Marketing Comet - Small Business Marketing Secrets

Boston - Turner Broadcasting - Guerrilla Marketing Gone Bad

If you haven't been living in a paper bag recently, you'll know that Boston was the victim of guerrilla marketing gone bad. Some marketers place some electronic devices around the city - under bridges and whatnot - that lit up to display a character fro the Cartoon Network show Aquateen Hungerforce. The devices were spotted and thought to be suspicious, which set off a number of bomb-scares across the city.

As a marketer and resident of Boston I thought I should weigh-in in the pile of opinions.

Did the City of Boston overreact?
I don't believe so. They had no idea what the devices were, just that they were electronic and placed where terrorists might stick bombs. With anything like this - better safe than sorry. If these things had been explosive devices and the city had not reacted as they did - the results could have been catastrophic.

The big issue for me is that the devices had been in place for a number of weeks and nobody noticed. Scary.

What about the culpability of the guys who placed the devices?
These guys come off as a couple of goof-balls. I do not believe that they intended to cause a bomb-scare, and I'd hate to see them do prison time.

However, putting up advertising signs on anyone's property (or public property) without permission is a big no-no. I think a fine of some kind and some community service time is in order.

What about the culpability of Turner Broadcasting?
The buck stops here. Ultimately Turner Broadcasting is responsible for overseeing all activities of the marketing company and its contractors. It's good that they are offering to compensate the city for it's expenditures, however, that's not enough.

If you ever use an external marketing agency - you must control their activities, and have final approval over every campaign.

The marketing agency shares responsibility here as well.

Real guerrilla marketing doesn't break the law
There have been a few incidents lately of so-called guerrilla marketing, where property has been defaced. This is a horrible idea. Spray-painting, attaching signs, stickers, posters, or any other activity that places an advertising message onto property you don't own can only be done with approval.

So, it remains that Turner will probably pay a couple of million dollars to Boston, and receive a PR black-eye. They are to be commended for stepping up so fast, and taking responsibility. That's smart. The faster they can put this behind them, the better

Well, I'll be Cornhobbled

Want to know what cornhobble means? I'll tell you later, read on...

I bet the word cornhobble got your attention right? Unusual and poetic words have the effect of stimulating the attention center of the brain. Your brain goes, "here's something that I haven't experienced before, it may be a threat, it may be a cookie, let's pay attention."

In today's market , your advertising message must grab your customer's attention or you might as well take your advertising dollars and use them as toilet paper. At least you'd be getting some use from them.

However you've got to remember that just being strange isn't enough. The best messages make an emotional impact and connect with the audience. After attention comes interest, desire, and action. this is the AIDA model. Just flashing some strange image at your audience and then showing them your product isn't enough.

There have been lots of companies that used innovative advertising and ad copy that failed.

By the way, cornhobble is an archaic verb meaning to strike a person in the face with a fish (or so I'm told).

Location Location Location - What To Think About When Choosing a Retail Location

So, you're ready to set up shop somewhere selling your wares to the public. Good for you. There are some extremely important considerations that you should make when choosing a business location. Let's look at a few things to consider.

1. How are your customers going to use you?
This is a very important first consideration that many small businesses miss. For example: if you are opening a lunch counter, you may do better in an area where people work rather than where they live. If you are selling auto parts, you want to be fairly close to the local repair shops. Think about when and how your customers will access your business.

2. Look at Logistics
It's been said that good generals study tactics, while brilliant generals study logistics. Think about your business logistically:

• Is there enough parking?
• If you need a loading dock, is there one?
• Will there be any special infrastructure needs - power, water, trash removal etc.?
• Is access to the location easy for the customers, or will they get lost?
• Is the location in a part of town with increased crime at night which may cost you dearly in insurance or shrinkage?

