Strategy Stew

I found this fascinating quote today:

You cannot achieve growth without some semblance of an identity, a universal definition of the tool. Is this right? Are we seeing a shift from a centralized definition of the tool to a massive brand with hundreds or thousands of identities and definition? Is this a good thing for growth?Kyle Lacy, Social Media - Indianapolis, Nov 2008

You should read the whole article.

I’ve been running an experiment with Twitter recently and I’m not sure I like what I’m getting.

Over the last few weeks or so, I’ve tried “tweetlater” and “socialtoo” to autofollow the people who have been following me. I did this only after doing everything manually for over six months. I take my Twitter seriously. That means that I’m not just following people because they are following me. I’m following people because I truly value what they have to share on Twitter. I carefully crafted my community mix to include people from whom I can learn something valuable and build valuable relationships.

But then, I read a post by Guy Kawasaki that outlined how to get more followers on Twitter and I decided to go through that list and try some things I had not tried before. I already had done “Tweetlater” and then I got onto Social Too. And that made my follower list grow for sure. But then I noticed something else.

A lot of other people were doing the same thing and I was getting these (and sending these) souless impersonal “Thanks for following me” messages to people I had not had time to check out. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I felt like I didn’t have that “close” of a relationship or connection to my community any more. There was a difference - and the difference was that I was literally Instant Messaging to a “LIST” and a list is not a community.

Take a look at this screenshot of some Direct Messages I received.

You can see that some of them include a link where I can “get to know them better.” Now - I actually like that. I don’t always click on it - but I do like to learn more about the people that I Twitter with.

Some people also send links to a tool or a report or something like that. That’s fine too. If it’s useful to me.

Some people send me a link to a page where they want me to buy something. I think that crosses the line. Although if they are in my target area of interest - I get torn.

Then there are the people who are totally peddling on Twitter. That just pisses me off. I feel like it’s degrading the entire purpose of this wonderful application. I’m seeing a lot of that and it’s changing my interaction with Twitter.

As of this morning. I’m going to turn off Tweetlater for Strategy Stew. I don’t want to spam anyone and I’m going to go follow people manually - just like I did before.

What are your thoughts on this?

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Over the last few weeks I’ve written several articles on the economy for the American Express Open Forum blog. Every article offered some practical advice that any sized business could benefit from.

I contributed “Bootstrapping is Hip.” I outline some reasons why it’s GOOD to be low on cash and then give you some easy marketing tactics to get you going for low dollars.

John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing, wrote about the possibility that it’s our attitude toward money was in a recession. Whew, I’m glad I’m not the only one who believes that our thoughts and attitudes toward money effect how much of it comes through.

Kyle Hunt (Your Marketing Guy), another Duct Tape Marketing expert pulled together a wonderful article that focused on marketing as a two-step process; let’s get to know each other — then let’s get married. I feel sorry for anyone who gets those two reversed.

So, if you’re feeling down about the economy - check out the AMEX Open Forum blog and adjust your attitude, pull yourself up and give it the old one-two punch.

It has been entirely too long since I’ve handed out some link love.

Pricing is key strategy in uncertain times: This post on Rafi’s Pricing for Profit blog is a great example of using your pricing strategy and pricing policy to get customers to choose you.

Inbound - vs - Outbound Marketing a la Apple and PC: This is a little bit of comic reality these days. When I say it’s about getting chosen — this is exactly what I mean.

More on How to Identify Loser Clients: Joel Falconer seconds my point on firing pain-in-the a__ customers. What I like about his post is that he gives all the symptoms, all you have to do is recognize them and you in it.

Business Inspiration for the Fighter in You: I ran into this post by Brian Clark where he grabs inspiration for innovation from Tyler Durden from “Fight Club.”

In the spirit of Guy Kawasaki’s new book “Reality Check” - I offer more business comic relief in these translations of business lingo.

FREE Business School Courses: Pick up some business classes on your own time and on their dime.

If you’re ever at a loss for words that actually mean something, try the web BS Generator.

As if FREE business course aren’t enough - try some of these FREE digital books!

SO there you have it happy readers. Link Love and Learning.

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Are you feeling like you’re in survival mode lately? You lose one customer - then maybe another is threatening? The next thing you know you’ve got this knot in your gut and you start questioning the foundation of your business.

This is natural.

Like children, your customers will push the boundaries of your relationship, and it’s up to you to be in charge of your destiny. But how? Here are some helpful hints that will keep you prepared when new business comes along or the old business threatens to depart.

