It’s trendy today to say that traditional marketing doesn’t work anymore. The
“new marketing” gurus tell us that, instead of “marketing speak”
(traditional sales materials), we should use one of two things to do
our selling. But … isn’t there some point where you have to leave the cozy world of
publishing free content and chatting — and actually get down to some
selling?
My colleagues Michael Stelzner and David Scott Meerman are, like me, advocates of marketing with content. But a recent article suggests that our approach is all wrong.
The cover story in this month’s issue of Training & Development magazine is “Metrics and Measurement: Do They Matter?” The article argues in favor of measuring success in sales training and performance … vs. (I would guess) NOT measuring it. The fact that the headline is phrased as a question implies that there
are people who are AGAINST measuring the results generated through
sales training.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In 2008, Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University, did just that. He invited a dozen of his fiercest critics to dinner—those who had served in leadership positions, had disagreed with him or “just straight out don’t like me.” Because of the dinner, LeBlanc and his dissidents now have a “reasonably affable working relationship.”
I am obsessed with not wasting time and being as productive as I can. After all, my income is directly linked to my ability to produce quality work at a rapid rate.
You might think that recognition is about the rewards you give employees for long years of service or for retiring after a notable career. It’s really not. Recognition is about employee engagement. And employee engagement starts with employer engagement. How you treat people today is going to determine whether your valued employees stay with you when the financial crisis is over.
Employers that don’t enforce reasonable e-mail and computer-access policies—consider yourselves warned. Without such policies and practices, you won’t be able to use the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to punish employees who send information through your system to other persons or computers.
The business editor of our local daily newspaper e-mailed me about a story on marketing during a recession. Economists
are divided as to whether we are officially in a recession, but most
agree the economy is in a troubled state, to put it mildly. My
advice was that, during a recession, companies should be more flexible
and accommodating in matters of price, terms, delivery, service, and
sales.
Many members of the new generation of online marketers — bloggers, SEO
specialists, social networkers, viral video producers — loudly and
frequently proclaim that old-fashioned advertising … derisively
referred to as “disruption marketing” … is dead.
Lord Kelvin, inventor of the Kelvin temperature scale, once said, “When
you can measure something in numbers, then you know something about it.” Nowhere does his lesson have more meaning than in advertising.
My late friend, the accomplished Michigan ad man James Alexander, once
told me: “I can work with a client who is ignorant. I can work with a
client who is arrogant. But I cannot work with one who is both.”
Employers can terminate employees who are on FMLA leave if the employers are sure they can later prove to a jury that they would have made the decision to terminate whether the employee took leave or not. That’s a tough burden, so you must make sure you have a solid reason—and you must document it.
One of my greatest pleasures is to read trade journals, newsletters,
and business magazines at home or during lunch (like many of you, I
don’t have time to read them during working hours). But
according to an article in BtoB (3/10/08, p. 28), I may soon be denied
that privilege, as magazines discontinue their print editions and make
their content available on the Web only.
The EEOC has cited national convention marketing firm Freeman Companies with discriminatory hiring practices based on the company’s use of applicants’ credit scores and criminal background checks in hiring.
Dump this worst “best” practice, 360º anonymous feedback, advises Susan Scott, author of Fierce Leadership. “Anonymous feedback doesn’t tell us what we really need to know and leaves us wondering, ‘Who thinks that about me?!’” she says. Instead, exchange feedback face-to-face as soon as possible after something occurs.
The June 2008 issue of Fast Company features a cover story on ad agency
Crispin Porter and the much-talked-about Apple campaign “PC vs. Mac.” On the cover is a photo of the agency’s creative honcho, Alex Bogusky,
doing his best to look smug, self-assured, and ultra-cool.
Maybe you’ve acquired separate companies or you split off a subsidiary from your initial operation. In either event, you own two or more business entities on the books. Potential problem: If some of the employees work for more than one of the companies, you could be paying more employment tax than required. Strategy: Assign a “common paymaster” for payroll matters.
Think for a second: Has the money you’ve spent on marketing grown your business this year? If not, it’s time to make changes in your 2010 marketing plans. No matter what type of marketing you use—e-mail, direct mail, ads, Internet, word-of-mouth—here are five simple changes guaranteed to boost results and revenue:
Research has found that less than 50 percent of start-ups survive four
years, and only 35 percent make it to seven years. Given the grim
economic times, does it make financial sense to launch a business?
Absolutely, say Ed Hess and Charles Goetz, coauthors of So, You Want to Start a Business? 8 Steps to Take Before Making the Leap
Half of the college seniors who intern at Enterprise Rent-A-Car wind up working there after graduation. Indeed, the St. Louis-based company for many years has made BusinessWeek’s list of the 50 Best Places to Launch a Career.
Author Mark
Magnacca suggests ways that individuals and businesses can
capitalize on an understanding of the “So What Mindset” to succeed in
even the toughest economic times:
With a little innovation, postcards can break through the clutter and
deliver direct mail advertising messages to your audience
instantaneously. Here are eight powerful ways to use postcards:
Are your employees performing the exact same tasks they were three years—or even three months—ago? Probably not. Layoffs have left millions of employees juggling their own tasks as well as those of departed co-workers. One byproduct: When employees’ job duties no longer qualify them as exempt from the FLSA, they can raise the “hourly” flag and sue for unpaid overtime pay.
Alumni
programs have become crucial for customer relationship building, strengthening brands, and recruiting the best and brightest. Consider these tips for building your own alumni program as part of a relationship marketing plan:
More than two-thirds of the world’s online population visits social networking and blogging
sites. Reaching this captive audience can lead to greater credibility,
more exposure, and higher sales. If you’re considering SMM, be sure to
avoid these five mistakes:
First, let me apologize for implanting Subway’s Five (five dollar), Five Dollar Foot Long ear worm in your head for the rest of the day. I hope that you’ll agree with me that it was worth it to learn five lessons about winning support for change from the top leaders in your organization.
The lessons were inspired by a story in the current issue of Business Weekon Miami Subway franchise owner Stuart Frankel. He owns a couple of Subways close to Jackson Memorial Hospital and five years ago was tinkering with ways to boost his sales on Saturdays and Sundays. From that, the original five dollar foot long was born. Since then, the sandwich has generated $3.8 billion in sales for Subway and put the company on pace to surpass McDonald’s in worldwide store locations.
So, you’d think it would have been easy for Frankel to win everyone over to such a great idea, right? Not so fast, my friends. Even though he was raking in the dough (bad pun intended), Frankel had to work hard to convince the top brass at Subway that the five dollar foot long was the way to go. In reading between the lines of the Business Week article, I’ve come up with five (what else?) lessons for anyone who is trying to convince senior leadership to take a good idea and run with it.
A growing number of businesses look to online contests and promotions
as part of an Internet niche marketing
strategy. Natasha Shabani, an intellectual property attorney at the Los
Angeles–based law firm Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff, says these five
legal considerations are often overlooked by contest sponsors:
Greening your business is not only one of the latest marketing trends,
but it’s also a smart move, especially during an economic downturn.
Here are three tips to lessen your carbon footprint and save your business some money:
During a recession, every organization seems to face its own unique HR challenges, and that’s leading to creative solutions and new ways of thinking. Here are five best practices that can help comp and benefits pros make changes that contribute to their organizations’ survival.
“Ugly works” in direct mail design, writes my colleague Denny Hatch in his latest column in Target Marketing (7/08, p. 50). His premise: direct mail should be intentionally designed to look ugly and junky, because it will increase response.
Studies show that most growing businesses plan to maintain or increase
spending on marketing and business development in the months ahead as
the economy recovers. Here are five small business development tips to help you become more competitive in 2010:
If you missed out on the popular cash-for-clunkers program this summer, you can still qualify for big tax benefits for an older vehicle by donating your “clunker” to charity. Instead of trading in your vehicle, simply give it away to a qualified charitable organization. This entitles you to a deduction on your ’09 return.
Offering genuinely valuable information is
one of the best ways to strengthen bonds with existing customers and
reach out to new ones. Here are five strategic ways to do it:
When I began my corporate career in the late 70s, corporations spent huge amounts of time and money perfecting their “mission statements,” which they proudly posted on placards in the lobby. Multi-channel marketing guru Don Libey thinks most mission statements are for the most part banal and of limited value.
How do you determine the right color palette so that your corporate identity
sends the right message to potential customers? Erin Ferree, founder of
elf design, offers these recommendations:
About a third of the 15 employees who work for ClearedJobs.net in Falls Church, Va., bring their dogs to work. So it was pretty easy for Chief Marketing Officer Kathleen Smith to convince the group to pitch in when she decided to send care packages to U.S. military working dogs in Afghanistan.
These days, organizations have to do just as much (or more) with fewer employees. That may mean employees’ job duties and responsibilities change frequently. But be aware that such changes could alter the person’s classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act—and open you up to an overtime lawsuit.
Somehow, Walt Disney’s toy division, run by Chris Heatherly and Len Mazzocco, churns out scores of innovative new toys every six months. What’s their magic? Their continuous innovation hinges on a systematic brainstorming and prototyping process that works like this:
My colleague Denny Hatch is one of the most respected of the “old school” direct marketing copywriters and publishers operating today. He says the reason so many Internet marketers get it wrong is that they fail to apply DM selling techniques online.
While the unit cost of a creative direct mail campaign is often higher than that for many online marketing
efforts, direct mail advertising has four unique strengths that online marketing can’t quite match.
The most recent Epsilon Email trends and benchmarks study shows average open rates for marketing “e-blasts” is 22.1%, with the average click-through clocked at 6.5%. Unlike many metrics in this economy, these figures are up from a year ago!
Ratings, reviews, social networking … Businesses know the value of using Web 2.0 to market products and services. But what happens when a competitor uses user-generated content against you?
Here’s a four-step procedure for getting the
information you need to write persuasive, fact-filled copy. This
technique should be helpful to copywriters, account executives, and ad
managers alike.
Spending on cause-related-marketing, one of the latest marketing trends,
is projected to reach $1.57 billion this year, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report. How can a growing
business affordably rally support for a cause? Here are some ideas:
JJ, a marketing consultant who is an advocate of social media, confided in me that to get significant results takes 10 to 15 hours of participation a week — EVERY week. For most of us, that’s time we don’t have to spare. So I’m wondering: do you think a company or solopreneur can PAY someone to handle all of their social networking for them?
According to author Bob Gilbreath, the secret to making your brand stand out is to create meaningful niche marketing
that improves peoples lives. Here are the things meaningful marketers know:
Normally, by the time you read about a new idea in marketing, it’s too
late for you to stand out as an early adopter, because the early
adopters are all already using it. But online video is a growing trend, and it’s NOT too late for you to boost your online conversions, sales, and traffic with it!
To reduce stuffed
in-boxes, consumers are increasingly using spam filters
that block even the most legitimate opt-in email marketing. To make your targeted email marketing message resonate with customers and best prospects, consider these five tips:
When it comes to understanding your market segments, government
statistics are among the best available sources of information. Here are some other smart ways to collect valuable customer research:
Twenty percent of West Valley Staffing Group’s employees worked there for a while, left for other jobs, and then came back to claim their former positions. And many of the technology temp agency’s 60 employees have worked there for a decade or longer, even though most Silicon Valley firms suffer from high turnover. Perhaps it’s the perks ...
When the ad’s intent is to generate a response, copy trumps art, says marketing consultant Ruth Stevens, writing in Direct (12/08, p. 16). In a visual society, why is copy more important than graphics?
Customer acquisition is an
investment, but profitability is built on customer retention. With the
economy floundering, it’s more important than ever to keep the
customers you have and build customer loyalty. Guy Maser offers these five tips:
There’s one huge group, often overlooked, that
wields a massive influence on consumer spending in just about every
category: mothers. So how can a business go about reaching this influential group? Here are four key areas to pay attention to:
Communication strategies help managers build productive teams. A recent study says that 40% of managers in the United States are considered “bad bosses” by their employees. Yet most managers assume that their relationships with their employees are running smoothly. Obviously, some of those bosses are wrong …
Customer research is to a growing business what a power cord is to an electrical
appliance — a necessity. Here are five surefire ways to collect valuable research:
These days, organizations have to do just as much (or more) with fewer employees. That may mean employees’ job duties and responsibilities will change frequently. But be aware that such changes could alter an employee’s classification under the FLSA—and open you up to an overtime lawsuit.
Reduce the odds that a conversation will bog down when people take things too personally by avoiding statements that begin with “you.” ... Learn how you can add more value at the office by conducting your own “listening tour.”... Stay current on technology by signing up for free e-newsletters. ...
Without deadlines,
employees flounder. They can’t be aware of the urgency or priorities of a
project unless their supervisors tell them. Following are four tips to
help supervisors set realistic deadlines for their employees:
Using Web
survey software, a business can gain immediate access to
research, allowing it to quickly address customer issues. Jeffrey Henning, founder of Vovici,
which offers comprehensive survey software, says there are four areas a survey should
take into consideration:
Whenever there is a recession, all the ad magazines run articles extolling to their readers the importance of continuing to advertise in a recession. Since these articles are usually contributed by ad agency owners and marketing consultants, one could make an argument that they are self-serving.
in
the wake of the poor economy, many growing businesses are looking for
budget-friendly ways to get their business noticed and reach their
target audience as part of an effective brand-building strategy. Cher
Murphy, president of Cher Murphy PR, suggests these eight proven tactics:
No one expects bad things – and by bad, I mean catastrophically bad – to happen to them. Yet terrible tragedies happen to people who didn’t expect them every day of the year. You can’t take a vaccine to immunize yourself against ill fortune. But you can prepare for disasters before they happen.
We
are at an unprecedented time in our business history, with four
generations of sales staff selling to four generations of buyers. Helping your sales reps understand the differences among generations
and how to adapt their whole selling approach and style will increase
the pipeline, win more deals and shorten the selling cycle.
With studies showing 701% ROI for online press releases, this tactic belongs in your marketing plan. Online distribution sites like PRWire and PRWeb offer per-release pricing as low as $80 ...
As authors Chris Brogan and Julien Smith have discovered, the Web’s best
business communicators are people with a knack for building
relationships. They offer these niche marketing tips for earning trust online:
Mickie Kennedy, founder and CEO of eReleases, cites four strengths of press releases, a tool that should be in any
company’s recession survival kit for building brand awareness:
Managers spend a good part of the workday listening to other people. But bear in mind, there’s a big difference between “passive” and “active” listening. In many cases, managers are too busy thinking about their response rather than listening to the employee’s full statement. In a business setting, this lack of attention can result in costly mistakes, wasted time, poor service and management failure.
In a world where consumers divide their time
among ever increasing media options, finding the right customers for your business presents constant
challenges. Here are the five areas where growing businesses most often
trip up in their marketing efforts:
In their
new book, Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship,
Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig offer many salient points on customer relationship building. Here are 10 worth heeding:
If you need more hyperlinks pointing to your site, try this: Google 20 keywords clients use to find you. Send an e-mail to contacts at those sites explaining the synergies between your services and ask to trade links.
The 10th annual Trust Barometer study conducted by the Edelman PR firm shows that trust in businesses has plummeted. Factor that into your marketing! Besides showcasing “trust” factors like years in business and client testimonials, be more transparent in showing clients your business practices.
