Friday, April 30  

Consistency leads to branding

Consistency leads to branding

Even the smallest businesses can brand their business. And by that I mean they can develop their profile so that there is a consistency in their look and feel, and in how the cuistomer feels towards the business.

Here's a simple example from a couple of our recent ads:

Here's our most recent newspaper ad
Here's our most recent colour magazine ad - it's a pdf file

See how both ads have the same look. The text only differs very slightly (one is a general ad, one is for a niche of ours). And both ads maintain a consistent look with our web site.

By maintaining that same sort of look in our marketing materials we aim to create a distinct look for our business. So that when anyone sees our marketing collateral, they instantly recognise it as ours.

Have a good weekend.

Brendon

5 steps for getting more business today and creating a customer for life

1. Pick up the phone.
2. Call an existing customer.
3. Make him/her an offer that complements a previous purchase.
4. When they buy say "Thank you" and then deliver more than promised.
5. Follow up in a day or 2 with a non-selling phone call (i.e. "Just ringing to see you got the order okay.")

It's simple, I know. But it works.

Go on, do it. I double-dare you!

Cheers

Brendon

Thursday, April 29  

Why being seen as an expert is so important

Howdy. Hope you're having a good day.

Part of our web marketing at the moment is an ad with the headline "Web sites that actually work."

(Click here for a copy of the ad that we have used in the local newspaper and in a niche magazine. It's a pdf file - which means you'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it. Most computers have this. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat, click here and you can get it for free.)

We are targeting those many, many business owners with web sites that don't do anything in terms of providing a benefit for the business.

I had the typical response yesterday from a guy with whom I was meeting regarding some work on his site. And it's a response that I completely understand.

"I've already wasted $5,000 on this web site and it's done nothing. Why would I spend another $3,000?"

Great question. Real frustrating, but great question.

We are experts at getting web sites to perform. Make no mistake about that.

* We own and manage 5 successful web sites.
* We've redeveloped web sites and seen them explode from about 800 visitors a year to 300,000 a year.
* One site went from $400 worth of sales in 18 months to $63,000 the very next month.

Whilst that all sounds terrific, the client's never quite sure. So the only thing we can do is this:

1. Demonstrate our expertise (testimonials, references, etc)
2. Build trust through providing a consistent positive experience
3. Educate regarding our methods and anticipated results

In any business, yours or mine, we need to continually demonstrate to our customers our expertise. Being perceived as an expert builds trust. We do it by providing guarantees, educating our clients as much as they need and want and by backing up what we say and do with concrete proof of the outcomes.

How can you get your customers to trust you more?

Have a good night.

Brendon

Due diligence - the most important thing that even the lawyers don't know about!

Due diligence - the most important thing that even the lawyers don't know about!

Hello. I've been involved in a heap of business deals and businesses over the years. Every single time I do what's called my "due diligence". That is, I check out the deal to see if there are any hidden things I need to be aware of.

* Might be a hidden liability
* Might be the character of the person I'm dealing with
* Might be the industry
* Might be any number of things

The secret weapon I use these days hasn't always been used by me. But this secret weapon is almost infalliable when it comes to ascertaining the right moves. This secret weapon can pick up the slightest irregularities in an instant.

The judgement is, I have to say, 100% spot on.

The secret weapon is..........................

Mel. My wife.

It may come as a shock to you to become aware that I'm not perfect in every way. (I can promise you it shocked me when I first discovered it!)

Having a person there to bounce ideas off can be fantastic. And I have to say, Mel's great at sizing people up in an instant. And she has a well-developed business brain that can see the essence of a deal in a moment.

And her gut feeling is always right.

Us guys try and do it alone. (It's a macho thing with me!) But often the best thing we can do is get a little female intuition in to help us along the way.

Or just another person to talk things through with. It helps.

Regards

Brendon

Wednesday, April 28  

FREE Report ----- 10 secrets of successful sites ----

To receive our new FREE Report "10 secrets of successful web sites" simply click here to visit the page.

After developing numerous successful sites, along with owning and managing the sites we do (that includes one of Australia's most successful health products web sites), we decided to put together a report to assist those either starting to develop their web site or looking to redevelop it.

