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Is your marketing missing the cookie factor?

January 8, 2010

Is your marketing pouring some serious money down the drain, because you don’t have a cookie factor? What is a cookie factor anyway? And, how can you apply this simple marketing strategy and psychological principle to improve your bottom line?

You Buy $30 Takeout, You Get Free Coke and Wontons

My smile was bigger than the Great Wall of China the first time this happened. We were regulars at this Chinese food takeout, but this time there was something unusual. When we paid our bill, out popped a 2-litre bottle of Coke and 6 wontons.

Confusion reigned and dollar signs kicked in. Was I paying for something I hadn’t ordered? Was there some communication gap here? My knitted eyebrows must have revealed my bewilderment quite clearly. Before I could go blah, the little Chinese lady behind the counter held up her hand, smiled and said the words that entranced me forever.

“You buy $30 takeaway, you get free Coke and wontons”

She Had Us Trained Like Lab Rats…

Before that day, we’d never bought Chinese takeaways for more than $25. Yet magically as we crossed the $30 mark, this entrepreneurial woman made sure we knew the value of instant gratification. Every time we hit the $30 mark, out came the goodies. Every time we didn’t, we got our order and big smiles, but little else.

Now we had a choice. We could have our usual, or order just a little more and be rewarded with all the extra goodies that came with it.

What do you think we did?

Yes, just like you and every one else, we like something for nothing and our purchases hit the $30 mark like sunshine hits the Caribbean.

Say Hello To The Cookie Factor!

This in short is the cookie factor. You create a demand for the product with something so alluring that the customer forgets the product itself and concentrates mainly on the cookies. Psychologists call this the psychology of second interest. This effectively means that people shift focus onto the goodies and end up buying the main product based on this tiny inducement.

How Far Can You Take $5?

Pretty far, I’d say judging from Marie’s success. Marie, a friend of ours, is a freelancer and gets called in when there are specific jobs to be done at various design firms. Like clockwork, she lands at the job with a box of yummy, scrumptious chocolate chip cookies. (Makes my mouth water, just writing this out!)

It’s bizarre I know, but clients earning in excess of a hundred grand a year, drool like little puppies over the prospect of free cookies. $5 worth of cookies was getting Marie a red carpet treatment and more work than she could imagine. Without doubt, her work was exceptional, but then so was the work of her competition. The only tipping point in the game was the cookie factor.

You may not believe that grown, sensible people would be so stupid to fall for what seems to be a quite obvious bait. Yet look around you, the cookie factor is well and alive and bouncing off the walls!

Lookie Mom, There Are Cookies Everywhere!

Look at airline milage points and points that you collect every time you fill gas. Why on earth would you fly the same airline, despite those crazy timetables? Why get gas at that crappy gas station? Or buy pizza from the same pizza place every time?

It’s all thanks to the cookie factor. It’s greed kicking in and wanting something for nothing.

You can see the cookie factor in different dimensions. Here are three main avatars.

1) As An Inducement: Get That Vacuum Cleaner Moving!People buy because of the added factor. They always have and always will. As long as they perceive themselves as getting something for nothing, they will be drawn to it like flies to honey. The cookie factor makes firm believers out of hesitant buyers. Deep in the human psyche is the need for justification. The bonus that they receive fills that space and gets the credit card heated up once more.

2) As a Retention Tool: Stuck Like Glue! The cookie factor is magical for retention. Imagine you had a law firm and you had these free educational training sessions for your clients on a regular basis. What you’re doing is giving away something for nothing. You’re drawing them back like that pizza place does every time. This is a powerful retention tool to get customers back in your airspace. The inducement and the retention factor might look and feel the same, but there is a tiny difference. Inducement is instant gratification, where as with retention, it’s a slow moving process that shows results in loyal customers.

3) As a DeterrentThis is the dark side of the cookie factor– The Darth Vader! 5-year rentals and leases come under this category. The cookie factor is used to get the client in at a low rate, but keeps them hooked into the product or service over a long period of time. When you buy a fridge or a computer, you can get an additional 5 Year Peace of mind by buying into additional guarantees. There is very little real benefit for the user here, but it exists, if only in the dark alleys of your marketing strategy.

Are You Mixing Up The Cookie Factor With The Hot Spot?

If you are, it’s okay. A hotspot in selling, is finding out what is of most interest to the buyer and then going after that interest, often basing the entire sale on that one factor. The cookie factor is a tiny shift away from this thought process.

Let Me Give You An Example

If you were selling a house, a hotspot would be the proverbial cherry tree. The buyer loves the cherry tree, has always wanted a cherry tree and the sale of the home is based on this hotspot. The cookie factor is slightly different. It is a deliberate act of placing cookies to entice the potential buyer to dip into their pockets for a brand new mortgage. I’ve known people who’ve bought houses based on the premise that they get the sofas, work desk or the artwork on the mantelpiece. I’ve known smart real estate agents that have placed this cookie factor as part of the deal and creating interest where boredom exists.

This is the bait, the cookie factor! It draws the customer in and tips them over in your favour. In effect, the cookie factor becomes the hot spot and you’re on your way to a definite sale.

Where’s Your Cookie Factor?

