Atlanta's Marketing Center

How Much Time Do You Have To Get Your Marketing Message Across?

Are you a TV flipper? That is, how long does it take for you to watch something before you decide to turn the channel? When I’ve watched TV, I found that I changed the channels so quickly (probably about half a second) that others have commented that there’s no way I could possibly know enough about the show to make the decision of moving on.

But most of us are like that, true? When you’re going through your mail or you see a billboard on the road or you’re reading a newspaper. We’ve been trained to sort through information very quickly.

Your prospects and customers are similar. I’d say that it’s pretty universal that you as a marketer have a moment, just a moment, to make a strong impression and get enough attention for them to read further. And I’d say a moment can be anywhere from a half a second to about 3 seconds. That’s not very long. 

Whatever kind of communication you’re extending should be passed through a set of questions—

Is my headline clear, succinct and to the point?
Is it obviously compelling?
Will the message be remembered?

If no to any of these then you might want to rethink the message.

Numbers Game

As a marketing advocate, we're consistently offering advice on better ways of reaching prospects and customers.  Fortunately, there are a plethora of options...from email marketing to television ads.  There is a marketing mix out there for your business that is ideal.

However, that said, any marketing tactic is predicated on the idea that just a (small) portion will be interested and buy.  A marketing tactic that yields a 5% response is, frankly, incredible.  That means that generally speaking, 95% of the time you won't be successful in closing business.  The truth of the matter is that even with even the fanciest, most effective marketing tactics in the world, business development is still a numbers game.  And that never changes.

I have yet to find a business where prospects just naturally approach them in droves (save a monopoly).  Nearly all businesses have to take on a proactive approach and persist through lots of prospects saying 'no thanks'.  So the bottom line is that in order to be successful, give yourself a break and realize that successful marketing and sales means weeding through all the 'no's' to get to the 'yesses'. 

Remember that Babe Ruth only hit safely (base hit) 1/3rd of his career...which means he was making outs a lot of the time.  You'll experience the same kind of dynamic when prospecting.  Realizing it's going to happen generally takes the sting out.  Get out there and swing...a lot.

It's a Hat Party: Which One Should you Be Wearing Right Now?

Ever had the feeling that you weren't doing the right things during a portion of the day?  You know...the stuff that really needed to get done?  I mean, sure, helping customers is always a good thing...and then there's the paperwork.  Or worse, how about when you need to be focused on something in particular but you get drawn into something personal? Obviously, this isn't an unusual thing.  There are times when our attention and time get drawn certain ways.  You might even call this a 'perpetual hat party'.  What hat are you wearing now?

The reason I bring this up is that I believe we're successful to the degree that we're wearing the hats that we should be wearing during the day.  Not unlike time management, knowing your different "parts" and controlling them is essential to success.  We naturally wear a number of hats throughout the day. In the business sense, we go in and out of the following "parts"- manager, salesperson, team player, organizer, delegator, administrator, speaker, customer service rep, human resource manager, president, negotiator, and the list goes on.  And then there are many other parts outside of the business world that are equally if not more important- husband/wife, father/mother, son/daughter, friend, acquaintance, accountant, personal finance manager, athlete, and the list goes on.  The first step is to understand that this dynamic goes on...and that sometimes "parts" are in conflict.  Through understanding, we can better gauge then correct when we need to. 

Another reason I bring this up is because there's a business hat that tends to get discarded constantly.  But it's a hat that I believe will need to be worn more and more not only to survive, but to flourish in the new world.  Of course I'm referring to the marketing hat.  The truth is that the world is changing. I wrote below of the "marketing revolution". I think a number of tactics that were successful in the past won't be that successful in the future.  The great thing is that there's a good opportunity now to learn about the new tools and to take advantage of them.  But to do so requires time and attention. So other hats are going to have to be put aside for the marketing "hat".  What are your thoughts?

