Cleaning Up The Mess

Every so often, we turn over this column to words of wisdom from friends, colleagues and clients as they additionally reveal a compelling back story on their own life.

Welcome to the July edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Before gaining fame as The DreamSpeaker,™ (“Helping you and your organization increase productivity, efficiency or profits 25% by pursuing that one thing which you can do better than anyone else…your unique purpose, your passion, your dream!”), Joe Murtagh sold insurance, and retirement and estate planning exclusively for business owners and, all the while, wanted to know what made them successful.

"No one in my family had ever been in business, so I started reading two best-selling business books each month,” Joe recounts.

"Soon I found myself assisting clients with their business planning issues as well as their insurance and financial services concerns. Shortly after, I started writing a bi-weekly column for the local Business Journal and before long found I had become a ‘consultant.’

“The Business Journal columns proved to be a great marketing tool and, over time, led to the creation of seven different training programs. Eventually, I was asked to do an International Keynote address that has led to a full-time career as a speaker, facilitator and trainer.

“For me, effective marketing starts with the ability to understand the ‘job’ that my client is trying to get done.

“What are the problems your customers are trying to solve or what are they doing now that could be done faster, easier, more conveniently or with less expense? Answer these questions for your customers and prospects and they will beat a path to your door.

“In ‘Reinventing Your Business Model,’ in the December 2008 Harvard Business Review, the authors reveal what companies must do to capture game-changing marketing opportunities. A couple that comes to mind with my family:


“P&G with its Swiffer mops addressed a customer need in a dramatically better way. No more buckets, hot water, heavy mops and harsh cleaners. Now one simple lightweight disposable applicator on the end of a broom handle does the trick. ‘My hands are so soft these days and I owe it all to Swiffer.’


“Your customer wants to know that someone is thinking... and thinking about them. The best of marketing starts out by thinking about opportunities to satisfy real customers who need a job done.


“My wife used to joke about spending $15.95 in order to purchase a CD to get the one song she wanted. She would drive to the store, sort through the racks, find the artist she wanted, make sure her one song was part of the CD, pay at the check out and listen to it on her way home.


“Apple blew up that business model with its iPod and iTunes music store. Now for the same $15.95, my wife can get 16 songs from 16 different artists and play them instantly as she downloads them to her hand held device and inserts her ear buds anywhere she is…at home or in her car.


“Although we don’t live in India, auto manufacturer Tata Motors is serving a new customer base with its Nano, the $2,500 car aimed at Indian families who can't afford any other type of car. Luxury? No, but a huge step up from motor scooters that were the only other affordable option before the Nano.


“All sustainably successful marketing comes from finding a way to create value for customers by helping them clean up the mess that they currently are dealing with in order to get a job done. Any job a customer is doing creates a marketing opportunity for a better solution.”

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Joe Murtagh’s mantra is: Develop unstoppable power by connecting with your unique purpose and achieve it through a can-do attitude, empowered by acquiring the competencies necessary to succeed and implementing them through interdependent teams of like-minded people.


You can reach Joe at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com , log on at http://www.thedreamspeaker.com/ or call him at 1-800-239-0058.

And you can reach yours truly at the info noted below. In the meantime, join us again the first Tuesday of next month for another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/
joel@jdkmarketing.biz
704.846.4835
Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo

Ol' Reliable

I’m in the middle of preparing a brochure for a client for what seems like about the 400th time. Not for the same client. But in my decades – yes, I now count my career in decades – of producing marketing materials, I’ve easily worked on hundreds of brochures. Let’s face it, aside from one’s website, the venerable, good-old-fashioned brochure still does yeoman duty representing the “face” of a company.



Welcome to another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.



The role of the brochure has changed with the advent of the website. Prior to that shape-shifting, electric and electronic vehicle, brochures were the be-all and end-all, with most of what one wanted to describe about one’s company packed into its narrow (generally) tri-folded panels.



Now brochures of all sizes are generally seen as the “sizzle” (some brief, broad, brush strokes on a business) to the “steak”(the website which, given its virtually unlimited size, can pack within it all of a company’s nuts and bolts).



