DE CE M BE R 2012
W elcom e Welcome to the December Edition of the Smart BOMB About The Smart BOMB: Publisher Maxiom Group Pty Ltd 2/710 Collins Street Docklands Vic 3008 www.maxiom.com.au Editor Jo Poland Digital Magazine Created By Maxiom Digital www.maxiomdigital.com Advertising Enquiries 1300 855 696 (within Australia) + 613 8199 3486 (International) advertising@maxiom.com.au
Written by some of the world’s most exciting marketing minds, the Smart BOMB focuses on cutting edge marketing strategies that business owners can implement in their business today! The Smart BOMB is a great resource as it provides guidance for business owners to develop ideas and concepts from their peers and leading edge entrepreneurs and organisations. Boasting exceptionally high quality information, tips and advice, every issue is packed with unparalleled levels of value added content including videos and webinars. Best of all, it’s completely free and open to everyone!
Editorial, Media Releases & Article Submission magazine@maxiom.com.au
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Contributors For This Issue:
A Message From Tom Poland Hi there and a very warm welcome to the December issue of the Smart BOMB.
Tony Falkenstein James Hourigan Scot McKee Ron Carroll
Business-wise we’re now on the home straight to Christmas which gives almost all business owners ample reasons to create block buster end-of-year marketing campaigns. People may hate to be sold but my oh my, do they love to buy! And in this issue you’ll find a wealth of promotional ideas, strategies and principles so you can promote your products or services before, during and after the festive season. I find that many business owners enjoy to unwind after Christmas and then, with their mind feeling clearer and fresher, begin to plan the upcoming year. If that sounds like you then be sure and check out some of our sponsors offers such as the free marketing plan course and others that feature throughout this Magazine.
Ivan Misner Naomi Simson Ian Altman Rachel Henke Terry Dean Jessica Swanson Gene Stark Richard Petrie Corrinne Armour Geoff Vautier Georgina Lester Emily Cressey Troy White Sarah Bradley
A special thanks to 80-20 Center’s team members Jo Poland and Candice Garcia for their world class editorial and Wordpress publishing skills. Strategically yours, Tom Poland - Founder and MD www.8020Center.com
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What’s in this month’s Magazine? Regular Features Page 3:
A Quick Word With Tom Poland
Page 17:
Bargains4Business Deals of the Month
Profiles Page 46:
Naomi Simson - BedBalloon
Page 76:
James Hourigan - Search Me SEO
Special Features Page 6:
Future Manufacturing Needs to Focus on Consumer Needs and New Technology
Page 10:
13 Trends for 2013
Page 14:
A Quick Kiss or a Long Term Relationship
Page 16:
Seven Sins if Time Management - How Guilty Are You?
Page 18:
How to Convince Your Management About Social Media? Don’t Talk About it.
Page 22:
Humor in Brand Marketing - Silly or Effective?
Page 26:
The Easy Way to Boost Sales by 163%
Page 30:
Deodorant Isn’t the Only Thing Preventing an Introduction
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SEPTEMBER 2012
Why Outsourcing has Become the key to Business Success
Special Features Page 32:
Does My Virtual Bottom Look Big in
Page 36:
Your Boring - Your Brand Doesn’t Have to Be
Page 38:
What New Marketing Systems Could Double Your Sales?
Page 40:
We vs Me
Page 44:
J is For “Just Do It”
Page 50:
Seven Tips For marketing Your Small Business on YouTube
Page 52:
Show Me the Money
Page 56:
Second Best Free Keyword Tool
Page 58:
Getting Customers to Spend More at Little Cost to You
Page 60:
Is Happiness at Work a “Dirty” Word?
Page 62:
How to Stay Relevant in Your Online Niche
Page 64:
Cut Costs, Improve Efficiencies - Convert From Face to Face Sales Reps
Page 66:
What Does Engagement With Customers Really Mean
Page 72:
Linkedin - The Greatest Personal Branding, Publicity and Sales Tool for B2B Markets
Page 78:
Who is Stopping You Making More Money - Could it be You?
Page 80:
Family Obligations and Networking: Men vs Women
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FUTURE MANUFACTURING NEEDS TO FOCUS ON CONSUMER NEEDS AND NEW TECHNOLOGY. By Gene Stark
Manufacturers need to focus on factors they can control. Manufacturing as an industry will keep getting more automated and employment will keep decreasing. It's inevitable. Finding and marketing to well defined niche markets, together with innovation, will be the key to the well-being of the industry In one word - MARKETING - the changing needs in the market place! Mass Marketing & Traditional Advertising as a real science were born after WWII, to make the ‘masses’ aware of all the wonderful new products being produced by mass production, which was beginning to come out of its teenage years of the 1920’s. Rather than complaining about the things manufacturers cannot control, they need to start taking marketing seriously, to
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remain competitive and relevant, whilst ignoring statistics and market data that add absolutely no value. Here are some future trends that cannot be ignored! Here’s a typical headline from the last few months, and there is no doubt that as sad as it may be these sorts of headlines have become, and will continue to become, the staple of the business pages here in Australia and globally! “Manufacturing needs more than promises.” An opinion piece
from February 10, 2012 in The Age argues that Australia must keep the skills to sustain economic diversity. The article makes the following points: ● ALMOST 1 million Australians work in manufacturing, compared with 135,000 in mining. ● Only retailing employs more people than manufacturing. ● Decline in the manufacturing sector has accelerated in the past
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three years, with more than 100,000 jobs lost. Neither the government nor the opposition has given any indication that they see the crisis in manufacturing as more than an opportunity to lash each other. But is this really a problem and is it the real problem? Here are 2 great articles that examine the future of manufacturing and the changes this will bring to the workforce and the economy. They are great because they focus on the future instead of the past and they provide ideas on how to best survive in this time of change! www.theage.com.au/opinion/polit ics/manufactured-crisis20120428-1xro9.html and www.economist.com/node/2155 3017 In summary the future is not bleak, but: ● the government and the industry (employers and employees) need to let go of nostalgia.
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● “…we still need to MAKE things but the number of people employed to do so will keep decreasing and this is called productivity. Even in China manufacturing jobs are in decline!” ● “…the manufacturing successes in Australia come from niche manufacturers in areas that require high skills and high precision.” Niche is the operative word here. Differentiation through your product offering and marketing communication (branding - how your customers and prospects perceive your offering) are the order of the day. ● “…service industries are more diverse and less tangible. But productive work is productive work. What should it matter if we make a dollar’s worth of tractors or code a dollar’s worth of websites?”
Smart manufacturers have realised that the greatest value is in new product ideas, products that solve problems in new and cost effective or convenient ways. They have realised that design and marketing of these products is what actually makes money. And the one thing that cannot be replicated quickly and easily is the relationship that you build with your customers. The rest can and will be copied and patents are unlikely to help you for long. To illustrate the point here’s another quote. “Factories used to move to low-wage countries to curb labour costs. But labour costs are growing less and less important: A $499 first-generation iPad included only about $33 of manufacturing labour, of which the final assembly in China accounted for just $8.” Guess where the other costs went?
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Design, Marketing, Distribution... ● “Offshore production is increasingly moving back to rich countries not because Chinese wages are rising, but because companies now want to be closer to their customers so that they can respond more quickly to changes in demand. And some products are so sophisticated that it helps to have the people who design them and the people who make them in the same place.” ● “The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and more urban. Now a third revolution is under way. Manufacturing is going digital. The applications of 3D printing are especially mind-boggling. Already, hearing aids and hightech parts of military jets are being printed in customized shapes. The geography of supply chains will change.”
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● “The lines between
manufacturing and services are blurring. Rolls-Royce no longer sells jet engines; it sells the hours that each engine is actually thrusting an aeroplane through the sky.” ● “Like all revolutions, this one will be disruptive. Digital technology has already rocked the media and retailing industries, just as cotton mills crushed hand looms and the Model T put farriers out of work.” The question is - are you manufacturing your future by listening to the market?
Gene Stark Gene Stark is the co-founder of The Marketing Network, an SME Branding & Marketing Agency that brings together every marketing discipline, providing convenient and affordable solutions for their clients - professional services and B2B firms that need to find, attract and retain customers. email: gene.stark@themarketing network.com.au LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/ In/genestark Twitter: @starkreality4u Website: www.themarketing network.com.au
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13 TRENDS FOR 2013 By Morris Miselowski
In 2013 we will see an Australian election that is bound to slow business down and the economy for a couple of months. We will see Europe and America continue to build a new normal around their economy’s and future as they continue to grapple with the legacies of the past. New Zealand has it’s own decisions to make independent of international circumstances or influence. We will see a year where innovation will become the buzzword as we move out of a relatively deep cycle of global negativity and doom and gloom to one where we see possibility and renewed hope.
We know all this stuff is out of there and most probably could be useful, but how do you begin to make sense of it all. Welcome to the next frontier and the next set of tech billionaires.
The rush is on for data gold and we will see a slew of one stop digital solutions that offer to make sense of all of your fractured information and turns it into one screen profitable My 13 trends for 2013 to look out wisdom. for include: 2. Mobile everything – this may 1. Big Data – The answers we sound old and ordinary, but the seek have got to be hidden first mass used smart phone was somewhere amongst all this data only 5 years ago and the shift to that’s we’re drowning in. Internal this becoming our default records, online information, personal assistant and digital social media chatter, third-party best friend has been quick and providers, and the list of taken for granted. As we information sources go on. continue to take great big gulps 2013 is only days away and it’s already set to be crammed with innovation, gadgets, new thinking and challenges..
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of digital oxygen from our devices, our addiction will only continue. In this post iPhone era, where our desire for mobile gadgets will be far less brand dependent and more about features and cool and Apple, as cool as it is and was, will start to lose its’ cool. 3. Appy Days – an industry that hardly existed 5 years ago is now mainstream, a viable career choice set to turn over $12 billion next year. It has quickly moved beyond from just being about angry birds and games, to having a serious business side, with these little digital front doors keys poised to be the death knell of traditional websites.
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4. Bring It All Together – we want everything now and in one place and that’s exactly what we’re going to get. Much of next year’s innovation will take lots of seemingly disconnected bits and pieces from lots of different places and put them together into one easy to use and purposeful space. The travel app that gives you a true door to door experience, booking you a taxi from home; let’s you know if the plane is on time; checks you in; informs the hotel how far away you are and checks you into the hotel, and guides you to your room when you get there and opens the door for you.
Every great sci-fi movie has this as a basic staple and now it’s going to become common in an office and living room near you. Mobile devices, ATM’s, cars, homes, TV’s and even fridges will know your face and let you in. Want to change channels on the TV, don’t reach for the remote, just swipe your hand in mid-air.
and talents, but also disbanding and moving on, or having multiple co creative experiences.
9. Chameleon Computers – BYOD aka Bring Your Own Device – one screen multiple uses in multiple places. It’s a work computer by day, a play computer by night and a friend in your handbag when you’re out 7. Goggles – 2013 will see the and about. No it’s not 3 separate start of a new evolution in devices, it’s just the one device personal viewing displays built-in you carry with you everywhere to ordinary looking spectacles. you go and this is newest fad in Google and other developers all businesses providing computer have versions of the heads up hardware to their employees. displays buried in glasses due for release in 2013 and although 10. 3D Printers – need a it will take a while for them to replacement part for your tractor, 5. NFC – Near Field come down in price and become but can’t get it delivered for two mainstream they will find a Communication, or a technical weeks. No problem, print one out thingy that casts a virtual net from market. of your very own 3D printer. This your mobile device to digitally love child of Star trek’s “Beam connect you to your surroundings. 8. Co Creation – stop doing it me up scotty” and your old fax This one has been in the wings on your own. There has been a machine, is the next big industry for quite a while and we came fundamental shift in management and will bring with it a close to a launch in 2012, but style and business separations in fundamental shift in the way we 2013 is make or break time for it. the last decade. manufacture, buy, deliver and innovate. 6. It’s not rude to point / I One where collaboration and co creation have overtaken control. know that face – mouse and Business of all sizes are keyboard – they’re so last synergistically coming together to century. 2013 is the year of the achieve common goals and gesture, face recognition and ambitions, sharing resources voice.
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11. Head in the clouds – Our insatiable hunger for 24/7 access to all of our information regardless of where and when we are, has now found a new savior in the heavens.
Fashion, food and fun will also receive new twists on old themes as they make their comeback, yet again.
