Please STOP Skewing the Figures!

An article from EConsultancy.com  highlighted in one of my online discussion groups proclaims "50% of Businesses Believe That Social Offers Greatest Marketing Opportunities Over Next Year”. The subhead then reads: “Digital marketing offers greater opportunities for businesses over the next year than more traditional channels, according to a new report.” Wow! Makes it sound like you better hurry up and switch your marketing to social media, right away. Gotta keep up!

It sounds that way until you read the full article. Later on, more information clarifies that “[t]he report is based on a survey of nearly 900 Econsultancy subscribers from both companies and agencies, carried out in April and May 2013.”

Seems to me that 900 of a company's subscribers is a far cry from giving a true representation of "50% of all businesses" (emphasis added). This is yet another example of the overemphasis companies may place on their facts and figures to bolster their own viewpoint, philosophy and product line. It would have been more accurate and less misleading to say that 50% of Econsultancy's subscribers believe...

The article itself should be very helpful in supporting the need for greater integration of online/mobile marketing for those who are involved in this approach. But to make it sound as if everybody is, or even should be, flocking that direction is a gross misstatement. 

I know of many businesses who are either barely or not at all involved in social media and they are doing just fine. Their marketing/advertising program nets them a very handsome Return On Investment. I do find it amusing that in the article's chart of marketing channels the print yellow pages are not even represented. I would assume it must comprise part of the 3% of marketing channels referred to as "Other". 

My clients and I, as well as countless other businesses who have experienced continued solid business profit from the non-social marketing world, beg to differ with the article's conclusions. And I actually take a little offense to being excluded.

As always, my advice for most everyday business people is to keep your view open. Continue using the media that works for you until it is demonstrably not working before switching to avenues that have only the self-aggrandizing hype from within their own ranks to support their products and programs.

There is more than one way to build a marketing/advertising program. Build with proven products and products with which you can find a way to track results. If that includes a substantial investment in social media, so be it. But to declare any one channel as the only way to go is not wise.

(You can read the full article at http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/63350-50-of-businesses-believe-that-social-offers-greatest-marketing-opportunities-over-next-year?goback=%2Egde_77625_member_277272550#%21 )

Avoid a Myopic View of Advertising Media

There was a news article on Yahoo today, September 26, 2013, that reveals that 15% of American adults do NOT use the internet!  http://news.yahoo.com/do-not-use-internet-140141223.html

Why is this important to know? Because there is so much hype out there about forsaking what is referred to as "traditional" or "old" or even "dead" media resources in favor of "new media". New, or digital,  media is primarily internet advertising. There are droves of very vocal new media preachers out there whose sole sermon seems to be that businesses only have to advertise on the internet to be successful.

The main reason I think this happens is because most of these new media evangelists are only familiar with their digital market, so they ignore the rest. They can't offer print or outdoor ads or radio, etc. so they choose to write it off and/or discourage clients from investing in those media. And, yes, they can show you stats to seemingly support their contention.

Well, the survey results from the Pew Research Center's Internet Project indicate something different. There is  no industry bias in their results. The results were not just of senior citizens or baby boomers either. Survey participants included ages 18 and up. I recently had a friend ask me to buy something online for them because they had a bad experience trying to order things themselves. I order things all the time, but some people are skittish about doing so. This is just one of the reasons people avoid the internet.

Don't get me wrong. I am not at all discounting the importance or the place of internet advertising. I sell it, along with traditional media.

One of my clients whom I have given a multimedia advertising package recently shared that she knows most of her customers come from the tried-and-true, still effective yellow pages. Print yellow pages! This occurs even though the rest of her program includes local search and major search engine coverage. So all her bases are covered, and as the the advertising scene shifts to internet usage, she is already positioned to maximize her lead generation.

I recently saw a discussion online about beer mat sales. The guy who brought it into the discussion was trying his best to impress the readers with the all-encompassing stand-alone power of beer mats as the be-all, end-all for advertising. The same problem of myopic vision applies in that type of discussion. It is just as ill-advised to only advertise on beer mats as it is to throw your entire advertising budget into the internet. (Possible exceptions: businesses who are e-commerce sites only or who wish to do business online only.)

So again, why is it important to be reminded that not everyone is on the internet, and that on the internet, not everyone is on, say, Facebook (about half the population isn't)? Because if you are wanting to hit the widest potential target for your advertising, you need to find ways to advertise without limiting your audience. 15% of your audience should not be written off or ignored.

Targeting is fine. You don't want to place your message indiscriminately in the creative (branding) forms of media. If you sell a product that will appeal to only certain types of people, target them the best way you can. But remember that your directional media are meant to place your message in front of anyone who goes searching for your product, at the time of their need and whether they have seen your branding advertising or not.

For the best advertising campaign, maintain a balance of traditional and internet, creative and directional, media. And avoid any advertising sales person who tries to steer you away from forms of advertising that he or she doesn't happen to handle. They may be sincere in their belief that they have the mythical magic bullet, but they are sincerely wrong and they will not be working for your best interest. Go after 100% of your potential market, not just 85%.

Now Available Straight from the Website!

Announcing the arrival of the website for "Sensible Small Business Advertising", the best little book you will find on starting and growing an effective overall advertising campaign. Just go to www.sensiblesmallbusinessadvertising.com and order your copy.

Available in paperback, hardback or eBook, this guide will show you how to plan your advertising. You will find everything from budgeting to determining your return on your advertising investment to dealing with advertising representatives, to assuring you cover all the bases in the most efficient way, and much much more!

Until now, "Sensible Small Business Advertising" has been available online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.  But now, you can go directly to this site and order your copy in any format of your choice directly from the publisher, iUniverse.

If you have benefited from my blog posts, I would recommend you latch on to my book to gain tons of insight and insider tips and pointers to help build your business with solid, balanced, workable and cost-conscious advertising. 

