Your house may be
the biggest personal item
you ever sell.
Craig Schiller at Real eStaging
reminds us that a good home stager
is more than someone who makes
your house more attractive.
He/she packages the house properly,
creating that emotional bond
needed to make the sale.
We all know pretty products
that have been outsold
by better marketed ones.
Don’t let your house fall into this category.
Subway has launched a collection of tv ads
associating their brand with a monkey.
Viewers are asked to find the sub
that doesn’t belong
(the monkey sub)
or the item that has been moved
(the monkey).
It was very effective.
I’ve seen it so often
that I now associate Subway with monkeys.
However, I doubt that is what
the marketers were trying to accomplish.
Be careful of what you associate
your brand or company with.
I recently purchased a pint
from a gelato shop.
What was written on
the top of the package?
XYZ Gelato,
Authentic Italian Ice Cream Since 2007.
Huh?
Why is the store being open
for only a year a positive?
Wouldn’t it be more compelling to say
Award Winning Authentic Italian Ice Cream
(it has won awards)?
Your packaging real estate is precious.
Ensure your most powerful message is on it.
I like thank you’s.
Thank you just might be
the two most powerful words available.
You thank me for buying your product
and mean it
and you have yourself
a customer for life.
Why?
Because it shows you care.
For some strange reason,
people and companies don’t say thank you enough.
They certainly don’t say thank you in public enough.
I don’t know why
especially since, with blogs,
public thank you’s
are both easy and free.
Have you thanked someone publicly today?
I went to two housewarmings
on the same weekend.
The first housewarming
was held by a professional party planner,
throwing fancy parties was her job.
Guests were fed shrimp skewers on couscous.
Tasty yet expectations were so high,
guests were disappointed.
At the second regular family housewarming,
guests were fed steakettes with rice.
Not as fancy as the first
yet because of lowered expectations
(we expected burgers and hot dogs),
guests were happier.
Often companies are competing
more with expectations than
with competitors.
Exceed expectations and
your customers will be thrilled.
A loved one is selling his house.
He has noticed that the most traffic
in his neighborhood
has been going to the lowest priced house
and the highest priced house.
Why?
Because pricing MEANS something
to the buyers.
The lowest priced house is seen as value,
the highest as premium,
the middle of the pack?
Not seen at all.
Pricing is part of the marketing mix
for a reason.
Pay attention to where you price.
Do you have English PhD’s
writing your communications?
Is that a good idea?
A highly educated person knows
30-40,000 words.
The average person knows
10-15,000 words.
That is a huge gap in communication,
a gap that could cost your company money.
Ensure that your marketing and sales team
is only using those core 10,000 words.
BTW… the most commonly understood English word
is NOT yes,
it is ok.
That tidbit has come in very handy
when I’m traveling.
One of the pushbacks
I get from money limited entrepreneurs
is spending on marketing
is an on going expense.
Stop spending,
the results stop too.
I agree.
That is why I always try to leverage
temporary marketing into permanent marketing.
When I was looking to advertise my book online,
I concentrated on sites
with blogs or permanent author pages.
Once I had set up the banner or cover or newsletter ads,
I also requested guest blogs
or author pages
or interviews.
These permanent features,
mentioning my site and name,
will give me results long
after my marketing spend is done.
James at Copyblogger has a great post on taglines.
Two points I especially love are
to keep it simple (“Be clear, not clever”)
and to pick a focus and stick with it.
The last is the most difficult.
According to T V Mohandas Pai,
chairman of Infosys BPO,
the latest generation of IT professionals “get easily bored.
They do just one project and
they get bored and
they want something else.”
This is not isolated to the IT field.
Taglines are part of branding
and the key to branding is consistency.
That means picking a tagline
and sticking with it.
In Media Training 101,
Sally Stewart explains what NOT to say to a reporter.
What are some of the phrases to be avoided?
“This story will really help
me/my company/my sales”
A reporter is writing about you
because you are news,
not to help you.
“What’s your angle?”
Angle=Ulterior Motive=Bad Reporting
Any headline question
You’ll look like a jacka$$.
Reporters don’t write headlines.
“Let me send you free XYZ”
Freebies=Bribes=Bad Reporting
“Can I see the story before it is published?”
Doesn’t happen and is insulting to the reporter
and
“To Tell The Truth…”
implies you weren’t telling the truth
throughout the interview.