Because people are being saturated with marketing messages, your message needs to be on-target but also worth remembering.

To keep your website’s content memorable, incorporate more than text to your site: photos, videos, audio, surveys, widgets, etc. The goal is the different components should “fit” into a larger picture for your marketing strategy’s success.

For example, the free Jingle Generator is an attempt to use interactive media to build extra interest in the company’s offerings. The core idea is to attract small business owners to create a canned jingle (for a radio spot). The experience is fun. Here’s a jingle it generated for Many Good Ideas:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The marketing campaign attracts the target market (small business), but it doesn’t connect the jingle (the piece) with how the company can help improve your business (the big strategy picture).

You don’t just want website traffic. You want traffic that wants to pay for your products or services.

Your website is up and running. It looks great, and you get an email from a website visitor: “I wanted to let you know that your graphics on your site look strange…you might check it out.” How is it possible that your site looks fine to you but wrong to someone else?

You would think that each web browser program (Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) take the same web page information and display it identically. Sadly, you’d be mistaken. Web pages are generally written in (a combination of) HTML, PHP, Flash, or CSS. These are different programming languages that web site designers can use to create a site. While there are standards for how these languages display information, in some cases, the interpretation is open-ended. And there’s the problem.

As a minimum, when you create (or have one created) make sure that the site looks “correct” in the major web browsers. But since each of the web browsers have multiple versions and can run on multiple operating systems, it’s non-trivial to test everything.

Browsershots is a free service that takes your web page code and displays it in a wide variety of web browsers in a simple format. Here’s a snippet from using my home page as an example:

You can click on each of the screen snapshots (and save them to your computer) to see them in detail. However, at a glance you can tell what sites look “off”.

If you have unlimited resources, then make sure your site displays correctly in all the browsers. However, if you have to pick-and-choose, focus on those browsers that are used by the majority of users. These statistics can be found on Wikipedia.

Also, don’t forget to look at your site through the eyes of a search engine “spider”. You want to make sure that in addition to people being able to use your website, that the site is examined by search engines correctly. One such tool is Search Engine Spider Simulator.

Photo by Darwin Bell

One metaphor I use to describe what a marketing strategy is (and how I work) is a small business onion.

Strategy is focused on the very core of your business: “What makes your offering of interest to your prospective customers?”

The core of your business is the answer to the question: WHO are your prospects  and WHY they should care about you. Simply saying, “I want everyone who wants to buy my product/services to know about me” isn’t good enough. You have to be very specific to create the core of your marketing effort.

You build your marketing onion through words (copy) and images (graphics) that both appeal to your targeted market and reinforce your core marketing message. You highlight what makes your business unique, and how you compare with your competition. At all layers in the onion your contact information is prominently featured, to make it easy for people to stop peeling and starting dialoging with you.

The outermost layer of your marketing onion is your business name and tagline. That’s the first thing that people see about your business. If you craft it well, then they want to find out more, peeling away layers of your marketing onion until either they realize they need your offering or deciding that it’s not for them.

A great marketing onion looks great, is juicy, and is easily understood. Extraneous information isn’t added (but is available when people want more details).

If you need to develop your marketing onion (or evaluate what you have), contact me. I’d love to help you develop a strong business model for long-term success.

At a recent conference session I spoke at, an exhibitor came up to me after my presentation and asked a great question: “How can I start a sales conversation with people without being obnoxious?”.

While the conference had an exhibitor hall, the exhibitor was also planning to attend various sessions and wanted some ideas for how to “break the ice”.

My suggestion was to turn their badge into conversation piece. Most conference badges simply have the attendees name, and some brief biographical information (title, company, location). What I suggested was to take some actual colorful parts to their product, and attach them to their badge.

Since everyone else’s badge was “plain”, their badge stood out. And indeed, people started asking about the colorful things on their badge. The ice was broken, naturally.

