How Marketing Generates Leads

Marketing Based Lead Generation is selling through the back door.

Very simply, this is a way to get your name to the public without making even one cold call.  

Generate free exposure by writing what you know. Authoring articles in your knowledge wheel house is a great way to get your name out as an expert in your field. You can write for trade magazines, which is good for B2B sales, but to reach the general public,  a publication with broader appeal or a blog is the way to go.

Don’t be intimidated by the task of writing, you’re putting yourself out as an expert on your subject, not on writing.

If writing isn’t your thing how about talking? Interviews, YouTube Videos  and Podcasts are all ways you can talk your way into lead generation. Again, it’s flexing your expertise muscle in public.

In writing and talking, less is always more. Edit yourself. I try to use as few words as possible.

Has enough been said about social media?  It seems the social media emphasis is overdone but people really are reading , responding and ‘liking’ information put out on social media. You can’t drum up a following overnight;  it does require a strategy, but the effort really is worth it. Who knew 144 characters could be so powerful?  There are entire ad campaigns built around the constraints of twitter.

All this lead generation is completely free. Your own YouTube account, Facebook Fan Page or Blog are  all free and require little expertise to set up. They do need to be maintained, though. If your message is compelling, people will come back often to hear what else you have to say, so keep talking. The next thing you know, you’ll have a captive audience, and the phone will start to ring.

Tis the Season to be Giving

Looking for ways to give this holiday season rather than just exchanging gifts? Many non-profit organizations can use donations and volunteers. Here area few:

• Operation Christmas Child- A part of Samaritan’s Purse International
  • How you can help:

Build A Box- Fill a shoe box with various gifts and a small donation,  then drop it off at the nearest donation center. For more information click here.

• Toys for Tots- A foundation sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
  • How you can help:
    • Donate new toys for underprivileged children at your local  donation center or drop-off box.
    • As an alternative to trading or selling your vehicle donate it to Cars for Tots.
    • Holiday Recognition Program- recognize clients, business associates, family and friends by sending a greeting card to them from “Toys for Tots.” Part of the proceeds benefit underprivileged children in your community.
    • Donate through Ebay- When buying or selling your item on Ebay, donate 10 percent to 100 percent of the final selling price to Toys for Tots.

Many of us eagerly await the arrival of the cheery old man in the red suit down our chimneys. Other children, not as fortunate,  wish Santa will remember them and make their Christmas magical. Your warm-hearted spirit or small donation can change the lives of these children who are looking for love and the gift of Christmas in their stockings.

 

Best Practices for Marketing Dashboards

The advantage of a dashboard is that it’s easy to use, provides timely data and, most importantly, gives an idea as to how to go about implementing potential improvements and solutions. It helps explain your marketing metrics visually, making it a lot easier for people to understand the information… without geeking out on them.

For example, you can use a dashboard to compare marketing expenditures to revenue earned. Unlike reading bar graphs and spreadsheets, a dashboard makes it easy for you to quickly see where the marketing money is going, and, more specifically, which activities are leading to sales. Many people love this because it allows you to measure marketing ROI. Even better than that, is it allows you to make changes to your tactics and rapidly notice the impact.

Now that you realize how great it would be to have a dashboard, let’s talk about a few best practices for creating one.

1. Use Clear Labels
Depending on who’ll be looking at your reports, be sure they’ll know what each graph means. Consider, Jersey, Jamaica Red, Caucasin and Florida.  These words all come from the same category, but if you didn’t know I was listing breeds of cattle you might think I was having a problem with Geography.

2. Avoid Acronyms
While an acronym might be convenient and easy to read, it could lead to confusion, especially if your data is shared with people outside of your field. In a recent meeting I was in, people were throwing around the term, “QSR.” This could mean Quick Service Restaurants, Quasi-Stellar Radio or Quality System Regulation. I thought they meant Quality Satisfaction Rate. Imagine my confusion until I realized they were meaning Quick Service Restaurants. (Click here to see what else QSR means).