If you look into your business and your marketing strategy, you will certainly find one. When tested online, it was found that sales went up by over 30% by introducing a bonus to the product. If you’re in services, you can offer two or three add-ons at the time of purchase. If you’re selling product, tag on a duvet to a bed sale or a box of stamps with a pen.

Relevance of your cookie factor is extremely important. A recent chain of restaurants offered a free dessert with an order of dessert. Does that really entice you? If you’re going to have a cookie factor, dispense with the stupidity. Make it relevant and valuable and your customers will respond to it in hordes. If your cookies are stale or crumbly, find a garbage can they can call home.

And finally, remember it’s not hard to find a cookie factor in your business. It provides you with additional ammo to make the customer happy. And guess what happens when customers get happy?

Yeah, they buy!

Go out and find your cookie factor.

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Magnify Your Effectiveness W/Tony Robbins and Frank Kern

October 26, 2009

This is a GREAT interview I came accross today. 

Tony Robbins meets with two guys I happen to like a lot, Frank Kern & John Reese.

Both of these guys are self-made multi millionaires who made their fortunes by selling products on the Internet.

AND they still continue to thrive in today’s economy.

 So the purpose of this interview is to uncover the traits that successful people have in common. Specifically, the traits that cause them to take action and follow through.

 As you’ll see, the solution is really quite simple and available to us all.

He even has a cool little exercise you can do in about 3 minutes.

Check it out right here

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Simple SEO Tips for Small Business Owners

September 1, 2009

 

Simple SEO Tips For Small Business

Think about what people search for! What are people are going to type to find your site.

Title tags matter. It’s what the user first sees on Google results.

Use the meta description tag. It is often shown to web users when they search on Google.

Start a blog! Participate in the conversation. Doesn’t have to be complex or fancy. Things that are interesting to you are probably interesting to your users/customers.Examples: What made you decide to start a small business? What were your weirdest customer experiences?

Find conversations using social media. Try digg and StumbleUpon.

You do NOT have to pay Google to get traffic from Google. Google crawls your website for free. Just make sure it can find your website.
Advertising on Google doesn’t influence rankings. Buying advertising on Google does not influence search results.

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When Do You Stop Marketing To Customers?

August 26, 2009

Are you afraid of alienating your customer with your marketing? Do you always feel like a stranger in their inbox? Do you have marketing strategies specifically designed to tell you when to keep marketing, and when to stop? Well, stop looking so puzzled. In the marketing article below, I’m going to bring home to you exactly how to join the dots. You will learn just how much to market, and when to stop. Yes, it is a science and marketing strategy, and it applies to online as well as offline marketing. So, pay close attention.

Why Dennis Was Fuming

Dennis McConnell was going nuts, literally. He sailed merrily into the office this morning only to find seven unsubscribe messages in his inbox. This was in response to an email he sent out marketing his upcoming Power Photoshop workshops. His merriness took instant flight. His mood transmogrified into the color of winter, and the sunshine outside didn’t seem to count for much. (Yes, it’s still toasty summer in New Zealand!)

From Angry To Stupid In Twelve Minutes Flat

Like most marketers, Dennis spun around 180 degrees. He pulled the plug on his marketing and decided to send even fewer emails to his subscribers. Why anger them, he thought? The longer he thought about it, the deeper he swam into his turgid pool of fear.

That Is, Was, And Will Be His Big Mistake — And Yours Too!

Why? Let me paint an alternate scenario for you. Imagine you had to give a speech to a hundred people. Say the speech was at the end of the day, and the participants were now tired. Let’s suppose about thirty of them left. Would you give the speech or start crying for mommy, because those thirty walked out?

Without question, you’d still give a stupendous speech, wouldn’t you? Your job is not to focus on the people who are leaving, but on those who have stayed to listen to you.

Dennis was like every one of us. He paid attention to the exit, forgetting there were hundreds of people who were quite happy to receive the information. Are you doing the same? Are you focusing on the goodbyes, when in reality you should focus on those who are sitting tight? Do you even understand the psychology of how people react, when they don’t want to do business with you?

The Psychological Difference Between Unsubscribers And Complainers

Why do people complain? Have you even thought about it? The only time people complain is when they DON’T want to leave. Complaining is their way of communicating to you to spruce up your act.

Unsubscribers, on the other hand are mostly either freeloaders (they came on because you offered something free), or they recognized themselves not to be your target audience. You are never, ever, not in a million years, going to sell them anything. They are just keeping you from wasting your time with them. Understand this concept and you are on first base, but wait…we still have to get to second base.

Second Base Comes Before First Base

Look at mum. When she told you to take the garbage out, you complained. But did you ever unsubscribe? You didn’t unsubscribe from mum because she was putting food on your plate. If you knew what was good for that bottomless pit you called your stomach, you’d stick close to home. It’s exactly the same with your customers. If you consistently give them information that is useful to them, they will stick with you through all the marketing messages you send them. Heck, they’ll even buy!

Don’t Be A Bloomin’ Miser With Your Information

You see this article. It’s not a couple of scraps that fell off the table. It is the full story. Every plot, every twist and turn. That’s what has kept you reading so long. If you send out information that’s half-baked, you get half-baked subscribers. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.’

Most advertising is fluff. Most marketing tells an incomplete story. And most articles on the internet actually edit for space. If you were selling a product, where would you stop your sales pitch? Would you count the words and say, stop at 300 words? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? So why is it different when you’re selling a concept? (At this point, you’ve read 718 words and are still reading. Doesn’t that prove the point?)

