10 Reasons Why Your Network Is Your Greatest Asset

An individual’s greatest asset is his/her network. The network that’s an asset is the one made up of real relationships.

Facebook and Twitter have no value if you don’t use them properly.  In looking at profiles on these social media for a number of large and small businesses, I’ve observed that most of them aren’t going about it in the right way. Businesses jump on the Facebook and Twitter bandwagons with the hope of generating sales. They load their news feeds with sales plugs and expect   “friends” to buy whatever they’re selling. They use Twitter to make announcements rather than to engage conversation.

The right way to use social media is to focus on building relationships. Wish friends and fans “Happy Birthday”; “Like” their statuses, share information and even provide  useful content that’s OUTSIDE of your business area of expertise to help them out (for example: share an interesting news item, a great sale on computer equipment, a super auto repair shop, great business tips, etc.). Show that your thread is useful and that you are there to connect with them, not simply sell them something and you will see results.

DON’T create a business profile and start adding people as friends – users hate this. Get to know your privacy settings and use your personal profile as the “face” of your company.

Below is a list from Steve Tobak of BNET on what you stand to gain from building a great network:

1. Introductions. Whether you’re an entrepreneur in need of venture capital or a marketing VP looking for the best PR firm, you’re more likely to find it through your network than by any other means.
2. Opportunities. Over a 30-year career, most of my major career and business opportunities came from my network. Business associates, friends of friends, casual conversations, business meetings, social events, whatever. But you’ve got to pay attention.
3. Sorting out thorny problems. Anyone who thinks they’ve never met a work problem they can’t resolve has never been a CEO. The problem with problems is that they keep getting escalated until there’s nowhere left to go. The buck has to stop somewhere. And getting a fellow exec to help sort out a monster problem is a big plus.
4. Recruiting. Perhaps the most critical job of any manager is to hire talented people, and the best place to find them is through your network. And not just for direct reports, but also for recommendations on peers, key employees, board members, you name it.
5. Ideas. I don’t know about you, but most of my best ideas come from bouncing them around with like-minded people.
6. Competitive intelligence. It’s a big, hairy global market and smart executives dig for competitive intelligence. Much of that info comes from sales and marketing, but where do you think they get it from? That’s right, their network.
7. Sensitive issues. Top executives often face sensitive issues they can’t discuss with others at the company. Sometimes they just need an outside perspective from another CEO. For example, some of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s friends are Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Mark Hurd (when he was CEO of H-P, as well). Makes sense, doesn’t it?
8. Seeing the big market picture. A huge component of any manager’s success is her ability to anticipate significant market changes. While nobody has a crystal ball, if you get enough anecdotal data from enough sources, you can get a pretty good picture of what’s going on.
9. Moral support. Business is full of tradeoffs. Rarely are critical and complex issues black and white. When top execs wrestle with gray issues, it’s nice to be able to pick up the phone for advice and support.
10. You don’t know what you don’t know. While there are exceptions, know-it-alls don’t typically get ahead. Smart managers know what they don’t know and that means they depend very much on comparing notes with others in their network.

Is your network your biggest asset?

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Getting The Most Out of LinkedIn

Image via CrunchBase

 I’ve heard a bezillion questions about LinkedIn, the most common of which is….”I signed up on LinkedIn, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it. Does it really have value?”

Think of it this way:  

• Linked In has more than 20 million users with an average age of 41-years old and an average income of $110,000.00.  
• Every Fortune 500 company is represented on Linked In.
• 500,000 small and mid-sized businesses use Linked In.
• More than 150 industries are represented.

So the answer to “does it have value” is a resounding, YES!  But it requires more than just “signing up” to have value.

