Thursday, September 26, 2013

What’s the best way to Market to Millennials: Just Tell a Good Story

There’s a new kid in town and they’re looking to spend. Yes, our latest young professionals that have been coming online in recent years are from the millennial generation. And these aren’t your parent’s consumers. If you’re looking to get a piece of their pocketbook, you have to understand how to change your marketing message to grab their attention—and there’s a lot of noise for them out there. Here are a few ways to have some impact in the market. Find Your Zen If you’re going to market to millennials you have to think about your business holistically. You can’t force marketing on your product or a millennial won’t buy your product—or your message. Product design and the marketing message are inseparable. Think Apple. So take a look at your products and truly understand the “why.” This will give your marketing meaning. Get Real Millennials can smell a rat. They’ve grown up sharing their lives with the world. They want authenticity in their relationships, and that includes relationships with the companies that sell them their stuff. The easiest way to understand how you can market to them is to listen. This will give you an opportunity to weave your product story into their story and show them that they’ve been heard. Speak in their language. The casual tone may bother you at first because it may feel unprofessional. But the kids will dig it if you do. Let All of Those Emotions Out If you develop a good story around your products, it humanizes your brand. Now you’re a person talking to a person. That’s the foundation of human existence. That vulnerability may have you squirming in your seat, but you’re going to build a level of trust that millennials crave

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

3 Startling Customer Service Statistics—Trust Us, You’ll Want to Take a Look

Want to see a startling statistic? No? Well, shut your eyes. The average business hears from 4% of dissatisfied customers. Many businesses make the mistake in thinking that if they don’t hear from customers, those customers had a positive experience. WRONG. Few people are going to take the time to tell you what you did wrong. They have their own problems to take care of, and solving yours isn’t one of them. The solution? Constantly strive to improve your service, even if you aren’t being flooded with complaints. Don’t let the problem get to that point. Identify it in its infant stage so it can be more readily taken care of. Want real feedback? Create an incentive for them to sacrifice their valuable time. Next fact: it’s up to 7 times less expensive to keep existing customers than to acquire new ones. Granted, in order to grow your business you need to acquire new customers. We accept that fact. However, you can’t acquire new ones at the expense of losing your old ones. In other words, customer acquisition can’t happen without customer retention. And considering that 86% of consumers will quit doing business with you after a bad customer experience, you could say that this fact goes hand in hand with fact #1 above. And finally, speed kills. (No, we’re not using some urban slang phrase.) We mean to say that the “help ‘em fast” attitude isn’t necessarily in your best interests. Taking the necessary time to truly understand your customers’ problems and skillfully solving it will go a lot further than getting them out the door as soon as possible. And here’s one bonus fact to startle the apathy right out of you: 80% of companies claim they have superior customer service. 8% of customers think these same companies deliver said superior service. Like we said above, most companies are in denial: “Who? Us? Bad service? Impossible. My employees are the best.” The lesson? Evaluate your service constantly and look for successes and shortcomings. Find different metrics that give you some real feedback on how your company is doing. And remember, don’t assume that just because you aren’t hearing any complaints that things are peachy—you could be oh so wrong. Don’t wait to find out.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

3 Ways Successful Marketing is Like a Great Football Team

It’s officially football season. You’ve made it through the drought that is summer. Time to crack open a beverage, toss on your favorite team’s jersey and enjoy. But before you turn on the big game or hop in your car to go tailgate, let’s take a moment to think about how your organization’s successful marketing campaign parallels a great game plan for your beloved football team. Devise a Set of Consistent Goals Throughout the entire football season, a coach is responsible for tracking the progress of his team toward their goals. And in order to achieve this, he must continually research, train and adjust what works for his unique combination of team members for that particular season. This principle holds true for marketing. To achieve your sales goals for this quarter, you should outline specifically what you want to accomplish. Then design a marketing game plan around that goal. It may consist of a number of marketing tactics, whether it’s direct mail, new in-store signage or email marketing. Work as a Team It’s typically easy for a coach to get the team behind a common goal of winning the big game. Think of your entire staff as one team. Everyone should be aware of the marketing plan and how each person contributes to the success of the messages you’re putting out into the world. Whether it’s delivering the products on time or employing top-notch customer service, your marketing words should mirror your staff’s actions. Build each other up (but skip the celebratory chest bumps in order to avoid problems with HR) and celebrate your success. And if there’s a team member not being fully utilized, ask them for their input. Be a good coach. Utilize all of your players for their unique strengths. Learn to Adapt We’ve all seen this scenario played out on the field: the all-star quarterback gets injured and the coach is forced to put in the rookie who everyone doubts. But ultimately that rookie shocks and delights the stadium. Game-winning pass. The stadium roars. Cheering. Game over. This principle holds true for marketing. Sometimes the game plan must change in order to achieve success. If your plays aren’t working, you need to adjust your strategy. In most instances, marketing plans only need slight adjustments to make a big difference. Just be ready to creatively problem solve. Marketing is an ever-shifting discipline. Like a coach, you must adapt or lose.