Hope the report is of interest.

Regards

Brendon

Tuesday, April 27  

What a bunch of absolute rubbish

What a bunch of absolute rubbish

Hello. I have this theory about advertising people. The theory is this:

They have almost no idea what they are doing.

Harsh? Sure.

True? Probably.

When you develop any sort of marketing campaign - whether that be advertising, brand awareness, direct mail, web sites, whatever - the only sort of measure is this:

Does it work?

And to work it must generate the most wanted response.

That response might be:

* sales
* lead generation
* awareness
* trial
* whatever

Here in my home state some advertising types have these awards that have been going for 3 years. Called the Cream awards.

The Cream Awards were introduced in 2001 with the Cream standing for: Creativity, Relevance, Effectiveness in All Media.

That's from the web site.

Then they go on to say this:

The Cream Awards were introduced in 2001 to a combination of cheers 'at last you people in advertising are prepared to recognise that effectiveness is as important as creativity'.

That's from the web site. Which is the only point of contact I've seen for these awards.

So here we have the web site: www.creamawards.com.au

* Built in Flash (about 20% of people don't have the Flash player)

* The design is so incredibly complicated - try and figure out how to find the information you're after (if it's not immediately obvious then it fails at effectiveness)
* Search engines can't index Flash

* The "Cream call for entries" is a pdf file of 1.4 mb. That's about 1.36 mb too big. 1.4 mb on the average computer will take about 120 seconds to download. People won't wait 10 seconds. About 1 in 100 people will bother to wait 120 seconds.

* To join the mailing list they have developed a 15 field form (more than 2 fields is too many) - 6 fields are mandatory (although it doesn't say that - I've just assumed that from the little red stars they have next to 6 fields). There's one- (1) easy way to stop people filling in your form - have more fields. The more fields that have to be filled in the less people will fill them in. People don't want to fill in forms. They just want information.

I won't go (and I do!) on because it is simply mind boggling. These judges of what is effective develop the most ineffective web site possible to promote the awards for the most effective.

And sure, you can say that the target market has fast web connections, they'll all have Flash, they'll all happily fill in the newsletter subscription form. Wrong. I'll guess that a good 10% won't have or do those things.

And when you develop a web site you have to develop it for the lowest common denominator so that absolutely everyone gets your marketing message. It's just common sense. Anything else is just playing around so you win awards.

Not so you give your client the best possible chance of success.

Cheers

Brendon

P.S: I now don't like my chances of winning those awards!

Sell before you sell

Hello. A big part of selling your products or services is what happens before you even meet the customer or client. Here are 2 tips for selling.

Don't sell.

That's right. # 1: Talk with your customer and establish exactly what their problems are. Then, using whatever the expertise is that you have, provide solutions. That's not selling. That's providing solutions.

# 2 is this. Pre-sell. By that I mean before you get to the selling part of the relationship, your customer should have already made up their mind. Depending on your industry, the way you could pre-sell could be different. Here's an example:

Let's say you are an Accountant - presell by having happy clients who refer you clients, presell by establishing yourself as the industry expert via magazine articles, presell by providing your prospect with quality information even before you have met.

Preselling can be as simple as having a great brochure that really connects with your prospects. Or it could be an ad that says just the right thing. Whatever it is, develop your marketing collateral to presell if possible - because then your customers get the best possible deal.

Regards

Brendon

Monday, April 26  

Chipping in a question

Hello. I'm sitting here in the office at 5.15 pm reading an industry magazine.

One of the feature stories details that Procter & Gamble in the US have developed the technology to print onto Pringles chips (called crisps in the US)!

And yes, you can check the date. And no, it's not April 1. And yes, I did confirm this story with another source. And no, I'm not making all of this up!

And what are they going to print on the chips? Here is where they get even cleverer (if that's a word - I'm not actually sure!).

Pringles and Hasbro together

Pringles have teamed up with Hasbro. Hasbro are the people who makes Trivial Pursuit Junior. And each Pringles chip will carry a trivia question with the answer below it (the answer will be upside down). And there will be some promotion of the game on the chip.

