Daniel Pink is one of my favorite authors and his "To Sell Is Human" and "Drive" are two of my favorite books.
One of the most watched TED videos of all time is his discussion on the science of motivation. If you don't want to spend the time reading his books, spend 20 minutes and watch the video.
Then you will want to read the books.
In essence he argues that the way modern management attempts to motivate employees is not supported by current science. If you have repetitive tasks that do not require creative problem solving, the standard incentive programs (i.e. money) work well. But for today's problem solving business model, monetary incentive programs do not.
Don't believe me. Watch the video, read the books, examine the science yourself.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
The Law of Leadership
In Al Ries & Jack Trout's 1993 marketing classic - The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing - Violate Them At Your Own Risk - the very first law is The Law of Leadership.
"The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in."
Being first is a commanding position to occupy, especially as time goes on. They go on to ask a fairly simply question, "What's the name of the first person to fly across the Atlantic Solo?"
Charles Lindbergh.
Who was the second? I sense silence.
With every client, I spend time asking them what makes them different than the competition. And I preface it by saying the answer is not "great employees, marvelous customer service, family owned, years in business, etc." Everyone says these things, so no one can own this positioning. It turns out that answering the question "what makes you better than the competition" is harder to answer than you think. And for the record, few consumers really care how long you have been in business (it didn't help Montgomery Wards), they don't care that you are family owned, and they don't believe all of your employees are the very best.
What can you tell your clients and prospects about you and your business that makes you number one in their eyes?
Frequently the answer stares you in face. It can be a fact that everyone already knows, but nobody is claiming ownership of it. In the pizza business it might be "We deliver rain or shine." Do all pizza companies deliver rain or shine? Of course. But if you are first to claim this position, you have the chance to own the position in the mind of the consumer. When the other pizza chains start advertising that they also deliver rain or shine, are they leading or following? In the pizza business today, you have to deliver. Why not position yourself as the leader in delivery?
What service do you provide that is important in the mind of your clients?
When you think of fast food and breakfast, who do you think of? McDonald's. They pioneered drive through breakfast.
If I say Pizza, Pizza, you think of Little Caesars. At least around here.
The point is, find a relevant point about your business where you can be seen as a leader and claim it. And keep in mind, if you don't tell the prospect/client, you will not receive credit.
By the way, Bert Hinkler was the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic.
"The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in."
Charles Lindbergh.
Who was the second? I sense silence.
With every client, I spend time asking them what makes them different than the competition. And I preface it by saying the answer is not "great employees, marvelous customer service, family owned, years in business, etc." Everyone says these things, so no one can own this positioning. It turns out that answering the question "what makes you better than the competition" is harder to answer than you think. And for the record, few consumers really care how long you have been in business (it didn't help Montgomery Wards), they don't care that you are family owned, and they don't believe all of your employees are the very best.
What can you tell your clients and prospects about you and your business that makes you number one in their eyes?
Frequently the answer stares you in face. It can be a fact that everyone already knows, but nobody is claiming ownership of it. In the pizza business it might be "We deliver rain or shine." Do all pizza companies deliver rain or shine? Of course. But if you are first to claim this position, you have the chance to own the position in the mind of the consumer. When the other pizza chains start advertising that they also deliver rain or shine, are they leading or following? In the pizza business today, you have to deliver. Why not position yourself as the leader in delivery?
What service do you provide that is important in the mind of your clients?
When you think of fast food and breakfast, who do you think of? McDonald's. They pioneered drive through breakfast.
If I say Pizza, Pizza, you think of Little Caesars. At least around here.
The point is, find a relevant point about your business where you can be seen as a leader and claim it. And keep in mind, if you don't tell the prospect/client, you will not receive credit.
By the way, Bert Hinkler was the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Google 4 Wheel Drive Diversified
I was reading an article earlier today that talked about how you no longer needed to put a "Click Here" button in a display ad. "People know that you can click on an ad and it will take you to there advertiser's web site." And it got me to thinking...