So How Much Do You Give?

Lots and then when you’re done, heap some more on the top. Would you be happy if I left half the questions unanswered in this article? As an expert in your field, you’re way ahead of your customer. Knowledge grows in leaps and bounds. Why not give it away? Give away tons of the stuff, and you will find within yourself, an unending reservoir of information. If you give away loads, it means you have a lot more. Inevitably, customers will see that and actually pay to learn more from you.

To market to your customer, you must be a brand in their heads. And to be a brand, you must earn their respect. The only way you can do that is to give them the full dope.

Ask mum. How many recipes did she give away? Would you live long enough to see the end of the recipe list, even if you lived to be a hundred? Is she the goddess of recipes, or what?

The Curse Of The Unsubscribe

Sales is a transfer of enthusiasm from one person to another. Say that out loud. Most marketing doesn’t have enough What’s- in- it- for-me factor. Most of it has no enthusiasm, and looks like it was written by someone who speaks Greek as a first language.

If your marketing, advertising or sales pitch is boring, your customer yawns. Several yawns later they leave, unsubscribe or make you a permanent resident on their delete list. If you cannot be enthusiastic in the medium you choose to market, get a professional to do your marketing. This is your bread and butter, don’t muck around with it.

It’s Mindless Marketing Without Technology

Some customers jump ship because you aren’t smart enough to use technology. Too many times, right after a client has attended a workshop, you sell them the same workshop again. How dumb is that? And dumber still is the fact that most people will try to work their lists by physically removing the names.

You cannot afford to make mistakes here. Invest in software that filters through the mess and does it flawlessly, instead of you picking at names one by one on your list. This eliminates mistakes and gives you a clean list to market to. Ergo, customers aren’t mad, and your bank account is jingling away.

Customers Are Waiting To Be Led

Don’t let the unsubscribers worry you. Customers want to improve their lives, their businesses and their careers. If you believe you can do that, tread the intelligent road by educating them in great detail.

Put in all the goodies to make your customers stay. If they’re sick and tired of you, they’ll complain. They’ll say NO. Till then, you keep on marketing to them.

It’s that simple.

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Why Are Customers So Indecisive?

August 17, 2009

Do you know why your customer won’t buy?
You’ve given her the best price, possibly even the best options. Yet she fidgets. Maybe, maybe not, she ponders.

You stand by the wayside and sweat, praying the sale will go through. Then almost inexplicably, it slips out of your hands, and you don’t even know why. You curse, rant and rave silently at her indecisive nature. Yet ironically, the fault is all yours.

Don’t agree? Hold your horses and you’ll learn a simple, fundamental psychological factor you’ve been missing in your marketing strategy, and how you can rectify it in a flash.

Why The Trees In Our Front Yard Are Still Looking For a Barber

Let me tell you a story about our front garden. Any time now, I’m expecting Tarzan and a couple of chimps to swing merrily by. Like something out of a horror movie, the foliage has spread its tentacles, and now hangs menacingly over several parts of the house.

Yes I know we need an arborist to lop off those branches. And yes, we have called in at least half a dozen. Incredibly, we haven’t made up our minds on whom we should choose. Like deer caught in the headlights, we’ve been frozen in indecision. One itty-bitty factor would have made it easy to decide, but it has eluded us completely.

I Know What You’re Thinking, And It’s Not Price…

Oh boy! We have estimates up to our ears. One quote is as high as $800 (aaargggh!), while the other one blushes at $250, and all the rest do a merry dance in between. You’d think the cheaper quote would get the thumbs up right away, wouldn’t you? Well it didn’t.

In fact, it has added to the confusion because we can’t understand why there would be such a huge difference for what is essentially the same job.

And Here Is The Reason Why We Can’t Decide…

It’s a factor called the Full Story. While every single one of those arborists provided us with quotes, not one of them gave us a single reason to choose them. Any reason would have been better than none. Ten reasons would have clinched the deal, even with a higher price.

This is one of the main reasons why most deals seem to disintegrate before the eyes of most business owners and sales people. We fail (and fail miserably) to educate our customers about the unique advantages of working with us.

It’s An Impossible Puzzle If It Doesn’t Have The Pieces

People need to be gratified psychologically. Our brains are dying to know more about the companies that bid and all we get are terms and prices. The arborists should have educated me about the quality of their cutting, their comprehensive insurance policies, their warranties, their skills, and their service guarantees in detail. I needed to know anything and everything that would help me decide in someone’s favor. Not one of those bids included that kind of information.

Look at yourself. Let’s say you hire someone for your firm. How little would you like to know about him? Or say you go out on a date. How little do you want to know about your partner? Every piece of the puzzle is absolutely necessary. Don’t forget to give your customers a reason to buy from YOU. Tell them about yourself. Provide all the juicy details, and you will leave your competitors crying in their beer.

What Is The Psychological Reasoning Behind The Whole Story?

The strong, silent type is the one our mamas told us to watch out for. We instinctively trust people less who tell us less. Even if we do like the person, we want them to open up. If you want people to trust you, you have to tell them about yourself.

