You’re Judged on Your Associations

Mom always said…"you are who you associate with" and she definitely wasn’t wrong. Of course as time went on, you grew up, became wiser, made your own choices and while you still shared interests and maybe even the same group of friends, you probably no longer shared every opinion or thought of theirs anymore. That’s a good thing.

Unfortunately, some companies (and/or marketing agencies, marketing vendors, etc) don’t seem to get the "you are who you associate with" rule which is a very costly and damaging mistake.

Point in case: On a rare evening when I had an hour or so to watch TV I was watching a show on the issues surrounding human trafficking all over Asia. It’s awful. Young girls sold into sex slavery against their will. Horrible living conditions and little education make this lifestyle (for lack of better terms) a vicious cycle for these children and women who grow up under these circumstances.

"Okay, Meg, got it…it’s horrible and all but how does this relate to marketing and business?" Well, as I watched this expose, I viewed two ads during two different commercial breaks. One was for Korean Air and the second paid for by the Travel Commission of Vietnam encouraging tourism. Unfortunately, Korean Air and the Travel Commission of Vietnam didn’t think to ask (or their marketing agency or vendors did think or care) to ensure their ads were aired in a rotation that employed the "negative marketing" tactic.

Negative marketing (just a word I use..nothing official) is when you avoid placing your company in the middle of anything that is relative to your company’s services but is negative. So while I know Korean Air and the Vietnam Travel Commission are in no way promoting human trafficking, my mind is subconsciously (or consciously) associating the two because of the proximity of the two messages. A HUGE MISTAKE! So I ask myself, "Why would I want to go to Vietnam (even if it’s not the country that the expose is focusing on) when human trafficking in Asia is such a huge problem? I have no intentions of supporting that activity."

So business owners, Marketing Directors, TV/Radio/Print/Online marketing vendors, do your clients a favor. They’re hiring you to act on their behalf and produce revenue! Gone are the days when anyone should tolerate vendors that take the client’s money for the sake of making a buck. We need to partner, care, embrace the client’s business and it is our responsibility as marketers to make sure they see a positive return on the money/time they spent with us.

Marketers, be responsible. Business owners and Marketing Executives, be aware. Ask questions!

This is Meg Ferguson from Vision House Marketing and I would love to hear your thoughts/experiences with "negative marketing."

You’re lucky you have a job!

A relative of mine, who will remain nameless for reasons that will become clear, works for a large company - cubicle land/ corporate America. We all know that company. Similar to “Initech” from the movie, Office Space (if you haven’t seen this movie, it’s a must for “lessons learned in management”). The company with multiple layers of management who mostly were promoted to their own level of incompetence (ref: Peter Principle). They were great programmers so they are promoted to manager. Most of the time, programmers don’t make good managers = Peter Principle. Anyway, back to my relative….

His “leadership,” after cutting bonuses, reducing vacations and benefits and have every employee do the job of two (they laid off the other one) has the mentality that they’re lucky to have jobs therefore their complaints go unacknowledged. Morale is in the toilet and “leadership” is asking these people to follow them…or else. Or else they lose their jobs?

This entry is about leadership. There is nothing more I despise than a weak “leader” - a leader who has been appointed to a position but has not earned it. Company owners, managers of big and small companies alike, listen up! People might follow you under duress but to quote a line from Office Space “they’ll do just enough to not get fired.” Bottom line is, they won’t respect you and a leader leads out of respect and trust that is earned not appointed. The more you have their backs, the more you realize how much they sacrifice for your company, the more you provide a “give and take” atmosphere, the harder they’ll work for you, the more loyal they’ll be, more your people respect you, the more productive they’ll be! It is this that will see your company through these tough economic times.

So managers, business owners, if you’re one of “those” complaining about your subordinates or employees not doing their jobs, take a look in the mirror. YOU are to lead them. That is YOUR job! What kind of a leader are you? Challenge yourself. How can you find the balance between asking your people to do more with less and follow you?  There is another movie I highly recommend which focuses on the qualities of a true leader - The Last Castle with Robert Redford.

Post your stories about your leadership! What are qualities that define a good leader for you?

Don’t tell me the economy is bad!

My husband and I had the rare chance to get away this weekend to Colorado where we visited a small diner that we’ve frequented on previous trips. We love the small town, slower paced feel of the place and everything from the decor to the service makes you feel that time has slowed for a bit. We’ve always had fairly friendly service and food has always been great.

We dropped in this past Sunday right before we headed off to the airport and the place was packed! We stood there for about five minutes before a server even acknowledged us (the entire place is about 500 sq ft by the way) and when we were finally seated the server was quick to tell us that they’re “very busy so expect to wait.”