You have to put the effort in up front when you set up your page  and then you have to remain active in a strategic way (that you’ve, of course, given some thought to on the front end.)  Once you’re comfortably established there are many valuable ways to use linked:

• Prospecting. You can locate and introduce yourself to contacts in the accounts you are targeting. Communicating through Linked In significantly increases the liklihood to get a response over a direct email or phone call. You can learn a lot about your prospect by reading their profile (what they’re currently working on, their employment history, who they recommend and who recommends them, where they went to school, their personal interests, etc.)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Having a COMPLETE profile on Linked In will drastically improve your SEO results. You can include up to three URLs in your profile that are indexed by Google and other search engines, as well as create your own Linked In URL that is searchable. 
•  Job Search/Recruiting and Reference Checks. If you are searching for a job or looking to hire someone, Linked In can help. Not only can you search for positions and candidates on Linked In, if you’re a recruiter you can verify job experience and contact other contacts within Linked In who were at a company during the same time for references. Or, as the job seeker, you can  pre-screen prospective bosses and co-workers.
• Thought Leadership. LinkedIn has a Q&A section where members can ask and answer questions about pertinent topics. This is a great place to get some of your most pressing questions answered. OR, if you are trying to establish yourself or your company as a thought leader in a given field, this is the place for you to post brilliant answers to those who’ve posted questions. When doing so, you can include URLs and links to support your answer, or to drive traffic to your Website which will improve its SEO.

Linked In is a powerful business networking tool–one that no sales or marketing person should be without.

The site offers several membership levels, ranging from FREE  to $500 per/year.  It’s best to evaluate what makes the most sense for you and then Just Do It!

Related articles

• Start Sharing on LinkedIn (e1evation.com)
• How To Get More From LinkedIn (blogs.sitepoint.com)
• Social Network – Why So LinkedIn? (businessinsider.com)

Engaging Fans on Facebook

Image via CrunchBase

 

Engaging the “social” customer is a topic that is getting a lot of air time these days and  for good reason. The more customers migrate to the social web the more engagement becomes a priority for successful brands and is tied to the overall customer experience.  Moving from a strictly transactional relationship to one of trust and engagement is fundamentally about customer experience and a positive or negative experience overtakes everything else.

Simply setting up a page is not enough.  It requires vigilance and energy with a mix of content.  A key point to be stressed is that social media efforts need to be tailored to what your target audience is interested in and it should be done in a way that stimulates discussion and interaction.  So you have to have a handle on what your audience is interested in.  Coming across like you’re broadcasting (the ”old school” marketing monologue) is the kiss of death.

Marketing on Facebook is lots of fun and lots of work.  Here are a few “best practices”:

• Post frequently  to keep content fresh. Generally the best times to post are mornings, around lunch time and early evenings. Posting too frequently is not advisable. Facebook is an engagement platform, so don’t broadcast.
• “Like” and “Share” are powerful tools that can be used together to increase engagement. On your company web site and blog you can encourage the use of  “Like” for products and services, and the use of “Share” for asking questions and letting others showcase items that peak their interest.
• Make your page interactive. Solicit interactions by asking questions.
• Personal connections are powerful, personalize your posts… use names and other personalization often.
• Respond to comments and do it in a timely manner. Conversation is engaging.
• If you have company blogs syndicate the content on your Facebook page by using Notes.
• Add value to the conversation and bring in outside content that is relevant to show folks that you want to provide value, not just sell them something.
• People like free stuff, so offer coupons, discounts, specials if you can, but don’t over do it.
• Mix in the use of other media like video. This helps engage customers.
• Deal with negativity and misinformation openly and clearly. Don’t overreact or attack.
• Share the love. promote and recognize other members of your community.
• Make it easy to connect to your other social and online efforts by posting links to your other accounts like Twitter, YouTube,  your BLOGs, Websites, etc.
• Include Facebook and Twitter tags on all of your traditional media.
• Analyze and use the data to improve your Facebook presence.
• If you make a mistake (and everyone makes mistakes), apologize!

What do you think?

Related articles

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IS INNOVATION STILL THE BUZZWORD FOR A WINNING BUSINESS?

The buzzword for business success, for as long as many of us can remember, has been INNOVATION; how you keep consumers tantalized, competitors at bay, and margins growing. LEADERSHIP was all about fostering the creative environment that generated the ideas that gave you your edge.