This instinct of distrust is hardwired in our brains, and you’d do well to pay attention to it. A lack of adequate detail doesn’t help to build trust, which is why customers go from hello to sayonara very quickly. Once you have their attention, stop saying stupid things like, “Buy from me,” and start giving them all the reasons WHY they should buy from you .

Add spices to your marketing strategy curry, and your customer will be captivated by the aroma. Churn the gastric juices in their brains. Make them salivate. Get them to drool. And when they’re ready to eat, feed them well.

Ta-Ta Risk

Telling the Whole Story eliminates a big hurdle called risk. The less your customers knows about you, the more they are frozen in indecision. When faced with this scenario, they resort to the only thing they know—price. Just like you, they make a decision on the cheapest, trashiest option available… because that’s all you gave them!

Abolish the hazard of your customer choosing to buy solely on price. Give her a first class education about why she needs to buy from you.

The worst thing you can do is leave her hanging without sufficient info…..

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Why Problem Based Positioning Is A Magnet

July 9, 2009

Are you struggling to create a memorable positioning statement or USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for your marketing? Do you want to stand out from your competition, but the uniqueness of your business seems to elude you? Here’s a sneaky, vital secret that turns conventional marketing psychology on its head. By changing your positioning statement, find out how to transform your weakest link, into your strongest marketing strategy ever!

Avis Is Only Number 2. So Why Go With Them?

Years ago, in the rental car market, Hertz was chugging along merrily, with Avis a distant second. With one Problem-Based USP, Avis closed the gap. Their catch phrase, We’re No.2, We Try Harder, ignited the minds of the target audience like a rampaging bush fire. They turned a liability into an asset.

Southwest Airlines took to the skies with a similar message. We’re Smaller Than Everyone Else, they told us, while gently explaining why their service was dramatically better, as a direct consequence of their size. They also turned a liability into an asset.

In 2001, Harley Davidson proudly boasted how their CEO was 38th on the waiting list for the company’s then, new V-Rod motorcycle. And they took pains to describe how each Harley was lovingly rolled off the plant. The waiting period, which normally would be perceived to be a negative, was turned into a publicity coup that burned a stamp of quality and a uniqueness into the brains of every prospective Harley owner.

All of these companies took a cold, hard-nosed look at reality. The superlatives in their business had been taken. Instead they unearthed their USP, in what most people would consider a disadvantage of sorts.

Are You Doing What Sally Did?

Sally is one heck of a real estate agent. Barely six months into real estate, and she’s already forging a red-hot path into the top ten salespeople in the country. While her talents and persuasive powers are formidable, there’s a little something that puts her head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.

That Little Something Is A USP On Steroids!

If she chose to be unimaginative, Sally’s USP or tagline could have ended up as pretty run-of-the-mill. It could have ranged from a tacky, Residential Properties for every budget, to utterly boring, Getting Top Prices for Your Home. All of which would see her struggling to stand out, in a dog-eat-dog me-too marketplace.

A goody-gum-drop USP would get her nowhere in a hurry. She needed a USP with rocket fuel in its tanks. Something that would reach out and demand your attention without hesitation.

If You Sold Your Home In A Week or less, You Probably Got Too Little

That’s the USP that Sally created. Can you see what I mean? Doesn’t that USP go for your jugular? Sally’s target audience is sellers, not buyers. If you just sold a house, wouldn’t you feel a twinge of regret? What if you were about to sell a house?

Wouldn’t you be curious to find out just a little bit about what Sally does to lasso in a higher return? And wouldn’t you be just a little bit wary if the next real estate agent you met told you that she could sell your house in next to no time?

You’ve just witnessed the psychological power of the Problem-Based USP.

How To Create A Knockout USP For Your Business

Let’s assume you’re in the wine selling business. To own real estate in a customer’s brain, you’d have to do battle with about a zillion other wines. Yet decades ago, Paul Masson cut through the clutter with a simple statement. We sell no wines before their time. With charming simplicity, they turned a negative waiting period into an exploitable advantage.

You too can turn your liabilities into assets. Stop screaming about how magnificent you are, and look for the apparent glitches in your business.

The Biggest Reason Why You Should Search For The Hiccup In Your Business Strategy

Finding what makes you beneficially different is a notoriously difficult task. However, just about any client or potential buyer will very quickly identify your weaknesses and liabilities. If it’s a technical problem, you can fix it. If it’s a conceptual problem such as speed or price, it is much harder to fix.

This, however, is the key to your success. The more you try to keep your weaknesses and liabilities under wraps, the more customers will uncover them. On the other hand, take a liability and turn it into an asset. Expose a problem to the harsh glare of the spotlight and transform your frog into a prince.

This brave act will gain the instant admiration and support of your clients, while giving you a USP that others simply won’t have the guts to match.

Can You Make The Leap?

Creating a negative USP is a tricky, dangerous tactic, and one not to be taken lightly. “We’re slow and proud of it!” is hardly a selling point, yet fulfills the requirements laid out in the article. However, if you’ve been struggling with your USP, as many companies do, this is a tactic that may work well for you—as it has with some of the companies above.

It’s time you tickled your customer’s brain with some sharply focused psychological marketing jujitsu. Find the weaknesses and liabilities in your business, carve them into a dynamic USP, and the attention your business has been craving for, will be yours forever more!

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Who Is Your REAL Competition?