1. Know what you need to be profitable (the dollar amount). Don’t negotiate something that will suck your margins - you’ll be overcome with unprofitable work and keep profitable customers away.
2. It’s never about price. The challenge is finding out why the customer is even considering you or finding out what in-tangible you offer that no one else does. Download the free worksheet and see if you come up with anything.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions. If your customer is at risk it might be scary to even consider asking or bringing up the subject. Don’t. Be honest and diplomatic. Fear mostly comes from not knowing or having all the facts.

What are your strategies for keeping fleeing customers?

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Image by el_floz via Flickr

Trust is an amazing thing. Like a spider web; it’s unbelievably strong and fragile at the same time.

When you establish trust with your customers, and nurture trust - you will have them forever. But when customers lose trust - it’s gone for good (well at least a long time.)

Our brains can’t possibly do a logical evaluation of every choice available to us. If they did we would spend years trying to decide if we want pepperoni on our pizza or not. Instead, our brains learn to trust and so we make decisions quickly and easily - albeit emotionally. Sometimes we’re wrong and it hurts, but more often than not - it’s a good system.

Like in any relationship trust is the glue that holds us all together. So what do your customers know they can trust you for? Let your brain run wild and don’t just focus on tangible features, think about intangible benefits too.

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About a month ago I received an e-mail from my new friend Martin Lindstrom asking me to review his latest book “Buyology.” Needless to say I was thrilled!

I’m still reading the book and will do a full review as part of my Book Review Series on Small Business Trends. In the meantime, I thought I would share some of the most interesting findings from Martin’s extensive research and explore how we might actually apply these to our business.

1. People buy more when they’re sold with a smile. Now we have proof (via fMRI scans of test subjects) that your mother was right and that you should spend more time smiling. Of course no one ever really said “Smile if you want to get what you want.” But that’s basically the lesson here. And don’t smile like my 8-year-old (this fake painted on thing). Smile like you mean it - like you really LIKE the person you’re looking at. If you can’t smile with conviction, you’re talking to the wrong person. See Martin Smile in the picture here? Yeah - like that.
2. We like products and characters that LOOK like babies. I heard this story on NPR about why we fall in love with certain characters such as E.T. and Wall-E and the reason, according to these brain scans, is that we have a soft spot for “baby faces.” The example in Buyology is the Mini Cooper. As it turns out - people aren’t so much moved by its performance capabilities as they are by the way it’s face reminds us of babies. It’s big doe-eyed headlamps and a grill that’s shaped into a smile unconsciously attracts their ideal buyer. And for those of you that are attracted to the sporty Ferrari-shaped cars — it’s all about the “peacock” affect. When subjects were shown pictures of these hot cars - the subjects were looking to attract females with automotive plumage. The lesson here is once again, know your strength, know your customer and what’s important to them and physically design your product or service to appeal to that audience.
3. Ritual creates habit and habit creates loyalty. This is one of my favorite lessons so far. Studies show that children who are raised with consistency and ritual tend to do better in all aspects of life. Most of us love ritual because it frees up our minds to concentrate on other things. Rituals are comforting and give us a sense of control. I’ve heard chatter about the fact that logos are becoming irrelevant and Buyology does a wonderful job of explaining how and why. Logos only serve as an initial attachment to a product - but it’s not the logo that anchors us to the brand - it’s the emotional elements that remind us of that brand that trigger the need to have it. This is incredible news to small business owners. It proves out why the “experience” is so important. Once your ideal customer attaches their experience to your brand - then any element of your brand will remind them of this experience and trigger the need to get more.

Some How-to’s on Developing Rituals

1. Uncover, develop and systemetize your brand. Don’t even attempt to do this unless you’ve got your strength or USP (Unique Selling Proposition) identified - and it feels good to you. For help on this Click over to DIY Marketers and register on the right-hand side for your free download of a worksheet that will help.
2. Is there a physical element that you can choose? Is there a color combination, or something physical about you that will remind customers of YOU and their experience of you?
3. Is it language? Think Starbucks or Waffle House, is there something about the language that you use that will remind customers of you?
4. What are ritualistic things you naturally do that others don’t do - that reminds customers of you? Do you greet them in a specific way? Do you have a unique process that you follow? THINK.

Let me know what you’ve done around these elements to get customers to choose you.

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Are you in the process of losing a customer? YIKES! How did that happen? There are really only a few reasons that customers leave;

1. You’ve upset them somehow and they may not have decided to tell you about it. Instead they told everyone else.
2. Someone else offered them a sweeter deal.
3. Their business with you is contingent about THEIR own customers - and “them ‘aint buyin.”
4. There has been some kind of shake-up inside their organization and every supplier is being scrutinized.