I have always contended that social networking is not a cost-effective use of the solopreneur’s time. Now data from a new survey by Michael Stelzner confirm it.
Futurist Richard Laermer believes the cultural trend toward mistrusting
large companies will only grow. Growing businesses can capitalize on
this trend, Laermer contends, by avoiding these mistakes:
“The death of traditional marketing” is all the buzz. But if you need to generate leads and close deals fast, killing traditional tactics could also kill cash flow.
The more hyperlinks that point to your web site, the higher up you’ll rank in search engine results. So how popular are you today? The Link Popularity Checker can help you find out, free.
I saw an e-mail exchange today between a famous sales trainer and a successful information marketer and copywriter. In it, the sales trainer arrogantly proclaimed: “Marketing is for people who can’t sell.”
While there are research tools that can help you determine the state of your brand, there are
also a number of clues that may indicate it’s time to invest in a
rebranding effort. Here are eight to consider:
When running any type of pay-per-click (PPC) online advertising
campaign, most business professionals often miss one important
element of PPC: defining negative keywords. To make identifying your negative keywords easier, follow these guidelines:
Marketing to consumers with one broad brushstroke may still make sense
for major brands, but for a niche business, a more targeted approach is best. Here are five niche marketing tips for reaching a select market segment affordably:
There are many different types of free shipping that should be
considered for any loyalty marketing effort. Your best bet is to
experiment with several offers. Luke Knowles, author of The Free Shipping eBook, suggests considering these choices:
In his latest book, pioneering online marketer Mark Joyner covers some sophisticated concepts, including mathematical
formulas for calculating the return on investment of prospective deals.
His Integration Marketing Growth Strategy
consists of four steps:
A survey of 741 small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) by Breeding Business Information (BBI) revealed that SMBs prefer print over the Internet as a source of product information.
The recession presents some unique challenges to customer retention
management. But it also provides opportunity for
businesses that know how and when to act. Here are four key customer
retention strategies to help you keep your customers coming back:
Yes, you read right. Four billion dollars. Billion—with a “B”! A California superior court recently confirmed an award of $4.1 billion against a Chinese company, its U.S. affiliate and its founder after an arbitrator found them liable in a compensation dispute with a former executive.
What
makes digital printing so superior for creative direct mail marketers?
There are six reasons, according to Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager
at EU Services, a full-service direct marketing production facility:
Customers who are merely satisfied will leave you for any competitor who can offer a lower price.Could changing the way you view marketing change “merely satisfied” customers into fans who are wild about you – at any price?
The problem with SEO copywriting is that the mandate to use keywords according to various rules set forth by SEO experts can result in awkward, ineffective, suboptimal copy.
“From the days of the corner store to the global enterprises of the future, relationship marketing
remains the backbone of building a successful business,” says Howard Larson, owner of Larson & Associates. Larson recommends adhering to these five principles:
If you’ve ever wanted to be the next Arianna Huffington, your dream has never been more within reach. “This is the perfect venue to share your expertise and elevate your visibility to a whole new level,” says Scott Ginsberg, author of Stick Yourself Out There. Follow these steps for blogging brilliance:
Robert Wright, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, has come up with a theory about globalization that might help you do business. He has studied Paul of Tarsus, who went around persecuting the followers of Jesus until he literally saw the light on the road to Damascus. Paul spent the rest of his life spreading Christianity by championing love and brotherhood.
The
first two quotations come from writing professors whose names I've
since forgotten (and they were quoting other people whom they'd
forgotten). The last one is one I just made up myself. But regardless
of the source, the advice is sound: no email should be clicked-to-send
without revision.
If you use your computer system to monitor your employees, now’s a good time to ask your attorneys: Are we vulnerable to a lawsuit under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a part of the federal Wiretap Act? A federal court considering a California case may have just made your electronic monitoring policies far riskier.
Susan Orr, senior director of strategic marketing at ThomasNet,
which helps industrial suppliers create Web sites to grow their sales
revenues, offers these two steps to boost the success of your Web
site:
Postcards continue to be one of the most versatile options in direct mail marketing. Crystal Uppercue, marketing
manager for EU Services, a direct marketing production facility in Rockville, Md., says postcards are especially effective at the following:
How many times have you come up with a more efficient way to accomplish something and wished you could quickly share it with co-workers? You can with collaborative tech tools, says Richard Laermer, media consultant and author of Punk Marketing.
The key to relationship marketing, contends Jay Forte, president of Humanetrics,
is to ask great open-ended questions that get customers to
talk, share, and explain. Forte recommends asking these five questions to improve customer relations:
When fans of natural cosmetics maker Burt’s Bees learned the company was selling itself to Clorox, a buzz of protest followed, as customers complained the bleach maker was not environmentally friendly. In response, CEO John Replogle went blogging ...
Whether your business recycles, has switched to more environmentally
friendly products, or allows employees to telecommute, be sure to get
the word out:
If your business fails to
come up in conversation, there are a number of effective, low-cost ways
to get the chatter started as part of a guerilla marketing strategy. Here’s how:
You’re never too young or too old to benefit from the advice from a mentor. From her corner office, Karen Quintos, vice president of marketing for the global public business unit at Dell, mentors other women at Dell. Here’s what she tells them.
Wear your heart on your sleeve: Emphasize with customers’ deep-seated concerns by moving from passion to compassion in marketing ... Educate managers with faster, more specific training: The trend is to pick up tailored programs offered by consultancies ... Move beyond traditional risk-management to lead your company through faster times.
Question: “What networking groups are best for someone with administrative support responsibilities that include a great deal of marketing? How can I tell which networking groups are best for me?” — Kathy Barnes
NewsGator, a social marketing company, released a six-step roadmap for successful enterprise social marketing. It’s a systematic analysis to help ensure that "Enterprise 2.0" initiatives make sense to users and improve business performance as intended. Here are the six steps:
According to a recent survey, 22% of employees say they use some form of social networking five or more times per week, and 15% admit they access social media while at work for personal reasons. Yet, only 22% of companies have a formal policy that guides employees in how they can use social networking at work. Here are seven key questions to ask when drafting a social networking policy for your workplace.
Search engine optimization (SEO) holds much promise - but it can be a complex undertaking. To help maximize the impact of your SEO efforts, Alexander Brunacci, vice president of sales and marketing at Maximosity, offers these six tips:
According to Dan Adams, president of Advanced Industrial
Marketing, Inc., your prospects should play a vital role in every stage of the business development
marketing process. Here are three suggestions for putting your prospects to
work:
In 5 years all businesses will have a regular strategy to become
apart of the conversation their clients and prospects are having. It will be common sense like a listing in the
yellow pages was 10 years ago. For now,
it is still an innovative concept and a powerful tool.
For his book Fire Them Up!, strategic communications expert Carmine Gallo interviewed more than two
dozen CEOs, entrepreneurs, and educators. He offers these six secrets to inspire your team as part of developing a strategic communication plan:
According to marketing
expert Rick Segel, “maximizing” your customers at every opportunity
can spur increased sales and aid in the delivery of good customer service.
Here’s how to go about
it:
If you’re planning to use Twitter as an online
marketing tool for your business, consider these tips from the venture development organization IdeaCrossing:
In a weak economy, strategic communications
are especially important. Businesses that maintain a regular dialogue stand the best chance of
weathering the economic crisis, experts contend. Here are four low-cost
ways to bolster a strategic marketing communication plan:
Social networking is all the rage in Internet marketing/online
advertising, but the importance of building strong customer
relationships is often forgotten. Business relationship and Internet advertising expert Drew Gerber, CEO of PitchRate.com, offers these secrets to
social networking success:
Researchers
continue to explore the impact of customer service training on customer loyalty,
as measured by customer retention, and a company’s customer service
standards. The research showed that,
compared with other customers, long-term loyal customers act in the following ways:
Tracking web sites, blogs, social networking sites, Twitter—it can be overwhelming. And if you’re not fluent with online tools, it can sometimes feel like a serious waste of time. Here are four tools to help you keep track, without straying to web pages you don’t have time for.
When my company, L.I. Ninjutsu Centers, finds out something about the competition or even what one of our suppliers is doing that may pose a major sales threat to us, I find that using “ninja” techniques works well.
Marketing and sales can often seem like siblings: They live under
the same roof, but are constantly at loggerheads. This dynamic can
force company executives to play the uncomfortable role of peacekeeper
— always a challenge.
Prepare for media interviews by reviewing what the reporter has published or aired before. Ask the reporter for draft interview questions in advance. Most of all, know what you want to say and rehearse it. Follow these six tips to get the main idea you want to convey into an understandable story.
When an entry-level job for a web page designer job opened at Scottsdale, Ariz., marketing firm SpinSix, managers combined their desire for more publicity with a strategy to attract the best-qualified employee. They held a contest.
Regardless of how consumers enter your Web site, there is one smart way to ensure that your brand leaves a positive impression:
create unique landing pages. To improve your landing pages as part of building a brand, consider these tips:
Q. We need to cut two employees from our marketing department. One of the employees we would prefer to keep was hired only six months ago. If we don’t base our decision on seniority, are we more susceptible to discrimination claims?
Simply
having every searcher land on your home page is a formula for disaster.
Here are some details to consider when it comes to using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising:
When it comes to strategic communications,
every word counts. Brent Sampson, author of Sell Your Book on Amazon, offers these tips to improve the impact of your business writing:
Catch a second wind by tackling a task on your “Mind Like Mush” list ... Is your boss an ‘allergic-to-details’ type? Keep project files handy that contain details he or she is likely to need ... Find travel deals by booking later ... Spruce up your administrative “portfolio” by adding a dash of visual material.
According to Richard Steele, a course
instructor at the University of California, Irvine Extension, the key to succeeding in recessionary times is
to focus on four simple categories — what he calls “Marketing the
RITE Way.”
Face tough issues early to avoid being viewed as a lie-back-and-wait leader ... Rein in marketing budgets and spur creativity with a competitive “jump ball,” as Wal-Mart is doing ... Take efficiency to a higher level by tapping the expertise of your managers ... Use a threat to gin up innovations.
Today,
however, conspicuous consumption is out
and conscientious consumption (buying to be heard) is in, and it will impact small business in a massive way.
Competitive intelligence gathering must be
done in an ethical and reasonable way. These guidelines from MarketingScoop.com provide a step-by-step way to acquire the information you need without crossing the line.
It’s important to create a cohesive values system people believe in. Donna Vandiver, CEO of her own marketing firm, believes in the values statement, particularly as a way to get her team excited about company goals.
If your customers aren’t head-over-heels gaga about you, then
you’ve got to work on your relationship marketing efforts, says author Jeanne Bliss. She offers these quick tips for customer relationship building:
As competition stiffens and
consumers’ belts tighten in these turbulent economic times, we offer some tips for building brand equity with customers and prospects:
How do you break away from stagnation and take advantage
of opportunities to grow your business? Michael Dotson, chief executive
officer of WorkSmart Media Group in City of Industry, Calif., offers these 10 suggestions:
Having a viable Web presence doesn’t require an open
checkbook, a 24/7 work schedule, or a degree in niche marketing.
Internet success calls for a consistent focus on a few essentials:
Robert Passikoff, PhD, founder and president of Brand Keys,
believes the following two trends will have a direct impact on the
success — or failure — of brand marketing efforts for the remainder of
2009:
Steve Steinhilber, vice president of strategic alliances for Cisco, says that half of all strategic alliances fail. So why has he made a career of them? Because customers expect products that are well integrated, but you need to focus on what you do best. Here are nine ways to think about and plan alliances.
Every decision you make can
benefit from a more strategic approach, says Erika Andersen, author of the new book Being Strategic: Plan for Success; Out-think Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change. Here are the some
of the core tenets of the book:
If you’re still grumbling about joining Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, know this: Social networks are good for business. “It’s very well documented that businesses that focus on marketing during tough financial times can actually improve,” says Karen Quintos, a vice president at Dell.
Any niche
marketing effort should focus to some degree on what sets your business
apart from the competition, according to Scott McKain, author of Collapse of Distinction. He offers these niche marketing tips to get the ball rolling:
Just in the last few weeks there have been a slew of articles in the business press about recruiting. All have a common theme: prepare for the deluge…of candidates.
No other means of
advertising can be tested, refined, and tested again with the same
mathematical precision as creative direct mail. What should you test? Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager at EU Services, recommends focusing on these three components:
Much of the conventional wisdom about coupon redemption
is wrong, says Peter Meyers, vice president of marketing at
Toronto-based ICOM Information & Communications, a division of Epsilon Targeting. Here, he dispels seven of the top myths:
If your business model was developed in a boom market, you may
need to rethink your strategy as it relates to customer relationship
management, asserts L. Drew Gerber, CEO of Blue Kangaroo and creator of
PitchRate.com. Here are some tips:
Digging your company out of this recession will probably require some unconventional thinking. Most small businesses can’t simply play it safe and expect to thrive, let alone survive. Ira Blumenthal, author of Ready, Blame, Fire: Myths and Misses in Marketing, points out 10 common business myths that small business owners are too quick to believe in.
Here, in no particular order, are the five companies that have
consistently failed to deliver quality customer service — along with
examples of smaller businesses that do it right.
Nothing is more frustrating than having a prominent link to your website that nobody clicks on. Skeptical, skimming web users ignore links they perceive as low value and move on. So how can you consistently drive traffic and links to your website without spending every hour of every day on it?
Brent Sampson, author of Sell Your Book on Amazon and Self-Publishing Simplified, offers thesefive marketing tricks you can adopt immediately to boost your business during slow times:
Pam Lontos, author of I See Your Name Everywhere, offers these tried-and-true tips to get the most out of your media
contacts and ensure that reporters, editors, and producers answer your
calls and respond to your emails:
Question: “I’ve been my boss’s secretary for more than five years, even changing companies with him. He recently hired another secretary to help with my workload. The problem is that she shares all my responsibilities and seems to have most of the work. It feels as though she has become my replacement. How do I approach my boss about this without sounding like I’m whining?” — Feeling Useless
Employees do the darnedest things, and it’s often up to HR to clean up the resulting mess. Better to have prevented it in the first place. Two recent news stories point out problems that could have been stopped with simple policies on use of technology in the workplace. With the right handbook lingo, much corporate embarrassment could have been avoided.
Many companies make the same kinds of errors when redesigning a Web
site as part of a niche marketing plan. Erin Presseau, a strategic
interactive manager at SilverTech, advises her customers to avoid these four costly mistakes.
Social media is a real game-changer
when it comes to generating leads, supporting the sales cycle,
enhancing search engine optimization (SEO) and promoting brand
reputation.
Trusted business relationships, much like friendships, require
time and regular contact. Make it a priority to invest in your future
by investing time in customer relationship building. Author George Hedley suggests these three action steps:
Trust your people’s instincts to avoid hamstringing them ... Tap new ideas with a “hack day,” where you allow customers to help you innovate ... Get more from people by clarifying expectations ... Rely on your team when times are tough, rather than calling the shots and executing all the plays yourself.
The danger in reading Howard Kurtz article is to confine this problem
to the newspaper business. The same mistake ruined Polaroid and
Kodak's film developing business, put travel agencies out of business,
unemployed TV repair men, altered the book selling business, etc.
