Marketing | The BusinessVoice Blog

Be Like Ikea

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

I love Ikea. I’ve been looking at their printed catalog and websites for a while now, but I just had my first Ikea store experience.

Wow.

I didn’t realize how huge it would be. It’s immense, intimidating even, and I had no idea where to start. Then I saw the map. Upstairs to the showroom. Downstairs to the warehouse.

So I jumped on the escalator and headed upstairs to see all the Ikea furniture, textiles and accessories doing what they do best—making good design look effortless. Think of any room in your house, and they have at least 5 examples of each. Home office? You got it. Living room? Naturally. Bathroom? You betcha’. There are even a few “small living” spaces that showcase design solutions for apartments with 250-400 square feet of room.

They’ve done a great job cultivating the customer experience. Arrows on the floor and informative signage keep you from getting lost, and if you forget your tape measure and pencil, don’t worry. Every hundred feet or so, there’s a note station featuring disposable measuring tapes, graph paper, maps of the showroom and pencils, so you can take notes about what you like, figure out if the Ektorp sofa will fit in your living room, pick out an entertainment cabinet to go with it, and find it all easily in the warehouse. There’s even a full service restaurant because you’re going to spend so much time there you will eventually get hungry.

Ikea has planned for your entire shopping adventure and made it easy for you to find a solution that works for your lifestyle within your limitations. How can we be more like Ikea? How can we offer great products and services that give our clients and customers the best solution for their dollar?

Be creative. Ikea has attractive solutions that maximize the functionality of even the smallest spaces. Even if our customers have tiny budgets, we can deliver solutions that maximize their dollar.

Be helpful. Ikea paints arrows on the floor and provides measuring tapes, pencils and maps. We can provide advice, tips and insights that our customers can benefit from.

Be flexible. Ikea’s Ektorp Sofa is a standard 3 seat sofa with a removable cover, so when you’re tired of the Byvik multicolor flora print, you can switch to the Blekinge white. And when that gets dirty, you can put it in the wash and slip on the Klinto Blue print. We can bend our return policy, make a special order, or schedule an after-hours appointment.

Their strategy works. Ikea has enjoyed steady growth over the last ten years and now has more than 300 stores in more than 35 countries and annual sales of more than 21.5 billion Euros.

Fearless Marketing in 2010

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Happy New Year!

Last year was horrible, but the great thing about making it through such a trying time is that we have nothing left to fear. So, in 2010, the fearless will lead the way. Here are 5 ways they’ll do it.

1. Social Media - Whether you’re currently using it or thinking about how to get started, the best way to leverage social media will depend on your business, who your customers are, and how you plan to communicate with them in this space. Just remember, content is king. No one will listen to you if you aren’t saying something of value to them, and that doesn’t mean talking about how great your business is.

2. The Intern Effect - The old rules don’t apply and old standards aren’t generating the results they used to. We have to come up with new, innovative ideas, and what better way to do that than to involve your intern or fresh-out-of-college employees in the conversation. Pick their young, nubile brains. You may be surprised at their insight, and their familiarity with the digital world will be an asset to your business or organization. And as the newest members of your team, they can provide an “unbiased” view of your product or services.

3. Non-Traditional Marketing - Find new ways to share your message with your customers, aside from television, radio and print advertising. On Hold Marketing and LobbyVision are a couple of ways to do it. And even though it has a place in many marketing budgets, lots of businesses are still not using email to communicate with their customers. If you’re not using it yet, ask yourself why. Is it because the task of building a list seems too daunting? Rome wasn’t built in a day. Start by gathering email addresses at your point of sale and build your list slowly. It’s the best way to ensure you’re communicating with people who want to hear from you. Whatever you do, DON’T BUY A LIST. You’ll violate CAN-SPAM rules and business ethics which can get you and your domain in a heap of trouble.

4. CRM - This typically stands for Customer Relationship Management, but I like to think of it as Customer Romance Maintenance. Effective CRM breeds brand evangelists. Exceed your customers’ expectations. When they’re over the moon about your business, they tell people about it. Good CRM = good WOM (word of mouth) = good business. Interact with your customers in social media. Implement a software program that allows you to track customer interactions and keep tabs on birthdays, email addresses, etc. Communicate with them more than once or twice a year, and not just when it’s time for them to make another purchase. I like the idea of sending a card, flowers, or gift of some sort on the anniversary of the day they began doing business with you. The gift should be commensurate with the length of time they’ve been a customer and the amount of money they spend with your company. Business is like dating. Enough said.

