Tripp Carpenter runs Espenet Furniture (in Bolinas, CA). He has worked with wood since he was six years old. His father, Art Carpenter (the creator of West Coast style of sculptural furniture), passed on his self-taught knowledge to his son. In addition to dreaming up his own functional and artistic woodworking pieces, Tripp continues to produce editions of his father’s famous designs, including the “Wishbone Chair” .
I need to come up with an activity/ event / project …a nationwide campaign for a firm offering housing loans. The last time I did a contest where families were encouraged to submit their ‘dream home ‘ design and winners were rewarded in cash. This time I want something with a twist…and the prize would probably be interest free loan. ( working on it) or maybe furnishing the house for free. Objective if to raise brand /company awareness and increase their customer data base. Help!
The media used would be either press releases or via flyers. Ideally the event should get families involved. Maybe even a contest running through for 3 months? TV is ruled out completely. Radio is an option – it’s not a cheap media but if the campaign is unique – we could push it through.
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Jay’s Answer: Why not a YouTube contest (have entrants create 30sec-1min videos saying why they should win)? Create a video describing the rules, and example or two of types of entries you’re looking for, and an email address for people to submit their videos to (and their contact info)? Have a nationwide voting period to pick the best entry (from among the best you selected).
How can I best attract users to my site (Questionfish.com)? And then they bring friends. And how can I let local business know about my low cost sms coupons?
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Jay’s Answer: Right now your website appears to be trying to do everything for everyone: questions, groups, how-tos, local attractions, and even dating. While you can compete with sites like Craigslist, you need to focus on an underserved niche. Think of it this way – why should someone care about your site? So start with a region and the low cost SMS coupons and target people who are likely to see/use them. Perhaps it’s a college crowd. Young professionals. Kids. Once you’ve focused on the region/market, then contact businesses who are likely to have this demographic as their clients. Since you have a chicken-and-egg problem, you’ll need to get businesses to offer coupons for no cost to them (initially). One you have sufficient coupons, then you can start marketing to your target market to get them to visit your website.
I am planning to start a new company dealing in Architectural, Engineering and interior design contracts for buildings, showrooms etc. Core business would be Electromechanical and interior work contracting but we don’t want to limit our area of activities. We have plans to Diversify into other fields also in future. The company would be based in Dubai.
My friend Moheet is partner in this who is a Mechanical Engineer.
Please suggest a company name and tag line.
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Jay’s Answer: The problem you face is you want a name that describes what you initially plan to do, and also a name that you can grow into. Since the name must embody other fields, it indicates you need an “umbrella” name – a name that is a parent company for a number of other small companies. Umbrella names are by definition generic (for example, Proctor & Gamble). It could be: Dubai Engineering, LLC.
The tagline for each of your business endeavors could be a bit more descriptive: Showroom Contractors (for example). Then, as you branch out, you can change the tagline without changing the umbrella name, or morph it into: Showroom Built: A Dubai Engineeering Company (to show the sub-business ownership).
Our company (Capgemini) is creating Center of Excellence (CoE) for life sciences in Mumbai (India), to demonstrate its capabilities and experience across four key segments – Pharmaceuticals, Bio techs, Medical devices and CROs. Its a European company. The CoE will showcase companies credentials for global customers and highlight its accelerators across the life sciences value chain. Can you suggest some suitable good name for this COE?
I have an existing Paint & Pressure Washing company in the Tampa Bay area. I have recently started using internet marketing for the local area and am need of a tag line for my company. Our name is MPM Painting & Pressure Washing. We started out as a maintenance company which is how we derived the name MPM from Morgan’s Property Maintenance. But because it sounded too much like a lawn service we changed it to MPM. We do both Commercial and Residential service for Painting and Pressure Washing. Could use some help.
Karen Behnke has enjoyed a long and successful entrepreneurial career in the Healthy Lifestyles sector of business. Her consistent goal is to equally marry her passion for helping people enjoy healthier lifestyles with her skill at building financially successful businesses that are mission driven. Karen’s latest endeavor is Juice Beauty, an Organic eco-chic beauty products company.
Melissa Jochim brings a formulator’s profound understanding of science and an organic enthusiast’s passion for purity to her position as Juice Beauty’s Head Formulator. Melissa, with a solid formulations background, first began pioneering products for Avalon Natural Products in 1993. During her decade long tenure at Avalon, she created over 300 different products and developed unparalleled expertise in aromatherapy, chemistry and formulations.
Address: 711 Grand Avenue, Suite 290 / San Rafael, CA / 94901
Phone: (415) 457-4600
When we market to someone, we’re looking for a reaction (ideally, a purchase). Just like when we talk to someone, we want them to listen. When we don’t get the immediate reaction, we feel like we’ve failed.
I recently ran into a teacher of mine who developed ALS. As I started talking with her, not paying attention to the fact that she was wheelchair-bound. It wasn’t until she responded slowly did it occur to me that her communication skills has slowed down dramatically. Her memory was intact, just her ability to talk at a quick rate was affected. I realized that we would have to talk asymmetrically – she could listen, just not participate as fully.
