Meshwork Consulting is conducting this survey in an effort to better understand what marketing and sales strategies/tactics you’re using today would appreciate your input.
As our way of thanking you for your time, all survey participants will be entered to win one of three $50 Visa gift cards. The deadline to complete the survey is 11:59 a.m. PST Wed., May 4, 2016. This survey contains 30 questions and should take 10 minutes to complete.
To begin the survey, please click the link below:
http://goo.gl/forms/fyItjcQ1DC
Thank you in advance for your time and participation in our survey.
Sincerely,
The Meshwork Consulting Team
P.S. Your responses will remain confidential and will not be shared. Identifying information (name, company name, mailing address, emails, etc.) will be omitted from the published summary report. Only the aggregated results of survey responses will be compiled into the final summary.
Last week, my 12-year-old-daughter gave a talk to 250 people about strategies for overcoming fear. Her example was the time she attended her first sleep-away summer camp and discovered the camp’s 50′-tall climbing tower.
She’s no fan of heights. But she was determined to tackle the tower and earn bragging rights that she made it to the top. Like a rock climber faces their problem or route, she put her fears aside and focused on a plan to test different routes. It took her multiple attempts before reaching the top. Listening to her talk, I was reminded of two great marketing quotes when it comes to facing tough/challenging times:
How do you respond to tough/challenging times?
I go out of my way to support a great product or service, especially if it lives up to its promise. For example, if you live in Boise, Idaho’s Treasure Valley, there’s a delicious salsa called Steph’s Seriously Good Salsa. It’s fresh. The recipe’s simple. And if you like it spicy, try the hot and blow your tastebuds off (it hurts so good!). While the salsa costs a little more than its competitors, it stands in a class of its own and delivers on its promise–seriously good salsa. Stephanie’s business is growing–last year she moved out of a rented commercial kitchen and opened her own. Contrary to Stephanie’s success, there are myriad examples of when brands fail consumers. I’ll share two–one big, one small.
SUPERVALU produces a signature brand called Equaline. It promises is to be an affordable choice that mirrors national brand quality. Fighting a cold, I purchased their version of Emergen-C to save $5. I regret the purchase. It’s as if SUPERVALU’s product development folks asked for a product that matched the competitor’s ingredients, but along the way they failed to taste the product to see if it was close to any competitor’s flavor profile (it’s not even on the same planet and I’ve never tasted a tangerine that awful). I’m returning the box and throwing down the extra cash for an even bigger box of Emergen-C.
I recently read about the closing of a local family-run wine shop that was open for about two years–the Pacific Rim Wine Stop. I never stopped in. Each time I drove past, I asked myself the same question (even aloud to the annoyance of my family), “What does the Pacific Rim have to do with wine?” Sure, 50% of the countries that surround the Pacific Rim produce wine, but for me, the term doesn’t evoke visions of vineyards, casks and tasting rooms. I think of the vast Pacific Ocean, tropical sunsets, islands, sake, investments, martial arts and more. In fact, the company’s logo promises the ocean and tropical sunsets.
To get it, I had to look up the Pacific Rim Wine Stop’s website and read the back story, which is way too much to ask for the consumer’s limited attention span. Turns out that that name refers to a ’90s era family restaurant that was open in Boise’s North End. Maybe the name evoked nostalgia among a few legacy locals, but the area’s population and real-estate boom in the early 2000s transformed the North End from decaying homes to a revitalized, go-to neighborhood. Their brand alone didn’t contribute to the business’s demise, but it certainly didn’t offer me a promise I couldn’t resist.
Is your brand delivering on its promise? If not, what are you doing about it? If you’re unsure of where to start, I recommend the classic, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.
As a small business, marketing can be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive. By understanding some of the free and low-cost lead-generation tools and tactics, you can start to effectively and efficiently reach prospects.
Among the social networking tools for businesses today, the big three are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Yes, there’s Google+, but I’m not sold yet–the network effect isn’t there (not enough of my colleagues/friends are pressuring me be there and conversations are falling on deaf ears compared to the three social networks noted above). The benefit of these tools is to broaden your reach by leveraging your customers’ networks. Keep in mind your primary goal–generating prospective customers.
LinkedIn is a great lead-generation tool for salespeople. You can connect with colleagues and get introductions to others through your network, as well as conduct a little competitive and industry research. Grow your network by joining and interacting with your college alumni and industry groups. Act like you’re in a virtual leads group; be genuine and sincere, and avoid a cluster of outreach all at once. It may come across as spamming.
Twitter is a great way to engage business prospects since it allows you to send brief text-based posts of up to 140 characters and images. You can build up your base of Twitter followers by seeking out the influencers in your community and following them. In most cases, your savvy Twitter influencers will reciprocate by following your business if they find your messages (or tweets) interesting. Your tweets can link back to specific pages on your website or anywhere else that has a link. You can engage readers with photos, events, business tips and more.
