Sensible Marketing

Help me - I'm hypothecating!

2010-02-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

The real estate profession has its share of strange vocabulary. So while there are few experiences more underwhelming than sitting through 90 hours of real estate licensing class, there are at least a few bright spots. One is the exposure to arcane but historically interesting vocabulary that is used on the licensing tests, or so they tell me. Take a look at a few of these words -

Chattel - an old name for personal property, basically anything that isn't real estate could fall under this heading. I associate it to stories about slaves being included as chattel, not a pleasant concept.

Emblements - these are crops that a tenant farm would grow on leased land - even is the land is taken back by the owner (for failure of the tenant to pay, for example) the emblements are the property of the tenant.

Escheat - an appropriately sounding word for the government appropriating property when a person dies without a will and with no heirs.

Hypothecate - when a borrower puts their property up as collateral for a loan - so I guess that means most home owners are hypothecators? That doesn't sound legal, does it?

Livery of Seizin - this Middle Age expression is the antiquated way of saying 'delivery of possession and title to a buyer. This is a new one for me.

Short sale - this term is actually not in the study material for the AZ real estate licensing exam but seems to be the term with the most cache in today's market!

To be honest, the breadth of information covered in this class has kept me interested most of the time. It's a great combination of law, history, geography, finance, taxes and social culture. And, yes, I'll be ecstatic to be finished!

Sensible Web Marketing Tips from an Icon

2009-06-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Francine Hardaway is an icon in the Arizona technology and business community (and elsewhere). Her vast experience and willingness to share it have earned her a great degree of respect. Below is a copy of her recent post to the AZIPA message board. The advice may seem remedial to SEO pros, but the content is rock solid. Please enjoy and implement "7 Simple Ways to Get Search Engines to See Your Site"

(Geeks will already know this) You can't just make a web site anymore and hope people will come. You can't even blog anymore and hope people will come, although good blogging software like Wordpres s has built-in SEO (search engine optimization).

You have to do something to get your content out to where the people are. Even large corporations are often disappointed by the amount of traffic to their corporate sites -- people just don't go to sites. In the early days, people "surfed" the net. Now we all know it's too big to find things randomly. Rather, we take advice from friends, follow links from Twitter and Facebook, or take whatever result comes up on Google or Yahoo searches. So do your visitors.

The marketplace is full of companies that supposedly help your site get attention. While some are good, some resort to methods you might not want to be associated with if you care about your corporate image. So don't just hire a company and entrust it with the responsibility of carrying your image out on the internets. Take the time to learn a little about the most important marketing tool you have -- your web site. Develop it correctly and it will be found even without outside help.

There are several simple web site development tools that are almost free or support themselves through hosting services that I use when I want to turn a site over to a client who will be able to maintain it him/herself in the future. Use one of them if you are doing a site yourself. (Weebly , Wordpress , Squarespace )

Or ask your web developer to abide by these simple rules, and your content will get out into the world at large. Search engines work on complicated algorithms that usually involve changes, links in to your site, and good keywords. So here are seven simple ways to get people to look at your site.

1) Create quality. Forget brochureware and product sheets, unless they already contain the keywords your customers and clients will be looking for. No one is looking for a "complete real-time solution." Make your terms crystal clear, without jargon, and repeat them naturally in your copy. Hyperlink terms to other places on your site. If you were buying, searching, comparing in your own category, what would you be typing into a search engine?

2) Add a feed to your site. This allows someone who comes to your site to subscribe to your content. At the very least, create a Twitter feed that will automatically make your site changes or blog posts come up as links in your Twitter posts, where your followers can click on the
links.

3) Change the content often. Search engines look for changes. This is why blogs work. And don't accept a web site that can't be updated and managed by you without having to call the web developer. It's called a "content management system," and you want one. Static web sites don't get found.

4) Make your site social. Put a Share this button on your site, so if someone wants to send
your content to a friend or a social site, it's easy for them to do. There are many different widgets that allow your readers to share your content; just choose one. I've got nothing invested in ShareThis, other than its ease of use.

5) Use anchor text wisely. Search engines crawl it. So every time you write "click here," you are missing an opportunity. Instead, hyperlink keywords you think your readers are looking for, or you wish they were searching for to find your site.

6) Find out what the most important keywords in your sector or business area are. There's a service called Hitwise you can use to get this data, or you can get it from Google itself. Believe me, Google's Adsense program knows. Use them in your copy.

7) Stay away from Flash animations on your landing page. Flash looks good, but search engines don't search it, so if you want to be found, you can forget about it.

None of these tricks is complicated, nor will they get you in trouble with the search engine gods. I've learned them all through hard experience.

We Fix Stupid Haircuts

2009-03-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

"We fix stupid haircuts." With this simple phrase Ely the Barber has built several successful barber shop businesses on both sides of the continent. In a few words he has captured the essence of attitude and differentiation, establishing himself as a barber of quality in a world of mediocrity.

Like many small business owners, Ely works hard, six days a week, to build a business that supports himself and his family. Yet Ely has the knack, the 'je ne sais quoi' that allows him to excel where others flounder. Born in Russia, Ely traveled through Israel to get to the US by the age of thirty. He learned the language and he learned the craft of barbering. He also learned to cut hair to the demanding standards of his Long Island clientele. He soon had his own shop, Ely's Barber Shop then then another, in the Long Island area.

In search of a better life, he moved from the city to Arizona. Once here, he rebuilt the Ely's Barber Shop of New York fame. And like many of his new neighbors, he invested in real estate. Yes, you know the rest of that story.

