting for everyone, no matter who their presidential choice was; they're giving 'equal time' to both sides, they've got their own Economic Stimulus Package set up; they've even got their own Health Care Package ideas.
You really need to check this out- and let it inspire you to come up with your own ideas for marketing YOUR business, no matter what it is.
This idea should really make the next edition of "Off the Wall Marketing Ideas".

Marketing Your Business Revisited

How does your customer service stand up to comparison?
I've had plenty of experiences with both very good and very bad customer service - in fact, one of my favorite memories of sales seminars is the story one instructor told about bad customer service. He had a very bad experience with a company, and when he tried to work things out with them, he seemed to run into every person in the company with a bad attitude. It got to the point that he asked to speak to a department manager in the company. When he finally was able to speak to him, he told him in great detail how horrible the company's customer service had been, and when the manager asked him what he expected him to do about it.
The instructor then began to name what it would take to make him feel he'd been taken care of, and the manager said that was more than what he was willing to do. The instructor told him it would be the his job in life to ruin the reputation of that company. He's done a good job, too- I think he tells that story at every seminar where he teaches. Any time I hear the name of that company, I immediately think of the salesman's story.
I tell you this because we each need to remember that any time our customers or prospects have a bad experience with our company, they don't forget it easily. We have to take a pro-active stand on customer service; if it's possible, contact customers after any sale or service and make sure they're satisfied. If they're not, find out why, and do everything you can to rectify it. I've had several companies that didn't get things right in the beginning, but their follow-up was so great and so pleasing that I'll continue to do business with them, because they care about how I feel about them.

Marketing Your Business

How 'linked' are you to related businesses in your area? Do you cross-market with them, to help each of you grow your business? I know this has been covered time and again, but it's still worth discussing.
As a photographer, I want to expand my business into weddings and events. One way I plan to do this is to market myself to the local florists and caterers. I'll approach one or two from each category and request a partnership with them. When I'm contacted to shoot a wedding, I'll suggest my partners as my preferred vendors, and my partners will do the same for me. I hope to also work up packages with my partners, so our clients can get a discount by using all of us together.
While it will build our business base, it will also raise us from the level of vendor to trusted professionals.
What businesses can you partner with to build your business?

Insurance...

I am always amazed when people say they buy life insurance 'in case something happens to them' - I have only ever heard of two people who left this earth without dying - Enoch and Elijah. Everybody else has to be prepared for the time when they die; which brings me to my point.
How is your business covered? I'm not talking about life insurance, because I'm sure you've got that covered.
I'm talking about the day to day things that happen in your business:
*what happens to your clients when you die or are unable to work? Do you have a plan in place to make sure they're taken care of?
*what about your current projects? will someone you trust be able to step in and complete the work, or will someone be able to help your current clients find a new partner to finish their work?
*have you already discussed partnering for this with a trusted person in your business? someone whose work ethics are on the same keel as yours, and who can work with your clients to their satisfaction...
*do you have your passwords and file backups in a place that someone can find?
*are you up to date on notes on your clients and prospects, so someone stepping in won't have to start from scratch?
After making sure my family is taken care of, I want to make sure my clients are cared for; I want the transition to their new designer to be an easy one.
Are you prepared?

Fluid Design

For as long as I've been designing websites, I've almost always designed using a fluid design- one that is set up so that it 'fits' the screen of the viewer, as often as possible. Obviously you can't fit everyone's screen, because some people use a small portion of their monitor to view the internet, saving another portion for their other open apps.
However, I feel this is the best way to go for most sites. If I use tables in the design, I set them so that they only use a percentage of the screen size. I did have a client who had purchased a template online, and we made some adjustments to it to customize for their site - he actually pulled out a ruler and showed me that the lines on each side of the design were not the same width, even though I had them set at the same pixel width. He also wanted the site to be perfect on his monitor, which was a fairly large one...
The problem with making a site 'perfect' on your monitor? You're forgetting that your customer is who you should be building your site for. My goal for website customers is to make a site that visitors can easily navigate, will enjoy viewing, looks good on their monitor, and is easily readable to them. That usually means, among other things, that I don't set exact font sizes in the design, but rather set it at 'large' or 'medium' according to how the font looks.
I do this for one simple reason - if I am on a site with tiny print, I will hold my CTRL button and use the scroll wheel on my mouse to enlarge it - if that doesn't work, I usually don't hang around very long. Life is too short to strain my eyes trying to read something in microscopic print.
Any site needs to look good, but it's most important that viewers can use it easily - and if they can't, what is that saying to them? "If you're not cool enough to use this site, then we don't want your business" is what it says to me. And I don't want to be responsible for a site that's saying that.