That's smart. Not only smart technology, but smart application of the technology so that it's the right 'fit' with both products.

And it also neatly sidesteps many of the potential complaints about intrusive advertising by being presented as educational and fun.

That's great and very smart marketing.

Cheers.

Brendon

My brother's not half the man he used to be

My brother's not half the man he used to be

I have a brother called Peter. Peter was fat. That's not being harsh. It's being truthful.

Pete is "vertically challenged" - which means he's short. He's not real short, mind you. About 5 foot, 7 inches. He weighed in at a hefty 93 kgs. For a 5 foot, 7 inch person that is fat. No question about it.

Pete made a decision about 16 weeks ago. He decided to lose some wieght.

He wanted to lose 20 kilograms.

So this is what he did:

1. Stopped eating rubbish
2. Started exercising

Pete planned out day by day what he would eat and what exercise he would do. He lost that 20 kgs. He's now a trim, taunt and terrific 73 kilograms.

Pete also happens to have a successful business.

Pete's weight loss success mirrors his business success.

1. He set an objective
2. He created a plan to meet the objective
3. He implemented the plan
4. He regularly measured his progress and adjusted his actions accordingly to feedback

Being successful in business requires the exact same strategies as losing weight. Sure, it sounds easy. And most people "know" what to do. But very few do.

And that's the same reason why about 50% of the population are overweight. Everyone knows what they need to do. But very few do.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, April 21  

Smart work by a printer

This was smart

Howdy. We've just had 10,000 DL flyers printed for a client. We used a new graphic artist we haven't used before.

Monica is her name. Monica had a couple of choices to deliver the flyers:

1. Courier them over
2. Ask us to collect them
3. Drop them in

Monica picked the smart option. She dropped the flyers in to the office.

Whilst she was here we had a friendly chat (I'd never met her before). During the chat Monica and I chatted about her business and what she does and how she was going. She asked a few questions about my business.

Great idea of Monica's to come in. Because what's happened now is she has started a relationship with us. We've met her and we liked her. Which means we'll be more likely to do business with her (especially if she keeps in touch with us).

I have 2 brochures for proofing prior to printing on my desk. Whilst she was here I asked Monica to provide a quote on 5,000 of each.

See, it's working already!

Can you apply those lessons to your business - maybe contact a client or maybe drop in and say hello??

Cheers

Brendon

FREE Report ----- 10 secrets of successful sites ----

To receive our new FREE Report "10 secrets of successful web sites" simply click here to visit the page.

After developing numerous successful sites, along with owning and managing the sites we do (that includes one of Australia's most successful health products web sites), we decided to put together a report to assist those either starting to develop their web site or looking to redevelop it.

Hope the report is of interest.

Regards

Brendon

Tuesday, April 20  

Coffee maker, massuer, computer, camera, car - all rolled into one!

I received my new mobile phone in the mail today. This thing pretty much does everything - all the latest gadgets on it.
I'm so confused already!

The phone was promised to arrive on this Friday coming. But it was delivered to home today (Tuesday).

A little thing that is very simply done

As the customer, my expectations have been exceeded.

The network I'm with is Vodafone. They are a major brand. But a brand is only what each individual person sees it as. And we make our judgements about businesses based on experience (usually our own, sometimes others' experience).

My experience with Vodafone is this

Their phones work just fine. Their billing procedure is just fine. Cost is just fine in comparison with the competition.

BUT........they do more than what they say they will. And that is the sort of thing that keeps customers coming back again and again.

And the only thing I have to base that on is the fact that my phone arrived earlier than I was expecting.

Here's how they did it

My guess would be that the phones are posted out the next working day after being ordered. Which means they'll only be 2 days away for the vast majority of customers. The occassional customer will live way out in the wilderness and those phones will take an extra day.

Add another day on for a slow postman somewhere and that means that 100% of phones would be delivered within 4 working days.

They know where I live

Vodafone know where I live. They know it's only 2 days away by post. But they don't give me that expectation. Because things can go wrong. Things can be held up.