Some Good Reasons to Lose a Customer

• One of you has made a strategic change in your business that no longer makes you a good fit for each other.
• You are taking each other for granted. This makes both sides forget WHY you are in this relationship.
• Neither of you perceives enough value for the trade of money.

What to do When a Customer is at Risk

1. Get the facts. If you’re at risk of losing a customer that is NOT a pain or draining or profitability, then get all the facts.
2. What is it that makes you think they are at risk? What specific evidence do you have that they are at risk? Specifically what has happened, what did they say or do?
3. Address your observations (evidence) with them directly. Say something like “In what ways do you see your merger with company “X” effecting our relationship?”
4. Chances are good that this customer may not fully understand all the benefits that you can or could provide. If they say that you do not offer specific services, be clear about what you offer and how you offer it. If it meets their needs - great. but if your process doesn’t meet their needs - and you have good reasons for not changing it. Then this would not be a profitable customer for you in the future.

Losing a customer may seem really scary - at first. but when you have all the facts and understand exactly why they choose you - or don’t choose you. You can adjust your strategy in a way that will get you focused on getting more customers that better fit what you offer.

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It’s the end of October and time for one of those really scary activities — watching for trends.

I’ve decided to give you a little roundup of articles and resources where all you marketing types can go to shine at your next meeting or planning session:

Online Publications

Small Business Trends: If you want to see what’s hot in the small business market - check out Small Business Trends. You’ll not only get a sense of what tools, books and products small business owners are into, you’ll actually get to see their comments on products and articles. Cheaper than a focus group, more authentic and real than a Friday night at the pub.

Trendwatching: With a little more focus on the consumer and macro side of things, Trendwatching is really on the cutting edge of what you might be seeing in the world of product design. I like to read it for hints on what people really want - what people are going to copy next.

Trendhunter: This site is so darn interesting - you could spend hours just clicking around and getting inspired. I like to look at the products they feature and see what else pops into my mind regarding complementary products and services that might suit the trend.

Tools and Resources

SRC Free Demographics.com: This is much like the census data that you get from the Census Bureau, what I liked about this is that you can point and click on the information you’re interested in, and the site gives you a report which you can then download into Word, Excel or simply print.

Prizm Market Segments: This site is so much FUN. They’ve literally characterized people by zip code and buying habit. I’ve used this FREE data to identify potential store locations for a client. It’s idea for any kind of retail research you want to do.

Blogs with Great Articles

Luxury Trends: During a time when everyone is whining, it might be healthy to read this little ditty about the growth of luxury brands. All I can tell you is that this article says that research shows that when we know that something is expensive - it releases happy chemicals in the brain. How can you argue with that?

10 Strategic Technologies for 2009: This article outlines the trends and all you have to do is see how you can take advantage of them.

Global Food Trends: I love how this article is laid out. There are sections such as “Indulgence” with a clear description of the trend in such a way that you can easily come up with ideas about potential opportunities.

General Trends: This is a great first place to start reading. It outlines trends from a variety of categories and lets you focus in on what you want. Trends range from “More home cooked meals” to “more time in education”

If you’ve got some favorite sources for trends- send them here and I will create a roundup.

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You are building a personal brand every minute of every day. You may not always be aware of that, but it is happening whether you are conscious of it or not.

Just a few months ago, I got an e-mail from Dan Schawbel, publisher of Personal Branding Magazine and the Personal Branding Blog. He said he was an avid reader of my blog and asked if I’d write an article for his online publication “Personal Branding Magazine.” I was completely flattered because I had not realized that I may be perceived as a personal branding expert. But when I thought a little more about the fact that my company is in the business of getting you chosen over any other alternative, it dawned on me that personal branding fell into that area.

So, take a moment and subscribe to Personal Branding Magazine and then click over to the rest of these articles and see how you might apply them for yourself:

“When Your Personal Brand Becomes a Commodity, You Lose” : Dan Schawbel shows a vivid example of where you can end up if you are not managing and controlling your brand — invisible. Invisible doesn’t pay the bills, but it’s definitely the easy way out. In what ways can you make yourself memorable and visible today? How about dressing up your e-mail signature? Is your tag line descriptive enough to get clients to choose YOU? Do you have a distinctive physical feature (like red glasses) or a distinctive way about you that sets you apart?

Chris Brogan’s “Develop a Strong Personal Brand”: Chris Brogan has a whole series on personal brand - the first one actually features Gary Veynerchuck as well.  In Part one of the series, they talk about why it’s important to have a personal brand.  What is it about you that stands out in a sea of sameness?

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