13. IP and Patents are becoming obsolete – First Cloud servers are becoming our person to market advantage has preferred and trusted digital never been more important than storage locker as we move from it will become. just storing our emails there to trusting it with our digital lives. With the world-changing so quickly and innovative ideas 12. Out with the new and in abounding the timing involved in with the old (in a new way) – legally locking down ideas, everything old is new again. In innovations and inventions is this world of ever-changing becoming less practical and “things” we are turning to the advise from top legal minds past, with a great big dollop of seems to be protect your nostalgia, to reinvent what we’ve innovation as much as possible, already had. but don’t let it stop you being first to market. Expect social media to become ordinary. For Facebook, Twitter and other conversations to become less “full on” and for us to become terribly blasé about all of this. New digital possibilities, apps and businesses will rise to refresh and update traditional offerings.
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Morris Miselowski Business Futurist | Keynote Presenter | Strategic Advisor The highly-regarded principal and founder of Success through Focus since 1981, each day, he consults with business leaders around the globe, helping to shape their businesses so they can be first to take profitable advantage of tomorrow’s business opportunities. Morris foresees an unlimited future for those companies which take the time to prepare and strategize for the future NOW. Blog: BusinessFuturist.me Website: BusinessFuturist.com FaceBook:
FaceBook.com/BusinessFuturi st
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A QUICK KISS OR A LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP? By Georgina Lester
Why is the “Lifetime Value” of your customers so important? Get to the number crunching proof – what is one customer really worth to you? Reevaluate, review and regularly revise your long sales strategy There are lots of “Tarts” on social media these days, perhaps more than there are “Vicars”. I don't just mean ones at fancy dress parties, I mean the many thousands of people broadcasting their messages, pimping their wares to all and sundry without a care about who or what is listening. Sad thing is that they don't seem to realise that shouting BUY ME, like some fish market trader is not particularly attractive. The more charming “Hellos” inviting us to engage as real peopleare just so much more appealing.
The question is – what are you looking for? Are you grabbing every sale from every corner, not bothering about seeing that person ever again? Or do you want to have a sustainable business that has steady growth and a long term future? I would bet that it is the latter – in an ideal world, even if we don't quite believe that it is possible.
single time that they need what you offer? What if a one time sale is guaranteed to lead to an ongoing relationship? If that was possible then we would have to think about how much that first sale would potentially be worth?
Taking the longer term view, then, it perhaps makes a bit more sense to pay attention to the way in which we make that Why is the “Lifetime Value” of first sale happen. But why is it so your customers so important? important? The energy required to keep converting new clients is often Once a customer has bought from you, then ask yourself why much more costly than selling to Customers are expecting so someone who has already on earth why would they come much more, so broadcasters are back? Unless you have an bought and loved what you offer. being put in the same dungeon exceptionally good reason for as the spammers and there is them to return, then that one time They have been converted to little chance of them seeing light sale will never ever happen your particular flavour and style of day even if they are on best already and provided that they again. Boy – what a missed behaviour. So it pays to get it have a good experience then it opportunity! right first time. will surely be a cinch to convince But what if you were able to get them to hand over their money them to come back to you every again?
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Get to the number crunching proof – what is one customer really worth to you?
What if you were able to keep that customer buying for more than a year, maybe five or even ten years or more? How much does that bring to you and your Doing a bit of work on the business? Is it enough to make it numbers can be very enlightening. When was the last worthwhile to keep looking after time you asked these questions? them? I would say that in most cases the answer is a very big fat yes! ● How many customers have ever bought from Reevaluate, review and you? regularly revise your long term sales strategy ● How many of your customers are new? This is an evolving process and ● How many customers buy you can never stop improving the way in which you attract from you each year? customers and gain their loyalty, ● How much do they spend especially if you care about your long term relationships. So think each time they buy from about how much it is worth you? getting to know your prospects, making their first sale a brilliant ● How many times a year experience and get creative do they buy – is it just about how you can add value at once or do they keep every step. Do the numbers and coming back for more? work out how you can keep your From this you can work out what customers coming back for more and more and more! the annual average value is for your customers and work out how many you need to get to have the Next month it's a bit of courtship and romance …. where I ask turnover you want. about first dates and marriage vows.
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Georgina was brought up with ‘business in her blood’, spending many years in the family luxury fashion and textiles business www.charles-patricia-lester.co.uk In her 30 plus years in business, Georgina has gained hands on experience offering insight and understanding as well as the opportunity for lots of ‘mistakes’ that have ‘shown her a thing or two’. With a passion for our new superconnected world she is fascinated by the power of attention and how traditional marketing is being superseded by valuable relationships that help develop authentic and sustainable business growth. Life is an adventure and so is business!
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SEVEN SINS OF TIME MANAGEMENT – HOW GUILTY ARE YOU? By Corrinne Armour
Feel like life is speeding up? Multiple communication channels demanding immediate responses? Effective use of your time is critical to your leadership success. Considering the ‘7 sins of time management’ is a good starting point for developing your Time Management muscle. Feel like life’s speeding up? Greater expectations? Multiple communication channels demanding immediate responses?
1. Allowing ‘busy’ to become
your identity. If someone asks ‘How are you?’ and your standard response is ‘busy’, you might be guilty of this one! You are more than the sum of what you do.
Right now, one week’s worth of New York Times is estimated to contain more information than a person was likely to come across 2. Thinking you just need to in a lifetime in the 18th century! work harder. Effective use of your time is critical to your leadership success. ‘Time Management’ is on my mind - I have designed and delivered a series of half-day workshops for a client.
am! (Learn how to say no with my 6-week eCoaching program free for a limited time at extraordinaryfuture.com.au/resou rces/ecoaching 4. Not using the tools available. Get stuff out of your head and free valuable capacity for important thought-work.
For most of us, there will always be more than we can in a day. It’s There are great apps for your smartphone. Even the humble almost guaranteed that you will Microsoft Office To-Do bar is never get everything done. brilliant... Working harder or longer is a 5. Not setting goals. recipe for burn out.
3. Saying ‘yes’ to everything. Any train is a good train if you A good starting point for don’t know what station you are developing your Time heading for. An inability to say ‘no’ will take Management muscle is to you off purpose and create a Toconsider what I have called the ‘7 Do list that wakes you up at 2 sins of time management’:
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Get clear on what you want to achieve and choosing the best action will be easier. 6. Not prioritising. All tasks on your To-Do list (you do have one of those, don't’ you?) are not created equal.
A thought to finish with… Time Management is actually an impossible concept! Even when you deftly avoid all seven sins, you can’t ‘manage’ time! Everyone gets 60 minutes, 24 hours, 7 days a week… What you really need to do is channel your energy effectively.
Some are urgent and demand immediate attention. Some are important and lead to the achievement of your goals. Some PS In ‘Eat That Frog - 21 Great are just distractions. Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time 7. Procrastinating and not Brian Tracy tackles taking action. procrastination head on. He recommends identifying your From my own experience and most important task and tackling that of my clients, I know that it with single-minded focus until it avoiding something you don’t is completed. A valuable read. want to tackle (and knowing it’s lurking behind you) often takes significantly more energy then just getting started. Which sins have you been guilty of in the past week? What are your best tips to overcome them? I’d love your hear your comments.
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Corrinne Armour Empowering leaders to exceed objectives www.extraordinaryfuture.com.au Twitter @corrinnearmour Email: corrinne@extraordinaryfuture.co m.au LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/CorrinneA rmour Corrinne empowers leaders to exceed their objectives. Through leadership coaching, facilitation and training, her clients crack the code for performance and get results.
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HOW TO CONVINCE YOUR MANAGEMENT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA? DON'T TALK ABOUT IT. By Steven Van Belleghem
What every management wants. Pilots with long term potential. 4 C model to create pilots with long term potential. It must be one of the questions I get most often: "Steven, how can we convince our management team to invest more in social media?" My answer is very simple: "Go to them with a plan that is not about social media." Of course, this post is meant for companies with a board that is hard to convince about the role of social media in their organization. If your management is fully with you on social media, you can take a more rapid approach than what I propose in this article.
that I’ve talked to have the same goal: they want to create happier clients and employees at a lower cost. They dream of a higher market impact with fewer resources. In fact, their challenge is to increase the 'return on happiness' of clients and employees.
In other words, start your story with a clear explanation of how your plan will help to meet the objectives of increasing marketing impact and making people happy. At the end of your plan, you need to convince the board that your plan will lead to a What every management lower marketing and service budget, but that it is no free wants journey. Short term investments The best chance of success is to are needed. I personally think that a social media plan should create a story that includes the go for that ultimate goal. daily challenges of a board of directors. Most top managers
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Pilots with long term potential Once you have made your objectives clear, the next step is to propose a plan that works with clear building blocks. Don't propose to change everything at once. Use an approach where you include pilots, but go for pilots with long term potential. For example, if you want to start with online customer service (webcare) and you dream about a 24/7 helpdesk, maybe you should propose a webcare plan that helps customers during the office hours. At that point, you may already know that this will not be sufficient, but it will get you started. After a while, you can go to step two of your webcare plan. Take the step-by-step approach to take people with you in the story.
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Selecting the right pilot projects is important, especially ones with 'future potential'. If a pilot is just a short term idea that ends at a certain moment, you need to start over again. The 'boiling frog' is a useful analogy. If you throw a frog in a pan with boiling water, it will jump out. If you put the frog in a pan with cold water and you slowly heat up the water, the frog won't notice it and stays. The same will happen with the barriers towards social media. If you propose a too advanced plan, the barriers will be hard to remove. If you start with a clear and 'safe' plan, the barriers won't be there. By slowly heating up the pilot projects, people won't notice the change that much. 4 C model to create pilots with long term potential
business processes. Of course, the goal is not a technological goal, the goal is to make the entire organization more customer oriented.
You can evolve from a one time listening project to ongoing listening. The last step is active In brainstorms, I always use the 4 listening in which the listening C model from my latest book conclusions are integrated in 'The Conversation Company' to some decision making flows. But create a list of pilots with future there is more to think about: for potential. instance the role of employees in the conversation, when should 1. Customer Experience: you engage and when should you not engage... Many companies that started with digital customer service, are now These are projects where, for instance, the HR department wondering what the next step could be. Taking webcare to the could play an important role. next level is a very common 3. Content: project. But maybe there are more possibilities in this field. A typical pilot is a digital Maybe we can develop advertising campaign. Make applications that increase the sure that the digital campaign fits service experience for clients but within a long term communication lower the costs for our objective and know what will be organization. next, once the campaign ends.
So, we need pilots with long term potential. Next to that, the pilots should have enough diversity to 2. Conversation: include different departments. Social listening is a typical pilot The end goal is to integrate in the area of conversation social media into the different
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management. This is obviously a pilot with a lot of future potential.
We have seen too many wonderful campaigns the last few years that were just one time successes without a next step.
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The creation of a long term content plan is important in this field.
There are different forms of collaboration to experiment with: you can choose the large, open forms of collaboration, or maybe It's clear that the marketing & you prefer the smaller, closed communication people should be platforms. onboard in these pilots. These projects could be very 4. Collaboration: interesting for the R&D department, as consumer How can we collaborate with the collaboration is often about the consumer? Companies can start improvement of existing products or about creating insights for new with a short term collaboration pilot, with the potential to extend products. it to an ongoing collaboration project.
Steven is one of Europe's thought leaders in the field of social media, conversations and digital marketing. His entire career, Steven has studied the influence of digital and social media on consumers and organizations. With this knowledge he inspires and facilitates companies to adapt their current way of working towards the new world we live in. His latest book, The Conversation Company, offers a clear philosophy and roadmap on how to
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When you create your social media integration plan, it really helps to think about each of these components. The challenge is to develop the pilots (with steps 2 and 3 already in your mind) and to involve the right people. Good luck with your mission!
become a true customer centric organization that uses the possibilities of digital media to its full extent. His previous book, The Conversation Manager (+27.000 copies sold), is seen as a reference guide to adapt your communication strategy from a 1way towards a 2-way conversational approach. In 2010, the book won the Marketing Innovation in Literature award. Next to his advisory work, he is a part time marketing professor.
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HUMOUR IN BRAND MARKETING - SILLY OR EFFECTIVE? By Jacky Tan
Putting humour in brand marketing may seem effective; however, it may go wrong at times too! Learn the 5 basic guidelines of humour marketing Too much humour marketing on social media may make your brand lose its focus. A wrong ‘move’ in your humorous marketing approach can make your brand look silly.
Putting Humour into Your Marketing, Good or Bad?
Adding humour to your marketing strategies can make your brand stand out uniquely from the rest; your prospects will be likely to share your humorous advertisements with their friends on social media, thereby giving your marketing messages more ‘virality’. However, things may go the other way around if you didn’t do it right; your so-called humorous marketing messages can also make you the public’s number one enemy too.
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One famous example of humorous marketing disasters today is the ‘Unhate Campaign’ by United Colors of Benetton; where the world leaders are being ‘photo-shopped’ to kiss one another. Immediately after the launch of this controversial ad campaign, it received tons of negative criticisms from many media bodies, government organisations and worst of all, from prospective customers around the world.