But maybe innovation’s day is done. Not that long ago, a leading consumer goods company invested vast amounts of time and money developing an innovative new product: a light-weight, environmentally friendly, impeccably dry diaper—with built-in cream to prevent diaper rash! The marketing mavens behind it confidently expected to roll out their new product with a stiff price tag attached because it was the answer to every parent’s prayers.  This was innovation marketing at its best: as old products were copied and discounted, you introduced newer, more inventive ones at higher prices.

But that dream diaper never made it to the marketplace. Why? Because it cost too much! When given the choice between the “all-in-one nappy” (it was to launch in Britain where diapers are called nappies) and traditional choices, modern consumers settled for the old solution because it was cheaper.

Every business should think long and hard about this diaper because it signals a deep shift in the market.  What it shows us is that new technologies mean that cheap imitations are now very good, and the Internet makes it very easy to find them. With good, cheap copies readily available, and consumers and businesses both fleeing from debt, the extra-featured “deluxe” version of a product isn’t compelling. Today we’re all buying generics. 

The old way of segmenting markets is rapidly changing (right along with the economy.)  Buyer strategies have changed in all echelons.  Most, when given the choice between multiple features or cheap, cheap wins! Less is now more. The battle for innovation has faded and the battle for value (defined by price) has returned with a vengeance, reminiscent of past times. 

That doesn’t mean quality and customer service can slip: if anything, the anxious consumer is more demanding than ever. The belief that you can keep customers loyal and trading up has vanished. This is a lesson that Southwest Airlines taught many of its competitors.

That doesn’t mean the challenge of innovation fades, just that it focuses more on processes rather than products… How can you deliver your product for less? How do you make it easy for your customer to find you and stick with you? In this new market, customer loyalty proves more difficult to win. Only price and ease of access prove compelling.  Consumer anxiety has provoked change that is likely to last.  “If I can find a stress-free experience at a lower cost,” that is the winning combination!

Once Again, Seth Godin Says It Perfectly!

THE INEVITABLE DECLINE DUE TO CLUTTER

by: Seth Godin

Digital media expands. It’s not like paper, it can get bigger.

As digital marketers seek to increase profits, they almost always make the same mistake. They continue to add more clutter, messaging and offers, because, hey, it’s free.

One more link, one more banner, one more side deal on the Groupon page.

Economics tells us that the right thing to do is run the factory until the last item produced is being sold at marginal cost. In other words, keep adding until it doesn’t work any more.

In fact, human behavior tells us that this is a more permanent effect than we realize. Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. More clutter isn’t free. In fact, more clutter is a permanent shift, a desensitization to all the information, not just the last bit.

And it’s hard to go backward.

More is not always better. In fact, more is almost never better.

Related articles

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IT’S TIME TO REDEFINE YOUR MARKET!

 If the ongoing stream of news about economic recovery is tempting businesses to breathe a sigh of relief, that’s a mistake!

Being number one or number two is vital to gaining the scale and profile that generates profitable growth in a marketplace.  So, if you are stuck in the middle of the pack, it’s time to redefine your market if your goal is future growth. No need to be trapped by existing market definitions.  First, figure out what needs to be done, then act upon it.

To redefined your market for growth, you must first challenge your existing assumptions.  For example:

1. Are you currently limited by your assumptions about geographical reach?
2. The Products and service you offer?
3. The types of customers you are targeting?
4. The technology you will deploy?
5. Your existing operational capacity and capability?

The second stage is to develop what if scenarios for potential new market assumptions.  Identify what new opportunities, risks and/or threats could emerge from these changes and determine the fit of your existing capabilities with these potential business ideas.

If new capabilities are required, ask what options exist for building them?  Businesses fall into the trap of competing within the status quo, when to be successful we ought to be reinventing the rules of the game.  The companies that capture the lion’s share of the marketplace are those that help customers realize wants and needs they didn’t even know they had.  In other words, by challenging the assumptions of their industries, these companies are propelled to greatness.  They have no competition, because they have redefined the essence of  their product or service.