5. Education - Be a sponge. Subscribe to blogs, follow experts on Twitter, join Facebook and LinkedIn groups, read books, attend online conferences and learn everything you can. See if your Chamber of Commerce offers business development courses in marketing, sales, management, etc. Encourage your employees to become voracious learners too. You’ll all be smarter and savvier, and your business will be better for it.

Do you have plans to be a fearless marketer this year? Share them with us!

Market With Your Voicemail

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Here’s the first in our new series of BusinessVoice Marketing Minute videos that explains how to use your outgoing voicemail message to market your company and give callers a great reason to wait for the beep!

Advertisers Vs. Consumers- How Consumers Have Changed and How Marketers Must Adapt

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

I was looking for client commericals on YouTube today and stumbled across this bit of food for thought. It cleverly addresses the fundamental communication problems with advertisers and consumers and the unpleasant aftermath that can result.

The days of advertising are behind us. Not that we should abandon our glossy ads, slick television spots and fun radio promotions. It’s just that advertising is a one-way conversation. These efforts should be part of an overall marketing plan that helps us develop two-way communication with our audience.

Today’s audiences need to be engaged and feel like they have an advocate. We have to reach them on their terms, where they spend their time. But it’s not enough just to be there.

We have to relate to them, understand them and offer them something relevant, whether it’s content, goods, or services.

Most importantly, we have to have a dialogue with them–make it easy for them to contact us and leave feedback. (Don’t fear bad feedback. That’s what really helps us grow into the business our audience wants us to be.) And then we need to address each comment, complaint and request. That’s the only way we’ll create brand ambassadors who are happy to sing our praises.

You’re Unbelievable!

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

It was a great song in the early 90’s, and it could be a nice compliment, but it’s the last thing you want someone to say about your marketing message.

Marcia Yudkin agrees. In this morning’s “The Marketing Minute, ” she expresses her disbelief over an advertiser’s magazine ad copy.

“Oh, come on!”

That was my reaction on reading this, in the second paragraph of a full-page magazine ad: “[Company name] is virtually the only franchise brand committed to providing genuinely nutritious and delicious products.”

This couldn’t be true, I thought.

When you make a preposterous claim, it taints everything else you say. Am I willing to let that statement pass and believe that this company’s food is low-calorie, gluten-free and full of probiotics? No.

In marketing, it can be worse to say something unbelievable than something untrue.

If you have a claim that’s hard to believe, simply saying it doesn’t convince. You must either explain how it’s true, provide third-party proof or back-pedal it to a more believable statement.

Don’t expect weasel words like “virtually” to bail you out with a skeptical reader.

To check my instinctive response, before writing this piece I searched Google for “healthy food franchise.” As I’d suspected, dozens of companies show up in that category.

“One of America’s fastest growing new brands” (so they say) is rapidly shooting itself in the foot.

For starters, who places an ad with 2 paragraphs of copy? Very few people are going to read that. And by very few, I mean only people whose flights have been sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours. After they’ve run out of things to read and their cell phones have died.

Marcia’s right. When you say something that while true, may be hard to believe, you have to do more than say it. You have to PROVE it. State facts and verifiable truths and you will position your business as a trustworthy, reliable company. And instead of pigeon-holing yourself into the same category as your competitors, focus on a unique aspect of your business, and build your brand and marketing messages around that. It’s the best way to differentiate yourself.

The 5 W’s Of Effective Copywriting

Monday, July 13th, 2009

We recently welcomed a new Creative Consultant to our staff, and as part of the training process, we staged mock client interviews. I was asked to role-play as the representative from a local credit union, and the new colleague called me to discuss what should be in their next On Hold Messaging update.

In a post-call review, I came up with a list of suggestions for this kind of interview. Just like our journalistic brethren, we copywriters should ask, “Who, What, Where, When and Why,” but with a focus on marketing goals. With this in mind, here are my 5 W’s Of Effective Copywriting:

WHO can you target for a special focus in this piece? (For the credit union, it could have been prospective car buyers, college students in search of a tuition loan, shoppers looking for a better deal on a credit card, homeowners needing an equity loan, etc.)