Undaunted, Ely has undertaken to rebuild his business in a small shopping center in Glendale, AZ. Surrounded by budget hair cutting chains and a community that is feeling the effects of the down economy, Ely offers high quality cuts that are rare on in the West Valley. He has a disarming, pleasant smile and the ability to converse on almost any topic. Instead of the sports and sex motifs common in many barbershops, Ely plays quality music videos of a variety of international musicians to add a charm seldom seen in Arizona.

To increase traffic, Ely has mixed traditional and web marketing. To leverage his location on a high traffic street, he invested in a bright yellow sign off the main road. Using Market Like a Millionaire tactics, he set up a Merchant Circle free website, and purchased elysbarbershop.com from Go-Daddy. Through building several inbound links from local search engines such as Google Local, He now ranks #2 in a Google search for "barber shop 85302" in his area. He also ranks #1 in a search for 'Ely's Barber Shop" among the dozen or so shops of a similar name in the US.

Ely's next move is to ask his patrons to go to his website to post testimonials. This not only helps his ranking and online reputation, it also positions him with his customers as a barber who's 'with it'. His customers have a chance to experience a sense of involvement in Ely's success, further connecting them with him.

A diamond in a rough economy, Ely will soon be featured in local newspaper profiles of how to persist and thrive while other complain about their stupid haircuts. Stay tuned for his other sensible marketing strategies. And stop by to let Ely give you the best haircut in the Valley.

FaceBook - Avoid Tattoo Regret for your online presence

2009-02-20T22:04:00.000-08:00

The conversation about FaceBook content ownership policies serves to remind us all that posting anything to the Internet is akin to creating online tattoos for your online presence. Like a tattoo, once content is posted it can be very difficult to remove.

Professional marketers are typically aware that any messaging, print or web, can come back to haunt you. They know that with the easy expressiveness and transparency of blogging or Twitter, there can be serious consequences of poor or inappropriate content.

The FaceBook issue applies to all the social media technologies. Once something is on the Internet, there is may be little you can do to take it back. Inappropriate pictures, associations, expressions, etc, can be used against you now and far into the future.

There are some relevent lessons in the recent article in the Daily Chronicle titled Tattoo Regret.
"Derick also removes a lot of tattoos people got in their teens that don't define them as adults, she said. “I think people, when they're younger, want to identify with something. But ultimately, when you get older, you don't want to be defined by that content,” she said."

Sensible marketing planning includes thinking through messaging, themes and appropriate content for all communications, then planning before publishing. The saying goes, Think before you speak applies completely here.

Sharpen Your Axe

2008-12-31T16:20:00.001-08:00

Perhaps more than any other December 31st for a generation, this December 31, 2008 will be remembered a the last day of a tough year. After speaking with many business owners over the last few days, it is clear that surviving 2008 is a defining moment for many of them. Surviving 2008 and managing to keep an eye on 2009 took more guts and determination than most of them had bargained for.

Like many defining moments, this year brought out the true colors of many of my compatriots. The strong became stronger and more resolute, if not necessarily more financially successful. And those who were looking for some excuse to blame for their lack of success found a handy scapegoat with the poor economy.

My prediction for 2009 and beyond? Only one:
Those that use this time of slow economic growth to sharpen their axe and lay the groundwork for long term sensible marketing and business development will look back at 2008 as the catalyst that drove them to new levels of success.

Be the economic engine of your own success. Sharpen your axe.

Happy New Year

Telemarketing's Place in the New World Order

2008-11-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

While there is no underestimating the power of web marketing, any sensible marketing approach will still consider telemarketing as a proven method of generating immediate feedback and immediate leads, particularly in a B-2-B market.

Over the years the telemarketing profession has taken it's share of hits and in many circles the telemarketer is regarded with the same disdain as, well, other professions that not well regarded. Yet the secret is that successful companies large and small continue to invest their marketing and sales dollars into telemarketing programs for one good reason - they bring results when executed intelligently and with respect for the customer.

I'm prompted to write this blog after seeing a friend fail miserably with a telemarketing campaign. A small business owner, he hired a local call-from-home 'telemarketer' to try to sell his service to local dentists. The methodology was for the telemarketer, who had no particular experience with dentists, call a list of dentist offices to offer to sell the service. The script was a basic hello, this is who I am, do you want to buy my service, offer. As one might predict, the telemarketer spoke mainly to office assistants who had neither authority to buy nor understanding of the need for the service to the dentist office. Since the telemarketer had little to send for supporting collateral, the calls were often short with little value added to either the dentist or the telemarketer. After a short week or two, the program was ended with the saying, "Telemarketing doesn't work!"

But telemarketing does work. Two examples of using the telephone for sensible marketing and business building are shown below.

Bill Gluth has operated Creating Words that Sell and related businesses successfully for a number of years. Always an innovator, Bill is current on the latest in web and social media marketing as well as old world strategies of print and telemarketing. Just over a year ago, Bill implemented a very simple telemarketing program to generate attendees to his business seminars in the local Phoenix area. Using a simple script and a free white paper that would help a small business owner build sales, he was able to hire a telemarketer to call small business owners and offer the free white paper. While on the call, if the telemarketer detected a need, there was an offer for a follow through appointment to discuss any potential for a further relationship. By keeping the offer simple and free, small business owners with a need responded immediately. For those business owners who only accepted the white paper, Bill's brand was built and seeds were sown for later business. For those business owners who were open to a follow through call, Bill was able to add them to his pipeline of qualified leads. With only one telemarketer working, there was no need for expensive and time-consuming CRM systems, just something simple such as FreeCRM. Through telemarketing, Bill was able to garner immediate feedback on the calling list, the response of the target, and pick up other market information that would have been difficult to learn through web or direct mail methods. Further, ROI on the investment was clear, as measured in terms of businesses contacted, appointments set, and business booked.