Still, there are some key elements to be considered in the making of a successful brochure. About.com offers this Checklist of materials that they suggest should go into “building” a brochure. And I concur. These points may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many of them are neglected (you included?):

• Name of Location, Business or Organization


• Address


• Phone Number


• Fax Number


• Email Address


• Web Page Address


• Headline that creates curiosity, states a major benefit, or otherwise entices the reader to open and read your brochure


• Headline that states the name of the Product, Project, or Described Process
• Subheads


• Short, easy to read blocks of text


• Lists, charts


• Key Benefits (2-3)


• Features


• Instructions, steps, parts (for a procedure, to assemble a product, etc.)


• Biography (of business owner, key members of organization, officers, etc.)


• Mission Statement


• History


• Logo


• Graphic Image(s) (including purely decorative elements)


• Photographs of product, place, people


• Diagram, flow chart


• Map


• Call to Action (What you want the reader to do: call, visit, fill out a form, etc.)

And now that you know what to put into your new, or even revamped, brochure, you also know whom to call to help you put it all together… ;)

Look for another, more-than-just-a-tri-fold, Not Your Usual Marketing Tips the first Tuesday of next month.

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/

LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook

Low Tech, Value Added

My wife and I recently spent a couple of delightful days on St. Simons Island, off the Georgia coast (near Brunswick). http://www.stsimonsguide.com/ssi.html

Parenthetically, this is one terrific place to “chill.” It’s like a mini Hilton Head – beach, boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, history, even a small cineplex – yet without the commercial crassness and overbuilt infrastructure.

What I remember, additionally, is what one independent real estate agent did to help promote her business.

Welcome to the May edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Strolling down the small, main drag in the “downtown” section of the village, we noticed a woman working at her desk, door fully open to let in the sea breezes to her tiny realty office. And to let folks see how “accessible” she was for any inquiries – marketing points right off the bat.

She took the initiative to let us know about property she had, although we assured her we weren’t in the market. Nevertheless, she engaged us quite naturally in conversation and implied it was still a bullish market in St. Simons. Where we learned, by the way, that John Kennedy, Jr. was married on the “QT” and one of my idols – the famed caricaturist from Mad Magazine, Jack Davis – still resides. http://www.americanartarchives.com/davis,jack.htm

She gave us materials, of course, but she also gave us a small, vertical-shaped card with her name and contact info. On the card was a concise listing of restaurants in the immediate area.

Because, after all, while you’re visiting and considering living here, you gotta eat, right?

That’s it -- a simple card with some simple…yet appreciated…information. Because it was timely and informative for us, and still relevant to what she does for a living.

Is that something a business coach, for instance, might hand out? In that case, though, perhaps listing resources like SCORE, the Business Journal, a recommended accountant or tax planner, marketing assistance, or the like? Perhaps a pet sitting company could list a preferred veterinary clinic, local dog parks, a “MeetUp” pet group, hotel chains that accept pets, etc.

It could be in the form of a postcard. It could be a bookmark. It could be on the back of a business card.

You get the idea. And who knows, your prospect/clients just might get the idea themselves that you’re a pretty thoughtful person – who sees a broader-minded picture in the nurturing of a relationship with that prospect.

An old-fashioned approach, perhaps. Born in the laid-back surroundings of a place where the pace may be a little slower. And the wheels of commerce may grind more than they whir. But the results can be just as satisfying as any prototypical high-tech grabbing at one’s senses.

Come back again the first Tuesday of next month for some more sand-in-your-shoes ideas from Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/

And from the "What-Page-Of-Dr.-Spock's-Book-Is-This-From" Department: Commercials for absorbent towels or cleaning solutions where some brat graffitis up the living room wall, or revels in splashing himself with spilled milk or juice...and good ol' Mom smiles bemusedly at her cute little tyke as she prepares to gleefully clean the mess. Is it me, or do both characters deserve to be whacked upside the head..?