Seasonal ideas

If you have a website, do you update it for seasonal changes? Obviously, you don't want to do a total remake several times a year, but it is always a good idea to acknowledge the holidays and seasons of the year.
My favorite search engine is Google; if you've never seen the way they honor different holidays, visit this page - it's their 'museum' of logos.
I know you can't do something on the same scale, but you can support your favorite holidays. As an example, during the Christmas holidays, I make a slight change to my logo, then link it from my main page, to a retelling of the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Starting this next year, I plan to do something similar for the Easter season - after all, the main purpose of Christmas' gift is fulfilled in Easter.
Think about it, and see what ideas you and your designer can come up with to celebrate the holidays and seasons that are important to you.

New Year's marketing pieces

Have you completed your 2009 marketing piece yet? This year I'll be giving away calendars to my best clients and prospects.
I've got several very nice photographs I've taken of the local area, so I'll have one photo per month, with a large monthly calendar opposite. I will add some dates that are important to my clients, and leave room for them to add their own information as well.
I want to make sure that I give something that is usable by my clients, and that will also remind clients of my business everytime they use it.
What will you be doing for the new year?

A Simple Thank You Note

Last week, I had reason to send out several thank-you notes. Instead of picking up a package of small note cards, I decided to make my own.
I bought a package of half-fold greeting cards, and designed a 'thank you' header using a pretty font, and printed them. I printed out some of my favorite photos in 4x6 size, and mounted them to the front of the cards, then wrote a note inside.
I made sure to add the title and date of each photograph, so the recipient knew it was a handmade card, and sent them off. So far I've gotten compliments on three cards... I'm glad I was able to do this- hand-written correspondence has almost become a thing of the past; I love to get mail like this, and I'm sure others do too.
If you've got the time and patience to do this, it's a good investment of your time. At the very least, have some notecards designed for you, and handwrite notes to folks you appreciate. If you're trying to build a relationship with a business associate, what better way than to send something handwritten?

Marketing Your Business

You know your business more than anyone else - what is your marketing strategy? Starting today, I'll occasionally give you ideas to market your business that are will hopefully be quirky enough to get a prospect's attention, and isn't that one point of marketing?
Today's suggestion: seeds.
If you are in any business that can help another business grow, mail out small seed packets attached to a marketing piece discussing ways you can help 'grow your business'. To further personalize the pieces, gear seed choices to the prospect- a grocery store might get vegetable seeds, wheat seeds for a bakery and flower seeds for a florist's shop.
It's okay to have your marketing pieces mass-produced, but leave yourself a little leeway in putting those individual touches on them. I've designed some marketing postcards for my own business - the front is pre-printed, but I've left the back blank so I have the choice to hand write a message or print it from my desktop, then add my signature.
Make sure your prospects see that you've got time for them- that may be the deciding reason they choose to do business with you.

What's Your (tag) Line?

Does your business have a tag line? You know, like "Coke- it's the real thing"; or "Pepsi- the choice of a new generation" (just to be fair, ya know.)
Sometimes it can be hard to come up with a tag line. It needs to be something that is catchy and tells a little bit about the personality of your business. One great way to come up with a tag line is to brainstorm with some of your trusted employees and customers. One person trying to come up with ideas can be difficult, but working within a group can be fun and inventive (and eye-opening, too).
One 'rule' to remember - there are no stupid ideas when you're brainstorming. Make sure each person knows that everyone's ideas will be considered. The junior stock boy's ideas will be treated the same as the boss's suggestions.
Jot down each idea - even if it sounds dumb, it might trigger a very good response from someone else. And in the worst case, if it's completely silly, the laughter can relieve stress.
And speaking of humor- if you're having trouble getting started, tell everyone to come up with the craziest idea they can. Sometimes thinking around corners can bring out some good ideas that will really work.
You can always bring in your professional designer to help, and he or she will have some great ideas too. Your designer can fine-tune things and give you some tips on how best to word things, but remember, you know your business better than anyone else, so you should have some input into the process.

