Seasons Greetings to One And All

This week I'd like to take a step back from  Business, Social Media and all things Sales and Marketing and focus instead on something more important.

Namely family and friends and how at this time of year it's certainly a time to reflect on how fortunate we are to be surrounded with so many good people who all help enrich our lives and really help to make life worth living.

On a personal note I'd like to thank all the readers for their support, feedback and input as it makes doing the Road Scholars blog so enjoyable.  As well I'd also like to wish you and those special to you a very safe and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

And until next time, good luck and as always, good marketing.

Regards,
Daniele.

Strategic Alliances - The Greatest Under Utilised Business Stategy

Put simply a well thought out Strategic Alliance (SA) is the most underutilised business strategy and this is especially true for SME's that somehow have this unspoken belief that every business needs to go it alone to be successful. Of course nothing can be further from the truth and all we need to do is to look at how the larger companies do it to see what amazing benefits a strong SA provides for all parties involved.

Just the other day I was involved in a discussion on this very issue and discussed with a colleague the wonderful example of the global strategic alliance that has been formed between: McDonald's, Village Cinemas and Pixar Movies Animation Studios.

What wonderful simplicity when you think of who the target audience is for all three of these businesses that you realise that they are for a large part, the same group.

 

I really don't suppose for a minute that we should be surprised that when business heavy weights like these organisations mentioned the result will be good, given their resources and marketing talent.
But the simple truth is that and businesses or organisations can do it with a little thought.

The first question that needs to be asked is what other quality organisations out there, already  target my target market and may already have well established good will, market expertise and professional networks already set up.

The second question  you need to ask is which of these organisations from question 1, can I approach that are complimentary but not competitive with what my business or organisation does?

Finally what am I willing to offer and what would I like those other businesses to offer the same market in any co-marketing campaigns between us. Here you literally have a blank canvas and are only limited by your own imagination and creativity.

In the case of the example above the specifics are well known with movie merchandising available at the restaurants and access to McDonald's vouchers when you buy movie tickets, and so on.

 In marketing I believe that this tool works so well because the businesses leverage and support each others efforts.  It is a classic win-win scenario and one that should be very appealing to SME's everywhere.

So go to it and start thinking about who you could approach to form such an alliance with.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,
Daniele.

Wow Factor the Key To Customer Satisfaction

I have often tried to impress on my students and clients the fundamental need to be able to inject some Wow factor into your Total Product Offering (TPO) as it's the Wow factor that energises people to talk about things that they have experienced and act.

 A lot is understandably made of the various research data classics such as the TARP data that focuses on the inevitable consequences of customer reactions to their level of dissatisfaction. It is frightening data on two fronts because it shows us both that the vast majority of customers who are dissatisfied will not necessarily complain about it and also that if they remain dissatisfied will usually tell around ten people who in-turn will go out and tell another five each.  OK then the simple message here is don't do the wrong thing by your customers and hopefully you will avoid this.

But as business owners we do not go into business to avoid dissatisfaction. Surely our aim needs to be universally to delight our customers with a consistently high level of customer satisfaction that at very least meets their expectations and hopefully, exceeds them.  To do this of course we need to inject some WOW factor into our product offering to the market.

 The specifics of how you do this will naturally enough depend on what your product is and the market that it operates in. The key point is that in every circumstance there is an existing level of customer expectation that need to be addressed in your promotional campaigns where you verbalise your brand promise which outlines exactly how it will meet the prospects needs.
 Beyond the promotional campaigns and the purchasing comes the actual product usage and experience. This is as Jan Carlson so aptly put it: The moment of truth.

It is here that the additional features and benefits and perhaps value added services kick in to leave the customer surprised and excited about the product, the value that it offers them and the consequences of using it in terms of a better outcome when compared to alternative brands that they may previously have used that did not provide them with any WOW factor.

One of my favourite anecdotes that I like to share on this topic is the story of when I gave a presentation in Portland Victoria which is around a six hour drive from Melbourne. I arrived at around 5 pm to deliver a 4 hour class which went from around 6 to 10pm.

I had driven my own car and noticed when I parked it in the underground car park that it was very dirty from the trip and I thought that the next morning I would have to find a car wash to wash it before making the trip back home or run the risk of being pulled up by the police and fined.
Anyway the night went well and I enjoyed a comfortable night there and the next morning on approaching my car I noticed that it had been washed and a message had been left on my windshield. It read:

“Mr Lima thank you so much for choosing out hotel to stay at whilst in Portland.
We noticed that your car had become dirty from the trip and we took the opportunity to wash it for you at no cost to ensure you have a safe journey once you leave here. We hope you had an enjoyable stay and hope to see you again. Many thanks."
Staff and Management of the Comfort Inn.

Now that's what I call Wow factor.  Do you provide your customers with this type of experience?
If the answer is no, not yet, then start now.  Do something to make people feel good about you and give them a reason for them to spread the gospel of you and your brand.
So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards
Daniele

Apply the Principles of Thanksgiving for Your Business

This week over 300 million Americans will celebrate the wonderful, annual ritual of Thanksgiving, where as the name suggests they think about all the good things in their lives and give thanks for them. How simple and how appropriate. It's sad that in Australia we choose to celebrate Halloween and not the more meaningful Thanksgiving.

But putting that aside, let's think about this wonderful day of celebration and apply its broadly applicable principles back to your business or product.