Finally, it took me some time to find this politically correct ‘Unhate’ campaign picture
Rule of thumb, the marketer needs to exercise wisdom when he or she wants to put humor in the marketing messages. Here are five basic guidelines.
This ad does receive a lot of free 1. Break the Rules ‘Correctly’ publicity, however in a wrong and unexpected way. Breaking the rules creates curiosity and stirs attention from your prospects.
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However, do it correctly. Breaking the rules doesn’t mean you can talk about anything under the sun. Do not mention anything that is biased towards religion, races, politics, sex or any other sensitive remarks. Even if the joke could make someone laugh until they drop on the floor, it might also offend a typical group of people. So, do it wisely.
Use the correct tool to break the rules
4. Leave a Deep Positive Impression Do something different so that it will leave a deeper impression on your prospects. Moreover, try to relate your humorous marketing message with something that is very close to Irrelevant ads will lead your brand the prospects’ daily activities so to nowhere that whenever they see that familiar encounter, your brand targeted audience. At the end of can suddenly flash in their minds. the day, the purpose of your marketing messages (that includes the tons of creative juices and the money you spend on producing and spreading the ads) is to convert your targeted prospects into buying customers. Non-relevance will lose that purpose. 3. Be Clear in Your Message
Leave an impression
2. Be Relevant Be clear. Do not have the urge No matter how funny your to fly to the off-the-beaten tracks marketing messages are, you of confusion. Don’t make your should still put extra focus on prospects think “What the xxxx is relevancy with your targeted that?” after they have seen your group of prospects. Try not to go ads. Just remember, the simpler out of point. The worst thing that your humorous marketing would ever happen to any messages, the better and the marketer is to associate its clearer it will be in your products with the wrong group of prospects’ minds.
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Humorous Ads Tend to Leave a Deeper Impressions in Customers’ Minds if Done Well However, do it right as well. If not, your brand may be remembered by the prospects in a negative way.
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When your brand loses its focus, your brand will not be seen as an expert in your niche industry and there goes your potential business.
“Don’t lose focus”
5. Don’t Lose Focus on Your Brand Humor makes someone’s day; we just laugh and feel happy when we see silly humorous ads. However, don’t lose focus on your brand.
This needs to be a strict rule. Even if you have 100,000 Facebook fans, your funny joke will just be another funny joke to them. It is not going to make them more interested in your products and services. Hence, always be focused. Jacky Tan One suggestion perhaps, is to do a test first on your ad, ask for Jacky is a professional writer who feedback from your peers before teaches modern marketing & you release to the public. social media skills that are not taught in textbooks.
One piece of advice: Gather Yes… Continue to focus on the feedback from your peers on the heart (your brand) effectiveness of your humorous ads before you release it to the Some company facebook pages masses. (even big brands) today tend to overdo it, when they post jokes, In a nutshell, humor can make or funny pictures and funny quotes break your branding; humor can that are totally unrelated to their be very viral and effective if you brands or the industry they are in. do it right. It can also be Funny and silly jokes do get passed around on social media better; however they will also make your brand lose its focus.
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He is also one of the top 40 influential Twitterers in Singapore. He currently works at Evorich as the senior marketing PR Manager for Asia Pacific. Blog: www.marketingstrategyexpert.wor dpress.com
ineffective and will make your brand look silly if you do not know how to handle it well. Good luck!
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THE EASY WAY TO BOOST SALES BY 163% By Troy White
The F*@!#N dinner campaign that broke all kind of sales records Getting a 50% response rate to a one time mailer How to leverage “the diaper mailer”… A Direct Mail Information Services survey found that 78 percent actually want to get mailings from you. Combine that that with your own highly targeted campaigns, ones that make full use of your customer data, and you’ve got a winning combination. Just to add fuel to the fire: ● 70% of Gen Y have stated that they respond to print direct mail (vs 68% Gen X and 61% Boomers) – 2007 Veritas Customer Focus ● 90% will open their mail if it looks interesting or intriguing (vs 84% will open it if it has our name on it. NOTE: people are more likely to open it if it looks interesting than if it has their name on it. (Consumer Attitudes Towards Direct Mail study.)
● 163% are more likely to buy from a website if they see a printed direct mail piece than if they saw digital email only - 2007 Multichannel Direct Mail Study, comScore Inc.
People WANT to be intrigued by your mailing piece - is regular print cutting it?
Take Knorr’s new launch of the frozen food line. First, they know exactly what people typically think of frozen meals - uhg. Blah. Not ● 73% prefer print direct mail very tasty. So they use that as for offers and information – part of their campaign. Second, only 18% said they prefer they push the edge a little email. especially when you consider they are quite a traditional ● Those who received a company - not exactly ones to promotional product in a push it that far. dimensional package responded at a rate that They wanted to target a younger was 57% higher than audience than they were used to those who received the (ones less likely to want to spend same promotional product their time in the kitchen cooking a in an envelope. (Baylor gourmet dinner). But they also University.) wanted to target a 25-35 yr old professional women, one who ● Response rates for the enjoys a glass of wine over dimensional package dinner. recipients were 75% Great market that is highly higher than for the group who received only a sales focused, and has disposable letter. (Baylor University.) income. Based on their own in-house list, combined with a list from a
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partner company, they were able to put together a very desirable list for their offer. Step #1, they gave coupon for a free $8.99 dinner to this exact demographic group. To the next closest niche group they could find, they mailed a lower end coupon for ready-to-serve-soup, worth $3.99. The front of the direct mail piece reads: To reveal the full message, put this in your freezer…
Knorr’s Frozen doesn’t have to be a bad work promotion
It worked incredibly well for them. For example, why not do a web card (a postcard showing a Stepping into a very risqué type screen shot of your web site) with of marketing (the other ads they a highlighted section on your (showing a picture of a ran all used the F*@!#N concept website - make a secret scrumptious shrimp and - “Not your mom’s F*@!#N clickable link that would not be pasta bowl underneath the dinners”,) their most targeted list noticeable otherwise - forced headline) received over 50% response, them to go to your website to with a 10% overall response rate check out the link. When you put it in the from all different list segments. freezer, the message It works for Golf courses… changed to (using They sold out all the products in temperature sensitive ink) Or, what about the Nova Scotia the first run, and had to plan carefully for subsequent mailings. based golf course who mailed To reveal the full sports writers who had recently message, put this in played one of the 5 local courses. More fun. More interactivity. your freezer… More unusual marketing Included with the mailing was a pieces. FROZEN beat up old golf ball with a simple Delicious 1-page letter. F*@!#N Delicious
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“while doing some routine maintenance on the course, the ground crew found this ball in the sand trap or water hole, and an eyewitness thought it might be yours. And, by the way, we’d love you to come back and we can help you plan your trip....” Brilliant! So was their response. They were deluged with phone calls both to book further golf trips, plus to compliment them on the very intelligent piece.
what you do for a living, and what Here are a few ways you can your main area of interest is. find ideas for your business: In order to find out what the diaper is for, and to find out what this is all about, you need to go to a special website www.whatsthediaperfor.com (it is no longer live, so you won’t find anything there). Makes it difficult NOT to check out the site. Which is the exact point. There are hundreds and hundreds of gimmicky things you can use in your mailings to bulk them up and make them more compelling.
People want to be entertained My point is that every single one (and sold) so make sure you are giving them what they of us should be using more creativity in our mailers. The copy want. is king - but your customers For example, I am hosting my WANT MORE from you. Wild West Marketing and Wealth Summit this summer, and I just …and diapers found some people who make up You can borrow this idea from a cowboy hats that are PERFECT for mailing pieces and for piece I received. A nice shiny blue metallic envelope shows up giveaways. in my mailbox one day.
Open this little vinyl sack and a Inside is a one page letter, and a fully usable vinyl cowboy hat pops diaper. The actual letter teases out of it - ready to wear. you with some very targeted copy. They know who you are,
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1) Find ‘related products’ to your industry niche, your product, or your target market. Talk to promotional companies to see what they can find you (they typically have book shelves FULL of catalogs they can pull ideas from) 2) Talk to pop up creators (not the web page pop ups, but the physical ones that can create pop up people, buildings, clothing, animals… or pretty well anything else you can image. Search for pop up direct mail or dimensional direct mail with your industry in the search term – see what you find. 3) Use a one-pager creativity initiator, like this one I created: You can find it at the 8020 Center website: www.8020centre.com/troy white/creativityinitiator/
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4) Use a site like www.orientaltrading.com thousands of ideas there for you - at incredibly reasonable prices.
print to digital, despite the response rates.
I have personally mailed many a bizarre thing (Halloween masks, bells, dollar bills, coins, cartoons, hats, mp3 players, memory 5) Talk to direct marketers who specialize sticks, garden seeds etc) and have always been very happy in dimensional mailings. with the results I got. 6) Talk to packaging experts. There are lots of If you are feeling a little sluggish in the sales department, maybe freelance packaging experts out there who are now is the perfect time to try used to producing product something new! packaging, and would welcome the opportunity To your success. to be more creative with a new type of mailing piece (like one direct marketer I know of in Canada who used a packaging expert to design a mock up shipping carton with ‘Live Animal’ written on the outside, straw sticking out of it, and a surprise inside - this mailing piece was responsible for over $1.6 million dollars in new revenues for him. It doesn’t take much to stand out from the crowd these days in print mail - many people are getting cheaper and cheaper in their marketing and moving from
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Troy White Troy White is a Calgary based entrepreneur that has been involved in sales and marketing for over 23 years. In just the past decade he has helped hundreds of small business owners generate more leads and improve their sales conversions with the ability to “Turn Words Into Wealth” Troy won the Business Leader of Tomorrow Award presented by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, and he has been interviewed on talk radio shows around North America. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you will love Troy’s techniques on his blog at http://blog.smallbusinesscopywri ter.com
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DEODORANT ISN'T THE ONLY THING PREVENTING AN INTRODUCTION By Ian Altman
Value your network, and always provide value to your connections. If you want a good introduction, demonstrate why it is in THEIR interest to do so. Great connectors consider both parties when making an introduction. You sit in front of your computer and see an email from Chris asking for an introduction to one of your many LinkedIn connections. If you are like me and are fortunate to have many wonderful contacts across a variety of businesses, it is not uncommon to receive a request for a connection. I recently received a request from a friend to make an introduction to one of my contacts. His LinkedIn note was well thought out: “If you agree we should connect, could you please FORWARD this email to her? Thanks much!”
the chance to speak with you so Three steps to earn valuable we can get acquainted, learn connections for your about each other’s companies business. and explore synergies.” Do your homework: If you want At first glance, this is a polite, an introduction to a specific professional request. In fact, you individual, do some research have probably received or sent about their organization and similar emails. How would you share some information about respond? Candidly, I was not their business that demonstrates compelled to take immediate why your connection might be action. I feel it is my duty to valuable to them. In commercial protect my connections and to real estate, it might be “I see that understand the potential fit. you are connected to Chris.
The most powerful connection you can make and receive goes beyond a simple introduction. Ask yourself “Will both of these people thank me for the introduction?” The answer to that He then included a note for my question tells you whether to contact: “[name] - I’m honored that Ian is connecting us! I’d like make the introduction or not.
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They are a tenant in a building that is being sold right now. This might present options for them regardless of their lease term. If they are open to a 15 minute conversation, I can determine whether or not we can help them.”
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Focus on their WHY: I get it. You have something to sell, and you want to speak with them to see if they are interested in buying it. Guess what… nobody cares. Focus instead on what could be going on in their business that would make your services valuable. If you were a cloud computing company it might sound something like “I notice that Pat’s company is growing quickly. For the right companies, we can save them money while making their systems more reliable and securely accessible no matter where their employees are located. One of our CEO clients noted that their new employees used to need several days to become billable, and now they are up and running (and generating revenue) on day one.”
How can you fix a request you did not get right at first? When I received this request, I sent a note to my friend “Can you tell me more about what sparked your interest and what you hope to gain from the intro?” He then explained why he saw a connection, explained where he might add value, and I shared his information with my contact. They’ll be speaking together in the coming weeks. One more piece of advice
If you blindly share your contacts with anyone who wants to sell to them, then you reduce the value to your network. If you take the time to understand where someone can add value and make introductions where there is good mutual interest, then your Don’t assume: In my friend’s introductions will have a certain request, he said “if you agree we degree of gravitas. should connect…” I know he is a solid citizen, but I was not sure Follow the three keys above, and where he would be adding value earn introductions and make to my connection. So, to answer connections that provide value to his question, I did not agree that all parties involved. they should connect. Don’t assume your connection remembers your strengths.
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Ian Altman Ian Altman is the CEO of GrowMyRevenue.com A speaker and author of Upside Down Selling, Ian helps companies become outrageously successful targeting and winning business. His Book “Upside Down Selling: An integrity-based sales approach to avoid being predictable” launched in mid 2012 as a straight-forward guide to comfortably engage your entire company to grow revenue.