Following are some great examples of what three well-known businesses did:

Image via Wikipedia

1. Southwest Airlines.  Airlines are notorious for price competition — a dangerous trap many businesses fall into with their competitors.  Southwest took a completely different approach to attracting customers by focusing on a target market all other airlines had previously ignored.  Southwest didn’t compete head-to-head against other airlines by offering better meals or other incentives.  Instead, it attracted those who typically drove to their destinations by making flying closer to driving… It offered the speed of the airplane with the economics and flexibility of driving.  The result? A profitable and healthy airline at a time when others are struggling to keep from closing their doors.

2. 

   Image via CrunchBase

   When Steve Jobs returned to run Apple in the late 1990s, he faced a personal computer business that had been out-gunned by Microsoft.  Since then Jobs has transformed Apple from a niche player focused on dedicated Mac users, to a global powerhouse that has created an ecosystem of providers and partners dedicated to bringing the best digital-based products and services to everyone.  Apple’s release of the iPod back in 2001 when most of us were carrying around clunky CD players and purchasing 12 songs at a time by one artist, Apple redefined how we access music.  With iTunes and the iPod, the marketplace changed dramatically.  We still receive the same end product — personal music, but with the added convenience of a “skip-free” interface the size of a tube of lipstick.  We can purchase one song at a time for .99 or $1.29 each.  When Apple launched the iPod there was virtually no competition.  Consumer access to music was exponentially increased.  While costs diminished substantially.  Rather than compete with the recording industry, Apple created its own industry and rewrote the rules.  Apple has used third parties to create the systems that underpin many of its products and services.  Most innovative, the company has generated a new industry focused on the development of iPhone applications.

3. 

   Image via Wikipedia

   Trader Joe‘s

   has redefined the neighborhood specialty supermarket experience for its customers.  AT Trader Joe’s, listening to customers –and their valued feedback– is not about a carefully calibrated contact center or extensive customer research. Rather, it’s about something much more simple, and simply human: a conversation among the customer and the “captains” and “crew members,” as its Hawaiian shirt-clad managers and employees are called.  In the end, Trader Joe’s business model allows it to respond to customer feedback in ways that other supermarkets cannot.   Suppliers do not pay stocking fees or “rent,” to place products on Trader Joe’s shelves, a widespread industry practice that’s anything but customer-focused.  With drastically smaller square footage and inventories than typical grocery stores, the company removes items that don’t sell well to make room for new products.  In a sense, Trader Joe’s entire inventory is the result of listening to customers –both their feedback and their dollars.  “We like to think of Trader Joe’s as an economic food democracy.” says management.

Related articles

• IDEAS FOR LEADERS: The Trader Joe’s customer experience [Jerry Tarasofsky] (ecademy.com)
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How to Get Others to Market For You

It’s a well-known fact that word-of-mouth referrals are a powerful form of marketing. When people speak positively about your products and services, they often influence others to work with you.These days, with so many people communicating via social media networks, there are many more communications channels open to entrepreneurs…many ways to help build new relationships.

Here are some suggestions for getting others to spread the word about your business:

1.      Twitter.  Twitter is a world filled with sound bites.  It’s a great way to create a following, direct Web traffic, build brand recognition, and get feedback from all over the place. Not only can you, your employees and customers Tweet about your business, so can other businesses.  It’s important to remember that the conversations must be authentic or Twitterers will know.  It’s also important that you or someone in your company monitors what’s being said in order to respond or jump into the conversation when necessary.  Just as positive messages can be Tweeted, so can negative.  The ability for an idea or thought or message to generate a huge following is fascinating on Twitter. Since the emphasis on Twitter is brevity (A post can’t be longer than 140 characters) it’s important to learn the lingo—lots of abbreviations to become familiar with.

2.      LinkedIn.   LinkedIn is a great place to go to network for business. It’s also a great way to see who knows who within a business network so that you can leverage existing business relationships. A couple of good ways to use LinkedIn as a tool are:
                   1.   Answer Questions. The more substantive your answer is the more likely folks will want to connect with  you, refer you and/or work with you.
                  2.   Ask Questions.  By asking questions that generate a lot of responses, you can identify “qualified  prospects” in many arenas.  It takes thought and creativity on the part of the asker.

