Last day of 2010, Happy New Year!

December 31, 2010...Happy New Year everyone!

May this be the beginning of a wonderful year!

Make it a great Friday. Be safe this New Year's Eve, enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Customer Service from a Marketer's Point of View

I have been a lifelong customer of American Airlines. A frequent flyer, credit card holder, miles gifter--you name it. I started flying AA because they had direct flights into St. Louis, where most of my family lives. From there, I started to accrue miles, and soon enough, I booked all of my travel on AA. It became a habit. I knew their routes, the layout of their planes, and how to navigate Dallas Forth Worth airport like a local. In performing arts terms, I was a long time subscriber. That is until now.

My flight from St. Louis to Washington, DC was canceled the day after Christmas due to weather (even though DC didn't receive any snow, and my plane was at the airport ready to take off). I was informed by a robo call, which also told me that I was rebooked for a flight 26 hours later. The message ended by instructing me to call AA reservations if I had any questions or concerns. Knowing that I had to be at work the next day for two interviews with major media outlets, I tried calling the number given. After being hung up on four times, the automated telephone system said "we are experiencing high call volume. If you would like to speak with an agent, please call back later." Knowing that I wouldn't be able to speak with a human, I tried working out my problem on the AA iPhone App and on their website, neither of which were designed to handle cancellations. My last option was driving an hour and a half to the airport, which I did only to be met with an apologetic but complete ineffective gate agent. So with no other option, I boarded a flight 26 hours later, however I decided I would no longer be an AA subscriber.

As marketers, we know that it costs significantly more to attract new customers than it does to retain them. Customer service is one of the easiest ways to create brand champions or to drive loyal customers away. As the economic crisis continues, we are all being forced to examine our expenses and improve ROI. So here are some thoughts on customer service as a marketing tactic to reduce churn:

1. When dealing with a customer service complaint, take a holistic view of the customer. At Arena Stage, we are fortunate enough to have a robust database that allows us to see a holistic view of our patrons. Each time a patron comes into contact with our company, it is recorded. Any employee can log into the database, and see a lifetime's worth of interactions. Like most companies, Arena Stage has policies and procedures, however our greatest asset is the excellent judgment of our front line staff. They are instructed and empowered to thoroughly review a patron's file, and to depart from most policies and procedures if necessary to retain loyal customers. I would rather waive a $10 exchange fee for a longtime subscriber every once in awhile than spend ten times that finding a new subscriber. Senior managers must allow front line employees the flexibility to take care of highly valued customers.

2. Track all customer service issues, and start to look for a pattern. Each time a customer complains, be it to front of house, box office or anyone else, the complaint should be logged into your database and tracked. Every Monday morning, senior members of the Arena Stage staff are sent a CSI (customer service issue) report listing all the complaints that came in the previous week. These complaints are then put into a spreadsheet, sorted into categories and analyzed for any visible patterns. If the same issue continues to come up, you can bet that there are ten times the number of frustrated patrons with the same issue who haven't complained. It is then your responsibility to proactively address the issue swiftly to prevent future patrons from having a similar disappointing experience with your company.

3. Be proactive, rather than reactive. The best service comes from proactive management of customer service issues. Instead of relying exclusively on complaint tracking and analysis, be proactive and solicit opinions. Send customer satisfaction surveys. Benchmark numerical responses from year to year, and ask open ended questions. Aggressively solicit customer service issues and correct them before others have to experience them. In addition, if you notice a customer has experienced a problem, try to contact them before they contact you. We ask our house managers to get the names of all patrons who share complaints and/or concerns. This allows us to follow up with the patron and suggest a solution, apologize or offer some form of compensation before they contact our box office. Imagine receiving an apology and a compensatory offer from a box office before you even contact them to report an issue.

4. Even small gestures go a long way. After doing a little research on airline customer service, I was reminded by Time Magazine's Richard Zoglin in his article "The Airlines' Customer Complaint Lines: No Answer" that even small gestures go a long way. You might not be able to meet all the demands of an angry customer, but you should be able to offer a little something to most of them. A comp ticket to an under-performing show, a free drink at the bar, complimentary parking, an autographed poster or perhaps a handwritten response from your Artistic Director. In today's world of fast-paced, unfriendly, automated response systems to customer complaints, it shouldn't take much to stand out from the crowd. Differentiate yourself from your competition by making a small gesture to each upset patron.

By offering better customer service, you can reduce your marketing expenses by slowing down churn. Make it a priority to retain the customers you spent valuable time and resources attracting in the first place.

Resolve to Work Smarter

As we approach the end of the year, a reflective tone on our past performance often resonates. We often compare our actual performance to the goals we had set out for ourselves to see how we measured up.

Reflecting on the past year’s performance of what we did well and what we could have done better leads us to the question, “how can we do it better in 2011?“ Lessons learned from 2010 can guide us in the right direction for working smarter in 2011. Working smarter is very relevant as we remain in an era of increasing responsibilities and minimal budgets.

Explore these ideas to discover ways you can work smarter in 2011…

• Acquire the market and industry intelligence in order to become a “smarter” when targeting prospective customers
• How can you package products or provide relationship benefits to better engage current and new customers in a broader relationship
• Review internal customer data in order to expand balances and services per household through better targeting and more innovative profiling
• Review operational communication messaging in order to maximize retention or expand relationships
• Ensure your products and customer service are better than the competition

Looking over 2010 with a critical eye is important to discover ways that you can continually grow and improve your marketing. Using this information to work smarter will help us to deliver the results we all need to keep growing and reaching our goals.

Resolve to work smarter this year!

Jamie

Don't SPAM Your Fellow Social Network Community Members!

Ok, you decided to implement social media marketing. You have been actively engaging in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites. You carefully accept friend, follower, and fan requests. Then it hits you like a ton of bricks ... you’ve just been spammed by a ‘friend’!

Facebook and LinkedIn publish your email address on your user profile page for all your ‘friends’ to see. And many ‘social marketing barracudas’ use this personal information and decide that it’s fair game to now send you unsolicited, unwanted and un-opted in emails that are typically promotional in nature OR trying to get you to hire them for their services.