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DOES MY VIRTUAL BOTTOM LOOK BIG IN THESE? By Sarah Bradley
A NZ focused article about an international trend. Younger New Zealanders are embracing online shopping and are comfortable using their credit cards on their computer, smartphone or tablet device. The retailer might have to think of a multi-channel approach. Lauren Oakes can’t buy the clothes she likes in New Zealand. In the past she might have saved up for a shopping trip to Sydney, but now, her favourite designers are just a mouse click or an iPhone App away. “I don’t like New Zealand clothes, I think the United States is a bit behind fashion wise, so I shop online for European designed labels”, says the 20year old Wellingtonian. A recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Frost and Sullivan reveals Oakes is one of many New Zealanders who has developed a penchant for buying online. In 2011, $2.68 billion was spent via the web, but this year, it is expected to reach nearly $3.20 billion - a 20 per cent increase.
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The PwC survey says the strongest areas of growth are electrical items, clothing and books. Traditional grocery shopping is also getting a shake-up with 21 per cent of people visiting their supermarket Online.
can’t even properly see and know the quality of”, he says. Younger New Zealanders are embracing online shopping and are comfortable using their credit cards on their computer, smartphone or tablet Device.
Twenty-four year old Rick Gibson-Smith says he buys a number of goods and services via the Internet.
“I have no problem using my credit card”, says Gibson-Smith, “I used to work in a bank and I know that the bank will give you your money back if something goes wrong”.
“I’ve bought plane tickets, hotel accommodation and cars off Trade Me”. Other than cars and car parts however, Gibson-Smith only buys new products on Trade Me, through retailers who have what he calls a “shop” on the Trademe website. “It seems too much of an effort to be bidding at auction for a second-hand product that I
Some older people however are more hesitant about the online transaction. Seventy-year old Bob Sage says he reluctantly uses his credit card to make purchases. “I am not particularly comfortable using my credit card on the computer, but I do for large, known companies like Amazon”.
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Books are the only products Sage buys online and primarily because of the cost. “It can be considerably cheaper than going to the local bookstore”. Lower cost is one of the key reasons the PwC survey found shoppers go online. Others include variety, speed of making a purchase and growth in digital technology such as smartphones and tablet devices. The survey reveals that 48 per cent of online transactions are now done on mobile phones and tablets. With a smartphone, users can, for example, scan a book’s barcode in a shop, send the information online and get the book for a cheaper cost. This is often from an overseas website and often therefore tax-free. According to the PwC survey, 35 per cent of online shopping by New Zealanders is done on international websites. It is the avoidance of tax, which is of most concern to the New Zealand Retailers’ Association. Chief Executive John Albertson says the New Zealand government is subsidising offshore retailers.
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Lauren Oakes and Rick Gibson-Smith
“We believe that the The challenge, says Albertson, Government is probably losing is to figure out a way for taxes to around $100 million each year in be collected in New Zealand. tax”, he says. “It is very different to the retail Lauren Oakes says she avoids space where the retailer is the having to pay tax by keeping her tax collector, instead it might purchases under a certain dollar have to be the bank or the credit Amount. card company”. “If the purchase is less than $400, you don’t have to pay tax and it’s free shipping to New Zealand on the sites I use, but if I return any goods, then I have to pay the shipping costs”.
Albertson stresses that online shopping is still a small fraction of the total shopping done in New Zealand. “The PricewaterhouseCoopers report and another recent
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Nielsen survey put the total online spending at around five to six per cent of total purchases”, says Albertson.
John Albertson says that retailers need to be savvy and be directed by what the customer wants.
Bob Sage agrees that the traditional shopping experience has more to offer than simply the purchase of a product or service.
“The customer will determine the future, if the customer wants to shop online but also likes the bricks and mortar experience, then the retailer might have to think of a multi-channel approach”, he says.
“It is the social experience, the interaction with other people, but also actually seeing the goods and the quality of the goods”.
“It has to be customer-driven”, says Albertson, “we can’t turn back to the clock”. PwC adds further analysis to its survey suggesting that in addition to a physical and online website presence, retailers need to take advantage of burgeoning social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to plug their wares.
Many New Zealand retailers are now offering the traditional shopping experience and the chance to shop on their online store.
Sarah Bradley Sarah Bradley is a print and television journalist who has worked in New York, London and New Zealand. She has reported for the NZ Herald, Next Magazine, House and Garden, TV3 News, One News, ABC TV and CNN. She has a Bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing with Honours and a Master’s degree in International Relations
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with Merit. Sarah is most well known in NZ for her six-year stint as co-host of the Good Morning show on TVNZ. She loves singing jazz and often performs the Great American Songbook and French standards with her singing partner Monica Louis at well-known venues around New Zealand. Her main focus however, is being mother to her fabulously funny, demanding and wonderful eight year old daughter Melinda.
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YOU’RE BORING - YOUR BRAND DOESN’T HAVE TO BE By Scot McKee
Your brand strategy needs to be inclusive, not exclusive. Listen to your audiences – internal and external. ‘Listening’ means allowing them to speak, and be heard. The brand is not about you. It’s about them.
The CEO was talking about his brand. Everyone should have been listening, but they were all stifling yawns. Last time I looked, yawning wasn’t really the same as listening.
‘opportunity’, and, ‘unparalleled’, but they’re not. They’re accidents waiting to happen or problems waiting to be fixed, depending on how ‘exciting’ the ‘opportunity’ really is.
I’m invited to speak to companies about their business brand strategy fairly regularly these days. I think it has something to do with my greying temples and ever receding hairline. There comes a point when you just ‘look’ like you know what you’re talking about. I practice that look. It’s a bit like, ‘Blue Steel’, with a little less eyeliner.
I sit and listen. I try not to say too much because, well, because I’m not the problem. It’s usually in the room somewhere though. For me to be in attendance in the first place means there is an acknowledged brand… ‘opportunity’… but the B2B organization is always reluctant to look inwardly for the source of the trouble. So they call me. I fix brand problems. I tell people what they don’t really want to hear.
So I turn up to the meetings, which are always couched in words like, ‘exciting’ and
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Sir looked me up and down and said, “So tell me about your process. It must be really difficult for you selling this kind of thing because it’s so subjective and you don’t know my business. I mean, what’s the delivery? You’re just going to give me a document right? What if I don’t like it? What if I’ve heard it before? What if I don’t think it’ll make any difference? What if it’s wrong? I’m really not convinced I want to invest in this. Why should I pay you if I can just do this myself?” He carried on for a full 15 minutes or so and I do believe he maintained the entire sequence of questioning in a single breath.
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The other attendees checked their watches. They doodled. Their eyelids dropped slightly and there was the occasional ‘shudder-cough’ that people use to wake themselves up when they know they shouldn’t be sleeping. I had already made the point that building brand strategy was as much about observing behavioural actions and reactions as it was about marketing, but they clearly didn’t think it applied to them.
People have to believe it and believe in it. A brand can only ever be adopted by external customer audiences if it first engages the internal audience. That will never happen if they can’t get a word in edgeways.
Here’s the thing. It may well be your company, but it’s not your brand. The brand belongs to everyone, or, at least it is everyone’s perception of the brand that will shape your brand In answer to Sir’s many reality. You’re boring. Your brand question’s I asked only one; “You doesn’t have to be. called me. So why am I here?” Maybe they listened, maybe they There followed another 20 minute didn’t, but the ‘opportunity’ will monologue about how great Sir only really start to be ‘exciting’ was, how amazing his company when they do. Sunlight glistened was, what a visionary he was and off the dribble on someone’s how invaluable he was. But, chin, and, with the sound of (there’s always a ‘but…’), for gentle snoring from the corner of some inexplicable reason, the the room, I doffed my fedora with message wasn’t sticking and as the tip of my cane, swooshed my soon as he left the room, the cape over my shoulder and left. internal organization changed tack and told a different story. In other words, not his story. Your brand problem, Sir, is your mouth. For a brand to be successful, it has to be adopted by its audiences.
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Scot McKee, Brand Strategy Legend, Managing Director Brand/Digital Agency Birddog, Author ‘Creative B2B Branding (no, really)’, B2B Marketing Columnist, Social/Mobile Advocate & Rock God. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scotmckee LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scotmck ee Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/birddogb 2b YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Birdd ogB2B Amazon: http://is.gd/mckeebooks Web: http://www.birddog.co.uk
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WHAT NEW MARKETING SYSTEMS COULD DOUBLE YOUR SALES? By Ron Carroll
What is all wealth based upon? What are you waiting for? There is no other way! Dan Kennedy, marketing coach, declared, “All wealth is based upon systems.” He tells a story I would like to share with you. However, I will add another conclusion from a System Thinker’s point of view. Dan writes: “Mary S. was at a seminar I presented for doctors some years ago. She was there with her husband, a dentist. “She pulled me aside on a break. ‘Could I talk to you alone for a minute?’ So she and I ducked out of the meeting room, went down the hall, and found an empty meeting room to step into. “‘I’m so frustrated,’ she told me. ‘There are so many things you’ve been talking about that we could do to build up the practice. We keep going to seminars, hearing good ideas, but my husband never gets anything new
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implemented. Nothing happens.
especially from new patients calling in because of our yellow The staff now knows that when he pages ad. And - ‘“Wait a minute,’ comes back from a seminar I raised my hand like a traffic cop talking about new ideas, all they and brought her to a halt. ‘Mary, have to do is wait a few days and these all sound like inarguably it’ll all blow over. And the practice good ideas to me.’ hasn’t grown a bit in three years.’ “‘But he won’t do any of them,’ “‘What kind of things would you she said sadly. have him do?’ I asked.’ “‘Well, Mary,’ I asked, ‘what are “‘Join the Chamber of you waiting for?’ Commerce, attend meetings and make contacts with other “For the first time that night, Mary business people in the was speechless. She returned to community,’ she said. ‘And start the meeting room with a a mailing campaign to area particular thoughtful look on her business owners and executives. face. And put out a monthly newsletter for our past and present patients. “About a year later, Mary And put together a little how-to appeared at another of my many book, something like How to seminars for doctors. Again she Keep Healthy Teeth for Life. And, cornered me on a break, apart in the office, our reception area from her husband. ‘I want to tell desperately needs re-decorated. you,’ she began, ‘that I was very angry with you and the way you The staff needs some help with answered me that night. I wanted handling telephone calls, some sympathy. And I wanted
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you to go have a tough talk with my husband. But I sure didn’t want you to challenge me. “‘Should I apologize? I asked.’ “‘Hardly,’ she answered. ‘Let me tell you about my new life.’ Mary no longer worked in the office as a dental assistant. Instead she had hired her replacement, and then appointed herself Director of Marketing. She joined the Chamber of Commerce, a business women’s club, a Toastmaster’s group, and enrolled in a Dale Carnegie class. She assembled a book – Secrets of a Healthy Smile for Life – and she began speaking to groups of school children, PTA meetings, civic groups, everywhere she could on behalf of the practice. She put together a practice newsletter. . . . She designed a new Family Plan to promote to the practice’s patients. She created and promoted Patient Appreciation Weeks. “In five months, the practice doubled in size” (Dan S. Kennedy, The Ultimate Success Secret, 22-24).
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The point that Dan Kennedy went on to make is that we have to take action. We have to implement our good ideas if we are to improve results. How could anyone argue with that? However, I got something more out of the story! The Secret to Doubling Sales What Mary did to double sales was create unique marketing systems - the weekly-newsletter system, the Healthy-Smilepamphlet-give-away system, the community-involvement-publicspeaking system, the patient Family-Plan system, and so forth. These marketing systems made all the difference in growing the dental practice. Remember: Nothing gets done until you put it in a system. Your unique marketing systems will help you differentiate in a crowded marketplace. They can make you “stand out like a purple cow in a field of brown cows” (Seth Godin).
Ron Carroll Helping business owners dramatically increase customer loyalty, profitability, and growth by elevating the performance of their vital business systems and processes. rcarroll@BoxTheoryGold.com www.BoxTheoryGold.com What is it like to do business with Your Company? Do you know what your customers really think about you? Do you have “killer customer care” that draws customers back again and again?