On the other end of the spectrum of business size, Televerde is one of the nation's premier providers of phone based market intelligence and customer acquisition solutions. Using the latest backend technology for CRM, quality control and other data management, Televerde continues to build an ever expanding base of Fortune 100 clients precisely because it provides that same result that Bill Gluth's simple method provides, ROI. Televerde has the resources and know-how to strategically blanket a given market in several continents, provide instant feedback from the field, and adapt to changes relatively quickly. Yes, it's prospect interaction relies on integrated electronic marketing including websites, online demos and email. But the power of the business is based in its proven use of the telephone for B-2-B marketing. It the business is thriving because Fortune 100 businesses realize a clear ROI.

Two extremes of B-2-B marketing, very small local businesses and international Fortune 100 companies, yet both see results with telemarketing when used sensibly.

Making Sense of Sensible Marketing Firms

2008-11-29T09:18:00.000-08:00

When I began Sensible Marketing, LLC back in 2002 the name, "Sensible Marketing", seemed strong enough, not too trendy, and yet representative of the business I was to build. Fortunately I licensed the business name in Arizona, my primary state of business. I say fortunately because the name "Sensible Marketing" appears to be gaining popularity across the country (see below).
Sensible Marketing operates as an outsourced Director of Marketing, covering a broad array of marketing programs and methods including traditional marketing and web, social media and direct marketing. In particular, Sensible Marketing has strong experience with technology-related B-to-B markets and with marketing to support sales teams.

About a year ago, another Sensible Marketing firm, (Sensible Marketing Inc. for Startups and Small Businesses) showed up on Google searches. This one is based out of LA and is run by another guy named Michael. Over the past year Michael Williams has done a very respectable job of building his web presence using social media, primary as a web-based and electronic expert. And it seems that Michael Williams has a full time job in addition to his marketing company, a situation similar to mine at this point.

Recently a third Sensible Marketing firm has appeared on scene. Sensible Marketing Services out of Knoxville, TN touts itself as more of a full service marketing agency though most of its case studies reflect website and graphic work. Like Sensible Marketing Inc, the owner, Jesse Olive, has invested a significant amount of time in building out his website and blog. Nice job.

One of the first Market Like a Millionaire lessons I learned was from a military commander on the simulated battlefields of the cold war in Germany. He said, "When you see a good idea, steal it." Of course, done within the boundaries of ethics and law, this is good advice. So long live the Sensible Marketing name, may it build a strong reputation among marketing professionals across the nation, and the world.

Recap:

Sensible Marketing, LLC - the first, based in Arizona
Website: www.sensiblemarketing.net
Blog: Sensible Marketing Blog

Sensible Marketing for Startups - based in Los Angeles
Blog: http://blog.sensiblemarketing.biz/

Sensible Marketing Services - based Knoxville, TN
Website: www.sensiblemarketingservices.com

Vehicle Wrap - An Investment With Clear ROI or Just a Write Off?

2008-09-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

How do you increase the ROI on a vehicle wrap? As in the design of any other communication, using sensible marketing basics can make a car wrap more effective with no additional expenditures. How can that be? Read on.

The motivated owner of a national insurance franchise, we'll call him Steve, agreed to purchase a vehicle wrap from one of his customers. The decision made sense for several reasons. First, Steve markets heavily in the local area, including attending many networking events. Having a wrap could increase awareness and build his brand with that audience. Second, the vehicle wrap vendor was the source of several profitable leads to Steve, helping justify the purchase.

For the design of the wrap, the vendor talked to Steve, found a design that Steve liked, and proceeded to put in several hours finalizing the design of the wrap. As happens too often, the design was created based on the best guess of the designer and the preferences of the business owner. No real thought was given to the best messaging for the target market, and no input was solicited from them.

Steve ran the design by me to see what I thought of it.

My first question was, who is the target audience? Does it include a relatively conservative baby boomer like me, or are you targeting a 20-28 year old Gen Y audience with a penchant for high risk?

When it became clear that I wasn't the target audience, I suggested that Steve show the design to some of his best customers in his target to get input. Not only would he get valuable insight into the effectiveness of the design, it is safe to assume that Steve’s customers would appreciate being asked for their opinion, further build up their relationship with Steve.

Steve was initially concerned that if he showed it to others, he might have to change it, racking up a few additional hours of design time. Yet by neglecting the input of the target audience, Steve was risking wasting his whole investment, or worse. It is possible that the image of the wrap would go counter to the desired brand he wanted to convey, alienating customers and prospects instead of attracting them.

So will Steve now invest in a few more hours of design time to insure that the wrap resonates with his target? Or will he scrimp and risk having his vehicle wrap be an expensive paint job and a tax write-off?

Stay tuned.

Three New Free Tools to Help You Market

2008-07-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

One of the keys to market like a millionaire is knowing the best tools to use, for free. Here are three quality web-based tools that marketing pros can leverage for different aspects of their marketing.

FlyPaper, a Phoenix-based startup, has proven itself to be a reliable and easy to use program for creating flash web content in a short time. A wide variety of templates allow anyone who can fumble through a PowerPoint presentation to produce a professional piece for use a social network site or website. Just today they announced their Pro version that allows tracking of viewer stats. But try the free version first! See the quick tour here.