Getting Through This Mess...While Spending Less, Part 2

With the economy doing its best to discourage efforts to promote and market ourselves, there are still ways to make your presence known...without necessarily having to spend on big ticket media such as TV, radio, and traditional print advertising.

Welcome to another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management, your Official Marketing E-zine of the Recession of 2009.

Last month we began by looking at "10 Ways to Market Yourself Without Using Ads, TV, Radio...or Even Brochures." In no particular order, we touched on the first five. Here’s the remaining handful. These are suggestions, ideas, approaches that everyone -- from accountants to wedding planners -- can use to their advantage. And break through to your markets…without breaking the bank along the way.

Mailings

* “The most successful people write personal notes regularly” -- Tom Peters

* Send out Holiday Cards…other than at Christmas.

* Always send a follow-up note after a meeting.

*Acknowledge a client/prospect with a note re. their having appeared or been quoted in the paper or magazine.

* Add a message to your mailed invoices or estimates, offering other services

Positioning

* Create a niche for yourself – be the “one and only” professional serving a particular industry or local group.

* Play up an ability in a memorable way: “I’ll get back to you within 65 minutes.”

* Change your phone message to incorporate a marketing or service message of some sort.

* Offer additional services (through the silent…or public… partnership of networking colleagues).

* Be memorable: be the only one who always brings Krispy Kremes to clients.

Service

* Recognize a client or referral group colleague who’s given you the most referrals, with a “certificate” or through publicity.

* Take at least one client out for coffee or lunch per month (and for special occasions, take them out to dinner!).

* Serve on a civic committee or board.

* Focus on better service to fewer clients; build stronger relationships toward more sustained revenue.

* Visit your clients at their office more often.

Guerrilla Strategies

* Send an inexpensive throwaway camera to a valued client or high-chance prospect with the message “Picture us together…”

* Put a compelling flyer in the newspaper boxes of an exclusive neighborhood (trite, but can be effective).

* Arrange to have your business card sitting on the retail counter of an affinity-based business, i.e. website developer at Mail Boxes, etc.

* Send something gimmicky to a prospect, i.e. a plastic foot prop wearing a shoe (“Now that I’ve got my foot in the door…”).

* Barter…which can lead to added client base. (More on that in another issue..)

Networking

* Join your clients’ groups/associations.

* Send newspaper clippings of news relevant to clients’ businesses.

* Host an event or office party; create the “reason” for it – i.e. St. Bart’s Independence Day; National Office Cubicle Day.

* Volunteer for a favorite cause or charity.

* Create your own networking group specific to your industry; share prospecting based on mutual…or individual…strengths.

We certainly haven’t covered the waterfront. But if these ideas have at least inspired you to get out on the dock and try casting a net or two out there, we’ve done our public service for the month.

Until the first Tuesday of next month when we come roaring out of the gate – NCAA Champs UNC Tar Heels-style – with another edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips, have a blessed Easter or Passover.

And regardless of which holiday you celebrate, enjoy The Ten Commandments for the nine zillionth time.

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/

Getting Through This Mess...While Spending Less

Back in January, I opened the new year’s volume of NYUMT by offering “resolutions” to market and promote yourself, one resolution per month, each one a different way to make an impact with your customers.

Now that economic conditions are that much more critical, the need to market is no less critical. But there are ways to manage the process, without breaking your own bank.

Welcome to the March edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

I recently gave a talk to a combined audience of the two leading event planners associations in town -- the International Special Events Society (ISES) http://www.isescharlotte.com/ and the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) http://www.charlottenace.com/ Now, while my association with these associations is linked to my capabilities as a professional caricaturist ( http://www.caricaturesbyjoel.com/ ), I was given appreciable opportunity to share with them my views as “the marketing guy.”

And, after all, just about all companies can benefit from a good pep talk on marketing. (With the apparent exceptions being the Exxons and Halliburtons of the world…).

The title of the talk was “10 Ways to Market Yourself Without Using Ads, TV, Radio, Billboards or even Brochures”

Let’s go over the first 5, not necessarily in chronology of importance…

Publicity

· What’s new with your company? New product/service? – send an article out to the press.