Financial firms could have avoided some public backlash if they’d done some early PR, says Adam Hanft, CEO of the marketing firm Hanft Raboy. Here's how to avoid a “greedy” image:
Q. Historically, we do not pay overtime to our commissioned telemarketers. After all, they are paid strictly on commission, not by the hour. Some employees are now complaining that we are paying them illegally by not paying overtime for weeks in which they work more than 40 hours. Are they right?
Not all sales professionals are in a slump. Some are thriving. And you can, too. Douglas Smith, a nationally recognized speaker and sales trainer, offers these four tips to boost your lead generation efforts.
Getting ready to create a website, business card or brochure? Think twice before you “save money” by using a template — it could end up costing you $100,000.
With more talent chasing fewer jobs, especially in the financial sector, it can’t hurt to freshen up your résumé and look around. For starters, brace yourself: MBAs, to give one example, are flooding the market. Recruiters receive 50 to 60 résumés per opening where they used to get 10 to 20, so concentrate on showing how you contributed to the bottom line.
As a servant leader CEO, you should aim to make your team members (at all levels) heroes—heroes in their own eyes, heroes in the eyes of their peers and heroes in the eyes of their families.
According to a study by Webvisible and
Nielsen Online, only 9 percent of small business owners say they are
satisfied with their online advertising efforts. But getting it right
is critical. Here are five tips for
effective online advertising:
We present a case study on how one smart growing business, in an
effort to boost its brand identity and inspire customer loyalty,
improved its waiting-room experience.
To identify new business, we decided there was no better approach than to look at our existing client base and identify how we found those customers in the first place.
The last time Chrysler found itself in deep peril, in the mid-1980s, Lee Iacocca hired turnaround artist Steve Miller to jump-start the company. Miller recounts meeting a Japanese-American, Reiko McKendry, who wanted to help defuse anti-Japanese sentiment in America and make Chrysler competitive again ...
Making 2009 the best year in sales is easier than you may think.
Here are three ways to help your company
improve its sales lead generation efforts during the recession.
As your organization braces itself for tough times, how can it boost
revenue without breaking the budget? Acclaimed marketing and sales consultant John Haskell offers these suggestions
to build a no-money-down niche marketing plan.
Pricing is risky. What price is too high? What price is too low? Pricing is one of the most important marketing decisions you will make. Your business model revolves around price, so finding the right price is essential.
We present a case study on how one smart growing business, in an
effort to land new customers as part of its business development plan,
increased the visibility of its quarterly newsletter through guerilla
marketing.
For the past 16 years, complying
with the Family and Medical Leave Act has been complex, but at least the law
(once you figured it out) stayed the same. On Jan. 16, that all changed. To help employers,
attorneys, HR professionals and managers around the country better understand
how to implement the new FMLA regulations, BusinessManagementDaily.com
has issued a how-to special report:
FMLA Intermittent Leave: 5 guidelines on managing
intermittent leave and curbing leave abuse under the new FMLA regulations.
There are still motivated, financially capable consumers out there who
are prepared to buy. MaryEllen Tribby and
Michael Masterson, coauthors of Changing the Channel,
suggest these four cost-effective and easy-to-test tactics to reach them:
With Administrative Professionals Day approaching tomorrow (April 22), the editors of BusinessManagementDaily.com asked administrative assistants to weigh in with the craziest things their bosses had ever asked them to do. Here are some of the best examples of "other duties as assigned."
Today, media fragmentation makes it more difficult to reach the
general market. Bolivar J. Bueno and Scott Jeffrey, managing
partners at the Cult Branding Company, offer these tips for conquering the new world of marketing:
Miramar-based low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines has run into opposition from flight attendants over a change to their uniforms. The aprons the flight attendants wear while serving customers include logos promoting alcoholic beverage brands.
Rather than wait for your company to foot the bill for a class or conference, turn to online sources, such as eHow.com and good-tutorials.com, or the instruction manuals shelved in your IT department.
Bob Bly, author of Bly on Direct Marketing,
has been keeping a close eye on Internet direct mail. He says
the following six techniques show the most promise in terms of
increasing click-throughs and conversions:
Here’s
a question I’ve been curious about: should marketers add blogging to
their arsenal of marketing tactics? Or
is it — as I suspect — an utter waste of time? A pure vanity publication that
won’t pay you back for your effort?
Lorrie Thomas, a Santa Barbara, Calif.–based
strategic brand management expert, recommends focusing your efforts
on building brand awareness both online and off. Here’s how:
In the past year, Microsoft adCenter, Google AdWords, and Yahoo Search Marketing
have simplified the search engine marketing (SEM) process. But if SEM is too intimidating, here are some easier ways to
drive more customers and prospects to your site:
How do you drive traffic to your Web site without burning through your available cash in a couple of weeks? Here are 8 cost-effective ways to get hits to your site.
My monthly e-zine, including copy and layout, takes me just an hour or two per issue to complete from start to finish. I want to share the formula with you, so you can
produce an effective e-zine of your own.
“...How do I get traffic to my site?” one client asked recently. “And if I want to sell... using e-mail marketing, who do I send the e-mails to?” Here is one online marketing methodology that has been proven effective...
David Meerman Scott, author of World Wide Rave,
offers a number of methods and approaches that various
businesses can use to start an online “wave” of interest in their
company or their offering.
I’ve started working on a major long-term project. The book, tentatively titled The Persuasion Manifesto (the name a copycat of the pretentious Cluetrain Manifesto), is a compilation of the most successful persuasive communications techniques ever developed.
One of the best ways to create a more trustworthy Web site as part of a niche marketing
strategy is to quickly satisfy unhappy customers. Here are five other ways to improve the credibility of your Web site:
In a recent DM News column, I apparently offended a segment of the blogging community by suggesting that perhaps blogs might be “an utter waste of time … ” Here’s what all the hoopla has taught me so far:
Perhaps the oldest — and most widely embraced — rule for writing direct response copy is, “Stress benefits, not features.” But even this sacred commandment doesn’t always hold true.
Tim Calkins, a professor of management at the Kellogg School of
Management, believes many businesspeople confuse strategic
initiatives with objectives or tactics. In his new book, Calkins provides numerous examples of possible strategic
initiatives, along with tactics to implement them.
The majority of professional practices are unsuccessful with direct mail — largely because they do not understand how it works or how to use it. Following are some suggestions on how to successfully use direct mail for consulting or professional services.
Based on his experience, Olivier Piscart, managing director at Emailvision US, says
companies would be wise to avoid these five direct email marketing
blunders to achieve maximum ROI:
I recently read an article that advised repeating keywords on your site as often as possible, so search engine “spiders” can find them. But friend and fellow copywriter Nick Usborne says this advice is not only wrong, but actually harmful.
“If you want something to grow, you must feed it and care for it,”
says Jim Cecil, founder of the Nurture Institute, in Woodbridge, N.J,
which helps companies boost customer loyalty. Here’s a
four-step plan for growing the seed of a single interaction into a
healthy, fruitful customer relationship:
If you are a market-driven company, then you will want regular feedback from your customers. One way to solicit ongoing input from your customers is to have a Customer Advisory Council (CAC).
If a person can’t write a lucid, clear, correct report, he or she shouldn’t be in this business. Jargon, double-talk, and weak, watered-down prose proliferate in advertising, but are nowhere more prevalent than in business-to-business marketing.
The global economic crisis that has forced U.S. employers to slash their salary budgets has not spared HR salaries. A new report says HR pros' base pay and incentive compensation grew more slowly last year. Compensation isn’t expected to rebound in 2009, either. Find out where you stand.
With direct mail response rates continuing to decline, telemarketing impeded by the Do Not Call list, and CAN-SPAM controlling e-mail marketing, direct marketers are constantly exploring channels to find the magic formula that will work for them.
There are two types of marketing in the world today: (1) “Traditional” marketing with its relatively larger budget and reliance on standard methodology and mainstream media, and (2) “guerilla” marketing, which is reliant on non-traditional tactics...
When prospects get your e-mail marketing message, they make a decision to open or delete it based largely on the subject line. Given the glut of promotional e-mail, how can you convince them that your message is worthy of attention?
The single most common complaint among business owners
about social networking and social media marketing is the significant
demand on their time. The solution, according to Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez, founder of the consulting firm High Alert, LLC, is to follow this SAM process:
It sounds like a good idea: survey customers to find out what they want, and then let their answers shape your product development and marketing. But in reality, it’s often a bust.
Having a
credible Web site reassures customers that your company is legit. Here
are five ways to create a more trustworthy site as part of a niche marketing strategy:
Pursuing marketing fundamentals doesn’t require cash as much as it requires wit, persistence and a little creativity. Here are seven top free or low-cost marketing ideas:
In newsletter publishing, products are divided into two categories: “must-have” and “nice-to-have.” These categories can extend to virtually any type of product or service. So, how do we sell products in each category? Here are some rules of thumb:
Regardless of the size of your company, a well-executed integrated online marketing
strategy can help you maximize results in a tough economy. Here are
four cost-effective tactics to get your media working together:
Early in my career, I was advertising manager for Koch Engineering, where I learned a few tricks about trade show exhibiting (I also handled trade shows for Westinghouse in an earlier job) that I’d like to pass on to you.
Often, by being truthful about your weaknesses and flaws, you can gain substantial credibility with your buyer, increasing loyalty, sales, and customer satisfaction.
Afraid the recession is here to stay a bit longer? If so, you're not alone. Many economists are predicting doom and gloom. Here are 14 strategies companies use to maintain—even
increase—sales, while their competitors struggle to stay afloat.
Question: “Our department has regular update meetings where all team members review their projects. When I’m presenting, my manager continually interrupts to add background information. I believe that I should be the one to provide any additional information about my work. How do I handle these annoying interruptions without offending my boss?” — Frustrated Speaker
Dan
Adams, president of Advanced Industrial Marketing Inc., says implementing cheaper marketing tactics is crucial for growth,
as is customer relationship building. Adams offers these three
small-budget ideas to boost your business:
The economy is in trouble. But good marketing can still lure plenty of qualified buyers. It’s just harder to close the deal. A “shared risk” offer can warm up those with cold feet.
Using testimonials—quotations from satisfied customers and clients—is one of the simplest and most effective ways of adding punch and power to brochure, ad, and direct mail copy. Here are some tips for using testimonials.
Hawaiian banana farmer Richard Ha came close to packing it in last year. Ha hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d converted a $300 investment into one of Hawaii’s most successful farms, producing up to a third of the state’s bananas. He’s a careful businessman who watches expenses. And that’s where the problem lies ...
In her 23 years at Coca-Cola, Mary Minnick was pretty much never satisfied. Maybe her whipsmart approach was too much for the genteel board of the Atlanta-based corporation. Minnick, Coke’s former head of marketing, strategy and innovation, shook things up.
Most business-to-business advertisers have smaller ad budgets than their counterparts in consumer marketing. Here are 10 ways to get more out of your advertising dollars — without detracting from the quality and quantity of your ads and promotions.
One of the toughest questions beginning and experienced service providers wrestle with is: "How much should I charge?" Here are four important factors to consider when determining what to charge the client:
Text messaging is not only a
relatively inexpensive medium, but it can quickly drive a high level of
consumer response and action. If you’re considering text message promotions, be sure to:
Through long years of experience, advertisers and advertising agencies
have uncovered some basic principles of sound advertising strategy,
copywriting, and design. The following are ten rules that I have gleaned from years of experience in the field:
One online advertising tactic attracting the attention of growing businesses is the microsite. How do you know if
your business needs a microsite? Internet marketing and e-commerce
expert Sabah Karimi says to look for these four telltale signs:
Asked if he could write an effective direct mail package on a
complex electronic control system, a well-known copywriter replied, “It doesn’t matter what the product
is. You are selling to people. And people are pretty much the same.” Wrong.
Although a blog is easy to create and maintain, many marketers wonder
if the return on investment can be measured. Yes, contends Caroline
Melberg, president and CEO of Small Business Mavericks.
Why Land Rover's "luxury" tagline is out of step with the times -- and why you need to fix your own out-of-touch messaging before you're out of customers.
Driving visitors to your company’s web site and coaxing them to provide contact information is a great way to generate sales leads. However, only 4% to 8% of people who click to a web site leave their personal information. To convert those web surfers into customers, consider these four surefire tips from FuelNet.
Martyn Lewis,
founder, president, and CEO of Market-Partners and author of Sales Wise: A Journey through Sales and Selling, shares these myths about sales — and the realities behind what creates truly effective sales lead generation:
Hiring a freelance copywriter is no small responsibility. Make the right choice, and you get great copy that brings in leads, sales, and profits. Make the wrong choice, and you end up pouring thousands of dollars down the drain.
"What kind of respond can I expect from my lead-generating mailing and what percentage is considered good for business-to-business direct mail?" Let's see if we can shed some light on the topic.
Self-mailers have seen
a resurgence — most notably the magalog for long copy and the standard
postcard for short copy. Why use postcards instead of a traditional DM package, tri-fold self-mailer, or other formats?
Branding expert Dan Wilson, founding
principal of MarketDifference Communications Group, offers three reasons why building a strong brand is vital to the success of your growing business:
One of the biggest misconceptions about writing to CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives is that they speak some alien language that has only a passing resemblance to the conversational or written English you and I use every day...
Since time immemorial — or at least for the quarter century I’ve been in direct marketing — people have vigorously debated the merits of long vs. short copy.
Marc
S. Levitt, principal and creative director at MSLK, offers these seven tips to ensure that your
investment of time and money in a site redesign will lead to online niche marketing success:
Are there certain industries whose business model is dependent on not helping customers — businesses designed to actually be more profitable when not giving customers the best advice, products, and service? Here are some that have been suggested to me.
“Penny Pincher’s Almanac” columnist Gene Marks tells BusinessWeek that for many small businesses, a web page can work just fine: that is, a page with basic, important information, such as contact information and maybe a photo or two.
Is Blockbuster lying to us? Some people think so. Blockbuster’s new commercials promise, “The end of late fees.” But of
course, that’s impossible: if there is no penalty for returning a movie
late, you could keep it forever.
“Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement,” wrote Samuel Johnson. Today we know he was right: to break through the clutter and generate a profitable response, direct marketing must make a big promise.
I was asked to comment on an article on business writing two authors had submitted
for publication. The article's premise was
that, even in our technological era, writing skills are more important
than ever. Here was the reply I gave:
Vicki Kunkel, author of Instant Appeal: The 8 Primal Factors That Create Blockbuster Success,
cites a range of research showing that certain “primal” factors are key to building allegiance. Three are particularly applicable to the growing business:
“What’s the most effective length for a business-to-business sales letter?” a reader asked me the other day. Let me see if I can give some sensible guidelines to answer this common question.
The best way to get ideas for headlines when you are stuck is to keep a swipe file of successful headlines, and consult it for inspiration. Here’s a partial collection of such headlines from my swipe file, organized by category.
Online relationship building takes work. But companies that go the extra mile see benefits ranging
from improved customer loyalty to increased sales. Here are six ways to
get closer to your customers in the virtual world:
After a quarter of a century in business-to-business marketing, I think I’ve finally figured out an accurate, authoritative answer to the question, “What’s the difference between business-to-business marketing and business-to-consumer marketing?”