Jott gives you the services of a personal assistant for taking your notes and organizing them, then sending them to your online mailbox or someone else’s as you command. Saves trying to write notes when driving. Saves trying to text when your fingers can’t seem to hit the right key! It’s not exactly a marketing tool at the moment, but who couldn’t use a tool to manager their time better?

TubeMogul helps you syndicate your video content to multiple markets. Through it you have a single point for deploying uploads to the top video sharing sites, and powerful analytics on who, what, and how videos are being viewed. This is a must for anyone using video content to market.

Who Needs a Salesperson?

2008-07-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

Two schools of thought:
1. Business doesn't happen without a salesperson to make the transaction happen.
2. Give the right people the right information and they will buy what they need.

It's funny how the value of sales skill is underrated by the person who isn't doing the selling. Yet show me an organization with no sales skills and I'll show you a company focused on surviving, not thriving. Sales philosophy must infiltrate an organization from securing funding, arranging strategic partnerships, and closing profitable customers to bringing on the right talent and keeping them on your team.

The strength of a sales person is ability to take the tools at hand and make the deal work now, for the best results for all parties. The sensible marketing person will have positioned and messaged and strategized, the finance person will have analyzed and forecasted, the technology person will have Visio'd out the networks. But it takes a sales person - perhaps in the form of a VP of Sales or as a CEO, President or Department Manager with a name other than 'Sales - to make business come together.

Don't neglect your sales skills. Until you are maxing your quotas with ease, don't assume that you can't improve. And hug a sales person today!

International Sales Pros Association

World Webinar Network - On Target for Business

2008-07-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

The hottest show in Phoenix at the moment is the World Webinar Network. This diverse group of pros puts on a smoking event that gives legs to social media.

Social media events will be the rage in the next year, if they aren't already. What makes a good event is the not social media hype but social media application. The World Webinar Network team brings a unique and powerful mix of social media web experts and traditional business professionals with concerns like time, expense and results. Results with social media technology still depend on business basics like having a coherent message and knowing your target market. The mix offered here bodes well for the growth of this group as their event offers value to the neophyte as well as the seasoned social media junkies.

Check out the slides at here: World Webinar Network Slides

It is better to give… if you have accountability

2008-07-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

If you’ve done direct sales successfully, you know the value of strategic gift giving. A small gift, properly presented, shows concern and attention that is often rare in the world of email communication. While a personal note is invaluable in building or strengthening a relationship, a personal gift can go even further. However, as with any sensible marketing initiative, gift giving should have some metrics associated with it. While the ROI of a relationship may be difficult to establish, there are ways to measure the effectiveness of a gift and incentive program.

One company that has a grasp on gift and incentive metrics is Corporate Touch, a company with national scope based in Phoenix. This company offers a unique product line that facilitates gift giving and provides metrics on the success of the program.

One current Corporate Touch customer puts it this way, “I was spending $50 per gift as a thank you to our successful sales people. Typically I’d buy gift cards to restaurants, movie theaters or coffee shops. But I had no way of knowing if the gift cards I mailed had been received, appreciated or redeemed. We knew we needed to have a gift program but we were operating in the dark as far as understanding it’s effectiveness.”

Enter Susanne Garland, owner of Corporate Touch. Susanne introduced a gift and incentive solution that allowed Lisa to cut costs, get metrics on the effectiveness of her program, and then improve those metrics in several ways.

Here’s how the Corporate Touch program works. First the giver determines the value of the gift to be given, let’s say $50. The giver then selects a gift album from the Corporate Touch selection that is appropriate for the recipient. In the $50 range, there are several selections including gourmet foods, teens, general variety and bridal/wedding albums. For this example the variety album is the best solution, and the giver purchases 30 albums to cover expected giving for the month. Each album is accompanied by a gift card that has a unique identification number that allows tracking of the gift.

Next the giver gives that album with card to the recipient. Because the albums are thin, they can be mailed for a reasonable price, or hand delivered. The recipient opens the gift to see the album of 40 or more preselected gifts that are available. Using the enclosed gift card, the recipient goes to website to select the gift, enter his shipping address and the unique identification number. The gift is shipped, postage paid to the recipient, with a 6 month no-questions asked exchange policy. So the recipient gets a gift that he selected.

Now back to the giver. After the gifts are awarded, the giver can review the status of redemption through an online portal. This allows the giver to track the redemption rate of the gifts. If a particular recipient hasn’t redeemed the gift on a timely basis, the giver can send a reminder via email to ensure the gift has been received. If the gift is lost, the giver can send the recipient the unique number and the website for redemption, allowing the recipient another opportunity to order his gift.

If the gift hasn’t been redeemed and the recipient can’t be reached, the giver can reassign the unique number to another recipient, thereby effectively using her budget.

The Corporate Touch system allows accountability in your gift giving, similar to the way that a good email program, such as Constant Contact, allows insight into open rates for your email.

Success Has Many Fathers

2008-05-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

Success has many fathers, and I just met one.

I recently had the opportunity to pick the brain of Gary Johnson, who along with his wife Lisa Wagenknecht, owns one of the leading Maui Wowi Hawaiian retail storefronts in the world. The franchise also won the 2008 azcentral.com 'Best of' award. The intent of my discussion was to uncover marketing tactics that helped him reach, for the moment, the Mauna Kea of his market. What I uncovered was a fundamental truth of franchise ownership being demonstrated before my eyes.

