Smart Marketing

The power of visioning

As an 11-year old kid, I dreamed of playing shortstop for the Chicago Cubs. In my most vivid daydream, I saw myself in a major league ballpark, positioned just off the dirt in short with a baseball cap pulled down over my eyes, hair streaming out the back of the cap, lightly sweeping the dirt back and forth with my right foot.

Jump to the present: Yesterday my 11 year old son, who is participating in a University of Minnesota Baseball Camp, was invited to scrimmage in the Metrodome - home of the Minnesota Twins. I went and watched his scrimmage for several hours before leaving to return to my office.

As I made my way to leave, I turned and looked back at the field one last time. What I saw startled me: I saw my 11-year-old kid, in a major league ballpark,  positioned just off the dirt in short with a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes, hair streaming out the back of his cap, lightly sweeping the dirt back and forth with his right foot.

The best visioning advice I can give you is this:  Create it first in your mind, and then you will see it come alive.

Brand marketing at its very basic

The idea of marketing a brand is at the heart of all marketing. But the concept of brand marketing is often lost on the small business person. That's because they ignore the most important of all brand concepts - consistency.

Next time you have a minute, spread across a table all of these basic marketing tools for your business:

• Business cards
• Letterhead
• Envelopes
• Thank you notes
• Brochures
• Flyers

Now, take a look at how consistent (or inconsistent) your brand is across these elements. Are the logos the same? Typestyles? Colors? Key messages?

Each tool listed above is a workhorse, meaning they will make their way in front of the largest number of buyers' eyeballs. But an inconsistent brand -  across these elements -  will most surely confuse them.

When I did this for my own business, I noticed several tools that I need to upgrade.  Do you see the same?

The value in a targeted account list

I just participated in a marketing panel that offered a local company advice in cracking the Fortune 500 market. This company has served several Fortune 500 accounts to date, but wants more of this business.

I asked the owners if they had developed a list of the Fortune 500 accounts they'd most like to crack, but was met with blank stares. I think this is a missed opportunity.

With a list like this, the company's sales people could share it with others and ask them if they had contacts in these other Fortune 500 companies. This is a more targeted approach to networking, with getting inside an untapped Fortune 500 company being the ultimate objective.

What do you think of this approach? Is there a better one?

Bundling as a marketing device

Yesterday, my 11-year old son and I went to buy baseballs at the local sporting goods store. When I got there I was faced with an array of choices, ranging from the $9.99 baseball packaged in a square, acryllic box to the $1.99 baseball wrapped in plastic and placed in a dump bin.

Being the thrifty sort (and also knowing how often we lose baseballs), I picked up 10 of the $1.99 baseballs and gingerly balanced them in my arms as a I plodded my way up to the register. I was not prepared for the 20 minute surprise that awaited.

When the clerk tried to scan the baseball UPC, it would not take owing to the fact that it was mounted on a circular baseball. I suggested he scan one and then change the units to 10. He didn't know how to do that. A manager was summoned. He couldn't figure it out either. At least 10 people switched lines (and subsequently checked out) while this was going on. I started doing the slow burn.

Finally, the manager ended up entering the entire UPC code TEN TIMES. This alone took 5 more minutes. We left the store 20 minutes later than I was expecting to. What's my lesson here?

Why didn't this manufacturer offer a "bag of balls" that had 10 balls in it already. I would have gladly paid a premium (maybe 50 cents more per ball) to easily carry the balls to the register, the clerk would have easily entered the UPC and we would have saved 12 people (my son and me along with the 10 other people who switched lines) valuable time on a gorgeous Sunday. Bundling here would have offered the customer (me) and the retailer a better solution.

Ten Commandments of Successful Marketing

I just got back from speaking at the PMA's  annual Publishers University in NY. At that event I covered these two important Commandments for successful marketing:

Thou Shalt Not See Marketing as a Department
When you get right down to it, everyone in any company, book publishing included, is a marketer. Certainly any writer is. From the receptionist whose voice is the first thing callers hear, to the delivery person whose rear-end may be the last thing anyone sees, every employee plays a role in your marketing efforts. Good companies imbue everybody with healthy reverence for the customer, so that the publishing company or writer, from every point of contact with the market, knows how to market.

Thou Shalt Follow the Ninety-Day Rule
Your readers, customers, prospects and champions (those who refer business your way) should hear from you every 90 days. People are just too busy to remember you otherwise. If you don’t follow the 90-day rule, you risk getting shouted down by any competitor of yours who does.

Want more? Visit my article The Ten Commandments of Successful Marketing, found on the BookPitch.com site.

Top 10 signs you need a Marketing Plan

Here they are, the Top 10 signs you need a Marketing Plan:
10. Customers keep saying “We haven’t heard from you in a while.”
9. Each of your company’s marketing materials looks different.
8.You spend most of a meeting explaining what you do.
7.Prospects would rather talk about your competitor.
6. When asked what makes your company unique, the room gets quiet.
5. Your banker keeps stopping by to “get a handle on things”.
4. Your heart races when someone says “Tell me about your company”.
3. Your administrative assistant handles your marketing.
2. Her sister designs your brochures.
1. Her son runs your website.

OK, what did I miss? If I get enough responses, I may expand the list to Top 20...