Here are four promotional copywriting tips, from the authoritative brochure titled
“How Successful Clients, Copywriters, and Designers Work Together,” that owners
and managers of growing businesses should take to heart before
developing a creative direct mail campaign:
Demand for highly skilled administrative professionals will remain steady this year, predicts the 2009 Salary Guides from Robert Half International. While starting salaries for admins are expected to rise 2.6% on average in 2009, employees with specific skills can command even more.
Tests have shown that varying the outer envelope can increase or depress response rates in an A/B split — even if the mailing inside is identical — by 25% to 100% or more. Here are 9 important outer envelope factors to consider...
If you find yourself job hunting, be sure to take time to search for
your values as well as your next job. Stressful work over time can
make you forget what’s important to you — what you want in life. All
of a sudden two or twenty-two years go by, and you’re not doing
satisfying work. View your job elimination in a positive
light. Now you can consider what you would truly enjoy doing in your
next job – and for the rest of your life.
In 1961, Rosser Reeves published his classic book Reality in Advertising in which he introduced the notion of the Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. According to Reeves, there are three requirements for a USP:
Dulzia Burchette, a black former saleswoman for the preppy-glam Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store chain in New York City, is suing the Ohio-based retailer for racial discrimination.
False logic, a term coined by master copywriter Michael Masterson, is copy that manipulates, through skillful writing, existing facts to help readers come to conclusions that those facts, presented without the twists of the copywriter’s pen, might not otherwise support.
Online marketing expert Debbie Weil recently asked me, “How do you know whether an e-zine is successful?” “An e-zine is successful if it achieves its stated marketing objective,” I replied.
In these challenging times, getting good advice from a competent direct mail
marketing production partner is more important than ever. Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager for EU Services, says you should expect these six essential capabilities from a partner:
How well do you really know your customers? Knowing that you are writing to farmers, Information Technology (IT) professionals, or plumbers is just the start. You have to dig deeper.
Emily Morgan works 60 to 70 hours a week and doesn’t even get a steady paycheck. You would think she’d loathe her boss, but you’d be wrong. Morgan is a virtual assistant (VA) and chooses how much work she takes on and how many hours she works. Ever wonder whether a VA career might be right for you?
A carefully selected
and nurtured trademark can be one of your most valuable assets. As a result, trademarks play a
powerful role in a company’s brand-building strategy. Carol Desmond,
president of Trademarks to Go, offers this checklist for selecting a trademark:
The best way to make a decision is to shut off emotional triggers and become a Vulcan, like Mr. Spock, says Baba Shiv, a marketing professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Those of us who make our living with words are naturally disheartened when we hear the various “war cries” of hardcore online users and marketers: “Print is dead” ... The success of James Mustich, Jr. is a refreshing exception to these
claims.
With so many Web sites crowding the Internet, you need to make an extra effort to get noticed. One way is to make your site search-engine-friendly. There are two key steps that can help you do this.
“The old days of treating advertising, interactive, and PR like
separate entities are behind us,” says Scott Severson, president
of Minnesota-based ARAnet. To that end, Severson offers these four tips to improve your niche marketing campaigns:
Some time ago, I wrote a column “10 Marketing Books Actually Worth
Reading,” in which I recommended ten classic direct marketing books. Here are 11 of my favorite selections from the new crop of books on business persuasion:
An analysis of the biggest business failures of the past quarter century, conducted by two consultants, reveals that nearly half of them could have been avoided. In most cases, the culprit was flawed strategy, not inept execution, which usually gets the blame.
“Amateurs may talk about creativity, but professionals insist on structure,” copywriter Martin Chorich recently said to me. In direct marketing, structure is key: if your copy does not follow the formula for persuasion, it won’t work … no matter how creative...
When I write copy, that audience is the prospect. But with SEO copywriting, you are pandering to another “audience” … the search engines … and not the reader. Here, in my opinion, is a much better approach to writing Web copy:
Consumers today are extremely adept at detecting B.S. Conversely, people can sense when a person or organization is being honest and respond positively to that. This suggests the following guidelines for “truth in advertising” … in particular, honesty in direct marketing:
Former customers are another potential source of revenue, but few
businesses stay in touch with those they once served. Best-selling
business author Rhonda Abrams offers these tips to reenergize your relationship with former customers:
Here are a few rules of thumb that can help you select the right format — traditional letter package, self-mailer, or postcard — for your next
mailing:
If you’re breaking into direct email marketing, here are some tips to consider, from the white paper Busting Out of the Inbox: Five New Rules of 1to1 Email Marketing:
Saving your employer time and money is one of the few measurable ways to demonstrate the contribution you make at work. Here’s how Amy Gurren, winner of OfficeTeam’s Administrative Excellence Award, proactively found ways to save her employer some of both.
It’s no secret that direct marketing isn’t what it used to be. Costs are rising, response rates are falling, and it’s tougher today than a decade ago to get long-running controls in the mail. So, what’s wrong with direct marketing?
The use of white papers as a marketing tool has skyrocketed in recent years — not only for selling information technology (IT), but also to promote a wide range of products and services beyond hardware and software.
Is it time to consider a full-scale site redesign? Here are five
signs that it’s time to revamp your site, courtesy of Erin Ferree, a
brand identity and marketing design strategist at elf design:
Loyalty and engagement metrics are leading indicators of what consumers think and, more important, how they are going to behave in the real-world marketplace. Robert Passikoff has examined those key metrics and believes the following four trends will have a direct impact on the success or failure of brand marketing efforts in 2009.
J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, is the richest woman in Britain. Rowling revealed in a recent interview she had written the final chapter to book seven more than 15 years ago, before she had a publisher...
Most Internet marketers I know who use landing pages to make direct sales online focus on conversion: getting the maximum number of visitors to the landing page to place an order for the product being advertised.
In November 2006, at the annual conference of the American Writers and Artists, Inc., search engine optimization (SEO) copywriter Heather Lloyd-Martin shared her methodology for writing Web pages optimized for organic search.
Take this simple test to see whether what you’re telling your people about the economy is way over the top — adapted from “How to Tell If Your CEO Is Clueless.”
There are a number of direct mail marketing trends that bear watching this year, but here are three to
keep in mind, courtesy of Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager at EU Services:
During my nearly a quarter century as a copywriter and marketing consultant, I have observed that business owners and managers fall into one of four categories as far as their competence and skill in marketing is concerned.
Email has become so wildly popular that 75 percent of companies say
they will boost spending on it this year,
according to the consulting firm Eloqua. Why? Simms Jenkins, founder and CEO of BrightWave Marketing, provides the following insight:
When I first got into direct marketing, I took a course in direct mail copywriting with legendary copywriter Milt Pierce at New York University. He explained a phenomenon called RECENCY, part
of a formula called “RFM” — for “recency, frequency, and monetary.”
Studies show that search engine optimization (SEO)
consistently delivers in good times and in bad. Steve Riegel, director of search and
co-founder of the interactive agency Faction Media,
offers these six tips to boost your SEO efforts:
These days, most small businesses rely—either somewhat or heavily—on software applications. According to a new report by PC World magazine, here are 15 of the best free and low-cost software tools for powering any small or midsize business.
Life would be simpler if we all spoke the same language. Not only do many of us speak completely different languages based on culture, but we also speak different languages based on gender. Neither style is better than the other; they’re just different.
Thanks to online chat rooms, forums, and discussion groups, you can now gain a quick understand of the mindset of virtually any market or group of prospects that uses or congregates on the Internet.
It’s common knowledge that “free” is the most powerful word — and the most irresistible offer — in direct marketing. But can you guess the second-most powerful word or phrase — and the second most irresistible offer? It’s “one dollar.”
Internet direct mail typically generates a response rate between 1 and 20 percent. The copy in your e-mail plays a big role in whether your e-marketing message ends up at the bottom or the top of that range. Here are 15 proven techniques...
Even growing businesses that are short on cash and human resources
can leave a positive footprint in their local communities through
cause-related marketing efforts. Here are some things to think about
when considering cause marketing:
As we rapidly gain experience and test results from Internet direct mail, we are learning more every day about what works in this new medium. Here are some techniques that seem to be successful in increasing click-throughs and conversions.
“What works best in e-mail marketing?” I got asked for the umpteenth time the other day. “Long copy or short copy?” It’s a quandary for direct marketers much more so than general marketers. Here’s why:
Applicants can get creative in their job-hunting efforts, especially in a tight job market. Here are some of the more unusual come-ons seen by readers of our HR Specialist Forum.
Jon Wuebben, author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web, offers the following tips to help you harness the power
of cost-effective online niche marketing:
Many marketers believe that offering a “free seminar” to their prospects will boost sagging direct mail response rates and make their company stand out from the crowd. But beware. The free seminar strategy is not as easy as it appears.
Whether you’re a service provider or a retailer, a solidly constructed direct mail sales letter
can work for you over and over
again, for years to come. So says Karen Scharf, an Indianapolis-based
marketing consultant...
Package planning is essential to a successful direct mail marketing campaign.The bottom line, says Michael Fleischner,
author of The Webmaster’s Book of Secrets, is that your offer resonates with your target market. Also, consider the following:
In doing strategic planning for your business, a useful and important exercise is a SWOT analysis. It stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Suppose you had responded to an advertisement from a manufacturer of forged steel valves and requested more information. How would you react to this reply?
While advertising can be pricey, public relations is typically a more
cost-effective option and therefore is key to a brand communication
strategy. To help ensure a profitable PR campaign as part of a
brand-building strategy, Robin Russo, president of Robin Leedy &
Associates, recommends the following:
John Wang, chief marketing officer at HTC, the Taiwanese company that manufactured the first Google phone, and his 60-person team, “Magic Labs,” generate hundreds of ideas daily and kill most of them. Only breakthrough ideas survive. Here’s how to replicate their magic.
Direct mail, in the hands of a knowledgeable pro, can be a powerful promotion that builds an awareness of an event. Here are 10 proven techniques for creating direct mail that works.
I’ve received a ton of unsolicited advice on how to make my Web site better. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of their suggestions are almost totally off the mark … and would be a complete waste of my time and money.
Can you boil your business down to one, two, or three words? You’d
better if you want people to find you through Internet search engines. Here are some tips to consider:
As people increasingly move online to conduct transactions, human
interaction is being replaced by points and clicks. Online customer
relationship
building doesn’t just happen — companies need to go the extra mile.
Here are some ways to put your best virtual foot forward as part of a
relationship marketing strategy:
To succeed in the corporate world, technical types have to learn to live with — even serve — nontechies. This article gives tips to help you get along with — and maybe even learn to like — people, whether the same as us or different.
Carl McAloose, the former Florida Gulf Coast University athletic director, said it only took him “about five seconds” to decide to resign after he heard the university had agreed to settle with Holly Vaughn, former women’s golf coach, and Jaye Flood, former women’s volleyball coach.
The family of Jdimytai Damour, the temporary worker who was trampled to death by shoppers at the Valley Stream, Long Island, Wal-Mart on Black Friday, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company.
In his best-selling book Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy
says what really influences consumers to buy or not to buy is the
content of your advertising, not its form. Exposure isn’t enough. The
determining factor as to whether your ad will be noticed or not is what
you say, and how you say it. Here are some general rules of thumb to
consider when creating an advertisement:
In the vast expanse of the Web, generating sales leads can be a
challenge. But that’s not stopping many organizations from
stepping up their Internet advertising efforts to uncover new
customers. In fact, 94 percent of respondents to a recent survey by
E-consultancy and Clash-Media said that online sales lead generation is
a growth area; that number is up significantly from last year. The report also showed the following:
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs announced this week that he'll take a
leave of absence until the end of June for
health reasons. The news raised serious questions about the company's succession
plan -- and provided a good lesson for your organization ...
If you work with someone of the opposite sex, you’ll have a more productive relationship if you understand how you both process information. Men’s thoughts are compartmentalized, like a waffle. Women, on the other hand, are aware of everything going on in their environment. They have global attention and are all over the plate … think syrup!
Direct mail marketing isn’t just for selling magazine subscriptions,
collectibles, nutritional supplements, or Chia Pets. It’s been used to
market everything from life insurance to lawn care services to
restaurants — even $35 million corporate jets. Here are four direct
mail marketing tips to help your business increase sales and profits:
Today, media
fragmentation from hundreds of cable networks, millions of Web sites,
and emerging delivery channels like the Apple iPhone make it more
difficult to reach the general market. And even if you do reach your
potential customers, they don’t have to listen, and probably won’t.
What’s an intelligent marketer to do? Bolivar J. Bueno and Scott
Jeffrey, managing partners at the Cult Branding Company, offer these tips:
Online advertising is no longer a sideshow of the marketing
industry. Brands rise and fall on marketers’ ability to manage the
virtual space. One of the more promising Internet advertising techniques
is the microsite, a variation on a traditional Web site. While the
mission of a Web site is to provide a wide range of information and
services, a microsite has a more focused mission.
If you are relying on
customers to find you through search engines, it’s important to
understand how people search for information. Recently, two Penn State
University professors analyzed 450,000 Web queries submitted to a
search engine. Here’s what they found:
Yes, customers are watching every penny. But instead of cutting your prices, try fattening your offer with irresistable "extras." Best of all, those extras don't have to cost you a penny!
When it comes to niche marketing,
studies have shown that one in five people who find a Web site through
a search engine spend 60 seconds or less on the site. Some visitors
determine that the content doesn’t suit their needs, but a large
percentage flee because the Web site is confusing or difficult to
navigate. Here are the five biggest irritants:
The true workhorse of creative direct mail marketing is the classic
standard-size No. 10 envelope package. For traditional direct mail
campaigns, include “teaser” copy on the outer envelope, designed to
entice recipients to find out what’s inside the envelope. Here are some
examples of great envelope teasers:
Concerns over identity theft, as well as the flood of surveys people
receive, have made many gun-shy about providing too much personal
information. The challenge is getting closer to your customers without
violating their sense of privacy. Here are four proven ways to use
market research as part of an effective brand building strategy, and make it a win-win for both brand and customer:
The late Tony Athos would sometimes sit on a bench outside the Harvard
Business School and think deep thoughts. Asked what he was doing, he’d
say, “Nothing.” Only later would the business professor offer his
profound insights.
Investing time in a thoughtfully crafted, professionally facilitated
strategy workshop can provide you with some practical and interactive
techniques to reenergize your business, jump-start morale, develop
managers’ strategic communication and thinking skills, and more. To help you realize these many benefits as you develop your 2009
strategic marketing communication plan, Rich Horwath, president of the
Strategic Thinking Institute, offers the following action steps:
These days, smart businesses are leveraging cost-effective guerilla marketing
strategies, including social networking and viral marketing, to market
their products and services to customers and best prospects. All it
takes is a little time, energy, and ingenuity. Consider these five tips
to enhance your guerilla marketing plan:
The IRS has issued final regulations and related guidance governing the disclosure of tax return information by paid tax preparers. They officially take effect for disclosures and the use of return information after Dec. 31, 2008.
As the leader, you need to take your team through uncertain situations by absorbing uncertainty for them. People facing an uncertain future go into “frozen in the headlights” mode: Nothing happens while they wait for more information.
Loyalty and engagement metrics
are leading indicators of what consumers think and, more important, how
they are going to behave — in categories, toward brands, and in the
real-world marketplace — according to Robert Passikoff, Ph.D., founder
and president of Brand Keys.
Having examined these key metrics, Passikoff believes the following
four trends will have a direct impact on the success — or failure — of
brand marketing efforts in 2009:
Willy Sutton was a depression era bank robber. He was wanted for robberies in Miami, New Orleans, and New York. After his capture in 1950, a reporter asked him why he robbed banks. His reply was, “Because that’s where the money is.” Aside from the lack of moral justification, his strategy was sound: go where the money is.
Even in today’s increasingly fast-paced and competitive multimedia
environment, the proven maxims of direct mail marketing remain true,
with some adaptation to present realities. Warren Hunter, chairman and
CEO of DMW, offers his contemporary interpretation of the four most costly mistakes in direct marketing:
Even when the economy hits the skids, it doesn’t mean everyone has stopped buying. People still need products and services; the challenge is attracting them to your doorstep. To help goose your sales before year-end, go back to some of these traditional tactics.
Deborah House, CEO and founder of the Adare Group, a business and
profitability consultancy in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., suggests a
multipronged business development process to meet the challenges of a struggling economy:
Developing a successful publicity campaign as part of an integrated
marketing communications plan is hard work, but the rewards are worth
the effort. Pam Lontos, president of PR/PR, a public relations firm based in Orlando, Fla., offers the following tips to boost brand awareness:
As the economy continues to sink, many owners of growing businesses
are looking for cost-effective, measurable ways to survive and even
thrive. Tough times leave no room for wasted expenses and competing
organizational efforts. Here are four tips for using your web site to help your company weather the economic downturn.
In a perfect world, your email
service provider (ESP) is flexible, responsive to your needs,
knowledgeable about new technology, and cost-effective. If you’re
considering a switch to a new vendor, Elie Ashery, president of
Gold Lasso,recommends these important steps:
While the economy is facing some serious challenges, now is not the
time for owners of growing businesses to develop a recession mind-set.
Hard times call for you to increase some of your outflow, contends John
Assaraf, CEO of OneCoach.
The #1 way to get your pages listed on page one in any search engine is
to have a substantial number of inbound and outbound links. Getting
your site on page #1 in search engines means that your content,
products and brand are being found and explored.
Chiefly, you learn how to make decisions by doing. But you can also learn, says Michael Useem, director of Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management, by approaching people who are good at it, watching how they do it and asking them to reconstruct the process.
For Rich Schott, owner of Chesapeake Bay Sport Fishing in Annapolis, Md., there had to be more effective target advertising techniques
for his charter boat business than the standard still shot of someone
holding a fish. He wanted a way to show the catch in real time and
reach a wide audience, without spending a bundle on Internet
advertising.
Keeping in touch with clients—especially VIPs—requires more than the occasional Hallmark card. That’s why many businesses use custom cards as marketing tools.
The uncertainty of the current economy has everyone a bit nervous,
including your boss. But as a marketing professional, you know your
organization can’t stop reaching out to customers and best prospects. Putting the brakes on sending direct mail promotions isn’t an
option, but mailing smarter is a must. To squeeze the most from every
dollar spent on direct mail marketing, you’ll need an arsenal of
creative direct mail design techniques aimed at lowering your mailing
costs. Here are four to consider:
Find bloggers that have written about your competitors, are interested
in your niche, and give their honest opinions. After you’ve found your
posse, use these 3 steps to get them on your side...
Every action you take positions your brand
and defines your reputation. So how can a growing business proactively
maintain a consistent brand image? Consider these tips:
Only two companies in the state took advantage of the health insurance tax credit introduced under the Indiana Check-Up Plan last year. The plan granted credits of $50 per employee to businesses that provided employee health care coverage for their workers under a Section 125 cafeteria plan ...
Is fear of real or perceived risk keeping your customers from committing?If so, spend some time brainstorming about shared-risk offers that could turn your sale from cold … to gold.
Small, luxurious, boutique hotels offer an ideal setting for a “boutique business meeting,” where attendees feel appreciated and pampered. Is a boutique hotel or inn right for your next off-site meeting?
To help you increase
your sphere of influence and generate sales, consider the following
three tips from Karen Saunders, owner of the design firm MacGraphics
Services
Jim
Nail, chief strategy and marketing officer at TNS Media Intelligence,
says the time is now for all marketers to begin incorporating social
media into their online marketing strategies. He offers these quick
tips to help you tap into one of the hottest consumer marketing trends:
Driving visitors to your Web site — and coaxing them into providing
contact information — is one of the best tactics for generating sales
leads.
However, only 4–8 percent of people who click to a site leave their
personal information, according to Khalid Saleh, president of Invesp
Consulting, a conversion optimization firm in Farmington Hills, Mich.
To boost your lead generation efforts on your site and convert
qualified prospects into customers, consider these four surefire tips:
With traditional forms of advertising becoming increasingly
ineffective for brand-building, content marketing is today’s
competitive advantage for growing businesses. Joe
Pulizzi, coauthor of Get Content. Get Customers, offers these tips for making content marketing part of an effective brand communication strategy:
As more
businesses are discovering, customers are no longer defined by their
birth certificate but by their lifestyle or “lifecycle.” Since lifecycle customers represent a moving target, companies must
be nimble in their pursuit of them. “When lifecycles are no longer
defined exclusively by age, companies will only be as good as their
current ability to keep pace with a constantly morphing consumer,” says
Maddy Dychtwald, author of Cycles: How We Will Live, Work, and Buy.
Generating buzz for an event, be it a
one-day workshop or multi-day conference, doesn’t have to break the
bank. The next time you need to draw an audience, try these penny-wise
promotion tactics:
In a weak economy, it’s especially important to focus your time and
energy on keeping customers and clients fully engaged, and a strategic
communication management plan can help. Here are four tips to consider:
While building a company with a legitimately excellent reputation starts from within,
George Ludwig, president and CEO of GLU Consulting, says it’s important to reinforce your great reputation in the
outside world through an integrated marketing
communication strategy, especially for those customers who aren’t sure
what your company is all about. Here are a few techniques to consider:
In difficult times, the first place to seek answers is within the
sales team. Start at the management level. Begin by asking yourself
these three questions, and then consider the methodology behind them:
By
using a well-coordinated combination of integrated Internet marketing
techniques, some of which cost nothing, you can ensure that your
business pops up when potential buyers search the Web for what you’re selling.
Here are five secrets to developing a powerful integrated online marketing strategy:
How do you use an offline medium such as direct mail to drive
traffic to, and conversions on, your Web site? The key, says Michael
Fleischner, author of The Webmaster’s Book of Secrets,
is to develop a creative direct mail piece, choose the right list, and
create an offer that resonates with your target market. Also, consider
the following:
To
break through in a media-cluttered world, your strategic communications
must be sharp and persuasive, not wordy, confusing, or misdirected.
Here are five surefire ways to improve the effectiveness of your
copywriting in print and online.
FuelNet chief content creator, Ken Beaulieu,
wrote, directed, and starred in a tongue-in-cheek promotional video as
part of a strategic employee communication strategy. The video was so
well received that it has received four
and a half out of a possible five stars from viewers on YouTube. Here’s
the backstory on the making of the video, straight from the director:
Lots of marketers plan viral marketing campaigns, but how many really
end up working? Why are marketers having such a hard time with viral
marketing? Why can't they seem to trigger a word-of-mouth epidemic?
Your personal “brand identity” may be preventing you and your company
from reaching your full potential. So says Brenda Bence, author of How You Are Like Shampoo.
When it comes to Internet advertising, the reasons why some ads are
more effective than others remains something of a mystery. Debra
Harrsch, CEO of Brandwidth Solutions LLC, offers two tips to help
demystify e-advertising and maximize your online marketing investment:
At Toyota, James Farley rapidly became a star in marketing, first selling the Scion, then the Tundra, then Lexus. Farley eventually jumped ship last year, stunning the industry as he left a sure thing at Toyota for the unknown at Ford. Look at Farley’s words for examples of how to talk about a turnaround.
Consumers have greater access to information and more media options than
ever before. In Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control,
author Chris Vollmer of Booz Allen Hamilton reviews the landscape and
finds plenty of reason for optimism. His book describes what the changed landscape means for advertisers of
all sizes:
Even after a decade’s worth of experimentation, online advertising
continues to befuddle many marketers and business owners. To help clear
up the confusion, Joe Plummer, chief research officer of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and coauthor of The Online Advertising Playbook, offers these five tips.
Businesses today are increasingly being called on to understand and
optimize their social impact. Here are some ways to create a culture of corporate citizenship in your company:
Catching undeliverable direct mail
before it leaves your door is one of the easiest and most effective
ways to save on postage and production costs and also help reduce the
negative impact on the environment. As you coordinate your next direct
mail marketing effort, consider these three simple address management
steps, courtesy of Greg Brown, marketing director at Melissa Data.
In uncertain economic times, you need to find new ways to make integrated marketing
work more effectively, get more out of marketing investments, and
measure and account for marketing decisions. The
following three strategies will help you allocate dollars to
better-performing integrated marketing communication programs, which in
turn will carry your company through the economic downturn and beyond.
It’s one thing to excel at what you do, and quite another to get the
word out. Phil Fragasso, a loyalty marketing professional with more
than 25 years in the field, provides some helpful advice in his book Marketing for Rainmakers: 52 Rules of Engagement to Attract and Retain Customers for Life.
Here are some of his
suggestions to improve your customer retention program:
Mobile commerce, once a faint buzz among cell phone users, is making
serious noise. Rueben Braham, associate vice
president of marketing and business development at Comverse, a software provider in Wakefield,
Mass., offers his thoughts on the burgeoning mobile channel.
Opt-in email marketing typically generates a response rate between 1
percent and 20 percent, although some campaigns do better and a few do
worse. Here
are five proven techniques for increasing click-throughs and
conversions:
Creating a winning reputation is easier said than done. Everyone must get in the act: customer service
reps, middle managers, marketing specialists, and more. George Ludwig, author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code, suggests
putting these reputation-builders into practice at your company:
Too many businesses wait until it's too late to establish a security
system for sensitive information and records. Every year hundreds of
businesses fail to survive disasters because they do not have systems
in place to protect and recover damaged or destroyed information.
Statistics show that 40% of businesses that cannot quickly reconstruct
vital records after a disaster fail within one year of the incident.
Geeks are smart, but skeptical, and savvy marketers need to approach
them with the right strategic marketing communication plan, in the
right style. Here are some ways to reach and win over this important
audience.
Seth Godin, author of several best-selling business
books and an advocate for permission-based marketing, says, “In a world where consumers can do whatever they want, you need
to say, ‘I value your attention. I want to borrow your attention and
amaze you enough that you will let me borrow your attention the next
time too.’” Consider
these tips:
Advertising, PR, and branding campaigns with Web capability aren’t cheap. Since strategic brand management
gurus generally charge by the hour, you can save a lot of time and
money by doing much of the hard work beforehand. Here are six tips to
get you started on your brand-building strategy:
You may know the anecdote of 3M’s development of the Post-it note.But
you may not realize that if it hadn’t been for admins, the Post-it may
have died on the inventing table. Here’s the rest of the story.
Although the concept of search engine optimization can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic
techniques you can use to improve your organic search results. Keep the
following in mind when trying to achieve top rankings for your Web site
as part of a niche marketing plan.
Businesses have always understood the value of cultivating lifelong relationships with customers eager to patronize them again and again as their lifestyles change and they need new products or services. Nurturing those same kinds of relationships with employees has just as much value ...
Domestic violence victims who work for Phoenix-based marketing communications firm McMurry Inc. have a place to stay. They get unlimited paid leave and support from their managers, who help check them into a free shelter. If they need lawyers, the company pays for them ...
Unlike multiple-person households, where the focus is often on
getting the most for the money, singles are more apt to splurge — on
themselves. You can market your products and services to singles by focusing on the following key needs.
In Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control,
author Chris Vollmer of Booz Allen Hamilton reviews the technological landscape and
finds plenty of reason for optimism. There’s plenty of
potential for smart players, no matter their size, to reinvent the game
to their advantage. Vollmer points out that the top 100 national
advertisers allocate only 5 percent of their marketing dollars to
online efforts. His book describes what the changed landscape means for
advertisers of all sizes:
Since branding gurus generally charge by the hour, you can save a
lot of time and money by doing much of the hard work yourself. Here are
five tips to get you started.
Done right, online marketing fills your company’s pipeline with better
clients at a fraction of what print-based marketing costs. But are you
doing it right?
Many small businesses eschew establishing operating lines with banks because they dislike the rules, reporting obligations and other perceived inhibitors that may be imposed.
Unfortunately for entrepreneurs, selling can be
terrifying. But when you
make that first big sale, you realize it’s also exhilarating. Here are
a few successful sales techniques to get you started.
Catching undeliverable direct mail before it leaves your door is one
of the easiest and most effective ways to save on postage and
production costs and also help reduce the impact on the environment.
Before your next mailing, follow these three simple address management
steps, courtesy of Greg Brown, marketing director at Melissa Data:
The lack of a comprehensive internal corporate identity
marketing strategy can undercut otherwise successful hiring strategies
and thwart business growth. Make sure your employees know what your
organization stands for and promises, so they can deliver on those
brand promises to customers. Here are some tactics to consider,
courtesy of Bill Lowell, founder and president of Business Development Directives:
Has this rollercoaster economy got your customers holding onto their money tighter than ever? A simple, common-sense marketing approach can calm the ride and help them let go.
A
cost-effective integrated marketing
communications strategy — one that encompasses a variety of media for
different consumer groups — is essential in the current economic climate. Here are four strategies to keep
your business moving forward without busting coffers that may already
be overtaxed:
Allocating dollars to research is
one of the best ways to uncover what your customers want and what they really think about your business. Here are four powerful ways to get the most value from your
next round of customer research.
One of the best ways to market your business is to tap into the customer base of another respected business. This method is sometimes referred to as “host-beneficiary” marketing.
When it comes to improving the value of copywriting
in print or online, a particularly effective strategy is to make a
product or service seem more impressive than it really is. New
Jersey–based copywriting expert Bob Bly, author of Internet Direct Mail: The Complete Guide to Successful E-Mail Marketing Campaigns,
offers a time-tested example: Sea-Monkeys
“Companies today need to focus on the words they are using to
communicate with their prospects, and how they leverage this content to
maximize their online exposure,” says Jon Wuebben, author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web. Wuebben offers these seven proven copywriting tips.
Women have 11% more neurons in their brains for emotion, feelings and communication. So when it comes to communicating at work, women prefer to build rapport and tell a story. Men prefer the headline and to report. How to bridge the gap?
For growing businesses, the key to success is implementing a turnkey neighborhood integrated marketing
communication strategy. It’s not as hard as it seems. Consider
these five tips.
The key to coming out on top is paying close
attention to your customers and best prospects and making them your top
priority as part of any customer acquisition and retention program. Here’s how to go about it.
When you need to send a message to a group of customers, board members
or an entire department, you don’t want your message to become lost in
the hundred other messages they receive that day.
Late summer is a busy season for trade shows and other industry events. When
planning your preshow marketing program, consider these three tips from
Crystal Uppercue, marketing manager of EU Services.
The word “recession,” by itself, has been known to send small business owners into a panic. But worrying is counterproductive. You can’t get anything done when you’re in panic mode.
How many roads can a man walk down? Ben Cohen seems determined to
find out. He’s been a college dropout, teacher of troubled kids,
cofounder and CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, and now president and founder
of the cause-related-marketing organization Business Leaders for
Sensible Priorities.
For more than a decade, the Web Marketing
Association has been evaluating sites as part of its annual WebAward
program. Here are five criteria the association considers in choosing its winners.
Winning a spot on any of the dozens of coveted “best companies” lists can reap your organization a world of positive publicity and boost your reputation among potential recruits. But to win, you need to know how to play the game. Compensation & Benefits asked the experts to share some tips for placing well on the many “best companies to work for” lists ...
Helene Taylor, author of The Modern Woman’s Divorce Guide,
took a hands-on, do-it-yourself approach to using online directories as
an Internet advertising strategy.
There’s no such thing as a completely objective performance evaluation. It’s impossible to totally eliminate manager subjectivity. That can become a legal problem when, for example, a poorly rated employee is promoted over a minority. Increased subjectivity is one of the main reasons employers should consider turning to performance evaluation software ...
A significant number of companies — primarily those
in service industries with a rich history of focusing on and marketing
to men — still miss the boat when it comes to speaking to their female
customers, says Kaira Sturdivant Rouda, author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs.
Spam email, blogging,
instant messaging, television, canned phone messages, and other
electronic methods of mass marketing have desensitized the American
buyer. So says Alan Bayham, president of Bayham Consulting, LLC
More than half of all organizations rely on employee newsletters, special mailings and other printed pieces to increase enrollment in benefits programs, says a new study from the benefits consulting firm Watson Wyatt. Those pieces might not be as effective as you think. What you really need to do is convince employees to make some changes in how they manage their own benefits ...
In life, there is no separation between one’s vocation and one’s
avocation, between our day jobs and the other things we do to remain
inspired. That’s the principle that guides Yvon Chouinard, founder of
the outdoor gear company Patagonia.
You know what revs you up and makes you strong. So what’s stopping you
from discovering and exploiting those strengths? Identify these three
main components:
More companies today understand the
importance of knowing how their customers and prospects view
their organizations. They also realize that customer viewpoints can
change quickly. Here's how to gather customer data as objectively, accurately and quickly as possible ....
A recent survey showed that job seekers will go to bizarre lengths to land a plum position.
Care for a foot massage? Coming right up. How about breakfast every
day? You got it! Surely you've got some stories of your own to add to
the odd-applicant chronicles. What's the weirdest thing you've ever
seen an eager applicant do to win a job? — John Wilcox, HR Specialist editor
Question: A recent survey showed that job seekers will go to bizarre lengths to land a plum position.
Care for a foot massage? Coming right up. How about breakfast every
day? You got it! Surely you've got some stories of your own to add to
the odd-applicant chronicles. What's the weirdest thing you've ever
seen an eager applicant do to win a job? — The HR Specialist editors
The economy’s awful. But I’m about to spend a bundle on a new furnace, toilet and front porch lights. These purchases weren't even on my radar a few days ago. But then a local business had a great marketing idea ...
Every action you take positions your brand and defines your
reputation, whether you intend it to or not. So how can a growing
business proactively maintain a consistent brand identity
both offline and online without hiring experienced brand marketers?
Staying on top
of what motivates discretionary buys, says Pamela N. Danziger, a
leading customer relationship consultant, means getting inside the head
of your fast–moving customer.
When babysitters cancel on parents who work for Redmond Minerals’ corporate office in Heber City, UT, moms and dads tote their preschoolers to work, where the kids have their own playroom. Rather than have employees miss work to take care of their kids when day care closes unexpectedly, Redmond created the playroom eight years ago for a few hundred dollars ...
HR often writes vague and uninspiring mission statements that exclude business goals. Take the following steps to create a mission statement that lays out HR's practical vision for contributing to the company's strategic plans ...
In these tough economic times, making sure the cash keeps flowing into
your business is crucially important. To help you boost your coffers,
this guide outlines 10 inexpensive and effective ways to boost your
sales.
Internet marketing has become de rigueur for generating sales leads and getting new customers. But for that to happen, contends Jon Wuebben, author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web,
you must recession–proof your online content and marketing.
When a great product isn’t selling, the salesperson is probably to
blame, right? Pure myth, says Martyn Lewis, founder, president, and CEO
of Market–Partners and author of the book Sales Wise: A Journey Through Sales and Selling.
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful integrated marketing
communication tools available to any company today, and it doesn’t cost
much to harness the energy of enthusiastic cheerleaders. Here are some
low–cost suggestions for building brand awareness.
When it comes to building
brand equity with customers, Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews
Hotels says, companies must embrace new strategic
communication tools and deliver deeply rewarding experiences.
John Assaraf, CEO of OneCoach and author of The Answer offers these five surefire
ways to recession-proof your business and attract new customers while everyone
else is expecting the worse.
You've heard the saying: If you don’t know where you’re going, how will
you know when you get there? The same holds true in finding a mentor:
If you don’t know why you want one, how will you know whom to ask?
Savvy business people have long focused on customer lifetime value—the gains to had from cultivating lifelong relationships with customers eager to patronize them again and again. Here are three keys to nurturing those same kinds of relationships with employees—and reaping the same kinds of rewards.
Many music fans know Buddy Holly as an early rock-and-roll hero who
died in a plane crash at age 22. Fewer know that he was a rabid
innovator, forming the first band to develop vertical integration in
the music industry by writing, recording, performing and marketing its
own songs.
HR pros have an important role to play in helping their companies weather the economic downturn. Whether sitting in on C-Suite meetings, offering one-on-one counsel to decision-makers or training employees, you need to know about the strategies successful companies use to survive and thrive in tough economic times.
At every level of business, entrepreneurs are bound to make some mistakes. Marketing is no exception. Avoid these nine common marketing mistakes and you'll save energy, disappointment and money.
The green market is exploding.Isn’t it? Or is this a perfect example of a trend
that may be pure gold for some businesses, but that will trap your business
into a marketing disaster? You can spot the difference by answering two questions...
Sadly, most people settle for boring, black-and-white choices. It’s the usual process of inspecting the pros and cons, then picking one. The alternative process—combining both elements of either/or—is called integrative thinking. Here’s basically how it works.
Question: Employers often feel cornered when poor-performing employees take
job-protected FMLA leave. Can you terminate such employees while
they’re out on leave? It often comes down to one question: How well
have you documented the poor performance? …
Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services in Richland will have to defend itself before a trial court against a pregnancy discrimination suit filed by ex-employee Barbara Stager. In court, Stager produced e-mail exchanges between company managers that referred to Stager as “high maintenance” and called her a “princess.” “Let’s see if we can nip this,” a director wrote under the subject line “FMLA.” ...
Question: “Last year I became ill shortly after I was given a new assignment. I
was gone about two months and then returned to work eager to continue
my assigned responsibilities. The day I reported back to work, my new
responsibilities were taken away and I was reassigned to grunt work,
basically "put out to pasture." My title and salary remain the same, so
the company could not be accused of discrimination. I am about four
years from retirement. I like the company, and I don't want to go on
the job market at this point. I have given essential services and
skills to the company for 13 years. No one else in the admin staff has
the particular knowledge or skill set I have. I have offered to train
or coach the others so that they can carry on when I retire, but no one
seems interested. Is there anything I can do to stay as valued and
appreciated as I was before my illness? Or is my only option to write
an admin manual covering the knowledge and skills I would like to pass
on?” — Caroline N. Packard
Here’s a surprisingly common situation that presents what looks like a no-win situation for employers: A worker with a high-pressure job and a heavy workload asks for FMLA and short-term disability leave for various minor health problems. The company approves the leave, expecting the employee back after 12 weeks ...
Question: “I am an Administrative Assistant with more than 15 years’ experience
working for an Assistant VP, an Executive Director, an Engineering
Manager and a Director of Marketing. I was also responsible for their
staff and assisting other departments when needed. Our company has gone
through two buyouts in less than a year and the reorganization leaves
me without a job unless an opening becomes available. I have applied
for two administrative positions over the past nine months. I was not
notified whether or not I was being considered. I’m not getting
responses to résumés sent outside the organization either. My skills
are up-to-date. The rumor is that the new CEO does not want anyone over
a particular age in this company. Unfortunately, I fall in the age
category mentioned. I know this is age discrimination that I cannot
prove, so how do I get noticed and stay marketable?” —Sheilah Trigg
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that sexual harassment cases brought under the Minnesota Human Rights Act should follow the rules laid out for federal Title VII sexual harassment cases. The decision means employers can do precious little to escape liability if a supervisor harasses a subordinate and then takes, or threatens to take, an adverse employment action against that employee ...
Question: “Does anybody offer employees a broad range of fringe benefits beyond
the standard ones most companies offer, especially in light of the
current economy? Our boss can’t really give us raises, but he would
like to offer additional benefits that could be used by all employees.
Is anyone aware of any benefits we could offer, (gas, groceries,
etc)?” — Lyndsey Bell
If a lawsuit involves several employees and Title VII violations, your legal bills could quickly grow. But the law caps damages depending on how many employees an employer had during the year in which the discrimination took place or the year before ...
On a four-hour drive through Nebraska, as hundreds of refrigerated
trucks whizzed eastward, Diane Duren realized that her employer, Union
Pacific Railroad, could grab some of that business.
A state appellate panel has ruled that 15 Spanish workers will be allowed to sue Owens-Illinois, Inc. in New Jersey state court. The case involves asbestos contamination that allegedly occurred aboard U.S. Navy ships docked in Spain ...
Most jobs demand full-time attention. That doesn’t always stop employees from taking second or even third jobs. f you want your full-time employees’ full-time attention, consider adopting a “no moonlighting” policy, plus a clear prohibition against any kind of work for the competition ...
Question: “Our company has a tuition reimbursement program and I've inquired
about taking advantage of that little-used benefit. (I'm currently an
executive secretary with 10-plus years’ experience, and I'm ready to
finally get my degree.) My managers have requested a "marketing
package" to sell them on it. (I work in the corporate executive
offices, and I plan to work toward a BS degree in business
administration.) How should I market myself and what should I include?”
— KNL
While all economic cycles share certain features, they also have unique effects. What’s different for HR in the 2008 downturn versus the last one? Here are three distinctive characteristics of the current economic slump that are affecting your employees—and potentially reshaping your HR programs:
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has directed Advanced Professional Marketing Inc. (APMI), a medical staffing company based in New York City, to pay almost $3 million in back wages to more than 150 H-1B guest workers ...
Question: “I am in charge of rewarding up to 150 employees at our Appreciation
Day BBQ. To receive an award, employees must know the organization’s
Core Values (similar to a mission statement). Any suggestions on how to
test the employees’ knowledge and reward those who know the three Core
Values? How can I bring up the subject in a casual environment, yet
stress the importance of the topic?” — Deb
Question: “What’s your favorite technique for handling telemarketing calls? We
get several every day and it’s very frustrating. It’s bad enough
getting them at home much less at work, too.” — Jeannette Clarke
Scott Savage, a former Ohio State University-Mansfield reference librarian, is suing the university over discrimination he says he suffered because of his Christian beliefs ...
A reader recently inquired about private annuities.Unfortunately, this tax technique is virtually dead in the water. As of Oct.18, 2006, the IRS no longer permits private annuity trusts as a capital gains deferral. Prior arrangements may continue to exist under a “grandfather rule.”
Question: “I would like to explore the possibility of working as a virtual
assistant on a part- time basis. Has anyone had experience with this
type of work? What resources (skills and/or equipment) will I need?” —
Anonymous
Martin guitars have come to symbolize more than just Johnny Cash and
Eric Clapton. They stand for good craftsmanship, quality standards and
the 300 steps it takes to build them.
William Sullivan, senior database administrator for Certegy Check Services of St. Petersburg, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud in connection with the theft of confidential data on more than 8.4 million customers over a five-year period ...
When he became a media darling this year, New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg was clearly testing the waters for a presidential run.
Whatever his future, Bloomberg has decidedly changed the face of both
business and government.
What would you do if an employee came to you saying that your company’s official anti-discrimination policy wasn’t actually keeping discrimination out of the workplace? That’s what happened to CEO Raymond W. Smith of Bell Atlantic.
When is a manager not really a manager? Answer: When the person performs the same duties as rank-and-file workers. That seemingly obvious point is becoming an expensive one at many organizations. Caribou Coffee, for example, is defending its classification of store managers as exempt from overtime. More than 400 store managers say they perform basically the same duties as front-line baristas and are entitled to overtime pay ...
You probably heard about last month’s big $11.6 million sexual harassment verdict against former basketball star and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas. The bad news: Your employees heard about it, too … and it planted a seed in their minds. Will they see your organization’s pockets as the path to a similar windfall? ...
Q. My company is involved in the biotech industry and regularly develops proprietary information. We currently are working with an executive search firm to find a replacement for a high-level marketing executive position. Management wants to manage the risk of disclosure of confidential information. How restrictive may the potential candidate’s noncompete agreement be, given the company’s special needs to protect trade secrets? ...
You’ve probably heard
about this week’s big $11.6 million sexual harassment verdict against
former basketball star and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas. The bad
news: Your employees heard about it, too … and it planted a seed in
their minds ...
It can be frustrating when employees don't rush to take part in optional benefits like financial-planning seminars or even your EAP. Yet when an employee does need help, the availability of your benefits can go a long way toward relieving stress and retaining that employee. Here are seven ways to communicate benefit information more effectively...
When you want to gather thoughts from your staff or some other group, don’t just say, “What do you think?” Rather, hold a more focused feedback session.
You’re the entire HR department and barely have time to keep up with basic daily duties. There’s precious little time to think strategically, develop new initiatives and stay current on HR trends. Plus, you feel professionally isolated because you spend so little time talking to other HR professionals. Here’s one way to come out of the HR wilderness: Find an HR mentor who will offer advice in areas where you need the most help ...
Question: “I’m searching for tips on how to handle co-workers who steal, tweak
and execute others’ ideas and then smile with glee when receiving
recognition for it. How should I handle it? Should I keep my ideas to
myself and only share them with upper management or in a group setting
where I’ll receive the credit?” —Lisa
A sluggish real estate market is putting pressure on some organization's hiring practices. The problem: New employees can't sell their old houses. The solution: Taking a fresh look at relocation policies and assistance.
New York state law provides personal liability for workplace discrimination. Employees who aid and abet their employers in discriminatory acts may be sued personally and can lose their assets. But exactly what acts constitute “aiding and abetting”? ...
When it comes to recruiting and retaining, organizations don’t need to reinvent the wheel or create bold initiatives to attract and keep the best workers. Sometimes, simply doing the tried-and-true things right are all you need ...
Demand for Michigan information technology analysts and engineers will grow faster than any other career for the next five years, according to statistics compiled by the Michigan Works! Association. Here are the state’s 25 hottest jobs, along with projected demand growth rates ...
Many Indiana employers wisely use noncompete agreements to protect their legitimate business interests in their customer base and trade secrets. But will those agreements stand up in court? While some employers have successfully used noncompetes, others don’t believe they’re worth the paper they’re printed on. Depending on how the noncompete is drafted, either can be true ...
Employees who break company rules can be fired for misconduct and aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation. But what if the “misconduct” involves taking a complaint outside the company? If your policy clearly states that complaints should be raised internally first, then you probably won’t have to pay unemployment for employees who are fired because they ignored your rule ...
Your competitors can really help you a lot if you study them
strategically, according to marketing consultant Donald Sexton. How
well can you answer these four questions?
The bad news: You don't earn as much as your male counterparts. And no one wants to hear you ask for a raise. The good news: You can reinforce "Brand You" by writing a personal annual report. Here's a six-question template ...
Say your marketing director breaks his leg at an after-hours employee softball game. Or your sales rep claims she was harassed at an after-work party. Is your organization liable for such off-premises activities? It depends to what degree you "sponsored" those events. Here are four ways to steer clear of liability ...
With the war in Iraq dragging on, some employers’ patience is wearing thin when it comes to managing leaves of absence for National Guard troops and reservists ...
For many small businesses, a mailing list is where their advertising begins and ends. But with mailing costs boosted in May and higher rates forecast ahead, it’s smart to consider a lower-cost (virtually no-cost) alternative: e-mail marketing.
Posing a wacky idea can start a team thinking creatively. When a client
presented advertising genius George Lois with the problem of how to get
people talking about the New York Nets, he suggested giving a jockstrap
to every man, woman and child who attended a game.
Noncompete agreements protect employers should an employee leave and go to work for a competitor. But what happens if there isn’t a noncompetition agreement in place? Does an employer have any remedy against a former employee? ...
New Jersey companies with operations or facilities in foreign countries can find themselves being sued in-state, even if the alleged whistle-blowers work overseas ...
Question: I will be attending a conference next week, and the program says
“business casual.” Should I wear a jacket, or just pants and a blouse? --Anonymous
When Chicago-based Staff Managementwanted to recruit more than 1,000 seasonal workers over the busy December holidays, it lured them by offering a $100,000 cash prize to a lucky employee who had perfect attendance ...
Think sending an employee to a fashion show or a workshop about how to organize her home is an odd use of employee benefit dollars? Employers like Minneapolis-based Landscape Structures and BankCherokee paid for some of their employees to do just such things, and welcomed them back rejuvenated and ready to work ...
It costs the California-based digital marketing company Organic$1 a minute to boost its employees’ productivity. How? Through 20-minute massages that employees can take advantage of at the office ...
Question: “We’re revisiting our health plan, and are looking at when new
employees should be eligible for coverage. Insurance companies we’ve
spoken to say we can sign people up for coverage after the first full
month of employment. A couple of executives think we should let
employees sign up only after they have completed our 90-day
introductory period. The company will be paying half the employees’
premiums. How long should an employee be on the payroll before becoming
eligible for company-paid health insurance?” -- Evey, New York
HR often writes vague and uninspiring mission statements that exclude business goals. Take the following steps to create a mission statement that lays out HR's practical vision for contributing to the company's strategic plans ...
Markdowns are an often-unavoidable part of any business’s product sales
and marketing strategy. After all, if you don’t mark down merchandise that’s
not selling, you’re tying up cash that could otherwise be spent on salable
goods.
The recent sentencing of a Coca-Cola employee who tried to steal (and sell) the secret formula serves as a cautionary tale for your employees about the confidentiality of trade secrets. Here's a five-step strategy for shoring up your trade-secret walls and making sure confidential info stays in-house.
Question: With the ever-rising cost of materials, especially gasoline, the need for
additional income has surfaced as a means of making ends go a bit
farther. As a single mother, I would like to do some work-at-home clerical
jobs to help with the budget. Has anyone had any experience with this
type of employment or do you know of any legitimate organizations that
offer at-home based work? -- Anonymous
If your office remains infected with sneezing, coughing, aching workers who should be at home in bed during flu season, it could be because they're afraid to use their sick leave. HR should encourage employees to use their sick leave when sick. It could actually increase productivity in the long term ...
In recent years, large corporations have begun imposing work force diversity mandates on their suppliers. As a result, midsize organizations that want to win contracts scramble to prove diversity among their staffs ...
You’re driving into work and hear a radio report about a late-night accident caused by an alleged drunk driver. The driver is behind bars. When they say his name, you’re shocked. That’s Bill from marketing! ...
"Your article, ‘Manage your emotions at work,’ really shocked me because of its gender-driven nature and stereotype of women crying when men just get mad. "
Settling on a walkaway point in negotiations seems easy if you’re
working in a stable environment. But what if your options run better or
worse? In turbulent conditions, winning can mean improving your
capacity to observe and respond.
HR Law 101: There are two important reasons you need to protect your company’s trade secrets: (1) You make it less likely that confidential information will be misappropriated. (2) It will be easier for you to seek relief in court if your secrets are stolen ...
Q. Our CEO just implemented a new employee evaluation goal based on their volunteer work throughout the year. The more they volunteer, the higher the points they receive on their review, ultimately increasing their salary. Can we do this without risk? —T.M., Maine
Don't open an employee's' personal mail If you know that a letter or package sent to that person at work is personal (not business related). A recent court ruling shows that you may be opening up a legal mess along with the letter ...
A top-performing employee is diagnosed with depression and now says her medication makes it impossible for her to make it to work on time. Must an employer change her work schedule? A job applicant volunteers that he is intellectually disabled but says he can perform his job with a job coach. Is that a reasonable accommodation? Are you prepared to answer those questions ... and more?
Sun Microsystems’ iWork program is more than telecommuting: it’s flexible working, says Lynn Williamson, openwork marketing manager for the Menlo Park, Calif.-based systems manufacturer ...
During the winter in New York, employees who work at Times Square-based Viacom don’t want to leave their warm building. So, three years ago, the company added a kiosk that lets employees order prescriptions from New York-based pharmacy chain Duane Reade ...
HR Law 101: The EEOC has become proactive in protecting workers from a sexually hostile environment. In 2007 alone, the agency recovered from employers nearly $50 million for victims of harassment ...
HR Law 101: When a new hire comes on board, you must determine whether to classify him or her as exempt or nonexempt under the FLSA. The key consideration: Exempt workers aren’t eligible for overtime pay. Rather, they’re paid for the job they do, not the hours they keep ...
Question: Our
company has job descriptions for several levels of administrative
assistants, but it doesn’t have one specifically for executive
assistants. Typically, the executive assistant position requires a
level of support beyond what the average admin provides. Does anyone
have a really strong job description for an executive admin position? -- Carol
Renetta McCann, CEO of the marketing and advertising giant Starcom
MediaVest Group, warns women to be prepared for isolation and
loneliness when reaching a position of leadership.
With about 10 percent of professors at top U.S. business schools now
hailing from India, a new, Eastern feeling has started wafting through
the American marketplace.
Question: First of all, thanks to everyone on here who takes the time to network in such a great manner!
I'm
an executive assistant without a college degree in Atlanta. I was
home-educated through graduation in 2003 and excelled in my studies,
many of which were on a college level. I’ve read extensively (marketing
and economics textbooks, communications, administrative handbooks, and
so on) and want to take the GED soon.
After I take the GED, I
plan to continue on the path toward an associate's degree, and I really
would appreciate and value any advice. I’m not sure where to go, what
to study, how to pay for it, how to get in, etc. I’ve read SO much
online and in books, but everything is so geared toward high school
students.
I’m also interested in information possibly from
those who were also home-educated and have made the transition or those
who didn’t finish high school but later returned to finish a degree. -- Wanting to learn in Atlanta
It’s a savvy — and growing — marketing tactic: Hold short classes or workshops to draw customers to your business. By providing customers the tools they need to make smart decisions, you can build loyalty and your reputation, and attract new and steady customers to your goods or services.
Question: I work in the office management/HR department. My manager recently told me
that the VP of sales wants me to be part of the sales department to
make outreach calls (while still being part of the OM/HR department). I
appreciate that he sees what I am capable of doing and I would normally
be excited about the opportunity, but here is the situation:
A couple of months ago, I was asked to join the sales department as
a rep for South America and the Caribbean. I decided to take the move
into the sales department and was excited about using my Spanish skills
and learning the other side of the company. I tried it and I learned a
lot, but realized that it wasn’t for me.
During that time, I was supposed to receive a performance review
after three months. Instead, I received a write-up (but not really).
The write-up stemmed from an incident with a co-worker. I did not take
it any further than that incident itself, and it was obvious that the
co-worker discussed it with the manager and the manager took her side
without even discussing the situation with me.
I was furious, but being the person that I am, I kept my mouth shut and decided that I should go elsewhere.
Am I wrong in thinking that the move from administrative assistant
to sales rep should come with an increase? I know for a fact that if
someone were to be hired from the outside, he or she would make a lot
more than I would and that I would never receive such a jump in my
salary because it's an inside move.
Anyway, I was changed from being a rep for South America and the
Caribbean to a rep for the East Coast. Even though the manager knew I
was not ready for such a fast-paced region, she decided to throw me
into the water because she had to take on another role and would not be
in the office for support. It did not work out.
During my job search, an opportunity came up to return to my previous position in the OM/HR department, and here I am.
My current manager understands that I am not comfortable with going
back to sales and why. There is an obvious lack in management skills
and I didn’t receive the raise that I was offered when I took the
position, among other issues. The problem is that she said I should be
a team player and that, traditionally, when one is asked to help, one
shouldn’t say "No."
My current position already requires me to be a team player all the
time and go above and beyond my title to complete the jobs of two
co-workers who are not efficient workers. I told my manager that I
would not take the position without an increase. I'm trying to stand my
ground, but it seems like the VP is making this a mandatory change.
What do I do now?
If your business becomes infected with sneezing, coughing, aching workers who should be at home in bed during flu season, it could be because they’re afraid to use their sick leave. About a third of those surveyed recently by EAP provider ComPsych said that heavy workloads prevent them from taking time off to rest, and 26 percent admitted that it feels “risky” to miss work.
They say that imitation is the best form of flattery. So, improve your company’s productivity by borrowing the practices of the nation’s best small companies.
Question: I am a 30-year employee of a nonprofit health care facility who has worked her
way up in various departments from the Business Office to
Administration.
I recently discovered that my title had changed from Administrative
Secretary to Secretary. (This came to light only because it's my
evaluation month.)
My immediate boss of nine years has always given me very good
ratings on my evaluations, and I have received extra merit increases.
This title change will make a substantial change in my salary.
I'm very disturbed at having my title changed to be the same as
other secretaries within this department. First of all, I do not
perform the same functions; second, my duties incorporate a
higher-level responsibility.
I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions on how to handle this. -- Joyce in Illinois
It happens all the time: One of your best clients or a prospective customer asks for a free product or service. You can either adopt an ironclad, no-freebie policy, or use the request to build business and good will.
Job-title inflation has been around for a long time, but it took off
during the dot-com boom, when companies handed out titles instead of
cash. Now, apparently, we’ve reached the point where “overtitling” has
led to inequities and overcompensation. But beware the solution hit on by Employco, an HR consulting firm and
insurance company in Illinois that decided it had to overhaul its job
titles, down-titling six senior staffers.
Question: I'm wondering how many admin/executive assistants other firms
employ. We have 40 "managers" of different levels, with 3 Executive
Assistants to support them, plus a receptionist. My own position, in
addition to being the assistant to the president, the controller, and
the assistant controller, includes marketing, IT assistance and office
management. I feel that my company needs more admins, but I am having
a difficult time convincing upper management. What is the average
number of admins per manager at your company? Does your company only
have admin support for upper management? -- Cathy
Question: I'm planning to take a course on computer design this fall, but I'm not
sure that's a career path I want to pursue. I love my job now but want
to further my learning. Any suggestions on what kind of coursework
would allow me to explore my passion for art and design but would not
steer me away from the job I love? -- Confused
When he acquired high-end lawn mower manufacturer Snapper in 2002, CEO
Jim Wier’s lowest-priced machine sold for about $350. Because Wal-Mart
also sold six other kinds of mowers for less than $200, Wier decided to
pull the plug on his marketing deal with the giant retailer. But,
feeling that he owed an explanation, Wier headed to Arkansas to meet a
Wal-Mart VP.
If you could reach a pool of 50 million prospective customers each day, you’d jump at the chance, right? Well, about 50 million people visit and use Web logs (blogs) every day. So, what are you waiting for?
If your promotion strategy includes rebates, make sure that they’re legally sound. Reason: Federal and state regulators are increasing the oversight of these incentive strategies and cracking down on misleading deals.
Baby boomers knew Frank Perdue by his advertising slogan: “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.” The guy even looked like a chicken. Frank Perdue really believed his chickens were better than anybody else’s. And he made sure they were.
Question: I recently was put in charge of organizing an event for
the staff that would have us bring in our baby pictures and guess who is in each
picture. I would like to make it fun so everyone will want to participate. Does
anyone have any ideas of what to say on the invitation?
Someone once advised Marcy Blochowiak, head of the Georgia-based financial services marketing firm World Financial Group, that she would have to lead herself before she could lead others. “Leader of one, leader of many,” Blochowiak remembers the rhyme. “If you can’t lead one, you can’t lead any.”
You know that word-of-mouth advertising is the best way to spread the good news about your company. But many small businesses ignore some of the easiest ways to increase the level and intensity of that type of free advertising.
For a while now, General Electric’s top dogs have been studying
companies they admire, like Dell and Toyota, seeing how they do things
and trying to figure out exactly what propels them to the leading edge. The GE group settled on five “growth leadership traits” common to all of those top companies … and copied them, of course.
Take steps now to safeguard your cellphone data and that of your employees. Reason: It’s now easy for unscrupulous data brokers to obtain and sell the name and address connected to a cell-phone number, plus the complete record of outgoing and incoming calls.
Question: It's review/bonus time at my company. I'm the AA to the HR/OM (and everyone else). That's the least of my issues.
I automatically took on the marketing assistant
position and have been doing that work since the beginning of May. I do
it only because it needs to be done, not because I'm learning anything
that has anything to do with my job.
I feel that, because I've automatically taken on
this role (with zero compensation), no one is worried about hiring
someone for the job. How do I get the raise and bonus I deserve? -- Frustrated LD
The most successful business Web sites are those created around the customers’ needs, not the company’s products and services. Here are 10 tips for creating a successful, customer- focused Web site, from Tiffany Shlain, founder of the Webby Awards, which annually honors the top Web sites.
In 1964, the “suits” at NBC thought that, unless its questions were dumbed down, the new daytime TV game show Jeopardy! would die a quick death due to poor ratings. The show was too highbrow to appeal to mass audiences, they said.
Barbara Corcoran overcame poverty and a series of setbacks to become
one of the most powerful real estate brokers in America, heading New
York-based the Corcoran Group. Corcoran says she excels at failure and does her best in a crisis. Examples:
You may have a hefty to-do list, but each item on it should support one
of three—and only three—work priorities that you’ve set, says Chuck
Martin, head of NFI Research.