With just over a year of experience owning a Maui Wowi storefront franchise, Gary and Lisa are just beginning to understand the value of their investment. Their store is slightly hidden off of a main intersection with little foot traffic in a decidedly middle class, even blue –collar area. With a slow economy they have had to work hard to build their business. Gary, as the chief marketing officer, understands that he must service two distinct market segments – the frozen drink drinkers and the coffee drinkers.

“We spent a considerable amount of time trying to reach both segments with the same message. That only confused our market. We have now launched a two-pronged approach with clearly different messages for each market.” explained Gary.

“Our philosophy is to build a connection with local markets. We knew that we had to build our base with the population that lives within a 2 to 3 mile radius. So we are very active with the local schools and look for strong community groups, such as the Glendale Lacrosse League, to sponsor.” continues Gary.

“From the beginning we invested in the local chamber for two reasons. First, we joined to help promote our business. Secondly, networking there has been invaluable for finding other small business partners to help with printing, graphic design, and even floor cleaning. We try to source as much of our own business as we can locally.”

In a discussion of what keeps him up at night, Gary mentioned his anxiousness to evolve the business to the next level. Having been in operation for 14 months his store has come from infancy into adolescence. “The list of things that you think you need to do keeps growing, not shrinking.” reflected Gary.

In the land of franchise ownership, Gary and Lisa appear to have created an unfair advantage for themselves. They both work very hard and smart. From the start of my conversation it was clear that Gary and Lisa have an alignment that can be rare. For example, when I asked Gary for a source of his inspiration he immediately mentioned his wife.

“Lisa is responsible for operations of the store while I have the responsibility for the sales and marketing. We want and have to be successful. Like any good business partners, we took the time to write a contract with each other with a clear delineation of responsibilities. Watching Lisa work so hard and seeing her accomplish her goals for the store is a huge inspiration to me. Her hard work and focus motivate me to do the same. Because of that, I believe owning this store has really helped our marriage because we are both performing and inspired by the efforts of one another.”

What about the benefits and drawbacks of working with your franchisor?

Gary pontificated, “One of the critical aspects of owning a franchise is setting the correct expectation of the role of the franchisor. We paid a modest fee to start, and with that comes modest level of expectation. We didn’t buy a million dollar + franchise and we understood that from the start. I have met many franchisees who had misplaced expectations of franchisor. It’s our business. We have to be responsible for our own success and not be consumed with the minutia of who does what in the franchise relationship.”

Included in our discussion were the typical sensible marketing topics of the marketing plan, web advertising, brand recognition and the like. But the real secret of success here lies deeper than marketing; it lies in the strong business fundamental and emotional maturity that Gary and Lisa bring to the table, making them one of the many fathers of the success of this store.

Want to know another father? The franchisor, Maui Wowi. With Gary and Lisa, Maui Wowi validates the adage that the key to a franchisor’s success is the selection of the right franchisees. Congratulations, Maui Wowi.

A Sensible Marketing Approach for Charities

2008-05-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

How often have you felt inundated with requests for charity donations? The requests come in all sizes - order cookies and candy from kids, attend an expensive dinner which gives you a write off, send in $20 to get a telemarketer off the phone.

Periodically someone gets it right. TheBluefield Partners charity of Phoenix has hit upon the real hot button of charity giving: give me something I want and make me feel good about it, and I'll give you my money. They target upscale professionals with the option to purchase unique merchandise for the benefit of their many altruistic activities. Leveraging eBay widgets, they have managed to generate interest nationwide within a short time.

Please take the time yourself, as an upscale professional, to bid on this offer. Help others while helping yourself.

TIE Exceeds Expectations with Raj Jaswa

2008-04-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure to attend the monthly meeting of TiE Arizona this evening. The guest speaker, Raj Jaswa, brought over an hour of insight and advice on entrepreneurship to the gathering of 50 entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs at the ASU SkySong complex.

Raj was the founder of two wildly successful technology startups in Silicon Valley -- OPTi (semiconductor chipsets) and Selectica (enterprise software), both of which he led as President / CEO and took public on the NASDAQ. Raj was named to Forbes' list of "Top CEOs: America's Most Powerful People" in 2000.

In a fireside-chat interview format, Raj walked the audience through the pitfalls and triumphs of building two public companies. While there were many take-aways for the audience I'll share Raj's three skills for entrepreneurial success:

Learn how to network. An entrepreneur will require the services of many types of people from janitor to investor, lawyer to marketing professional. According to Raj, the time to meet and get to know these people is before they are needed.

Never stop learning. Keep reading and exposing yourself to great material from a broad range of sources. Read all you can and use CDs and tapes to educate yourself. Through these media you can expose your self to the best business minds. This also help you calibrate the level of ideas and capabilities of those people you meet networking. How do their ideas fit with those of the best in business?

Build a mentorship system, whether one or two mentor or a strong board of advisors. There is too much for one person to know everything. Mentors will help not only with the big picture strategies but also with details like how much stock to issue to a new vice-president, .5% or 3%, for example.

Raj is now President at The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Silicon Valley. He made a special trip to the valley for this meeting. TiE in Phoenix is a respected business group with a focus of encouraging and enabling entrepreneurship in Arizona. TiE will also sponsor the Audacious Ventures: Case Studies on Entrepreneurship conference.