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WE vs. ME By Ivan Misner
Community and networking will be a particularly potent formula for success and prosperity over the coming decades. The rumblings of the transition from “Me” values to “We” values have been evident over the past decade. Consumers want to see that you walk the walk more than they want to listen to you talk the talk While it may not single-handedly solve all the economic problems facing the world today, a new model of community and networking may well be the key to pulling the global economy out of the effects of the long-term global recession.
influence the effectiveness of networking, too. In a “We” cycle, the strength of an individual contributes to the strength of the whole. For example, when established professionals partner with newer, “junior” professionals, both of the As Michael and Roy explain in partners and the consumers Networking has always been a the book, societal values follow a each benefit from the relationship powerful strategy to get business cyclical pattern that shifts every - win, win, win. by giving business and 40 years from a "Me" based connecting with others. society, which values feeling and Knowledge and wisdom are looking good now, and instant shared, and then blended with Community and networking will gratification, and cares little for new ideas and innovation. This be a particularly potent formula long-term consequences to a increases the value the end user for success and prosperity over "We" based society, which receives from the relationship. the coming decades. values community and working together for the good of the On the opposite end of the Michael R. Drew, publishing whole. Roy and Michael have spectrum, traditional marketing expert and friend of mine whom 3,000 years of data to back up strategies focus on hype, I’ve known for 13 years and who this theory. promises of bigger, better and helped me achieve bestseller more and ‘guarantee’ dramatic status five times over, has some The rumblings of this transition results with minimum input. interesting ideas about the from “Me” values to “We” values importance of building have been evident over the past Consumers today are tired of relationships to succeed in these messages, and instead decade. Once successful business. business models that embraced they are drawn to messages of authenticity, transparency and exceptionalism and fierce Michael and his coauthor, Roy H. competition are failing and going lasting relationships. They want Williams have more than 50 to work with companies and the way of Chapter 11 years combined experience in people who deliver on their bankruptcy. These cycles
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marketing. And they have a very interesting theory in their new book Pendulum. After reading the book, it confirmed in my mind why business networking is positioned to grow massively over the next three decades.
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Word-of-mouth will heft a heavier punch in the coming years as well. Your customers will listen more attentively to the recommendations of those they know, like and trust. In today’s global market, a word of recommendation can reach others across the globe. So can a heated complaint. Consumers want to see that you walk the walk more than they want to listen to you talk the talk. Faceless corporations and big businesses are struggling. For ® promises and actually care about Givers Gain matches the current many, they’ve lost the personal those they are doing business values of a “We” cycle in society connection with their audience or with. today. customers. Consumers are tired of traditional marketing messages
What does this mean for you as a member of a networking group? While business schools and economic experts will speculate and deliberate about the causes of the current economic downturn, knowing the current trend of society’s values can help you succeed by doing what you’re already doing building relationships through networking. The philosophy of
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Good networking groups are all about building relationships and working together as a community to help others reach their goals. What goes around comes around in a very real sense.
As an entrepreneur, there is no need for you to fall by the wayside with failing businesses.
By working together in this “We” cycle, you can help build each other up through relationships Business networking is an ideal and referrals, increasing the place to capture the power of this success and profitability of concept to help you reach your businesses in your community. own goals by helping others reach their own.
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These small actions will be farreaching and may do more to turn this recession around than many other larger-scale efforts.
Then use the insights they share to keep building relationships in your market, because Givers Gain® - especially in the current “We” cycle. As you give to other By participating in networking businesses through networking, and working to give back to they will give back to you, too business owners and and that is how we all can take community, you will be doing your part in pulling the economy out of part to create a stronger a recession. economy worldwide - and a stronger global economy makes a better world for everyone. I’ve read Pendulum and wrote an endorsement for it. This book is a must-read for anyone in a networking organization. I feel so strongly about this that I’ve arranged with Michael for all readers of my blog to get a free copy of the book.
Dr. Ivan Misner Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times best selling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization.
All Michael asks is that you cover shipping and handling costs (shipments outside the US will be more).
His newest book can be viewed at www.BusinessNetworkingandSex. com.
Get your free copy of Michael and Roy’s book today. Read it.
Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.
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Smart B.O.M.B. Magazine | 43
J IS FOR “JUST DO IT” By Tony Falkenstein
“If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.” - Marian Wright Edelman
They don’t wait to be told, asked or invited to take action, they just see what needs to be done and do it. You need lots of Just Do It people on your team because they often make great leaders too.
Just do it is more than a slogan by Nike - it’s an attitude that entrepreneurs have that makes them get up each day and start new things, move through projects and make things happen in their businesses. There’s a popular saying that ‘if you want something done, give it to a busy person’.
They can usually see the big picture quite clearly and can add to it and expand on ideas. They can create or take a vision to new heights and make managers look super brilliant if given enough freedom and guidance to bring projects to a point of completion.
Busy people make great entrepreneurs, because they are good at seemingly getting on with lots of things at once.
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A great way to be seen! How else will your Potential Clients Find You?
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Smart B.O.M.B. Magazine | 45
GETTING TO KNOW YOU: NAOMI SIMSON RED BALLOON RedBalloon has consistently been recognised as one of Australia’s best places to work. Put simply, we are in the business of fun and are passionate about giving people more good times as Naomi Simson explains. 1. What inspired you to start your business? What are your goals and values? After a long corporate career, I wanted to create a business that gave me the flexibility around my family that I was no longer able to find in the corporate environment. Plus the Iinternet was just starting to gain traction, so that also inspired me to ‘invent’ a business using this emerging technology. I wanted to create a business that could be flexible, fun – and my original vision was to change gifting in Australia for ever, with a big hairy audacious goal of redballoon.com.au selling 2 million experiences by 2015 – which we are on track to exceed.
2. What was the driving force behind your decision to specialize in the small business marketing sector? Being a small dog with a big dog attitude makes a massive difference. RedBalloon may employ a relatively small team, but we achieve great numbers (almost $45 million with 43 fulltime staff in FY12). We have had national and international impact in Australia and New Zealand as the ‘face’ of over 1000 small businesses (our suppliers) to whom we bring custom and revenue.
Australia - costing some $42 billion per year in lost productivity. If RedBalloon reduces disengagement by even 1%, imagine the difference we are making! 3. What experience do you have helping small business clients?
Masses! We work with over 1000 third party experience suppliers, many of which are small Australian (and NZ) businesses and for whom we represent the large majority of their marketing exposure and customer base. In this sense we We have had an impact on all are a mid-size enterprise our RedBalloon recipients supporting small businesses allowing them experiences that who employ hundreds of many have dreamed about for thousands of Australians. Having I also wanted to challenge the years. Plus with our corporate said that, we also work with ‘stereotype’ of a corporate reward and recognition larger enterprises such as working environment and programs, we are helping lift Bridge Climb Sydney and explored how to increase employee engagement across Endota - our supplier choices engagement via simple reward Australia and New Zealand for are made based predominantly and recognition programs that 3000+ customers. According to on their willingness and ability to organisations could utilise - with Gallup, up to 21% of employees deliver a great customer our own experience vouchers as are disengaged across experience at every touchpoint. part of the reward.
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deliver amazing experiences to our clients because we hire our people based on who they are. We look for a match to our values of: Integrity, Generosity, Leadership, Sense of Humour & Fun and being “A Little Dog With A Big Dog Personality�. 6. What process, services and support do your clients receive? As an experience booking agent, our customers receive the highest level sales support. By Red Balloon - Happiness is amplified when it’s shared either phone or email, our customer experience team inspires people. We have more assist customers in booking 4. Do you service other than 3500 corporate clients who experiences, answering sectors as well? use us to help reward, questions, managing payment recognise, incentivise and requests and issues, and taking Our business is experiences, so inspire their people. At and acting upon feedback. Once I guess you could say we touch RedBalloon we practice what we a booking has been made, the every sector through our preach, celebrating our supplier becomes the main point involvement with corporate achievements, living our values, of contact for our customer. clients - from the financial efficiency, length of service and services industry to airlines, In terms of RedBalloon for telecos to advertising agencies many other things. Corporate, services include We are proud to be consulting on items such as 5. What are the main reasons acknowledged in the top ten online points programs, voucher that someone would choose Best Places to Work in Australia programs, team building events your business to assist with by BRW and according to Hewitt and corporate gifts, which assist developing their business? have a 97% employee businesses in shaping a culture engagement score. The culture where employees are as happy As the experts in employee at RedBalloon enables us to and as valued as customers. engagement, we know what
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This is a significant part of the RedBalloon business.
8. Tell us about some of the expectations that you had. Have they been met?
7. What challenges did you face in setting up your business?
My personal saying is ‘If it’s meant to be it’s up to me’ - not that I have to do all the work, but it’s a motto that has constantly One of the biggest challenges inspired me. We recruit and for start-up business is reward on our company values differentiation. It is very hard to be a remarkable ‘purple cow’ as and my leadership style reflects that. Seth Godin implored – when everyone is claiming to be a ‘purple cow.’ The sheer volume I see myself as a mentor for everyone: to empower people to of messages that we are do great work but also to not let bombarded with each day them down. With our value of overwhelms. Real cut through integrity - doing what we say we comes from the authentic are going to do - and it is experience someone has of a important I embody that. brand. At RedBalloon, we just figure that rather than making ‘promises’ and ‘ trying to sell’ stuff – we will just let people know what we stand for. Marketing has come a long way from the 1950’s – but the premise is the same – “I want to know that I am dealing with someone real - and what you stand for.”
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Business does not happen in isolation. Small businesses can grow to make huge differences to society so to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a dayto-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society, is important. However, anything you choose to do has to be truly authentic. Don’t do it just for the kudos – you have to truly believe in it.
9. Who is the target market for your business? RedBalloon.com.au pioneered experiential gifting in Australia and New Zealand and has delivered almost one-and-a-half million experiences to consumers and businesses since its inception in 2001. Our customers are many and varied. Whilst RedBalloon was originally launched for individuals, Fuji Xerox became the first corporate client to use RedBalloon as an incentive program. Since then some 3500 corporate clients have regularly purchased. Our target markets include (but are not limited to): consumers, businesses looking to use our experiences to reward, recognise and incentivise their employees; business conducting team building events; businesses seeking advice on employee reward programs; third party experience providers (suppliers).
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10. Do you provide services nationally?
12. What would you say to If you don’t have that singlesomeone looking to grow and minded passion, it becomes work - RedBalloon has never develop their business? been work for me. I ask all Yes - in every state of Australia people who approach me with and across NZ. We have over I don’t think you should go into business ideas: why do you do 3000 experiences on our site at business just to make money www.redballoon.com.au. and if you do, it’s not necessarily what you do and who will care? Are you building a better the right reason. It might be mousetrap or are you changing 11. Do you have any plans for counter-intuitive, but a good entrepreneur goes into business the game of rodent overseas expansion? because they see a problem and management? they want to change it, and it’s Not at this stage. We’re very something they’re completely happy providing meaningful experiences for Australians and passionate about. New Zealanders.
Naomi Simson Naomi Simson, founding director of RedBalloon, offers advice for businesses - “Employees are the new customers”. As a former corporate marketer for IBM, Ansett Australia, KPMG, and Apple, Naomi understands the value of building a brand based on listening to customers and employees too.
The RedBalloon programs work with organisations to ensure that they ‘notice’ what their employees do and encourage a deeper level of employee engagement. For Naomi Simson, forming an attachment (emotional and rational) between people and the brand is one way that we help produce a happier workforce and in turn a stronger economy. http://www.redballoon.com.au.
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7 TIPS FOR MARKETING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS ON YOUTUBE By Jessica Swanson
Discover why all small business owners should be tapping into the power of YouTube. Uncover 7 Tips to ensure that your YouTube videos are a huge success. Learn how to avoid common rookie mistakes when producing your YouTube is taking the industry by storm. It seems that anyone and everyone is beginning to make a statement on YouTube.
So, obviously if you aren’t marketing on YouTube you are clearly missing the boat. Plus, we’re talking about a free boat ride to boot! The best part is that So the question is, as a small if you are a small business owner business owner, should you on a shoestring marketing market your small business budget, YouTube is certainly your through YouTube? The answer is dream come true. a qualified yes! Marketing on YouTube is similar According to Computerworld, to marketing elsewhere. You YouTube is the 12th most visited want to stand apart from your site on earth and receives over competition. You want to make a 20 million views every single day. statement and have people In addition, YouTube is now the remember you. This can be 2nd most utilized search-engine accomplished if you follow a few (right behind Google). These simple steps: statistics are absolutely staggering. 1) Your video should not be a blatant advertisement. Furthermore, many researchers believe that a top-rated video on Most people that watch YouTube YouTube will reach 40% more aren’t looking for a “sales pitch.” people than a commercial on a Instead they’re looking for national TV station. relevant and helpful information.
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2) Make it crystal clear what product your represent. As prospects view your video, you never want to make them guess what product your represent. Go ahead and insert a URL back to your website at the end of your video. 3) Use adequate lighting. Dark videos are a sure way to turn off prospects. You should shoot your videos in a well-lit room, preferably with natural sunlight. 4) Check your audio. It’s important that people can hear what you are saying. If your video is too quiet, too loud, raspy, or filled with static your prospects will leave immediately
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5) Don’t expect perfection. Your videos won’t be perfect and you shouldn’t expect them to be. YouTube is certainly not about perfection. In fact, most people find that a few quirks and quibbles will give your video a less “staged” feeling. 6) Have some fun! You should smile and look like you are having a good time while you shoot your video. Add some energy to your voice and a bounce to your step.