WHAT product(s) or service(s) can you spotlight? (i.e., auto loans, checking accounts, online banking, financial planning services, etc.)

WHERE can you direct your audience in a call to action? (i.e., stop in today and talk with us, stay on the line and ask for more information, visit our web site to apply, watch for our mailer, fill out the form that’s coming in your next statement, look for our ad, etc.)

WHEN will any other marketing pieces or promotions be running that can work hand-in-hand with this copy?

And with every topic you should always ask:

WHY should your customers care about this? If there’s not an obvious answer — or you can’t find an angle that’s important to the customer — it’s probably self-serving and should be dropped.

13 Steps To Get Started Marketing With Twitter

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

So everyone’s telling you to get started marketing with Twitter. Easier said than done, right? Actually, it is easy when you use the 13-step approach offered here courtesy of Debra Ellis and her MarketingProfs.Com article on how to Use Twitter to Attract Prospects and Engage Customers:

1. Create 50-100 tweets that fit your brand and objective. Keep them to approximately 120 characters so they can be easily retweeted (re-posted by others). In the case of the gardening example, tweets could range from planting times to frost warnings.

2. Open your user account with your business name as your user ID. Complete the profile, including the bio, and include the names of all those who post. People connect with people best. You want a personal connection. (Don’t panic. This doesn’t mean that you will be having tea with your followers… unless you want to.)

3. Add an avatar. Some choose to use their corporate logo, whereas others use their own photo. Choose what feels right to you and fits your brand.

4. Create a unique background that represents your company. There are services available to do this, but you can do it in-house. You want it to have the same look and feel as your corporate website. Make sure that the background-text details are visible on different types of monitors. Not everyone has the latest and greatest technology.

5. Determine the best days to tweet. These would be the days that your customers or prospects are most likely to be online. Select a scheduler to post your tweets. Remember that the world is open 24/7. As Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett remind us, it’s five o’clock somewhere. Running the tweets for an 8-12-hour cycle and then repeating them expands your coverage.

6. Make sure that some of your tweets have links back to your website. Make it easy for people to find you. Don’t expect them to go to your profile for your link, and don’t overdo it. If every tweet has a link, people resist following you.

7. Start the Twitter test. Consistently tweet for a minimum of 30 days (90 is better). Watch your traffic and sales to ensure that you’re receiving a return on your investment. At the end of the trial period, decide whether to continue or quit.

8. Don’t be a hit-and-run tweeter. Check in periodically on the days that your messages appear for comments, retweets, and new followers. Respond when appropriate. The idea is engagement, not blasting.

9. Resist becoming addicted to Twitter. Your objective is to create and enhance relationships, not be tethered to an electronic device.

10. Always remember that your tweets are a reflection on your brand, and they are permanent. Twitter has a delete option, but the tweets still show up in a search.

11. Don’t worry about the number of people following you. Think about the quality. When I first started acquiring followers, most were “get rich quick, let me tell you how for the low price of” marketers. I noticed that if I didn’t respond to their tweets, they stopped following me within a week. I’m sure that those who follow me will always include similar folks, but my focus is on the people who read my tweets and connect with me.

12. Have fun. You are meeting new people, broadening your horizons, and hopefully gaining new customers. If that isn’t fun, you are in the wrong business.

13. Ask for help if you are unsure how to proceed. There are people available to guide you.

Company Differentiates Itself from Major Retailer by Detailing Customer Experience

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

You probably know the latest round of Best Buy commercials by now — the Best Buy employees are telling the stories of how they’ve interacted with customers to make their dreams come true. The latest commercial in the series kicks it up a notch and takes Wal-Mart to task.

The employee is telling a story about a customer who calls in asking very specific questions about televisions. The employee asks the customer where they are calling from, and the customer replies Wal-Mart. See the whole spot here. (It starts at about the 14-second mark.)

Major ouch for Wal-Mart. Not only are they being portrayed as not being experts in electronics, but also as shoddy at customer service.

