Married to Your Messages? - May 09, 2012

When was the last time your business changed its top line marketing messages – that is, your tagline, your unique selling proposition (USP) or other key messages that speak primarily to your benefits – and better differentiate you from competitors? More than a year? You don’t remember when? If so, you’re probably hitched.
 
A small minority of organizations regularly – and productively – tinkers with their messages. But the huge majority accept theirs as givens in spite of rapidly changing markets and their own evolving businesses. The excuses are many: “ours are working fine” (oh really?); “it would show that we’re not “stable" (there is no such thing); “it would cost money (e.g. we’d have to change our cheap business cards); yak, yak, yak. Frankly, though, most businesses are flat out lazy when it comes to keeping their messages up to date -- which directly impacts sales.  
 
A few suggestions:

• Put your brain to work because, truly, this is not easy.
• Get input from knowledgeable sales folks & employees, customers & partners.
• Check out competitors (REALITY CHECK: DO YOU ACTUALLY SAY SOMETHING THAT IS DIFFERENT & LIKE YOUR ANSWER TO: WHY CHOOSE YOU?).
• If you’re lacking marketing expertise in-house or just need a fresh viewpoint, get some good outside marketing help for an unbiased, fresh, expert view. It´s worth the money.
• Fly a few new ideas up the flagpole for several weeks and see how they play (vs. the status quo) on selected website landing pages, emails, and other digital communications (there are a lot of metrics you can analyze). Google Adwords is also a great place to test short messages against one another.
• Then what?
• Implement new messages…if indeed they show promise. Then do it again…and again as needed…but at least annually.

Your marketing messages are critical to selling your stuff, but those words should never be in granite. Don’t get married to them, ever. Here are a couple Ranseen Marketing clients that have recently made some top line message changes. BTW, these businesses (both in wildly competitive spaces) were already doing very well, but we wanted to do even better – and that is happening in 2012:
We Make Tapes & Discs
North Shore Vascular Associates
 
Talk to you next week (but comment on my blog anytime). Also follow my Biz To-Do´s, one for each of the 31 days in May on Twitter, or LinkedIn, or Tumblr

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Shameless Self Promotion & More - May 02, 2012

OK, since most of business is way too serious, I’m going to start a weekly feature in my newsletters: Shameless Self Promotions. And why not shamelessly promote Ranseen Marketing? Here is the first one (just click and play the 30 second video in your player). This is from my most favorite new website: www.fiverr.com where you can buy an amazing array of creatively done stuff, most of it customized…each for only five bucks apiece. Here is a cool cartoon of my dog Zeke (done from a photo) as another example…also, only $5. More on fiverr in another newsletter.

Since it’s the first week for Shameless Self Promos, here a bonus photo (take-off on the great Chick-fil-A ads). Maybe we could even start Shameless Self Promo Contest…across businesses? Lemme know.

Quik Biz Rant

Business people aren’t perfect, and we we’ll all continue to screw up, royally off and on, but the behavior of people conducting business…in my humble opinion, observing it over 3 decades…continues to drift downward. More individuals are behaving badly…doing more of the same lousy things time after time (and I’m not even talking Enron execs or Bernie Madoff antics). Undoubtedly, there is a litany of reasons/excuses for this spiral (and I have my own theory), but I’m not going there in this email.

31 Biz To-Do’s in May

But I am starting a month long crusade to encourage putting a dent in bad business behavior – person by person by person. Each of the 31 days in May, I’ll Tweet and post a new “Biz To-Do” on Facebook, Tumblr  and LinkedIn (don’t worry, I won’t send daily emails). Please note, though, that these are all very new social media pages for Ranseen Marketing – keep visiting to see improvements.

A “Biz To-Do” is simply a behavior that is the right thing to do in business (and actually elsewhere, too) with respect to others: customers, prospects, partners, colleagues, etc. Deep down, we all know these – but a lot of us just don’t put them into practice enough, regularly. Instead, bad business behaviors tend to become contagious (viral) – and worse – acceptable and even expected: “Everyone else does it…so why not me? What’s the big freak’n deal?”

But I have hope that these Biz To-Do’s can go viral, and I’m going to shoot one out daily  to remind each of us to put them into practice – and walk the walk. Person by person by person, hopefully some of these reminders will positively change ourselves, others, and the businesses that we are part of.

Here is the Biz To-Do for May 1, 2012 (and these are will be in no priority order):

Biz To-Do for May 1, 2012 - Return phone calls, emails & other contacts…as promptly as possible…at least to the people you know (obviously excluding spa & unsolicited yak).

Heck, send me (or contact me via a social media site) your Biz To-Do’s ideas and I’ll try to fit several in during May. Thanks!

 

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To evaluate any new Biz relationship – only ONE question is really critical - April 25, 2012

Most businesses & people enter new business relationships, regularly, with other people and companies they do not know very well. There’s always a leap of faith and no guarantees. Certainly some basic fact checking (a lot can be done online, paid services if absolutely necessary, etc…taking some info with a grain of salt) makes sense…along with asking a few folks who have interacted with them in the business world.

Let’s assume that you can procure a short list of individuals -- directly, online or via others, who undoubtedly know a lot more than you do about:

• a potential vendor
• a potential partner
• a potential client
• a potential investor
• a potential job candidate
  
• Other biz person/company

Here’s the ONE question that, personally, I rarely hear asked...and the one you need to ask first:

Do they do what they say they will do?

Or variations:

• Can you always count on them?
• Do you trust them implicitly?

Obviously, no one person/company is ever perfect but you want to hear answers like these:

• “Definitely, time after time”
• “Actually, they do even more; they typically over-deliver.”
• “Yes, and even when they screw up, they always make it right.”
• BTW, if they can’t answer the one question, thank them for their time and move on.

You will probably want them to elaborate more, but if those are the types of answers you get…then those are the people and companies that you want to do business with. You’ll save a lot of time on the front end and end up in better business relationships by asking this one simple question.

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