Preparing Your Business List, Checking it Twice: Looking Ahead to 2011

Happy New Year -- 2011

Here's a short checklist for what has to get done before year-end:

-- Closely manage marketing/sales opportunities and close all pending deals
-- Correctly invoice completed work and progress billing
-- Collect ALL receivables
-- Keep an eye on revenue bookings; now is the time for gamesmanship
-- Tie rewards to results, not how hard people worked
-- Send clients thank you notes and call your top clients
-- Complete 2011 operating/marketing plans and budgets
-- Establish, quantify and assign 2011 marketing objectives to all leaders
-- Finalize and communicate the 2011 sales compensation plan
-- Verify vacation schedules, coverage and contact information
-- Thank your team for all their hard work and dedication
-- Don't forget to thank your team's significant others
-- Review winter weather and holiday celebration policies
-- Ensure everyone's ready to drive results starting Monday, January 3, 2011
-- Consult with NM Marketing Communications: 847.657.6011

We all know how busy people get this time of year! It's your job to maintain focus and ensure the important things get done.

Close out the year with the proper balance of intensity and good cheer!

PR Push Could Have Prevented Recent TSA Uproar

Here's a bit of encouraging news from the Transportation Security Administration: body cavity searches are not yet in the cards.

As the nation gripes about aggressive airport pat-downs and embarrassing full body scans, TSA Administrator John Pistole told reporters last week at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast meeting there are no plans for body cavity searches. A sigh of relief rose from the audience.

The media though are delighting over reports of kids and nuns being groped by screeners. Slow news week, indeed?

The TSA did a lousy PR job in informing airline passengers about impending aggressive security measures, which are a response to last year's attempted Christmas Day bombing of a plane over Detroit. The Administration should have kicked off a national educational campaign to warn travelers of the prospect of pat-downs well before the full body scanners went into use.

Bankrolled by federal stimulus money, the scanners are now in place at 68 airports up from 19 last January. Many more are coming.

Pistole is all over the media map these days, explaining the need for security. While he admitted that pat-downs and scans are very uncomfortable and invasive, he calls them necessary security measures.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Pistole said: "If we are to detect terrorists, who have again proven innovative and creative in their design and implementation of bombs that are going to blow up airplanes and kill people, then we have to do something that prevents that."

The administrator also says a tiny handful of the traveling public get the pat-down treatment. That's not what we see on TV.

As for the scanners that produce a naked image, Pistole should have made the PR pitch that screeners reviewing the image sit at another location. They see neither the face of the person being screened nor are told of his/her identity.

Pistole's media tour is welcome, but it should have happened months ago to avoid the perfect storm of holiday travel and widespread screening.

Even Non-Profits Require Effective Media & Marketing Promotions!

If you’re operating a not-for-profit organization without any planned marketing or media promotions, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be packing up and closing your doors. At the beginning of any new enterprise, the temporary fanfare gives the illusion of a long and successful future. But, as soon as the novelty wears off and no additional attempts are made to keep prospects focused on your organization, it’s quite easy for potential customers to lose interest. That’s why it is critical for not-for-profits of every industry to devote time and effort toward developing a sustainable marketing and media program.

Basic Not-for-Profit Marketing & Media Initiatives

1. Advertising. Opportunities for advertising today are most diverse. You always have the time-tested print ad that can promote your member services not only in your own trade publication, but also in newspapers and other relevant periodicals. To immediately reach even more markets, online advertising is another strong choice. Banner ads and links on affiliate sites are two additional options.

2. Press Releases. Keeping your not-for-profit top of mind is best achieved through the consistent flow of information covering your latest newsworthy events. Promote your organization’s or association’s latest developments or achievements through a continual stream of press releases. Had a recent new hire? Offering a new service? Hosting an upcoming event? Anything and everything should be issued in press release form to the appropriate local or national news agencies in an attempt to catch an editor’s attention who will contact you for a full right-up in their publication.