When I worked for the Local Fox Toledo station, I had a client who ran the most interesting TV campaign that I was ever involved with. He bought short TV commercials - 5 seconds as I remember. The message was easy to remember. "Google 4 Wheel Drive Diversified".
He knew he did not have a large budget and could not afford 30 second TV spots. He could not pick and choose when his spots ran. So he gave me a budget and said every time you can run one of my spots, do it. Some months he had 100 spots. Some he had 17. And his web address was difficult to get out in 5 seconds and it certainly wasn't easy to remember - www.divtrk.com.
But he knew that Google would remember the address for him.
And the campaign drove a lot of traffic to his web site.
So I am going to try to use this approach in a digital format. For a client (to be named later) I am going to run a targeted display campaign that says "Need help with... Google insert a client's name here". To drive traffic to the client's web site.
Bet it works. I'll report back.
"Cruise it, use it or abuse it."
When I worked for the Local Fox Toledo station, I had a client who ran the most interesting TV campaign that I was ever involved with. He bought short TV commercials - 5 seconds as I remember. The message was easy to remember. "Google 4 Wheel Drive Diversified".
He knew he did not have a large budget and could not afford 30 second TV spots. He could not pick and choose when his spots ran. So he gave me a budget and said every time you can run one of my spots, do it. Some months he had 100 spots. Some he had 17. And his web address was difficult to get out in 5 seconds and it certainly wasn't easy to remember - www.divtrk.com.
But he knew that Google would remember the address for him.
And the campaign drove a lot of traffic to his web site.
So I am going to try to use this approach in a digital format. For a client (to be named later) I am going to run a targeted display campaign that says "Need help with... Google insert a client's name here". To drive traffic to the client's web site.
Bet it works. I'll report back.
"Cruise it, use it or abuse it."
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Spending on Digital Ads to Overtake TV in 2017
Spending on Digital Ads to Overtake TV in 2017
Magna Global said U.S. digital ad revenue would reach $72.0 billion in 2017, compared with TV ad spending of $70.5 billion. Last year, digital accounted for $43 billion, with Magna forecasting it will reach the $50 million mark this year.
I think they meant $50 billion this year...
By comparison, digital media advertising is already bigger than total TV spending in such countries as the U.K., Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. The fact that digital isn't the biggest ad category in the U.S. "shows the strength and resilience of television in the U.S. compared to other advanced ad markets despite the current plateau in viewing," Magna said.
Nothing new here. This trend has been apparent for several years now. Consumers already spend more time with their digital devices than their TV. eMarketer reported in August 2013, "The average adult will spend over 5 hours per day online, on non-voice mobile activities or with other digital media this year, eMarketer estimates, compared to 4 hours and 31 minutes watching television."
Advertisers (and the advertiser's money) are simply following the consumer's behavior.
My surprise is that the flow of money has not moved to digital more quickly. I am surprised that more marketers are not proactively taking advantage of this trend towards digital engagement. This is a generational opportunity to get in front of the largest change in consumer behavior since the launch of TV.
You have to hand it to the broadcast and cable industry. They have done an admirable job of hanging on to advertiser's budgets in the face of a dominating change in consumer behavior. Of course over the long haul, I am convinced that this trend will reverse itself.
As shown in the diagram below, the newspaper industry has not figured out how to successfully re-invent itself in the face of consumer change.
"At the American Enterprise Institute’s Carpe Diem blog, Mark J. Perry finds that print ad revenues are now the lowest they've been since 1950, when the Newspaper Association of America began tracking industry data."
"At the American Enterprise Institute’s Carpe Diem blog, Mark J. Perry finds that print ad revenues are now the lowest they've been since 1950, when the Newspaper Association of America began tracking industry data."
Borrell Associates, in their 2014 Benchmarking Local TV Stations Online Revenue, talks about the importance of capturing digital in local markets to offset the impending loss of broadcast dollars.
Much of the the good news in Broadcast TV comes from the relatively new (2008) explosion in retransmission fees. These are fees that local broadcast stations now charge cable and satellite companies to rebroadcast their signal.