See more of Raj Jaswa here:

Cutting Through the Clutter in Social Media - Wonkosphere

2007-10-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

Red - Blue - What are you?
Chances are that whether you are leaning left or right in American politics, you read and watch Internet sites that share your point of view. And while the pundits pontificate on the particular leanings of the dinosaur media or talk radio, do you ever wonder which side really dominates the Net?

Welcome Wonkosphere, the site that shoots straight on web happenings surrounding the 2008 Presidential Election. At a recent Social Media Club I had the pleasure to speak with Kevin Dooley, the founder and operator of Wonkosphere. After listening quietly to the animated discussion on who (left or right) really dominated blogs, You Tube and other social media, Kevin was able to quietly proclaim, "I have a good idea of the answer."

Using sophisticated technology, careful metrics and cool sense of neutrality, Wonkosphere is an invaluable tool for political junkies to follow their favorite candidate or favorite cause. Using categories such as Buzz Share, Tone and Representative Posts, Wonkosphere comes as close as can be imagined to tracking the real picture of politics on the web. There is even a special One Step Ahead category where leading edge stories are identified, giving you the insight most pundits can only dream about!

Yet the question remains, How important is social media to the 2008 election? Of the over 120,000 voters in the 2004 election how many can be expected to be influenced by social media tracked by Wonkosphere? How many of My Space's over 66 Million users are registered US voters who will show up at the polls? Likely very few.

Keep an eye on Wonkosphere and you can decide for yourself next November!

An Eye on Zion & Zion

2007-09-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

How do you differentiate a marketing agency? Value, performance, customer relations? Aric Zion says yes to all three. As founder and CEO of Zion & Zion Consulting Group, Aric brings a rare and, to be frank, bizarre combination of talents to the table. Both an engineer and a marketer at heart, this marketing professional has broad experience. He is as comfortable dealing with the basics of helping local businesses such as Goettl, Slide-Lok, and the Arizona Science Center as he he is with advising ASU graduate students on the intricacies of Factor Analysis and RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation). Aric manages to run a full service agency with his partner, Dugue, and teaches marketing once or twice a year at the university.

There is a saying that 'success leaves clues.' During lunch at the Cafe Istanbul recently, I had the opportunity to quiz Aric on his clues to building a successful, respected marketing agency. It soon became apparent that the keys to his success included hard work and caring for the customer. Yet with each example of successful programs, the 'clue' emerged. Aric's approach is to find the best solution to a marketing challenge, then ask the question, "Ok, is this solution different from what any other good marketer could come up with?" Very often that answer is no. That is when Aric applies his team's energies to refining and enhancing the solutions to bring really great results.

Aric says that now his team asks themselves this question before presenting work for him to review, producing unique and successful solutions to a broad range of marketing situations.

Professionals in Marketing and many other fields struggle to differentiate themselves. This one clue from Aric Zion can help us all reach a new level in our professions and leave 'the pack' behind.

A marketing gem in the Arizona desert

2007-09-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

In a state where over 97% of businesses are small business, it may seem strange to find a national big business marketing training company. But near the Scottsdale Airpark is the headquarters for Pragmatic Marketing.

Since 1993, Pragmatic Marketing claims to have trained over 40,000 technology product management and marketing professionals. While most of their seminars are in tier one cities, they make their presence known nationally through a high quality monthly magazine, The Pragmatic Marketer and various e-newsletters and webcasts. That’s how I came to know of them.

Month after month their publications have floored me with quality content that talks to the marketing professional with practical, pragmatic advice and commentary. The August 2007 issue, for example, includes titles such as

* The ROI of Being Market-Driven

* Five Slices of Segmentation

* Product Management Axioms

After reading the August issue, I was compelled to contact this company to find out more about them. That contact led to a recent lunch with Dave Mammen, area development for Pragmatic Marketing. From him I got a sense of the spirit of the firm. Pragmatic Marketing is the kind of company that shares information willingly through its publications and articles, with the idea that people that see that value will be willing to pay for more. Since that time I have learned from two web casts that have had immediate practical value.

There are hundreds of marketing newsletters and companies that promise to help small business with their marketing. Yet Pragmatic stands alone in providing the detail and templates to help the professional excel at strategic and pragmatic, some might say sensible, marketing methods. Try out their publications, and their upcoming seminars in Scottsdale in October 2007.

Marketing lessons from a lacrosse coach

2007-08-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

In a market segment that boasts 68% growth over the last 5 years, Bill Casey is an effective marketer. Bill is the director of Glendale Lacrosse League (GLL). With unbridled passion for the game, dogged professionalism and solid marketing basics his organization has seen growth of more than 350% since 2005. As impressively, Bill has strategically positioned his organization on the crest of tremendous wave of lacrosse mania that encompasses participation from elementary school students up to universities and the championship Arizona Sting professional team.

Marketing wise, we could all take some lessons from Bill's sensible marketing techniques. One primary technique is solid communication with his base which includes the parents, children and coaches of his league as well as various partner organizations including city sports departments. Bill communicates through well written, to-the-point emails issued on an as-needed basis, building credibility with each communication. A second technique is using the local lacrosse/hockey magazine and local press for PR initiatives, including contributing articles which position him as a subject matter expert. Both of these techniques require little expense and can have a strong impact.

One other cost effecting technique is to leverage the significant marketing investments of the Arizona Sting, the local professional lacrosse team. The Sting markets actively through mass media and through local schools as it builds its base in Arizona. It's players make visits to elementary schools so that the kids have a chance to meet professional sports players. Bill also coordinates visits of the Sting to his practices, giving an added boost of energy and excitement to the kids.

