What potato chips taught me about marketing.

November 19, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 8:03 am

My Great Aunt Pauline taught me a saying as a child that has served me well as a marketing counselor.

Enough is as good as a feast.

It simply means that as long as you have “enough” of whatever it is…you don’t need more than that. 

Now, while I believe she imparted these words of wisdom in response to my plea for the ENTIRE bag of potato chips instead of the – to my mind – miniscule bowl she was offering…it’s handy as a guideline when designing marketing programs.

There comes a point when fleshing out an idea or concept that there are “enough” elements to make it successful…and anything added after that just becomes:

  1. More logistics to manage without adding to the ROI
  2. A distraction of resources from the core focus and objectives
  3. An added cost burden
  4. Too confusing for your audience to effectively “get it”

So, whenever you are tempted to just add that one more thing to whatever program or concept you are developing…think of my Aunt Pauline and ask yourself “yes, this idea might be COOL…but will it be helpful or harmful to the overall objectives?”  Use that checklist above to evaluate each new idea, and if it puts the desired results at risk, either table it, swap it out to replace a less effective element, or toss it.

As to the potato chip debate, however, I still stand by my original retort:  You just can NEVER have enough…so bring on the feast!

Dude, no one is going to make you tweet.

November 17, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Social Media, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 12:15 pm

“I hate Twitter.  I don’t get it.  It’s useless and a waste of time.”

This provocative comment from the floor at the start of a recent social media workshop at Redpoint’s Marketing Boot Camp sparked an utter frenzy of debate from the rest of the audience.  To tweet, or not to tweet?…that was DEFINITELY the question on everyone’s mind.

The incident gave me a perfect opportunity to pull the group up to 30,000 feet and acknowledge Redpoint’s Three Undeniable Truths about spending your social media marketing dollars wisely.  Resources are at risk of being wasted if…

  1. The person doing the job doesn’t get it, doesn’t like it, or doesn’t want to do it.
  2. Influential senior executives in the company are publicly skeptical about the benefits of social media.
  3. You’re waiting to pounce if it’s not a home run 24/7.

We’ve seen it time and again:  positive energy adds an intangible magic to social media marketing that simply cannot be replicated any other way. 

My advice to this passionate gentleman?  Don’t stress out about it.  If you hate Twitter, don’t use it.  Leverage a different social media tool that better suits your personality, and your brand’s.  Or…don’t.  How you choose to spend your marketing resources is entirely up to you, and there’s absolutely no point in wasting your time on something whose value you question.

Footnote:  while you shouldn’t expect to see this guy on Twitter any time soon, we DID at least get him to uncross his arms and laugh a bunch by the end of the workshop.  (And I tweeted about that.)

The plight of the exclamation point.

November 15, 2010
Filed under: Writing Tips, The Power of Persuasion — @ 2:08 pm

Poor exclamation point.  It is unmercifully abused.

As punctuation goes, the exclamation point is quite powerful.  It conveys elevated emotion that transforms a sentence from a simple statement into a passionate communication.  Case in point:

  • I am so happy.
  • I am so happy!
  • I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or how about:

  • I am so angry.
  • I am so angry!
  • I am so angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The very presence of the “!” puctuates the passion behind the feeling…so why do we sometimes feel like a solitary exclamation point is insufficient?  And is this an acceptable solution to communicating the emotion behind our feelings in writing?

Professionally speaking…no.  In business communication, multiple exclamation points can come across to the reader as juvenile and a bit lazy.  Their presence says “I have not taken the time to select the rich, meaningful words that will accurately convey my emotions, so I’ll just add a whole bunch of exclamation points to compensate for the lack of feeling.”

If we are “happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”…are we not ecstatic, thrilled, or elated?  And if we are “angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”…are we not incensed, livid, furious, or enraged?  Seriously.  Some of those words are so powerful, they don’t even require one exclamation point to communicate the strength of their sentiment.  In fact, that quiet, subtle strength can often be far more influential than adding a dozen exclamation points. 

There is certainly a time and place for multiple exclamation points.  Believe me, I’m the first one to type “Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” to a Redpoint colleague who’s just informed me that one of our clients is going to be featured in the New York Times.  It’s the perfect way to communicate my spontaneous unbridled joy.  But if I got that news from the editor of the New York Times directly?  No way.  It definitely would be something more like “I’m delighted you found (client) of interest,” or “(client) is thrilled that you are interested.”