Notice I didn’t suggest creating a billboard out of the badge (”Have Questions About XYZ? Talk To Me!”). That sort of message doesn’t create a dialog. It creates a response to the message itself (and a potential lost opportunity to dialog). Instead, my suggestion provides people a way to approach you with their curiosity piqued, and for you to begin a sales dialog. You can pre-qualify your potential client based on their needs, and not on your specific product or service.

I received this advertisement in the mail. It begins:

Friends,

Unfortunately GEICO continues to portray Cavemen as inferior and simple-minded in its advertising. For us, it’s been a year of hard work. We took our message of tolerance to the streets, gained national attention in the media by defending our status as equals, and showed how Cavemen are contributing members of society.

However, GEICO stands by its original decision to belittle Cavemen with little regard to how it affects us. In spite of an “apology” and indications that GEICO would cease and desist its public slander of Cavemen, the company continues to use the slogan, “So easy a caveman can do it,” in its advertising…

It was unclear who sent the letter. On the surface, the sender was writing a “political” letter, complaining about the values espoused by the company. Only after reading the small print it became obvious that the letter was in fact sent by the company itself.

The goal of this letter is to build upon the insurance company’s latest advertising imagery and tagline. It’s certainly clever, but misses the goal: getting prospective clients to contact them because they offer best price/service mix.

Here are some suggestions I’d recommend making to this ad:

• Contact information . As a minimum, create a URL for this campaign, which would redirect to the real company.
• Focus on benefit . The direct mail piece was intended to be humorous, but it missed the chance to mention the benefits of this company’s products. This is especially important for people who haven’t seen the advertisements before and are only seeing references to other ads.
• Make it transparent . At the end of the direct mail, show the “punch line”: Who really made this ad? Why they did it. How to contact them. Why the reader should contact them.

Tired of reading articles and books on how to improve your website? Spend a few minutes with these videos. The key point is that not everyone learns the same way. Try different approaches to sharing your information and measure what works best for your target market.

(Note: Poetic Prophet is making great use of his rapping skills to share his knowledge. What’s missing is a link from the video to his website and also a PDF tip sheet reviewing his suggestions.)

The other day I received a most curious email from someone I’ve never met.

“My name is Liz Flowers and my fiance’s name is Scott Bland.  We are a “not your average couple,” looking for a “not so average, ‘think out of the box’ type company” who would like to obtain some great exposure while truly showing pure generosity.

…

We were online securing vendors for our event and ran across a term known at “wedding sponsorship.” We read that a MAJOR Cola company granted a bride to be, $10,000 as long as she would give them publicity and serve their product at the reception!!

With that being said, we are seeking sponsorship gifts and or financial donations going towards both our wedding and honeymoon in exchange for media coverage and targeted publicity.  Here’s how this would work…”

For the sake of argument, I’m going to assume that the couple is really going to get married and that they feel that they are entitled to having strangers underwrite their wedding. From a creative marketing perspective, is what they did good?

Certainly it was creative, since I hadn’t heard much about this before (although, as part of my research, I’ve found many other resources: ABC News and even a business specializing in this). However, is this an effective marketing campaign?

In a word, “no”. To be effective, it needs to clearly target me (or my business) and let me know how this opportunity will help me (other than being on their website, in their wedding program, and maybe incidental PR opportunities). First, why me/my business? The letter wasn’t tailored to me at all - it was a bulk emailing (”a spray and pray”). It puts the burden on me to read the email and figure out if there’s a tie-in worth my time/money.

What the couple should’ve done is identify specifically what services and products they wanted, and focus on vendors that could provide them. Instead of contacting everyone, contact only those that can clearly help them directly and create a win-win proposition. Furthermore, each contact should be directed to the right person in the organization. No doubt if another couple received a major sponsorship, they had a very specific request to the right person with a clear benefit to the sponsor.

This advertisement got my attention, but not in a good way. The image of pliers grabbing a tooth made me immediately turn away. It didn’t get me curious what the ad was about, what was being sold, or who was selling. All I could think about was, "uggh!".