· What’s new with you? If giving a talk or staging an event, send out an article.

· With permission, write about a client; use it as case study about your business.

· Send out a compelling photo with caption…from unusual vacation or interesting business trip, etc.

· Create an awards program for a worthy cause dear to you.

Seminars

· Practice speaking by joining Toastmasters or other business/fraternal organizations.

· Invite clients and prospects to a talk or dialogue at local subdivision clubhouse.

· Join a local Chamber – even surrounding suburbs – and get on the speakers list.

· Ask to speak at your next industry association convention (state or national).

· Co-sponsor (and split the costs of) a seminar with a related industry colleague…i.e. insurance agent with financial planner; printer with website pro.

Trade Shows/Special Events

· Exhibit at a local trade show; share a booth with a colleague to control costs.

· Don’t exhibit at a local trade show; instead, walk the aisles and network freely among visitors and other exhibitors.

· Submit an article to appear in the trade show literature.

· Create a themed event at a local restaurant, inviting a specific prospect clientele.

· Co-sponsor a charitable event (golf outing, art exhibit, silent auction, etc.).

Promotions

· E-mail a trivia-type question to clients/prospects; the first to answer correctly gets a free gift.

· Is there a movie presently playing that somehow touches on your profession? Tie in free tickets to clients. (“Slumdog Millionaire” for, ahem, bankers and financial consultants..?)

· Coffee mugs, water bottles and pens are cliché; use an item actually relevant to your business.

· Add a coupon for your services to a Welcome Wagon program.

· Promote your business through Val-Pak or Money Mailer coupon/flyers.

Newsletters

· Newsletters can be any size; send out a postcard with news, tips, maxims, etc.

· Newsletters can be e-mailed (“e-zines” such as this one) with all the info, including graphics…

· Co-op with another business that, for instance, could pay for printing through their advertising in it.

· Add an ongoing “newsletter” segment to your website that stays timely.

· Blog. Or vlog (the video version...).

Next month, we’ll go over the remaining five ways to market yourself without spending through customarily big ticket vehicles.

In the meantime, try to keep smiling. People want to do business with those who remain positive.

And I will positively plan on being here again the first Tuesday of next month with another macroeconomic view from “Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.”

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/

And from the "What-Alternate-Universe-Bizarro-World-Are-They-In?" Dept.: TV commercials that show cars speeding along on a highway, on a country road, on a city street. The operative word being "speeding." Like, really speeding...

"This Frenchman walks into a bar..."

Every now and then, I like to turn over this space to the musings and pontifications of friends, colleagues and clients on the art, the science…the alchemy…of marketing. From their personal perspectives.

Welcome to the post-Super Bowl, pre-Spring Training edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management.

Philippe Le Baron is the founder and president of LB4G Consulting, Inc., dedicated to sales productivity through realizing the potential of sales managers and their teams.

Philippe has over 20 years experience in consulting, sales, sales management and sales productivity management on behalf of American corporate business throughout Europe.

During this time, the French businessman has designed his own programs and workshops,addressing business cultures as diverse as the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Israel, Russia, Switzerland, and Austria.

To adapt his consultative approach to everyone, Philippe developed a global-ready methodology that he has brought to America. http://www.lb4gconsulting.com/

So what approach is Philippe taking these days to help get the message out on his business?

How about…Stand-Up Comedy!

“When I arrived in Charlotte from France about two years ago my sales productivity services were as new to the area as my accent was.

“As I built my American operations locally, I went to market with networking, surface mailing, email marketing, web presence, brochures, flyers, cold calling, you name it. Since my business is very much based on an ‘education’ sale, as opposed to a pure ‘pain’ sale, I quickly realized that earning significant mind share was not easily achieved unless I could quickly talk to a lot of people at the same time to maximize ‘education’ effectiveness.

“Workshops, seminars, talks became my main route to market, and I got my first referrals from these interactions. It also helped me position my services faster to an audience I had not anticipated – the small business owners market.

