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."

FAKE RFPs!

I capitalized the subject because yes, I’m fuming mad! Okay…I’ll take a step back. Let me explain.

As a small business, how do you decide how much information to provide to a potential client either in the first exploratory meeting or in responding to a request for proposal (RFP)? This is a question I’ve struggled with for years. While you definitely want to differentiate your company and provide the “edge” that makes you better than your competitors, you also don’t want to give away the shop. It’s a balance but a very important.

A small business has to use every resource and minute wisely. So it’s extremely important to be able to read the potential client - either through the RFP provided or, if you’re lucky enough to have a face to face meeting, by the detail they’re asking you to provide. What I mean by “read” is to determine if the prospect is serious about hiring you/your firm for services or if they’re fishing for free consulting.

Unfortunately, it happens that companies out there use this unscrupulous tactic (and I’ll go as far as saying unprofessional approach) to gaining marketing insight under the guise of an RFP but with no intentions of hiring you or any firm for that matter. This just happened to me and my team. We receive many RFPs and respond to the ones that we feel would be a great win-win relationship if we were awarded the job. We invested hours in the response and were invited in to meet with the company’s team of “professionals.” We spent an hour and a half more than we had scheduled to be there with them, answering questions and having a dialog that we thought would definitely lead to a beneficial and inevitable partnership.

Unfortunately, I have to kick myself one more time as this firm went out of their way to make their attempt for free marketing advice look “legit.” I did see some red flags throughout the process that looking back should have stopped me in my tracks but in this day and age, when you assume you’re dealing with professionals in executive level positions within a well established firm, you can easily justify those flags. So I did only to get a “thanks but no thanks” email.

As a regular part of our process, when we don’t win an award, we follow up with the prospect to learn what we could have done better and what it was that made them decide not to hire us. In this case, the response I got was quite telling that we were taken for a ride. I don’t have proof but when you see it enough, you recognize it.

So here’s my point. As a small business owner who is trying to do everything from manage existing client/customers, grow the business and meet payroll, you really need to be quite cynical when reviewing RFPs. I’m seeing this tactic used more and more and it’s down right “bad business.” You don’t have the time to waste and the example I just shared with you; cost me a lot of money. Be careful. Listen, ask questions, and determine if the prospect’s intentions are genuine. Don’t justify your red flags. Ask more qualifying questions if you have them but don’t give away the shop.

A legitimate prospect should be happy with your track record of success versus having to understand your “process” in order to make a decision to award the contract to you. Your “process” is your edge. Don’t give it away for free.

Has this happened to you? What did you do/would you have done in this case? Would love to hear from you!

Strategic Marketing: It’s Not Just Making it Look Pretty!

Motion Stays In Motion

How do you keep your numbers positive in a downturn economy?

It’s interesting out there right now. Well, interesting isn’t the word. Bad might be more accurate. The reason I used the word “interesting” is the fact that I’m getting more calls than ever from companies who never did marketing before (or have done very little). They feel that starting to market now will help their business. In a way it can’t hurt but in another way, they’re so wrong.

My Dad told me a great anecdote the other day. He was a Coca-Cola stock holder for years and would attend the investor meetings regularly. He remembers clearly this one particular meeting as if it was yesterday. He tells the story of a woman who stood up and hammered the President of Coca-Cola questioning him on why advertising is the largest line item on the books. She exclaimed that Coca-Cola was twice as big as its nearest competitor, Pepsi Co., and nine times bigger than the next five companies combined. She wanted to know why the marketing budget has to be so big and why couldn’t that money be paid out in dividends? The President stood calmly and replied with this.

Marketing and advertising are like the coal that fires the steam engine. You feed it over time and the engine starts chugging along until finally it’s at a good strong pace. Stop feeding it with coal or slow the coal feed down and the steam engine will continue to run at a good clip……for a while. But eventually it will start to slow and ultimately come to a stop.

I encourage small and medium size businesses to consider marketing one of the most important functions of their business plans. Motion stays in motion. Once you get some traction, you must continue with the momentum. If your momentum is currently slowing or stopped, marketing efforts will not be a quick fix. They will need to be a considerable investment with a dedicated approach. If not, motion stays in motion and if you’re going down, it’s damn hard to pull back from a nose dive!

Importance of relationships in business but especially in marketing!