The information you will find in "Sensible Small Business Advertising" is easy to understand and utilize. It is written specifically for the small business person, so you won't find a lot of technical jargon and tables of confusing (and sometimes contradictory) data.

It's time to make sense of advertising. Get your copy now! Go to www.sensiblesmallbusinessadvertising.com.

Why Are You Even IN Business Anyway?

Last time I talked to you, I had you answer the question, "Why should anyone do business with you?" I think that question is vitally important for you to develop an effective advertising campaign. If you can't give me a good reason why your service is different, distinctive & (hopefully) better in some way than your competitors, then "so long!" I will be on my way to find someone who cares about me and about themselves enough to want to earn my business.

My buying decisions are based on information. Everyone wants to feel that they made the best deal or the best choice when purchasing something. And to do that, you have to convince me that I made that right choice by telling me why I will get that good feeling when I deal with you. Case closed.

This time, I have another crucial question for you: "Why are you in business anyway?" If your response is, "Whaddya mean, 'why?' I wanna make money. Duh!" then you may very well fall into the category of soon-to-fail businesses. Here's why:

What happens when you aren't making the money you projected you would make -- when the bills get harder to pay and the regulations pile up -- when the competition seems to be eating you alive, or when the bypass comes in and your drive-by traffic drops off?  Will you just give up, throw in the towel and call it quits?

If your reason for going into business is only to make money, you might make it, or you might not. But if your reason for going into business is something beyond that, you will have a deeper purpose. You will be more prone to continue on, to find a way to beat the obstacles and stand up to the opposition and the trials.

If you know that your widgets outperform the rest, your roofing technique provides a more long lasting, storm-proof roof, or your childcare's facility and staff are more qualified and better at protecting your clients' kids, or whatever it is, you will have a lot more at stake than just a paycheck or keeping your bottom line in the black. I am not saying money isn't important. You have to eat and pay the bills. But if you don't have more than that going for you, it will be too easy to give up, cut corners or become discouraged. And quite frankly, if that is how you feel, you should go out of business and go to work for someone else who does have that sense of deeper purpose.

I am certain that I have dealt with businesses in the past who went under simply because they were only in business for the money. There was no real love for what they were doing, no sense of providing a better service or product, no driving desire to be the best or to provide the best in what they were doing. Don't be one of them.

Sit yourself and your partners down and have a good session of purpose-searching. If you really can't think of any reason to be in business beyond making money, good luck. I prefer working with well-purposed survivors.

"Why Should I Do Business With You?"

I am constantly amazed by the number of business people who haven't taken the time to answer the simple question, "Why should I do business with you?" How you can go about trying to do business and not have a clear reason for potential customers to use your service or buy your product is a mystery to me.

You may be just one of fifty roofers or dentists or carpet cleaners in a given area. So what reason can you give me for doing business with you in particular? Those of you who know me will be smiling right about now, because you know I tell you that this is the seed of your advertising program.

Let's say you are an auto mechanic. What sets you apart from the auto mechanic down the street, or who has the next biggest ad or the listing ahead of yours? Is there anything you can tell me to convince me to give you the call or the visit to repair my car? Or are you just the same as the next guy? Are you going to leave it to the "luck of the draw" as to whether you get my business or not? What can you tell me that is honest, true and unique about your repair shop?

In the marketing/advertising world, this is called your USP, Unique Selling Proposition. If your ad is only full of bullet points of information (just like the other guys), you are missing the point of effectively advertising. Most repair shops are going to change oil, do brake jobs, tune-ups, engine diagnostics, tire sales, etc. Those are good to list, especially if you do things like wheel alignments, which is something not all shops are equipped to do. But if you want my business, tell me something more that helps me decide to give you my business. (If I need an alignment, then mentioning it is part of what I am talking about, but there is more.) The same principle applies, regardless of the type of business you have.

Make sure you promote your brand, including your logo and slogan. But if you have anything that makes you distinctive, make sure you trumpet it in your advertising. Whether it is lifetime warranties, 24 hour emergency service, mobile service, certifications of some kind, additional services you provide, greater longevity, more inventory, larger service area, more choices -- there should be something that will be attractive to the customers you want.

So examine your ads. Whether it is a commercial, flyer, PPC ad, display ad, billboard, or whatever, make sure you tell your potential customers why, out of all the other people who could do for them what you do, they should give their business to you. That is one important, often neglected, element in assuring you get maximum response to your advertising investment.

The Small Business Person's Dreams Have Come True!

It's finally here! The help you have been looking for to make sense of this thing called "advertising". I have a quote in my book about what John Wanamaker said about a century ago and it goes something like this: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half!"

Well, my book, "Sensible Small Business Advertising" will help you out of that kind of jam. If you have wondered how to go about choosing the "right" advertising for your business, or if you have had problems getting it to work for you, or if you have never advertised before and are trying to make a go of it without understanding what to do and when, then this book is for you.

It also addresses a lot of issues you won't find mentioned in the more academic books on the subject -- things like how to identify and avoid scams, how to negotiate with ad salespeople, what the two essential types of advertising are, how to balance them, and how to measure the return on your investment.

There is much more information in these easy-to-read pages. You'll learn why it isn't enough to go into business solely to make money, when to consider using an advertising consultant, how to plan your advertising campaign from start-up to business maturity, and why you should not replace traditional media with internet-only advertising. I invite you to order your copy on Amazon or Barnes & Noble online, then pass the word to your business friends who could use a little guidance too.

Avoid "Ho-Hum" Branding

If I were to ask you what company is represented by a gecko lizard, the answer almost anyone would give me is "Geico". Of course. Geico did an excellent job (a long time ago in terms of longevity of ad campaigns) of using the similar sounding lizard name to help brand theirs. And that "hook" is still working today. Geico's commercials and advertising are memorable when tied to the gecko.

