Marketing
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Lessons from the Coach Seats
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 10 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: Marketing, Podcasts, YouTube, blog, facebook, sales, sales presentation, social media, twitter, visibility
You learn a lot from the savvy traveler who has to fly coach. Of course they all carry on; and they’ve learned to stand as close to the miserable airline representative collecting boarding passes as is socially acceptable. This way they are positioned to sail forth with alacrity onto the jetway when their row is called.
This is critical because it guarantees a prized overhead luggage spot - you’re two steps ahead of the vacation travelers bearing overfilled diaper bags and scary-looking back packs with metal paraphernalia hanging off the sides. Fail to position yourself at the gate, and you go straight to on-board luggage check . Which of course means arrival purgatory.
This is a classic example of thinking through your strategy and executing flawlessly. Good practice for business. Execute well and someday you’ll be enjoying that scotch in a real glass in the first-class seats. It’s precisely what you need to do today if you’re thinking about using social media and social networking to market your business. Today you can get onto the “jetway” very quickly through all the new channels but to win the prized spot you have to be there with a powerful message.
The myriad of new media channels for communicating with customers - is the equivalent of marketing on a “coach” budget - it’s cheap and easy to fly. However, you’re not going to secure your spot unless you get your customers’ attention. Setting up a Twitter account is easy; it’s what you say that’s hard. Blogging is a matter of setting up Word Press. The hard part is what to write about.
One of my summer reads has been David Meerman Scott’s best-seller, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, second edition. Meerman’s book sites how savvy organizations are blowing by competitors with smart use of cyber-marketing. No longer tethered to the money-pit of traditional advertising, they are publishing cool stuff and their customers are finding them on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and through direct news releases (which don’t go to the press, but to customers, online publications, etc, avoiding the “middle guy”). With all that viral buzz they’re generating on a small “coach budget” they can probably afford to buy their own corporate jets.
But just like maneuvering onto the plane, execution is everything. The message must be right. It can’t be self-serving. It can’t be about you. It has to be about your customer. If you think like a “publisher” as Meerman suggests, as a “purveyor of information,” you write articles, blogs, white papers, e- books, webinars that are of real value to the people who might buy your product or service. Good social marketing gets your customer thinking about you as a problem solver, not a pusher.
We just completed a project helping one of our clients start a library of customer “stories” - to use in their sales presentations. To be sure, these will be a powerful new tool in getting a real conversation going with customers. What’s great is that if they wish, this client could easily repurpose the stories in a social media strategy. They could turn them into white papers, articles for online publications (third party endorsement), or on their own web site. Taken a step further, their CEO or SVP of sales could record a video and post it on You Tube. Or they could write about it in the company blog.
The point is that stories like the ones we developed have multiple purposes in cyber marketing. On a coach budget, you can get great results. Just remember to tell a story. Give your customers a real-life example of how you can help them. You don’t need a “first class” marketing budget to look “first class” all the way. A good customer story will get people to pay attention, faster than you can say “tweet.”
What Steve Jobs Can Teach Us About “Buzz”
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 04 Apr 2010 | Tagged as: Marketing, Uncategorized, leadership and communication, profitable business, sales
After reading the 1,347th article on the iPad this month, I got to thinking about buzz. What does Steve Jobs know about creating buzz that could help the rest of us take our business ideas from good to breakthrough? What does he understand that makes otherwise normal people wait on line with grungy strangers for days on end without food or porta potties to get their hands on a device that nobody has even laid eyes on?
As we all know, buzz is created when news spreads that an idea, product or service is cool and worth trying. The news usually comes through channels regarded as reliable by others; a few “knowing” early testers who have credibility with others say the word. Buzz grows as more and more credible sources spread the word. Past success doesn’t hurt; In Apple’s case its blockbuster cool factor is enough to launch a stampede.
Even if you’re a cynic, and I know many of you are because you write to me from time to time, it is intellectually dishonest to dismiss buzz as simple hype. Sure there’s some marketing voodoo involved. Computer whizzes with access to the internet and a relationship with some opinion leaders can generate buzz within hours; still there has to be something real there to build and sustain excitement. If it isn’t really cool, or if it doesn’t work, or if it isn’t of value to the buyer, the buzz dies fast.
So buzz is not smoke and mirrors – there has to be a high level of value underneath it all. You actually have to deliver something your customers really want to buy and that works very well. What gets people talking about you isn’t phony marketing hype; it’s the experience they have with your product or service that kindles the desire to share information with others.
So Steve Jobs can teach us some things about buzz that are universal. I think there are at least three factors that any of us can recreate in our own businesses.
1. Unique Value
When people believe that you or your company offer something they cannot find anywhere else, and they perceive that you or your product or service are highly valuable, they will buy it and pay top dollar for it. And if that experience confirms their suspicions and it works, they will be eager to tell others; it’s just human nature to spread the word.
Creating real, unique value for your customers or clients is the key. Apple is focused like a laser on what its customers want. They know their faithful buyers are creative; they are learners, mavericks, free thinkers who see currency in owning and using the new, new thing.
Who are your customers and what do they value? It seems like such a fundamental question but herein lays a path to breakthrough. And don’t think that you just have to ask them. Sometimes you have to know them better than they know themselves. Steve Jobs has a small creative team which includes a few top executives. They don’t rely on market research so much as their own internal compasses.
2. Obsession with Quality
Jobs is reportedly so obsessed with perfection that he is known to barge into an engineer’s office and say, “no one will understand this. You need to fix this.” Apparently he does this regularly. This is probably comforting for anyone who has ever been accused of micromanaging a project.
In noting that obsession with quality is part of creating products that generate buzz, I’m not suggesting it gives you license as a leader to breathe down people’s necks. You can’t create new stuff by reigning in creativity or punishing people for failures. However, it does suggest that quality is a huge part of the equation; which means you need to set the standard and make it known that nothing less than the best is good enough. No matter how cool the new product or service is if it doesn’t work really well, it won’t generate any buzz.
3. Innovation
Apple is considered one of the most innovative companies of our time, maybe all time. Innovation is certainly a buzz word today. Every company is talking about innovation at its team meetings. So why do so few achieve it? I think it’s because deep down they doubt themselves. They’re insecure about their own ability to create or evolve.
Returning to the Apple example, I read in the Boston Globe that Carl Yankowski, who worked with Jobs and also competed with Apple as the CEO of Palm and Sony Electronics said Apple will work with suppliers “to get them to do things that (they) don’t think they can do, like make ultra-thin, ultra-light products that incorporate all kinds of new technologies.”
So as you think about driving innovation as a leader in your company I guess I would ask what are you doing to make people believe?
Of course buzz isn’t everything. There are those people who are not swayed by buzz. Many years ago, I’ll never forget our family’s first trip to Disney World; we four kids had heard the buzz that that Space Mountain was the coolest ride. But when my dad saw the long line snaking around past the giant turkey drumstick stand he refused to wait. “I wouldn’t wait 45 minutes to see the President,” he declared with that tone of finality that wouldn’t even tempt us to challenge the decision.
But most people aren’t like my dad. Most people will stand in line to buy your stuff if they hear the buzz see value. So it really is possible, in fact likely that you’ll succeed when you execute on these principles. Always invest in marketing, but know that before you can get people talking about you, you have to create unique value, insist on quality and foster innovation. That’s how you define breakthrough.
Want to Write a Book? Here’s How!
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 21 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: Marketing, author, publishing
Last week, the National Speakers Association New England Chapter asked me to talk about how to make this the year you get that book written. When I sat down to think about what it’s really like to write a book, the image that came to mind was the old classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. While I didn’t actually write this speech, someone in the group captured the points, so I thought I should pass them along in my blog, to those of you who would like to write a book.
Before I get to the tips, let me just provide some encouragement to those of you who are wondering whether it’s worth it. Writing a book is by far the best way to establish your expertise in subject matter, and differentiate yourself from your competitors. A published book gives you credibility, and significantly enhances in business development. As an author, people seek you out. I’ve seen this first hand, after each of my books, Speak Like a CEO, and Motivate Like a CEO, was published. You have to know why you’re writing the book - so get clear on what it will mean to your business or career. If you can make a compelling case in your own mind for the value of the book to your business, it will be easier to find the time and get it written.
My thanks to the Downtown Women’s Club for taking good notes on the session so that I can provide them to you!
Follow the yellow brick road
According to Suzanne Bates of Bates Communications and best selling author of Speak Like a CEO and most recently published Motivate Like a CEO, writing a book for your business is similar to the journey Dorothy and her friends took to OZ. Here are the steps she outlined in her talk at the National Speakers Association of New England Wake Up Call on February 14, 2009:
The Tornado: Finding Your Topic, Voice and View Can Feel Chaotic
Take time to sit with your many thoughts and determine a theme for your book. Keep in mind you do not need to dump every bit of your expertise into one publication. Take the time to brainstorm ideas, find your writing voice and tolerate the chaos as it is an important part of the writing process.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Moving Forward on Your Book
Once you discover your theme, write with the reader in mind. Identify the target market of the book and keep that person on the forefront when writing the book. Making a visual representation of the reader can help you focus on what you want to say to your audience. Besides this information will be useful when writing your book proposal should you decide to traditionally publish.
The Wicked Witch of the West: Time
You don’t find time to write you make time to write. Anyone who has written a book knows that this is a constant struggle. Suzanne mastered the Wicked Witch by deciding that she would give up her weekends for one summer to get the book done. Schedule the time and protect it like you would the time you make for your clients. Would you stand up your highest paying contract? No. So make time in your schedule, write it down and keep the appointment.
The Scarecrows: Use Your Brains to Prepare a Brilliant Proposal
A good book proposal follows a predictable formula. Learn the formula then draft a great proposal. Pay special attention to the book’s potential marketability as this is what makes a publisher pick up your manuscript. Also include a well thought out marketing plan for the book. Publishers distribute books, they don’t market them. Authors do. Knowing this and building in a good marketing strategy for your book will help make your proposal stand out.
The Lion: The Courage to Keep Going
Yes, it takes courage to write a book. Find a place where you can get support and encouragement when the road gets bumpy. A writing group, a writing coach or a good friend can make the difference between a brilliant idea and a finished book.
The Tin Man: Write with Your Heart
Writing a book takes time and effort. Make sure you are writing about something you are passionate about and that makes sense for your long term goals. Suzanne was clear that she was writing a book to increase her company’s visibility. Others write for personal reasons. Whatever your reason, make sure you love it.
There’s No Place Like Home: Write what you know and to who you know
Do not try to be someone else. If you are great at empowering women around money then write about that topic. If you are gifted at helping people improve their speaking skills then go that route. Writing what you know and to who you know will make all stages of the book process more effective and enjoyable.
Pulling Back the Curtain on the Wizard of Oz: Best Sellers Don’t Just Happen
Market the heck out of your book. Suzanne learned with her first book many of the tricks of the trade in selling a book and getting it to be a top seller on Amazon.com. While writing the book is a great accomplishment, the difference between a best selling author and all the other authors out there is a commitment to marketing their work.
So if you decide to go down the yellow brick road, enjoy the trip and know that in the end there is nothing like seeing your finished book in print for the first time!
Check Out the New Book!!!!! Our First Copies are IN!!
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 16 Dec 2008 | Tagged as: CEO, Communication, Marketing, author, leadership development, motivating employees
I just wanted to share a photo of Meredith O’Connor, our Marketing Director, and me, holding the first two copies of Motivate Like a CEO! They’re shipping the book to bookstores in the next couple of weeks so they should be available, especially on amazon.com, around January 9th.
Presentation Zen: How to Have Visual Impact
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 16 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Communication, Leadership, Marketing, PowerPoint, Presentations, author, executive, executive presence, public speaking
I’m wild about a brand new, beautiful, and absolutely brilliant book on how to create memorable visuals for presentations. It’s called Presentation Zen, Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, by Garr Reynolds (New Riders, 2008).
You only have to flip through the pages to immediately grasp Reynold’s provocative mix of inspiration and practical guidance. As a presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert, he shows how thoughtfully designed, graceful, efficient visual imagery can make you look good as a presenter. He has of the most popular Web sites on presentation design and delivery on the net — www.presentationzen.com.
The book is filled page after page of examples of how creativity, photos, large size font, and cool graphics can transform your PowerPoint from dull to dynamite. Just one example - picture this - the slide on the left shows a full page photo of a runner slogging through the desert with a simple message - Less than 33% of U.S. adults are at a “healthy weight.” Not bad. But the slide on the right? It shows the midsection only of an overweight man grabbing his belly fat, with the caption in large print: 66% of Americans are obsese or overweight; below that a simple chart on the numbers of all adults, women and men. It’s so much more memorable!
Garr Reynolds is a writer, designer and musician who currently holds the position of Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. http://www.kansaigaidai.ac.jp/asp/
Hence, his zen-way of seeing things.
His real message: Simplicity Rules.
How good is it? Seth Godin http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/ the marketing guru of gurus quips, “Please don’t buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won’t look so good.”
The AJ Factor
Posted by Meredith on 27 May 2008 | Tagged as: Marketing
I often think about how customer service might be the only industry that technology hasn’t benefited. We’ve all heard (and experienced) the horror stories of “pressing 1” and getting nowhere, “pressing 4” to be told you’ve reached the wrong department and asked to start over again, etc. etc. etc. So it was refreshing when I got an email about a wonderful example of superb customer service!
My mom emailed me a few months ago about an experience she had calling the Bruins’ customer service line. (I know, I know, I shouldn’t be bringing up stories back from when there was still hope for Boston hockey fans this year, but I just have to share this story…) Below is the “excerpt” from her email -
“It was so funny… before they made the playoffs, I randomly called the Bruins direct # & got this young guy AJ. We chatted for several minutes…he joked and asked if I was a “true” fan and not just “dusting off my black & gold for the playoffs!” He took my # and email & said that he’d call as soon as they made it in. Sure enough, he called me on my cell Monday morning… I thought that was excellent service!”
Not only did ”AJ” connect with her on a personal level, but he kept his promise to call her back. It sounds “small,” but how many times has a random customer service representative promised to call you back just out of generosity and then actually done so!? Who knows, maybe the Bruins have some sort of policy for their employees to be that courteous to all customers. Or maybe this guy AJ is just a really nice, great guy. Either way, his friendliness leaves me with a great impression of the Bruins’ organization.
I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s new book “Meatball Sundae”. (The title really does make sense, I swear.) Like some of his previous books, Godin talks a lot about word of mouth marketing. My mom’s experience with AJ is a great example of how one encounter with a customer service rep can do wonders for the positive word of mouth about a company.
Big companies may have gotten rich throughout the past few decades by cutting costs and creating cookie-cutter ways of dealing with customers. But we’re all yearning for personal connections. Going forward, I think it’s clear that the “AJ Factor” is going to increasingly define consumers’ opinions of a company.