3. Direct Mail. A long-used medium for maintaining a consistent awareness program for any not-for-profit organization is direct mail. The primary direct mail vehicles include post cards, brochures, newsletters, catalogs, letters, and self-mailers. Used together over the course of a predetermined timeframe these can create and maintain a successful awareness advantage over competing for profit organizations.

4. Op-Ed Pieces. For greater exposure and name recognition for your association, consider developing and submitting an op-ed column to the appropriate local business newspaper, industry newspaper or magazine. As an expert in your field, editors will be more likely to value your opinion as one coming from an authoritative source and thereby be more inclined to feature your viewpoint.

5. White Papers. Another method of creating awareness for your not-for-profit organization is to write and publish white papers. A white paper will present your solution to a problem that potentially faces many of your current or prospective members. Providing such information will establish you as the go-to source for further problem solving. Select from current topics within your industry that would generate most interest. White papers can easily be posted online where your audience can quickly download and retain your information. Naturally, you want to feature your organization’s name and benefits as they relate to your white paper’s subject matter.

Outsourcing can increase your ROI

If developing an effective full-scale marketing and media program for your not-for-profit organization is continually postponed due to a lack of personnel or time, considering the services of an outside marketing communications agency could be your best return on investment. Contracting with a professional source gives you the opportunity to stay focused on your business goals. While you manage your daily responsibilities, your marketing program can be developing simultaneously by a team of marketing communications professionals.

This approach is certain to save you time and cost while it completely reduces any stress connected with having to develop marketing programs in-house. Whatever your decision – in-house or outside marketing firm – the importance of maintaining an ongoing program of media promotions should be on the front burner of all not-for-profit organizations. If you want the publicity and notoriety that ran delirious with your opening fanfare to endure for years to come, it’s only possible with an effective, ongoing marketing and media program.

BRANDING -- It's All About the Emotional Business Connection

Entrepreneurs don't always take the time to find out what their customers truly want, which is to simply feel good about the product or service they're purchasing. It's one thing to provide a product that's in demand or a service that gets the job done. But it's an entirely different proposition to make someone feel good about committing to make a purchase.

How Emotional Branding Works

Emotional branding is the public relations art of making your customer feel good about doing business with you. If your business is an online store, for example, do you take the extra time to send a "thank you" email to your customers? Do you make your website easy for your customers to navigate? Is your website easy to follow -- from first hit to "check out?" Take the extra time to do the little things for your customers, and they'll be more likely to feel good about what you're selling to them.

Emotional branding has been around since the beginning of sales. It's about establishing an intimate relationship with your customers where you understand what your customers want and your customers understand you.

Three Questions To Ask Yourself About Branding

To best understand your customers and to best create an intimate emotional connection with them, you should ask yourself three questions about your business.

First, what's important to the people whom you want to attract to your business?

Second, what are the main concerns of the people you want your business to attract? If you sell car tires, your customers are concerned about their quality, how long they'll last, and that you'll install them properly. If you can reassure your customers that you can do these things, you will create an emotional branding connection with them and are more likely to make the sale.

Lastly, what do you do to address the concerns of the people you want your business to attract? Do you make sure you only buy tires from reputable suppliers? Do you only offer new tires? Do you only hire certified mechanics to install the tires on customers' cars? These are all things that you can do to calm customers' fears and create an emotional branding connection with them.

Keep Change In Mind

Customer needs change over time. To maintain an emotional connection with your customers, you must change with your customers' needs. Find out what is important to them, and offer those products and services. Prove you're a company that meets your customers' needs and you will connect intimately with them. Customers will keep your brand in mind and feel confident about buying from you. They'll be there for you as long as you're there for them.

Stir Clear of GREEN-washed Messaging

Before you jump on the GREEN bandwagon, do your homework to make sure your GREEN messaging is true and accurate. If you don’t, you could easily be accused of “GreenWashing” by stretching the truth. You need to conduct detailed environmental and social-impact assessments on each GREEN-related promotion you roll out. Anything less could lead to eco-friendly claims that ring hollow falling far short of the results you were anticipating.