7) Don’t over-worry about your appearance. It’s absolutely fine if you aren’t a Skinny Minnie or a Studley Stanley. In fact, oftentimes people relate better to people who are just Regular Joes. So, remember to comb your hair and put on a clean shirt, but don’t worry if you haven’t lost those last ten or fifteen pounds. You will do just fine.
Remember that shooting videos for YouTube involves a learning curve. At first, it will take some time to learn. But, before long, you will discover a whole new segment of prospects that will be introduced to your small business marketing message.
Jessica Swanson Jessica has helped thousands of To download Jessica’s FREE small business owners, all over the Shoestring Marketing Kit go to: world, implement low-cost, highwww.ShoestringMarketingKit.com impact marketing campaigns. Armed with years of teaching and a M.S. in Written Communications, Jessica takes complicated marketing concepts, turns them upside-down, and makes them incredibly simple and outrageously straightforward.
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SHOW ME THE MONEY By Richard Petrie
Why your marketing sucks. The magic marketing numbers revealed. How to stop guessing your marketing investments. Imagine you are driving to an important meeting and you are 5 minutes early. Then all of a sudden out of the blue the car starts to splutter and choke. You coast to the side of the road as the car loses all power. Confused you call the AA to come and fix your car. ‘Good news sir’, he says. You are just out of petrol – I can give you enough to get to a petrol pump. Now 10 minutes late for your big meeting you detour your journey at speed towards a petrol station when a police car pulls you over. ‘Do you know how fast you were going? The officer asks. ‘No idea’ you respond. ‘Well you were going 75 in a 50kph zone, that will be a $200 fine and 100 demerit points on your license, and I see you already have 200 demerit points so that will probably cost you your license too’. Now you are 30 minutes late for the big meeting with a lighter wallet and heading to court.
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You drive off again extra slowly to The lack of indicators is starting fill the tank and the car starts to to cost you time money and splutter again! ultimately freedom. As call the AA guy again you know petrol cannot be the problem.
You decide to sell this stupid car with no indicators to avoid similar disasters. But the first question the prospective buyers asks is Another 15 minutes later AA man ‘how many kilometers does the tells you the car is overheating car have on the clock?’ because you don’t have enough oil or water in the engine. Because you have no indicators you cannot tell him and he walks ‘Didn’t the indicators tell you the away. car was getting hot?’ He asks. Vital Feedback Your Problem Has been Identified Now let’s imagine you were able to install a dashboard that showed you speed, revs, petrol You car does NOT have any indicators. No speedometer, no levels, engine temperature and mileage. temperature gauge, no fuel gauge. No feedback from the key Instantly you have a valuable performance indicators of your useful car with the feedback tools car. to avoid danger and ensure No indicators means no warning performance. signals as you run out of petrol, Your marketing is like a car. To over heat or drive too fast. You drive safely and with optimal have now missed your big performance you MUST have meeting and a potentially huge sale but that is just the tip of the feedback from the key performance indicators. ice-berg. No feedback means no control.
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Where The Rubber Meets The Road I personally hate anything to do with mathematics other than counting money. But in 8 years of working with clients I know that the ones who make the most money and wealth know their numbers inside out.
marketing exercise generated)
This is a truly critical number that tells you the cost of acquiring If you are buying ad media or each new customer. investing in marketing without tracking the numbers on a 1. What us the lifetime dashboard then you aren’t customer value (LCV) from managing your business. the ad?
This allows you to measure the I often get asked questions of me total value of each new client. This number also helps you get that cannot be answered intelligently without the numbers. real about the cost of losing each For example: “My yellow pages client and helps you determine what you are will to invest to ad works pretty good. The Yellow acquire and keep them. pages rep is urging me to increase from quarter page to 2. How do these values half page. Should I?” compare with other CPL, My questions have to do with what ‘pretty good’ really is.
You are guessing your business.
CPS and LCV from the other means you use to get customers?
1. What is the cost per lead (CPL) from the ad? (Total cost divided by the number of lead your ad generated)
That’s just he beginning, but if you can’t at least tell me those, I cannot tell you whether to increase, decrease of eliminate your yellow pages ad all together.
This is the money spent to get the prospect to raise their hand. So if you spend $1,000 a month and get 10 people call you or go to your website then your CPL is $100 from that media
Once you know these numbers you then have a MA-CPS, a maximum allowable CPS and you work at getting as many new ways of bringing in customers as possible to perform at or below that number.
Richard Petrie
What is the cost per sale (CPS) from the ad? (Total Hardly any business owner knows these numbers, although cost divided by the many think they do. number of clients your
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Just as a car with no indicators is trouble waiting to happen, so too is a business.
Richard is author of the book the Persuasion Equation, writes on his web site www.speedmarketing.co.nz and develops research backed sales processes to increase conversion. If you have a question, comment or want to reach Richard he is available at Richard@speedmarketing.co.nz
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GET YOUR MESSAGE OUT TO THE WORLD Maxiom helps brands increase revenue by inspiring their customers to buy products, engage and share content. It enables marketers to create beautiful content experiences in a variety of formats on the web, on many different platforms and across mobile devices.
This is particularly powerful for organisations that are looking to create commerce enabled content experiences and distribute them efficiently across multiple channels. Maxiom helps you create the ultimate digital lead generation campaign.
CLICK HERE To Find Out More about How Maxiom Can Provide a Solution to All Your Digital Content and Creative Needs 54 |Smart B.O.M.B. Magazine
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SECOND BEST FREE KEYWORD TOOL By James Hourigan
Calculate the value of Google page 1 rank
Import the best keywords Calculate ROI on SEO
Do your research before SEO I do not think that anyone would argue with me that the absolute best keyword tool is the Google Keyword Tool. You can analyze hundreds of keywords that are relevant to your website and it even identifies the competition for those keywords. Input your competitor’s URL in the tool and it will show the keywords for which the site is optimized.
Research before Spending on How to Import a CSV from the SEO Google Keyword Tool If you have a website that sells products or services and you’re thinking about investing some time into search engine optimization (SEO) to expand your business, you need to eliminate the guess work. SEO is time consuming and SEO companies can cost thousands per month and to a small business that can be extremely negative if it’s not going to deliver results to your bottom line.
Value of Google Page 1 Rank However there are some things that this great tool will not show you and that is why the Rank Assess Tool™ is the second best free tool available to help you decide which keywords will be best for your site.
Do not jump blindly into your online campaigns. It’s much smarter to become familiar with the free online tools which will help you target keywords for best results.
Both tools enable you to analyze multiple keywords and download You can input a keyword and the csv files for further analysis. tool calculates the amount of traffic for all ranks 1 through to Not sure how to go about the 10. It works in tandem with the download? Here are the step by Google tool to show the effects step instructions: that rank improvement has on your sales.
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Instructions for new users: Before you click the link below, you may wish to print this page. Google Keyword Tool 1. Click the link; it takes you to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool site. 2. Under Tools on the top left; Keyword Tool will be highlighted. 3. Click on Saved Ideas to open the complete menu. 4. Under Match Types, untick Broad and tick [Exact]. We recommend that you use [Exact] Match with Rank Assess Tool™ but you can also use Broad or “Phrase” match types if you wish. 5. Go to Website; enter your website address. 6. Click Locations and highlight your country and language.
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7. Click Advanced Options and Filters to collapse this box. 8. Enter the captcha characters as indicated or sign in if you have a Google account. You now have access to use the tool.
11. When the Download all keywords box appears, click the Format box and change Format to CSV. 12. Click Download and when the pop up appears at the bottom of your screen, click Save. 13. Click Open folder.
9. Click Search and the tool 14. The file will be saved in shows the Global Monthly Downloads or you can Searches and Local save it in another location. Monthly Searches for keywords relevant to your 15. Name the file so that it is website. Make sure you easy for you to find it have Keywords selected again. and not Ad Group Ideas. 16. Go to Keyword Tool and The tool shows the list of click the Import CSV keywords relevant to your button. site. To see the most searched keywords, click 17. Locate the file and click Local Monthly Searches open. and the tool lists keywords from most to least Rank Assess Tool™ will now searched. import your CSV file. It will extract 10. Click on Download and a the Local Monthly Searches.
James Hourigan James is passionate about eliminating the mystery surrounding SEO to enable business owners to extract the maximum return on their investment from this modern marketing activity. E. seo@searchmeseo.com W. www.searchmeseo.com Click to get your free Rank Assess Tool™
box will appear; then click Should you wish to use Global on All search results. Monthly Searches see FAQ for instructions.
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Smart B.O.M.B. Magazine | 57
GETTING CUSTOMERS TO SPEND MORE AT LITTLE COST TO YOU! By Geoff Vautier
Useful facts about bundling 10 top bundle items Golden rules of successful bundling Why bundle? If you've got a good product or service to sell but it just isn't selling, what can you do? Do you abandon the idea and put it down to experience? Sometimes it may come to that, but maybe you can find a way to combine something else with your product which will make it suddenly attractive and saleable. When you add something in to an How can you bundle up more existing product, you can raise value into what you're the price appropriately. If you spend only a minimal amount (or offering your customers? nothing) on the 'extras', you can This can be a good strategy for be sure that you'll increase the increasing profits with little outlay dollars in your pocket. from you. A useful spin-off of bundling is 'Bundling' means putting together that it makes it more difficult to related items and selling them as compare your offering to those of a package at a higher price. Your your competitors, as the chances aim is to generate interest in your are you won't come up with the offerings, attract new customers same bundle as them. and increase the value to existing customers of what you offer.
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There are some great examples of how this has worked – books, no matter how amazing their content, are just books but put them together with a CD or DVD, and you have another product for which you can charge much more; even better put a meditation book together with a CD of relaxing music, a candle and some incense sticks and you have a complete meditation 'kit'. People have sold cookery books with frying pans attached, photography magazines with camera cases added, career coaching with a CV writing service‌ You could bundle together a range of services as a 'done for you' package and charge a premium price for it. People are prepared to pay for something which saves them time. Once you start thinking creatively you can be sure that bundling will work for your product or service.
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10 Top Bundle Items Only you can know exactly how you'll make your bundle up, but here are 10 general examples that you can probably use right way! Add: 1. A product, if you offer services 2. A service, if you offer a product 3. Guarantees 4. Bonuses 5. Free samples 6. Special events 7. Extra service features 8. Reward schemes 9. Gift cheques 10. Coupons (but nothing less than $50 please!)
Golden rules of successful bundling When it comes to bundling, your only limit is your imagination! But there are a couple of rules to bear in mind: ● Find quality products/services associated with yours which add value to your customers’ experience;
● Don't spend out on your bundle. The idea is for you to make money so set yourself a very modest budget if you need to buy in accessories and stick to it; Geoff Vautier ● If you use stock that's not selling, make sure it enhances the package and that the whole bundle really meets a customer need; ● Why not get other colleagues who are in a complementary field involved? You could offer their
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services/products along with yours and share the profit (and they might want to do the same for you!).
Geoff Vautier is an 80-20 guru and pricing specialist. He successfully helps businesses of all sizes to find ways to increase their profits and grow. www.howtoincreaseprices.com http://www.geoffvautier.com geoff@howtoincreaseprices.com “Boost your profit: Understand, and charge for, the value you provide”
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IS HAPPINESS AT WORK A “DIRTY” WORD? By Naomi Simpson
Why isn’t happiness part of our everyday working vernacular? It creates a high engagement score which delivers commercial outcomes. Can we all lighten up a bit... after all happy people = happy profits. One could argue that work is share a smile - to be part of work and as such why should something bigger than myself. you expect to have a good I had all the intention as a leader time. but it took years of trial and error to achieve the outcome. The I’d worked for a lot of large reality is that I knew how I wanted corporations, some better than to do business but I did not others, before I started my own necessarily have the skills to do show. But there was one so. common theme when I was an employee... I seemed to leave the 'real' me at home. I became So I started the business with the this suited-up, serious executive intent of having fun - and five years in, I and those around me that acted like everyone else were not having fun at all - we around me. had got very serious indeed. When I started my business, I When employee turnover wanted to work in a place that I wanted to work in... where I could reached 64% in 2006 I had to have a tough conversation with express an opinion and be listened to. (Okay so I'm the boss myself, and see clearly that I must be the problem - very confronting now and people tend to listen but I wanted everyone to have a for any leader. say, contribute and be heard.) So imagine how proud I feel now, I wanted to work in a place where six years later, to have created a I could wear what suited me and workplace with an employee engagement score of over 90 expressed my personality, but per cent in the past four years most of all I wanted to feel when the national average in connected, have a laugh and Australia is just 54 per cent. I did
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it by getting the right people in the right roles and the first person I hired was an HR professional (known as Employee Experience Manager). There has also been a clear and deliverable commercial outcome from creating a great workplace. But I am daily confronted by people who tell me that it was easy because my business is about encouraging people to experience things that make them happy. My business RedBalloon sells experiences across Australian and New Zealand, from cooking classes to skydiving, hot air ballooning to romantic retreats. But that has absolutely nothing to do with having a team of happy, motivated employees. Much as the 50+ of us would like to be out there sampling our wares every day, we have a business to run! We aren’t happy and engaged working at RedBalloon because
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we sell experiences. We are happy because we choose to work at a business that values happiness.