But you may not recall a commercial with this scenario:  It is night in the city after a rainfall. A small car rounds a corner and runs through a pothole, blowing a tire in the process. The car stops. The pothole begins to talk, in a female voice with a Southern accent, and says something like this:  "Oh noooo. Yer tire's all flat and junk. Aww, did I do that? Here. Let me get my cellular out, call you a wrecker. Oh, shoot! I got no phone. 'Cuz I'm a pothooole? Sooooo...... "Kay, Bye." The asphalt on the edge of the pothole flapped as it talked. I thought it was hilarious the first time I saw it. But it was shortlived. I only saw it a few times. View it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjMUfIKktWU But before you watch it, tell me this:

What product was it for? And for what company? Did you know it, too, was a Geico commercial? Well, it was. But although it had a humorous story line, it didn't work as well because it didn't brand strongly enough. For many companies and products, humor is great for drawing attention to advertising, but if it falls short of solidifying your brand in the consumer's mind, it could be considered a failure. Even when not using humor, whatever your message is, whatever genre or approach you use, you will know whether you have achieved success or not by measuring how strongly people are able to identify your brand as a result of it.


Think of all the Super Bowl commercials you have seen. The advertisers spent 4 million dollars for a 30 second commercial. Of the commercials you can remember, how many of them do you remember for their humor or for their "warm and fuzzy"-ness? And for how many of those can you name the brand of the company or product?


For each one that you laughed at, but you can't immediately recall the brand, you can consider that the sponsoring company just paid 4 million dollars for a 30 second comedy, just to give you a chuckle. But in terms of advertising, those same commercials were failures.

Remember that lesson when planning your advertising campaign. "Ho-Hum" branding is any branding that fails to make your business or product name the main point of the ad or commercial. Everything else is just the vehicle used to drive that point home.

Avoiding "Ageism" in Your Marketing

Ordinarily when you are working on determining your target market, you take into consideration things like what your ideal customer looks like by way of income, interests, geographic location (urban, suburban, rural), vocation, marital status, family type, and even age, among others.

If you sell video games, you will probably target a younger clientele than you would if you sell artificial hips, for instance. (Don't laugh too hard. I have seen TV ads for certain artificial joints. These campaigns are to build top of mind awareness so that, if and when you need one, you will be prone to ask your doctor, "What about the Owta Joint? I saw it on TV." And the hope is that the doctor will either recommend that joint or will consider using it.)

But let's not forget that building a tight demographic can lead you to have tunnel vision regarding other candidates for your products/services. I had lunch in a small town recently and was sitting near a group of about eight or ten women who were apparently part of a knitting or quilting circle. As I ate, I overheard the conversations of these ladies, average age probably about fifty, but ranging up to maybe 65 or so. At one point one of the women said she wished she knew how to find out about a certain bit of information and one of the older ladies said something like, "Why don't you just ask Google? That's what I do when I want to find out something." To look at them, you would have thought they were too "old" to be internet savvy, yet there were some in that group who were apparently quite comfortable using internet search.

A search term you may have heard is "long-tail search". This involves an approach to your keyword usage that takes into consideration keywords that are not in the most-used category in searches. In a similar way, take into consideration that there will be potential customers for your business that don't fall into the mainstream demographic breakdown you may derive from the cold, formulaic marketing technique you may use.

Remember that, even if your company caters to a younger general demographic, it is still the older generation that has the most money to spend. In many cases, the electronics and other techie gadgets the younger set owns were bought for them by their older family members. Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts -- cell phones, iPads, laptops, GPS units -- are many times provided by mom or dad or grandparents.

You can reverse that idea and see the potential in marketing some stereotypically "older" products/services to younger people as well. The decision to move older parents to a retirement community may be influenced by younger family members, for instance. That joint I mentioned earlier might be recommended to grandpa by a son or grandson who saw and remembered the commercial.

So, yes, by all means, do your demographic homework. But try to keep your focus broad enough that you can see the sense in hitting some potential markets that might seem to be a little outside the box. For one thing, the competition might be less for some of those customers.

Phone Books Dead? Not really!

I recently read the results of a study by Market Authority which shows that phone directories are still very much alive, and need to still be a part of most business's advertising mix. But rather than having me reiterate all that, check it out for yourself at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10351426.htm?goback=%2Eanb_2935101_*2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1 .

I realize all the digital media sales people will get out the torches and pitchforks to kill this monstrous truth, but that doesn't change the facts. As for me, I don't champion one over the other. I wholeheartedly believe in both areas of media, and I provide my clients with outreach in both. There are many factors that determine to what degree and when a business should alter their media mix between traditional media and digital media. And by "traditional media" I mean pretty much everything that existed pre-internet:  radio, tv, billboards, direct mail, magazine ads, yellow pages, etc. Now back to the phone book, the "original search engine".

If you are a business owner who doesn't personally use a phone book, let me ask you: Do you really think that everyone else thinks or acts just as you do? Even if you include your circle of friends as digital-only searchers/buyers, is the rest of your potential customer base all on board to the same degree as you?

If you are a realist, you have no problem answering "no" to those questions. And you have no problem also admitting that you want to reach as many potential customers as possible. You also realize that, over the next few years, even decades, you will need to do some shifting to accommodate changes in the public's search-and-buy habits. And that will mean shifting more of your investment into online venues.

So the new media mantra, "Print Is Dead", is not true. The only ones trying to foist this view on you are either the digital-only companies who don't have (and aren't able to start) a print directory, or those who have drunk the Kool-Aid of those new media companies. It is just as wrong to relegate phone books to the trash heap as it is to ignore the increasing relevance of internet advertising.

My advice is to avoid jumping too quickly into a "new media only" advertising program just because it is new. You'll be unnecessarily cutting off a significant portion of your viable market. There are exceptions to this, but for the majority of locally oriented businesses, the "mom and pop" shops or sole proprietor contractors, you will be hurting yourself by becoming too narrow in your advertising focus. If your business is solely an online sales or ecommerce business, then sure, go all out on the internet. But for the rest of you, try to maintain a proper balance and don't lose your focus on the Big Picture.