And if they say allow 2 days and it takes 3 then my expectations have not been met. And that negatively impacts on the way I feel about Vodafone. And I draw all sorts of assumptions about the quality of the rest of that service.

So by telling everyone that delivery will take 6 working days, Vodafone are sure to delight 100% of their customers waiting for phones! Simple but effective.

Have a good night.

Cheers

Brendon

New Case Study

New Case Study

Howdy. I've just added a new case study to the site. It's a look at what we did for a client who needed a new logo, business literature and web site.

Click here for the Case Study.

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, April 19  

Our newspaper ad - the reasons

Our newspaper ad - the reasons

Okay, I'll run you through the rationale behind our decisions on the ad above so you can benchmark what you do against what we do.

Firstly, the ad is running in the Gold Coast Bulletin on Wednesday 21 April, 2004.

The ad is running in the Business Section. I paid what's called a loading (which just means extra $) for the top right hand side of an odd number page.

Those decisions:

1. Local newspaper - most of our clients are likely to come from a close geographical location.
2. Wednesday's edition - Wednesday is the 2nd most read day for the newspaper (Saturday is bigger).
3. Business Section positioning - our target market is businesspeople. They read the business section.
4. Early top right position - this is the spot where the eye is first drawn. You want to be noticed as much as possible.

All good so far? Even though I asked and paid for the best position, I won't get it. The positioning of the ads is dependent on what other ad sizes come in (bigger ads get the best spots). My ad has already been bumped lower.

================

Heading - Web sites that actually work

A major component of our market positioning is being recognised as experts in developing effective web sites. Part of this is a significant education strategy.

1. Starting at the start - the heading is in white text on a black background. That's the opposite way to most ads that are usually on the page. That should make the ad stand out a little.

2. The word "sites" in the heading is all lower case. In the line below it is "Site". The reason for this is that it's more visually pleasing to read the lower "sites' in white text. It's easier to read. If it's easier to read then it gets read more.

3. This blog is going to be larger than normal!

So I'll make it into an article. Click here for the full article...

Cheers

Brendon

Saturday, April 17  

A love story

Howdy. Hope all is well.

We had an old friend of mine stay with us in September.
Greg and his 3 young daughters stayed for a couple of weeks and had a nice holiday. (Greg is single)

One day Greg and the girls wandered down to a place called Byron Bay - a seaside village about an hour away. They had a swim and ended up in a cafe by the water's edge.

Greg noticed a hairdressing salon beside the cafe - and here the story gets interesting.

Caught the bus together everyday for 10 years

You see, 21 years ago Greg was a boy of 16 living 3,000km away from Byron Bay. He caught the bus to his local school every day since he was 6. And for every one of those days he sat next to the same girl.

He told me later he had a crush on her, but never got up the courage to ask her out (us men, for all our bravado, are generally very slow).

Anyway, the girl moved away at age 16 to Byron Bay. Greg heard she started hairdressing, but he never heard from her again. And that was the end of that....................

Greg finished his coffee that day in September of last year in Byron Bay. He had a hunch. He walked into the hairdressing salon and said something along the lines of:

"I know it's probably a silly question, but an old friend of mine moved up here about 20 years ago and I'm pretty sure she is a hairdresser. You don't happen to know of a Mary-Ellen Price?"

There are 40 hairdressing salons in Byron Bay. Mary-Ellen owned the one Greg walked into.

But Mary-Ellen only worked 1 day a week in the business.

And she was standing about 10 feet from Greg.

By the time he walked out an hour later Greg was in love. And so was Mary-Ellen. Luckily it was with each other! Greg tossed in his career (he was a policeman) a few weeks later and moved up to Byron Bay 3 months ago.

And you thought this was a marketing web site - sounding like a Mills and Boon!

Last night, Mel and I met some old friends (Pete and Sarah) for dinner from Tasmania (3,000 km away) who were up for a wedding. We hadn't seen each other for 2 years and had a good old chat.

At one stage during the night I told Pete and Sarah the story of my mate Greg. I got to the bit about catching the bus every day with this girl and Sarah suddenly says "Mary-Ellen Price!"

I hadn't told Sarah the story before. It turns out that she was a good friend of Mary-Ellen's and had already heard the story from a friend of Mary-Ellen's!

Small world really.

Sarah loved the story. My wife gets teary just thinking about the story.

But it is a good story. Good enough to be told in the same way by 2 people who don't know each other. Good enough to make it onto this highly advanced blog!

People love telling stories. Have a listen tomorrow and you'll see that it's a big part of the way we communicate. And as silly as it sounds, the love story of Greg and Mary-Ellen is a fantastic example of marketing.

People talk about great things. And people talk about bad things.

Do something incredible in your business. Something amazing. Something completely unexpected. It will get people talking about your business. And that's the strongest, most effective way I can suggest you market.

Have a great weekend.

Brendon

Friday, April 16  

Oooops - simple stuff that makes a difference

Oooops - simple stuff that makes a difference

Howdy. I have been trying to get a story going with a major TV show here in Australia. It's a show that goes to air each night at 6.30 p.m.

I rang to make the pitch the other day at about 4.30 p.m.

Now stupid is a strong word. But I'm happy to use it to describe me!

At 4.30 p.m the producers and reporters on that show will be frantically trying to put together the show for that night's screening. I had as much chance of making my pitch as I did have of flying to the moon.

Ringing the media

It's always best to contact the media early in the day (i.e. like 9 a.m). That way they have time to listen.

Simple I know. And I can't believe I rang at 4.30 p.m!

Cheers

Brendon

One man's slip is another man's windfall

Here in Australia we have a good swimmer called Ian Thorpe. Thorpe is the Olympic 400m freestyle champion swimmer. He was expected to win gold when he swan in the 400m in Athens this year.

But to get to Athens he first had to qualify at the national trials. He's the best 400m swimmer by far, but he didn't even qualify for the event. you see, whilst he was standing on the blocks at the start of the race he toppled into the water before the starter's gun had gone.

And for that he was instantly disqualified. Which is the rule. So fair enough.

Another guy called Craig Stevens took Thorpe's spot by coming second. There's been a fair bit of public pressure for Stevens to step aside so Thorpe can defend his Olympic gold. (Stevens will be swimming at the Olympics regardless of whether he gives up the 400m spot).

The media have beat the story up nicely into a "Will he or won't he" story.

What would you do?

Would you swim the race that you qualified for, even though it was a large slice of luck that got you there?

Or would you hand over the spot to the public darling (that's Thorpe) and make yourself look good?

Before you answer, let's toss this in:

* You've trained for years and years and years.
* You've gotten up at 4 am every day for 10 years to get you to this spot.
* You are a good swimmer, but you know you won't win the event.
* You're profile is almost non-existent.
* You make very little, if any money, from the sport.
* If you swim, people will say you took the spot of a more deserving person.
* If you don't swim, the larger Australian public will be rich in their praise of your decision.

Okay, moving on with this strategy:

Let's say you do pull out and give your spot up for Thorpe. Do you make that decision quickly and announce it at a media conference (or by sending out a media release)?

* Or do you let the hype build and build?
* Do you give vague and non-committal answers to the question?
* Do you stir the pot of public interest in the story?
* And then do you do the rounds of the major media outlets willing to sell your story to the highest bidder?

Because now (with the right advice) it's not a simple case of "Yeah, it's a bugger that Thorpe fell off the block. He should have my spot."

It's now headlines like this:

How my Olympic Dream was smashed!
I did it for my country - patriot Craig Stevens shares the secrets of why he put Australia's success before his own!
Craig Stevens - heartbreak as he realised the Olympic Dream wasn't meant to be
Stevens - a great Australian
Craig Stevens - a lesson in honour
Craig Stevens - Australian of the Year!

People acting on behalf of Craig Stevens have been doing the rounds to sell the story, so he's going for the cash and pulling out!

And it will be a big payday for a guy who has struggled to stay afloat financially in a tough sport.

All because of a solid PR strategy to keep his mouth shut for a while, gently build the story and the interest and then make the decision (and I'm sure the media will use the words "heartwrenching" and "broken Olympic dream"!) to give the spot up to Thorpe.