The point of the ad is that every 3 years (or so), when people are shopping for a car, they inwardly groan.The #1 least trusted profession is used car salesman. A new car salesman is not much more trusted. This advertisement is focused on reducing pain (a good thing), but misses its mark.

First, let’s figure out the basic marketing strategy for this car dealership:

For local legal drivers

who need a new car

we have a system

to prevent the hassle of dealerships

unlike other non-trustworthy dealers/salespeople

our offering as transparent and easy as can be

Okay, so how to change the ad? Since the underlying pain is un-trustworthiness, try to make the association to professions that are trustworthy (according to a Harris Poll ): doctors, dentists, or nurses.

Here are some ideas:

• Your Prescription For Pain-Free Car Shopping [key words are: car shopping (who), pain-free, and prescription (association to medical professionals)]
• The New Way To Shop For Your Next Car [key words are: shop/car (who), new way (instead of the old/yucky way)]
• We Feel Your Car Shopping Pain [key words are: car shopping (who), pain, and we feel (emotional connection)]

Also, I would change the graphic from pliers/massage to a salesperson wearing a white coat (embroidered with the logo of the dealership) to further the association.

How much do you know about marketing your small business? Spend a few minutes with this quiz and see how much you know.

1. Does your business need a website?

a. Yes, definitely . A website is needed so people can find you around the world.
b. No . My business is tactile, and doesn’t translate well to an impersonal online experience.
c. Maybe . All my friends tell me I should be online.

2. You should hire an expert to help your business:

a. Write a marketing strategy / business plan
b. Design your marketing materials
c. Create your website
d. Write your advertisement
e. Create your logo

3. Compelling marketing copy is all about “selling the sizzle”.

a. Sure. That’s what works, doesn’t it? Otherwise, it’s boring.
b. Only if you are a huckster. You tell people about the benefits of using your services/products, and people that need it will be interested.

4. Do you need to spend money to make money?

a. Yes, of course. That’s the way the world works.
b. No . A good idea will naturally attract the right people to my business.
c. Maybe . I should be able to bootstrap my business, spending as-I-go (but not all at once).

5. The best way to assure business success is to:

a. Get an MBA. If it works for corporations, it will work for my small business.
b. Hire a business coach. They know how to motivate me to get ahead.
c. Find a mentor. There’s nothing like learning from a wiser person.
d. Read. Business books are a great way to learn new skills.

6. The Small Business Administration (SBA ) / SCORE counselors are for:

a. Cheapskates. They don’t charge for their services.
b. New businesses. They have expertise for startups.
c. Old businesses. They have expertise in brick-and-mortar companies.

7. The best way to attract attention to my website is:

a. Use flashy graphics to grab attention.
b. Write compelling text to make the reader interested.
c. Use SEO techniques to grab the search engine’s attention.

8. The best way to become an expert is to:

a. Say you’re one. If you don’t shout it, who will?
b. Write lots of articles on your expertise. Let people judge for themselves.
c. Comment on others’ articles. Let people see how you give-and-take.
d. Write white papers sharing your strategies. Let people see your big-picture strategy.
e. Read articles, books, blogs. You need to build your wisdom on the shoulders of others.
f. Take classes from other experts. Learn from an expert and get a chance to interact with them.
g. Get an advanced degree. Let others teach you the best practices of the past.

9. Marketing and Advertising mean the same thing.

a. Of course. You’re just telling people to buy stuff from you.
b. Not quite. Advertising (telling people to buy stuff from you) is a type of marketing (focusing on what people want and fulfilling their needs).

10. It’s important that your website and other marketing materials are top-notch.

a. Obviously, yes. If your image isn’t polished, no one will believe you’re great.
b. Not me. Top-notch marketing materials look too “corporate”, and I’m selling something more intimate. Besides, if everyone else’s materials look “corporate”, mine will help me stand out.
c. Maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on what you’re selling. If you’re selling something very expensive, yes. If it’s cheaper, having marketing materials that you can afford to do is better than bankrupting yourself.