The problem is that TV ratings continue to decline. There are more programs and channels to watch than ever before. But the net result of this fragmentation is that the audience watching an individual show continues to decline. (Consumer behavior). So the biggest hits of today (excluding special events like The Super Bowl) - NBC Sunday Night Football - generated a 12.8 rating last year. In 1952, I Love Lucy generated a 67.3. In the 1960's the highest rated show was Gunsmoke at a 40.3. In the 1970's All In The Family topped the charts at a 34.0. 1980's - The Cosby Show was the only show that topped a 30 rating. In the 1990's, ER generated a 22.0. Notice a trend?
Over the next few years, we are going to see an increased shift in advertising dollars into digital marketing. And much of this shift will come at the expense of TV. Look how the change in consumer behavior decimated the newspaper industry. Most TV broadcasters have done an admirable job at trying to increase their expertise into the digital arena over the previous 5 years, but many are still saddled by a management team at the local market level that talks about the digital transition, but still lives and breathes TV, at the expense of digital revenue. In many cases, digital, even their own products, is the competition.
The problem is that TV ratings continue to decline. There are more programs and channels to watch than ever before. But the net result of this fragmentation is that the audience watching an individual show continues to decline. (Consumer behavior). So the biggest hits of today (excluding special events like The Super Bowl) - NBC Sunday Night Football - generated a 12.8 rating last year. In 1952, I Love Lucy generated a 67.3. In the 1960's the highest rated show was Gunsmoke at a 40.3. In the 1970's All In The Family topped the charts at a 34.0. 1980's - The Cosby Show was the only show that topped a 30 rating. In the 1990's, ER generated a 22.0. Notice a trend?
Over the next few years, we are going to see an increased shift in advertising dollars into digital marketing. And much of this shift will come at the expense of TV. Look how the change in consumer behavior decimated the newspaper industry. Most TV broadcasters have done an admirable job at trying to increase their expertise into the digital arena over the previous 5 years, but many are still saddled by a management team at the local market level that talks about the digital transition, but still lives and breathes TV, at the expense of digital revenue. In many cases, digital, even their own products, is the competition.
"The very best marketing comes from observing consumer behavior and insetting your message into their behavior."
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Facebook - I Knew It Would Work!
Social Marketing
Interesting article on eMarketer.com today. Paid Social Ads Convert More Customers.
It turns out that paid ads are out performing organic content on Facebook. "Paid ads on social networks do have better conversion rates than organic content."
I believe this is happening for two reasons. First, the targeting abilities for Facebook continue to improve. Any information that you voluntarily added to your Facebook account - single, married, divorced, engaged, work, education, birthdate, gender, interests, relationships... You get the idea... Allows marketers to target you with ads.
Facebook's abilities to target specific consumer segments continue to deliver to advertisers. For example, we used Facebook to target ads for a client sponsoring a "Wedding Expo". Facebook allowed us to target single, engaged, females, 21-45, within 50 miles of Toledo. This audience targeting allowed us to reduce the Facebook distribution from 380,000 "individuals" to 5,200 women who fit the target defined above.
The second and equally as important a reason - "Mutability is life's sole constant" - is the changes Facebook makes in its algorithm for posting to your news feed. When Facebook launched, everything you posted to your timeline was viewable to everyone connected to you through fans/likes. As Facebook evolved its revenue model, it found it profitable to throttle back the number of followers that could view your postings into their timeline. Today it is estimated that your posts are only able to be viewed by 16% of your followers. This "select 16%" is controlled by a complicated algorithm that weighs a variety of factors, but they try to weight your followers and display only the most pertinent posts to the followers they feel are the most connected to your post.
If you want more of your followers to see your newsfeed posts, you will need to use Facebook's Boost program. After posting your message, you can click on the Boost icon on the bottom right of your post. If you want to see how this works, follow this link for Facebook Boost. In addition to boosting distribution to your own followers, Boost allows you to target new audiences based on - you guessed it - the information you surrendered to Facebook as you set up and modified your Facebook account.
So now you know how it pays to be social. If you want to learn more, shoot me an email.... Jeff@ThriveIM.com.
P.S. Just saw a great article that talks more about Facebook targeting... Here is the link...
What Facebook's Evolving Social Graph Means for Content Marketers
Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2014/25933/what-facebooks-evolving-social-graph-means-for-content-marketers#ixzz3D2CfrSTF
Friday, August 29, 2014
Dark Side of the Moon
Marketing automation is all the rage... Big data is the way... Fill your pipeline with hundreds of qualified leads...
This too will change.
I have answered your call. "Three Tips to Increase Your PPC ROI by 1500% in Three Minutes!" Click here to download now....
I know what is coming. "First we are going to need your name. And email address. Company name. Number of employees. Title. Marketing budget."
"Now please select the reason you are downloading this article."
What is frequently missing is "I just wanted to read the article."
Now I am in your Marketing Automation System and the cogs start turning.
Don't get me wrong I am a big proponent of marketing automation (MA) when done right. There is nothing wrong with automating monotonous, repetitive tasks.
But I am concerned about the sophistication (or lack of...) of some systems. I am starting to think that MA systems are becoming a crutch, rather than a tool. Are we (sales people) becoming lazy and a little too dependent on these systems?
There is software to monitor everything we do today. And somewhere along the line we have decided that simply being active is a good thing. If you have enough in "your pipeline", sales will follow.
But what if the "leads" in your pipeline aren't really leads?
I am inquisitive. I enjoy reading about the latest trends in digital marketing, so when I see an article about the latest in PPC, I will take the time to "download the white paper". (And as many of you know, if I do have an interest, I will hunt you down...)
But now I am in their MA system and I realize that I will receive their automated messages for the foreseeable future. Today I received one of my favorites...
I saw you downloaded a whitepaper titled, "Performance Marketing 2.0", awhile ago. Awesome! I'm sure it's been valuable to you.
Actually it was not valuable to me. I haven't even had time to read it.
Followed by "Are you the person responsible for...."
Sorry. I rarely "self prospect" by answering these automated emails (especially if I have no interest).
If their marketing automation system offered the "No Thank You, Just Reading" option, my inbox would not be filling up with their messages that have zero chance of being read. Hang on, my phone is ringing... "Jeff - it's Justin from ABC Amazing Marketing and I noticed you downloaded our paper...."
Perhaps I would have received a single email. "Jeff, I hope you enjoyed the article. I see that you have no immediate needs, you are simply inquisitive. If you ever have any questions about ABC Amazing Marketing, please don't hesitate to contact me. In the meantime I will send you a Linked In invitation. If you would like to stay in touch, please accept it..."
I have always believed that "people do business with people, not businesses".
When you are online hunting for prospects and designing your questions for white papers - remember some of us are simply curious. Allow us an out so you don't waste resources tracking a "prospect" that never existed.
I thank you.
This too will change.
I have answered your call. "Three Tips to Increase Your PPC ROI by 1500% in Three Minutes!" Click here to download now....
I know what is coming. "First we are going to need your name. And email address. Company name. Number of employees. Title. Marketing budget."
"Now please select the reason you are downloading this article."
- Immediate Action!
- Acting in the Next 3 Months.
- 3 to 6 months.
- Planning for next year.
What is frequently missing is "I just wanted to read the article."
Now I am in your Marketing Automation System and the cogs start turning.
Don't get me wrong I am a big proponent of marketing automation (MA) when done right. There is nothing wrong with automating monotonous, repetitive tasks.
But I am concerned about the sophistication (or lack of...) of some systems. I am starting to think that MA systems are becoming a crutch, rather than a tool. Are we (sales people) becoming lazy and a little too dependent on these systems?
There is software to monitor everything we do today. And somewhere along the line we have decided that simply being active is a good thing. If you have enough in "your pipeline", sales will follow.
But what if the "leads" in your pipeline aren't really leads?
I am inquisitive. I enjoy reading about the latest trends in digital marketing, so when I see an article about the latest in PPC, I will take the time to "download the white paper". (And as many of you know, if I do have an interest, I will hunt you down...)
But now I am in their MA system and I realize that I will receive their automated messages for the foreseeable future. Today I received one of my favorites...
I saw you downloaded a whitepaper titled, "Performance Marketing 2.0", awhile ago. Awesome! I'm sure it's been valuable to you.
Actually it was not valuable to me. I haven't even had time to read it.
Followed by "Are you the person responsible for...."
Sorry. I rarely "self prospect" by answering these automated emails (especially if I have no interest).
If their marketing automation system offered the "No Thank You, Just Reading" option, my inbox would not be filling up with their messages that have zero chance of being read. Hang on, my phone is ringing... "Jeff - it's Justin from ABC Amazing Marketing and I noticed you downloaded our paper...."
Perhaps I would have received a single email. "Jeff, I hope you enjoyed the article. I see that you have no immediate needs, you are simply inquisitive. If you ever have any questions about ABC Amazing Marketing, please don't hesitate to contact me. In the meantime I will send you a Linked In invitation. If you would like to stay in touch, please accept it..."
I have always believed that "people do business with people, not businesses".
When you are online hunting for prospects and designing your questions for white papers - remember some of us are simply curious. Allow us an out so you don't waste resources tracking a "prospect" that never existed.
I thank you.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
The Steady Drip, Drip, Drip of...
You have to be of a certain age to recognize the Cheech and Chong reference.
But it describes the power of digital marketing to sales prospects.
You build a killer web site and throw everything you can think of to drive prospects to it.
This gem of wisdom gives the prepared an advantage. Understand that the majority of businesses do not operate an eCommerce site. Their sites are much more educational and designed to be a source of lead generation. So how do we convert this traffic from lead to prospect to client?
At Thrive one of the ways we do this is by using specific landing pages for specific solutions. For example for our friends in the YMCA , they are driven to landing pages that show them how we can help with specific problems - "Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?" "YMCA Brand Compliant Website in 1-6 Weeks!" "Are You Being Found on Google When People Search For..."
While we welcome prospects picking up the phone and engaging our services immediately, we realize that during the first visit this probably isn't going to happen. (See The Law of Familiarity People do business with businesses that are familiar to them.)
So our primary goal for the first visit to our landing page is to convince them to give us some contact information, which enters our proprietary CRM program. Now - drip, drip, drip.
For ten consecutive weeks we automatically send them communications. During the first week they will receive an email. Week two they receive a postcard. Week three an email. Week four a postcard. Ten continuous touch points. We want to be familiar to them when we follow up with a phone call or Linked In request...
Every communication is different, but they are developed around the clients's business, their problems and how Thrive can help solve these problems.
What problem is keeping you up at night?
You build a killer web site and throw everything you can think of to drive prospects to it.
- You add the URL to business cards, stationary, your email signature
- You launch a Pay Per Click Campaign
- You add targeted display, targeted video and targeted display
This gem of wisdom gives the prepared an advantage. Understand that the majority of businesses do not operate an eCommerce site. Their sites are much more educational and designed to be a source of lead generation. So how do we convert this traffic from lead to prospect to client?
At Thrive one of the ways we do this is by using specific landing pages for specific solutions. For example for our friends in the YMCA , they are driven to landing pages that show them how we can help with specific problems - "Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?" "YMCA Brand Compliant Website in 1-6 Weeks!" "Are You Being Found on Google When People Search For..."
While we welcome prospects picking up the phone and engaging our services immediately, we realize that during the first visit this probably isn't going to happen. (See The Law of Familiarity People do business with businesses that are familiar to them.)
So our primary goal for the first visit to our landing page is to convince them to give us some contact information, which enters our proprietary CRM program. Now - drip, drip, drip.
For ten consecutive weeks we automatically send them communications. During the first week they will receive an email. Week two they receive a postcard. Week three an email. Week four a postcard. Ten continuous touch points. We want to be familiar to them when we follow up with a phone call or Linked In request...
Every communication is different, but they are developed around the clients's business, their problems and how Thrive can help solve these problems.
What problem is keeping you up at night?
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