June 26, 2009

If you design kitchens, is another kitchen designer your competition? Most likely not. And the sooner you can position and modify your marketing strategy against your real competition, the sooner you will start to see more business come through the door.

So Who Really Is Your Competition?
The answer to that is always–Never the most obvious. So let’s take the example of the kitchen designer. Having decided that another kitchen designer isn’t his competition, he now has to decide who is his real competition.

His Real Competition Could Be A Car Salesman
Is this for real? How can a car salesman be a kitchen designer’s competition? Let’s analyse this more carefully. A kitchen and a car are both fighting for the same thing– The householder’s limited budget.

If the kitchen designer, were able to convince a couple that a kitchen is more important than a new car (which he could easily do if there was a foodie around), he now has a better chance of them dropping the car in favour of the kitchen.

The Advantage Of This Method Of Positioning
The most obvious advantage is that you’re not losing any current customers. All your past advertising is bringing in the customers that are looking for kitchens anyway.

What it does do however, is bring in a new lot of customers that would never have thought about kitchens, if you hadn’t implanted it in their minds. Effectively, you have both, customers who are looking for kitchens as well as customers who are forfeiting their new cars in favour of new kitchens.

How Your Re-Positioning Can Help You Focus
We had a client who ran a laundromat. Her current customers were people who did not have washing machines. Obviously, her business went up and down based on the season and on her customers limited budget. We got her to refocus her marketing strategy on a new target– Customers who had washing machines.

These customers had the money, but no time. By deciding that her real competition was time she decided to target people who had limited time instead.

As a result, she was now targeting busy people while other laundromats were targeting people with washing. This positioning actually helped the laundromat stand out from the rest of the competition.

How The Laundromat Did A Full 180
This re-positioning did a couple of things for them. One, it helped them focus on their target audience. Consequently, they changed their name from just XYZ Laundromat to Bizzie Buggers.

It was catchy and bang on target. It also now meant that busy customers (with the money), were more likely to stop over and drop their washing. Plus they had the regular customers walking through the door anyway.

What You Need To Do
Sit down and write who your immediate competition could be. Then write down what your business is really up against. Here are some examples.

These aren’t necessarily your right targets but they help you see things in a different light and help you determine who your real competition could possibly be.

Cartoonist= Photographer
Computer Salesman= Filing Cabinet
Car Dealer= Expensive Restaurant Meals

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Psychological Power of ’3′ to Improve Communication

April 17, 2009

Two might be company in life, but in communication you can go all the way to three and still have a rollicking party. If you step over to four however, it’s quite likely that you’ve stepped into the hara-kiri zone. Back up that truck a bit and learn how the power of ’3′ has the ability to make your communication soar.

Let’s Start With a Little Test
Here’s a psychological test. Lay out 10 business cards in a row and choose three that catch your attention instantly. Now don’t cheat. Do this before you continue reading this article and you’ll be quite amazed at the results.

So What Did You Find?
Isn’t it strange that there seems to be no real reason why you chose what you did? There doesn’t even seem to be a very clear pattern emerging.

Some of the cards have lots of information, and some have very little. Some are colorful and others are not. Yet something has drawn you to play the devil’s advocate and reject some of them outright. Could that something be a deep-rooted psychological trigger embedded in your subconscious? And how can this trigger make such a dramatic difference to your communication and marketing?

Aha! You’ve just run into the magic of THREE.
Understanding and applying it will throw a light into the dark world of your presentations, brochures, web sites and yes, even email! Before you put this into the “This is for my graphic designer” basket, read further because it will help you recognize the psychological background of how the brain understands these things and reacts to them. It will also help you clean up your everyday communication that your designer might never get involved with.

How the Brain Sees Things
The brain finds it relatively easy to grasp threes — elements, colours and fonts. Push that marginally up to four and the brain gets confused about where to look and what to do, and sends the eye scampering like a frisky puppy on a sunny day.

So why does this happen? For that we might have to go back a little to diaper country. As a child, everything you did and learned seemed to be centered around three — A,B,C; 1,2,3; Three blind mice, Three musketeers, Trinity, Three Stooges and Huey, Louie and Dewey. (Quack! Quack! Quack!)

Then again, maybe these writers, animators and wise men understood the ease with which we understand ‘threes’ and reconstructed their work to fit this paradigm.

The Building Blocks of Visual Communication: Elements, Fonts and Colors

Most visual communication can be reduced to these three features:elements, fonts and colors. Understand how they work and you’ve given yourself the added advantage of a mini design degree.

Just What are Elements?
I’m assuming you’ve gotten rid of those business cards in front of you. So I’ve made up some of my own to illustrate how elements work together. Elements are simply groups of objects that are grouped together to form a common definable form. For instance, your eyes, nose, mouth and ears are the main objects that form the element called the face. Let’s look at the cards below to understand this even better.

If You Look at Card# 1, You Will Spot 3 Elements:

card1

1) The name and the title of the person.

2) The logo, the logo font and the service description.

3) The contact details form the third element.

If You Look at Card# 2, You Will Find Very Subtle Differences.

card2

All I’ve done is moved the text and logo just a tad bit around. However, even that tiny displacement has ADDED a series of unwanted elements. Suddenly it appears there are 5 or even 6 elements.

1) The name.

2) The designation.

3) The logo design.

4) The logo font.

5) The service description.

6) The contact details.

Card# 3 Gets Even Harder to Focus On… Guess why?

card3

Card#3 is all over the place, as it has not only violated the rule of elements, but also complicated the visual layout with additional fonts. It has 5 fonts. Learning how to manage fonts makes a big difference to your layout and the overall look of your project.

Here a Font, There a Font, Everywhere a Font, Font
There are zillions of fonts out there today, and it’s hard to restrain yourself when you’re putting together a document. Try to use not more than 3 fonts in any communication. The more fonts you have on a page, the harder it is to actually read what you’re saying. Be aware that a font that is in italics visually ends up looking like another font altogether. It adds to the elements and clutters it up considerably.

Also determine what the font is really doing for your document. You might want to create some drama and use contrasting fonts. For instance, fonts that are vertical used with fonts that are wide contrast well.

I’d also recommend that you read The Design book for Non-Designers, by Robin Williams. It’s an inexpensive, easy to read book that clearly explains the different facets of fonts and their usage, plus how to use fonts to set the mood.

Seven colors are for Rainbows
Whether it’s a tee-shirt, brochure, website or business card, it’s important to restrain yourself. Managing your colour palette with just three colours can often provide the feeling of as many as five or six colours, when moved around a bit.

Count shades of colours as two colours. So, red and dark red are not just one colour but two definite shades and hence, two definite colours. So, be clear about the colours you are choosing. Say you choose something like red, black and green. Move that round a bit and you can get brighter communication without the confusion.

Why This is Important in Marketing and Business Communication
Most of us are always presenting or selling to someone else. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating. But the taste buds start to salivate only when it looks really YUM! If you choose to ignore the psychology behind this, your ‘dish’ might taste wonderful, but you may never get someone to stay long enough to eat.

This also helps you keep a check on your designers. Good designers instinctively get this right, but sometimes they goof up big time. You can run this audit past your marketing material and check for elements, fonts and colours.

Having said that, a competent designer might have the innate ability to break rules. And if it works, that’s OK. Nothing is that sacred, but it helps to know the reasoning behind it. Besides, you now have the ability to make that designer sweat a bit.

Heeeeeeeeeere are some Examples!
McDonald’s: The McLogo consists of two elements-The name McDonald’s and the Big Golden Arches. They use just one font, and just two colors — yellow and white (or black)

Coke: The Coca-Cola button that you see in most advertising, consists of three elements: the button itself, the bottle on the button and the Coke Logo. Even though it is a full color image, the colors are minimal and there are just one or two fonts used.

Now that you can see the forest for the threes…:)
Go out and look at advertising. Revisit your brochure. Audit your presentation. Streamline that website. You will be appalled at how much clutter you had to start with, and how easy it is to smarten it up quickly and efficiently.

Your marketing message will be much tighter and more professional. But best of all, you’ll know you’re doing something that’s deeply embedded in the psychological psyche of humans.

May the ‘fours’ be with the reckless Luke Skywalkers of the universe (That’s a joke, ok?)

You’ll find it pays to stick to the threes!

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Is Your Marketing Solution Your Biggest Problem?

April 5, 2009

Have you had current or potential customers die on you while you’re speaking to them? You’re giving them this outstanding description of your process and capability and it’s going bing, bong, kazoom over their heads. Want to know why this happens? Read on because you’ll find the whole problem is actually your SOLUTION.

Doesn’t Make Sense?
Don’t worry. Within the course of this marketing article, you will find out just what it is that gets your clients attention and how to keep that attention, by shifting your marketing strategy from solutions to problems.

The Problem With Solutions
When you ask someone what they do, they usually spit out their process that they see as being a solution to your problems. So a person who cuts trees and mows lawns would say, ” I cut trees and mow lawns.”

I have a lawn mower, so that eliminates him completely, doesn’t it?

Bringing the problem to the fore, triggers a totally different response altogether. If the same person said, “Do you have a less than immaculate garden?” My response to the query would be, “Yes, maybe I do”.

Having established the problem, he now is in a position to know that I have a need for his service. Even better, he has brought to my notice, a problem I didn’t realise I had.

Always Work With A Problem
If you notice people around you, all of them are beset with problems. If you were to stand up and say, “Who has a cold that they just can’t fix?”, you will get about 6-7 hands going up instantly.

This happens because you’re attacking a problem. Obviously, they assume you have the solution, but by bringing their attention to the problem, you are targeting their specific needs. Once you’ve got their attention, it’s now time to make your pitch and give the specific target audience the solution.

The Beauty Of Problems
Solutions fall far short of the mark. Problems however go the full distance and more. If you noticed, in the previous example, I had two target audiences. One was the immediate target-the ones with the cold. The other- was the ones who were going to get the cold (no doubt from their illustrious colleagues). The secondary audience has no need for my product because it doesn’t have the problem. But in a week or so, as the germs move homes, the second audience too will be potential customers.

A solution on the other hand does less than a quarter of the job, if at all. It has been proven time and time again, that you cannot sell to anyone who doesn’t want to buy. The only reason someone would want to buy a product or service from you is because, it is solving some problem that is not being tackled currently.

Your First Task Is To Qualify The Problem
Find out what is your current client’s problem and then call their attention by reconstructing your statement in a problem-solution-target audience sequence.

Problems tend to perk up the ears of your target audience. Once you’ve achieved that, you then give them the solution (sometimes one crafted specially to their needs) and they understand the concept and respond to it.

Be Aware Of Your Specific Target Audience
Ask anyone who their customers are, and they usually say everyone. Then take a look at the newspaper classifieds. Businesses are always looking for specific positions to hire, people are always specifying exactly the kind of person they would like to meet in the personals.

Yet, you look at major advertising and the target is everyone…So which advertising actually works better? I don’t think I’d be too off the mark to state that dollar for dollar, the classifieds (thanks to their positioning) achieve far, far more than huge multinationals.

An Example That You Can Learn From…
One of the recent advertising campaigns that has done well to learn the concept of sacrifice is Jeans West. They have sacrificed colour, style and any other tags that competitors are running. They focus totally on their positioning which is Fits Best. The ads go on to demonstrate the price of time. One woman says, “These jeans cost me 2 hours.” Another says, “These jeans cost me 45 minutes.”

Can you see the target audience here? It’s specifically people who have a problem getting the right fit. Simple, isn’t it.

Most people would look at that and say, “Isn’t that too small a niche?” You think so? Think again. By getting their tiny little niche, they have stamped themselves very clearly in the minds of customers.

It’s quite clear how Jeans West, and their really smart ad agency have done their homework and created a targetted marketing strategy.

Problem: Wasting time finding the right fit
Solution: Finding the right fit in no time at all
Target Audience: Jean lovers that need the right fit

Empower Me, Don’t Tell Me!
I get e-mail from a travel agent every now and then. In the e-mail he gives me information that I could get just about any where. It has prices of airfares, new destinations and other such things that I could find with a little help from the newspapers or the Internet. Notice there’s no problem there. It’s all about solution, solution, solution.

I don’t have any need to travel right now and so I delete the email because it provides me with no tangible solution. When I decide to travel, the situation will have changed and none of their wonderful solutions will apply to me.

On the other hand, do you have trouble getting 10kg past the check-in counter? Or would you want to know of a foolproof way to beat jet lag? Or wouldn’t you like to know the tricks to get upgraded on your flight?

Most of us would answer yes to almost all these questions because they present problems that need to be solved. The travel agent has spent years in the business and knows stuff that you and I haven’t got a clue about. Important tips that we could carry around in our heads for years to come and use them as and when the problem presents itself.

How People Respond
Every problem is a trigger and when people run into that situation, they respond to your solution. Be sure, however, that the solution is not a passing fad, here today and gone tomorrow.

Also remember, when you empower people it adds to their knowledge. If you’re selling an expensive computer to a company, it’s not worth it telling the purchaser about the technical specifications and how it runs.

Figure out the problem and tell him how the technology will solve that problem. Remember he has to report to his boss and the boss has to report to the shareholders.

When you empower them with the problem and the solution, they can relay that on further, thus giving the whole process a sense of legitimacy.

It doesn’t matter however, whether you sell computers, air tickets or wine. The same principles apply and you will find that not only your sales, but your thought process and alertness increases in leaps and bounds simultaneously.

Your Strategic Action Plan
1) Find the unique solution you provide.
2) Differentiate it from all your obvious competition.
3) Find out the problem it throws up.
4) Target your audience very carefully.
5) To stay top of mind, give out information that throws up problems for which you provide solutions.
Hungry? Try the 85c McDonald’s Burger!
See the problem? See the solution. Great communication in advertising comes from great marketing. And great problems!

Go out there and find yours!

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Is Nature A Marketing Guru?

March 28, 2009

Is Nature a Marketing Guru?
Technology rules. Yeah, for about five minutes–then natural instincts take over. Are you stupid enough to fight Mamma Nature? Well go ahead and rewrite the rules if you can, cause the Big Mamma knows one thing. She’s tried and tested it all. And if you want to play by her kooky rules, she is willing to teach you a thing or two.

The question is, are you willing to learn?

Do You Pay in Advance?

Have you noticed how big a brand Red Bull is today? Or how insignificant their advertising is? Red Bull shuns print advertising and has never done a triple back flip on a web campaign. Yet, it has found roots in over 50 countries. And has cemented its loyalty in the fickle land of teenagers.

So what’s Red Bull’s big secret?

It’s called GIVING.

Their marketing strategy was simple. They enticed students with free cases of Red Bull, if they threw a party. Guess how many students need an excuse to have a party? With a simple act of giving away free cases to the right target audience in the right universities, Red Bull became a very rich Red Bull.

Yet Where Are Most Marketing Plans Aimed?

Too often marketing is aimed solely at GETTING. Look at all those marketing plans, those many advertisements blaring away on the radio and TV. It’s get, get — all the time!

Yet, nature pooh poohs the stuff. Putting a carrot (not cart) before the horse, nature works on the giving part first. In its own little marketing and advertising way, a flower works contrary to most marketers. Using the bait of colour and nectar, it draws the bees, knowing full well that its very existence depends on giving bees what they want first, so the bees will carry their pollen.

Wander down the supermarket aisle and you’ll see what I mean. Fifty thousand brands stare at you, screaming at you to buy them. Then a little ol’ lady offers you a sample of a product. Fifteen seconds into your tasting session, she gives you another sample. Then, for no apparent reason, a bottle or two of the product finds itself in your cart. Were you sold? You betcha!