Facebook lets you create a business page where you can list your business contact information and engage your customers with special offers, photos, events, polls, product launches, customer questions and business tips. Businesses advertise to target customers on a cost-per-click or cost-per-impression basis. But avoid creating a business page with the personal profile tool because Facebook will shut it down.
Finally, be sure to link to your social networks through your email signature, website, business cards, print materials, email marketing, invoices and other customer touch points. And as with all marketing activities associated with reaching prospects, be sure to maintain a consistent brand throughout, from the way you treat your company’s logo and color themes, to the voice of your communications.
As a small business, marketing can be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive. By understanding some of the free and low-cost lead-generation tools and tactics, you can start to effectively and efficiently reach prospects.
If you’re a technology reseller, do you resell a high volume of product from a manufacturer like HP or Xerox? You can leverage their MDF to gain access to quick, easy and affordable co-branded marketing resources. Many manufacturers host their own in-house programs, where you can create new campaigns to target and reach new customers with list purchases, emails and more. Be sure the manufacturer’s message is consistent with yours.
Whether or not you’re an AM radio listener in Boise and the surrounding Treasure Valley, tune in for the premiere of Social Media Yak, on KIDO AM 580, Sat., Feb. 18 at 7:30 a.m. I’m honored to be Martin Johncox’s guest for the Social Media Yack’s first episode. We’ll talk about my work with businesses around the nation and how I help them get the most out of social media tools, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and others. And for the Facebook Agitation Report segment, I’ll provide some advice on Facebook’s new Timeline feature.
Social Media Yak premieres at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb 18 on KIDO AM 580, which broadcasts to Boise and the surrounding Treasure Valley. Read more. Or follow Social Media Yak on Facebook and Twitter.
As a small business, marketing can be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive. By understanding some of the free and low-cost lead-generation tools and tactics, you can start to effectively and efficiently reach prospects.
Quick Response (QR) codes are gaining in popularity as mobile marketing gains momentum. According to the results of a February 2011 MGH survey, QR codes are mostly used to get coupons/deals, access additional information, enter a sweepstakes, sign up to receive more information, access video, make a purchase and interact with social networks.
To get your own set of QR codes, subscribe to a fee service like ScanLife to access dynamic codes and manage the destination of each code, even after you’ve printed it on a poster or product. If you don’t have a budget and aren’t looking for dynamic QR codes, head to Google’s URL shortener, plug in your destination URL and click on Shorten. Click on Details and you’ll see your new QR code, as well as some basic analytics.
As a small business, marketing can be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive. By understanding some of the free and low-cost lead-generation tools and tactics, you can start to effectively and efficiently reach prospects.
Email marketing is a great way to keep your business top of mind with your current customers and prospective customers. When your readers forward information to one of their contacts, it further expands your prospect list. You can send customers monthly or quarterly emails focused on IT-, industry- or business-related topics, company news, customer-only offers, surveys, referral incentives and open houses. There’s a range of free and affordable email distribution tools, so you can choose the service based on your needs.
As a small business, marketing can be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive. By understanding some of the free and low-cost lead-generation tools and tactics, you can start to effectively and efficiently reach prospects.
The power of partnership goes beyond referrals. It’s about focusing on what you do best and outsourcing the rest … to your partners. For example, a digital signage reseller focuses on designing, integrating and installing the solution. To help his clients with the content delivery, he partnered with a local ad agency to create and upload graphics. He wins because the agency has another sales team out there talking about their work with a digital signage reseller. And the agency wins because he’s sending work their way and introducing them to new customers.
As a small business, marketing can be overwhelming, time-consuming and expensive. By understanding some of the free and low-cost lead-generation tools and tactics, you can start to effectively and efficiently reach prospects.
If you provide a tangible product or service that customers can touch or feel, consider inviting local businesses in your area to an open house. Begin by focusing on your target customers within a one-mile radius of your office (Google Maps is a good place to start.). To get new customers, one networking reseller hosted a BBQ for their open house. Their sales team called on prospective clients and personally handed each an invitation tied to a small bottle of BBQ sauce. Today, their open house is an annual and much-anticipated event.
The most crucial, business-building item on your website–the call to action, or CTA–is only a few words long, so make every word count. Customers come to your site because they are trying to solve a problem–your call-to-action needs to offer a clear and immediate solution.
Let’s talk about keyword searches for a second. As I’ve stated in my previous posts, it’s about content repetition and freshness. There are other keyword tools, but let’s focus on content.