"If you love what you do every day you never have to work another day in your life" Confucius
A lawyer’s office could do the same. So, too, could a bank. So why isn’t happiness part of our everyday working vernacular? I’m sure if it were we’d see a far higher average engagement score which delivers commercial outcomes.
In the end it took leadership and commitment to creating a happy work place. We go by the simple adage below and we ask, “Can each team member answer 'yes' to this every day?”: "Do I know what I am here to do did anyone notice and did I go home feeling like a winner?"
I think it’s because businesses can often take themselves too So here is a little hint .If you do seriously. Isn’t it referred to as the nothing else, no matter where you ‘great game of business’? sit inside your organizational structure ,say 'thank-you' and Yet most people take themselves appreciate those people around really seriously. Can we all lighten you - and the good feeling will rub up a bit? After all happy people = off on you too. happy profits. How difficult can a ‘thank-you’ One of Deepak Chopra’s Five be? I challenge you to Secrets to Happiness is authentically thank five people enjoyment at work and that today. Let me know how you go simple notion can have huge at fivethanksaday.org impacts upon productivity, wellbeing and profits. "Don't worry, be happy" It's a choice. Not a dirty word.
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Naomi Simson Naomi Simson is founder of fastgrowth experiential gifting retailer http://www.redballoon.com.au. An employee engagement advocate and sought after employer, RedBalloon is listed as one of only six Hewitt Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand with an engagement score of over 90 percent. Comments and questions can be sent to Naomi via her blog at http://www.naomisimson.com
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HOW TO STAY RELEVANT IN YOUR ONLINE NICHE By Rachael Henke
Partnering with the New Media big boys
What is your next product going to be
The types of products you must create to stay relevant
The bet thing to do in this new economy
So here's the thing. Everything is The same is happening on changing SO FAST. Amazon with the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy. Whether these You've probably noticed and 'interesting' genres are for you, or wondered, 'How can I keep up not, is irrelevant. and stay relevant online?' The point is ANYONE with some Well that is indeed a good talent and savvy can leverage the question and as I'm dedicated to new media big boys such as helping you get your big iTunes and Amazon to get their message out with your small stuff out there globally and business, today's challenge instantly. gives you my top tip for staying relevant in this fast moving world. So how does this help you with your small business? Partnering with the new media big boys You need products to sell too.
Create products (replace the word products with whatever you sell or want to sell) that are EVERGREEN. Now most experts forget to mention this little acorn because they're often so enthusiastic about their training course of the moment they just leave it out.
I've never been a guru, and I have no aspirations to be one, but I know a thing or two about creating and selling products online, whether they be books, memberships, weight loss Whether you're an author, an artist, programs, information products If you're not sure what I mean just a speaker, a coach, a consultant or you name it! I've sold a ton over the years and have been in think about Lucy Spraggan's little a small business owner of some other type you're either selling multiple niches as an author, ditty on the X-Factor. You can products online or you're missing product creator, publisher, check her out on YouTube if you out. distributor and affiliate. missed it. Her first time on the big stage and she already had And here is how you keep up and And this is the big thing I want three, YES 3, of her songs in the stay relevant: you take away today: top 10 & she doesn't even have a recording contract yet!
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If you want to stay relevant online you must have stuff to sell that isn't just the fad of the month. Otherwise you will drown in the new tools and tech shifts. I've got books selling that I wrote 3 years ago, and I'm writing more, and creating more products, in multiple niches because, ‘Why wouldn't you?’ if you've got something valuable to share.
So what's your next evergreen product going to be? You need more than just ‘selling your time’ unless you're happy working on a ‘time for money’ model. What's your online niche business model?
Have a good think about these perplexing issues and jot your answers down on paper or pod and begin to map this out. There has never been a better time than Ok, so maybe today's post is a little bit of a rant, but I really want in this new economy to create you to get this! Creating products your own niche cash machine around your passions and skills. that are here today and gone tomorrow will not give you long I'd love to hear what you think and term security and recurring what you're doing to stay relevant income. in your online niche so please share your thoughts in the Even if one of your niches is comments below. related to tech, or online marketing, like me - I still make all of my products and training with that in mind. Tools will change but teaching people the fundamentals of your topic ,and how to think, won't.
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Rachel Henke Rachel is the author of The Niche Expert, Radio Show Host and founder of Rachel Henke Global, a virtual training and coaching company showing entrepreneurs and small business owners how to stand out online and build a visible brand to attract perfect clients, sales and opportunities. To receive Rachel’s free Niche Expert Training video series visit http://www.Rachelhenke.com To connect with Rachel on Facebook pop over to http://www.Facebook.com/Rachel henkefan
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CUT COSTS, IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES CONVERT FROM FACE TO FACE SALES REPS by Mike O’Hagan
Convert from face to face sales reps to relationship phone sellers. Dramatic growth levels can be achieved from efficient sales systems. Develop a controlled structured and much personalised relationship sales system that can be duplicated. Follow these six steps to cut costs, improve efficiencies and get more clients. 1. If you have a generalised product (like "training") then develop your product to be very industry specific. Businesses are being bombarded with emails or calls from companies while their gatekeepers are told to reject salespeople, but they often stop and notice things that are specific to their business. A simple example would be training. MiniMovers receives stacks of "training offers/
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mail" every day. All are immediately binned by the gatekeepers except anything that says "Removalist Training". This gets a second look. 2. Build a Mini-Website with an (niche) industry specific domain name. 3. Data mine (build a contact list) the businesses in this niche. Explore beyond Yellow Pages etc. - look at LinkedIn etc. 4. Load your list into a CRM program. 5. Phone the industry - do not ask the gatekeeper questions. Instead communicate in simple
direct terms what you do, without the flowery "benefit" language - then ask to speak to the best person for this. If resisted, then offer to email or mail some information. If still resisted, suggest the gatekeeper tell the decision maker to look at the Mini-Website. ● The CRM is all about organising call-back’s/followups. If you get to the decision maker, note this in the CRM - agree on the next step and tag your next action in the CRM.
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● Same goes for the action after mailing more information though try calling back in a month or so after a full rejection. ● The CRM should indicate who needs to be called, each day. It should report any overdue follow ups. ● The objective is for the phone salesperson to form a "relationship" with the business. Personal details about the person and the business should all be recorded in the CRM and used when contact is made. ● When a sale is made, an order is raised/actioned, then the delivery
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date should be recorded and the CRM should generate a followup reminder to call and check if it all arrived okay etc. Build the Relationship. ● After delivery, obviously a follow up "top up" sales call should be tagged in the system. ● Across all this the CRM program should report on efficiencies, calls per day, conversion rates etc. 6. This is all about developing a controlled structured and much personalised relationship sales system that can be duplicated. Dramatic growth levels can be achieved from efficient sales systems.
Mike O'Hagan Mike O'Hagan is well-known as one of Queensland's most innovative entrepreneurs. Twenty-six years ago he pioneered a unique business in short distance residential removals, MiniMovers, with operations in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Mike remains the sole owner of MiniMovers and today has interests in several other businesses. If you want to know more message Mike via www.ohagan.com.au
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WHAT DOES ENGAGEMENT WITH CUSTOMERS REALLY MEAN? by Grant Leboff
‘Engagement’ is becoming one of those terms which is now so ubiquitous it is starting to lose its meaning. The level of engagement with our customer base really depends on the nature of the business. By looking at your levels of interaction and influence you can really measure the effectiveness of your engagement with prospects or customers alike. Why is it that before we get married, we are ‘engaged’? Why do many public toilets say the word ‘engaged’ on the outside when they are locked?
engagement with our customer base really depends on the nature of the business. There is no hard and fast rule but below is a benchmark you can use.
What level of engagement is appropriate?
My local supermarket engages with me every week. I have a loyalty card and they engage me with relevant coupons and discounts on the goods that I buy. This is OK with me because I engage with my supermarket every week, either online or by visiting the store.
Obviously, we are not going to keep our prospects and customers busy with us all the time. So, how often do we need to engage? The level of
Therefore, the frequency of engagement does not feel excessive. Simply providing me with coupons and vouchers is very transactional.
The term ‘engaged’ means busy or taken. When we use the term to ‘engage’ with customers, we mean ‘keeping them busy’ or ‘occupying them’.
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However, this again is alright. This is because the nature of my interaction with the supermarket is transactional. I buy a few items and I leave. If my law firm, dealing with my intellectual property, tried to engage with me every week I would go nuts. I use them roughly on a quarterly basis. If they contact me about every six weeks or so that would feel about right. Similarly, if they sent me discount vouchers off my next phone call I would think they had gone mad! My interaction with them is not transactional. It is one of advisor and partner.
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Therefore, it is better that their engagement reflects that position. Providing me with up to date changes in the market, white papers of trends and videos addressing pertinent issues will be much more appropriate.
Measuring whether we are engaging effectively Once we understand how often we should engage, and the nature of that engagement, we then need to understand how to measure whether we are engaging effectively.
communications they are not engaged. Having 5,000 people receiving your newsletter does not mean you have 5,000 people engaged. If it is only opened by ten people, then those ten are engaged and the other 4,990 newsletters are spam!
The exact opposite is true of my car insurance company, which I contact only once a year. I buy insurance and then hope it does not need to be used. I do not want to hear from my car insurance company once a week or even once every six weeks.
Measuring ‘influence’ is to The ultimate measure, of course, measure how much action is taken due to the communications will be increased sales. This is you deliver. measured by identifying with whom we are engaging and who Do people buy, sign up to the is buying. However, aside from suggested webinar or click the transaction itself, how is through to other pages on your engagement measured? website? Similarly, I am not interested in Engagement should be white papers and videos on This would show that your content measured by two factors; trends in the insurance market. has not only been seen but also ‘interaction’ and ‘influence’. has spurred someone into taking In fact, seeing as I only interact another action. ‘Interaction’ is simple. By using with my car insurance company embedded links and tracking once per year, the most they can content, you will be able to see Similarly, ‘influence’ can also be probably contact me is about who opened your email, read an measured by how much a three times in the year. Also, the article or how many watched a message is shared, retweeted, way they can deliver value will linked to, etc. video. have to be very different from the supermarket or law firm. Obviously, if people are not interacting with your
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This would also demonstrate that people didn’t just see your communications but ‘acted’ on them by sharing, sending to others and spreading your message.
‘Engagement’ is becoming one of those terms which is now so ubiquitous it is starting to lose its meaning.
Since then I have become increasingly uneasy with the term as more and more people talk about the ‘need to engage’ customers, without seemingly In my book Sticky Marketing, I having any understanding as to stated that businesses now need what that means. By looking at your levels of to move from measuring their Lets hope we can start to change interaction and influence you can marketing by ‘Return On that now. really measure the effectiveness Investment’ to ‘Return On of your engagement with Engagement’. prospects or customers alike.
Grant Leboff
It is now available worldwide.
Grant Leboff is one of the U.K's leading Sales and Marketing experts.
His current book, ‘Sticky Marketing’, provides companies with the new principles of marketing so they can thrive in a Web enabled world.
His first book, Sales Therapy®, introduced businesses to a new and highly effective Sales philosophy. It made the Amazon top 10 bestseller list on publication and is one of the top selling books on Sales in the UK.
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On release, it immediately went straight to number 1 in the Amazon Sales and Marketing Chart and went to number 5 in the overall Business Chart.
