by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Marketing, Opportunity, Planning
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 51 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The best definition of marketing you’ll ever find
— From REWORK: Change the way you work forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
I love marketing, and this is the best definition of marketing I’ve found so far. It’s just one word:
EVERYTHING.
Whaaaat?!
Yes: marketing is everything.
Most people tend to think that Marketing is a Department or a few, specific activities within a company. It’s not. At least that is not the definition of marketing that Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, abide by in their book Rework.
The authors say the following about Marketing:
“Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365.
Just as you cannot not communicate, you cannot not market:
- Every time you answer the phone, it’s marketing.
- Every time you send an email, it’s marketing.
- Every time someone uses your product, it’s marketing.
- Every word you write on your website is marketing.
- If you build software, every error message is marketing.
- If you’re in the restaurant business, the after-dinner mint is marketing.
- If you’re in the retail business, the checkout counter is marketing.
- If you’re in a service business, your invoice is marketing.
Recognize that all of these little things are more important than choosing which piece of swag to throw into a conference goodie bag. Marketing isn’t just a few individual events. It’s the sum total of everything you do.”
Very few people and companies recognize and embrace that marketing is everything that you and company do: from beginning to end of the buyer’s journey.
Isn’t this the best definition of marketing you’ve encountered too? Let me know in the comments here.
ACTION
TODAY: Embrace this new definition of marketing and the fact that marketing is indeed everything: as part of your company you and your employees or colleagues represent it all the time. What is the image of your company that you, your colleagues, and all your actions give to the world? Is this image in alignment with what you want and should portray according to the company’s mission, vision, and values?
FUTURE: Make it a habit of conducting a periodic marketing “audit” where you look at the touch points for the customer/client. Determine what the best way to represent your company would be for each particular point to be in alignment with your mission, vision, and values.
Help someone see how everything is marketing by sharing this post via email, Facebook or Twitter!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Marketing, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 37 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Little things make all the difference-Part 2
— From Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, by Derek Sivers.
Yesterday we learned from Derek Sivers some of the things he implemented to make his customers smile during his days as CEO and Founder of CD Baby, an online store for indie musicians.
The key is to be thoughtful—it’s the little things that make all the difference—and provide the best service you can in a consistent way.
Let’s continue to learn directly (verbatim) from Sivers the stories of some of the awesome things that he did to turn his customers into raving fans:
Sometimes, after we had done the forty-five minutes of work to add a new album to the store, the musician would change his mind and ask us to do it over again with a different album cover or different audio clips. I wanted to say yes but let him know that this was really hard to do, so I made a policy that made us both smile: “We’ll do anything for a pizza.” If you needed a big, special favor, we’d give you the number of our local pizza delivery place. If you bought us a pizza, we’d do any favor you wanted. When we’d tell people about this on the phone, they’d often laugh, not believing that we were serious. But we’d get a pizza every few weeks. I’d often hear from musicians later that this was the moment they fell in love with us.
At the end of each order, the last page of the website would ask, “Where did you hear of this artist? We’ll pass them any message you write here.” Customers would often take the time to write things like, “Heard your song on WBEZ radio last night.” “Searched Yahoo!” “Found it here.” “I’d love to have you play at our school!” The musicians absolutely loved getting this information, and it always led to the customer and musician getting in touch directly. This is something that big stores like Amazon would never do.
Also, at the end of each order, there was a box that would ask, “Any special requests?” One time, someone said, “I’d love some cinnamon gum.” Since one of the guys in the warehouse was going to the store anyway, he picked up some cinnamon gum and included it in the package. One time someone said, “If you could include a small, rubber squid, I would appreciate it. If this is unobtainable, a real squid would do.” Just by chance, a customer from Korea had sent us a packaged filet of squid. So the shipping guys included it in the box with the other customer’s CDs. See the customer tell this story himself in this great video.
It’s no wonder that CD Baby created a legion of fans around them. Sivers and his team were thoughtful, creative, imaginative and always focused on the customer, to the point of going the extra mile to send cinnamon gum and even squid! And “the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to [the] package, on its way to [the customer]…” ←This is another post about Sivers you don’t want to miss. He’s all about making the customers happy.
As you can see, it doesn’t take too much money or too much time, and a little playfulness and creativity will take you a long way. Sivers says, “Even if you want to be big someday, remember that you don’t need to act like a big boring company. Over ten years, it seemed like every time someone raved about how much he loved CD Baby, it was because of one of these little fun human touches.”
What little things can you do to make your customers happy? Who has made you happy and how? Let me know in the comments here.
ACTION
TODAY: Review your customer’s journey and focus on the many touch points that exist. How can you improve upon those points to make your customer happy[ier]?
FUTURE: As your customers become happier and happier, capture those moments as testimonials in writing or video. This will help prospects make a decision to go with you/your company for its outstanding service, and that way you can perpetuate a virtuous cycle.
Know someone who is always making the customers smile? Please share this post with them! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Marketing, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 42 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Little things make all the difference-Part 1
— From Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, by Derek Sivers.
“If you find even the smallest way to make people smile, they’ll remember you more for that smile than for all your other fancy business-model stuff,” says Derek Sivers, entrepreneur and author of Anything You Want.
Sivers was the founder of CD Baby, a very successful online website for indie musicians to sell their music (he sold it later for millions). As a pioneer in this field, he learned many lessons, and one of them was the importance of little details to make people smile.
He shares some of the things that made a huge difference on the CD Baby website. I’m adding them verbatim below, since I think Sivers writing conveys the stories very well. Enjoy!
Because we shipped FedEx at 5 p.m. each day, customers would often call and ask, “What time is it there? Do I still have time to get it sent today?” So I added two little lines of programming code that counted how many hours and minutes remained until 5 p.m. and then showed the result by the shipping options. “You have 5 hours, 18 minutes until our next FedEx shipment.” Customers loved this!
We answered our phone within two rings, always—7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Phones were everywhere, so even if the customer service rep was busy, someone in the warehouse could pick up. All anyone had to do was say, “CD Baby!” Customers loved this! Someone actually picking up the phone at a company is so rare that musicians would often tell me later at conferences that it was the main reason they decided to go with CD Baby—they could always talk to a real person immediately. All employees knew that as long as we weren’t completely swamped, they should take a minute and get to know the caller a bit. Ask about her music. Ask how it’s going. Yes, it would lead to twenty-minute conversations sometimes, but those people became lifelong fans.
Every outgoing email has a “From:” name, right? Why not use that to make people smile, too? With one line of code, I made it so that every outgoing email customized the “From:” field to be “CD Baby loves [first name].” So if the customer’s name was Susan, every e-mail she got from us would say it was from “CD Baby loves Susan.” Customers loved this!
Please come back tomorrow for Part 2 because the things that CD Baby did to make people smile get even better! As you can see, thoughtful details can turn clients into raving fans. What details can you modify or implement to make your customers smile?
😀
ACTION
TODAY: Think about the positive feedback you get from your customers (customer is broadly defined here). Can you replicate that to make everyone smile? What can you do to always implement those thoughtful details that made the customer smile in the first place?
FUTURE: Make a habit of examining the feedback you get to always be improving your attention to detail. Having customers turn into lifelong, raving fans is a wonderful achievement.
Know someone who is always making the customers smile? Please share this post with them! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Leadership, Marketing, Mindset, Opportunity, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 18 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Emulate chefs
— From REWORK: Change the way you work forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
What do the names Emeril Lagasse, Julia Child, Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Rick Bayless, Giada De Laurentiis, and Ferran Adriá have in common? They are all famous chefs. Yet, with the enormous amount of restaurants that exist today, why do we know these names better than others? What makes these chefs so special?
While they are indeed gifted, that is not the reason why they are famous. They have achieved fame and success “because they share everything they know. They put their recipes on cookbooks and show their techniques on cooking shows.”
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, authors of Rework, invite us to share everything we know too. “This is anathema to most in the business world. Businesses are usually paranoid and secretive. They think they have proprietary this and competitive advantage that. Maybe a rare few do, but most don’t. And those that don’t should stop acting like those that do. Don’t be afraid of sharing.”
If chefs make a living from their recipes and their cooking, why would any of them create a cookbook with the recipes? Why would they go on TV and show you, step-by-step, how to cook those recipes to perfection? Then anybody could replicate them!
But that’s not how it works, say the authors. The chefs know that the recipes, techniques, and tricks are not enough to beat them at their game. “No one’s going to buy [the] cookbook, open a restaurant next door, and put [the chef] out of business. It just doesn’t work like that. Yet this is what many in the business world think will happen if their competitors learn how they do things.”
Fried and Hanson’s advice? “Get over it.”
And they go on to say, “Emulate famous chefs. They cook, so they write cookbooks. What do you do? What are your “recipes”? What’s your “cookbook”? What can you tell the world about how you operate that is informative, educational and promotional?”
Virtual-knowledge empires are being built online with people and companies sharing what they know. What do you know that you could teach? The world needs you.
ACTION
TODAY: Think about your business. What do you do? You obviously know how to do that very well. How about teaching it to those who are interested? