Basics First

It never ceases to amaze me how much we are all willing to pay in order to make that next sale or have the next "perfect" system. We'll do anything to make it better when, in principle, right in front of us, we are leaving money on the table because of poor service and follow up.

The greatest No Money Marketing tip I probably could ever give is this:

• Get the basics down first

Look at your business, whether that is 100 employees or just you, with a very critical eye and see if you are really maximizing all the interactions you are having. Are you leaving people feeling that you are remarkable?

Here are some questions to ask:

• Is answering the phone a priority and if it is, is it answered the same every time? Professionally? Purposefully?
• Do you have a sales system that is followed?
• Will you go over and above to help someone?
• What do people say about your business? Have you asked?
• What is your response time to questions?
• What is your follow up time like? Do you follow up 100% of the time? Why not?

Answer these questions properly and then acting on them will guarantee to increase your revenue and profit. Not a penny spent.

Stop looking outside for answers when you can look inside first and definitely find the answers.

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Never Mud Wrestle a Pig

There's a saying that goes..."Never Mud Wrestle a Pig...you both get dirty and the pig doesn't care"...
My dad said that to me one day at the office when we were being baited by a competitor to get into a mud slinging contest. I was enraged by the negative, downright untrue things that were being said about our company and wanted to take legal action to quiet them down.
Of course my emotions were getting the better of me at that moment, but once I listened to my father's voice of reason, I calmed down and became rational. He was right. We always took the high road when it came to our marketing message and operated under the belief that "they offer a good product, but here are the reasons why we are better." It was a tremendously successful route to take and we never had to be ashamed of our message.
You see, we are of the opinion that your marketing should always be positive in nature. It is far better to focus on all of the wonderful benefits you will provide for your customers rather than pointing out the flaws in your competition.
If you are being attacked by a competitor, check-in with your network, without mentioning your competition or what they are saying. Most likely, none will have been affected or impressed by the negativity and any who may be waffling will have the chance to raise their concerns.
In addition, take the time to reiterate your marketing message through newsletters, blogging, e-letters, press releases, etc...
Take the high road and leave the dirty low road to the pigs.
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Combat Boredom

If you are reading this, and are entrepreneurial in any sense of the word, there is a chance that you are fighting boredom with your core product or your current business in general. It's OK to admit it, boredom happens, especially to the entrepreneurs of the world.

There is also a very good chance that you have a number of other products and ventures that you're looking at or involved in. That's fantastic, it's what gets you jazzed, keeps you energized and sharp...the key is to stay passionate about your core product. Passion is the foundation of fantastic marketing.

A great way to find the spark again is to tell your story...the story of how it all began. Create a blog and put it out there. You will be surprised at how rewarding it will feel to reflect on all that you have been through, and the risks you took to establish yourself. Not only will you feel amazing, but others around you will be inspired.

When you do tell your story, please send it our way...we'd love to learn about you!

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Process and Purpose

Websites and blogs get added to the web-o-sphere at such an alarming rate that the world wide web is becoming harder, and not easier like it professes, to find what you want. Thankfully companies like Google exist to make our jobs easier. Yet no matter what they do to continue making finding a needle in a haystack easier their chosen field is extremely challenging.

Google desperately wants you to find what you want and they work increasingly harder to refine your search so that you are successful. Search words, intuitive search boxes that try to think for you, tool bars within your web browser and email accounts that gather information from you to help make their searches better and better.

Results
Results make you go back to Google. Without each and every one of us getting what WE want Google is next to useless. We need to see a result. That is why Google exists and why it continues to thrive.

They remain focused on what they want YOU to achieve. Does your business know what your customer wants?

What Is the Purpose?
Google is the perfect web example of having a singular purpose. They want YOU to find a result. to get you there they use a simple process that is people friendly. Their website doesn't flash and tell stories. It doesn't have pictures [although you can get them if you want], there aren't options cluttering up the page [although they have a few different sections you can choose from in the top corner], and they have kept the same look and feel since the day they started. In our minds Google is the wonder search engine that helps us research and find the answer. In reality Google is just a box within a white screen.

Confusion Is A Result You Don't Want
The rest of us look to make our website flashier, more interactive, give our customers more choices and they respond by leaving our websites faster because they are confused. Google has the most choices in the world but they help our simple minds through a process so we find out what we want...exactly. Do your customers find their exact answers within your business portals [brick & mortar or web based]?

Is It Easy To Walk Down the Aisle With Your Company?
The two things you can work on within your business are deciding what the purpose of your business is, or what your customer should be accomplishing, and then the process that best allows them to accomplish this. Read that line again. Allows them should stand out...the purpose and process are about them.

Purpose lets you simplify your overall objectives and process allows you to decide if your customers are succeeding or not. If they can't follow along then they leave and you can see where that is happening.

Find out what your purpose is and then work out the exact sales or delivery process so your customer is thrilled to come back again and again.

Copy the Giant
Be like Google. Deliver what you say you will and then relentlessly try to make it easier and easier.

Together Everyone Achieves More

There's one in every group...the person who, when everybody else agrees, says "But what if...?", or "We need to know more before..."

Frustrating right?... VERY.
The dynamics of a team often are, but the fact is the careful, cautious types are an important component. So are the go getters, and innovators. Ideally, each drives the next to perform at their best.

The trouble begins when the team is unbalanced.... too careful, or too carefree.

We often see companies lose their spark because there is too much red tape to wade through in order to get things done (careful, careful).
We also see companies lose their identity because there isn't enough focus on the original product (boring), and too much focus on finding new ones (exciting).