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Smart B.O.M.B. Magazine | 71
LINKEDIN - THE GREATEST PERSONAL BRANDING, PUBLICITY AND SALES TOOL FOR B2B MARKETS By Gene Stark
There are 3 types of people in business: Entrepreneurs Intrapreneurs Un-enterprising And all of them can benefit from LinkedIn, even the un-enterprising! It’s the often overlooked social media channel of LinkedIn! Whilst it is Facebook and Twitter that get all the media attention, it is LinkedIn that leads with results.
professionals. If you are a business professional and you do not have a powerful presence on LinkedIn, you are undoubtedly missing valuable opportunities to connect and Hubspot research shows grow your business.” - Rebecca Corliss is marketing manager LinkedIn being the equal and leader of the social media leading Customer Acquisition Channel together marketing team at Hubspot. with Company Blogs and the “There is no other social definitive leader in the networking site in which you have B2B segment. a greater chance of being able to interact with an influential “LinkedIn is the largest decision maker due to professional social network online today with an astounding the business - focused nature of the community. LinkedIn remains 135 million users and a one of the best social networking targeted audience of business sites to market your business-to-
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business (B2B) products and services because of this special demographic. Even for businessto-consumer (B2C) companies, LinkedIn is important: not only because consumers are members of LinkedIn, but also because the network offers a great platform for finding distributors, agents, and strategic alliances.” - Neal Schaffer, author of Windmill Networking I used to refer to LinkedIn as “Facebook for Business”, but how wrong I was! The first 2 points provide a major difference between LinkedIn and
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Facebook and hence give business people an amazing opportunity not available in any other media channel: 1. LinkedIn provides a meeting place where people expect to “do business”. 2. LinkedIn leverages relationships by making connections visible. 3. LinkedIn helps maintain personal relationships and build new ones. 4. LinkedIn provides a platform for the most effective form of Marketing - Word of Mouth 5. It can link all your Online Marketing Assets and essential Social Media Tools, e.g: Website, Blog, Slideshare (now incorporating Video), Twitter and Facebook. With all of the new developments in LinkedIn, today it can assist you with: ● Promoting your personal brand
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● Proactive Networking
FACT - 3% of businesses have a ● Checking References and strategy for referrals* Backgrounds REFERENCE: ● Look for a Job, Seek and *BNI – Business Network Hire Candidates and be International better prepared for Benefits of a Referral System: interviews ● Generate Leads and Accelerate Sales
● Lower Marketing Costs ● Higher Revenues
● Ask for Advice from your own network as well as “Crowdsource”
● Prospects convert to Customers
● Find Experts and Partners
● Better customer ‘behaviour’
● Improve your Personal Productivity with all of the different LinkedIn tools, Widgets, and Apps.
● You can concentrate on your business
Please note that there is a large and important difference Research trends and industries, between Word of Mouth gather opinions by running polls Advertising and a Referral as well as track company news. System. Word of Mouth or ‘going viral’, usually happens by chance. Finally and most importantly, We as marketers try as we might LinkedIn can provide you with the do not have control over a video perfect and simple platform for a or a game going viral, and Referral System! Referrals are more fail than succeed! critical to success in business. FACT - 98% of Businesses rely on referrals to gain new business*
A Referral System, on the other hand is: ● Predictable
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● Consistent and ● Repeatable! LinkedIn can assist you in most of the critical steps of a typical Referral Process: 1. Identifying Referrers / Influencers in your Network by listening and studying where opinions are being shared 2. Providing them with a WOW experience (LinkedIn won’t help you there - you need to be great at what you do or deliver exceptional value through your products and services!) 3. Stay Top of Mind
LinkedIn or any other technology or media channel for that matter will not help you Stand Out and Be Noticed! You need to give people a reason to talk about your products and services, and make it easier for that conversation to take place. You’ll need to be creative and wow prospects and not just with your message. Remember the old adage “great advertising kills bad products faster” As with all social media or marketing activities in general, the more you put into them the more you will get back in return.
4. Help them Help You - you The more you care and share the need to educate your more likely you are to benefit. network how to refer to you Get LinkedIn or be Locked Out! 5. You need to ask for Referrals and Introductions 6. And you need to Recognise and Reward those that place their trust in you and refer to you!
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Gene Stark Gene is the co-founder of The Marketing Network, an SME Branding & Marketing Agency that brings together every marketing discipline, providing convenient and affordable solutions for their clients - professional services and B2B firms that need to find, attract and retain customers. email: gene.stark@themarketing network.com.au LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/ In/genestark Twitter: @starkreality4u Website: www.themarketing network.com.au
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Smart B.O.M.B. Magazine | 75
GETTING TO KNOW YOU: JAMES HOURIGAN James is passionate about eliminating the mystery surrounding SEO to enable business owners to extract the maximum return on their investment from this modern marketing activity. 1. What inspired you to start your business? What are your goals and values?
3. What experience do you have helping small business clients?
Frustration! When I was looking for someone to SEO my websites, there was a lack of people speaking in plain language that a newbie could understand.
Lots! I’ve been in marketing for three decades in consumer goods, beauty products, and pharmaceuticals and serviced clients in the advertising industry.
5. What process, services and support do your clients receive?
Plain talking! The SEO industry is full of jargon and there is a plethora of acronyms which not only confuses the un-initiated but can be highly misleading and frightfully expensive. We make it real, but most importantly; you Hopefully through Search Me 4. What are the main reasons can see what you will get before SEO, I will eliminate the mystery that someone would choose you spend your hard earned surrounding Search Engine your business to assist with dollars. Optimization and help developing their business? businesses attract new 6. What process, services customers by transparent, and support do your clients I guess if the Government or ethical methods. Qantas or Telstra want to log in receive? to: 2. What was the driving force As required! We provide all http://www.searchmeseo.com/ra marketing services, with an behind your decision to nk-assess-tool specialize in the small emphasis on measurable business marketing sector? and use our free tool to see how Internet Marketing. much SEO can help their We do not provide a one size Neglect! Most companies chase business, we won’t object. fits all service. the big companies for the big bucks. Just as my other small We will direct people to other business was neglected by the reliable service providers should heavy hitters in SEO, I see a their needs be outside our area market niche in helping SME’s of expertise. on their SEO journey.
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7. What challenges did you face in setting up your business?
10. Do you provide services nationally? Yes!
Finding partners! The biggest challenge was to source a developer, who was able to translate our vision for our App, which is the cornerstone of our approach to helping small business master the online challenges. 8. Tell us about some of the expectations that you had. Have they been met?
11. Do you have any plans for overseas expansion? We are in the process of identifying the “Best Fit� markets for Search Me SEO. 12. What would you say to someone looking to grow and develop their business?
Good things do not come to Our expectations have been those who wait. The mechanic exceeded as everyone we come does not have the worst car. in contact with is frustrated due to the lack of return on their Stop relying on all those investment in SEO. meaningless beliefs and just get on with it. If you have an idea, 9. Who is the target market either make it happen or drop it. for your business? The world is full of people with We help small business owners great ideas but there are few with the fortitude to make it that are contemplating starting an SEO campaign and owners reality. Be the one to make it real. who are not realizing the full potential of their current SEO activities.
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James Hourigan James is passionate about eliminating the mystery surrounding SEO to enable business owners to extract the maximum return on their investment from this modern marketing activity. E. seo@searchmeseo.com W. www.searchmeseo.com Click to get your free Rank Assess Tool™
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WHO IS STOPPING YOU MAKING MORE MONEY? COULD IT BE YOU! By Geoff Vautier
The top three ways you can sabotage your sales Ways to turn those saboteurs around be able to present your offering with assurance or to sell it with any conviction.
3. Be confused about what you are offering and vague about the value of what you deliver.
You need to get back to basics, get out of your own way, get on Get these three things right and the road or the 'phone and sell! you are well on the way to disaster! EsteÊ Lauder, the founder of the great US cosmetics empire, Turning the saboteurs once said "I have never worked around a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell 1, You absolutely MUST it, and I sell it hard." She's right know the numbers of your about believing in the product business. for when you do, there is no hard selling needed; if the product or "Those making the most We usually 'blame' our service is that good, then it will money ‌know their numbers customers or the economic sell itself. inside out, thoroughly, situation when the dollars aren't completely, and just can't be rolling in. BUT have you Top three ways to sabotage stumped by a numbers stopped and checked out your your sales question." Dan Kennedy, mindset recently? Could it author of "No B.S. Price actually be YOU who's holding 1. Take no interest in the Strategy" yourself back? numbers of your http://dankennedy.com/ business. Leave all that If you're not confident about to your accountant. This is a powerful statement and your product or service or about is borne out by other successful yourself, then how can you 2. Cultivate low self-esteem entrepreneurs who say the same expect customers to have thing. confidence in you? You won't
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It doesn't mean that you have to TIPS become the number cruncher of ● Write down your 10 best the business, but you DO have qualities to know your figures. ● Write down your 3 key TIPS business achievements last year ● Learn basic financial jargon (things like 'bottom line', 'gross profit', 'variable costs' etc)
Ask questions of your manufacturing or service managers. If you don't know something, then don't be afraid to ask!
● Focus on the things you do WELL and not on areas that could do with developing
● Sit down with your accountant and ask them 3. You absolutely MUST to take you through your know everything there is to know about your offerings cash flow ● Set clear annual financial targets and monitor monthly progress 2. You absolutely MUST develop high self-esteem and belief in yourself.
You can't train your sales people to sell (or do so yourself) if you don't know and believe in every aspect of your product or service. You don't want to get caught out by a customer question you can't answer, do you? You'd look pretty stupid then, wouldn't you?
Whatever happened to you before now, you are at this moment in business and TIPS seeking to be successful. Being ● Describe the top three confident in what you're selling most valuable elements is the same as being confident of your latest offering in yourself, especially if you are in a service sector like ● Meet regularly with your coaching, consulting or training, sales team because often the 'product' you are offering is yourself.
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Geoff Vautier Geoff Vautier is an 80-20 guru and pricing specialist. He successfully helps businesses of all sizes to find ways to increase their profits and grow. www.howtoincreaseprices.com http://www.geoffvautier.com geoff@howtoincreaseprices.com “Boost your profit: Understand, and charge for, the value you provide”
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FAMILY OBLIGATIONS AND NETWORKING: MEN vs WOMEN By Ivan Misner
In our survey results, the difference between men and women was a surprise. The riches that ‘sweat equity’ reaps are greater than hard money spent. The powerful impression of quality is created through networking. Having run the world’s largest networking organization for many years, I occasionally hear people express concern about family obligations interfering with their ability to attend business meetings. Earlier this year, I published a large scale survey that addressed gender issues in networking. I was expecting to see a dramatic difference between men and women relating to family obligations and time to devote to their networking efforts. Instead, what I saw surprised me.
have told me that the lion’s share of household operation, organizing family events, and taking kids to school are still handled by them.
Both women and men understand that, and this is why I believe the results were so even.
First, let’s take a hard look at financial benefits. As you know, in Yet in our survey results, the any business there are both softdifference between men and and hard-money costs to women turned out to be very consider. “Hard money” is that small; only a few more women which you take out of your pocket (9.3 percent) than men (8.4 and includes credit cards, cash, percent) expressed difficulty with checks, and other possessions morning meetings. Almost 22 with monetary value. percent of men, compared with about 19 percent of women, said The term “soft money” is used to that it was always easier to assign value to services or attend networking functions in the invested time, otherwise known Several women had told me over morning. Although the women in as sweat equity. It may come as a the years that attending our survey found morning surprise to you, but the riches that networking meetings in the meetings to be less convenient, it invested time reaps are greater morning was very hard for them. was not by a large factor. than hard money spent. You also get more value for your softThis is understandable, because It seems that the truth of the money investments than you even though our society appears matter is this: The benefits of would for spending what you think more gender-equal than in the the equivalent is in actual dollars. networking outweigh scheduling past, a large number of women obstacles!
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If you were to add up the softmoney investments of labor, networking, connecting, and building relationships you may be surprised at the financial value you’ve delivered to your business.
The more your credibility grows, the more people will hire and recommend you.
Let’s look at the array of positive wealth effects that networking brings, beyond just sales numbers…
The impression of quality is a powerful one. It is well-known that consumers are willing to pay more for services and products that they equate to be high in both ethical and product value. From locally grown organic produce and safer foods, to fairtrade-produced coffee and businesses that donate a portion of their proceeds to philanthropic ventures, consumers, by their spending choices, are showing the market that ethics and quality are what they want.
● Added sales volume ● Higher average transaction amount per sale ● Greater closing ratio ● Referrals tend to be very qualified professionals ● Higher occurrences of leads and referrals ● More repeat business
Even more important: The impression of quality is created through networking.
What better way to convey the ● Greater positive word-of- image of quality for your mouth marketing benefits business than with the support vote of those who believe in you ● More customer loyalty so much that they can’t stop talking about you? ● Stronger community recognition By the validation of many people ● Greater perceived value vouching for you, your name is passed along with more and The more solid relationships you more frequency and confidence. build, the more credible you are.
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After you have repeatedly established proof of quality, you’ll be referred in such a manner that neither your rates nor quality are questioned. These benefits transcend gender differences.
Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times best selling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization. His newest book can be viewed at www.BusinessNetworkingandSex. com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.
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About The Smart BOMB Publisher Maxiom Group Pty Ltd 2/710 Collins Street Docklands Vic 3008 Australia www.maxiom.com.au
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