Internet Arrogance

What's up with website developers? I have quite a bit of experience dealing with people who build websites and I have to say, I am somewhat mystified by the prevailing attitude of many of them. Let me first say that I, at least at this time, don't build sites myself. But my training is in critiquing sites to see whether or not they are built properly for search engine visibility. Among other things, I am concerned as to whether proper on-site optimization has been implemented or not. If it hasn't, I point out a few suggestions to strengthen the site. So when I look at your site, my first concern is not how pretty it is, or that you have butterflies flying across the screen or that it plays "My Heart Will Go On and On". (I am not a fan of either of these types of functions by the way.)

I am also well trained regarding SEO, SEM, adwords, local search, keyword strategies, social media, backlinks, etc. So when I analyze a website, it is my intention to help make the site more visible to Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.

But here is the stickler. When I offer information or make suggestions, I find that the site developer often tends to respond with arrogance or even anger. They downplay the suggestion and pooh-pooh its importance. They often seem to feel they need to defend themselves by "out-tech-ing" me. And this applies to both the do-it-yourselfer and to builders who work for companies who create sites.

It makes me wonder whether the schools who train these people, or website building guide books, even cover on-site optimization. My training goes even farther and relates specifically to commercial website visibility. There are certain elements that are of particular importance to local business sites.

Wouldn't you think you would welcome some tips and pointers from a trained professional if they help increase your online exposure?  So why the arrogance? Take the criticism, weigh the suggestions fairly, and then act accordingly. We are on the same team. The goal is the same, so let's work toward that common goal and forget who knows the most or who has the degree.

I recently had a great meeting with a young man who handles a local company's website. This guy was a breath of fresh air. He is among a minority of the webmasters with whom I have dealt. We had a very profitable time because he was open and soaked up the information I shared like a sponge. Likewise, I learned a few things from him. When the environment is one of co-operation, all parties benefit. There should be no room for ego or turf protection in this type of circumstance.

My bottom line here is that, if you are, or if you have, a webmaster, make sure he or she has enough humility to be open to information that might benefit your business. The person who handles your online presence should be a lifelong student, always learning. The net is very fluid, constantly changing. Search engines constantly revise their algorithms. It is worth the effort to stay teachable about the internet.

Why Business People Should Not Wear Loafers

I have often read articles that talk about businesses advertising on a "shoestring" budget. That isn't a bad thing if that is all you can do. It is certainly better than expecting to grow a business without advertising in any organized fashion.

My concern is for businesses who try to advertise on no shoestrings at all. They feel they can get the job done just by doing whatever is free. I am all for using every form of advertising that may be free, but hog-tying your business growth by neglecting to invest in more and better advertising is a big mistake. You'll never see the growth you want going the "loafer" route.

I see this concept at work when I notice a small business that only has a Facebook page. No website. Just a Facebook page, and maybe a Twitter page. And they expect to gain the same exposure they would if they had a website. Not going to happen. At least, if the website is properly built, the Facebook page approach won't get the job done as well. There is more to having a website than just building it and having it sit there unseen.

It would be much better to have a properly optimized website along with the Facebook (business version) page and any other social media pages/profiles working in unison to gain the kind of exposure and online response the business is looking for. Part of working in unison includes making sure all the subsidiary pages, profiles, etc., are linked to the website, which acts as the hub of all the other online presences.

Every credible source will recommend to you that you should establish a budget. The focus of this article is only to back that up. If you are serious about being in business, set a reasonable budget from the very beginning.

Then have a realistic plan about growing that budget as your business grows. That's all for now. Just don't wear loafers. Make sure you have, at bare minimum, shoestrings to get you going.

A Case of Mistaken Identity: 4 Tips to Avoid Scams

Well, it has happened again. Recently I visited a small beauty salon to discuss with them a variety of ways that my company could have helped them with some very basic advertising. I was greeted with a degree of scorn and was told that one of our other consultants had already been in. They said that a couple of weeks after our consultant had been in, they received a bill from our company for over $300. The inference was that my company had somehow hoodwinked them into a billing for something they did not want.

I knew the other guy had been in. In fact, he had suggested I go back by and see if they might have changed their mind about advertising. I also knew that he hadn't sold them any advertising and that we were not responsible for any billing of the beauty salon. I am positive that I know what happened.

Since our ad programs include yellow page advertising, we were being confused with one of the "yellow page" companies that sends out a document requesting a business to confirm that their listing information is correct. It is usually labelled as "This is not a bill". The problem is, if you don't read the small print, and if you don't pay close attention to where the form is from, you might be fooled by the walking fingers logo on the form. As far as you are concerned, it looks legitimate and so you sign it and send it in. The problem is, the walking fingers logo is not trademarked to any particular company and is used by directory companies of all kinds.

The company sending the form is NOT who you think they are. They are one of a number of companies who send out these misleading mailings, preying on the ignorance of businesses. They do publish some sort of directory, but most people never see it. Sometimes they are published in a national registry, but again, it is not one that the public will ever see. However, since they do publish some sort of phone directory, they are not considered illegal.

I rose, as tactfully as I could, to the defense of my company because I did not want to leave these beauty shop women with the impression that we had bilked them out of their money. I expressed concern and asked to see the bill so I could verify that my suspicions were correct, but they either didn't keep a copy or they were unwilling to show it. It seemed to me to be a case of "Don't bother me with the facts. My mind is made up!"

To prevent this from happening to you, here are a few tips:

First, pay attention to your mail. Make sure you can identify the company who is sending you a form. Just because it has the walking fingers on it, do not assume it is one of your legitimate phone book providers. If in doubt, look for a phone number on the form. Call and ask them to clarify exactly who they are. And speaking of phone calls, beware of phone solicitations for the same kind of service.