As a business leader, your job is to put together the best team. You must create a balance of individuals that compliment each other in moving your business forward. You need the entrepreneur, the cautious one, the diplomat, the practical, and the well rounded. Together Everyone Achieves More.

What's In The Box

When I was little my mother used to take us over to our Nana's house at least once a week. I was about six years old and right at the stage of development where I was easily bought. My Nana, like all grandparents, new this all too well and she always had a treat for me.

We would trundle over to here apartment and I would walk in the door ready for the routine of hugs, kisses and questioning, but my eyes would be scouring the room for what I was going to get. I was six and mercenary at best. Cookies, licorice, a hot wheels car, you just never new what it was going to be. But rest assured it would be great and I was always on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Then one day the bar was raised.

Cracker Jack's came into the picture. Not just any old box of Cracker Jacks. We were talking about a box of unbelievable popcorn covered in hardened caramel, with caramel covered peanuts and...

...the threat of a FREE TOY inside!

Treats and toys combined in wonderful unison. I was in heaven. The prize inside turned out to be a porcelain animal and you could collect all twelve. Not only were these little animals cool, there was a squirrel, an elephant, a skunk, a monkey and another eight beauties. I wanted them all. In fact I would go so far as to eat as much Cracker Jack mix as humanly possible just to get my hands on one of those incredible creatures. I would do anything for that company because they did so much for me.

Have you ever just sat down and eaten three boxes of Cracker Jack's so you could see if the prize inside was one you needed for your collection? Have you ever bought a box of cereal to get the prize, or maybe a car to get the Big Gulp cup holder?

For me, every time I see one of those miniature porcelain critters I think of my Nana and how much she loved me.

Now, this story isn't about me it is about how you can get the kind of brand loyalty Cracker Jack's received from me. The type of loyalty that is emotional and forever. The kind we all look for where people will tell a story about you. Being remarkable is simply developing your product or service to the point where someone is "able" to make positive "remarks" about you.

You are then, literally, remark-able.

What's your free prize inside?

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Remarkable Reminder

After my last post, I thought more about the importance of recognizing what makes you remarkable and thought it might be useful to set up an exercise to help to remind you of those invaluable qualities behind you and your business.

So, set yourself up to get in touch with your Remarkable and answer the following questions...

1. What do our customers appreciate about us?
2. What do our suppliers appreciate about us?
3. What do our competitors fear the most from us?
4. What do we do better than anybody else?
5. What makes our product(s) exceptional?

You may have conducted a similar exercise to identify your strengths in a SWOT Analysis. If you have, then take the opportunity to check-in to ensure that you are still strong where you need to be, and to identify any new strengths. We also recommend that you have your employees complete the exercise as above. Give modified versions, to a few willing customers and suppliers. Obviously you won't be able to have your competition complete the exercise, but maybe your customers or suppliers will provide some respectable competitive intelligence.

Once you compile the results, the common themes will stand out, some may even surprise you, and all will give you a clear idea of those things about your business that make you remarkable. Summarize those qualities and share the document with your employees. Then concentrate your marketing efforts on spreading the word.

Let us know if you'd like our help in marketing YOUR remarkable.

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What makes you remarkable?

I was recently sitting with a client and we were starting the process of creating a marketing plan for her. The first thing I asked her was "What makes you remarkable?"

At first, she seemed uncomfortable with the question, as people often are, but soon we were rattling off a series of qualities and traits that she embodied, and that helped her stand apart from her competition. That is the key...separating yourself from your competitors.

The separation lies within the remarkable.

When I look back to my years in our family business, I'm proud of how strong our brand was and still is even after the company is no longer owned by our family. So what made us remarkable? Well, we had a fantastic product, but there were plenty of good products out there...it's a given that you must have a good product these days...

Our remarkable came from the intangibles that supported the product...

• A Strong Leader - My father earned the trust and respect of employees, customers, suppliers and even competitors. He earned the reputation of being an honest, empathetic, loyal ally, and a straightforward, "what you see is what you get" competitor.
  
• Our Family - My brother, sister and I all worked in the business beside my father, and our family earned the respect of the industry through our collective pride, honesty and hard work, as well as our closeness with each other.
  
• Our Employees - We had extremely low employee turnover and an incredible number of people with us for more than ten years. Their devotion was well-known and appreciated throughout the industry.
• Our Warranty - We dared to offer a warranty that far exceeded our competitors, and we honored that warranty whenever required (not often, but we were there). Again, we stood behind our quality products and were not afraid to "put it out there" with an excellent warranty.
• Our Relationships - We knew the extreme importance of developing strong relationships with customers and worked hard to develop and nourish those relationships. Another key was our relationships with industry allies. We joined forces with complimentary businesses with similar remarkable qualities and co-marketed to grow our businesses together to the benefit of the customer.
  

The point is, when you ask yourself "What makes you (your business) remarkable?", look way beyond the product. Your brand, and growth depend on the answers.

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I Now Squidoo...

I did it... and it was EASY!!

I'm happy to say that my new No Money Marketing Squidoo Lens is published. I am the first to admit that, right now, it is a pretty basic lens - a Work in Progress - if you will.

I decided I would do a Top Ten List of ways to No Money Market. I also linked to this blog. That's pretty much it for content, but, as I say, it is a work in progress.

There is a ranking system within Squidoo that controls where your lens falls within its category. Willie has done a great job with his lenses, and getting them ranked higher.

This is my new mission with my lens. Let's see how highly I can get it ranked. I'll report back on what I learn next Sunday.
In the mean time, check out my lens... rip it apart, and let me know what you think.
Your feedback is always appreciated.

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