Meatball Marketing

I generally run into two types of organizations. The first type tends to focus on the operations and the sales part of the business. They'll make an effort on the marketing side but the activity tends to be sporadic and very far in between. So they don't get much marketing traction. The second type focuses heavily on marketing (which is good) but tend to overdo it then burn themselves out. Since marketing is a high activity function, it's easy to get caught in the cycle of perfection...and I can tell you that at the small business level, there's just not enough room for perfection in marketing.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not talking about letting misspellings on advertising literature go or missing milestones on a promotional event. No, what I'm talking about is taking care of the important things and sometimes looking pass the details. I call this meatball marketing. Meatball marketing is making sure that the most important elements of your marketing program move forward consistently...from planning, to improvements to you brand, and (perhaps most importantly) that the basic marketing tactics are completed.

Is it vitally important what card stock you send literature out on? or is it more important that you got it out at all? I vote for the latter. Of course, being precise is paramount, but not at the expense of the activity not happening. I see organizations get bogged down with the minor details at times...then something else springs up in the organization to push the momentum off the tracks. The next thing you know, the organization is resurrecting the marketing program a quarter later. And that's not a good recipe...even for meatballs.

A Little P.T. Barnum

"This Way to the Egress" was what the sign read near the end of every PT Barnum museum tour.  Barnum made it a habit to promote at every turn.. whether a show, tour, events, anything.

He was perhaps the greatest showman and promoter the world has ever seen... Tom Thumb, Dumbo, bearded women, the snake man, etc.  Barnum would find whatever he thought would excite the public.. and he gave it to them with fun and flair.  When he brought the circus to town later in his life, there was so much forward publicity that he rarely had to do any advertising or promoting on his own.  Free advertising, and a lot of it.

Now I would be remiss if I didn't say that he made a large part of his fortune scamming people.  What he did do though is lead people's imagination in ways they had never experienced...and his shows did deliver. 

I honestly think there's an honest little P.T. Barnum in all of us.  A part that has fun promoting our businesses, blowing our own horns with creativity.  I'm sure there are great offerings that you have that your own customers (and even family!) don't know about.  That's a shame.  Find a good ad medium and shout it to the world.  Be honest and have fun...this creative side has never been needed more!

And by the way...the sign that read 'This Way to the Egress'?  Everyone but the English teachers were excited until they were ushered out of the building and learned... Egress is another word for 'Exit'.

All about Buying Strategies

You may not have realized it yet, but you have a strategy for everything you do.  You have a strategy for how you read a book, travel and perform your job... and you have a buying strategy.  Everyone has a buying strategy and they are not the same.

Think about when you bought an expensive item, say an automobile (your buying strategy is similar across the board).  How did you go about looking for it?  Did you get on the internet and do research on a number of cars?  Or did you ask your friends or base your decision on what they had?  Or perhaps you just went to the dealership to look at different options.  Maybe it was a combination of a couple of these or others.

Did the decision on what you wanted have to do with what you wanted (American made, blue, SUV) or perhaps what you didn't want (ie. Japanese made, green, convertible)...or again a combination? 

Did the auto you settle on have more to do with how it looked, how the sales rep presented it, or the feeling you got when you were test-driving it... or again a combination of one of these?  If you look back over a few different car buys over you're life, you'll find that the buying strategy was very similar.

The bottom line is that people have different buying strategies.  In order to effectively appeal to your target market, your marketing material needs to appeal to a number of different buying strategies.  This means your copywriting needs to be directed toward those who make decisions on the own as well as those who need external sources (testimonials); folks who base their decisions on visual, kinesthetic, and audio leads; those who like options and those who prefer procedures as well as other criteria.

A good resource for compelling advertising for the different buying strategies that make up your target market is Shelle Rose Charvet's book Words that Change Minds.  I encourage you to pick up a copy.

Marketing Like Building a House

One thing that occured to me early in my career (I handled the direct mail operation for an ad agency out of college) was that the marketing activities seemed to be 'cumulative', that is that they built upon themselves. As an example, each time someone was sent information, they experienced another 'touchpoint' from us. Each touchpoint reinforced their need for our services at least to some small degree. In addition, if they didn't buy that particular time, it allowed us the opportunity to test new graphics and copy.  So, in effect, no matter where the prospect was along the sales cycle, we learned to improve the mailer for the next time.  In a way, this allowed us to get closer and closer to the sale for every prospect.

This 'cumulative' effect has never been more true since we entered the online age. Central to this are websites that allow you to display your services 24 by 7. Just a minor improvement here and there can improve the site into being a more informative and compelling 'digital billboard'. You can attach a blog, add pages, improve the copy, add forms and interactivity, attach articles and news releases and link videos and audiocasts.  When managed correctly, this all translates into a better and better experience for the prospect. It's the cumulative effect that leads me back to the metaphor that marketing is a lot like building a house.  The good news is that you can build and fine tune it as much as you want and it will only improve your visibility.

And the messages used in traditional advertising tactics you might be using should be consistent and cohesive with the central online presence.  All of the information gathered through these activities can help you to learn and try new messages and promotions.  It's when you're consistently improving and reshaping your 'house' that you'll know you're on the right path to success.  So put some work into that web presence. And be grateful that you won't have to worry about this kind of real estate market tanking.  :)

The Secret to Customer Service

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The Golden Rule states that you should "treat others as you want to be treated". I'm sure that it's been suggested to you that the Golden Rule is the best approach to take in dealing with others. And it’s been the basis of customer service training since ancient Rome. While the concept is obviously better than ‘thinking of yourself’, I submit that there's an even better model than the Golden Rule. I call it the Platinum Rule and I believe that if you follow it, people will always follow you around buying whatever you have to offer.

The Platinum Rule is to "treat others as they want to be treated". Semantics? No. This concept is the basis of something called “rapport”, which in behavioral science translates to ‘people like people who are like themselves’. That is, we all tend to gravitate to things which are like ourselves, not others.  It's about what we're comfortable with. And to me, it's taking the Golden Rule further.

The theory of rapport encourages people to be like others (physiologically, emotionally, psychologically) in order to quickly build trust with them. I can tell you that the concept when put into practice works better than any other that I have tested. And we use it as a foundation for the customer service and sales training modules.

Have you ever used ‘rapport’ in customer service situations?  How about other situations?  Have you ever heard of it?  What are your thoughts about the Platinum Rule?

Are you Going the Wrong Way?

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In a recent post I wrote about the difference between the marketing function and the advertising function.  As a small business owner, you must keep both things in mind if you want to be and stay effective.

The $5000 website you paid for that has little traffic is, to a large degree, worthless.  It's similar to a fancy store at the back of a strip center that no one ever walks into. 

On the other hand, a cheap looking website that gets a lot of traffic can damage your reputation and be of little value as well.  The solution is to have a presentable website that takes advantage of search engine optimization techniques.

You can solve this dilemna by always asking yourself what you're trying to accomplish and whether a piece accomplishes it.  Too many owners are stuck sold on things that are "pretty" or "cool" while the piece does little to attract business.  Have you fallen into this trap?

9 Years Old

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I recently heard a popular marketing speaker say that he advises his clients to think of their customers as being 9 years old.  He believes that in terms of getting their attention, people never really grow past that point and that marketing materials that are developed (big type size, simple words and ideas) appeal best to them.  His clients have been successful in adopting this approach.

It's an interesting concept.  I believe that the concept is accurate...and inaccurate.  It's true in the sense that people are typically very busy and are deluged with advertising messages constantly.  Based on that, they just don't have the time to consider messages with a lot of depth.  I think it's incorrect in that there is a wide range of consumers out there and it depends upon what you're selling and who you're targeting to.

I'd be interested to know what you think.  Obviously you wouldn't tell them you think they're childlike, but is it best to advertise to prospects/customers as if they're 9 years ago?