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THIS WEEK
Why Mine is Bigger than Yours Fails
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
Why Mine is Bigger than Yours Fails |
You all know the type – people who brag, "Mine is bigger than yours". But what does this have to do with marketing?
Well ... many marketers unwittingly belong to the mine is bigger than yours school of marketing, where they go out of their way to get bigger everything for their clients, without considering the impacts.
What am I talking about? If you are in business, you will no doubt have heard of people promoting:
- Bigger email lists
- Bigger number of Twitter followers
- Bigger number of Facebook fans
- Bigger numbers of links
- Bigger PR events & stunts
- Bigger ads in print, yellow pages and TV
- Bigger numbers of website visitors
Marketers everywhere push bigger is better on the assumption that raw numbers of things mean that you will increase your sales or market share.
 Sounds logical. But what is the downside of some of these bigger than Ben Hur strategies?
If you push for bigger email lists, you could end up with thousands of people who really don't know or care about your product or service. You may also cut corners in terms of gathering their email details. If you market to this type of list, you could end up being branded a spammer and losing all credibility.
Twitter has seen a massive influx of "grow your list by thousands a day" sort of marketers. Even traditional marketers have been caught up with the bigger is better approach – but when you check out who is following them, you get to see thousands of spammers, other marketers, and people not related to their market. Thousands of people who will not buy their products or services in a pink fit.
If you head for bigger numbers of links to boost your rankings you may end up going down the path of being caught with link spammers and link farms. This may give you a quick search engine high – only to get Google slapped where your website disappears into oblivion in terms of search engine rankings.
Bigger PR events and stunts can be a great way to build brand awareness, but they can also be extremely costly and may not result in actual increases in sales for your business.
Bigger ads are another area of challenge. If your yellow pages ad works as a small display ad – surely a whole page ad may be better. This is one you need to test and measure but many of our clients are finding that when they downsize their ads, their phone calls from the ad either stay the same or increase, as people perceive they are not as expensive as the companies that take out full-page ads.
Bigger number of visitors to your website – surely that at least is a good thing? Well yes and no. Yes, site traffic is one part of search engine results – but it is not the only factor. People visit websites to research information or to buy products. What point is having thousands of people a day visit your site if they are not interested in the information you provide or the services you offer?
You see, the true marketing difference is quality over quantity. In business, you want to make your cash register ring. You want to attract more customers who are interested in what you offer and are willing to pay money for it as a result. Warm leads outperform cold leads hands down.
I would prefer to have a small handful of the numbers bandied around by the "big stuff" marketers – but have each one of these small handful of people passionate about my products and service and already holding their money ready to buy, than have thousands of people with no interest and even less intention to buy. What about you?
So, the next time you are tempted to "get more" take a deep breath and work out – what exactly do you want more of, and how specifically can you get more of what you truly need and less of what you don't.
There's a saying "only take what you need and leave the rest". There's also a saying "quality over quantity". Apply both of these in your marketing and you will create some great successes for your business.
If you are looking to create a targeted marketing campaign - call Heart Harmony 07 3351 8844.
| HR Tip of the Week - Planning for Swine Flu |
 By now most parts of the world have confirmed cases of Swine flu. But what do you as a business need to do about it?
Right now each business should be reviewing its business continuity strategies in readiness. Remember under Workplace Health and Safety legislation you are legally required to ensure a safe system of work for your employees.
So what do you need to consider?
1. Download the Government Guidelines on Being Prepared for an Influenza Pandemic and Business Continuity Guide for Australian Business. These are essential reading and have lots of detailed information on precisely what you need to do and when.
2. Keep updated. Regularly check the main Government website for more information http://www.flupandemic.gov.au/internet/panflu/publishing.nsf/Content/plans-resources-bus-comm-1
3. Plan for the worst. Consider what would happen if you had 30-50% of your employees absent and your regular suppliers/contractors are disrupted.
4. Update your HR records and policies. People need to know what leave they are entitled to, how much leave they have accrued and what are your sick leave policies. You should be also updating emergency contact details of all your employees in case you need to contact people at home. Reinforce your policy of "if sick - stay home" and keep to it.
5. Consider telecommuting/work at home arrangements. How could this be done if needed. Which are the core roles - do you have cover for them in case that person gets sick?
6. Get your hygiene ramped up. Put in stocks of telephone disenfectant wipes & hand sanitisers. Ensure public access areas and particularly counters, door knobs, railings, computer keyboards and benchtops are regularly cleaned with disinfectant products throughout the day. If the flu spreads - supply disposable surgical masks and dispose as soon it becomes moist or after any cough or sneeze.
7. Consider how to minimise contact between people. Do you have plans in place to reduce crowds of people? Do you limit how many people are in your building at one time. If a health provider - what steps do you put in place to keep potentially ill people away from other people not showing symptoms.
8. Tell your customers and staff your plans. Smart businesses communicate regularly and consistently to their customers and staff what they are doing to minimise panic and to deal with the crisis. Talk with your marketing team to get clear and consistent communication points and marketing collateral in place. Work out who is the contact to the media in case of emergency and get your story straight before a situation explodes. Talk with your staff at least daily about what is happening and keep reinforcing your key communication points.
9. Talk with your accountant. Pandemics can cause cash-flow issues. Talk with your accountant about ways to cope.
10. Don't panic. With any luck this will be a mild problem that will quickly resolve itself. But - plan for the worst and hope for the best. If you have your planning in place you should be able to weather any scenario.
 You often hear the comment that traditional media is dead (or at least very very sick). Our business of the week is a non-commercial radio station that is bucking the trend - 612 ABC in Brisbane.
The ABC has traditionally been seen as stuffy, stick in the mud types, who occasionally let something interesting through when no-one is watching. But one part of the ABC - a small radio station, has been quietly and consistently overturning this perception.
612ABC is a mixture of mainly talkback and some music of diverse styles. So what? Well 612ABC demonstrates some of the best and cleverest uses of new social media of any company I know.
Traditional talk back radio only tends to involve the announcer and people ringing in. 612ABC still does that, but it also includes emails, SMS text messages, blog comments as well as the best use of Twitter @612Brisbane anywhere to communicate with their audience.
The announcers seamlessly blend phone in callers with what is being said on Twitter and SMS and weave all of these thoughts into the discussion of the topics.
They also share what is being talked about to their listeners via the same channels - so even if you are not listening, you get the heads up via Twitter or the blog about interesting stuff you may want to hear. You can catch podcasts later if you miss them, with easy to follow links on their website.
The programming has a range of very short sharp bursts of information as well as some of the best in depth journalistic interviews you will experience - with some one hour long interviews each day with top world thought leaders. (The conversation with George Friedman on the next 100 years for the world was brilliant - you can listen to the podcast of this online.)
They have also adopted the role of local communication hub - sharing information about trains, roads, bus delays, lost dogs and other local information which means they are making a very large community (the city of Brisbane) feel very small and friendly.
Yeah - but what about the ratings? 612ABC breakfast radio is now outperforming most of the million dollar commercial channels. Brisbanites are flocking to them in droves.
What can you learn from 612ABC?
- Social media is nothing to be feared - it can be embraced and build your business.
- Build your community and they will build you.
- Communicate to different communication preferences - short and sharp compared to people who want to know more.
- Share your information and people will come back to want more.
And if you want to know what the next 100 years will bring to the world - listen to Conversations with George Friedman.
Have you noticed the change in TV ads lately? As markets tumble more and more people are resorting to annoying jingles that are as enticing as wet cardboard. Read my take on why you need to kill the jingle if you want to sell.
Business Marketing Tune-ups
exuberantly yours
Ingrid
Heart Harmony
PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog included a post about "Qantas Discriminates against Tall People"
Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter
Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertarial information. But - unless I know and trust the product I will not recommend it.
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