Remember, if you didn’t ‘opt in’ to receive someone’s promotional-type communications to your personal or business email address, than those emails are spam - plain and simple.

Don’t engage in this abusive practice.

If you wish to correspond with a fellow social network community member, use social marketing etiquette and either post to their wall or send them a direct message thru the social media community platform. For instance, Facebook has a way where you can ‘direct message’ friends so it’s private to that reader and not a public post for all to see. This way, you’re not invading this person’s privacy and sending correspondence to their ‘personal’ email address.

When I receive messages of this nature I not only pay them no creed as the user is typically inauthentic and desperate for business -- but I also un-friend the person immediately. So it’s a lose/lose situation.

This is a blatant disregard to the social community members as well as just bad marketing.

The 27th...and counting

Greetings!

Seems like yesterday when we started the countdown to 2010...right after Christmas last year!

Well...the countdown is now on for 2011!  Its the 27th...the calm that arrives after the Christmas rush will quickly dissipate and return to a chaos of the new year.

Enjoy the last few days of 2010, reflect on the year ending and look forward to the year beginning!

Cheers!

Bruce

Merry Christmas

Tis the season!

May peace, prosperity, and happiness be yours throughout the holidays and new year.

I would like to personally wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Enjoy the time with your family over then next few days.

Debbi

‘Can Social Media Marketing Work For Me?’

I get many questions from clients asking me how to leverage social media for bonding and sales.

I believe, like any marketing tactic, you must first evaluate if this ‘channel’ is right for your business. Depending on your target market and mission, social media may not be for you.
If you determine that social media is a viable channel to at least test, then there’s little tricks for optimum results:

Engagement. It’s all about creating a community, interacting with your ‘triple F’s’, that is, Friends, Followers and Fans, and cultivating a cyber-relationships. Post insightful, thought provoking, and powerful editorial. Ask probing questions. Exchange witty and fun comments. With social media marketing, it’s all about relationship building and bonding.

Friend and Guru. You want to come across as both a friend AND expert. This can be accomplished by posting quasi-personal information or photos of your life and letting your triple F’s take a little peek into your world. It’s also posting strong messages, articles or recommendations that are relevant to your field … you’re expertise.

Marketing and Advertising. Uploading banner ads, offering free reports to encourage sign ups, having text links to squeeze pages or promotional pages are all creative ways to try and monetize your social media efforts. It’s also a good idea to implement a special auto responder series or segmented social media conversion plan to help expedite the sales process.

One-on-One Time. When you can, make an effort to respond to individual posts as well as send direct messages to individual followers. As a question. Convey birthday wishes. Discuss sports, family or other interests. Share a funny story. Personal communication goes a long way. People feel extra special through direct dialog. It will help them remember you above the many others they may be following on Twitter or FaceBook.

Which leads me to my next question that I get asked a lot, ‘which is better, Twitter or FaceBook?’

Personally, I like the diversity and flexibility FaceBook offers as opposed to Twitter. Twitter posts are limited to small amount of characters which makes bonding harder. In addition, I’ve found FaceBook followers more loyal than Twitter. Many people on Twitter follow people just to get that reciprocal follow and build their following. It becomes more about reciprocation, than about relevance. And since many of your Twitter followers may not be ‘relevant’ or targeted (i.e. ideal prospects), conversion may never occur or take longer than average. For all these reasons I’ve found in my own experience that FaceBook triple F’s are of better quality than Twitter.

But your experience may be completely different…so I suggest you test both social media platforms for yourself and monitor your followers (who they are) as well as conversions.

Good luck!

Microsites

It's not secret ... if you want to reach the "Google Generation" you'd better be a few steps ahead on technology. Text alerts and mobile banking are as expected as ATMs and online banking.

You'd also better spend more time analyzing and improving your website than you do writing newspaper ads!

Lately, we've had a lot of clients interested in microsites. And they can be VERY useful in the right situations.

What is a microsite? (or minisite, or weblet)

It's a page or cluster of pages that supplement your main website. They are usually used to highlight a particular product or aspect of your organization.

Let me give you 2 examples.

We are in the process of completing a Mortgage-specific microsite for a client. While in this supplemental portion of their website, a user can find only information important to someone who's interested in buying or refinancing a home.

We also completed a microsite for another institution who wanted to focus on their new lifestage-based sales process. Here the user is drawn into information important to their specific lifestage. They then have the option of clicking on relevant financial products that will take them back to the bank's main site.

In short, it's a way to get a reader interested and to draw them to you. A microsite can differentiate in a very targeted way and generate qualified leads. It's also a much better marketing message:

"Come to our site with information important to you."

vs

"Come to our site all about our products."

What Makes a Microsite Successful?

Content.

The number one objective of your site should be to add value - not, necessarily to sell your products.

Where your main website is traditionally an electronic brochure of your "stuff," a microsite is successful because it draws a user to it for value - entertainment, knowledge, etc.

Many retail microsites use games to bring people in. We prefer to position or clients as experts and use value-added content.

Our mortgage site includes more than a dozen articles that are important to first time home buyers, experienced home buyers, folks wanting to refinance and moving and packing information. It also includes dozens of helpful links to anyone moving or remodeling. The entire site is designed to be a one-stop resource for everything important to you before and after you complete a mortgage app.

Our Lifestage site provides links and information for anyone experiencing specific life events, like childbirth, retirement, etc.

Of course, there are countless ways to link from the informative microsite to the "salsey" main site.

In short, a microsite should be a resource that a customer or prospect will want to bookmark and come back to over and over again.

Merry Christmas,

Eric

Forget What You Know…

If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we were to remember nothing.

-William James

This quote may come in handy when brainstorming new ideas. Certainly your experience is worth a great deal, but sometimes, when it comes to developing new, innovative ideas for promotions, product development, campaigns, or customer communication it helps to initially throw out “what you know.” Putting everything and anything on the table in a brainstorming session can be a great way to brainstorm new ideas.