3. Good Traffic Bad Traffic
As a high-schooler I worked at a shoe store in the local mall. The brilliant mall promoters would bring in soap opera starts to do autograph signings in center court. The mall would be filled with literally screaming teenagers, and you couldn't park or even drive the streets near the mall. The problem with this is - none of the tens of thousands of people the mall brought in foot traffic bought anything. These were some of our worst sales days of the year.

Not all foot or drive-by traffic is created equal. However, some locations will charge huge prices for the amount of foot traffic.

It's a good idea to be near other businesses that attract customers like yours. Do you ever wonder why car dealerships and restaurants will open so close together? Because car shoppers and diners will go to an area to window-shop and everyone benefits from the spillover.

At least spend time in the area you are considering and notice the other businesses and who's shopping there.

4. Consider Cost
Retail space in malls is pricey. The foot traffic and promotions malls do can bring in a lot of business. However, there's still high turnover at many malls. The most expensive spaces are not always the most profitable.

5. Look at History
Every town has at least one retail or restaurant location that spits out business failures over and over again. It always amazes me to see a space where a new restaurant opens at least once a year. If a space seem to have a high rate of business failure, maybe there's something not working there.

Sometimes it's parking or lack of anchor businesses.

These are just a few of the  considerations for picking locations. Picking a good location is one of the most important decisions you can make for your business.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

One of My Biggest Slogan Pet Peeves

I'm not trying to be a grammar fascist here, but I have a pet peeve involving slogans that incorrectly use the present progressive tense. "OK, what the heck is that?" you ask. Simple present tense is this: I am purple; present progressive tense is: I am being purple. It's the verb "to be" followed by a verb ending in "ing".

Here's an example of the way it's poorly used in slogans:
"Bob's House of Cheese - Providing cheese for the masses."

Why do I dislike the way it's used? First, it's not quite grammatically correct. It should read, "Bob's House of Cheese is providing cheese for the masses." But that sound's really awkward, so they drop the word "is". The problem is, our brain puts it in anyway and it  still sounds off.

The second and most important reason I dislike this slogan technique is that too many companies use it and it sounds very cliche. When things sound cliche and hackneyed, our brains ignore them. There's nothing interesting here. Your slogan is a waste of space.

I do not think slogans have to be grammatically perfect. I use creative grammar all the time. I suggest you read your slogan out loud, by itself and listen  to how it sounds. Most people process the written word vocally, and if something sounds uncomfortable out loud, it probably reads poorly too.

The third problem with this slogan technique is that it tends to lead to laziness. Instead of spending the time and effort to come up with something that grabs a customer, just write something like "providing" and then list your services. Yawn!

The truth is that most slogans and taglines suck. You can tell that about 5 seconds of thought went into them. It's unfortunate because every time someone ignores your crappy slogan, you've missed an opportunity. Can you see the hundred dollar bills with little wings flying away from you?

What are some alternatives?

Short and punchy: Cheese for the masses

Double Entendre: We cut great cheese

Simple benefit: Widest selection of cheeses in the Northeast

Off the wall: Scream if you like cheese!

Who knows? There are so many ways to go that aren't tired. You do not have to copy other marketers phrases.

My business card features a photo of a man who's tearing a sheet of paper with his teeth in anger. The tagline reads: "Frustrated because your marketing sucks? Let's fix it."

You see the tagline actually has a conversation with the reader. Not only that, but every small business person I meet has trouble with marketing. People definitely read my card.

Dare to be different. That doesn't have to mean weird - it means different. Do something your competitors don't as long as it fits the image you want to project.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

Microsoft's New XNA Game Studio Express Offers Unique Oportunity

I have to say that I love the trend of democratization that technology is bringing. Anybody can put up a blog, a web page, video on YouTube, a MySpace profile. Any some stuff out there is actually quite good. Along with this comes new opportunities for small to medium businesses to promote themselves.

The key is content

Remember the old time radio and TV shows that were not only sponsored by, but produced by the advertisers? You might have the Camel cigarette variety hour, for example.

I believe that this trend is coming around again, as soon as businesses figure out how to capitalize.