Okay, so, being from the east coast, that’s hard to do. We want everything yesterday and expect prompt and courteous- or at least a cup of coffee. We waited about 20 minutes before we stood up to leave. The server quickly came over seemingly annoyed and without an apology, asked if she could take our order. Pressed for time and hungry we decided to stay. But as I stewed over my French toast (which is some of the best I’ve ever had - and I’m a French toast connoisseur), I watched about four other couples come in, stand, wait to be acknowledged and walk out. I watched another family of four who was actually seated get up and walk out.

As a business owner and a marketer, I wanted to stand up and scream! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???!!! In this day and age, to let business just walk out the door??? In this day and age, people are willing to spend their money at your establishment and you’re annoyed that you’re too busy??! POP! That was my head exploding!

Okay, so there were a number of factors. 1) They were clearly understaffed (but it was a Sunday morning and this was a BREAKFAST joint). 2) There could have been an issue behind the scenes with appliances, people, etc not working to capacity. 3) ……… 3)……um……..3)…….yeah, can’t think of a third. Because outside of issue number 2, there was no excuse for the servers attitude. They might have been understaffed. Three people could have called out sick. They could have been frazzled, over worked, stressed but it’s not the customer’s fault!! In fact, most people were in a relaxed state, out for a nice Sunday breakfast and would have most likely accepted sitting for a few extra minutes with a cup of coffee and an apologetic but courteous server. I know I would have! 

My point being is that service is still number one! You can be the lowest price or have the best French toast but I will tell you this, we will never go back to that diner. There is no excuse for poor service. If you’re a business owner (and it wasn’t clear to me if the owner was there that day or not), you need to focus your efforts on training your staff in customer service! There is no excuse for poor customer service and in this day an age, it is even less tolerable.

Don’t tell me economy is bad when a small diner in a small Podunk town can’t handle a little business without an attitude!

Tell me your customer service nightmare stories?

Frequency is Key but do you have the resources?

I’m back. And I’m sorry! I did not disappear. I did what I swore I wouldn’t. I neglected to post anything for a few weeks which brings me to the meat of this posting - frequency and resources!

I was working on the launch of a client’s new website and there was talk of launching a blog as well. I, of course, loved the idea but I’m very much a realist.  I also probably talk myself out of a lot of money but I had to play devil’s advocate. I asked the two questions that are usually never thought of when considering a blog (or any social media campaign for that matter). First, "do you have the resources (mostly manpower and time) needed to maintain this blog?" Secondly, "do you understand that behind valuable content frequency is the most important thing to a blog’s success?" Blank stares. Silence. Papers shuffling.

After my dose of reality, I strongly encouraged the blog - but with a plan. A plan that included things like who would be the voice of the blog? How often it would be updated (preferably 2-3 times per week)? What would the topics of content include? Where would the content come from? With the answers to these questions, a blog has a great chance at success.

So, while it seems so simple, don’t forget to ask yourself these questions. Answer them and stick to the plan!

I am found guilty and accept my punishment for not posting in about three weeks. I’m open to your suggestions for punishment. Keep it clean!

Until next time, this is Meg Ferguson from Vision House Marketing saying have an efficient and effective day!

Don’t Forget About Your Website. Make it Work!

I circulated a survey last week to my friends, colleagues, and clients asking their uses for social media. With all the hype about social media (and well deserved hype might I add), I wanted to gauge whether people were shifting their behaviors with regards to online fact finding. While most of the responses were no surprise, one question brought the most interesting results. When asked "Where do you go online to find out more about a company?," 100% of the respondents said "their website."

Okay, so these results didn’t split the atom and certainly don’t reflect the views of more than about 100 people but I found it most interesting. I fear that companies are starting to invest disproportionate amounts of time and money diving into the social networking world and neglecting their mainstay - their website. Don’t get me wrong, social networking is here to stay and should be a part of your marketing strategy but your website is still very important and it is still the "front door" to your business. It has to be maintained, updated, studied for visitor trends, and reflective at all times of your company’s products and/or services. But most of all, it has to work!

So what does that mean? A website that "works" means it compels people enough to take some sort of action whether it be they pick up the phone and call or fill out your contact us form or request a quote or sign up for your e-newsletter and/or coupons. A website that works is not static. It is not purely informative with pleasing colors and graphics. A website does not have to sell (unless you’re selling product directly from the site). A website is dynamic. It is engaging. It answers the question "why would I do business with this company as opposed to their competitor?" It provides just enough information to the visitor to prompt the visitor to act!

Listen, you’ve invested a lot of time and money not only into your site but into driving traffic to your site via all of your marketing efforts. Make sure your website "works!" It’s still the first place a potential customer/client will go to find out about you.

Only after you’ve created a website that works should you consider using tags, social networking bookmarks and ratings, blogs, and other forms of social networking along side your website. Hire a vendor that understands how all of these forms of marketing work together and you can’t lose!

For more helpful marketing tips like this, subscribe to this blog using your RSS reader! Also, please leave your comments!

Until next week, this is Meg Ferguson from Vision House Marketing saying have an effective and efficient day!