The sad fact for Wal-Mart is it’s true. I had the same experience when I went shopping for a new flat screen LCD television. I priced models at Target and Wal-Mart. Target was too expensive, and I couldn’t find anyone to answer my questions. At Wal-Mart, the prices were great, but I had questions. When I tried to ask the sales associate on the floor, not only did he initially brush me off, but when he finally got around to talking to me, it turned out that I knew more about the televisions than he did!

So I, like the customer in the commercial, went to Best Buy. I didn’t know about their price-match promise, and truthfully, it wouldn’t have mattered. The sales person (yes, I had to wait for a bit to speak with one, it was a busy day in the store) was attentive, answered all my questions, and actually talked me out of buying the more expensive set I was considering because their store brand had all the same features, and was manufactured by the same company, it just didn’t have the big name attached to it.

Score one for Best Buy.

I don’t know why I didn’t go there first… probably because I was fixated on Wal-Mart’s low prices. But I’m proof that people are willing to pay a little more for personal attention and great advice. And that’s a lesson we can all use when running our businesses. Counsel your customers/clients. Provide them with great information and honest feedback. This brings more value to their experience than you know, and it will be worth more to you in the long run with a satisfied, loyal customer who may one day turn in to your biggest cheerleader.

Communicating With Your Customers

Monday, May 4th, 2009

A recent study by Mindset Media reveals that personality is a more effective predictor for media consumption behavior than traditional demographic signifiers like age, gender and income.

As reported by Beth Snyder Bulik for AdAge, Mindset surveyed over 5,000 people using 21 elements of personality including leadership, openness, perfectionism and dynamism, as well as traditional demographics. The findings were interesting. See the full article here.

What happens after you’ve combined traditional demographic data and personality indicators to determine your marketing direction? You spend a lot of your marketing budget trying to get consumers to call, click or visit. But what happens to your marketing messages after that?

That’s where Point-Of-Entry Marketing comes in.

A point of entry is any portal through which people access your business or organization, such as your telephone, your website, and your front door. Point-Of-Entry Marketing picks up where your mass marketing leaves off and provides a smooth transition into your business or organization.

No matter what demographic or personality profile your customers fit into, you can reach them with your most important messages at a time when they are ready to buy - when they’ve called you, visited your website, or come to your location.

And the best part is, it’s cost-effective because you already own the medium. You don’t have to buy air time on your phone lines; there are never any competitors’ messages playing in your lobby or your store; and no one else can put their sale information on your website.

Learn more about Point-Of-Entry Marketing here.

The ABC’s Of Effective Marketing

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Recently, a health care client was reviewing an On Hold Messaging script and sent me an email regarding changes. “Keep the item about ENT from the previous production.” Simple enough, but could I find that in the old script? No. There was no sign of an “ENT” anywhere. So, I confessed my ignorance and asked for clarification.

She apologized in her reply, saying that ENT stands for “Ear, Nose and Throat.” Sure enough, there in the previous script was the item about doctors joining the organization who are “Ear, Nose and Throat specialists.”

There are plenty of mea culpas to go around when it comes to using initials that are less than universally understood. It’s common for writers to use terminology, acronyms and “jargon” that we are completely familiar with, under the false assumption that everyone else knows what we’re talking about. Full disclosure: the BusinessVoice web site recently underwent a cleansing of acronyms like OHM, POP and WAM. And no, those aren’t mantras or cartoon sound effects. In my world, that’s “On Hold Marketing,” “Point-Of-Purchase” and “Web Audio Marketing.”

The lesson here is to remember the “ABC’s” of good writing — Always Be Clear. Don’t assume an acronym will be understood. Avoid any “industry-speak” unless your audience is comprised exclusively of insiders. And while we’re handing out suggestions for clearer composition, why not take it a step further and check to see if the writing is too sophisticated.

Microsoft Word has built-in tools to measure the readability of your writing, measured in terms of school grade level. There are also online tools to measure readability that allow you to cut and paste your copy and get an instant ranking. Or try this aptly-named Gobbledygook Grader from Hub Spot to see if you’re using any of the worst jargon.

What you’re reading here ranks at about an 8th grade level, but you should aim a bit lower. Start by using shorter sentences, and don’t worry about “dumbing-down” the work. It’s an exercise in clarification, and the clearer the marketing message, the easier it is received by your audience, who can then act on it.

The BusinessVoice Blog

Be Like Ikea

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