That Internet Contraption

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on March 29, 2009

As it turns out, it really does put information at our fingertips. So why aren’t people capitalizing on that fact?

In the last few weeks, I’ve seen a few commercials that have included songs that I’d like to add to my iTunes collection. Now, I haven’t been sold on the products/services being advertised, but at least someone is getting something out of the marketing investment.

Well, not in all cases. Here are two mini-case studies:

AT&T and Amos’ “Sweet Pea”

Troy-Bilt and “Shining Down” by Austin Hartley-Leonard

When I searched for the AT&T commercial, I eventually found out the artist is Amos Lee and that single is available on iTunes — for instant download by yours truly (resulting in an instant sale for Amos AND an introduction to a fan… something that’s incredibly valuable in the music industry).

When I searched for the Troy-Bilt song though, this is all that I could find:

“Supposedly “Shinin’ Down” sung by Austin Hartley-Leonard. Song’s not available yet–was written specifically for this spot, or so says Yahoo Answers.” (via YouTube comment) and “Correct, but song is unavailable as of yet” (yahoo answers).AT&T and Amos = Success.

Troy-Bilt and Austin Hartley-Leonard = not quite there.

All is not lost though, Austin does have a whole album on iTunes and I like what I hear… I just wish I could download the single from the commercial, too.

Monday Motivation

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on March 9, 2009

I don’t do a ton of AdvertisingAge reading, but I browse through the RSS feed titles at they pop up in my Google Reader.

The Small Agency Diary usually sticks more than anything else, for obvious reasons.

“Rather than doing more with less, let’s find ways to deliver excellent value that people can afford. When someone tells us they have 20% less money, that’s not necessarily bad news. We just need to think of a new approach and a new way of working so that our clients get inspired marketing and we make a profit. That’s good business. All that has changed is the price point.” — Phil JohnsonI like it. Those are good thoughts to start a week with.

The Mother of All Blog Giveaways

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on November 9, 2008

…which no, I am not hosting (but I definitely think it’s worth acknowledging in my business blog).

One of my favorite personal blogs to follow is Lauren’s at Adventures of a Southern Newlywed. A few weeks ago, she posted about how her husband had gifted her with a Keurig – one of the coolest cup-at-a-time brewing systems – something I’ve seen popping up in corporate world since last winter and now personal worlds… a lot lately.

They really are a neat little system with very little mess (see the official Keurig website for how it give you lots of coffee/tea/beverage choices in little pre-packed cups and brews them each individually) for brewing beverages, but at cup-at-a-time rate – which is great for cutting down on waste and costs (which is my guess as to the source of the backbone of their success in business settings).

Anyways, back to tying this into business – lots of brands are standing up and taking note of personal bloggers and their influence on their followers and offering up free products for the bloggers (usually females, as I’ve noticed) to give away on their blogs in a contest for one of the lucky readers who make themselves known and leave a comment.

Keurig has offered Lauren their Platinum home model – which at $199.95 MSRP – is no small gimme!

My question for business-followers out there is this – are you participating the blogworld, do you know who is talking about your products (or would be interested in your products), and are you turning that into a revenue stream?

If not, it’s so worth a shot. (You can’t tell me you haven’t heard the old addages about the power of word-of-mouth.)

“Media Guerilla points to interesting research from Intelliseek that finds that consumers are ‘50% more likely to be influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations from their peers than by radio/TV ads.’”
Source: Business Week

Enough said.

(Note: As always, this is not a paid endorsement of Keurig, just an observation from my own personal Google Reader subscriptions of how businesses are leveraging the power of social media.)

White Paper Quickie

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on October 29, 2008

I’ve mentioned Marcia Yudkin and her Marketing Minute before – this week, she mentioned that she’s making available (without having to give up your contact information) a 12-page pdf white paper on Thriving During a Recession and encouraging those who enjoy it to pass it along for free to their colleagues and peers.

I’ve just downloaded it and will be reading it tonight!

Keep Doing What You’re Doing

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on October 18, 2008

I know that I’m surrounded by good business people because nearly everyone I know is personally connected, and connects their business, to one or more great causes.

Even though the economy is a bit – gross? – right now, there’s good news for those who’ve continued supporting their favorite causes:

Cause-related marketing still works, study shows

“In this experiment, products with cause-related marketing enjoyed as much as a 74 percent increase in sales compared to products with generic ads.

Participants spent nearly twice as much time looking at cause-related ads compared to generic ads. Lead researcher Gavan Fitzsimons said, “Consumers are paying more attention to cause messages, and as a result, are more likely to purchase them.”

