Digital media: danger zone for small business marketers

It’s a small business marketers’ dream world. Digital media gives us immediate access to customers and prospects. We can e-mail, podcast, Facebook and RSS them. Now we can Twitter and Plurk them.

But from a marketing standpoint, there’s a dark side. Just because the technology is available (and fun and cool), doesn’t mean it is right for your company. Far too many businesses are using digital media tools without thinking through the strategy behind them. Equally alarming, many businesses overlook or ignore the basics in favor of adding more digital media capabilities. Three clients we met with recently have Web sites that are woefully out of date. They have no organized way of reviewing and updating, and even worse, no one in house or outsourced who is set up to quickly and efficiently make updates.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t use new media, just that you need to use it with the same thought and carefully analysis you would use with any other marketing tools. Read the whole article.

7 Rules for Best Managing the Production Process

Your sales team is screaming for the brochure that you promised in time for their sales blitz. The copy revisions you sent four departments for approval were due back a week ago and no one has responded. The annual report you need for a major board of directors meeting is late coming in from the printer. Your e-newsletter was due out four days ago and you don’t have an idea for a topic yet.

Whether you’re a small business or a non-profit marketer, trying to get materials created, produced and printed on time and with the requisite approvals can be enough to make you hide under your desk.  But before you surrender to the chaos that often surrounds production, here are our top seven rules for bringing some order to your world.

1. It has to be right
2. Plan backwards
3. Be careful what you promise
4. Manage the input, or it will manage you
5. Automate
6. Build in some margin
7. Know thy vendors

Want to learn more? Check out the Fixyourmarketing.com enewsletter for the whole scoop.

Add Web Strategy to Your Strategic Planning To Do List

I know you have a website. But do you have an integrated web strategy? Does your website not only look good but make your phone ring? How do your other marketing efforts mesh with your online presence?

When clients ask us where to find the best answers regarding web solutions we send them to our friends at Flyte New Media. Rich Brooks and his team don't build websites, they build customized web strategies.

Whether you need answers on how to drive traffic to a site, want to build an ecommerce solution or enter the blogging game, Rich has the expertise to create a customized solution for you. 

So do some e-marketing homework. Sign up for Flyte's free e-newsletter, download Rich's articles or listen to a Podcast and when you need a partner for your next e-project, you will know who to call.

Mid Year Marketing Check: Are You Making Good Grades?

If you had to grade your marketing for the first half of 2007, how would you do? "A" for effort, but short on results? "C-" for being stuck in a rut, doing the same things but not reaching the goals you set?

This mid-year point is a great time to take a hard, close look at what you're doing: what's working and what's not. It's a time to be brutally honest in your assessments and fearless in looking at new and better ways to create the marketing organization you want. Read our July e-newsletter to find the right questions to ask in order to answer whether you are right on course, or need to change your direction.

New Takes on Networking: Get Out There!

Does the thought of networking make you shudder, with visions of randomly handing out business cards to people or sitting through "official" networking events with dozens of other people trying to meet people?

Hold on. While networking is an old concept, you may need to update your thinking about what it really means. Like every marketing strategy for small business and nonprofit marketers, your networking should be strategic. There's real value in building a network of contacts and resources who can help you with everything from business and operations challenges to finance, housing, medical care and more. And beyond the obvious benefits of having a contact you can call on, there's a serendipity about networking. Who knows who you might meet - and who they might know.

Here are a couple of good sources for strategic networking tips that cover everything from using email to targeting your networking to the worst networking mistakes. You've probably heard of Scott Ginsberg, who always wears a name tag. He's built his networking into an art - and a business. Check out his "51 Thoughts on Networking." And entrepreneur.com has a series of easy reading articles that include networking for introverts, networking etiquette and more.

So before you move networking to the bottom of your to-do list again, re-think it. Building a bigger network just might be easier - and more productive - than you think.

Don't Drive Your Graphic Designer Crazy!

Are you driving your graphic designer crazy? Could be if you are asking him or her to make endless changes, especially after your brochure, letterhead or whatever has gone to press. But, don't worry you are not alone and there is help. Here are our tips:

1. Goals: Know what you want before you begin. What do you need to achieve? Before beginning any project, outline the purpose for it first. You should know why you are working on it in the first place -- especially before spending serious money and time to have that brochure, website or annual report designed and printed.

2. Due date: When do you need it? When is your drop dead date? Start from the date you need to have it in hand and work backwards. Leave plenty of time for edits and at least 10 working days for the printing process.

3. Audience: There is no such thing as the general public. Know exactly will be reading your website, brochure, etc. and write for them.

4. Budget: How much can you spend? Have a firm number before you even start the project. This should come from your expected ROI.

5. Approvals: Who needs to sign off? Just you? Or a committee? The more people you involve the more opinions you need to be prepared to deal with. Involve as few people as possible and make sure that an objective set of eyes read and edit every word.

How is Your Small Business or Nonprofit Packaged? Is What's Inside Really All that Matters?

MarketingPower.com has me thinking that sometimes you really can and should judge a book by it's cover. Good packaging stands out. Consider Tiffany & Co, Apple's iPod, Starbuck's, Coca Cola, Chanel and Toblerone. Their 'outsides' have become as important as what's inside.