Many times, we hear banks defending certain marketing tactics with the statement “this is how we have always done it.” Not a very compelling reason, is it? Customer and market perceptions are always changing, so even if you are considering to re-execute a past successful campaign, that doesn’t mean it will be successful when executing it in the future.

If you plan only to repeat successful promotions, you may be missing out on an idea that could be even more successful. Also, if you rule out all unsuccessful promotions, you may be ruling out a good idea that was poorly executed or a good idea that would have been more successful with different situational criteria.

In some scenarios, you can take your brainstorming a step further by removing resource restrictions. If money, supplies, people, and time weren’t limited, what would you do? The ideas you come up with might not be plausible, but they may cause you to uncover new ideas within your resource limits that can make a huge impact.

A healthy dose of “forgetting” is crucial for our ability to think big.

Happy brainstorming!

Jamie

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Around here it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! This picture was taken yesterday, Dayton, Ohio. With Christmas just a week away we would like to take this time to wish you a very happy holiday season.

Before you start using up those last vacation days before the end of the year, take a moment and reflect on 2010. Both professionally and personally. Here's hoping you accomplished what you could and have something to show for your hard work.

Happy holidays from the MarketMatch family!

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Shop Around...

It’s the holiday season and everyone has shopping on the mind. But what about shopping your competition - have you shopped them lately?

Touching base with your immediate competition on their advertising, products, access, and customer service is something your financial institution should consistently be doing in order to ensure you are maintaining your competitive advantage.

It may be time to take a look at the competition and see how you stack up in the following areas:

• Advertising: What products/messages are your competition promoting and how does your financial institution stack up?
• Products: Do gaps exist in your competitions’ product lines or within product features?
• Access: What are the features of their websites and is the website interactive and resourceful? Also, what other technologies can customers/members use to interact with the bank/credit union or access their accounts?
• Customer Service: Communicate with your competition in a variety of ways (email, phone, in person, etc.) to see how they stack up. Are there ways that they excel or fall behind?

Competitive research equips you with the information that you’ll need to uncover where your financial institution excels and may lags behind. Once complete, you will better be able to identify your strengths, correct any weaknesses, and capitalize on opportunities!

Happy shopping!

Jamie

Think Inside the Box #4

Well...it finally happened.  I am actually inside the box!!

Actually...this is a favorite shot of mine.  Helps me reflect on the importance of staying within our reach.  Don't get me wrong-- staying INSIDE the box does not mean NOT being CREATIVE or expanding ideas!  Quite to the contrary...it is ALL ABOUT being creative--and realizing that you have a lot of what you need close at hand.

However, let's list the top 4 items that you will need to add to what is at hand...for the most complete planning and analysis:

• Customer insights
• Staff insights
• Marketplace insights
• The competitive assessment

These items will help provide the information to fill the gaps of what you know and provide "voice" of the customer in your planning.

Cheers!

Bruce

Turn Your Management Into Movie Stars

MarketMatch has added a resource to our website that you can also do at your financial institution.

We've added a video blog.

With sites like YouTube, it is easy and free to create the videos and with Social Media like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, it's easy to have your message seen by your target.

My recommendation? Recruit your management and branch/market leaders to share their expertise. Have your Lending VP talk about improving your credit score. Have your Commercial VP talk about cash management. Have a branch manager talk about what's happening in the community.

By utilizing all of the resources in your bank or credit union, you can provide more content, relevant content, and you can position the whole institution as THE community expert.

The Missing Piece For Consistent Cross-Sell

Cross-selling is a popular tactic used at every bank and credit union. Most financial institutions have developed a strategy and created tools to encourage cross-sell, but process shouldn’t end there…

Engaging and motivating employees is the activation piece that is crucial for long-term success. A good place to start is developing acknowledgement and/or rewards for cross-selling or referring. Rewards should commensurate with the profitability of the product or service to the bank.

In order achieve staff buy-in over the long-term, consider involving staff in developing the campaign or promotional ideas that will promote cross-sell. Involving employees in this process will give them a chance to understand the complexities of the product, rules, regulations and compliance issues. Also, getting staff involved early can provide you valuable feedback into the sales process that may provide insight on how to better target customers.

You can also keep cross-sell top-of-mind by ensuring continuous coaching to understand customer's needs and consistently share progress reports towards a goal.

Best,

Jamie

Think Inside the Box #3

Greetings...

Its time. Time to shake off the start of the cold and remind ourselves that in just 24 short days, we have a whole new year, new budget, and new opportunities with the start of 2011!

Today, I will share the top 5 "Think Inside the Box" questions you should be asking of yourself and your bank/CU.

1. What is the customer perception of our products?What is the market perception of our products?
2. What can I learn from "how" my customers are using the bank? (IE number of services, usage of electronic services, average time between new accounts, time between loans, etc.)
3. What are the top three (3) service combinations and what I can learn from that knowledge?
4. Where will my customers get their next loan? (is it us or another institution?  why?)
5. Is my staff willing & able to offer our products effectively in a way that creates success?

With answers to these questions you can move forward with a detailed action plan...or you may have more questions that arise.  Either way, you are three steps ahead!

Think INSIDE the box...you have what you need...but you need to turn information into knowledge.

Need help?  The first step is getting started.  Call us, we can help bring clarity to your thoughts and action to your information and knowledge to your planning!

Cheers!

Bruce

Why I Hate Comp Tickets

If there is one thing that can kill your earned revenue quicker than anything else, it is a misguided complimentary ticket policy. Someone asked me the other day why I hate comp tickets so much, so I decided to list my top reasons:

1. Comp tickets devalue what it is we do. For my entire career, I have watched artists struggle to make the argument that the arts mean business, and that an artistic career is just as viable an option as any other. However, these same artists then give away the fruits of their labor to anyone with the most feeble of reasons. In the past few days, a viral video entitled "Explaining the Arts Non-Profit," has been passed among my colleagues illustrating this point. It starts out with one bear saying how much he enjoys a choral group, and then asking for a comp ticket. The other bear responds by saying that putting on a concert is expensive, and would prefer it if the first bear would purchase a ticket. The first bear is befuddled by the response because he thinks the choral group is made up of volunteers who perform as a hobby. For many of us, the arts aren't a hobby--they are our livelihood, and we deserve to be compensated for work that enriches the lives of so many people.