The Accidental Salesperson

A few years ago I was offered a short-term position as a radio ad salesperson; to prepare for that job I visited my favorite bookstore and found a copy of the book "The Accidental Salesperson" by Chris Lytle. It's been one of the best investments I ever made for my career.
Lytle uses unorthodox methods to make his points, including suggestions for movies to watch on how to NOT be a successful salesperson. And like a good preacher, he finds lessons in all kinds of situations, including an airport shoe shine man.
Make sure you read all the way to the end of the book - there's a special section on Chris' website that is accessible only to readers of the book.
And if you're thinking "But I'm not a salesperson", remember, everybody is a salesperson in some part of their life. While the book is geared towards advertising sales, it can be translated to other types of marketing.
This is a great system, and Chris also offers marketing emails several times a week, that are also helpful.
If you need a good boost in your sales career, find this book and buy it. At about $18, it's worth every penny. Buy it, read and study it, and get the system in gear. You'll be glad you did.

Too bad, so sad...

I don't know about you, but I really get ticked off when I get that 'too bad, so sad' attitude from a salesperson. A couple of different situations in the last week has gotten me on the customer service rant again.
Our cell phone service (which shall remain nameless) is supposedly known for no dead zones, our area is very rural and we don't always have good service. On top of that, over the past few weeks, my phone won't ring when I have a call. It goes straight to voice mail, and never shows that I've got a missed call, until several hours (or days) later when the voice mail suddenly shows up. During this time, my phone will show full bars. HB may have to dial me several times before he gets me. We've been by the local offices several times, and they've tried all kinds of things including resetting all the default settings and hooking my phone directly to the computer to update the software. That brings up another point- I can't even update the software where I live, I have to wait 'til I'm in Montgomery, which isn't very often.
I don't guess it would be such a big deal but for 3 things:

• I've given my cell number out to my clients so they can reach me when they need me
• my daughter, who is 15, has after school activities and might need to contact me
• I paid for my phone service and I like to get what I paid for

While on the phone with my service provider yet again, trying to get this straightened out, my son made the statement "Mom you know you're going to have to pitch a fit to get what's right". Well, I know that, but that doesn't make it right. Why can't companies just give customers what they pay for? This last call ended up with them telling me that they couldn't talk to me because my name isn't on the contract -?!?!. So when my husband got home, he called them, and they basically told us we were eligible to upgrade and get another phone, which also meant we had to sign another contract to extend our service time. Nothing else they can do; they can't give me another phone that will work correctly - too bad, so sad. Of course, that's not going to stop them from charging me for my service. So, my next step is to see if they'll let us out of our contract early. Probably not, though.
The other situation involves my college aged son - I ordered one of his books from the online bookstore related to the university. The order form says, 'you'll get a confirmation email when the book is available for pickup'. Got the email, printed it out and sent it with my son to school so he could pick up the book. He gets to the bookstore the first time, he's told they're not quite ready, come back later. Goes back the next day and is told they're sold out, check back later (I'm thinking why did they sell the book I paid for?). They give him a paid receipt so he can show that next time. He goes back yesterday and they tell him he can't pick it up because it's not in his name, but mine - well duh, my name was on the card I paid with; no place on the order form to put his name.
I called and went 'Sugarbaker' on the girl who answered- I told her the sequence of events, and that we live 30 miles from the school, he's there and I can't just turn loose and drive over there to pick it up and hand it to him. She asks if she can put me on hold and check out some things.
She finally comes back and tells me that there was a mistake - those books had never come in and I shouldn't have gotten a confirmation yet. She had no explanation for the other things; of course I apologized to her, it's not her fault, she's just a student worker. But somewhere, somehow, folks have got to realize they're being paid to do a job. Don't just say the first thing off the top of your head, and brush off customers.
Why are we as a society doing this? I want to challenge you- go over your customer service guidelines; if you've got employees, discuss with them how they should treat your customers. Ask them to remember that the customer is their real boss- if the customers quit buying, you go out of business.
Start taking care of your customers!