“Last summer I pushed the exercise to its limits. Willing to develop myself further, and in the search for the best "Toastmaster"-type training I could find, I was attracted by a workshop run by the International House in Charlotte, titled 8 Weeks to Become a Stand-Up Comedian. My initial sense was ‘Let's try this – if I can do it, I can give any public speech anywhere.’

“This took me a little further past my comfort zone than I had anticipated, but I have now performed six times at such Charlotte area venues as International House, Matthews Comedy Zone, Alive in NODA. It also has opened new horizons for my business. Not that I intend to make a living from this (even though I did earn a few bucks from my last performance), but I get called on now for corporate presentations and kickoffs, where the experience as a stand up is actually a plus to my ‘serious business’ pitch. After all, sales people and sales managers can always use a little humor to help them look at themselves, and embrace change faster.

“Last but not least, I found that there were similarities between stand-up and sales management: there is an art piece to it, and there is a science piece to it. And there is actually a process to making people laugh (as one who was schooled as an engineer, I love processes).

“There is a setup: a topic, an attitude and a premise that will, when worded right, lead to a joke that should get laughs...if you are funny (that's the art piece). The same way great sales managers blend their art of managing sales people with the science of sales force productivity.

“I now use both skills and content to resonate with my target audience. It does get my name out there too. It stretches one to new levels. And if by standing in front of an audience you are not otherwise scared s*#%-less – pardon my French – it can be fun too...”

Join us again the first Tuesday of next month for more shtick from Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin

http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/

Resolutions

For the last several years, I’ve opened the January edition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips from JDK Marketing Communications Management with proposed Resolutions for the New Year. (And here we are -- Volume 7, Number1 -- Wow!)

Since resolutions, like advertising itself, tend to make an impact only when repeated…and repeated…and repeated…I figured I’d once again give a nod to this time-honored tradition.

In no particular order, then, here are 12 Resolutions, one for each month, for you to consider effecting in 2009:

Guerilla Marketing: Think outside the box for ways to promote yourself. There are rules. And then sometimes you know what they say about rules...

Networking: Do more, by joining more…networks that is (associations, fraternal organizations, fellow hobbyists, etc.). Marketing yourself continues to be a numbers game…

Publicity: Toot your own horn – no one else knows your “key” as well as you do…

Web site: If it’s been a while since you’ve “Spring-cleaned” your site – updating and streamlining – maybe now’s the time to have at it. And not wait, by the way, until Spring…

Seminars: Think you know it all?? Heck, maybe you do! – at least as far as certain audiences to whom you would speak are concerned, and the new market opportunities they might present to you…

Newsletters: Share your ideas, broaden your constituency – send out industry-relevant information either as hard copy…or electronically (such as what you’re presently reading)…

Trade Shows: Go to them, be in them, mingle within them, write a program article for them…

Event Marketing: Promote a cause, sponsor a charity, have an Open House – it’s good P.R. by “humanizing” your business…

The Newspaper: Remember that old-fashioned thing, for which the death knell has been sounding for years? For ideas, for client contact opportunities, for business references…don’t rely on the 11:00 PM News. Read the newspaper…

Greeting Cards: It doesn’t have to be Christmas to send them. Get your name out year-round, with Valentine’s Day, July 4th, Arbor Day – whatever! – as an excuse to stay top of mind with clients and colleagues….

Postcards: Along with greeting cards, postcards are a fast, convenient, economical way to let people know about your business (think realtors, financial planners, etc.)…

JDK Marketing Communications Management: Yeah, I know, I “cheated” on this last one. But how else are you going to be able to effectively take care of the previous 11 resolutions, without first resolving to contact yours truly…?

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009. And we’ll see you again the first Tuesday of next month with another Auld Lang Syne rendition of Not Your Usual Marketing Tips.

Joel Kweskin
http://www.jdkmarketing.biz/

…And from the “Just Wondering” Dept.: This past holiday season, as usual, the radio airwaves were filled with Christmas standards sung by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, et al. Since it was primarily the rock and country stations that played them, I was Just Wondering…if these timeless, iconic artists are good enough to play at Christmas time, why aren’t they good enough to be played on these same stations throughout the year?

(Yeah, right.)