2. People don't show because they aren't invested. Many organizations believe that they must give away comp tickets to "paper the house" in order to fill as many seats with butts when important people such as reviewers are in the audience. However, in many cases, it backfires on them. Those who receive comp tickets haven't paid anything for them, therefore they aren't invested and many don't bother to show up. An average no show rate for comp tickets is in the 30% range. Next time you are at an opening night performance, take a look at how many empty seats there are. I would bet dollars to donuts that those empty seats are a result of a faulty comp ticketing policy. Not only are organizations giving away free tickets, but they aren't even getting the results they want out of them.

3. Blood in the water. Nothing smells of desperation worse than massive public discounting and uncontrolled comp ticketing programs. You might as well put a sign on your theater that says "no need to buy because we can't give tickets away." Marketers are in the business of managing perception more than reality. Even with shows that are under performing, smart marketers have tools in their toolbox to create the perception of demand.

4. Comp tickets create box office nightmares. The old saying that "those who pay the least complain the most" definitely applies to recipients of comp tickets. Recipients of comp tickets, in my mind, are the most entitled and demanding group of patrons to serve. They demand the attention of box office and front of house staff, which in turn takes a significant portion of your limited resources away from your full paying audience.

That all being said, there are a few good reasons to use comp tickets in a controlled and well thought out strategy:

1. As benefits for full time employees and actors. In many organizations, comp tickets are an important part of the benefits offered to employees. Organizations want their employees to be proud of their work, and knowledgeable about what is on stage, so offering them complimentary tickets is well worth the loss in revenue.

2. For members of the press. Press members who have agreed to cover a particular performance should be offered a comp ticket. However, do not give out comp tickets to press who haven't agreed to coverage. If a press member wants to see a performance but isn't going to cover it or your organization, it is more than acceptable to ask them to purchase a ticket. Just because they are a member of your credential press corps doesn't automatically entitle them to a free ticket.

3. To cultivate potential investors and/or donors. Comp tickets can and should be used to host potential investors and/or donors as a means of cultivation. However, these tickets should be monitored and tracked. I have seen companies give away thousands of dollars worth of comp tickets to potential donors who were in the "cultivation" process for years without a single donation.

4. As a professional courtesy. Most organizations have a vested interest in other artists seeing their work. Agents, casting directors, affiliated artists, artistic directors, and producers comprise most of this group. In some cases, if a relationship is exceptionally important, offering comp tickets would be appropriate. In many cases however, a discount for industry professionals will work just fine.

In closing, here are a few quick thoughts on developing a comprehensive comp ticketing policy for your organization:

1. Create a budget for comp tickets. Used in much the same manner as an expense budget, this allows an organization to plan for a given number of comp tickets each year for various purposes. Make sure to get buy-in from all members of senior management as they will be responsible for managing the comp tickets for their departments.

2. Develop very clear instructions on how comp tickets are to be distributed. The key to a good comp ticket policy is clarity. Make sure your policies are easy to understand and simple to follow. For fairness, it is important that the same policy be in effect for your entire organization. Once a clear and concise policy is created, stick to it.

3. It's like a crack addiction--it will be tough to wean people off of them. If your organization has a serious comp ticket problem, you might need a couple of years to turn it around. Be prepared...you will piss people off. But we are talking about the livelihood of the organization and its artists. Why would anyone want to buy a ticket if they know that your organization gives them away at the drop of a hat? It will be tough, but worth it. I promise.

How relevant are you?

I'm in the middle of a huge competitive review and I am amazed at the different names people can come up with for the same products. Whether it's at the same bank or a bank around the corner...wow they sure are creative. Some banks have 10 different checking accounts while others have 1 or 2.

Which is right?

When was the last time you looked at your competition to see what they are doing? This should happen a couple times of year to make sure what you offer is relevant to your market. Do you ask your customers for their feedback? Is there something they are looking for that you don't offer? Don't be afraid to ask, be proactive and get their opinions. I'm sure they will appreciate the gesture.

I came up just for a breath of air and to wish you all a great weekend.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Top-10 B2B Marketing Topics of 2010

With 2010 coming to an end, it is time for a quick review of the most popular B2B marketing posts on the Everything Technology Marketing blog.



The 10 Most Popular Blog Posts (by number of re-tweets)

1 - 5 Steps to B2B Marketing Success (100)

2 - The Brave New World of B2B Marketing - Are You Ready? (98)

3 - Is Traditional B2B Marketing Dead? (87)

4 - What B2B Marekting tactics are Up, Down, Flat? (79)

5 - A Simple B2B Marketing Framework (75)

6 - Social Media in B2B Marketing - Survey Results (47)

7 - Is B2B Marketing Ready for Social Media? (44)

8 - Is the In-House B2B Marketing Department Going Away? (39)

9 - It's Budget Season - B2B Marketing Budget Trends (39)

10 - You Have No Metrics for B2B Social Media Measurement? (36)

I hope you had a successful and productive 2010. Thank you all for participating in this blog - I learned a lot from our discussions this year. See you in 2011!

Think Inside the Box #2

This week, I am meeting with a client in Florida to share our analysis of the MCIF data and review our recommendations for moving the information gained into a knowledge-backed plan!

The key has been helping them see that they have the information they need...but our "filters" based on experience and the expertise we have developed, has opened their eyes to what the knowledge they now have at their disposal to move forward in a very targeted, strategic manner!

Thinking inside the box!

Take a new look at what you have...and then extrapolate that information into tangible cannot-be-ignored knowledge that drives three levels of activities:

1. Organizational level
2. Product level
3. Point-of-purchase front line staff level

Each level in integral to the overall success of your marketing strategy and each level is inter-related to ensuring that the knowledge is moved into action!

in 2011, we are developing a Brown Bag Lunch Series session specifically addressing the "think inside the box" strategy and gives tips and hints into the exact items you need and what questions you should be asking to land at the 'cannot-be-ignored' stage.