U.S. business leaders tend to be professional managers with fewer
family and political ties than leaders elsewhere, says one Harvard
business professor who’s studied the issue. Because of this relative
independence from family and politics in business, the research
indicates, Americans use a greater variety of leadership styles. Which one of these describes you?
Question: Anyone doing something special for Bosses Day? Last year, we had a potluck and
put together a game and a slideshow about the bosses, but we're having
trouble coming up with new ideas for this year. (Oct. 16 is Bosses Day,
but we'll celebrate it on either the 14th or the 17th.) -- Evelyn
Question: Recently, the president of our company asked me to buy self-help and
instructional CDs, along with several iPods, the purpose being to download
materials from the CDs to the iPods and distribute them with our marketing
materials to trainees who pay for training at our for-profit institute. I
explained to my direct supervisor, who is the COO, that this may constitute
copyright infringement, and therefore, could be an illegal activity. She
relayed this to the president of our company, who did not seemed concerned and,
in essence, ordered me to copy these materials. My question: If I do not copy
the materials, am I being insubordinate? -- Anonymous
Marketing exec Jeffrey J. Fox doesn’t like the old saying that if you do what you love, success will follow. His view: “Take the job that offers you the most money. If you are in a
corporation, always take the transfer, promotion or assignment that
pays the most.” Sounds mercenary, until you hear Fox’s rationale:
Issue: How to make senior execs view you as a bottom-line contributor, not a "necessary evil" in your organization. Benefit: Gain respect and build evidence for your next pay-raise negotiation. ...
Question: I recently applied for a position as executive assistant. I
was not selected for the position and one of the reasons was that I did not
provide any examples of my work. The person I interviewed with suggested that I
create a portfolio with various samples of my work using different software
programs.
Has anyone ever create such a portfolio? How would I get
started? -- Karyn, Buffalo, N.Y.
Leaders in innovation change the rules of the game, says Karl Ronn, a
vice president at Procter & Gamble. His company’s change in
mind-set led its product developers to try switching from
chemistry-based to physics-based cleaning products. So far, P&G has
used this new stance to hit one home run: the Swiffer. Once you’ve changed the rules, use these three important benchmarks to test your innovations:
Issue: Take control of your department's image by creating a consistent internal marketing message. Benefit: When done well, such branding raises your profile with execs and the rank and file, ...
The hard part of leading a creative team is deflecting ideas that are unrealistic, undeveloped or “not ready for prime time.” Take these critical steps:
When employees return from FMLA leave, they're entitled to their same or equivalent position, pay and working conditions. If you try to place someone in a lower paying or lower-prestige job, ...
Carole Howe’s strengths lie in her imaginative concepts:
tickle-your-fancy ideas that brought shops like Bow Wow Meow, Field
& Stream and Fly Babies into airport concourses. But Howe, founder and president of the specialty retail group that
operates Creative Kidstuff, The Paradies Shops and other successful
airport retail franchises, admits that she isn’t much of a planner.
Among today’s business animals, says Alexi Venneri, marketing and
communications chief at marketing data firm Who’s Calling, you’ve got
to have BALLS. That means you’ve got to be:
About 80 percent of Broadway musicals lose money. Jeffrey B. Seller is trying to change that. The 40-year-old producer of such quirky musicals as Rent and Avenue Q is leading—that is, dragging— Broadway into a new era of ticket pricing based on practices in other industries.
Issue: Forty-four percent of employees are "passive" job-seekers, meaning they might accept a job offer but aren't actively seeking one. Benefit: Knowing how to manipulate the Internet to find such ...
Do you run a business through two or more related companies? These days, it's not unusual for people to own multiple operations. But you could be inadvertently paying more employment tax than required if some of your employees are "shared" by more than one company.
Question: I just returned from a professional conference. I've heard of people
designating certain times as quiet time (or do not disturb time). We discussed
it, and the trainer suggested doing it on a daily basis, if needed. Each
morning, just let your office workers know when you will not be available unless
it is an emergency. I've heard of managers using this. Do any of you admins use
it and, if so, what is your process? -- Jeannette, Rhode Island
Issue: Business and government leaders will unveil a new national job-readiness test next year that you can give entry-level applicants. Benefit: Cut down on bad entry-level hires. Spot high-school grads ...
Starting pay for new grads will remain modest this year, except in certain fields, such as tech and engineering, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) predicts. In a ...
Question: During my early years as an admin, I thought I wanted to be a
legal secretary. I liked the image of the legal profession: the well-tailored
suits, square-cornered briefcases, the idea of being involved in court cases,
etc. So, I trained and finally became a legal secretary.
After four years in the profession, in two different jobs, I
find that it’s not quite what I expected. My work, for the most part, has
involved extensive word processing and back-and-forthing with lawyers. I work at
a high level of risk and exposure: leaving out a paragraph or missing a lawyer’s
correction can lead to disaster. The pressure is extreme.
Now that I’ve worked hard to get here, though, I’m not excited
about redirecting my career once again. What if I make another career
mistake?
Any and all advice is welcome! -- H.P., Tampa, Fla.
Issue: Temporary managers and executives can fill a short-term void and save money in the long run. Benefit: Filling the right positions with interim replacements can enhance your reputation as ...
Issue: U.S. employers lose nearly $60 billion each year due to trade-secret theft, but many still often overlook this risk.
Risk: Your organization can be ruined if competitors gain access ...
Heads up: More employers are heaping legal trouble on themselves by tracking employees' volunteerism ef-forts and, in some cases, using that information (either directly or indirectly) as a prerequisite for promotions ...
Issue: Whether a marketing strategy can, or should, dictate your organization's hiring practice. Risk: Any hiring strategy that appears to discriminate against a protected class is fair game for EEOC ...
In what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) labels a "landmark" settlement, retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is shelling out nearly $50 million to settle three employment discrimination suits ...
A midlevel marketing manager recently flew to London on British Airways. The flight was to land at Heathrow Airport, but a labor dispute on the ground diverted the plane, which circled awhile, then landed at another airport, then sat on the runway, then took off again and landed at Heathrow. The delay chewed up about 90 minutes.
Today, products have to be more than functional and reliable. They’ve got to be exceptional, with style built right in. So says Seth Godin, marketing savant and proponent of the “purple cow”: the product that stands out from the rest.
The hot new game of diversity marketing is old hat for Mike Hanika. His company, Appliance Sales & Service Co. in San Francisco, employs a staff of 17 who speak 16 languages, including Arabic, Lebanese and Armenian.
Keep an open mind in investigations; juries will punish 'kangaroo courts' When investigating a sexual harassment complaint, don't rush to judgment, and don't allow supervisors to sidestep any steps ...
While other hotel companies have floundered since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Marriott has prospered. The reason? Marriott coddles its customers and squeezes its partners.
THE LAW. Today's definition of trade secrets encompasses any information, technical or nontechnical, that your organization has reasonably protected and is valuable enough to give you an actual or potential ...
When Volkswagen launched its Phaeton high-luxury sedan to go head-to-head with $70,000-plus models from Mercedes and BMW, it took one of the biggest risks in the history of automotive marketing.
The Roman god Janus had two sets of eyes so he could look backward and forward at the same time. Leaders need to do the same, making old cash cows while ginning up new ventures.
If you or your staff attend trade shows and conferences this year, apply some extra vigilance over what's revealed to clients and prospects. Reason: Your competitors are watching, and your company's closely held secrets and business plans are the most vulnerable at these events.
Even in the Internet age, consumers still have a love affair with coupons. And now may be a good time to jump into the growing trend of electronically delivered coupons.
Real estate values are scorching hot in many parts of the United States. If you're sitting on some big-time appreciated property, check out the following three strategies for minimizing your tax bill
If you instinctively thought of your three biggest clients, you may be making a mistake that's common among small businesses: focusing on less profitable larger accounts at the expense of smaller, more profitable ones.
If your company wants to sell into the rapidly expanding Hispanic market, include Spanish-language media in your advertising plans. You'll pay cheaper rates for highly targeted ads.
Say your marketing director breaks his leg during an after-hours employee basketball-league game. Who's responsible? Courts are very likely to say your company is.
Like most small business owners, you probably work with a tight advertising budget—if you have one at all. One way to stretch your ad dollars: Use customer testimonials, a powerful and inexpensive form of advertising.
"Web rings" are basically a linked collection of Web sites with a common theme, industry or product business. The idea behind them: Banding together an assortment of smaller merchants or services can help the entire group compete more effectively online and build Web traffic.
In 1807, a young Sen. John Quincy Adams from Massachusetts supported President Jefferson in voting for a national trade embargo against England, a position that hit Adams’ native region—New England—right in the pocketbook.
When deciding whether to use direct mail, e-mail, telephone, catalogs or some other means to market your product or service, remember this key point: The medium that generates the most customer responses doesn't always yield the best return on investment (ROI).
Issue: Is pursuing a graduate degree worth the effort? If so, which one should you pursue? Benefits: An advanced degree can build your HR and business know-how, plus boost career ...
Starting this year, the federal government offers a single Internet portal for small businesses that want to do business with the government. The result: You'll have an easier time registering as a contractor and marketing your goods and services to the government.
Your organization downsized last year, closed its telemarketing center
and hired an outside call center instead. This year, sales slumped 6
percent. Around the water cooler, folks are saying it’s because
“management” fired the experienced phone reps.
When Schering-Plough leaders first thought of marketing Dr. Scholl’s
foot-care products to the Latino-American market, they feared that the
brand name would never play well with Hispanic consumers. They nearly
stopped there.
Issue: In this election year, politics will become a hot topic around the water cooler. Risk: Retaliating against employees for their off-site political activities or comments can run you into ...
Issue: The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) places new privacy requirements on employers. Risk: Smaller businesses must start complying in April. Fines range from $100 per violation ...
Surveys show that more small businesses are using e-mail as a marketing and advertising tool. The obvious reasons: no printing or mailing costs, and customers can click on an embedded Web address and buy instantly.
Last year, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) required companies that sponsor large health care plans (more than $5 million in premiums or claims) to start complying with new privacy rules.
This year, it's your turn. Starting April 14, smaller businesses that fall below the $5 million threshold must comply.
Great résumés are a dime a dozen, particularly in the Internet era. That's why smart business owners use clever interview techniques to smoke out résumé lies and exaggerations.
Issue: Offering membership in a credit union as an employee benefit is now easier than ever. Benefits: Employees gain access to low-cost financial services. And you have a new, no-cost ...
Issue: About a third of all organizations prohibit employees from discussing pay with one another. Risk: Such confidentiality policies likely violate ...
Your organization isn't unionized, so you shouldn't care about the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), right? Wrong! The NLRA applies to all employers, including nonunion ones. And the law's impact ...
Warning: Your former workers just got the OK to blitz your employees at work with e-mails, including those that criticize your employment practices, thanks to a much-anticipated ruling from the California ...
Issue: As outsourcing grows and gains popularity, you need to prove your value to the organization. Benefit: Protect your job and build a reputation as a "big-picture" ...
Issue: Courts may hold your harassment-prevention efforts to a higher standard when young workers are involved. Risk: Big court judgments, ugly PR and damaged morale ...
Unsolicited e-mail ("spam") wastes employee time, slows your network and creates legal liabilities. Here are five resources to help you block it out: Spam calculator, www.cmsconnect.com/ marketing/spamcalc.htm, lets you calculate spam's ...
Don't hesitate to discipline first-time sexual-harassment violators. Even one outrageous comment or act, if severe enough, can make your company liable for fostering ...
Don't leave the hiring and firing process up to your managers. Standardize your practices, and make sure everyone follows them. Giving any worker, especially a disabled one, the bum's rush will ...
Say you find out that your sales manager is dating the marketing director of your biggest competitor. Or that your cashier has a bottle-of-scotch-a-day drinking habit after work. Can you fire ...
A marketing director at one of Covenant Care's nursing facilities attended a meeting of other marketing directors in the company. During the meeting, she joined other directors in a brief discussion ...
Successful branding, or re-branding, requires that key stakeholders
are involved in a democratic process to agree on what the new brand
will be. However, working with every stakeholder throughout the process
is simply impossible. Read this Research Note to learn how you can
achieve consensus on your brand.
Lynn Heaser blamed the air quality in her office at Toro for her health problems, which were diagnosed as everything from allergies to chemical sensitivities. She asked to work from ...
Soon after Kenneth Chenault joined American Express in his early 30s,
he took a job as VP of marketing for the firm’s low-profile merchandise
services unit.
You’re in a bind: You
manage a highego, power-hungry schemer who tramples over peers and alienates
underlings. But he also brings impressive talent to the job and isn’t easy to
replace.
Protecting your company's trade secrets is important for two reasons: You'll make it less likely that confidential information will be misappropriated. It will be easier for you to ...
Jerry Colangelo, owner of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks, runs businesses that employ more than 5,000 people. His employees have ranged from basketball stars such as Charles Barkley to part-timers at ballpark concession stands. We spoke with Colangelo about his management philosophy and the lessons he has learned after 33 years in the business of pro sports.
Q. I’m an administrative assistant at a fast-growing firm. Our office
could benefit by hiring a junior marketer to help our one overworked
salesman. I’m taking marketing classes to improve my skills. How can I
convince management to create this position and promote me into it?
Only the most naive employees still believe that they’ll rise to the top on pure merit. Getting ahead requires a mix of political savvy, street-smart aggressiveness and common sense.
I had lunch the other day with a director of career planning at a
college. She asked, “So what dirty deeds are you most ashamed of? I’d
like to give students the real scoop on becoming a CEO.”
Larry Stupski served as vice chairman of Charles Schwab & Co., a
discount brokerage firm known for its innovative products and service.
Now retired, Stupski is chairman of Jobs for California Graduates, a
nonprofit mentoring program for disadvantaged youth. Stupski is living
proof that it pays to find a wise, insightful guide to help you sharpen
your skills and chart a successful career path.
All of us bring bad habits to the job, even CEOs. But what separates top execs from also-rans is their ability to root out destructive habits and replace them with better ones. If you really want to boost your productivity, then commit to repairing what’s broken.
All of us bring bad habits to the job, even CEOs. But what separates
top execs from also-rans is their ability to root out destructive
habits and replace them with better ones.
Richard H. Jenrette, 69, has an impressive résumé. The retired
chairman, president and CEO of The Equitable Companies also co-founded
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), a large investment banking and
securities firm that remains a Wall Street powerhouse.
To ensure that your message sinks in, you can raise your voice or
repeat yourself. But there are gentler and more effective ways to drill
home an important point to your staff. Try these techniques to enliven your remarks to capture others’ attention:
You probably know that you can benefit from more self-promotion. But then you start listing excuses: I’m shy, I’m modest, I don’t know how, etc. Raleigh Pinskey won’t hear any of it. Her book, 101 Ways to Promote Yourself (Avon Books, New York, 1997) tells how you can improve your name visibility by attracting media attention, leading community outreach efforts and networking with flair.
After more than 30 years as a journalist and broadcast executive,
including serving as president of CBS News, Van Gordon Sauter has
worked with his share of creative people. And he knows how to treat
them.
Ever notice how CEOs seem to have their own vocabulary? They usually
choose their words carefully, selecting the most precise and
sophisticated ways to express themselves.
