Scott von Eschen spent his early youth in suburbs of Minneapolis and Chicago. His family’s move to Spain when he was eight years old sparked a lifelong love of international adventure and travel. Scott is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Geology, leading him to a two year stint as a geologist for a small oil company in Amarillo, TX. Scott returned to Dartmouth for his MBA and then embarked on a 9 year investment banking odyssey in New York, Tokyo and San Francisco where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions. In 1993, Scott acquired majority ownership in Adventures Cross-Country and became President/CEO.
Our small, B2B company is trying to ramp up its marketing, and we’ve given ourselves the challenge of making marketing headway for an entire month without hiring any outside services or incurring any outside costs at all, using our elbow grease alone. We’re open to both old media efforts and online footwork.
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Jay’s Answer: Before you try to make headway, spend time to figure out your strategy:
What market segment has been your largest customer?
Why have they been buying from you (and not your competitor)?
Who are your competitors now? (things may have changed)
What have your customers biggest feedback/complaints have been?
Once you’ve gotten clear on who you have been selling to, spend time to figure out (i.e., brainstorm) who else (i.e., other niches) would benefit from your offering. Notice that you might have to change the language of your marketing materials to appeal to them. [Cost $0]
Next, look at your website. Does it have analytics installed? If not, add it (Google Analytics is free). It’ll provide invaluable information about who’s visiting your site, what they’re looking for, how they found your site, etc. [Cost $0]. Once you have data, see what other pages you can add to your site to specifically appeal to the market niches you’ve identified (above).
Next, segment your customer list (CRM). Have you tracked who’s purchased from you, why, when, etc.? Segment your list based on purchase habits, region, industry, etc. This will allow you to make a more targeted e/mailing in the future, talking to the segment’s specific needs. This will result in a higher percentage of sales if you’ve done your homework. [Cost $0]
Get current in your industry. It might mean due dillegence on competitors, reading journals/blogs/books. Talk to customers (call your own, etc.) to learn what products/services they need (both before using your offering and after). Learn what they need. Become up-to-date about new technology, innovations, and problems. [Cost $0]
Write articles. If you have some new offerings, observations about the industry, case studies, or cautionary tales, write about it. Submit the articles to well-read journals in your field. Also place the articles on your website, mention it on appropriate blogs, and submit to article banks. [Cost $0]
Liberty Farms Duck
Roasted breast and crisped confit, hazelnuts, summer beans, quinoa
Cart “a Glace”
Ice Cream Sundae, hand ‘churned’ tableside with minus 324º nitrogen, chocolate sauce, almonds, whipped cream, cherries on top
The key to their mouthwatering copy (for me, at least) is in their choice of adjectives: seared, Liberty Farms, compressed, roasted, crisped, and hand churned.
Studies have likewise shown that people prefer exotic names of colors, rather than the tried-and-true simple names (blue, light blue, sky blue, navy blue, etc.). For example, here are names from Dulux Paints: Japanese Maze, Caymen Lagoon, Sultan Spice, Mexican Mosaic, Peppermint Beach, Fragrant Cloud, Shangrila Silk, and African Adventure. It doesn’t matter that the names don’t convey the color group (red/blue/yellow). They are the names you see when you look at the can of paint or the color swatch and they sound so…exotic. And if you use an exotic named paint, you hope your life is now a little more exotic. (Do you think you know what names match the color? Play the Paint Game.)
So in your next marketing copy, take out the thesaurus to find juicy, emotional, and exotic adjectives that will inspire your prospects to take action (and separate yourself from your hum-drum competitors).
It used to be that only big companies could afford to create a marketing message that was highly visible: newspaper ads, direct mail, television, radio, skywriting, sponsorships, etc. But modern technology allows people to create one-offs inexpensively: email blasts, your own ink-jet printer, local digital printing, or even personal 3D fabricators.
These modern fabrications allow you to more easily create guerrilla marketing messages – putting your message in places people would not have previously considered. Initially, this will be fun and innovative. And as more businesses copy the idea, it’ll become annoying unless the message is well-targeted to the proper audience.
If no one else is doing this in your business niche, lead. If others are doing it, do not simply copy their idea. Do something remarkable. For example, donate to a sponsored charity for everyone that comments on your marketing message. Or, if everyone else is filling banners with lots of words, put up a blank banner with a small message (”Talk is cheap. Watch my actions.”).
Asides:
Neil Gershenfeld described this phenomenon in a 2006 TED Talk.
Zazzle.com has a wide variety of products you can customize for do-it-yourself-ers.
If you need a recommendation for professionals who can help create high-quality custom products at an affordable price, contact me.
Marketing is not yet a science, which means that there’s no guarantee that “if you take this action, you’ll get this result”. You may have a lot of anecdotal knowledge and strong hunches on what will get results. However, if you don’t understand how people react to your message, you are likely to be guessing.
The new field of neuromarketing is attempting to understand how people react to marketing messages. While you can segment your lists and split test, you are spending time (and money) trying to tease out what action produces what reaction.
Buy•ology is similar to Predictably Irrational, which attempts to unravel why people react the way they do to marketing message. However, Buy•ology’s premise is by studying the brain (fMRI and EEG) you can understand how a message gets processed (and by extrapolation, what reaction it’s likely to cause).
While the book doesn’t contain any keys for adjusting your own marketing, it does contain a number of fascinating stories about what works (and doesn’t):
Graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking actually increases the desire to smoke.
How product placements that are seamlessly integrated into a show work magnificently.