Second, never sign anything that says it is just to confirm your business information until you have read all the terms on the form. Often, when the form states that it is not a bill, the truth is that by signing the form and sending it in, you are authorizing the company to then send you a bill for that listing. You may or may not be able to get out of it, but if you will show a little caution here, it will save you a lot of headache.

Third, pay attention to your bona fide companies. There are legitimate providers who are there for you, helping connect you with customers. They will have no problem identifying themselves to you, and are worth listening to. Don't lump all advertising sales people into one heap with the few shady dealers out there.

Fourth, develop relationships with your representatives from the legitimate companies. Once you have established your reps, it will be easier to deal with each company in the future. Remember that it is rarely a good thing to treat people rudely.

Unfortunately for the beauty shop girls, I was unable to help them because they just simply were not going to listen. In retrospect, I think they were so afraid I might try to sell them something that they flat out didn't want to hear a thing I said. I can only hope that they will be more careful in the future when it comes to signing documents. And I can only hope that my attempt to defend my company will get them to dig out that form and verify that I was right. My reputation and my company's reputation is at stake.

Claim Your Listings!

For those of you who may be new to promoting your business online, I am offering you this word of advice. Be sure you claim as many online business listing profiles as you can. It is one thing to build a website. It is altogether another thing to have the search engines notice it. You will need to submit the site for indexing to Google, Yahoo and Bing to start. But in addition, there are many additional business listing resources on which you can claim your free profile.

One good place to start is www.getlisted.org . Just enter your business name and zip code, click submit, and you will get about thirteen places you can hop onto and claim your business profile. The more of these sources, which I refer to as "horizontal networking", you are listed with, the better. When the search engines are looking for information about your company to include in searches, they reference these places. Check out this link for more info: http://searchengineland.com/crush-the-competition-with-hyper-local-listing-management-170467?goback=%2Egde_77625_member_270254806#%21   Localeze is a good example of this. It doesn't matter whether you have heard of them (such as Nokia, HotFrog or Best of the Web) or not. The search engines are aware of them. You should have a standard profile of information about your business on all of them.

Additionally, one that you will not find at getlisted.org  is www.manta.com . Manta is a good business-to-business resource for doing research on a potential client or company. And their basic business profile service is free.

On any of these, there may be additional visibility functions (advertising) that may be offered, but to get your company profile listed is no charge. Just ignore offers about which you are not interested.

And be sure to include your web address, email, photos and videos if the listing source has places for them. If you do these few things (and this is not an exhaustive list), you will do much toward increasing your online footprint. People can't do business with you if they don't know about you, or if they don't have enough information to know whether to do business with you or not.

Do one profile source a day, or five a week, or however you can fit it in, but be sure you do it. The alternative is to pay someone to do an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program for you. This is only one part of SEO, but if you don't do it, someone should. I am just trying to save you a little money.
Your homework has been assigned. Get to it!

Thou Shalt Not Prejudge!

A few years ago I found myself at a central Ohio auto dealership that specialized in exotic sports cars. I was there to see the marketing director. He was busy at the time, so I decided to go to the building next door where they had the showroom for Lamborghinis and Ferraris.

When I entered the showroom area, I saw two men in white shirts and ties talking to a tall, thin elderly man in coveralls. There was also an elderly woman sitting at a table eyeing an accessories catalog. My first impression was that the elderly man was either the janitor or perhaps a mechanic. I figured the lady was just waiting for her husband to get off work or something. But when I jokingly asked her if she wanted the Lamborghini parked on the showroom floor near her, she replied, "Oh, no. We already have two of those. We are here to get another model!" And she was serious!

The reason I am telling you that story is that it is a classic example of prejudging. Most of you would have jumped to the same conclusion I did based solely on appearance. If I had been one of those salesmen, I may very well have handled that lead in the wrong way and lost the sale. We who are in sales often do judge by appearances. Often it makes sense to do so, but we should hold off on judging our potential client until our fact-finding has done its work. If our lead has an old work vehicle, or isn't dressed as well as we might expect, we need to exercise caution before we predetermine that our products are not for them or are financially out of their reach. (Remember The Beverly Hillbillies? Talk about making a mistake in prejudging!)

On another occasion, I walked into a different dealership (Lexus or Acura), again trying to make a cold call on the marketing manager. There was nothing to my knowledge that would have indicated that I "didn't belong". I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to approach me. At that point the staff had no idea whether I was there to sell them advertising or to buy a car, or two, or even a fleet!  I had stopped by on my way to another appointment, so I couldn't linger; but for the time that I was there, not a soul in the showroom paid the least attention to me. No one asked if they could help me. No one asked what I needed. Maybe they only dealt with customers by preset appointment. Maybe I wasn't dressed formally enough. Or maybe they were just lazy. But I walked out without doing business with them.

Bottom line: Don't prejudge. Treat all your customers and potential customers with equal respect and attention. Take the time to find out what you can do for them. Fit the product or service to their need and then work on the price. If what you have to offer is of sufficient value to the customer, they will determine whether they can purchase your product.

Keep Your Feet on the Ground

I read the following excerpt in an article on MarketingProfs.com. The article's emphasis is on making the most of your Facebook and Twitter presence by using a variety of functions on those pages to get your social media visitors to be more engaged with you and to do more business with you. Note the figures:

"Of the 1 billion-plus Facebook users, 584 million are daily users. Of the 517 million Twitter users, over 140 million are active at least monthly. In the course of 60 seconds, there are 695,000 Facebook status updates and over 98,000 tweets."  (http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/10678/from-broadcast-to-unicast-quick-easy-steps-to-engage-your-customers-via-social#ixzz2S966FKUo)

I recommend businesses to be active in social media all the time, but let's make sure we keep our feet firmly planted in a little reality. Notice that only about half of Facebook users pay attention to it on a daily basis. And in Twitter's case, less than a fourth of its users use it on a monthly basis. There are over 314 million people in the United States. As of April, 2013, there are 158,848,960 U.S. Facebook users. That is about 51% of the population. So what about the other 49%? And according to online sources such as The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/01/facebook-loses-10m-visitors-us, Facebook has lost 10 million U.S. users in the past year. Are you putting an inordinate amount of time and effort into reaching only half of your potential market by overemphasizing social media?