Marketing a is a fast paced business and at the height of the economy any schmuck could call themselves a marketer.  Today the economy has tanked and clients want to KNOW what they are getting and more importantly if they can trust you with their hard-earned money.  When they are spending money on a marketer they are investing in you and your skill set.

This goes beyond customer service which is important too; but building a relationship with a client means each of you have agreed to put your faith in each other.  For example, I was just asked the question, how do you (Vision House) measure success as a company. My answer: We measure success by our client’s success. If our clients invest in us and trust in us to spend their marketing money wisely, we are compelled to turn a positive ROI for them. When we do, the bonds of the relationship strengthen.

It takes a skilled marketer to know what to do with a client and that knowledge grows over time.  So get to know your clients, focus on doing more than meeting their expectations—exceed them by demonstrating that you view the relationship as important– business-wise of course– but also because you are a firm of integrity and anything less than quality service to clients you value would be unacceptable.

Clients will know the difference between a firm that provides good customer service and one that builds client relationships.  Think about the companies, or organizations that you come in contact with and I’ll bet you can tick off right away those that work harder to let you know your business matters to them in the long term.  And in this economy that is the key to keeping business.

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?

Small Businesses, Stop Listening To the Insanity!

Okay..that’s it! I’m mad! Damn mad! I’m listening to prospective and existing clients alike vent about the garbage fed to them daily by marketing vendors who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about! In this economy (or any for that matter), you cannot waste a dime on ineffective and inefficient marketing! On or offline, more vendors than not will take your money and waste it! The key to any marketing campaign is conversions! Conversions! Conversions! Meaning, actual leads that turn into sales. Clicks don’t matter. Page ranks don’t matter. What matters is the effort spent results into sales.

I have a client who called me the other day concerned that their traffic to their website was less than they expected. Ironically, of the traffic they were getting (they’re a highly specific medical practice), they were seeing a 46% conversion rate! Meaning 46% of those who did come to the site as a result of our online marketing campaign turned into a legitimate lead! I had them go back and cross analyze those leads to sales (patients in this case). 20% turned into new patients!

The reason they called me? Another vendor was in to see them and sold them a load of crap with regards to page rank and traffic to their site! Once I showed them the actual - IMPORTANT - numbers, they were floored. I asked them to contact that vendor and challenge them with questions regarding their conversion tracking methodology. As suspected….they lied and said those numbers are not important.

I guess this entry is more for the lame vendors out there who got into this business because they saw their share of marketing budgets go toward online marketing but who have NO CLUE about marketing….learn marketing 101, and this space will be a nice place to compete! It will also be much more pleasant for small businesses in the Greater Philadelphia area. The less garbage they hear, the less insanity in the market place!

Small businesses, tell me about your marketing vendor experiences. Let’s hear the good, the bad, the ugly! You are in power now. It’s a nice position to be in! Use it…let’s hear from you! Comment on this posting!

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

The fine balance between technology and people.

I had a conversation this weekend with a Navy colleague, a reservist, who owns his own business. He was asking me how to get his new website listed higher in the search engine rankings. I explained multiple ways from natural seo to pay-per-click as well as some easy, obvious things he can do. First I mentioned to pick a URL that is descriptive of the types of services he offers. He responded that his URL was his firstlastname.com. He went on to say that as an artist (he is a photographer) that he was told people resonate more with the artist than general terms like "photography," etc. This brought me to an interesting point that I feel compelled to explain.

While it is true that people (his potential clients) might respond more to the artist’s name, search engines don’t care what his name is. Not to be harsh but the lesson here is to understand the balance between people and technology. Of course you want to give your potential clients what they want and deliver it in the way they want it. But you also need to give the search engines what they need to deliver your content to your audience online.

He can have his cake and eat it too! I told him to keep his firstlastname.com URL and put it on his business cards, etc but buy another URL, for example, GreatPhotography.com and redirect it to his current website. This way, he can brand himself with the potential clients he meets and can give the search engines what they need to help his website rankings.

Keep in mind, this is one very small thing he can do and it won’t guarantee great results but its a start. Investing in PPC or natural SEO is well worth it. Marry that with social networking and pick an online marketing vendor that does it well and you can’t fail!

Would love your comments or experiences! Comment her or feel free to contact me directly at meg@vhmarketing.com.

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