Microsoft has announced the launch of its XNA Game Studio Express. For a license fee of $99, the tool will allow those with some programming experience to create and distribute their own rudimentary X-Box games. So what?

Well, imagine a smart small business that teams up with a local high school computer science lab. The small business provides the licenses and maybe some instruction, and the high-schoolers could compete in teams to create branded games to distribute. The prize could be a small scholarship, but the learning experience would be invaluable.

Now you have a game - developed at very low cost, and distributed on a popular game console. The game would carry the brand of the company and, if it's good, possibly bring global viral attention to your business.

This is a plan that is eminently achievable, and would undoubtedly generate secondary press for a company that handled it well.

With this new set of tools, Microsoft has promised that simple games could be developed in a matter of weeks not months. I am sure that other console makers will be soon to follow suit - if they know what's good for them.

In any kind of sponsored content endeavor it's really important to remember that if the content appears too much like an ad - it will not get nearly the attention that it should. Think product placement in movies.

I am excited about anything that gets people to think creatively. I think the XNA Game Studio Express may be a fantastic opportunity for some smart smaller businesses.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

How Open Should You Be About Price

One of the things that impressed me the most about the gym I belong to is that their price was posted on the front counter. A lot of the more expensive gyms you walk into guard their prices like they are a state secret. This makes me very uncomfortable.

I remember that there used to be a gym very close to my office. I walked in there one morning and said, "I want to sign up, can you give me the price". The answer: "no, you have to go on a tour of the gym first and them meet with one of our salespeople."

See ya! I never joined and that gym has gone out of business. They lost my sale because they missed out on two key sales points:

1. If somebody is at the peak of their buying emotion (they are ready) - do not make them wait to buy. Sign them up or sell them right then.
2. They refused to answer one of my questions making me distrust them and suspect that they were trying to pull something on me.

Now, I will say that I have been on the flip side of this when doing sales myself. Selling something as complex as advertising, many potential clients would say, "just give me your prices". Of course we would, but the client had no way to interpret them because the prices were completely out of context.

Often they would get one glance at a price sheet and say, "too expensive". The reality is that answer is mostly natural sales resistance, but also the client not understanding what he or she is looking at.

My recommendation is always give the client the information they want, don't come off like a sleazy huckster, and offer up more explanation. Try to have a natural conversation with them - 9.999% of people can smell a pitch a mile away and hate it.

"Can I get your prices?"

"Absolutely, here they are. We have a couple of specials that you might want to hear about as well. What questions do you have about the prices?"

"This is way too expensive."

"I know a lot of people get sticker shock when they first see the price list. Let me explain a little bit about our prices..."

It's important to keep the dialog going. If your prices are higher than your competition - you had better have a compelling reason for it. If you are less expensive than your competition - have those prices handy to show your client that you are lower.

Low prices to some people mean less value. I know it may sound crazy, but you also need to explain lower prices. In tests when people are given three choices of similar products with different prices - most people pick the middle price.

If you ever get a chance to walk around an IKEA take a look at a lot of their signage which explains how they keep their prices so low. They buy in bulk, use self-service, and ship everything in flat boxes for example. IKEA has successfully built a reputation for very low price, high quality, and incredibly useful stuff for the home.

Always try to see things from your customer's perspective. Would you trust a huckster that wouldn't give you their prices?

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

Looking Forward to $4 a Gallon Gas?

Mark my words, today's announcement about leaky oil pipes in Alaska are a precursor to US gas prices going up to $4 per gallon within the next year. Pardon me in advance for getting a bit preachy here - but I'm steamed at the state of energy in the US.

Gas prices in the US have been scalloping up for a long time. They will raise them 2 steps drop them a step, then raise them two steps. The pricing patterns are regular and even predictable. Yes - I know that Katrina knocked out some production. However, gas prices are at a record high and the oil companies are making record profits. These things are related.