The second part of the study, an online survey of more than 1,000 Americans, showed that the cause, the nonprofit organization associated with it, and the product itself are all important factors in the purchase decision.”

The linked article above notes the most favored types of campaigns but there’s one segment I think they’re sorely missing: animals and rescue organizations. Maybe that’s grouped into one of their broader category titles.

A few (but in no way all) of my favorite local causes (in no particular order):
SPCA of Wake County
Brittany’s Battle
Racing Heroes Charity Auction
Dress for Success – Triangle NC Affiliate

Marcia Yudkin’s "Marketing Minute"

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on September 24, 2008

I believe it was Mandy Becker from Swagger Gifts who forwarded me a copy of Marcia Yudkin‘s “Marketing Minute” that got me interested enough to subscribe to her weekly email series for marketers and business-owners. (Of course, since it’s a free service, it’s not too in-depth and always precedes a pitch about her marketing consulting services, but I see absolutely no problem with that.)

My favorite thing about the weekly eNewsletter is that it literally only takes about a minute to read but definitely makes me think a little more “outside the box” when it comes to marketing and, more often than not, spurs some thought and creativity about an area of marketing that I had not previously thought too much about. The topics are almost always translatable to any industry, too.

To subscribe, just visit her website here.

To give you a taste, today’s topic was about answering or responding to any concerns your customers may have, before they even arise. If you put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and provide any support you may need ahead of time, you gain some great credibility by calming those concerns in advance and showing that you clearly understand their role as well as yours in the business-customer relationship. Check it out in more detail on her “This Week’s Issue” page. (Note: It doesn’t seem to be updated from last week at the moment, but I can’t imagine it’ll be too long before she updates it.)

Are Your Emails Outlook 2007-Proof?

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on August 19, 2008

Quick Tip: Be sure that any email communication you’re sending render as expected in Outlook 2007.

I recently upgraded to Office 2007 (which definitely slowed me down by at least a week with all the freakin’ changes to the appearance) with the purchase of a new laptop and in the last month have unsubscribed from at least 30 email subscriptions that I use to at least skim if nothing else.

Luckily (as I see it), they were all random big corporation ones, so I’m not really missing out, but for any of you small business folks out there… be sure you’re getting what you expect (or pay for, if you’re using Constant Contact, etc.). Many of the online services have taken action to try and make their templates compatible… but one I used today happened to not be… so always just double check – especially if you’re paying for a service.

If you want to test yours before sending them out, I’ll be glad to review it for you – just email me: Lisa.Jeffries@gmail.com.

I won’t even try to be a definitive source on what makes an email Outlook 2007-proof… but here’s a good place to start: CampaignMonitor.

Why Banks are SO Bad at Marketing

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on August 14, 2008

Why Banks are SO Bad at Marketing
And what you can learn from their mistakes.

This is the type of information that I probably shouldn’t be giving away for free – but hey… it’s my blog and I get to call the shots right?

I won’t highlight my particular bank(s) by name who has(have) made the terrible mistakes I’m about to highlight, but really, they all do it. So it’s not really important to name names anyway.

So why is it that I feel (strike that) know banks are so bad at marketing? Because I have to discard 99% of the marketing messages I receive from them because they just don’t apply to me. SAD – what a waste of a marketing department.

Take my email inbox for my family business this morning for example: our bank was offering me a business card offer too good to pass up! A VISA for business with a starting credit line of $25,000, no fees, etc., etc. Cool right? Yep – and it was cool 10 years ago, too when our company acquired one for each of our owners.

I can hear you asking now: “so what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that I receive this offer probably every month from my bank via email and about the same frequency via postal mail, too. Since our company already has three, there’s really no “introduction” going on here. We’re set in that department and if we weren’t, I’d know where to go. Add all of those impressions up over and time and that’s potentially a lot of money being spent on trying to acquire a customer who has already been acquired.

The same goes for their constant attempts to have be go paperless, engage in online bill pay, etc., etc. – all of which are things I am already enrolled in and have been since their inception.

The sad part of this story is that not only SHOULD my bank(s) know these things, but that they DO know them and just aren’t using their CRM (customer relationship management) data effectively.

Take note, this is where your light bulb should be brightest: It really only takes a little more time (which I know, equates to a little more money) to properly segment and target your marketing messages so that you are offering the correct services and benefits to the correct customers – those who need it. That extra investment in the quality and appropriateness of marketing messages can really show a significantly higher return on investment than not using it at all.