Look for more information and the entire 2011 Brown Bag Lunch Series schedule coming out next week.

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

Marketing: Defining Your Role

What role does marketing play? This is a great question that can be applied to many areas of your bank or credit union. And you may come to find that depending on who you are asking the answer may be different.

This year your marketing department may be tasked with a variety of objectives that include forming and supporting your brand, generating traffic, establishing value, encouraging customer/member loyalty, creating effective communication, developing product … and the list goes on. What is the priority for your marketing department? Assuming that you can answer this question, would your CEO, CFO, CLO, and COO agree?

Ask your executive team how they view the role of marketing in your organization. Is it what you expected? Because let's face it, until we know the answer to this question, we can’t begin to define or measure what success for the marketing team looks like in 2011.

Best,

Jamie

Profit Makers and Breakers: 10 Things Every Business Owner Should Know

In my career, I've seen many businesses make good and bad decisions.

I was just talking with my husband yesterday and we were discussing one company that mad a monumentally bad decision that may have not directly affected revenues, but it affected employee morale and team dynamic ... which indirectly affected their bottom line, as employees started to resign.

Looking at various scenarios - whether it's for companies I worked for, or clients I consulted, or when launching my own firm - my decades of real-world experienced combined with an MBA, helps me look at business decisions in a different light and analyze them from different vantage points.

Here are some profit makers and profit breakers for most ALL businesses: large, small, start-up or staple. See if any apply to your company!

Profit Breaker #1. Keeping the 'Corporate Cancer' On Board. Ok, you know the person, the one who may appear to be a high performer, but also has a high level of being insubordinate, outspoken, defensive, and has blatant disrespect for their peers. They respond to most every management decision with hesitation and resistance. They don't work well with others and often is alone in their cube or office 'looking' busy. C-Level management is aware of his or her bad reputation with team members and fellow coworkers, but turns a blind eye, as they're not the ones in the trenches with this individual ...they don't realize the true disruption this person is making to the team and hence is ok with them staying on board because this person seems to be 'a work horse'.

Solution: Cut the 'dead weight'. This person has to go and the sooner the better. It's similar to a 'corporate cancer' which will only spread and affect other areas of the business entity. It needs to be removed with expedience. It may be difficult to carry this out, and you may get some push back from the higher ups. But if you present the '3 R's' (Reasons, Remedy attempts, and Reoccurrence of bad behavior over a specific time period) human resources will see the light and support your decision. Before you actually fire this person, make sure all your ducks are in a row and you've detailed specific moments of their disruptive behavior and your attempts to work with them on correcting it. Of course, working with them will never be a solution because of the innate characteristics these types of people typically have: strong-willed and defensive. So termination is really inevitable. You have to look at it this way, what management message are you sending to the team by keeping someone on board that behaves so badly without any repercussions? Once you remove this person, a huge weight will be lifted from the team and you'll almost immediately see a change for the better with the employee morale and production turnout. You will find a better version of this person without the attitude.

Profit Maker #2. Leverage Content: Develop A Free Report, EZine, eAlert or eBulletin. No matter what business you're in, you need a strong, sure fire way to bring in leads (prospects). Creating free content is a great way to give something and get something in return. You're writing about something you are passionate about ... you're area of expertise. You're offering free, powerful editorial content. And in return, you're asking for an email address from the reader. Creating this type of content isn't just good for acquisition efforts, it's also good for branding and establishing you as an expert within your niche. You can then leverage your free content to build your list (prospect database). Your list is your key to future sales. Growing and cultivating your list through editorial is a proven business model from top online publishers. It's a great way to bond with ... and cross-sell to ... your readers. And this helps create a loyal following, a community if you will, of like-minded followers. From there, the sky is the limit!

Profit Breaker #3. Limited Products or Services. No matter what you're selling, whether it's products or a service (i.e. copywriting, freelancing, consulting) you should always have a variety of price points for customers at every level. Offering front-end products and back-end products gives you room to bring in a customer at a low level and up-sell them. Having only one pricing model or product/service excludes people by interest level and price threshold.

Solution: Think about your target audience and different ways you can serve them. Pick a high, middle and low pricing structure to capture sales at all levels. Then, create products/services that fall into each of the pricing categories. Try not to turn away any reasonable business. Of course, you'll always get the person who wants it all for practically pennies. But losing them is no real loss, as they were probably not a serious prospect anyway.

Profit Maker #4. Market Smarter, Not Harder with SONAR. There are many 'creatively strategic' ways to increase visibility, traffic, sales, leads and buzz. Leverage internet marketing for its speed, reach and cost efficiency as well as look at 'old school' marketing for your local efforts like classified ads, flyers and bulletin boards. Don't be afraid to seek guidance from a professional. Check out my SONAR Content Distribution Model TM for some great, proven, and easy ways to market your company for practically nothing!

Profit Breaker #5. Being Penny Wise and Pound Foolish. It's wise to be cognizant of your finances, but don't make decisions that may save a few bucks now, but will cost you growth and returns down the road. I know one business owner that let the marketing department go - the team that would help bring in new business and create ways to retain current clients - but kept non-revenue generating positions such as several web programmers. When what they should have done was downsize marketing keeping at least one or two people, but also downsize the web team and other areas of the company that weren't profit centers, such as accounting or human resources.

Solution: Have vision and foresight. Realize that it's ok to take calculated risks. When reviewing your numbers, evaluate if the reward is greater than the risk ... and the odds of reaching the reward are stacked in your favor. Look at the big picture and allocate funds and resources accordingly. Also, have a realistic timeline for growth, prospect acquisition and customer conversion. It's not a seller's market anymore. The economy is tough and consumers are watching every nickel they earn and spend, therefore conversion time may be longer than a few years ago. Bonding with your prospects and customers right now is crucial for sustainable profits.

Profit Maker #6. Mix and Mingle. Networking and relationship cultivation are extremely important whether you're an entrepreneur or work for a corporation. Creating a contact list of people that can be influential or beneficial to your business is always a good thing. Take time to go to industry events when possible and attend the social functions. This is where people loosen up and deals are made. Don't be the guy or gal in your room checking emails. Get out there and build relationships. Today's cocktail buddy may be tomorrow's business partner.

Profit Breaker #7: Not Doing Competitive Research Or Market Surveillance. Whether you're a start-up business or seasoned company, it's always advantageous to keep abreast of your competitors. This will help you devise creative and strategic ways to either break into new markets or expand in your existing market. It will also help you with product development, marketing, pricing strategies, and customer service.

Solution: If you're a start-up company, I highly recommend that you research the market you're considering and the audience you want to target BEFORE you launch your business. If you're an existing business, I recommend doing market research at least once per year to make sure you're a leader and not a laggard within your niche. Clearly define what will make your product stand out ... your "USP" (unique selling proposition) ... in the marketplace. Understand your target audience and how to create messages and products that will resonate with them. Don't try and guess what your prospects are thinking. Infiltrate relevant forums. Do keyword research. Find out exactly what your target audience wants. This will ultimately save you time and money down the road with marketing and product development efforts.

Profit Maker #8: Pursue Joint Ventures and Affiliate Marketing Opportunities. Many clients I work with always push affiliate marketing aside as an afterthought effort. Big mistake. Having a carefully thought out affiliate marketing plan in place as soon as possible is a great way to bring in revenues fast. Don't have any products yet? Not a problem. You're mission is to find out other affiliate marketers that have products that you actually believe in and sell them to your list (subscribers, customers, clients). By selling someone else's relevant products to your list you (A) have an instant product line with no overhead and (B) can start creating cash flow without necessarily having your own products developed yet. One caveat is that if you're selling someone else's products, make sure that they don't conflict with a product that you 'may' be thinking about creating for your own list. Because if you do, it will be harder for your own list to make the transition to your product, if they already have product loyalty to your affiliate. So be strategic when thinking about affiliate products to sell to your list. Pick out products that compliment, but are not potentially competitive.

Profit Breaker #9: Not Listening To The Experts! I always tell my clients, heck, I even have verbiage in my consulting proposals that reads, "Full cooperation and support from Client regarding marketing recommendations and/or strategies, swiftness in response to market demand, and a streamlined approval process is needed for best results."

As a consultant, I can't help a client's business if they don't listen to me and implement my recommendations. If your employee or consultant gives you their expert opinion, and you don't listen, then don't wonder why you're not getting optimum results. I hear this all the time from marketing professionals and freelancers. The boss feels that since they're 'footing the bill' they call the shots ... even the decisions that the boss has no expertise in. (Although, some bosses truly believe they excel at most everything and try to do it all!). They just can't seem to let go of the reigns and trust the employee or consultant to do their job. But keep one thing in mind: Every decision has a consequence.

Solution: Bosses, business owners, managers -- be open minded and let go. Sometimes you need to believe in, trust, put your ego aside, and listen to the experts. You know, the people YOU hired with the proven experience, performance, and track record coming out of their wazoo. I know it's hard for you to hand over the controls, but it is critical for ultimate success. You have to believe in the person you hired and their years of experience. If you've done your 'due diligence' before you hired them, then you should take comfort in knowing you've hired the right, capable person to lead your business to greatness. If you don't listen to the expert, then you must be accountable - for better or worse - for 'going rogue'.

Profit Maker #10: Embrace Online Marketing. Online marketing is a quick, cost-effective way to expand your reach and market share. Its immediacy, broach reach, and ability to target specific customers is second to none as far as marketing channels. And there's so many tactics to choose from: online PR, email marketing, banner ads, text ads, search engine marketing, social media marketing, viral marketing ... and the list goes on. If you have a business where you have been sticking to offline tactics such as direct mail, print ads, or even grass roots marketing, then I urge you to test some low-to-no cost online marketing tactics. Put your toe in the water. You may not think Internet marketing is applicable for your particular business or target audience, but you just have to think outside the box. I always say, if you're a creative and strategic thinker, you can whip up some really interesting ways to leverage this channel for profits.

Happy Black Friday

Well, the day after Thanksgiving can only mean one thing...

HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY!

Here's hoping you got a close enough parking spot, you found the deal you were looking for, you didn't cause a scene and you can really enjoy this holiday season.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Get Emotional

I was professionally raised in ad agencies and matured in financial marketing, so I know that I'm a bit too close ... but it seems to me that too many copywriters don't dig deep enough into their work.

If you want to make an impact with your ad copy, understand the unique features that you want to promote ... then determine how those feature will ultimately benefit your customer. Will it make their life easier? What can they do with the money that they'll save?

Now, you can stop at the benefit and be well ahead of most of your competition from a marketing perspective. But to really make an impact, generate some emotion. How does your target FEEL. Are they frustrated with your competition? Are they proud to be buying their first home?

Demonstrate that you understand who your target is and what they care about then back it up with the benefits that will fill their needs.

For example, you could promote your Wealth Management Department by saying that your bank "manages umpteen-million dollars in assets" or that Sally Wealth Management is "super trustworthy." Or you could say...

When "Daddy's Little Girl" became "Mommy," I knew I could help.

First I bought my new grandson a ball glove, then I called Sally at Wealth Management. She was so helpful with my retirement that I knew she could help me put something away for his college too. I know he'll be a shortstop!

Take care,

Eric

A Week of Thanks...

This week is Thanksgiving Week.  Hard to believe that its nearly December!

My blog post will simply be a Thank YOU....

• Thank You to my family...
• My friends...
• My co workers (the best in the world!)
• Our clients...
• And those that we meet in our work around the country and around the world!

Enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  Give thanks for your blessings and for those around the world that protect our freedoms each and every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bruce

B2B Market Segmentation – Part 3: How to Prioritize

The previous B2B market segmentation exercises (Part 1 | Part 2) likely produced a large number of potential target segments. If focus is one of the reasons for segmentation in the first place, then having too many segments will obviously distract from this goal. To narrow down our list of segments, we need to create a handful of criteria to assess and evaluate the candidate segments in order to prioritize and filter out the non-viable segments.

Segment Scoring
A weighted scoring model can be helpful where we define a list of evaluation criteria, assign a relative weight to each, and then score by assigning points for each criterion across each segment. I suggest starting with the same criteria you used to define the segments and also use them to score your segments. In the next step, we need to add criteria to capture the segments’ strength of demand, growth rates, barriers to entry, competitive situation, etc. Upon closer examination you may notice that some segments aren't really all that different, and maybe they can be collapsed into one.

Segment Map
Also, it might be helpful to plot the segments against a chart with two dimensions: 1) “Segment Attractiveness” (use the relevant criteria from the scoring exercise) and 2) “Relative Competitive Advantage” in order to prioritize target segments. Then plot your segments against this chart using the two dimensions. Segments that end up in the upper right are clear favorites (highly attractive and with a strong competitive advantage), lower left segments (unattractive, no competitive advantage) should be abandoned.

And always watch out for surprises like new, unexpected customers that are enthusiastically adopting your product but don't fall into traditional segment definition. They might be a bluebird / black swan event, a less than ideal customer for other reasons, or they might be an early signal of a new market segment worth pursuing.

What segmentation approach worked for you?

Additional Resources on Market Segmentation

Market Segmentation and Best Customers
http://www.information-management.com/news/5659-1.html 

B2B Discovers Market Segmentation
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/b2b-discovers-market-segmentation

Business to Business Segmentation
http://www.greenbook.org/marketing-research.cfm/business-to-business-segmentation

B2B Segmentation Strategies
http://www.washingtonsquareconsulting.com/wordpress/?p=95

Segmenting Customers: How to do it efficiently to improve enterprise products
http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/topics/10/segmenting-customers-how-to-do-it-efficiently-to-improve-enterprise-products

Gearing Up For BLACK FRIDAY...

Black Friday is almost here and whether you are someone who can’t wait to fight the crowds for a great deal or plan to avoid the commotion at all costs, Black Friday will mark shopping highlight of the year.

Many retailers have already crafted deals to drive sales and push their sales numbers into the black. And it’s time for credit unions and banks to get in on the action… here are a few ideas on how to get involved:

• Create Black Friday specials on mortgages, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. Consider extending a modified offer through the New Year.
• Promote your customers’ debit card usage through the holidays with a holiday drawing that requires a debit card swipe for every entry.
• Position your CDs or savings accounts as a holiday present. In the current economy, the gift of savings is most likely more useful than a sweater!
• Open early at 6:00 a.m. to accommodate shopper’s cash needs.

End this year in the black... and gain momentum to continue throughout 2011!

Best,

Jamie

Mission Completion

With the help of the entire team we can official say...5, 4, 3, 2, 1... blastoff!

The last 10 days have been non-stop business and now that Friday is coming to an end we can all high five each other for the hard work that has been done these last 2 weeks. It's amazing how well this team works together, each with different strengths. You put the team in a room together and watch out, what you will get is nothing short of amazing.

From the thought process, to the design, to the creative, to the buying, to the placing, to the research, to the writing and everything in between... MarketMatch covers all basis. With MarketMatch you get the whole package.

I am proud to work for a team who works so well together. Looking forward to what lies ahead.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Is it Time to Relook at Your Brand?

If you haven't reevaluated your brand in the last 24 month, it may be time ... and it doesn't have to eat up your budget.

It's no secret that banking consumers today are not the same as they were before the "banking crisis" (enter ominous music here). The truth is that, for whatever reason, national surveys show bank customer satisfaction with larger banks is down (and credit union's is up).

Thanks to the media, consumers as more educated about banking, their perceptions and expectations have changes, and they are more motivated to make a change (12% fewer customers said that they "definitely will not" switch this year vs. 2007).

You need to make sure your brand still aligns with what consumers know, how they feel, what they expect and what will motivate them to come to you -- all while holding true to your actual identity.

But you won't know what's going on in your market until you ask. I'm not saying that you need to rebrand - but I am saying that you should reevaluate and see if there is any tweaking to do to make you more competitive and a more likely consumer choice.

Take care,

Eric

Social Media in B2B Marketing - Survey Results

The B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn conducted a survey earlier this year to explore the rapidly changing landscape of social media in the context of B2B marketing. The survey generated over 270 responses from B2B marketers - and the results are in!

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Social media shows the biggest increase in use among all B2B marketing tactics over the last 3 years
• B2B marketers cite using social media primarily for raising awareness (76 percent), then for lead generation (58 percent)
• The single largest roadblock to social media success is the inability to measure results 
• The most effective social platform for B2B marketers is LinkedIn, followed by Twitter, and then blogs

Download the complete social media survey report here.

What is your experience with social media in B2B?

Are Sales Campaigns Making You Pushy?

Internal Sales Campaigns are often a useful tool to provide focus for staff, track results, and manage progress toward strategic goals. However, when financial institutions create sales campaigns around a specific product or service, it is important that the sales staff don’t become so eager to meet a sales campaign goal that they sacrifice fulfilling customer/member needs.

For instance, if a prospect walks into your branch during a sales campaign, would your front line staff immediately discuss the campaign product with them, or would they talk to the prospect about their needs and make the best recommendation for their life? Talking about the campaign might have an immediate positive impact on your campaign results, but will likely cause a higher risk of attrition if the prospects needs aren’t being met. Clearly, if your sales staff has a discussion to create a customized solution for their prospect, the prospect will have a more positive experience and be more likely to remain a customer/member overtime.

Therefore, it’s important to keep sales delivery a priority during your sales campaign, here’s how...

• Training – Provide sales training focused around customer life stages. When you roll out a campaign, clearly communicate that the sales delivery must be maintained.
• Set Appropriate Goals – Ensure that your goals are not counter-productive to customer needs. Keeping goals specific to new households, cross-sell ratios, or general product lines will provide your staff the flexibility of choosing products that are the right fit for customers/members and also counting towards a campaign.
• Prequalify – Continue to have conversations during a campaign around your product, but make sure to prequalify customers. You can prequalify customers through an MCIF system, core system, or simply through a discussion.