When we create a marketing campaign, we sometimes forget that not everyone chooses to respond when we want them to. Perhaps the advertisement is filed away, or the press release put into a folder on their hard disk for later. When the time is right, when the person is seeking a solution to their problem, do they start looking through their files for ideas.
And that’s when your marketing campaign will pay off. Only if you’re very lucky will your marketing message arrive to the right person, at the right time, with the right offer. Instead, make your minimal goal to have a marketing message that’s valuable enough to be filed away for later. You want your marketing to be top-of-mind when your prospect is actively searching for help, and be seen as a valuable resource that was kept until now.
Subtitled “The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy And Who We Are“, this book attempts to answer the branding question: Why should someone buy my product? People place a value on a product based on how owning it makes them feel/seem. It’s part status and part comfort. This book shows why this isn’t quite correct.
Branding has become a bigger piece of the marketing mix because products themselves are all uniformly good. Early product choices tend to suffer (from poor quality or inefficient production costs) and therefore early choices becomes picking the product that actually works (well). But as goods have evolved, most of the choices for existing product niches are basically equivalent. So companies tried to infuse their products with “meaning” to differentiate themselves. Why own a BMW, a Lexus, a Ferrari, or a Smart Car? They all can get you to where you’re going safely, comfortably, efficiently, and come in a range of colors. So companies have created images of the person who owns their product. Buying the product them is a way to be part of their “brand” community.
(Un)fortunately, people are not sheep. Just because a company projects an image doesn’t mean the community will embrace it. In fact, sometimes the wrong community (think “leading edge trendsetters”) embrace the product for their own purposes. Also, people now get their information from a wealth of choices. Before there were few TV channels and one local newspaper. Now, with hundreds of TV channels and the virtually limitless Internet how can a company use their branding to convince people to buy their product?
The explosion of media choice also has enabled a wealth of small communities to form (critical mass can now be achieved online quickly). These communities may rewrite the branding message to make it appeal to them. There is no longer a single easy demographic to market to – there’s now a more vocal range of smaller communities, all of who may like a product for different reasons.
Murketing is the term that the author has created to describe new way of spreading the message: inserting their branding message in non-obvious ways (instead of a commercial, think product placements or corporate sponsorships of niche events) and giving people a reason to talk about the brand (“word of mouth”). It’s not that people are immune to advertising, it’s just that people don’t want to be sold to – they want to share a common experience. Whether that be outrageous stunts that Red Bull underwrites or enrolling the average person to become a BzzAgent (to become not just a consumer, but a leading edge tester) – it’s trying to get the product message to spread.
The book touches upon many topics and companies from bigger/established companies (Pabst Brewing Company, Apple, Scion, Proctor & Gamble, and Nike) to smaller/newer companies (Etsy, American Apparel, Barking Irons, and The Hundreds). It analyzes why the average consumer really doesn’t care about the “green movement” marketing message (people aren’t looking for ethical products – they are looking for products that appeal to their self-interest).
The book concludes with our internal “secret” dialogue: “Surround yourself only with who you are.” It’s not so much about broadcasting who we are – it’s rather ensuring that we’re in a world that feels comfortable to us.
The marketing equation is simple: convince someone that they’ll be happier if they buy your product or service and you’ll make a sale. Do it often enough, and you’ll be rich. But does buying your offering really equal happiness, or are you selling a pipe dream?
The psychologists have concluded that our brains are wired for wanting and also for happiness. So it would seem logical that when a want is satisfied, then happiness increases. Unfortunately, it isn’t so. Sure, there’s a quick high from achieving the goal, but that doesn’t last, and doesn’t truly increase your happiness. As well described in Eric Weiner’s book The Geography of Bliss, happiness comes from: creativity, community, freedom from failure, and not thinking about if you’re happy.
People deeply know that once their basic needs are satisfied, more things won’t truly make them happy. But if you watch enough media, it’s easy to be swayed to thinking that the latest car, dress, self-help book, CD, or electronic gadget will make you happy, desirable, and a leader.
As a business owner, do you pander to “common wisdom” and try to link your offering with your prospect’s happiness? Or, should you appeal to some lesser emotion and add a dose of logic to build your marketing message?
If your goal is to sell something once, then you’ll be tempted to do what’s easiest, most inexpensive, most common, and “works”. If you goal is to develop a long-term relationship with your customers, then don’t lie to them. You’re not selling happiness. You’re selling solutions to their problems. Happiness is your customer’s responsibility. It’s not sexy, but it does treat people with respect and not simply as business opportunities.
Subtitled “The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy And Who We Are“, this book attempts to answer the branding question: Why should someone buy my product? People place a value on a product based on how owning it makes them feel/seem. It’s part status and part comfort. This book shows why this isn’t quite correct.