Let’s say that you’re a running shoe retailer, have an existing site and want to optimize it so people and prospective customers find you faster. Start by thinking like your customers. Ask yourself what kinds of keywords your customers would use to find you online: running shoes boise, running experts, trail running, etc. If you’re not sure how you might be found, talk to your customers. You might be surprised at the feedback.
And bounce your ideas off of the Google AdWords keyword tool. It’ll provide some interesting results on your keywords and how relevant they are in global and U.S. searches.
What other ways do you determine keywords?
I spent some time today reading a great article from Greg Elwell on how to gain more fans on Facebook. It’s a common-sense approach to engaging your fans and pushing your results up on the News Feed feature. I especially appreciate his No. 1 item focused on engagement. The bottom line: if you’re not on your fans News Feed you’re nowhere.
I’m fickle. I’m particular. Or maybe, I’m just smart. At least I thought I was.
Four weeks ago, I came across three, long-term opportunities. Some had elements that were out of my area of expertise. I needed a partner. The opportunities weren’t huge, but I wanted to test the waters with a new partner before bringing him bigger projects. I had several choices at my disposal and decided to go local and support one of Boise’s best. We met, talked and I was assured that I’d get a proposal in three days. Excited, I wrote a follow-up note to thank him for his time. Three days passed and the proposal didn’t show. I sent an e-mail inquiry — maybe he was running behind. Nothing. The following Monday I called and was sent to voicemail. I left a message. No response. Where did I go wrong? Was I getting the blowoff? Or is he too busy to respond (impossible since he’s posting Tweets and updating his Facebook)?
I’ve learned three lessons here and I’m smarter for it — partnering requires trust; hire hard to manage easy; and never ignore your customers. As for trust, my failed partner-to-be clearly demonstrated how he’d treat my valued clients in the future. Partnering’s a lot like hiring — interview hard to manage easy. My new partner is getting more questions than he expected. And no matter how successful you are, you do not ignore new or existing customers. You never know how those relationships will blossom into something great for all.
How would you have handle a situation like this?
Are you looking for a new ways to reach new customers with immediate ROI? Forget the Yellow Pages or the newspaper. Look around your community. Do your services support community groups like families? If so, tie your advertising efforts and personal energies into triple-play revenues by supporting non-profit groups dedicated to supporting at-risk teens, families or education. Don’t think of your efforts in terms of profits, but enjoying the reputation of being socially responsible and contributing to the well-being of your community.
Consider this example. One client is an auto repair business. They’re a family-owned affair with kids in a local school. When their kids’ school seeks contributions for their annual fundraiser, they jump at the opportunity. By offering attractive automotive service bundles (like an annual maintenance package), the school wins with the deal going to the highest bidder; the kids win with funds going to supplies, continuing teacher education and services; and the business wins by turning a fellow parent into a new customer (and getting a tax deduction). But their success doesn’t stop there. Once other parents discovered that this business regularly contributes its services to help their childrens’ education, they, too, become new customers.
Lastly, consider donating your time and expertise to community-dedicated non-profits. While this isn’t a direct line to profits, it is one way to contribute to building a strong community. For example, in Boise, Micron Technology engineers donate their time to helping high school students compete in robotics competitions. I dedicate my community marketing expertise to Life’s Kitchen, helping them get the word out about their efforts to help at-risk teens with life-skills training, in and out of a professional kitchen setting.
In what other ways can businesspeople support their communities while spreading the word about their business?
Dear WinCo Foods,
In today’s tough economic times, now is your time to capture market share.
Sure, your competition offers fancy, well-lit displays; clear aisles; most name brands I like to consume; cheerful employees who offer to help me out to my car (OK, I’m not that old); and someone to bag my stuff. But I pay dearly for it.
I exchange convenience/experience for savings at WinCo — the supermarket low-price leader. I accept the fact that your idea of offering low-priced goods means that I get to suffer with grumpy employees who treat me like I’m inconveniencing them; unboxed goods in the aisle; bagging my own groceries; random inventory levels and product selection; and, in general, very little service. In exchange, I get to brag that I saved $50-100.
Studies show that consumers like to patronize less-expensive stores in tough times — and companies profit. Witness Wal-Mart’s growing profitability over the last year, compared to Target’s. Can you believe that Wal-Mart’s taking share away from Target? I’m thinking that you’re doing pretty well for yourselves right now. But your short-term gain is going to be your long-term loss.
Now is the time for you to make some cheap tweaks — engage your customers to find out what you could do to improve their experience and keep saving them money. Clear up those aisles and urge your employees to be more customer-friendly. Do it now. Once the economy begins to recover, you could have more fans and customers than at the start of these tough economic times.
For now, I’ll continue to shop at your store; smile at all of the grumps; wish for a better grocery world; and after paying for my groceries, text my wife to have that Session Lager cold and ready for my frazzled nerves when I get back.