So, when writing professionally, take a moment to choose more powerful words and give that poor little piece of punctuation a break.  It served us well when we were in junior high, but now that we’re all grown up, it’s time for us to be responsible in how we use it.

Surprise! It works (almost) every time…

November 11, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, The Power of Persuasion, Observations From the Field — @ 9:04 pm

Kudos to Stan Gelber & Sons Heating & Cooling of Uniondale, NY.  Never heard of them?  Neither did I…until I got this direct mail piece from them. 

Of course, all my snail mail marketing usually goes right in the trash (sorry, if you’ve sent me any)…but this darned dog caught my eye on its journey into the wastebasket. 

I fished it right out, thinking…why is that dog wearing a hat and scarf?  Then, I actually read the entire card, front and back. 

And then I thought…damn.  They got me.  I don’t often think about heating or cooling systems…heck, I don’t even have a dog.  But this card suddenly made me wonder if my heating system is ready for the winter.

What arrested my attention was the element of surprise.   Even if you think it’s goofy, you cannot help but smile (c’mon, admit it) and be a little curious about this photo. 

The point is:  it broke through the clutter.  Five other direct mail marketing pieces went right into the trash at my house that day, but this one got fished out. 

Your lesson from this?  Before you can even begin to market to someone, you’ve got to get their attention.  And who doesn’t love a good surprise?

Er, no…the CPA is NOT your tax guy.

August 13, 2010
Filed under: Observations From the Field, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 1:33 pm

Ever feel like you need a Rosetta Stone course in “online marketing speak?”

I’ve sat in meetings with internet marketing strategists on behalf of Redpoint clients, watching some of the acronyms and terms whiz by me (and everyone else) in conversation.  But then I see clients proceed to make desicions about how to spend their online marketing dollars…while not fully understanding how things like title tags or geo-targeting really work.

Happily, our friends at Search Engine Strategies magazine recently created a handy “cheat sheet” of terms and acronyms used by online marketers.  It’s attached here for your reference.  SES Glossary

Print it out.  Study up.  And make smarter decisions…or at the very least, ask better questions.

Feel free to scribble a few on the inside of your forearm before your next online marketing meeting.  I won’t tell.

Death to homophones.

August 5, 2010
Filed under: Writing Tips — @ 12:06 pm

If I get one more invitation offering a “sneak peak” at something, I might just cry.  It pains me to see such a blatant spelling error that clearly made it past several pairs of eyes – from copy drafter to client to printer! – without being caught.

Come back to junior high school with me for a moment.  Remember learning about homophones?…words that sound exactly alike, but are not necessarily spelled alike, and have distinctly different meanings?

They are the mortal enemy of spell check.

Peek/peak…their/there/they’re…bear/bare…pair/pare…faze/phase… and one of my faves that people always mix up… principle/principal.  There are hundreds of these pesky homophones in the English language, and the only way to  prevent them from hijacking your otherwise-perfectly-spell-checked writing is to know the difference and proof your work.

Here’s an extensive list you can use as a cheat sheet.  http://www.all-about-spelling.com/list-of-homophones.html

Now go fourth and get your words write.

The secret of change: just do it.

August 2, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field — @ 12:37 pm

Recently, during an ad-hoc consulting session with a hotel company (not a Redpoint client), the general manager asked my advice on increasing the effectiveness of their email newsletter campaign.  After reviewing a few recent newsletters they’ve sent, he and I had a comical (to me) dialogue about next steps.  It went like this:

C:  Do you notice that the open rate increases depending on what’s included in the subject line?

GM:  We only put the date of the newsletter in the subject line.

C:  Oh!  So, that’s one simple place to start.  Getting people to open the email is the first step toward getting them to read the content.  Let’s look at creating a turnkey way to make each subject line more enticing.

GM:  Actually, we think that people would prefer to have the date in the subject line, so they can save and sort as needed.

C:  But if they’re not even opening them, they never get to the point where they’re saving and sorting.  Perhaps if we just add a tiny bit of color and substance to the subject line?  We could still keep the date in there if you wish.

GM:  Well, we’ve always done it this way, so it doesn’t make sense to change that format now.  People are used to it.

C:  Based on what you’re telling me, it seems like they’re just used to deleting the emails.  If you’d like to get them to open and read the newsletters, we’d need to make some changes to the way they’re receiving them.

GM:  What if we change the layout inside, and put the events calendar on the right, and add more photos at the top?

C:  That would be wonderful, but we still need to change the subject line in order for them to OPEN the emails and notice all those fabulous changes.

GM:  But then someone is going to have to come up with a new subject line each time, and the way it works now, it’s much easier for us to manage.  We just have a template and my assistant plugs in all the information.

And there it is…the root of resistance to change:  reluctance to do things differently. 

It astounds me that people don’t realize that if you want to bring about a change in result…you have to start with a change in your actions.  This premise holds true whether you’re trying to get people to open your email newsletter or trying to get your kids to clean their room unprompted (“how many times do I have to tell you…?”).

I guarantee that if you change your actions, you will change the result.  You may need to play with your formula to find the sweet spot you seek, but it will come. 

And yes, it will feel different, new, weird, or even uncomfortable.  That’s how you will know that you’re doing “change” right.  Keep your eye on the goal and just do it!

Less words…more meaning.

July 31, 2010
Filed under: Writing Tips, The Power of Persuasion — @ 11:52 am

I recently drove past a billboard on I-95 in New England which advertised an area bank.  This is all it said:

183 Years.  0 Bailouts.

How utterly brilliant.  With those “four” words, the reader’s takeaway is…this bank is sound, fiscally responsible, trustworthy, stable, and (most importantly) my money will be safe there.  Moreover, without saying a single actual disparaging word against its competitors, it clearly states:  they suck, and we’re better than them.

Audiences have short attention spans, so when seeking to persuade them, you can use fewer words by employing meaningful ones that enrich your statements beyond their actual face value.

This strategy works with all communication types, but of course, it’s particularly vital with billboards.  Look at that entire paragraph of imagery that got planted in my mind with just a 2-second glance, stolen while whizzing by on a (blissfully) traffic-free interstate.  Granted, I was doing the speed limit (40 years.  0 Speeding Tickets.) but it would have worked even if I had been driving past at 100 miles an hour.

Of course, then the need for the bailout would have been mine.

Yay for you, it’s your anniversary! Um…who cares?

July 30, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies — @ 1:14 pm

You know that pride you feel at achieving a milestone of being in business for -X- number of years?  Guess what?  As far as news hooks go, pretty much no one else cares.

We humans are a selfish bunch.  It’s hard to catch and hold our attention for anything that doesn’t directly impact our own lives.  So when a brand comes at us waving enthusiastic pom poms and expecting us to share in its joy of turning 5, 10, 35, 60, or even 100…our natural reaction is:  yay for you, but what’s in it for me?

The news value in celebrating a brand’s anniversary is the timely, relevant reason it offers to connect with your audiences…but you have to tie it back to them to make them care.

Give a special offer, announce a new service, launch a new product, roll back prices, and find fun and meaningful ways to link to the number of years you’ve been in business – i.e. 20 years in business…get $20 or 20% off, or give a special gift to everyone who is 20 (if you court that age group) , or is celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary (if that age group is more appropriate).  You get the idea.  Make it more than just a pat on your own back.

Then YOU get to share your pride in the milestone, and THEY get to benefit from your celebration and feel a smidge more connected to your brand.  It’s a win-win for both of you…which, at the end of the day, is truly a “yay for you.”

Save yourself from looking silly in just 5 minutes.

July 27, 2010
Filed under: Writing Tips — @ 12:53 am

Yesterday, I received a cover letter from a job applicant which quietly featured this sentence as the opening to its third paragraph:

Another couple sentences on what makes you stand out and valid for the position based on facts and experience.

Indeed.  Those sentences would have been quite useful at just that juncture in the letter.  But the transparent – and clearly inadvertant – stage direction sadly negated  their benefit.

With less than 5 minutes of proofreading, this woman might have scored an interview with me…one skim of this letter would have caught that preposterous mistake.  And had she done so, I’m sure her heart would have skipped a beat and she would have said to herself, “Good god.  Can you imagine if I had sent THAT??”

Alas, she did not proof the letter.  And now her poor judgment is forever immortalized here, after we had a good chuckle over it in the office.  Well…we sort of chuckled, as we sheepishly remembered preventable mistakes we’ve each made in the past.

No one is perfect, and mistakes will be made.  But when communicating in writing, you have the power to prevent them by resisting that almost-primal impulse to hit “send” the moment you finish putting your thoughts to paper. 

Ideally, you can focus your attention elsewhere after finishing a draft of something — even if it’s only a 4 or 5 line email! — and then come back to it with fresh eyes.  You will be amazed at the silly mistakes you can catch that way.

My motto:  better to have your heart skip a beat at the thought of ALMOST looking ridiculous, than to feel the kick in the gut that comes from actually LOOKING ridiculous.