There is a very large number of people who have no Facebook or Twitter pages, don't understand what a "tweet" is or how to do it, and who aren't interested in participating. I know it seems hard to believe for those of you who are all about social media, but there is a world out there that doesn't think or act like you do.  Smartphones, as popular as they are, and as fast as they are becoming more prominent, are not the only phone choices yet. There actually are some people who don't want one, whether due to the cost or not wanting all the "bells and whistles" or whatever.

To a kid with a new hammer, everything looks like a nail, and sometimes I think marketers act this way about new technologies. I recently saw an app (may have been a prototype) in which you could view a virtual butterfly fluttering on your camera screen, looking as if it were actually in your environment. If you swooped your Smartphone in a net-like scooping motion, you could "capture" the butterfly and even collect different types. I believe the object was similar to the old days when you might collect cereal box tops and send a certain number in to win a little prize of some kind. Involvement? Sure. Interesting? To some, yes. Will it work to garner visitors or users? Probably. Should it be added to your marketing program? Mmmmm. Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on your demographic focus, doesn't it? 

Let's remember, not every consumer is a young, tech-savvy, metropolitan, gotta-have-it-now person. Contrary to the television commercials that depict twenty year olds dressed in suave black clothing and dancing around to hip music in urban nighttime settings, most of us aren't like that. Mom and Pop Smith just want to sell and service their merchandise and want to get that message in front of consumers the best they can. And Joe Public, who isn't necessarily suave, sophisticated and loaded with money, just wants to know where he can get good products at a good price. He may not be interested in chasing make-believe butterflies around on his phone screen or chatting on social media.

Bottom line: While appealing to your social media users, don't exclude the rest of your potential customer base. Don't throw everything you have into that one basket. Remember the tried and true methods of reaching people. Print and other "traditional" media still work. They reach a large segment of your demographic who are average, work-a-day Joe's and Jill's without all the frills. There are a lot of them, and they spend money too.

QR Cautions

I am assuming you are aware of Quick Response codes. They are those pixelated squares you see in a lot of places these days. Sometimes they are on products. Sometimes on store windows. Sometimes on business cards, vehicle wraps -- in short, almost anywhere you can post a graphic, you may find a QR code. For those of you who are not as familiar with them I will first explain what they are.

These squares of code are meant to be read by the scanning app or function on Smart Phones and iPhones. The scanner reads these in the same way they read bar codes. The main difference is that when a bar code is scanned, you are taken to product information. If I scan a bottle of ketchup, I will see information about the brand of ketchup I have scanned, including the number of ounces in the bottle, where I can purchase it and what I may expect to pay for it.

If I scan a QR code, my scan will take me to a specific web property of some sort, such as a company's website. I attended a festival last summer at which I saw a QR code on the temporary cardboard waste containers set up throughout the festival location. The QR code would take me to the site for the waste disposal company that had placed the containers. An auto dealer had an exhibit booth set up at the festival and near that booth there was a new car covered by a wrap advertising the dealer. Here and there on the wrap was a QR code leading to the dealer's website. At an arts festival, signs were set up beside each artist's booth and on that sign, along with the artist's name and medium was a QR code. If you scanned the code, you were taken to the arts festival's website and to more information about the particular artist you were viewing.

These are some of the many imaginative uses for QR codes. BUT - I am writing this blog entry to warn against using QR's on billboards. My first warning light came on when I was driving in a city and saw a billboard beside the road. The billboard had a large QR code on it with the invitation written beside it to "Scan This Code with Your Smart Phone". The problem was not that a smart phone can't scan and read the code from that distance. It wasn't far. The problem was that the billboard was about a hundred and fifty feet frrom an intersection with a traffic light.

Do you see any problem yet? Being the curious creatures that we are, and especially equipped with cool new technology like a multi-function smart phone, we are prone to want to use that  technology (think "texting while driving") to attempt to scan the offer on the billboard 1.) while driving, 2.) near an intersection controlled by a traffic light. I would have to take my eyes off the road long enough to get my phone focused on the QR code and for it to scan the code, and then read the results. All happening while the traffic light is changing to red. The kicker is that the QR code took you to the site of an auto collision company! Talk about generating business!

I have seen another billboard QR code placed on a two lane state route, on a curve at the outskirts of a city. This code led to a military recruitment site. If you survived long enough to enlist, maybe that was a sign of the courage the recruitment staff was looking for. Or eye-hand coordination. Or quick reflexes. Or collision avoidance skills.

There are also limits to the scanner's sensitivity, so placing one on a billboard that sits a quarter mile away from the road across a cow pasture might not even work.

Bottom line advice:  Don't use QR codes on billboards in most circumstances. At least not along roads. Keep your billboard message to the basics:  Attention, Interest and Branding. And do it safely. The goal is to gain customers, not to endanger people.

Business Ethics: Do Unto Others...

Let's talk about business ethics for a moment. One of the most frustrating things I have to deal with is lack of communication from business owners. It is my job to contact businesses, set appointments to evaluate their needs and discuss the best way to help them meet their lead generation goals for the near future. If only life were that simple.

For whatever reason, most of my time is spent on the very first step in that process: making contact. What should be the shortest, easiest part of my job is the longest, most drawn-out portion of my efforts. I call my client. Often, that means leaving a message. Then I wait for a return call. And I wait. And wait. Then I call again. And wait. And wait. And wait. I call yet again. Same routine. So I try going by the place of business. He or she isn't there. I have even had this happen:  I get there, the contact person is there, but they tell me that they prefer I call and schedule a time to meet with them. They don't want to set up the appointment while I am standing right there in front of them! For whatever reason I am supposed to follow a form of etiquette requiring a call to their office. This comes after the multiple attempts I made earlier, trying to do that very thing. So I call. Again. And again.