And not only will he get the big payday, but his value for sponsors will increase dramatically.

Sport is a business. And Craig Stevens is a businessman whether he thinks he is or not.

There endth the PR startegy example.

Have a good day.

Brendon

Thursday, April 15  

It's started - how the giant camping business is throwing away their future

I wrote an article on my son Jack's experience in the local camping store a couple of months back. Click here for the full article.

I'd guess the lifetime value of Jack to that camping store would be in excess of $50,000. Easily.

But he's gone already.

Jack visited another camping shop the other day. And because he doesn't have a relationship of any sort (or a positive experience) with the camping store in the article, he has no reason to stay a loyal customer.

And he's gone!

He likes this new shop because the guy behind the counter is friendly. And that's it. That's all it takes to start what could be a very profitable relationship.

It's the little things that count. Get your customer service perfect - it's an integral part of your marketing.

Cheers.

Brendon

Wednesday, April 14  

Nice example of effective marketing and selling

Howdy. Hope you've had a good day.

I had a call from Vodafone tonight. Vodafone are the company with whom I have my mobile (cell) phone. I was on a 2 year contract that just finished. Last week in fact.

The Vodafone lady was calling tonight with an offer of a new mobile phone if I renewed for 2 years on the same plan. The phone is valued at $700 according to her and will be posted straight out if I want it.

After a bit of discussion it became apparent that the plan I'm currently on is the right one for my call volume.

Down to the nitty gritty

After that we got down to the nitty gritty. She told me what sort of phone the new one would be and went through some features.

I said something along the lines of "Sounds good. I'll check the phone out tomorrow in a store to see if I like it. If it's okay I'll ring you back."

Nope. The Vodafone lady very kindly offered to ring me back at a time convenient to me to make sure I got her again. So she's ringing at 6 p.m tomorrow when the lovely wife (I think I mentioned she reads this site!) and I will be driving to a dinner date with some old friends.

What a perfect example of perfect marketing

1. The target market was identified - that's me with a high usage mobile phone history and en expired contract. (Excellent database)

2. The target market was contacted personally - they knew my name, my details, my phone usage and plenty more.

3. The target market was asked to buy and also offered an incentive to buy - that's the free phone if I re-signed.

And did you notice that I offered to ring back but the telesales person wasn't having any of that (something like 80% of people won't ring you back when they say they will). She's ringing at 6 p.m tomorrow to close the sale.

Think of lifetime value

Smart. After all, it's a $4,000 sale. And then there are upgrades later, referrals, etc. The lifetime value of a mobile phone customer would be very large and well worth a 40 cent phone call to close the deal.

I'll ring off now..... (heh, heh, heh, heh....)

Brendon

Nice piece of advertising/PR work

Nice piece of work

A clothing company here in sunny Australia called Westco recently directed it's staff to wear t-shirts with the phrase "Stop pretending you don't want me" across the front whilst working.

After a while a staff member refused to wear the shirt on the grounds that the shirts were encouraging sexual comment. She was sent home.

Then came the wrath

Then the goodies jumped on the bandwagon with much enthusiasm and before you could say "Effective PR stunt" the whole thing had become front page news across the country. And many people, like me, who had never heard of a clothing company called Westco suddenly had.

Now recognition isn't everything. But as I wrote somewhere yesterday, it's a start.

The question is this: was this a publicity stunt? Or was it a misreading of the sensitivity of the market by Westco?

I don't think the answer is important. Westco got more free publicity in a couple of days than they would otherwise have had in 5 years.

Controversy works

Controversy works. But controversy can bite you on the behind. Be careful.

Hmmmmmm. A million dollars worth of free publicity vs a possible consumer backlash?

Choose wisely oh marketing guru.

Have a good night.

Brendon

Tuesday, April 13  

You have to read the new article because..............

...because it can give you the exact bit of information to help you grow your business by 100% in the next 12 weeks. No joke.

It's that good.

It's better than other similar articles because:

it's short - no wasting of your precious time
it's simple - no long-winded blah, blah, blah to bury the message
it's free - you don't have to pay a cent

Click here to read the article now.

Brendon

A most powerful letter...