Make it a practice to tout third party GREEN product certifications when possible for more credibility. Avoid quoting potentially biased sources that could lead to blatant green-washed claims. Applying similar protocols can help ensure the integrity of your company’s GREEN messages.

For example, Give Something Back Business Products out of San Francisco - www.givesomethingback.com - makes sure its GREEN marketing messages adhere to a 4-point checklist. GSB’s director of sustainability, Stephanie Schlecht, says that each green promotion must

• Be as specific as possible. All claims must be made in the context of the company’s wider sustainability program.

• Be as transparent as possible. The company openly promotes its green goals and shares stories about how it does or doesn’t achieve those goals.

• Be as relevant as possible. Any claims must accurately relate to a product’s connection to specific environmental issues throughout the product’s entire life cycle.

• Be a resource. The company considers outreach and education an integral part of its value proposition, so sustainability messages must reflect that standard.

Following such guidelines will keep your company’s GREEN messaging up front and credible and far from any potentially unprofitable GreenWashed promotions.

Websites Create Sea Change in Business Strategy

There’s no question that if you are running a business today, no matter how small or large it is, you need to have an online presence. This is true whether you are selling consumer products that can be purchased directly online, or are in the business-to-business arena utilizing a sales force or distributors.

While there are many reasons to have a website in today’s digital environment, there are two basic reasons. First, it adds credibility to your business. It wasn’t too long ago that the Internet was considered a transient form of communication. The prevailing attitude among many businesses and their customers was that you needed print brochures, catalogs and other physical materials to show you were a real company. Now, people question the existence of your business if they can’t find you on the web. Also, your website can be a non-stop promotional tool. Websites are visible 24/7, and they don’t ask for vacation or take a sick day.

Beyond these very elementary reasons for having a website, B2B companies have another compelling motivation to make sure they have a strong web presence. The Internet has brought about a sea change in buyer/seller relationships. The availability of information and greater pricing transparency has shifted power to the buyer. At the same time, the Internet has created new methods for marketers to have one-to-one dialogue with customers rather than relying on mass marketing methods. These changes have transformed the way B2B companies target customers and communicate with them, as well as often altering the role and approach of your sales force.

There’s a report on our website that you can link to here that discusses this new paradigm for sales and marketing relationships. This shift is one of the many reasons to give careful thought to how you create, design and maintain your website. I’ll discuss some of the reasons, along with examples of the website success achieved by some of our B2B clients, in a future blog.

Turning Skinflints Into Buyers

At the risk of overstating the obvious, we’re in a tough sales environment these days. It seems like a lot of people are following the philosophy of former Chicago Bears football coach George Halas, who supposedly threw nickels around like they were manhole covers.

In the old days, this sort of person was called a skinflint. You probably know the type. They turn out the lights to save on electricity, often before everyone has left the room, or they try to squeeze every last mile out of a gallon of gas. They see saving money as a game.

Even people who aren’t skinflints by nature are more carefully guarding their dollars in today’s economy. So what motivates these people to buy, whether it’s something for their personal use or from the corporate budget? Usually they’ll splurge for something they really want. That might be a new suit or a cruise for their own use, or something that solves a business problem in their corporate lives.

Making a skinflint buy something requires a better understanding of their reasons for buying … not your reasons for wanting to sell them something. That means uncovering what the prospect is trying to overcome, improve or eliminate by buying from you. However, if you focus too soon on features and benefits it sets up a dynamic that makes it easy for the prospect to compare you with their current vendor or other competitors. And then they may decide that everyone’s product is about the same, so price becomes the deciding factor.

You can break this cycle by understanding the prospect’s problems and the negative effects that are already costing them time, energy and money by not using your product or service. Then you can turn skinflints into buyers.