11. As a small business owner, I should be able to know how to do everything to run my business.

a. Of course . I can’t trust someone else to care as much as I do.
b. No, I’m not a jack-of-all-trades . It’s better to leave some things to the experts.
c. Yes, but I don’t have to be an expert . I need to know what the process is, but I can get help to complement what I don’t know.

– Answers –

As you will see, there’s no right answer for all businesses. What’s right for your business is what works. However, here’s how I approach these issues with my clients:

1. Does your business need a website? Most businesses do benefit, but they’re not necessarily where everyone looks first to find you. Look at it this way, can it hurt to have a one-page website?

2. You should hire an expert to help your business. If you’re just starting out, having expertise is a shortcut for saving you time, money, and aggravation. If you don’t have the funds for hiring an expert, then you’ll need to do-it-yourself until you can get others to help. Doing it initially yourself (and seeing the results) will also give you a better appreciation for the various specialists that can help you.

3. Compelling marketing copy is all about “selling the sizzle”. Traditionally, “male-oriented” copy is about sizzle while “female-oriented” copy is about emotional benefits. As sizzle has become overused, selling emotional benefits becomes more important.

4. Do you need to spend money to make money? If you have lots of time, then you can use your time to make money. If you have lots of money (but not a lot of time), then you’ll need to spend money to make money.

5. The best way to assure business success is to. .. There are no guarantees for business success. However, having someone who’s “been there, done that” can be a huge boost. However, if you’re trying to break the established rules, having a “voice of reason” can become a headache (that you may wish you listened to).

6. The Small Business Administration (SBA ) / SCORE counselors are for anyone who wants help 1 on 1 from experts. The US Government wisely invests in these organizations, since a successful business pays more taxes. If you need expertise, talk to them. If you don’t like their services, find other offerings.

7. The best way to attract attention to my website is (b & c). Flashy graphics are often used poorly by site designers. Keep it simple, clean, and compelling.

8. The best way to become an expert is to …be patient. Anyone can say they’re an expert, but the next question will be, “Oh yeah? Prove it!”. Have a volume of quality work speak for you.

9. Marketing and Advertising mean the same thing . (b = Not Quite)

10. It’s important that your website and other marketing materials are top-notch . (c = Maybe yes, maybe no). A top-notch first impression is wonderful, but isn’t always realistic. What is important is that your materials are improving, better targeting your prospects’ needs.

11. As a small business owner, I should be able to know how to do everything to run my business . (c = Yes, but I don’t have to be an expert). Ultimately, it’s your business, so you’re the decision maker. The more you understand about how a business operates, the better the business owner you’ll become.

Orkin Insect Zoo (!) Sign at Smithsonian Museum

I’ve been noticing a growing trend of restaurant dining inconsistencies. For example, the Station House Cafe makes a point to talk about how much it supports the local economy, uses the freshest organic ingredients, and is environmentally friendly:

“We subscribe to sustainable agricultural practices and use premium ingredients, including local fish and meats and organic vegetables from our own garden.

Our beef, pork and lamb are from Niman Ranch and raised on chemical-free pastures, without hormones or antibiotics. Our chicken is fresh, free-range “Rocky” birds raised in neighboring Petaluma, also without hormones or antibiotics…”

So, when I was sitting at my table at the restaurant waiting for my meal, I noticed the condiments: salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard, etc. They were all from a generic restaurant supplier. Why wasn’t the salt “sea salt”? Why wasn’t ketchup made from local organic tomatoes? Why was the packaging in plastic bottles? Given their concern for sustainability, why weren’t the napkins and to-go containers made with recycled paper or the plastic to-go utensils made from compostable/recycled usual plastic?

When your business takes the effort to stress certain values, you’re saying how important this value is to you and educating others why they should care about it. People who don’t know care about the values (they just want your product or service) might be open to learning something new. People who care about these values will be curious to see if you’re self-consistent: Are you walking your talk? If not, your message will be diminished. Make sure that your business values are carried through consistently.