3. Use Legends or Keys
Don’t just make sure your reports show your information well, but that they define and describe it well, too. A legend will allow you to use colors and abbreviations to your advantage, while making sure your audience knows what they’re looking at.

4. Use Color Wisely
I’m colorblind, so the use of colors on graphs sometimes is a problem for me. When making graphs with colors use the options that have a marker with the display.  It also helps when you print the graph with a black and white printer.

Turning Disappointing Service into Something Exceptional

This week American Eagle Airline was fined $900,000 for keeping passengers on a non-moving plane for over three hours. $600,000 will be paid as a fine but almost $300,000 will be returned to passengers in refunds, vouchers and other incentives to come fly again.

What is the best course of action when a customer has a bad experience with a company? The moments after an episode of bad customer service will determine the client’s future actions. Will they return? Will they tweet or blog something detrimental to your business? There are a few ways to take control of your fate by offering outstanding service to correct a wrong.

Good customer service is organic. Either it is part of who you are as an organization or it is not. If service is the priority, everyone from the CEO down should practice it. Toot your own horn at meetings or in the company newsletter. If you are offering something exceptional, the whole company should know and follow the example.

Good customer service means empowerment. Is every member of the staff empowered to make things right for an unhappy customer? While there are boundaries around what can and should be offered to correct a wrong, a company that values the customer experience will make their policies part of employee orientation and on-going team-training. Are clients empowered to talk to whomever they need to because your company hierarchy is easily accessed on a website or somewhere else the public can find it?

Good customer service means saying, “I’m sorry.” Our society values being right more than empathy but in a good service environment, people are often seeking empathy and an apology. Being genuinely regretful that someone has had an unpleasant experience while working with your company is not weak, it’s good service.

While we may not all have $300,000 to buy clientele back, we do all have the tools to correct a disappointing experience and save a loyal customer.

How to Create the Work Environment Employees Really Want

In a Job Satisfaction Survey released recently by the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) workers revealed benefits, compensation, and work/life balance are the most important factors to their overall job satisfaction.

Job benefits and compensation don’t look like they did in your Dad’s day. This generation of workers values a variety of things that can be provided with a small effort from the employer or strain on the company’s budget. Aside from employee retention, think of what these perks can do for your brand and corporate culture!

Check out this infographic to see what Google, Twitter and LinkedIn have done for their employees.

Here are a few simple ideas for you to consider…

Flexible hours & comp time.
Allowing employees to begin their 8-hour workday early or a little later is a small thing on the part of the employer, but can be very helpful an employee. Giving an employee the freedom to put in extra hours this week to get a few hours off next week is another way employers can help their employees have a good work/life balance. Job sharing isn’t a new concept, but it still has great application in this economy. Two part-time workers with flexible hours can do a full-time job for less than one employee.

A dog friendly atmosphere is more common than ever, especially in the high tech and creative industries. Allowing Fido to come to work is free and brings a whole new vibe to the office. Visiting canines should be well-behaved but, with a few guidelines, they are a great way to lighten the mood of any office.

Once or twice a month the entire team should eat together. While the whole crew brown-bags their lunch, you’ll be surprised what you will learn about each other. This is also a chance for the boss to be accessible to visit with employees, which is rare in some companies. At Holy Cow, we call it “grazing in the bull pen.”

Flexible space. Do decor guidelines stifle your employee’s creativeness? Asana, the company owned by Facebook Co-creator Dustin gives a $10,000 allowance for office setup/decor. While we don’t all have that kind of budget, encouraging employees to take ownership of their space helps them connect to work in a new way.

Do you have the ability to barter with your vendors or customers? Perhaps some of them can provide your employees with goods or services in exchange for something you do. This is a better deal than a cash benefit since there are no taxes with this kind of perk.

Competition. No, not the sales kind, but the creative kind.  A chili-cook off or a birthday cake throw down might be a great way to spend a Friday afternoon, or Monday if you want to kick off the week right.  A Raleigh hotel hosts an employee pumpkin carving contest. The team carves their pumpkins, then sets them out around the hotel for guests to enjoy.

Bike Racks. If employees live close enough to bike to work, encourage their commute by giving them a place to park. The Clif Bar Company in Emeryville, CA has loaner bikes for their employees to use for errands close to the office. What an easy perk!

Gaming. A foosball table takes up a minimal space but is a fun lunch time distraction. Besides, you’ll be in good company. Facebook, Twitter & Linked In all have foosball tables at their corporate offices.

What do your employees value? Finding the perks that speak to the needs of your employees then providing them is what will keep them off Monster.com.

What Does It Mean To Have A Brand Essence?

Your brand essence is the couple of words that sum up how your business connects with your customers and prospects.

What’s tricky about your brand essence is that it’s not about features and benefits. Those are easy to articulate, and easy to describe, measure and compare. Your essence is what is felt when others interact with your brand. Deeply, passionately, remarkably.

Think about some of the worlds most powerful brands:

Cruising down the road in a BMW Z3 brings you joy.

Starbucks rewards everyday moments.

Disney… the most wonderful place on earth… creates magical fun.

Part of what has made these brands so successful is the fact that they have easily defined, easily understood essences. By studying creating a specific way for customers to expericene their brand, the essence is born.

Some guidelines for you to think about as you consider what your brand essence is:

1. Tap into what your customer feels when they work with you.
2. Think about how customers experience your brand.
3. Make sure the essence is consistently delivered.
4. Consider how your essence will extend throughout your brand as your business grows.

Here is a great presentation put together by branding expert Kirk Phillips that has terrific information to help you understand the purpose and value of a strong brand essence.

What Does It Mean To Be Tweetable?

According to Urban Dictionary, being “tweetable” means that something is worthy of being written about on Twitter. It may be good or bad – it applies to anything worth a tweet.

What’s even better than being tweetable? Why being retweetable, of course! Being retweetable means that someone else felt your information was valuable enough to pass it along to their followers, too.

On Twitter, you only have 140 characters to get your message out there, and make it noticed. It is important you’re thinking like your followers (who should include your clients and prospects) and using catchy verbiage through a somewhat conversational tone to strike their interest. Start your tweets with a clever pun, quote, or phrase that will make a person look twice at your tweet. Then, continue your update with what you’re promoting toward the end. The better the quality of the information you provide, the more likely your followers will retweet it.

Quick Tips for being Retweetable

• People love infographics
• Don’t just talk about yourself (booorrrring)
• Share things you think are interesting (chances are, others will find it interesting, too)
• Retweet quality tweets from others, they’ll pay more attention to what you say, too

Now that you’re fully armed, we hope you’ll be tweeting like pros!

Churn Rate… The Essential Customer Loyalty Metric

The cows are anxious! Its ‘Churning’ Day at the dairy farm. No, not the day they make butter but the day they calculate the churn rate for their customers.

Churn is the essential customer loyalty metric. In a nutshell, it’s the number of customers that don’t want to do business with you anymore. It’s calculated by taking the number of customers you have at the beginning of the year and using that number to divide into the number of those customers you have at the end of the year.

Churn Rate Formula

If you have heard the expression, “It is easier to keep a customer, than to get a new one,” you’ve already had your first lesson in churn. So, let’s continue with the example from above. If you began with 65 customers at the beginning of the year, and only retained 15 by the end of the year, your churn rate would be 23%. This means that 77% of your customers no longer use your products or services. Ouch.

If your current client base provides $1,000,000 in revenue annually, you’ll lose $230,000 from churn this year. By keeping one customer, your churn rate will go to 22%, and you’ll only lose $220,000. Which really means the new customer you just added will add to the $1 million – not just reduce the $230,000. Keeping customers means making more money for your business. And we all want that, don’t we?

Do You Know Where Your Brand Stands?

You can’t figure out where you’re going until you figure out where you’re at… and where you’ve been. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your branding and marketing initiatives, both past and present, are essential to creating a beefy new brand or realigning an existing one.

Are you ready to move forward? Alright, then. It’s time to perform a brand audit!

Calculating the brand of an entire company is a mighty big job, though. That’s why we’ve compiled some questions and materials lists to help you get it all sorted out.

Brand Audit Questions
Here’s a list of tried and true questions that will help you figure out what sets your business apart from the herd. Remember, what your customers think of your brand is far more important than what you think of it.

1. Do you know what makes your business different from competitors?
2. Does your market know what makes your business different from competitors?
3. Is this difference a positive one?
4. Are all of your employees aware of this difference?
5. Do you make it a priority to educate new employees about this difference, and how they should communicate it?
6. Is this difference made clear to prospects in your sales processes?
7. Do your marketing materials focus on this difference?
8. Is this difference apparent throughout all your materials (see below) in a consistent manner?
9. Is the pricing of your product or service based on perception of value, rather than the pricing of competitors?
10. Do you have measurable, strategic campaigns in place to market and support your brand?

Who to ask:

• Executives
• Marketing Managers, Brand Managers
• Mid-levels
• Entry Levels
• Clients, Customers

Brand Audit Materials
Here’s a big ole list of the materials you’ll need to figure out the sum of your brand. Remember, you’ll want archived materials as well as current ones. Sometimes old ideas can help you form new ideas, or at least help you figure out which ideas have already been less than impactful.

• Logos
• Color Palettes
• Names (Company, Division, Products, Services)
• Taglines
• Trademarks
• Messaging Documents
• Letterhead, Envelopes, Business Cards
• Invoices, Checks
• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Ads
• PowerPoint Presentations
• Website
• Blog
• Videos
• Internal Messaging
• Merchandise
• Clothing, Uniforms
• Signage
• Interior Design
• Trade Show Booths

What these materials can tell you:

• What you own
• How you are divided and aligned
• How you are positioned
• What your messaging is/was
• What your visual elements communicate

Take Control of Your Web Site

A mission critical strategy for your website is ensuring that it has fresh content to keeps visitors coming back.

A static site, while it can perform several basic functions, doesn’t provide your brand with the “stickiness” it deserves, and it certainly doesn’t give the appearance that you’re actively involved in it’s upkeep. Take charge of your website. Allocate time and resources to its maintenance, and, if your new content is worthy, you’ll find that it breeds brand loyalty by bringing ­visitors back for more and more. A dynamic site can also grow your market. For example, fresh content infused with the right keywords can help you stay abreast of current search trends.

Staying on top of your site isn’t as much work as you might think. Here are a few steps you can follow to take charge of your online brand:

1.  Invest in a Content Management System

It’s no secret that few small business owners have the time or know-how to fiddle with backend web development. So, ask your developer about implementing a content management system that allows you to easily update your site’s content without fear of messing up the code. It may seem like an extraneous cost up front, but if you’re serious about keeping your site (and its visitors) up to date, the initial dollar amount pales in comparison to the fees you’ll incur when the bills for all those update requests pop up in the mail.

2. Upload News Items on a Regular Basis

     Whether your site contains a media room or a press release archive, it’s important that visitors don’t have to go off-site to find out your business’s business. An updated list of news items on your site shows that your business is active and making headlines. Just make sure your news is newsworthy.

3.  Add a Twitter Feed

     If your business is on Twitter, you could provide your website visitors with a link that allows them to follow you. Better yet, you could add a Twitter feed to your site and give them a taste of all the benefits they have to gain from following you.

4.  Incorporate a Blog

     The benefits of a blog are too numerous to cover in full here. In short, if you aren’t blogging, you probably should be. Blogs help position you as an expert in your field by allowing you to share your unique knowledge in a forum that can educate and inspire discussion among peers and prospects. As such, blogs are public sources of knowledge that consistently add fresh content, and can help position your site for optimal search rankings… if it’s within your domain. Make sure you aren’t taking the easy way out and sending visitors to a blog with a separate domain name. Go the extra mile and have your blog incorporated into your site.