PS — the ESOP link at the bottom of your home page does not work.
Ahh, the realities of Twitter, blogging and running your own small business settle in quickly after the honeymoon. It’s like reading a self-help book, jotting down your goals and then blowing them off a week or two later.
Some may consider these social media tools work. Like tending a garden, there’s an inherent value in these tools. I like to share my knowledge with others, so having a repository like a blog is a quick and easy way to get it out there. And it’s much easier for me to say, “Check out my blog at meshworkmarketing.com” instead of searching for a bookmark and e-mailing it out later.
Read Tac Anderson’s comments in his article on Successful Twitterers, Bloggers and Small Business Owners are just Extroverted Over-Achievers. Would you cast me as an extroverted overachiever?
I picked this up from David Meerman Scott’s blog, which sets up the story. As a musician, I can relate to the fear of having your instrument damaged by careless baggage handlers. Even my suitcases lose a piece here or there in the course of a trip.
For an airline to not accept responsibility for damaging precious cargo like a guitar (did the handlers on the tarmac think it was a clever suitcase full of clothes?), we’re well beyond customer abuse. Check out the video:
I have an admission to make. I was wrong. But I’ve learned a valuable lesson from it. Branding me is hard.
For the last two years I’ve been working under the business name of Lion’s Tooth Marketing. I chose the name in a hurry and didn’t expect it to get far, figuring that inspiration would strike and, voila, I’d have a new name. Not so. Over time, I established myself with new clients as a channel and community expert under the Lion’s Tooth brand. It has a good story, which relates to social media, but it isn’t one that doesn’t translate well in an elevator pitch.
I prefer a brand to mean something, to my clients, myself and my colleagues. Like a surgeon attempting to operate on himself, there’s nothing harder than coming up with your own brand identity.
After brainstorming, bouncing ideas off of respected colleagues and really working on something that was meaningful, I renamed the business Meshwork Marketing. I’m excited to announce that my official identity and site will go live in June 2009. I’ll keep this blog here, but once the new site’s live, I’ll roll the content over and grow it from there. I hope you’ll join me.
PS — the new site will rely on my favorite blogging platform, WordPress.
Last year I received a call that still leaves me smiling. It’s a simple story of customer service gone good.
I’m helping my sister’s business with their marketing plan. They needed a domain name and hosting. I’d researched domain name registrars and settled on GoDaddy. My decision was based on some personal and business recommendations; GoDaddy’s competitive pricing plans; and some added (free) privacy protection with my registration.
I created an account and purchased the domains for Reserve Cigar and Wine Bar. Everything went smoothly, and after purchasing some hosting from Lunarpages, I made the server changes on GoDaddy and we were in business. Bottom line — it was a smooth process.
The following day I got a call from a GoDaddy customer service rep. I thought “Oh no, I must have clicked the wrong button when I made the server changes, and now they’re going to pitch me on their own hosting services….argh!” Instead, the rep thanked me for choosing them for my business; confirmed that the server changes were correct; asked if I had any questions; and let me know that I could call 24 hours a day. He also asked me what made me choose their service.
This is a great example of customer service, sales and marketing working together. The benefits are a satisfied customer who will return again and again for more business; an open channel of communication and feedback that allows GoDaddy to improve their service offering; and marketing intelligence that helps GoDaddy confirm that they’re on target with their unique selling proposition.
Let me share a real life story with you (the names have been changed to protect the innocent who should be reading this). Two months ago, we were looking for a real estate agent to sell our home. After a nightmare selling our last house, we took the time to interview a bunch of prospective agents to represent out property (contact me if you’d like a copy of our questionnaire).
We whittled our choice down to two agents. Our top choice was solid, but choice No. 2 had a compelling selling story. She was an agent for a local firm, but her business card noted that she was from Sell Your Home For A Lot Properties. We first went to the firm’s site and searched all forms of her name to no avail. We then Googled her name, her company name, etc. and found nothing. Due to the lack of information, we selected our first group.
The lesson here: if you’re working for a big company, and have your own company as an agent for that big company, have your business information together online. That means that if you are marketing yourself as SuperAgent@SellYourPropertiesForALot.com, make sure you have a domain presence that brands yourself correctly. In other words, make sure people can find you quickly.
My other peeve, is that agents oftentimes don’t want to use their big company domain as their regular e-mail address. Instead, they use their home e-mail address. Who are you marketing — yourself or msn.com, yahoo.com, cableone.com, etc.? Be professional. If you don’t know how, ask me. Again, I can help you look great.
Bottom line: You look more professional, you brand yourself or your company, and you’re easily searchable by anyone in or outside of your area that’s looking for a home marketing pro in your area.
Have you seen something like this in other professions?
Recent Comments