Smart Marketing

A tip for testimonials

Clients often ask me "how do I go about getting testimonials from satisfied clients"? I think if you're asking that question after you've finished the work, you're a day late and a dollar short.

Why not put a clause in your contract with every client that makes obtaining a testimonial a standard practice once an assignment is finished?  I use the following clause in my standard proposals:

"After completing the project, and obtaining your approval, Emerge would like to feature our work together in a testimonial."

Why the reluctance to grow?

Jim Logan has a great post on the reluctance of some business leaders to grow. In it, he observes how focused a leadership team can be around cost cutting, then asks why leaders aren't similarly focused around growing their companies.

I think there are several reasons:

• Cost cutting is almost immediate. Growth takes time.
• Bean counters can more easily quantify the return on investment of an eliminated job. Quantifying the known return on a potential new market is extremely difficult.
• The planning and follow through for cost cutting can be isolated at the upper levels of an organization. Focusing on growth usually involves the entire organization in the effort.

Are there other reasons you can think of for business leaders being more comfortable with cost cutting vs. growing?

What happens if your company identity sucks?

Without a strong company identity, your company’s marketing impact will be diluted. This watered down approach might lead buyers to:

· Be confused about what your company does.

· Not understand how your company would help them.

· Lack trust in your company.

· Feel indecisive about your company.

· Experience doubt.

· Feel there’s a gulf between what your company says it will do, and what it actually does.

What other ways would a company be hindered by a poor company identity? Have I missed something obvious?

Peer pressure: A strong marketing motivator

This weekend I received in the mail a Printer's Proof of donors to my MBA class of 1987. Listed in class order were all the donors to my graduate school, Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Stenciled across this newspaper formatted  document are the words "Proof", and the sentences "Is your name not listed and you would like it to be? It is not too late!" are found in the mouse type further down page 1.

This approach has always served to motivate me. It's a gentle nudge, that subtlely motivates me by pointing out which of my peers have beaten me to the punch. But, it also helpfully points out to me that, if I want, I can still make a contribution. Ultimately, the decision is mine.

All in all, this is a very effective opt-in approach for a marketing effort. The subtle strands of peer pressure work their way into my brain. I end up thinking to myself thoughts like "Hmmm, Steve Johnson gave and I know he's looking a job" or "Alice Needham gave? I thought she was in the Peace Corps". For me there's no greater motivational force than peer pressure.

Guess I'll have to dust off that checkbook and do like Steve and Alice...

A good strategy website

If you're looking for time-tested thoughts on strategy for your business, check out the 12Manage.com site. There you'll find explanations of over 300 management theories and models.

Among the marketing models explained are:

• The Brand Identity Prism
• The Competitive Advantage Framework
• The Product Life Cycle

Thanks to Harry Joiner for the heads up....

Marketing Rule #2: The 90-day Rule

The 90-day rule is simple: every one of your customers, propects and champions (those who refer business your way) should hear from you every 90 days. Buyers are just too busy to remember your company otherwise.

In my opinion, if your company doesn't follow the 90-day rule, you risk getting shouted down by your competitors. Anyone out there have any thoughts on this?

How to write marketing copy: Watch your tone

One of the most important lessons in writing marketing copy is to craft the right tone for your readers. The trick is to delicately balance between authority and deference. Yesterday I received a "cold" sales letter that failed miserably on this issue.

Below is the first paragraph (and the thoughts that ran through my head as I read it). Listen carefully for the tone it presents:
   
    "Dear Jay-
    I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself  (Seems kind of forward - kind of  like     barging right into another's conversation). My name is Nick ______, and I am your Account Representative from ABC Business Systems (I didn't know I had an account with you, Nick). We offer many unique imaging systems from that (sic) have applications that would be beneficial to your organization (What do you know about my organization?)."

In my view this letter clubs me over the head with an authoritative tone from the outset. It's kind of like the insurance salesman at a cocktail party who launches into a sales pitch right after hearing "Hi what's your name?"

At this stage in the letter, the writer needs to connect with the reader, and that means getting inside the reader's head. A better first paragraph, in my opinion, would have started with "Is your organization's copier on its last leg? Are you constantly hunting down maintenance people to fix your computer?"

In my eyes, this approach involves the reader and then earns the right to talk authoritatively later on. Do you agree?