The Art of the Impeccable

By Admin December 8th, 2011, under Internet Marketing
 

The lost art of service can be found tucked away in a beautifully appointed barbershop in Ralph Lauren’s offices on Madison Avenue. The fact that its polished decor recalls a luxury ocean liner just serves to magnify its old-world charm. Appointments are by referral only, and clients come from far and wide—often for life.

Undeniably charming, Clemente attributes much of his graciousness to his grandfather, who once said to his young grandson, “Clemente, how much does it cost you to say good morning?” Now a grandfather of six and father of three, Clemente’s chivalry—along with his unique expertise—seems to be what keeps his shop humming.

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Yelp: The Positive Side of Negative Reviews

By Admin November 29th, 2011, under Social Media Marketing

Is there something to gain from negative feedback? According to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and a group of business owners from across the country, the answer is yes.

Approximately 80% of the reviews on Yelp are positive, but even the best businesses can get hit with negative reviews. The reason is simple: It’s impossible to please everyone 100% of the time. Hear how these business owners use negative reviews to improve their business and get even more customers.

 

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John Cleese on Creativity

By Admin October 21st, 2011, under Creative

 

“To know how good you are at something requires the same skills as it does to be good at those things. Which means if you’re absolutely hopeless at something, you lack exactly the skills to know that you’re absolutely hopeless at it. This is a profound discovery. that most people who have absolutely no idea what they’re doing, have absolutely no idea that they have no idea of what they’re doing. It explains a great deal of life.”

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Blogging for Business

By Admin October 14th, 2011, under Blogging for Business, Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing

In a recent study, HubSpot.com found that Blogs are still great marketing investments. Every post you publish is a long-term asset and is helping build brand and awareness. Blogs and social media really do generate clients.  The more often you blog, the more likely you are to acquire clients. (There is a big drop-off in client acquisition if blog monthly or less often).

Other forms of social media are also important in client acquisition.  For professional services firms – LinkedIn was shown to be the most effective channel, followed by blogging, followed byFacebook and Twitter.  Law firms seeking consumer clients had success with Facebook used in conjunction with their firm’s blog.

According to their survey, if you’re not blogging, you’re in the minority: 65% of businesses have a blog. 27% of respondents said the company blog was “critical” to business – the highest percentage ever. To a lesser degree, Linkedin, YouTube and Facebook and twitter were found “critical.”

 

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Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

By Admin October 8th, 2011, under Creative
Steve Jobs – Stanford University 2005

Todd Essig, in a recent article in Forbes noted that Steve Jobs, in his now iconic 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University memorably closed his speech by advising graduates to follow the advice Stewart Brand offered when Brand finished the final edition of The Whole Earth Catalog: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

If you haven’t seen the speech or read the transcript, you should:
 

 

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Awesome Invention Number 30245

By Admin August 25th, 2011, under Social Media Marketing, Syracuse

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More Small Business Owners Investing in their Business in 2011

By Admin March 17th, 2011, under Syracuse

Nearly half (47%) of small business owners prefer to invest in their business now to get an advantage over competitors, an 11 percent increase from 2010, according to a new survey released from Brother International.

Last year’s survey revealed that the majority preferred stockpiling cash reserves as a means to help them survive the economic downturn.

“Our survey is one way we keep a finger on the pulse of our key market segment, America’s small business owners, and it provides us with true insight into their needs and struggles,” said John Wandishin, vice president of marketing, Brother International.  

Time management was the most common theme throughout the survey results.  “When running a small business, time is the ultimate commodity,” said Wandishin.

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Ariss Bros. Propane: “The gas stinks. The service don’t”

By Admin December 23rd, 2010, under Advertising Design, Creative

Ariss Brothers Propane is a small, established family owned business that was forced to re-locate across town, leaving behind a well-established clientele. They needed to introduce themselves to the new neighborhood with a new and improved corporate identity and a print campaign. They wanted to emphasize what they believed to be their difference; friendly service, small town values and unpretentious charm. The tagline: “The gas stinks. The service don’t” gives the Ariss Brothers an approachable friendly personality and it translates well in all of the mediums (newspaper, posters, direct mail, on-tank stickers).

They used the actual Proprietors (the Ariss Brothers) in the ads to add to the authenticity and charm. In addition, rather than hire an agency to mail the postcards/coupons, they had the Ariss Brothers hand deliver them in the surrounding neighbourhoods, to further add to the personal touch and “hands on” approach. Over 75% of the coupons that were handed out door to door were redeemed, bringing in new customers who were as eager to get their discount as they were to meet the Proprietors. After the first newspaper insertion the phones were “ringing off the hooks” and people were asking for posters.

The Ariss brothers have become minor local celebrities and are amazed at how many complete strangers recognize their stomachs from the ads. They have hired two new staff members to help with the new volume. They are both on diets now.

 

The Ariss Bros. T-Shirt Slogans:

In an effort to improve customer satisfaction… We now wear shirts.
Vegetarians welcome. We’ve never seen one up close before.
We’ve got the Extra Something. And it’s not Chins.
We’re Fast. It ain’t pretty, but we’re Fast.

Agency: Leo Burnett, Canada.

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Facebook Ads: Missing the Mark

By Admin December 13th, 2010, under Facebook PPC Ads, Pay Per Click (PPC)

Theoretically, there should be a great deal of potential in Facebook advertising. The idea, of course, is that ads are highly targeted based on the information in your user profile: the more info you add about the kinds of things they like, the better idea Facebook has about what they are actually interested in, and can serve ads accordingly.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in real life. While I see a lot of ads for things that I like, I am also left scratching my head on other ads, wondering “why on earth did they serve that ad to me?”

So what it boils down to is just how good at targeting is Facebook? Robert Brady at Righteous Marketing talked about the same problem in a recent blog post:

Two ads from the same site at the same time. Give me a break.

“I’m a 28 year-old guy who is single. I’ve set my relationship status to single. Therefore, I see ads for dating sites, dating sites, and more dating sites. Based on my ads there must be at least a bazillion different dating sites that feel I am exactly who they want on their site.The only problem: I don’t use dating sites. So I give Facebook my feedback and hope for some different ads. Something I might be interested in.

Every time I see that little message and have a little hope that my ads will improve. Do they? No. Facebook may get a lot of heat for their privacy settings and policies, but I would really like a little honesty. If you tell me that my feedback will improve the ads, please improve my ads.”

From the advertisers point of view, the situation appears to be equally dismal.  A longtime friend and client recently took part in a national test (on her vendor’s dime), and reported that she didn’t see any trackable sales inquiries during the weeklong test.  She even used CallCap and a special landing page to track inbound inquiries. 

Moreover, she and her brother both set their profile interests in such a way as to see the ads their vendor was actually running on their behalf.  They were nowhere in sight.So what’s your experience? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Do Not Hire Your Kid to Do Social Media Marketing

By Admin December 4th, 2010, under Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing

Great article over at Tire Review com by Christine Taylor.  In her article, she makes the extraordinarily valuable business point: 

“There seems to be a common misconception that because “new media” involves technology, college-age people are automatically qualified to manage it.” 

 She goes on to say, “Don’t make this mistake! At the very least, it could cost you wasted time and resources. Potentially, it could wreck your company’s hard-earned reputation. Would you let a PR person right out of school handle crisis communications for your company?”

Further down in the article, she goes on to say that when you appoint a recent college grad to manage your company’s social media, you’re handing the megaphone to someone with no real work experience or a sense of corporate responsibility, and letting them speak to the entire online community (and beyond) in real-time.

Take a look at some of Jeremiah Owyang’s list of Social Media Failures. Scary. In reality, the cynicism and skepticism that often comes with age is a valuable business defense system that can protect your company from foreseeable missteps.

Read Christine’s entire article, here: http://bit.ly/hMGmrG.

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