Category: Marketing

Kim T. Gordon,
author of Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars:
The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business,
suggests that new businesses first target their marketing
to a small niche
filled with their top prospects.

This will keep costs down
as you reach potential customers
enough times to truly make an impact.

So I would target contemporary romance eBook readers
instead of general readers.
This group is smaller
but much more likely to actually buy my book.

Only when I’ve captured this market
would I expand my marketing
to a wider audience.

It drives me a bit bonkers
when small businesses take a big corporate ad
and adapt it for their own business.

Why?

The glory of being small
means that the owner’s personality
is part of the company’s brand.
Use that personality.

Ensure that communications are in YOUR distinct voice
(and everyone has a distinct voice).
Don’t use words you wouldn’t normally.
If you are informal, write informal copy.

Pamela Slim has some more great tips
on how to make your brand YOURS.

I see more and more companies
using digital picture frames
to provide information
at tradeshows
and in store windows
and in waiting rooms
or reception areas.

It is inexpensive and easy
to load a powerpoint presentation
on a card
and have that presentation repeat
throughout the day.

Or show photos of happy customers
enjoying the product.

Or show different models.

Or…

The possibilities are endless.
Could you use a digital picture frame
instead of a static sign?

The Bachelor’s Jason Mesnick
brutally dumped his choice
in front of the world,
enraging women everywhere.
He looked like a world class a$$hole.
Then on top of that,
he says he had no choice,
passing the buck for his bad behavior.
That lost him points with any perspective employer.

He got paid for that stunt, obviously.
But I hope he got paid well
because no one with self respect
would touch him
for personal
or
for business.

Few of us will face
such a public ethical dilemma
but many of us,
especially managers,
are right now facing smaller ones.

It is important to weigh
the pro’s of caving in ethically
with the often long term con’s.
An ethical decision is not one to make lightly.
You will be judged forever on it.

Once they’ve found a charity they like,
contributors usually donate
year after year.

Unless they feel their contribution
is not appreciated.

How to show appreciation?

One of the most effective techniques
with non-anonymous contributors
is a personal letter
(using the contributor’s name)
from a recipient of the donation.

DonorsChoose does this very well.
Students benefiting from the donation
send hand written thank you letters.

Thank you’s work.

Yesterday,
I guest blogged on a romance site.
A great site.
I couldn’t read what I posted though
because I was at work
and the major company I’m consulting at
uses Internet Explorer.
The blog doesn’t view on Internet Explorer,
only on FireFox.

I agree.
FireFox is much nicer for bloggers to use.
It is fast and pretty and…

But unfortunately,
most of the work world still uses the Internet Explorer default.
If your target market is the employed
(i.e. people with jobs),
then make sure your blog works on both.

“I love Twitter,” my friend told me.
“It is like having a conversation
with hundreds of friends.”

Yeah, if every one
of those hundreds of friends
recorded that conversation.

Twitter is a powerful tool
but it is important to remember
that what we type on Twitter
exists online
FOREVER.

That foul mouthed spat last week
between Perez Hilton
and Lily Allen?
FOREVER.

That vent about your boss?
FOREVER
(and searchable).

So type with care.

There are two types of readers,
those that read deep
and those that skim.

Some copywriters will try to ‘trick’ the skimming reader
into reading ALL the words.
That’s difficult to do
and I doubt the reader will thank you for ‘the lesson.’

Yanik Silver gives a better suggestion.
Write your copy so readers can skim
and still learn the important pieces of information.

“So you want to make sure
they can get enough information
to make a buying decision
just by skimming through
the headline, subheads, and words
that are set off by bolding, italics, etc.

If they can do that, you’ve done your job.”

Read your copy twice.
First deeply
and then again reading just the highlighted words.
Does it send the same message?

According to July 2008’s PM Network,
sales of Quaker’s oatmeal bars
jumped 38%
the year following
their name change from
Breakfast Squares
to
Oatmeal To Go.

Why?

Because consumers responded better
to a name mirroring the convenience
of the product.

When you can,
take the guesswork out of
what your product does.
Put the benefit in the name.

A new author asked me
“Will being on Twitter
help me sell books?”

No, simply being there won’t sell books.
But being there and sharing the right message
to the right audience
WILL.

A recent Guerrilla Marketing tip
from Jay Conrad Levinson’s team reminds us
“Dynamic as it is,
technology is not the key to marketing success.
Marketing is about people, not things.”

Marketing is about people.
Technology is only a tool to reach out
and connect with those people.
It is a vessel for your message.
The message still has to add value to your prospect.