3.      Offer customer incentives. Some of the most valuable references can come from current customers since they are speaking from experience and their words will be more readily accepted than the words in an advertisement or marketing pitch. You might even share the wealth you receive as a result of customer referrals by offering discounts on future purchases or by offering cash back if a customer referral leads to a piece of new business for you. Not can this encourage customers to be vocal about your products and services but, by giving back, you’ll be strengthening your relationship with them.

4.      Pay for links. Your business’ website is only a click away on the Internet. Take advantage of that by offering incentives to other website owners who refer business by linking to your site. You should, of course, reciprocate and always say thank you.  You can also offer a percentage — such as 5 percent — to the site for any referral that results in new business for your company. There are companies that will automate much of the process for you and act as an intermediary between your company and those with websites who are interested in doing this type of promotion.

5.      Make cross promotion work.  Every business need to do some kind of marketing. Look for other businesses whose products and/or services complement yours and strike up a strategic alliance where you’ll market for each other. You can promote each others’ businesses with your respective clients. The agreement can be as simple as linking to each other’s Web sites, or you can each share the other’s collateral materials with customers.

6.      Facebook.  Facebook is an extremely useful to keep in touch with and reconnect with people. Creating an online profile to inform your personal network of what it is that you’re doing and/or creating “Groups” that you solicit your network to participate in can be a useful means of driving traffic and it can be a great publicity tool. Facebook traffic has been increasing steadily, currently taking the position as the ninth most popular domain in the U.S., accounting for 1% of all Internet visits

Executing plans like these can be a highly effective way of building brand awareness which, in turn, motivates new people to try your products or services when they are in need of them.

If you want to utilize social media successfully as a marketing tool to grow your business, remember that you have to use social media sites and tools in the same ways that your customers do, and for the same reasons. You also have to accept each community’s rules, you can’t make your own. Social media isn’t a one-way promotional channel; it’s a many-way interaction/communication channel. The key is Audience. You’ve got to know who you’re talking to.

Anyone else have any tried and true methods to share?

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WHAT A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN CAN TEACH US ABOUT MARKETING

First it’s important to understand that a political campaign is a marketing campaign.

A campaign is defined and remembered by its message. How that message is crafted and delivered — is called positioning. Positioning is, perhaps, the most important element of a campaign.  While all of the components of any marketing campaign contribute to a success or failure, it is the message that differentiates and it is how it is determined, how it is shaped, how it is used and conveyed in a political campaign that we, as marketers, can best learn from.  

Positioning is a process that begins with understanding and defining consumer expectations (best determined by research) if it is to be effective. 

And while it’s true that in an election campaign the winner is usually the candidate with the best organization to raise funds, rally voters, and get them to the polls, it is the message that generates the excitement and trust that ultimately wins the campaign. It is the message that builds trust, and builds the foundation for a working relationship.

The first Clinton for President Campaign, with James Carville’s core message of; “It’s the economy, stupid,” makes the point very clearly that campaigning is marketing. It was a classic case of positioning. It was only a prelude to the campaign that elected Barack Obama which was brilliantly positioned. The campaign’s message; “Yes we can!” based on a carefully devised position, was supported by a number of highly focused voter concerns.

While there are obvious differences between a presidential election and a campaign to sell a product or service, there are sufficient parallels between the two to allow for a profitable comparison. At the same time, the success of both the political and marketing campaign relies not merely on the mechanics of marketing, but on the strategy.

No campaign is successful if its mechanics aren’t deployed strategically.

There are seven key components in successful political and marketing campaigns:  

            Political Campaign

1. The candidate, who has qualifications and some appeal that warrants the candidacy, demands trust in many more areas than a business does. The political candidate must persuade a constituency of a great many capabilities and characteristics.
2. The electorate, which, while generally diverse, has some reason for considering one candidate over another based on issues and concerns as well as the perception that one candidate, is better able to address those issues and concerns.
3. The message, which addresses the candidate’s solution to those concerns.
4. The (political) organization, which disseminates the message, raises funds, and gets out the vote.
5. The research, opinion polling, which helps determine the concerns of the electorate, and monitors the efficacy of the strategy throughout the campaign.
6. 6.     The strategy, the structured plan to inform, persuade, and, generally speaking, get the candidate’s message out.
7. The execution, carrying out of the plan from its beginning through the Election Day.