The oil companies are using world events to rape American consumers who are dependent on oil to heat their homes, and drive to work. Let me repeat - they are raking in record profits. If the cost of oil and gas production was the main factor in the dramatic price increases, then profits should only rise in proportion to demand. That isn't happening, and the gas companies are lying to us. It's just that plain and simple.

The only answer is a difficult one - but not impossible. After all, we put men on the moon.

Let's drop some reality bombs:

Our reliance on foreign oil is a national security nightmare
Where did Saddam, Osama, and the boys et all their money? oh yeah - oil. Cut off the demand for oil from the Middle East, and in a single generation you will see most of the wealth dry up. Terrorists and despots will go back to throwing rocks. The US will be able to extricate itself from the tribal wars that have been raging for a thousand years.

I realize who pays our elected officials. Our fine president is in business with the Saudi Royal Family, and even some of Bin Ladin's relatives. There's nothing wrong with this - it just seems like a conflict of interest to me.

Fossil fuel is filthy
No matter what the oil industry tells the president what to order NASA to say - global warming is an extremely real and extremely dangerous effect that can seriously harm life on Earth in the next generation. Remember Katrina? Wonder why all the weather on the planet has gone all wonky? Why are all the glaciers melting?

Very realistic alternatives
It is possible to set up farms of windmills in just 4 states in the US and provide the entire country with cheap, renewable, non-polluting energy. Why don't we do it? Well, the US government gives very little money to set up wind-farm technology and frequently cuts off their funding altogether. Meanwhile, the highly profitable oil industry receives tens of billions of dollars in US government subsidies every year, and has never ever lost funding.

Remember who really pays our politicians.

We could power almost all of our vehicles with cleaner, renewable ethanol. Yes I know that the US doesn't produce enough ethanol to power all our cars. Brazil does however, because they can make it from sugarcane. So why don't we import Brazilian ethanol? Well the US government has imposed a 100% tariff on ethanol - effectively pricing it out of the market.

Guess what the tariff is on oil. That's right 0%.

Remember who pays our politicians.

We face a very real and imminent national crisis. While our politicians play partisan games and reap huge paychecks from very shady people - we and our children get to pay the price.

What we must do
We must approach the current energy crisis like we approached the space program in the 60s. We should be pouring national resources, and gathering the best minds in the world to solve the energy problem. We must vote out anybody who doesn't approach energy as a national security issue - and that's pretty much every single person in national office today.

The US congress has an 85% encumbency rate - that's simply disgusting.

Fuel cells, biodiesel - all seem within our grasp. Australia an China are building solar power facilities that will power 100,000 homes each. Why aren't we doing that? Our government, because of greed and only greed, is tricking very few resources into these planet-saving technologies.

Think $4 a gallon gas will be tough - wait till it gets to $5 or $6. Oh yeah and all the prices of everything we buy that gets shipped are going up. Oh yeah - you will be paying nearly double what you have been to heat your house.

I know I've bashed the president a lot here, but this is an issue that crosses party lines. The US two party system has failed us. It's devolved into partisanship that has sunk below the rhetoric usually reserved for rival high schools.

You empower yourself by getting educated and becoming active. Remember that politicians are not our leaders - they are our servants.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

Multiple Levels of Advertising and Promotion

I bet you didn't know that there are multiple levels of advertising and promotion that correspond to intent and stage of business. Understanding these levels helps small businesses tailor their promotions and ads to the proper purpose thus making more money. Let's look a little closer...

Stage 1 - Awareness
Hey mom look at me! Cries the little child who wants attention. One of the biggest threats to small business is the fact that there may be thousands of people out there who need what they offer - but don't know they exist.

This stage works on the "if you build it they will come" principle. It's good if you don't have much competition, or if you are an established brand opening a new location.

This is the most basic form of advertising and it has its uses. Unfortunately most small businesses never move past this level.

Stage 2 - Gain Market Share
This is a very important stage of promotion an advertising. This is where you put your unique selling proposition out there so that people will choose you over a competitor. You have to be compelling in a way your competitors aren't.