Dear Editor

Now there's a powerful start to a letter...............

Read the "Opinions" page of your local paper and, the cynic in me would suggest, a good number of the letters are from people pushing their own causes. Let's take a look at 2 local newspapers I fished out of the bin:

Here's a sample:

April 7, 2004

4 letters

1. The local Greens political candidate (doesn't say that in the letter of course) arguing against major proposed development on the waterways
2. Local charity organisation thanking people for their support on their major day - accompanied by a large photo
3. Local resident complaining about the increase in high-rise developments
4. Some guy talking about drums and the link with violence

April 13, 2004

4 letters

1. Another guy complaining about the possibility of the waterways development
2. Major stakeholder in a local controversy expressing his views
3. Unsuccessful Mayoral candidate complaining that the victor is already giving himself a pay rise
4. A general complain letter which also mentions the major waterways development proposal

7 out of 8 letters are probably written by people pushing their own agenda. Making others aware of their 'product'. Pure and simple marketing. All for the cost of a 50 cent stamp.

Read by thousands and thousands of people. Not seen as an ad.

Mmmmmmmmmm. Now there are some possibilities.

Regards

Brendon

Leverage what you have

Howdy. Hope your Easter was enjoyable.

We had a great break. Went camping in the Queensland bush - bushwalks, fishing, chatting by candlelight. Jack loves his camping and takes care of us all.

Spent hours and hours at the beach - perfectly clean surf beach about a minute from home.

Played a game of golf on Sunday. Tennis on Monday (thrashed my kids and wife. Easybeats!).

Pity we have to work to be able to take it easy like this!

Anyway, on with the shoe....... (Mel, my lovely wife usually reads the blog each morning and corrects it when I write "On with the shoe.....", thinking that it's a spelling error. But as we all know - I'm perfect! She never has got my sense of humour. I think I'm very, very funny. Very funny.)

Today I want to talk about leveraging. And by that I mean leveraging your marketing to best effect.

I thought of this topic when I was watching TV tonight. An ad came on that's been on for a while. This guy is at the bar when 2 friends come up and plead with him to take care of 2 pretty girls' not so perfect friend. The thinking being that with her out of the way the 2 guys can chat up the attractive girls (politically incorrect all that, but bear with me).

The not so perfect friend is an exceptionally tall woman. The fellow who has been set up with her is very short. But it's a perfect match. She is the perfect woman! She grabs the guy and carries him around the dance floor. When he surfaces for air from her cleavage, she pushes it back. He's a content young man! The 2 friends who are talking with the 2 perfect blondes are jealous.

The premise of the ad being that when you look after your mates, good things happen. (It's also promoting a beer at the same time.)

The next ad in the series has the little fellow sitting alone. His friends enquire where the woman is, but he doesn't know. All of a sudden the woman's hands appear - carrying 6 beers. She's buying him beers!

He's now an exceptionally happy guy.

These 2 ads have so far proven very popular. And they are leveraging off each other./ Each time the little fellow is seen, he's instantly recognised as the face of the beer. The ads are now starting to leverage off that little actor.

If the audience sees that same guy in a print ad, then it will be instant recognition.
Billboard ad - same.
Web ad - same.

By leveraging the assets of your ad you can gain greater recognition. Now recognition doesn't always equate to greater sales of course. But it's a good start.

I'd like them now to tell me why I should buy the beer. How is it better or different?

Cheers.

Brendon

Thursday, April 8  

Make an offer, any offer

This is something to remember. Not because it's astute. But because it's so simple.

People can't buy anything from you until you make them an offer.

We're just about to take some magazine and newspaper ads. In those ads we'll do this:

We will have a call to action - that is, ask the reader to do something.

If you make an offer to your target market there is a chance they might buy.

If you sit on your behind all day the only thing you'll get is a splinter in your butt!

Cheers

Brendon

Success in any field - the lessons learnt

We have this client. We'll call him Pat. That's his name after all ;-)

Pat was a tremendous success in his sporting career. One of Australia's best. One of the world's best.

Pat now has a web site that focuses on his sport. And he is going to do very, very well. You see, Pat is a guy who simply won't fail. He is doing the exact same thing with his web site that he did with his sport.