But what does this have to do with  you? You run a nonprofit organization or you're a small business owner and entrepreneur. Certainly far from the ranks of Tiffany and Apple. Think again. Every time you communicate with your clients or donors -- whether it's via an email, a direct mail piece, a newsletter, a brochure, a website, a product, a business card, a portfolio, etc. -- you should stand out from the pack.

Good packaging is about good design and the packages that we remember are synonymous with those brands. Iconic brands pay big bucks for those packages, logos, etc and then they also stick with them. Stores, signage, websites and everything else that comes in contact with the customer are consistent. You'll never find a Toblerone in a square box -- it's always that triangular deal. Starbuck's -- always the green straw and it doesn't matter if you're in Baton Rouge or Beverly Hills the stores look identical. Everything they do and say and sell and promote and write reinforces the brand. Everything.

We see so many clients investing valuable dollars in advertising, websites, and more -- and everything they do looks different. No matter what your budget, this is wasteful.

So how do you take a cue from the big brands? Gather your materials together and do a marketing audit. Really look at your stuff. (Even better idea -- get an objective opinion) and ask just a couple of questions --

• What do your materials say about you? Are they reinforcing your brand or working against it?
• Are your materials consistent? Or does every brochure, website, letter, etc. look and sound as if from another organization or company?
• What could you do today to make it look better? More unified, more impactful?

If your brand isn't what it should be, perhaps it's time for a materials makeover!

Second Life: Marketing in a Whole Other Universe

Second Life has been on the virtual scene since Fall of 2003. But now it seems to have entered our e-reality!

While I'd like to dismiss it as just another "on line video game" unworthy of discussion, on May 1st Second Life reached 6 million members. That's far too many people to ignore. Giant brands like Nike, IBM, and Reuters have jumped in and small business marketers are there as well.

The tough part comes in trying to decide if you can find any profit-making opportunities in this alternate universe.

Those that have already jumped into Second Life are utilizing this space by:
1) Selling virtual products and services
2) Marketing their real-world products and services

Since I'm not a techie, I can't tell you how to develop virtual products you can sell to virtual people. I do want to help you decide whether or not your company needs to have a Second Life presence. Here are a few articles to get you stewing on it:

Eric Kintz, Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy & Excellence for HP, wrote a great blog last month discussing his skepticism behind marketing to "avatars", the characters you create on Second Life.

This article in Business Week last October talked about the media's presence in the alt-world.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has even jumped on the bandwagon. This interview with their Second Life go-to guy discusses the process that went into the developing of their presence.

If you're a Harvard Business Review subscriber, check out their archives for a story titles "Avatar-Based Marketing." The author, Paul Hemp, is now looked to as an expert on the subject.

So how do you decide whether to take the plunge?
As a small business marketer, with local brand recognition, you may not want  to invest a ton of time marketing in the alt-world, but should consider offering products for sale to the "avatars." This could generate a small additional cash flow, but can also increase opportunities for recognition upon real-world expansion.

Read the articles. Get familiar with the subject. Then make sure you keep it open as an option. In 6 months user numbers went from 1 million to 6 million. It's up to you to decide your breaking point for when it will become a necessity.

Check Out this List of Brands already established in Second Life:

Adidas	Major League Baseball
Aloft Hotel Suites	Make Magazine
American Apparel	NOAA
Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)	Reebok
BBC Radio 1	Reuters
Channel 10 (Microsoft)	Scion
Dell	Sun Microsystems
Duran Duran	Text 100
Global Kids IBM

Market Your Reputation: Your Credibility Will Go Straight to Your Bottom Line

Did you hear about the former MIT Dean of Admissions? She has worked at MIT for 28 years before being caught for lying regarding her qualifications! How ironic and how incredibly sad!

Whether you are working with donors or customers, whatever your business, be honest! Your reputation depends on it. You know that feeling when you see that great, big sign in the window of your favorite store that reads "50 % OFF SALE!" and you walk in the store and find just one rack of outdated items at that price.You feel cheated. Make sure you are not promising more that you can deliver.

Our job is to get your customer in the door or the client on the phone. That doesn't mean we should stop at nothing in order to do so. Your business will do better over the long haul if you are credible in your product or service claims. In fact, your reputation is the best advertisement you could possibly have.

We just came back from the WOMMA conference. Stay tuned for the May eNewsletter! We'll share tips in re: word-of-mouth marketing that will keep your customers buzzing.

In Marketing and Life, Think Strategy Before You Jump!

Several weeks ago we posed the question, when is it OK for small business marketers or nonprofit organization NOT to blog? I was delighted to see Elizabeth Holmes' article in today's Enterprise section of the Wall Street Journal tackling this issue too.

Remember when your mother asked you "would you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if all the other kids were doing it?" Well no. And you shouldn't jump into blogging or on line marketing just because everyone else is doing it either. Bottom line, it's only appropriate to blog, or have a website, or advertise or engage in any one particular kind of communication strategy when it fits your STRATEGY!

We see so many entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations working hard on all fronts, including their marketing. But often what gets overlooked is strategic marketing planning. Taking the time to think about what communications strategies will best connect YOUR products and services with YOUR target audiences will undoubtedly give you better results than investing precious dollars on promotional strategies that don't make any sense.

So, do you need a website? Maybe. Do you need a blog? Maybe. Do you need to advertise? Maybe. Do you need a strategic marketing plan? YES -- ALWAYS!

If you need help with your strategic marketing planning, log on to our website for lots of free tools or contact us!