Think about your best clients for example. The ones who not only buy from you or deal with you but quite possibly provide you with increasing amounts of work, provide you with testimonials and most importantly through advocacy, go out and tell other businesses about you.

Think hard about what it is you do to thank them over and above doing a good job for the work that you are being contracted to do. I mean honestly, in today's ultra competitive markets, excellent and consistent delivery of service, is the absolute minimum and entry level of what a business needs to provide.

If you are now reading this thinking wow we are not doing anything more for our customers other than sending them the bill, then this blog post should resonate and sound a clear warning that just as the 28th of November is the day to give thanks for our families and friends, good health, peace and so on, it is alos the time to think about how we can articulate out sincere appreciation to those who allow us to survive and thrive.

Do so and you'll be celebrating long term success with customer satisfaction and retention levels. Forget to do so and the outcome will surely look a little bleaker. Food for thought.

So until next time, good luck good marketing and happy thanksgiving to one and all.

Regards,
Daniele.

What Metrics Should You Be Tracking

I saw an interesting piece of data this week released through Marketing Sherpa which looked at research conducted on over 1800 businesses last year using a benchmark survey technique that showed the following results.

 Now I find this somewhat interesting that the most popular response at 79% was traffic. As the original article rightly pointed out, other than media companies, most other businesses do not sell traffic. They sell products in the form of goods and services that they need to sell.

 Surely the definitive metric for most businesses needs to be sales, or at least qualified leads that you can make a reasonable argument will drive sales in the longer term. However only around 2 in 3 (68%) of the sample group selected sales. Food for thought.

More broadly I believe that some of the readers may also be thinking about now that surely the definitive metric for any business would need to reflect the primary function of the website, blog or other platform type which to play devil's advocate may not be sales. And yest they would be right.

The vast majority of all  businesses of course are profit seeking by nature and therefore in the real world should make the effect that the site has on overall turnover a key metric but for Government, not for profits and charities.

So regardless of what type of business you are in, what market you operate in and what type of website, blog or micro-site you have operating, reverse engineer the metrics by going back away from what it is your trying to achieve and then basing the key measurement metrics on those primary and secondary outcomes.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.

Slideshare Now Allows Infographics

As you will all know by the various discussions over time, I am a great fan of Slideshare and believe it to be an integral part of any social media marketing plan or campaign. For this reason I was thrilled this week to read that Slideshare has now allowed its users to share infographics with  their readers.

The statistics on Slideshare are well documented with 55 million unique monthly users and a staggering 130 million page views. That's like reaching an audience two and a half times the size of Australia. 

But I know that some people are simply blazes about any number these days based on the absolute size of Facebook so listen to this.  Infographics on SlideShare are 4x more viral than presentations and an amazing 23x more viral than documents. 

Now when we look at this wonderful tool we see a platform that is almost unique in that it allows you to do the opposite to other social media modalities do. Namely put as much information as you want down.  This is significant because for some things the customer wants  a lot more data and time to digest it all.  Life isn't always about 140 characters or less and for those situations, regardless of whether you use an infographic or the humble PowerPoint presentation, Slideshare is a great waepon in your e-marketing arsenal. 

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.  

What Is the The Most Powerful Form of Product Advertising

There are several types of product advertising that can be effectively applied to help promote any businesses products.The key types are: Pioneering, Competitive, Reminder and Comparative Advertising.

 

Pioneering Advertising which attempts to create demand for an overall product type rather than a specific brand of product. It is used to build awareness and inform potential customers about new products on the market.  An example of pioneering advertising would be advertising to promote DVD players, where initially the object was not to promote a particular brand but the new concept of the DVD player itself i.e. to build primary demand.

Competitive Advertising which unlike pioneering advertising which aims to build primary demand, competitive advertising attempts to build demand for a specific product brand.  This is called secondary demand.  Relating this to the earlier example of the DVD player it can be seen that as the general public gradually becomes more aware and informed regarding DVD technology, advertising then attempts to push specific brands and models to its target markets.

Reminder Advertising is used by firms who have well established brands on the market and desire to keep the product’s name continually in the public eye.  The classic example of this form of advertising is: Coca-Cola advertising.  Here is an example of a product which is the market leader (world-wide) and yet its makers understand the need for continual, reminder advertising to keep the product constantly in the minds of its target audience.

Comparative Advertising where some businesses who believe their particular brand of product is superior, deploy a specific form of competitive advertising called comparative advertising which puts the advertising product head to head with the competitor.  An example of this is the “Energizer” television commercial which describes how the “Energizer” lasts longer than a “Duracell”.  This is a powerful form of advertising which can build strong, selective demand if a product is perceived as being superior to its opposition. Overall competitive advertising is used after a product class has been established and the general public has become reasonably familiar with it and consequently wants to purchase the product.

 In the end the best and most powerful type of product advertising depends on the nature of your product and the advertising objectives you have put in place to drive your strategy to achieve your objectives.

Injecting a personal note,  believe strongly despite what I have just written above that for those businesses that have worked hard on establishing a genuine point of difference that is meaningful, sustainable and relevant to the target markets unmet need, they will always be well rewarded by astute use of direct comparative advertising, but I stress that this will only work if your USP is a strong one that has already been established and is valued by the market.

So for now, think about each type of advertising discussed above and consider how could each type be better utilised to drive your core promotional messages more effectively.  Let us know what you come up with.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,

Daniele.