The last point to mention about Bill's marketing success is his consistent brand. Every communication is consistent with his overall operation of the league: professional, thoughtful and effective. Without spending a mint on marketing, Bill has used the basics to achieve excellent results.

Variable Print and PURLS - what good are they?

2007-08-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Metrics - that's what today's e-marketing technologies promise as the big advantage over traditional direct mail and PR. Website page views, email opens, cost per click, you name it, there are clear metrics for marketing with technology. And that has been a big advantage over 'snail mail' direct mail. Until now.

I recently visited John Muehling, founder of Market with Ink in Phoenix. John has integrated Fortune 500 print and web technology to create RealStream, a direct mail based marketing system with precise analytics and a centralized database to store and build upon results from campaign to campaign. Why is this important? In the last few years the great advances have been made in variable print technology. This technology allows the marketer to customized the text and graphics to each recipient. In additional to allowing better targeting of message and cool graphic effects, the technology also allows imprinting of a Personal URL (PURL) on each piece. For example, the call to action for a mythical Allen Byington can now be "Allen, go to your personalized web site www.youareonvacation.com/AByington to register for your free marketing assessment." where the 'AByington' part of the URL is personalized to Allen. In addition, when Allen goes enters the PURL in his browser, he will find a personalized web page that includes variable data such as his local sales rep, his contact data to confirm or update, and perhaps graphics appropriate to his location or needs.

Here comes one of the good parts. When Pete accesses the personalized website, the visit is recorded in a online database and a notification is sent to the sales rep responsible for Pete's territory. Next, once Pete completes a form in order to receive his assessment, the form data is entered into the online database and a second notification is sent to the sales rep with the completed data. At this point, the sales rep knows in real time that Pete has taken action on the direct mail piece, and simultaneously, the online database is updated with the same information. At this moment you have clear, real time metrics on the direct mail effectiveness.

The Drawback
There are several companies that offer this or a similar PURL technology. Typically, there is a significant setup cost as well as an additional cost per PURL (or cost per name in the database) of up $0.10 each, plus the cost of the mailing. One drawback, however, is that the database for mailing and recording of responses is an independent database. That means after each mailing the data has to be merged into a main contact management database and reviewed before the next actions are taken. For those of us who have managed multiple databases, this shortcoming clearly restricts the scalability of this marketing method.

Enter Market with Ink
Using advanced database technology, Market with Ink offers all 0f the benefits and functionality mentioned above, with the big advantage of collecting data from multiple campaigns in its online database. Similar to Constant Contact, new lists can be created, depending on response. In addition, the RealStream system allows for customized emails and direct mail to be sent which include PURL marketing. The database also allows recording of various steps in the sales process, assignment of sales value and other functionality only found in full CRM and sales management systems. The value here is that for the price of setting up a typical direct mail PURL program the marketing professional can enjoy access to a full fledged integrated marketing database that even the sales force can use.

RealStream is the type of gem of a marketing tool that 5 year ago would not be accessible at any reasonable price. Today it is vital tool for tracking performance-based marketing programs, including integrated direct mail/telemarketing and email campaigns.

Marketing with Nuance - Lesson's from a Puppeteer

2007-07-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

Coad Canada Puppets tour the world. They have performed in nearly twenty countries and won numerous awards. They are frequent performers at puppetry festivals across North America and abroad. Early on, founder Luman Coad realized that a great puppeteer is a master of nuance, permitting the audience to use their imagination to fill in the gaps whenever possible.

So what does this have to do with sensible marketing? Just this - the oft repeated truism that 'less is more' is oft repeated for a good reason. It is true.

I received an email today from local CRM software company. I vaguely remember signing up for some information a year ago, and this company has been regularly keeping my advised of their latest wonderful offerings and success stories. I promptly delete each message since I'm not in the market for a CRM system and there is little else of interest in their emails. They could use a few lessons in adding value to their email from Constant Contact, but that is a topic for another day.

Today's email, however, varied greatly from the past. This one contained several paragraphs of verbiage describing the many benefits of the software. I can only guess that the goal of the email was for me to become so enamored by the text that I would respond for more information, though that call to action was not clear. Knowing that the reader was, to date, just another vaguely interested prospect, how much the more effective would the writer have been with a short succinct message related to CRM, or a quick graphic and byline, and an call to action to stimulate further interaction? Why not take the time to review the message and distill it to the most powerful thoughts, then, like the Coad Canada Puppets, leave the reader to fill in the gaps?

Louis Armstrong was another famous master of nuance. They said he could squeeze more soul out of one note than other could from a whole riff. Effective use of nuance is evidence of mastery.
Enough said.

Staying in contact has never been so easy

2007-07-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Marketing is often thought of as the art of finding prospects for the sales team to close. Less often, the business owner focuses marketing efforts on those people with whom the business already has a relationship. Most businesses have lists of current or past customers, vendors, community contacts and prospect who aren't in the 'sales funnel' at the moment, and so little attention is invested in them. To make matters worse, the information on these other relationships resides in various Outlook files, Excel spreadsheets, accounts payable records, and even billing records. So even if one wanted to market to this diverse set of people, just the data management would be a nightmare, not mention managing the communication programs.

The solution? How about a sensible but advanced email system that allows you to keep multiple lists within the same database, tracking and reporting of emails, opt-out features that work, and an easy to use interface that even takes 5 minutes to learn? Oh, an how about a price point of $25/month for up to 500 contact? That solution is Constant Contact.