How “mirror neurons” cause us to unconsciously want to mimic people around us
How subliminal messaging can be used to shift our emotional state
How somatic markers trigger our irrational choices for products
Why sexual imagery doesn’t always sell
What religion can teach us about improving branding (feelings of belonging, clear vision, an enemy, sensory appeal, storytelling, grandeur, symbolism, and mystery)
The San Francisco Bay Area social dance scene wouldn’t be the same without the influence of Cynthia Glinka. Dance coach, choreographer and entertainer, Cynthia brings expertise, skill and enthusiasm for social dance to all ages and a variety of events.
Her success with pre-teens is unmatched through her Manners in Motion® series. Cynthia is founder and creative director of RejuveDance®, promoting social dance as a path to physical, mental and emotional health and wellness. Her various dance programs for all ages have been featured at social and corporate affairs locally and abroad and through private and group lessons. Glinka prepares wedding couples for their “first dance.”
Cynthia has served as choreographer for several Hollywood films, has appeared in national television commercials, documentaries and theatrical productions.
Could you suggest some domain names and website names for a new about to launch Animal Rights NGO in India? I wanted to launch a free website and i want a name that is easy, catchy and genuine. The basic details are given below :
What type of animals are you targeting ?
All those animals which we see around …. for more deeper research and investigations we do plan to move all around but after some time…
Currently we would target some basic animals which are the target of a very cruel and illogical philosophy i.e. SLAUGHTERING in the name of certain religious ceremony here in India. the targeted animals are : BUFFALO, COW and GOATS. Besides these we also plan to work and cure stray and street dogs and cats .
What area of India ?
At present we will focus on our home town GUWAHATI. Its a small city from ASSAM which is a Beautiful state in the North Eastern part of our country India.
What’s the problem the animals are currently facing and what do you hope to do about it ?
The basic problem is the one I mentioned above which is unfortunately growing irrespective of many protests and requests. Its a shame in the name of our culture and people in power practice such ceremonies to gain power and reputation. its a difficult job to overpower these monsters but the initial steps were encouraging … the local mayor, the chief of state police and a few Ministers and bureaucrats have started supporting us… it might be just a new political tool for them to overpower their oppositions but it has definitely helped us a lot … financial and power packed infrastructural support from them in the future would be very helpful to expand our horizons.
Do you already have a name for the NGO ?
No, its just the beginning and thus we just want you to provide us a Title that besides being catchy, easy and genuine …. also sounds universal and doesn’t restrict it to a particular region. Needless to say that the web site and the NGO would have the same name.
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Jay’s Answer: Here are some names for your consideration. Hopefully they’ll inspire your thinking:
I’ve read that in tough economic times, it’s your most loyal customers you should stay close to. But how do you keep these relationships strong, exactly? And why is that seen as the most important target for your selling efforts in a down economy?
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Jay’s Answer: You become a leader.
Instead of keeping your marketing message the same (”We have product X that’s perfect for solving Y”), show people that your offerings actually anticipate their needs. This means that you’ll want to shift your focus from being customer-focused (where you respond to their requests) to being future-focused.
If you’re in business long enough, it’s easy to become customer-focused — just like your competitors. Everyone is showing how they are more customer-focused. That’s a reactive model.
You want to show that your company understands needs that they’re currently unaware of, and in these economic times, give them hope that you can both solve these needs and lead them to a stronger ROI. To project strong leadership, showcase your company’s history (building trust) and show how you’ve led in the past and how you’ll continue to innovate in the future.
As you know, it’s much easier keeping existing clients than acquiring new ones. That’s why you want to keep in touch with your existing clients no matter what the economic situtation is.
As businesses struggle, they are suddenly more interested in new options, vendors, solutions, and information, especially if there’s a clear benefit to them. So besides your loyal customers (who already trust you), re-examine your offerings to see if there are new niches that you can additionally target. Your past successes will help strengthen your message into these areas.
Would Allsort construction be a good and sufficient construction name for a company?
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Jay’s Answer: Names for businesses fall into one of two categories: abstract or concrete names.
Abstract names (such as Nike, Coke, or Apple) don’t tell prospective clients anything about what they do, and instead need to spend time (and money) educating prospects about the name’s meaning. The advantage of abstract names is flexibility (in case the business model should change) and uniqueness.
Concrete names (Joe’s Auto Repair, South China Seas Restaurant, etc.) describe what the business does. As a result, less branding is needed to tell people about the company.
But what is the right name (once you’ve decided on the category)? The answer is the one that appeals to your prospective clients.
Allsort Construction does tell me that you’re in the construction business. But it doesn’t tell me if you specialize in anything. Perhaps “Allsort” means that you’ll do all sorts of construction, and don’t really have a specialty. If so, then Allsort does say that clearly. (Aside: being able to do any sort of job means to the average person that you don’t do any one thing very well – you’re the jack-of-all-trades, but perhaps the master of none. People looking to hire someone first looks to the specialist, the person who does a specific type of work regularly, not just occasionally).
However, is Allsort is good name? I don’t believe it is, but mostly not because of the name but because of your marketing “strategy”. As I tell my clients, a name is one of the last things a business needs. What it needs first is to clearly identify who the target customer is, where they’re located, what problem of theirs do you solve, what makes your solution/offering better than your competition, and why they should trust you. Once you’ve articulated this, then you’re well on your way to creating a name that both is memorable and effective.
I am having problems finding new leads for new customers and have tried flyers and other things any thing to suggest?
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Jay’s Answer: Find local (highly visible) homes that have large side areas. Offer to paint their home for free (or deeply discounted), in exchange for the following: You use the side of their home as a billboard, initially painting your message (perhaps changing weekly), and slowly covering it up as you finish up. A clever message (that changes) could be a great way to get people talking about you.