Markting Campaign

1. The business (service or product) to be sold.  A business seeking to convert prospects must project understanding of their industry and business, and the particular nature of their needs as well as its ability to fulfill them. 
2. The prospect, which, like the electorate, is faced with specific needs, desires, wishes, and opportunities.
3. The message, which is the information about the firm and its services, specifically addresses the needs of the target audience, and should convince them that it can address these needs effectively and efficiently (at a competitive price.)
4. The organization, which is the marketing structure that brings the message to the audience and executes the marketing plan.
5. The research, which supplies the information needed to appropriately shape the selling message so that it speaks to the needs and wants of prospects.
6. The strategy, which is the plan.  It defines the market, its needs, wants and strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, and determines the tools that best convey the ability to offer solutions to those needs.
7. The execution, which is the carrying out of the structured plan. It brings together all of these elements to produce a client.

A political campaign is more complex in the design and execution of these factors because it has a broader target audience than a marketing campaign will have. A political campaign persuades people to vote for a candidate based on identification with his/her personality, credibility and charisma while a marketing campaign addresses solutions for the very specific needs of an individual or corporation. Most often the solution offered requires very specific expertise and credentials. That’s why positioning is key… it is what differentiates you from your competitors. 

Beware!  Positioning is, too often, misconstrued as a determination of how a business wants to be perceived.  But that isn’t positioning, it’s wishful thinking! 

DEALING WITH CLIENTS WHO THINK THEY KNOW MARKETING BUT DON’T

Here’s What They Should Know

 There’s a great cartoon where a guy in a business suit is looking over the shoulder of an artist at work. The artist is saying; “I used to dabble a bit in accounting, too.”

Then there’s the guy who said to me, “If you’re smart enough to be a lawyer, then you’re smart enough to do your own advertising.” To which I replied, “Yes that’s true. You may also be smart enough to be a scientist, but it doesn’t make you one.”

Then there’s the guy who read a book about sky diving. He knew everything about sky diving — except how to do it.

My point is that while marketing may not be rocket science, it does have its craft, its artistry, its techniques, its experiences, and its history. And if you’re not experienced within the realm of those things, you don’t know much about marketing. Having only read a book about something doesn’t make for expertise and falling prey to the belief, “I can do it because I, after all, have a graduate degree,” is egocentric nonsense.  Oddly enough, a lot of people in business seem to feel this way.

 Every marketing professional can tell you a story about a client or an employer who retained the marketer for his/her expertise, and then proceeded to drown them by micro-managing and second-guessing. A former employer of mine, an engineer, always started conversations we had with the words; “I started out as a marketing coordinator” (translation; “I know all about marketing…”)   He also fancied himself to be a good writer, but he wasn’t!  He wasn’t he worse writer I’ve ever run across, but he was far from good.  Needless to say, that relationship was doomed from the beginning. 

Beyond that, an even greater problem was not the presumption of knowledge where none really existed, it was in the drive to an expectation that skipped right over a pervasive mound of reality. I should have known better when he said to me, “We’ve been a small firm for seven years, and now it’s time for us to be a big firm…”  The salary offer and benefit package that followed, made it hard for me to say no even though I pride myself on being “wise.”

Too bad, because what happened was to be expected: not only acute second-guessing, but entrenched ideas steeped in marketing mythology. Take it from me; when the marketer in you says, from the depths of experience, “This is what we have to do,” to which the reply is, “But we’ve never done it that way. Let’s do it the way we always have.” Or they simply ignore your advice and do whatever they want to.  The tenure of the marketer in that situation is usually brief, at which point the client goes out to either find another marketer or appoint someone they already know, and the cycle is either repeated or the new person does whatever is asked with a big smile until they’ve acquired enough experience to move on to a greener pasture.

This type of client, if the truth be told, may think/say he or she wants to be big – but isn’t willing to go through the rigors of getting there.

