Marketing’s Best Practices
This is the last of my weekly Muse email newsletters. I have decided to change my format from an e-newsletter to a blog and will let you know the blog address as soon as it is live.
I decided that the best topic for my last Muse would be a review of what I believe to be the best practices for marketing success. That experience comes from 20 years of working inside companies, an additional 16 years of working with a large variety of clients in my own business, Excelsior Marketing, and the past 10 months at Aurora Creative Group.
During that time I have seen huge successes created by smart marketing and huge failures created by Read more »
The Best Brands
The first decade of the 21st century will soon be over and it seems that time is flying by at increasing speed. But when I look at the past 10 years from the perspective of advertising my head spins. The market is full of brands that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
That makes me wonder, how have the brands that defined the last century made the transition to the new one? Have they survived? What brands best define this new decade? What has changed in the way we create and deliver brand messages to our customers, and how do we keep our brands relevant and dominant?
I read recently there has been a 40% increase in new business startups in the U.S. during the current down economy. Much of it has been driven by enterprising employees who have been downsized out of jobs and, unable to find new ones, have launched businesses of their own. With the entrepreneurial spirit still running strong, what can a start up entrepreneur learn from observing the best brands of the last century and how they made the transition into the new decade?
The answer is “Lots!” Lets take a look at the top Read more »
Is Your Website Google Friendly?
Latest numbers show there are around 15.4 billion online searches performed each month. 65% of those are made on Google. 90% of clicks from Google searches are from first page results.
With millions of companies, sites and blogs vying for first page listings, and with Google constantly changing the systems it uses for ranking in organic and natural searches, it is a never ending process to keep your site ranked on page one.
If SEO is part of your marketing strategy, you may need to up the ante for being a page one player in the search game. It takes time, skill, and a constant Read more »
How “Free” Beats “Save” and Other Lessons
My dad let me start waiting on customers in his shoe store when I was five. He taught me how to ring up the cash register, put a small stool for me to stand on so I could reach it, and helped me as I learned the basic math to make change. For the next 12 years, until I left home for college, I worked in my dad’s store.
He taught me everything about running a business – bookkeeping, inventory control, markups, cash flow, merchandising, purchasing, advertising and how to treat the customers. With Father’s Day approaching, I have been thinking about how much I learned from my dad at a young age. Mostly I’ve been thinking about the marketing, merchandising and customer service practices we implemented at the store and whether they are still relevant in today’s marketplace.
When I started working in my dad’s store people paid with cash (few had credit cards), TV was in black and white with only 3 networks of programs, and computers were huge machines that filled entire rooms. There was no Internet. Despite all of the advances since then, the strategies my dad used to grow and expand his business are still relevant for anyone wanting to increase their number of customers, improve their profits and Read more »
Letting Customers Own Your Brand
One of my most indulgent brand relationships happened when I was between the ages of 6 and 11. I never missed going to my hometown grocery store when the new shipments of Archie Comics came in. There, for a mere 10¢, I would get the latest issue of Katy Keene, America’s Pin Up Queen.
Sometimes there were special editions that were thicker, perfect bound, and cost 25¢. The price didn’t matter. I was a devoted Katy Keene fan. In addition to the stories, each issue had pages of paper dolls of all the characters in the series. The clothes for the paper dolls were designed by kids – girls and boys – from around the world who read the Katy Keene comic books.
The creator of Katy Keene was Bill Woggon. Woggon encouraged readers to design clothes for all his Katy Keene comics characters and send them to him. By doing so he let us take ownership of the brand he created and make it our own. It was branding genius – the ultimate in Read more »
Do You Need Damage Prevention?
Last year a restaurant owner consulted me for advice and a strategy for turning around a lackluster year at one of his restaurants. The dismal performance had to do with a series of bad experiences for his patrons including slow, inattentive service and a temperamental chef who became indignant if customers made requests such as “hold the onions” in one of his dishes.
The owner wanted a new advertising campaign to build up business. I explained that until people knew the old problems were gone, all the advertising in the world wouldn’t bring customers back. I suggested he develop a campaign apologizing for the bad service and experience, using a “try us again and see the difference” offer, guaranteeing great food, great service, and a great dining experience.
The owner wouldn’t consider a campaign with a public acknowledgment or apology for what had happened. With an abundance of other restaurant choices in the area there were many better alternatives and people stopped coming to his. Business continued to decline and eventually he Read more »
Avoiding the Big Giveaway
Those who provide professional services are the Rodney Dangerfields of business. They get no respect. This is evidenced by the double standard for those in the professional services business sector compared to all other businesses.
For example, a consumer wouldn’t think of walking into a retail store and asking the owner to give them their merchandise for free. But that same consumer has no problem talking to a service professional such as a financial planner at a social occasion and asking for free advice about the safest way to invest.
The expectation is that someone who provides professional services will Read more »
Turning Shoppers into Buyers
Common sense would tell you that if people come into your store, or visit your online store, it’s because they want to buy something. Yet abandon rates of how many people exit without making a purchase can be high. One retail establishment I worked with measured a 93% exit rate before they hired me to turn them around.
The fact is, shopping and buying are two different functions. They’re related, yes. But at times the relationship is very distant.
Another client had me track the time it took for a first-time shopper to become a buyer. I found that only 4% converted from a shopper to a buyer in the first contact. 20% converted from shoppers to buyers in the first year. For some it took as long as Read more »
Measuring Up
I love to be around enthusiastic people. Their enthusiasm is contagious. Sometimes I work with entrepreneurs who have unbridled enthusiasm for their ideas. Which is as it should be. After all, why pursue something that doesn’t get you excited?
Sometimes, however, the fires of imagination and enthusiasm are so bright they can blind entrepreneurs from the realities they have yet to discover.
Many seem to launch a business along the thinking of, “To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target,” as stated by English author Ashleigh Brilliant. Taking the results that come rather than creating the results you want is Read more »
Price, Product or Package?
My favorite tissue box design was discontinued a few months ago, which meant I had to choose a different box design. I found a tissue box design I liked from another brand, so I changed brands. I didn’t compare prices or look for what was on special. I just bought several boxes of the design I liked.
When it comes to selecting products, what influences us the most? The price, the product or the package?
It is a key question in branding. Many businesses are price driven. Many others focus on branding and top of mind awareness. So of the three, packaging often gets overlooked in an effort to be price competitive and maintain brand prominence in the advertising marketplace. Yet I believe that packaging has more power to Read more »
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