Eventually, we get to meet. We discuss plans. I try to formulate the best program based on the criteria available. But before we can implement the program, I have to wait. They want to think about it a while. Or they want to run it by some heretofore unmentioned "other" person (spouse, business partner, accountant, uncle's nephew's neighbor's kid who just started business school). OK, fine. I don't like to "high-pressure" someone, so I am willing to give things time. But we don't want to drag things out any more than necessary, so let's schedule our follow up call or meeting. OK. That's done.

I call for the follow up. I get voice mail. Leave a message. Again. And again. And again. Or I get to the meeting and find that they forgot about it. Or something came up and they couldn't be there. What? Did their cell phone go dead? They couldn't have called prior to the meeting to tell me? Oh, that's OK. I had to be out working today anyway. And what's a few gallons of gas wasted running around for no good reason? It isn't like it actually cost me anything, right?

I know some of my associates who shave their heads, and I suspect it is to prevent them from pulling their hair out from having to deal with this sort of thing. Remember the Golden Rule? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? It applies to your business dealings as well. Answer your phone messages. Answer them in a timely fashion. Set yourself some sort of guideline such as answering all calls by the third ring. Return calls within the hour, or at least within the day. Then hold to it. If you set an appointment, keep it. If you can't keep it, notify the person you were supposed to meet.

I have had people tell me horror stories of contractors who were supposed to show up on a job site but who never showed, and when questioned about it later, are surprised to find that the customer was not OK with their no-show, no-call. Since when is this OK?

Common courtesy should dictate that you realize that the other person's time is just as valuable as yours. I find it ironic that the business person who seems the least tolerant of someone else being late or not showing up for a meeting is often the person who is worst at doing the same. Don't let this be you.

Why am I bringing this up? Because, for whatever reason, this tendency seems to be reaching epidemic proportions. It is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Want to stand out? Be conscientious about these matters and you will. Sad to say, it is just that simple.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to make a phone call. And wait. And wait....

Knowledge is Power

What is your first reaction when you receive a solicitation regarding some form of advertising? Do you groan, "Oh no. Here comes another one" or  "I don't have time for this!" or "Whatever it is they are selling, I am not buying"?

Well, let me offer another way of responding. Think about it. I have met very few business people who know all there is to know about advertising. Very very very few. Yet I have met huge numbers of business people who act like they know it all. When an advertising representative approaches them, they immediately go on the defensive. Why? Because they know that eventually the rep is going to want some of their hard-earned money.Times are tough and money is tight, so why should you waste your time listening to some sales pitch for something that you don't feel you need?

OK, I will tell you why. No matter who you are, no matter how long you have done business, no matter what you have tried before, there is always something to be learned when it comes to advertising. The more seasoned the ad salesperson is, the more likely it is that you will actually learn something from them. That doesn't mean you will buy what they are offering, but you will have a better idea of what the ad medium is, how it works, how its results can be measured and how much it costs to invest in. You will also be able to more accurately determine what kind of results you should expect. (Beware of the sales person's tendency to overpromise. Ask for proofs to back up claims.)

So I recommend that you open yourself up. Allow yourself to be educated. See that advertising sales rep as a resource for you. You may not do business with them, but keep their card anyway. Begin developing a friendly relationship with them. Whom do you suppose will get the best discounts or offers from them - the business person who treats them poorly or the one who will at least hear them out and who appreciates their interest in potentially helping the business?

Remember that, for those who are doing the job the right way, their goal is the same as yours. They want you to make a profit from their services. It should never be about just having you buy something. It is about equipping yourself with the knowledge and resources to get the job done in the most effective way possible.

And by the way, we are all busy. The sales rep should understand that. They should be ready to ask for an appointment to meet with you when you can give them the undivided attention they need to intelligently talk to you about your business, your needs and how their product line can help meet those needs.

Since both you and they should be on the same page in wanting you to be more successful, why would you scorn them? Instead of making an enemy, make a friend. That is good advice all the way around.

Create Thirst

Ever wonder why you don't land more sales? You have customers come in or call, only to have them glide right on out of your place of business or end the phone call without making a purchase. And this after you gave them your BEST PRESENTATION EVER!  What is wrong with those people? Did they not really need what you were offering? Were they just window shopping? Or was it you? Did you only show them features instead of relating those features to benefits? (I may explain more about this in a future post). Did they just not like you? What went wrong?

The answer is often to be found in an old adage that I think needs to be extended to a more profitable conclusion. We have all heard it said, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink", right?
Well, it is true - as far as it goes. But let's solve the problem by completing the process. Let's solve the "can't make him drink" dilemma.

The end of the adage really should go a little farther. You can't make that horse drink... UNLESS - what?
Unless you make him thirsty! If you find that your "horse" isn't buying in to your sales proposition, it often means that you haven't made him thirsty enough. He doesn't want what you are offering because he doesn't really feel the need.

Spend some time learning what it is that your customer really wants. Why are they visiting your store? Why are they calling you? Why did they agree to meet with you? What were they expecting when they heard what you had to say? Did you find out what their needs were or did you just direct them to the part of the shop where that category of product was? Did you take the time to do the research to determine what their needs were or did you just shoot for a general fit that works for most people? Did you show them any needs they had that they weren't even aware of?

If you sell advertising, do you first find out who your customer wants to reach, how visible or invisible they are to those customers, and then propose a sensible plan to remedy their invisibility? If you sell office equipment, did you listen to all their complaints about their current equipment and then match them to the best solution, or were you just trying to unload a particular item because you had a surplus inventory to get rid of? If you are an auto mechanic, did you find out from your potential customer what some of their beefs are with auto repair shops? Do you try to avoid those problems? Do you take steps to make your service better than the run of the mill shop? What about your advertising message? Do your ads address a specific need and also fulfill that need? Do they include a "call to action" to prompt a response, or do they just contain a laundry list of "this is what I do"?

One of the much-neglected ways to close a sale is to make sure you have first made the customer thirsty enough to buy from you by showing them that they really really need - can't go on without - what you are able to provide. Run that horse around the track a few times, have him lick a salt block, have him go without water for a while, and believe me, he will drink.

So take that concept and find the way to fit it to your product or service. Then watch the sales climb.

The Power of Sight

To which of the five senses does your product or service appeal? If you are a restaurant owner, your main appeal is to the sense of taste, obviously, but the sense of sight is also influenced. You know how important it is to give food the proper presentation. A photographer's product appeals to the sense of sight. So do the services of a caterer, interior designer, landscaper, car salesman, swimming pool contractor, formal wear sales or rental business, fashion designer, etc.

In fact, most businesses sell products or services that in some way benefit from their appeal to the sense of sight. Even a dentist's work is often done to make a person's smile more attractive, or to encourage a better self image or to increase the patient's self confidence.

So why, oh why, don't more of you understand the importance of creating visual ads? I am speaking of ads placed in phone books, newspapers, flyers, on bulletin boards, etc. Far too often, when given the choice between placing a simple in-column ad containing nothing but verbiage, and placing an attractive color display ad, businesses opt for the cheaper ad. This is usually based on nothing more than the desire to save money.

But wait a minute. What sense does it make to neglect the opportunity to showcase your product in every possible way? Why, if you are a photographer for instance, would you think that it is more effective or more professional to place an ad with just words into a medium that gives you the opportunity to showcase your talent? Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Given the choice between doing business with a company running a "cheap" looking ad and a company that has an attractive full color ad, which do you think is going to draw more attention and, therefore, more business? This is common sense, people. Given the same appropriate information in both ads, human nature itself dictates that the ad with the greater visual appeal will work better.

When it comes to any print medium, always aim for the most professional visual presentation you can. Your ad is the first and possibly only opportunity you have to impress a potential customer with the quality of your business. You will want to catch the customer's eye, look professional, parade your color logo, influence people to take you seriously and eventually do business with you. Skimping on your image-building by skimping on your ads will not help.

Is Word-of-Mouth Enough?

I often hear small business people say "All my business is word-of-mouth". There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, every business has word-of-mouth advertising. If you don't, you won't have a business for long. I mean positive word-of-mouth, of course. Negative word-of-mouth is often easier to come by and works against your business. It is a natural human response to more readily share a bad experience than it is to share a good one. We expect things to go well, so we don't mention it when they do; it is when things go wrong and our expectations are not met that we tend to get vocal about it.

Positive word-of-mouth is more likely to happen the higher our experience goes above meeting our normal expectations. If you have a good meal at a restaurant, you may or may not tell someone else about it. But if the meal was especially tasty, with service that went above and beyond, and if the atmosphere was great and the price seemed very reasonable, you are far more likely to mention it and to give the place a rave review.

Let's get back to the positive word-of-mouth that we have for our business. As I said, every business starts with word-of-mouth advertising. Word-of-mouth is one of the best sources for getting new business, but it has some weaknesses. You need to be aware of these, because any business depending solely upon it is destined to grow too slowly.

Consider your market area. Is it just your immediate neighborhood, your whole city, your county? Is there a radius of X miles from which you want to pull customers? Regardless of the area, word-of-mouth is a small sliver of your potential market pie. The larger your target market area, the thinner the sliver is.

Also, just because someone mentions you or recommends you, there is no guarantee that the person referred will do business with you. You may be one of several word-of-mouth referrals and one of the other referrals may end up getting the job or the sale. The person receiving the referral may not act on the referral for any number of reasons. Maybe they weren't ready to make a purchase themselves. Maybe they found someone else who was cheaper, closer, had more experience, or was better looking. No matter what the reason, not every referral will end up doing business with you.

And what about all those other people in your market area who never hear the word-of-mouth about you, yet could and would do business with you if they only knew? Do you think everyone in the area already knows you? The larger the area you are focused on, the less likely it is that "everyone" knows you. Do you want to see whether "everyone" really knows you? Have someone call ten or twenty random people out of the phone book and just ask whether or not they have heard of you. You will be surprised just how limited your reputation is.

Often it is true that the longer you have been in business, the more likely it is that somewhere, sometime, someone has a less than stellar opinion of you. You can bend over backwards to rectify a bad situation, and there will be some people that just will not be appeased. This takes us back to the negative effects of word-of-mouth advertising.

I may return to this subject later, but I wanted to give you a little food for thought on this subject. Word-of-mouth is essential to building your business, but you need to go beyond this fundamental step if you want to really kick your business into high gear and get growing.

Here to Help You

Hi, and welcome to my blog. If you are a businessperson who is struggling with your advertising program or if you are just starting out, this blog will help you build a more efficient advertising machine.  I have been in advertising since 1999 and have helped hundreds - probably thousands - of businesses of all types. I can surely help you.

In fact, I have written a book, to be published at some time in the near future, that is packed with information, tips and guidelines to benefit small businesses. I wrote the book and developed this blog because I came to the realization that almost every business I have dealt with over the years seemed to have one thing in common: no matter how long they had been in business, no matter how large or small they were, no matter how successful they had been, no one had ever actually taught them how to advertise.

Businesses learn how to do just about everything else - developing their job skills, bookkeeping, human resources, even marketing (which is related to, but not the same as advertising) - but no one has taken the time to sit down and, in some organized fashion, explain how advertising should be done, how the parts fit together, and how to make it all work as efficiently as possible. Every dollar spent on advertising should bring some sort of a return. If you feel like your advertising dollars are going down a deep dark hole, leaving you with nothing to show for it, stay tuned for tips and insights to help you.