I have used Constant Contact for over two years for large corporate communications down to high school class reunion planning. This web-based email solution is a godsend for three reasons: price, effectiveness and ease of use. After a 60-day free trial the service costs only $20 - $35/month for most organizations.

Using Constant Contact allows you to gather and segment many different lists into one online database. That feature alone has value to some small businesses. Next, through Constant Contact you can send customized communications, via email, to the different groups relatively easily. This permits you to build your relationship with a various communities of people who can help you build your business.

The Feds and the French in Second Life

2007-04-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

If you had any doubt about the future of Second Life (SL), it is time to look again. The online virtual world is the the talk of any gathering of future thinkers. One recent blog spoke about Caldwell Banker virtual real estate transaction on SL. A collegue has plans for a major rollout of some unique online training and qualification programs (more to come). But today we see two stories that point to the power of Second Life.

First, ANITA RAMASASTRY, a columnist for FindLaw examines the legal implications of online gambling on Second Life. No great surprise there. Gambling can be expected to pervade all sorts of online venues. The news here is that the creators of Second Life have invited the FBI to roam their virtual halls in pursuit of 'illegal' gambling. How's that for validation of the Second Life concept?

Second, the BBC published an article today on the use of Second Life to solicit concepts for the renovation of the gardens of Les Halles, an important Parisian underground hub and marketplace. By taking advantage of this online forum a local residents' association Accomplir (Accomplish) is has not only leveraged the latest trend in online presence, it has also garnered international attention to its project. Let's see how this project pans out.

Second Life is in the news. Time to get yours.

The Franchise Page

2007-04-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

The cherry trees are in bloom. That fact typically wouldn’t matter to a resident of Arizona. However I recently attended the International Franchise Expo in Washington, D.C. and had the privilege of viewing our nation’s capitol in full cherry blossom splendor. I also had the privilege of meeting some great folks involved in helping franchises expand through better marketing. One of those people is Natalie Nutter, Managing Partner of Mercury Road. Her company has launched a new format with the goal of providing better qualified franchise leads to franchisors at an affordable price point.

With years of experience in the franchise industry, Natalie knows that the several large franchise lead generation sites or portals look numbingly similar. They battle for top spots in ‘franchise’ related searches using various site ranking and traffic generating tactics including PPC, linking and organic SEO. Visitors to their sites are led to chose attractive franchises and then submit their basic qualifying information. Leads from these sites typically have a 1 in 100 close rate, leaving a lot of room for improvement. Pricing models are either fixed monthly or priced per lead. Effective cost per lead may range from $50 to $100 each.

In order compete with these behemoths, Natalie and her crew have launched The Franchise Page. Here prospective franchisees are offered content on various industries which offer franchises.

Natalie explains, “When a visitor hits The Franchise Page, one of the first things we effort to do is drive them to read. It may be about the industry they were initially interested in or a question that initiates some self talk to see if they are really serious or just kicking tires.”

“Here they have the option of self-qualifying before they request lots of information on multiple franchise concepts and potentially waste your time. This technique helps reduce the number of tire kickers that are just filling out forms. This saves you time and lets you focus on more qualified prospect.”

Why is this important to you, the web marketer? Instead of blasting content at prospects The Franchise Page begins its relationship with the prospects by meeting them on terms familiar to them, encourages that relationship with strong industry specific content, then begins the qualification process. What’s next? User interaction through blogs, survey and other user generated content.

See some examples of this technology at www.bestpetfranchises.com and www.mealassemblyfranchisereview.com.

Way to go, Natalie!

What to do with Web 2.0?

2007-03-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

What to do with Web 2.0? I have spent a considerable amount of time over the last few weeks trying to grasp the concepts of Web 2.0 and the significance of it to my world of marketing. If you don't have a clue about what is Web 2.0 I'll direct you to a few sites that can describe it better than I. The question is how to apply this 'new' communication technology to real world marketing tasks. (I say 'new' technology because much of the technology has been available for some time. Only now is it being more broadly adopted.)

I had a coffee this week with fellow marketeer Steven Groves. After we agreed that there are some great benefits to blogging and that fantastic technologies like Second Life are still virgin territory, we tried to wrap some real world value to this. In other words, aside from the fascination, how's does one create ROI on time and money spent developing a Web 2.0 presence? Sure, there are the comparisons like, "What is the ROI on your phone system?" but when it comes right down to it, why pay someone to create and maintain your blog, My Space, or Second Life presence when the same resources might been used for advertising, direct mail, email, website or just meeting people for coffee?

I suspect we will find that Web 2.0 is here to stay and that the type and amount of a person's or company's presence there should be determined by

1. Having at least a general understanding of the capabilities available today
2. Understanding the reach of Web 2.0 into your target market, and estimating the change in that reach over the next 6-12 months
3. Understanding how your presence will really drive business (or whatever you results metric is) vs. other investments resources.

Sure, most marketers should learn about the medium quickly, as it seems that the technology adoption curve may be steeper and longer than any we have seen yet. That learning time will be a necessary investment or R&D expense for the future. But let's see in what applications we can make Web 2.0 pay off now. Your comments are welcome.

Links:
Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
Material from recent Social Media conference in Phoenix

Big business tools for small business

2006-11-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Small businesses nimble enough to grasp the power of the Internet to market like millionaires for $100/month ( and less) will lay the groundwork for their success over the next few years. Few small businesses grasp the magnitude of the marketing forces previously unavailable that now allow them to finely craft their message and build their communities of buyers and prospects like never in history.