Giving works for a simple reason. Nature hates imbalance. If the deer get faster, so do the cheetahs. It’s a classic system to keep things in balance. Which effectively means that to create an imbalance in marketing in your favor, you’ve got to give first.

Are You Ready To Do the 1-2-3 and Cha-Cha-Cha?

Do you play the dating game? Or do you rush in to conquer most of the time? Mamma Nature knows that haste makes waste. Yet marketers think nothing of blowing squillions of dollars on various hare-brained, get-rich-quick schemes that achieve far less than their potential.

Here’s an example. Harley Davidson has been to hog hell and back. Just in time to save its bacon, it decided to work on the cha-cha-cha instead of the wham, bam method. The reward has manifested itself in thousands of die-hard Harley fans that would go all the way on their Harleys. Even today, despite being in an enviable position, Harley still finds time to wine and dine its customers while thumbing its nose at traditional media.

Another good example of cha-cha-cha marketing is how the British operated in the 19th century. Instead of slamming their way into conquering new lands, they went as traders. Whether history likes it or not, they maximized their potential in a systematic and natural marketing manner.

What Happens When Nature Goofs Up

Even nature loses out when it fails to obey its own rules. As long as it sticks to its spring, summer, autumn, winter routine, we go along with the “relationship.” Yet every time it does the 60-second prime time TV spot on us, we absolutely hate it. Oh sure, there’s great colour, drama and pizzazz in a whirling tornado, but there’s zero empathy and a whole lot of defiance.

Turn on the music, move those feet. This isn’t some behemoth CRM program we’re talking about. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but flowers arouse less suspicion. Do the cha-cha-cha and the getting to know your customer. It’s cheaper, it follows steps, and it works.

Is Your Target Audience “Everyone?”

Nature would laugh at you and laugh heartily. Are you setting yourself up for disaster or what? Even a pimple-ridden 13 year old knows exactly who her knight in shining armor is. While the concept of being in the company of 20 gorgeous men would set her eyes alight, her brain knows better.

Yet most businesses horrify the heck out of Nature. In an apparent suicidal move, they go after a general audience in order to maximize their returns. Some of the biggest brands today are built on single-minded focus. Mercedes, Volvo, Rolex, McDonalds, Red Bull and Playboy all have a clearly defined target audience.

If you doubt it, take a look at a wild dog attack on a National Geographic broadcast. Have you noticed the focus and strategy of their attack? They single out the prey and go after it in a pre-defined relay system. It gets results, and isn’t that what you want?

Gotta Keep on Dancing

When was the last time your heart stopped beating? And isn’t that good, because if it did, you’d be taking harp lessons in a big hurry. Nature doesn’t stop its marketing campaign and neither should you. The first thing businesses do when the economy takes a downturn is pull the plug on marketing. Fat good that’s going to do you! That’s like telling your heart to work at half the heart beats when things aren’t good.

The planet doesn’t stop rotating, the trees don’t stop growing and the fish don’t stop swimming. Yet in an absolute violation of the most basic law of nature, we stop and start like some trainee driver.

There Ain’t No One Like Me!

Nature doesn’t brand-extend. It creates something and then it throws away the mould. When it creates a product, it makes sure that product thrives, grows and multiplies. It adds colour, shape and size for a bountiful variety, but brand extension is a no-no.

Yet look at some of the biggies out there. They put out their brands and then put their names on everything from computers to soap. Dove still stands for soap with 1/4th moisturising cream. Yet, in the supermarket, Dove tries to take on the full force of nature by brand-extending.

Does it work? Yes and no. People have too much clutter in their heads already. To add to that clutter is asking for trouble. Our brains identify with one object when we are given a name.

From Nokia to Chimpanzee

When I say Nokia, you say mobile phone. Yet Nokia sold everything from gumboots to computers — even TV sets. Then one day it dawned on them that they could conquer the world with a brand name that stood for one thing and one thing alone.

Sure a chimpanzee and a baboon are both monkeys, but they’re essentially different products. You won’t find a chimpanzee light or a chimpanzee diet in the species. They’re either chimps or they’re baboons! Besides, their unique brand name allows you to identify them with zero confusion every time! Uniqueness is your brand’s birthright. Use it well.

Here are some “Au Naturel” guidelines to business and marketing strategy:

1) Pay in Advance: First you shall sow, and then you shall reap. And you must sow in fertile ground not on rocky soil. Give, and you shall receive. Does this all sound familiar? Are you giving away anything worthwhile on your website, through your advertising, in your brochures?

2) Do the dance one step at a time: You’ll just make a fool of yourself if you don’t build up your reputation with your customers. Give them the best you possibly can. When nature puts on a beautiful butterfly, it starts with a worm.

3) Put on the glasses: Get focus in your life because Nature will make sure you pay big time if you don’t. Sure you can get business, but think of what’s possible if you focus. A little focus right now reaps long-term rewards. It’s your choice.

4) She’s only happy when she’s dancing: Is that a Bryan Adams song? Or is Nature telling us what we should be doing? She’s on the floor. Go on and boogie.

5) And then there was one: Is your fingerprint different? Is your iris different? Do you have a clone? Nature doesn’t think it works in real life. Why do you think differently?

6) And finally: Take off your headphones and look at what nature is saying.

It’s showing you the colour of money!

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