1. He has an objective
2. He has a plan
3. He's learning as much as possible as he goes along
4. He's committed

The other big thing I've noticed with Pat is that he is open to advice. And that is very important.

One of the few clients to take us up on the offer of showing him how to market his own site

Pat came in on Tuesday and spent a couple of hours with Jo learning about search engines and how he can better market his site. He's one of the very few clients who has taken us up on that offer.

Achieving success is the same formula for Pat. Have an objective, plan and implement. Easy!

Have a good day.

Brendon

Wednesday, April 7  

Lunch and golf - good lessons

Hello. Hope your day is going well.

I went to a business lunch last Friday. At the lunch a guy from Philips spoke at length about digital TV and the future. he was informative, interesting and entertaining.

And I'd guess that every person at that lunch would not consider buying anything other than a Philips digital TV.

I sucked at golf

I played golf today at 'The Colonial' and played like a clown. I went along with a client to a corporate golf day for resort unit managers. These are people who manage resorts.

The main sponsor for the day was a company called Poolwerx.

After the presentations (nope, not a thing for me and my wobbly backswing!) a guy from Poolwerx had a chat for a few minutes and outlined how the company worked and how they could help.

I would say that every resort manager there would happy agree to a meeting should a Poolwerx rep ring them in the next day or 2.

You see, it's about education. People want information. They want trustworthy information delivered by credible people. neither of these guys made a sales pitch. They objectively reviewed their industry, stated some problems and offered solutions.

Education is a wonderful marketing strategy. People who are educated are happy to buy. Aside from advertising, how can you educate your market?

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, April 6  

Oh my goodness.......I've received an offer!

Regular readers of this site will know I've been known (!!) to complain a bit about the lack of contact from hotels that I have previously stayed at.

Well, today one of them contacted me!

And it's all bad!

I filled in the registration card and provided the okay to email me special offers. Here's what I received:

======================

To: brendan@tailored.com.au

Dear Mr Sinclair


As a past guest of Intercontinental Hotels Group, you may from time to time receive special accommodation offers and news. If you do not wish to receive these communications, please click here to unsubscribe.

_________________________________________________________


Enjoy Easter with Intercontinental Hotels Group


Brake. No excuses.
This Easter is the perfect time to take a break from the rat race with Crowne Plaza. No excuses, you deserve it.

For great Easter rates at Crowne Plaza click here

School's out, Holiday Inn.
Grab the kids and enjoy special rates at Holiday Inn around Australia these school holidays. Even better, at many of our hotels this Easter, kids eat FREE!


For fantastic family rates from $125 at Holiday Inn this Easter click here

======================

Okay, let's take a look.

Firstly, the data entry person spelt my name wrong (they would have copied this from my registration card I assume). The perception of many people will be that they lack attention to detail. Harsh but true.

2nd: The first thing they do is ask me if I'd like to unsubscribe. Before they have even given me the news. (Have your unsubscribe link at the bottom of your action, info and jam-packed newsletter. That way you have provided great value and the person won't want to unsubscribe.).

3rd: The first link had 5 offers. 4 out of the 5 places didn't have rooms available for Easter. Why send me an offer that is unavailable? That's just annoying and disappointing your customer.

Close, but no cigar.

Have a good day.

Brendon

Thursday, April 1  

Death by annoyance - why email is dying

My feeling is that email marketing is losing its relevancy for many, many people. It's dying a slow and painful death and, despite various organisations applying a band-aid to the gaping wound (in the form of spam control), it's on its last legs.

I read some research recently (can't recall the specifics) that cited 72% of people saying that email was now a hindrance. And fair enough too.

Viruses, scams, Viagra offers, Nigerian letters, endless spam..........................of the 200 or so emails I received today, I'd guess a good 160 of them were emails that fall within the above categories.

I'm a pretty sophisticated net user and know the tricks of the spammers and scammers. But spare a thought for the consumer who isn't so web-savvy. There is no trust left for email.

Email as a viable marketing method is just about dead. And so starts.......click here for the full article

Cheers

Brendon