Campaigns come in all shapes and sizes, but when you’re determining your campaign specifics, make sure that campaign goals will not be met at the expense of customer/member needs. Doing what is right for the customer will help to strengthen your relationship and increase retention.

Best,

Jamie

Think Inside the Box

Thinking INSIDE the box... that is where it is at!

Ever since I started MarketMatch, we have held a mantra of "thinking inside the box"... it is on our business cards, a crazy picture of me is on our website and it drives our fundamental approach to our clients.

So what IS thinking inside the box?
It is all about doing your homework on who currently does business with you and learning everything you can possibly know about the "who, what, where, how and why"...and then applying those learnings to your greater marketplace.

It is about...

• Analyzing buying patterns
• Visualizing where customers/members live that bank with you
• Recognizing the geographic/zip code/census tract patterns of your customers
• Seeing how your different markets react differently to your marketing messages

And most importantly DOING something with what you learn!

It does not take a sophisticated CRM (although it does help), a full time data analyst (although it makes it easier), or a PHD in statistics (wow...I feel a headache coming on!)

But it DOES take a serious focus on the info you ALREADY have available to you...and the creativity to look at it in a completely different viewpoint to see what it can tell you.  Look around-- you have the information assets around you right now...they just need to be turned into knowledge!  That is the key...having knowledge.  Knowledge is actionable information.  Data is in a binder, knowledge is in action!

You will be amazed what you already have available to you...and what secrets are sitting on the surface just waiting to be seen!

Need help?  Call us...we would be glad to pitch in and bring our ROI Guarantee along for the ride!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

Prospecting for Clients: What Every Freelancer Should Know

I get literally dozens of emails per week from potential clients (prospects) inquiring about my consulting services.

Some are serious, valid business owners or entrepreneurs who understand that they are at a point where they need expert guidance to help them take their company to the next level. They understand that hiring a consultant is a calculated decision that requires a financial resources and they are prepared to make such a commitment. It is strategic decision that they know will pay off if they follow the direction of the consultant.

Other prospects are simply ‘phishing’. They’re not phishing for personal or financial information, like many Internet con artists out there. They’re phishing for marketing information … as much as they can get for free. They’re not really serious about hiring a consultant, they just play the game of asking for a proposal and seeing how much information they could get gratis.

In tough economic times like we’re currently experiencing, a freelancer or consultant needs to be on their guard. They need to balance their professional proposal writing and prospect relationship management without giving away the farm.

You want to be friendly, professional, courteous, and knowledgeable, but not give specific recommendations until the prospect is a client.

Quick story…

A business owner emailed me and told me he’s heard about me in the industry. That he was aware of my stellar reputation and believes I could help save his company, which was drowning.

He told me he had resources put aside for consulting services but wanted to discuss the details further with me. So I did what I always do with inquiries: follow up by email promptly and schedule an initial conference call to discuss business objectives, resources, past marketing performance, and more.

After our more than 1-hour conference call where we discussed his needs and some ‘high level’ services I thought would be ideal, he asked me to send a proposal outlining our discussion. I prepared a detailed proposal including:
-Bio (more information about me to familiarize the prospect about my qualifications and experience)
-Testimonials (illustrating feedback that highlights my work ethic and performance)
-Objectives (reiterating the prospective goals)
-Overview (my personal synopsis of the client’s website with ‘high level’ recommendations for improvement)
-Potential barriers for entry (identifying the prospect’s deficiencies)-Deliverables (my recommended services to correct said deficiencies)
-Disclaimer (clearly illustrating important verbiage about what is and isn’t covered as well as setting prospect expectations)
-FAQ’s (for information purposes, being proactive to questions prospect may have)
-Costs (rates for a variety business solutions, if prospect doesn’t identify a specific marketing budget)
-Legal information (including contract terms, payment terms, and other important clauses)
-Closing statement (expressing my gratitude for his inquiry and providing contact information).

This is my standard proposal template that is then customized for each prospect. It’s very comprehensive and satisfies virtually all prospects.

Several days later I followed up with an email to see if the prospect had any questions or needed a follow up call to discuss anything that was in the proposal.

I received an email from the prospect saying he needed more information, a ‘marketing blue print’ of what I would do -- this would help him better consider me with the other consultants bidding for the job.

I replied that my proposal was as detailed as it could be. That I identified areas needing improvement as well as deliverables to correct deficiencies. I then mentioned that I was providing a ‘proposal’, not a marketing plan with specific tactics, which is something I would certainly provide once he was a client. I also mentioned if he had concerns about my work performance, to please see my testimonial page, which features many well-known companies that were ecstatic with my services and demonstrated my competency and performance history.

He responded that what he needed was specifics, not high level information. That he did need tactical approaches, now.

My response, after much thought, was that I wouldn’t be a smart business woman if I virtually gave marketing plans out for no cost, they involve time and research. I reiterated that my proposal did answer all his questions but that tactical details would come when he was a client after more thorough market research and the creation of a strategic marketing plan.

He thanked me for my proposal and told me he was evaluating several proposals and would be in contact if he decided to move forward.

Now at first thought, you may be saying to yourself: in such a competitive environment did you make the right decision, you may have gotten the job if you gave specifics?

But after awhile in the professional service industry, you learn how to read people. You can weed out the good from bad prospects. You see, once the prospect mentioned he wanted a ‘marketing blue print’, that was a red flag. Legitimate prospects that ask for my time, know that my time is valuable and are happy to compensate me accordingly for my services. I knew this particular prospects wasn’t serious about hiring me, rather he was desperate and phishing for free information.

I still, however, gave him the benefit out doubt and offered as many conference calls as he needed as well as an in-person meeting (he was local) to give him a level of comfort. But I just couldn’t provide a marketing plan for free. I certainly don’t think he gives free product to consumers, so why would he expect that of me?

The reason: Desperate times calls for desperate measures. And some people feel that they can take advantage of freelancers because the odds are in their favor.

My viewpoint: Stay true to yourself. Listen to your gut. Look at every prospective opportunity with hope, but keep it real.

Your experience and reputation will speak for itself and the RIGHT customers WILL find you. They always do.