Most advertising (even from a lot of the big guys) just doesn't go this far. Your job here is to compel action from the customer.

Stage 3 - Increase Consumption
Gaining new customers is very important, but what are you doing to bring your old customers back? What kind of advertising or promotional tactics will increase the frequency and the size of your average purchase.

Advertising to your current customers is not a waste of money. In fact your ROI is likely to be far higher than advertising to get new customers.

Think about ways to get customers to come back more frequently and spend more with you when they do. You can realize an exponential growth in sales if you get these two components down.

Stage 4 - Capitalize on Opportunity
This stage is where you use opportunities to increase sales. What kind of opportunities? How about holiday sales, long weekends, current events?

Be careful about using very bad news for promotion. Being seen as too mercenary can come back to haunt you. There were some companies that sold terrorist insurance after 911 - but I can't imagine any did well.

However, offering deals to offset rising gas prices or beat the heat of summer deals can be great was to promote all kinds of things.

You can boil these four stages down into finer points of distinction, but mastering just these basics will give you a head start for a more profitable future.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

Bush Gets Caught Saying "Shit" on Open Mike at G8 Summit

President Bush today uttered a colorful expletive while referring to Hezbollah in what he thought was  a private conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two were attending a lunch at a G8 summit and speaking candidly about the current situation in Israel, unaware there was an open mike in front of them.

Bush said something to the effect of, "someone needs to tell Hezbollah to stop that shit". The video is available currently on CNN.com. This is not the first time Bush has gaffed with a hot mike he thought was off. Once while speaking to Cheney, he referred to a reporter as "an asshole".

While this certainly will not end his political career or send the stock market into a plunge, it points to a very important concept. What you do in public can reflect on you and your business even if you think nobody is listening.

A business owner I know was sitting in a restaurant one time badmouthing a recent issue of a magazine. As it turns out - the publisher was right next to her. He stood up and confronted her. It goes without saying she'll never get any good publicity from him.

Do you have a corporate vehicle with your business name on it? Be careful how you drive. Be careful how you park.

Did you hand out jackets with your business name to your employees? How are they behaving while wearing your logo out in public?

My attorney related the email test to me. If you ever question whether you should send out an email, just imagine it blown up poster size in front of a jury. If you're still comfortable, push send.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

Internet Marketing Tips From Dane Cook's Tourgasm

I am a big fan of comedian Dane Cook and have been watching his Tourgasm show on HBO. On the show, he and 3 other comedians travel the road in a big bus and perform all over the country.

On the last episode, Dane was giving advice to a younger comedian on the tour. He was talking about how he was really utilizing Myspace and other similar technologies to market himself. He said that he had embraced every new technology as a way to reach out to his fans.

He showed the young comedian the 12,000 add a friend requests he had gotten in three days on Myspace. Wow. Imagine tens of thousands of people basically begging you to market to them.

Dane Cook really understands his market, in fact he has been credited with bringing the younger generatio back to stand-up comedy. He views technology as a force multiplier - allowing him to keep in touch with tens or hundreds of thousands of his fans.

This is a great use of technology - and his is free.

When can small business marketers learn from this?

Technology, particularly to the younger generation, is about community. Myspace, for example, is now the most popular web site in the world. The new Internet (reffered to as Web 2.0) is all about sharing and connecting.

As a small business you probably can't afford to hire dozens of programmers to build a community portal like Myspace. However, you can learn to leverege the tools that are already out there for you.

Look at community sites like Myspace and linked-in. You should be blogging. Build an opt-in newsletter. Frequent message boards where your customers go. Connect, connect, connect.

The most important lesson of all!

In web communities sales pitches will get you nowhere. In fact people will resent you if your only intent to connect with them is to deliver a sales pitch. Comedians and musicians tellking people about albums and gigs seem to be the only exceptions to this rule.

Look for conversations with your target market. You can get a lot of insite into what they are looking for. As they start to trust you - they'll seek your business out.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet