Smart Marketing

A Wrigley Field Dream Realized

As a huge baseball fan, lover of the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins, and 46 year old kid, I have to confess I've always dreamed of catching a foul ball at a game. Well, this weekend it happened. But what was interesting is that it didn't happen at all like I expected it to.

I'd always dreamed of an high pop up, slowly arching its way back to me. I visualized a group of people outstretching their hands and at the very last second, saw my hands  rising above theirs to snatch the foul ball away.

Fast forward to this weekend where I was enjoying a beautiful day in Wrigley Field with my son, brother and nephew. The batter, Ronny Cedano, was at bat and he sent a screaming line shot right towards me. In a split second, I lunged for the ball, knocked it down under a row of seats and dove head first under the seats to get it. Then a guy dove on top of me, and at one point started dragging my hand away from the ball so he could get it. We wrestled around under the seat; resulting in a nasty bruise to my shin, elbow and kneecap.

The whole thing couldn't have taken more than 5 seconds, but it felt like 30 minutes. Anyway I finally got the ball and stood up and showed the ball to the crowd. My son, right behind me, let out a whoop when he saw I had ended up with the ball. 

I gotta tell you, dreams really do come true. But not always the way you dream them...

Lipe's code of marketing ethics

There are too many ethical lapses in marketing today. In my humble opinion, marketers should be made to accept a code of ethics. Here's my take on what that Code should look like:
               
                    Lipe's Code of Marketing Ethics

• We will always be clear, straightforward and truthful in our marketing      communications.
• We will never intentionally deceive or mislead our customers. If we do we’ll      apologize, immediately.
• We will fully disclose, in the large print, all pricing information.
• We will always respect the privacy of our customers.
• We will always give buyers the ability to opt-out, quickly honoring their desire      to do so.
• We will stand behind our products if they fail to deliver on their promises.
• We will listen to our customers’ needs and concerns, and make every effort to      incorporate their input.
• We will not use strong-arm tactics to get people to buy.
• We will always document claims, testimonials and comparative statements.
• We will always accept responsibility for the consequences of our actions.

What have I missed?

Top 10 Customer Service Mistakes

10. Not knowing your products (or services) stone-cold – You are the expert, that’s why they contacted you.

9. Not adequately training your staff – Those U.S. financial service call centers with the highest customer satisfaction levels invested 180 hours of initial training per service agent and seven hours of ongoing training per year.

8. Trying to win arguments with customers – You may win the battle, but lose the customer in the process.

7. Hiding behind voicemail – Human voices are always preferred over voicemail. Even if you’re not hiding behind voicemail, some customers will perceive that you are.

6. Telling people “our system is really slow today” – I hear this about once a month. When someone ways this to me, I think to myself “what else is slow around there?”

5. Not having a FAQ on your website – The frequently asked questions section of your site should cover the basic questions you are fielding from customers. Plan on adding to it regularly. More and more customers want to self-service their issues and a FAQ is a great way to help them.

4. Not recognizing chronic complainers – Some people will never be happy with your service. Get rid of them, and focus on those you can help.

3. Taking criticism personally – Most customer service calls are not calling to attack you personally. They’re attacking a problem they have had.

2. Not being more attentive to customers – 68% of customer defections take place because customers feel poorly treated.  Remember that a customer may not expect resolution within 24 hours—but will, at the very least, expect a response.

1. Not delivering what you promise – Many people have been misled by companies their entire adult life. If you want to stand out from the crowd, deliver exactly what you promise, when you promised it, and you’ll be rewarded with repeat business, referrals and positive word-of-mouth — the trifecta of great marketing.

An interview with Tom Pick

I recently caught up with Tom Pick, owner of WebMarketCentral and we chatted about a company's online identity. Here is the interview. Enjoy...

1) Which elements are most important in any company's online identity?

 

The first element is just the visual impact of the site – what does your brain register in the first instant? Is it elegant, playful, cluttered, stark, professional? This is a matter of colors and layout. The visual impact should convey the image you want for your company; to use an obvious example, your first impression of an estate planning Web site should be much different than that of a site that sells toys.

 

The second element is what I’ll call, to borrow a phrase from the legal profession, your opening statement – the first paragraph of content on your home page. Based on studies, you’ve got 15-30 seconds to convince a visitor to stay on your site; you need to tell them what you do and why they might want to take the time to learn more about you. And you need to do that very quickly, concisely and compellingly.

 

The third is navigation. If a visitor knows what they are looking for on your site, make it easy for them to find it quickly. If they don’t, make it clear what you’d like them to do next.

 

I recently did some Web site redesign work for a midsized manufacturer; because they had an extensive product line, they had a lot of content on the site. Nothing wrong with that, but one of the first things that jumped out at me was that there was no site map! Don’t make me guess at your navigation paths if I’m looking for specific information; make it as easy as possible for me to find.

 

If I can add a fourth element, it would be the writing. Is it full of jargon and marketing-ese, or clear and conversational? Is it professional yet inviting, or formal and stuffy? Are there typos? Yes, believe it or not, I’ve seen typos on even some large company sites; they are as harmful to a business on their Web site as they would be to a job applicant on their resume.

 

2) Pick 2 or 3 and give us concrete recommendations on how you would use them to improve a company's online identity

 

Two key elements are the overall look – that first visual impression – and navigation. Here’s an example of a site that does both well: http://www.vinyl-siding.com/home.asp. The colors are attractive, professional and well-chosen for the subject matter: siding. Isn’t that kind of how you’d like your home to look after all: attractive, coordinated, subtle, classy? The look of your site should reflect the image you want for your business. They do use Flash on their home page, but they don’t let it get in the way.

 

As for navigation, because the site has to appeal to multiple audiences – homeowners as well as different types of channel partners – the site includes clear navigation top-tabs directing the visitor to information specific to each group. Because many visitors come to the site to find a local distributor, Crane has placed a “search for contractor/distributor” box prominently on the right side of the home page. And yes, they have a site map for those looking for specific information.

 

3) If you had $1000 to invest in a company's online identity, how would you spend it?

 

That’s tough, because $1,000 isn’t much. With that budget, instead of spending it all on a graphic artist, I’d look for prebuilt professional Web templates online; they are available for any standard Web authoring program and generally run from $75 to $150. You won’t get exactly the look you want, but should be to find something attractive and appropriate.

 

I’d spend the remainder on a couple of days of consulting services from a Web strategist: someone who can help a little with the writing (for example, that crucial “opening statement”), but primarily with design of the navigation (making it clear and useful) as well as specification of features and content that should be included on the site.

 

4) What mistakes do companies typically make in managing their online identities?

 

It’s all over the board; you can find examples of confusing navigation, jargon-laden copy, home pages that don’t tell you exactly what the company does (much less why you should do business with them), and inappropriate or just plain godawful color schemes.

 

I did some brief consulting with a small software company. Their Web site colors – seriously – were black and burnt orange. The site looked like something out of James Lileks’ book Interior Desecrations : Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s. I strongly encouraged them to change their color scheme to something both more suited for a technology company and less visually offensive.

 

5) A genie appears to you on the beach and says he'll grant you 3 wishes to improve a company's identity. What would your 3 wishes be?

 

You have a strange mind Jay.

 

My first response would be, “What’s this company identity stuff? Whatever happened to three plain old wishes, like healthy kids, $100 billion and world peace?”

 

But okay, company identity. In terms of online identity, I’d wish for the items above: an elegant and befitting graphical design, obvious navigation and great (authentic, human) writing.

 

If I weren’t limited to online identity, I’d wish for the most for the most important identity element of all: responsiveness. It’s amazing how much business is lost to a simple lack of response. In a Marketing Sherpa case study on Audi America, Marketing Manager Jim Taubitz was quoted saying, “The true ‘wow factor’…was to have dealers personally contact newly generated leads within minutes (not hours or days) of a form fill. And no, automated "thank you" emails don’t count as a personal response. Studies show the closing rate for OEMs that respond to leads within one half hour to one hour is significantly higher. That's why we are sticklers about dealer response time.”

 

In a more personal example, I checked out quite a few Web hosts before selecting one for WebMarketCentral. I ended up going with StartLogic. Why? There were at least a dozen hosts whose offerings were virtually indistinguishable in terms of price and technology features. So I tested them by sending a couple of emails with questions. StartLogic’s response time absolutely blew away the other hosting vendors. I’ve also found that their post-sale matches up to the same response standards. That’s why I remain impressed with them.

 

6) Can you give us an example of a real-life company and how you helped them improve their online identity?

 

After enterprise software vendor Fourth Shift was acquired in 2001, the resulting company had eight different product/geography Web sites, none of which looked anything like the others, or had similar navigation, or even linked to each other. They looked like eight different companies. And most of them needed some work anyway.

 

The challenge was to get eight different marketing managers, and eight Webmasters, to agree on one common, improved design – with a similar color scheme, navigation, cross-linking, and improved usability. It took about a year, but in the end the company’s various sites – including www.softbrands.com, www.fs.com, www.demandstream.net, and www.evolution-pv.com – came together with a common overall look and improved features. For example, adding the “I’d like to…” navigation on the left side of the Fourth Shift site made it easy for site visitors to select what they wanted to do next, or they could use the standard navigation on the top of the page.

Thanks Tom. Check out Tom's blog at WebMarketCentralBlog

 

A marketing implementation tip

Interested in improving your staff's marketing implementation? Try this marketing tip: At the end of every marketing meeting, ask the question "What are our next steps?"

These five words are the most powerful words in successful implementation. Why? Because when you ask them, you 1) create the expectation that follow through is needed  2) identify exactly what next steps will follow and 3) clarify who is responsible for accomplishing each next step.

I once worked with the saavy president of a travel incentive company and she always closed a meeting by asking  "What are our next steps?" From her I learned that these are the  five most powerful  words for successful implementation.

Targeted marketing programs, not convenient ones

How well targeted a marketing program is more important than how convenient it is. What do I mean by this?

I'm working with a real estate broker to market a new development in dowtown Minneapolis. Turns out the developer of the property owns several fast food franchises and he asked us if we should market the property at those fast food locations.

My first question was whether or not our target audience frequents these establishments; a question that took the developer by surprise. Instead, he saw lots of people streaming through the restaurants and automatically assumed that because there was traffic, leads would follow. I cautioned that these days, it's all about qualified traffic.

Just because a marketing program is convenient doesn't mean it will be successful. In my opinion, the more important precursor for success is whether the target audience is present.

Am I off base here ?

A new web marketing blog to check out

Tom Pick, over at WebMarketCentral.com recently approached me about doing an interview for his blog called The WebMarketCentral Blog. If you're interested in reading the interview, it's here.

If you peruse his blog, you'll find several good posts. Here are just a couple:

• Search Engine Optimization 101
• What tone does your website set?

Thanks Tom...keep up the great work!

Some marketing predictions

Predicting the future is tricky. No one sees the unforeseen development. But with all the change today's marketers face, I think I can safely predict the following:

The pace will not slow down – Processing speeds will increase. Technological innovation will continue to explode, creating even more marketing tools.  Increasingly, companies will have to find ways to communicate effectively in a society that’s listening with only one ear.

Competitive pressures will grow - Whether your company has been in business 30 years or 30 minutes, you have competition. And more competitors will enter the fray in the coming years. As the waters churn with more competition each day, companies will be forced to differentiate themselves, or die.   

And most important...Your company’s identity must be crystal clear to cut through the clutter - Given these advances, the burning question on the minds of many company leaders I meet with is “How do Imake my company stand out?” And my answer hasn’t changed: Focus first on crafting a powerful company identity.  This helps any company:
• Improve awareness.
• Generate more recognition.
• Build trust with your buyers.
• Gain a competitive advantage.
• Close business faster.

Agree? Or disagree?