What, then, should clients or employers know about what they don’t know – in order to really benefit from the knowledgeable, experienced, and thoughtful marketer? A lot, but let’s start with…

• Marketing has specific skills that improve with experience. How to understand the client’s market. How to write a program that achieves a marketing objective. How to use the tools of marketing, and how to manage those tools.
• Marketers understand what works and what doesn’t. Many years ago I developed an ad campaign for a client who had some ideas of his own that he wanted to try out. OK, I said, let’s run your ad, which seemed to be a good one, against my ad, which he didn’t like as much as his ad. My ad out-pulled his by 50%. Why? Because he didn’t understand the psychology of advertising, which is learned only after long experience.
• There is no greater artistry in marketing than in direct mail. Knowing how to capture the reader in the first line of the letter. Knowing how to time a mailing. Knowing how to get the reader to think that the bright idea to buy was the reader’s, not the writer’s. And that’s just a sample of what the professional marketer knows. “Why are we paying this guy so much for direct mail?” an accounting firm partner once asked. “I’ve been writing letters all my life. I can do it.”
• Marketers understand that trying to tell people how to think about the firm doesn’t work. That’s why you can’t say things like, “We put clients first,” or “We do high quality work.” It may be what you want the reader to think about you, but they’re not going to just because you ask them to. More brochures are expensive and useless garbage because they attempt to get readers to believe things that just aren’t credible by simply expounding them. Professional marketers know better.
• Good marketers understand the difference between firm objectives and marketing objectives. They’re not the same, although you can’t have one without the other, as the song goes.
• Ultimately, marketing is an art form that uses skills, techniques and experience to achieve its ends. As we’ve said, if you want a good marketing program, don’t hire a mechanic, hire an artist.

As a professional, you should have some inkling about how expensive it is to hire marketers whose work you don’t understand or appreciate, only to have a frustrating parting of the ways. It’s even worse when you have a strong feeling that marketing is something you have to do in this competitive environment, but aren’t quite sure about how to hire, much less understand and live with, that peculiar breed of professional services marketers.

And now a word to clients and partners who think they know marketing. Unless you’re that rare bird with some kind of inborn talent for marketing – and there are some of you like that – you don’t know beans.

You should know, first, that the mechanics of marketing – this includes media relations, writing, direct mail, sales and such – are not marketing. They are tools.  Marketing, in the final analysis, is an art form. The mechanics and tools are not the art. And, when you’re hiring a marketer, don’t look for a mechanic – look for an artist. The artist is the individual who’ll pull it all together for you in a way that makes you stand out from the rest.

Type Tells a Story…once again Seth Godin hits a homerun

The typography you use sends a message… that’s Seth Godin‘s message today. I can’t make that point often enough or better than Seth did in his message today, so I’m sending you there:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/01/type-tells-a-story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29

or if you’d rather just read his message here:

Type tells a story

If you write it down, we’re going to judge it.

Not just the words, we’re going to judge you even before we read the words. The typography you use, whether it’s a handwritten note or a glossy brochure, sends a message.

Some typefaces are judged in a similar way by most people you’re addressing (Times Roman in a Word document or Helvetica on a street sign or Myriad Pro on a website) but even when you choose something as simple as a typeface, be prepared for people to misunderstand you.

If you send me a flyer with dated, cheesy or overused type, it’s like showing up in a leisure suit for a first date. If your website looks like Geocities or some scammy info marketer, I won’t even stay long enough to read it.

Like a wardrobe, I think a few simple guidelines can save amateurs like us a lot of time:

1. Invest some time and money up front to come up with a house style that actually looks the way you want it to, one that tells the story you want to tell. Hire a designer, put in some effort. A headline font, a body font, one or two extras. That’s your outfit, just like the four suits you rotate through your closet.

2. “What does this remind you of?” No need to be a pioneer (unless that’s the story you want me remember). Find a combination of typefaces that remind your chosen audience of the sort of organization you want to remind them of. Hint: italic wedding invitation fonts in the body of your email remind me of nothing except other people who have wasted my time…

3. Be consistent. Don’t change it when you get bored. Don’t change it when your staff gets bored. Change it when the accountant and marketing guys tell you it’s not working any longer.

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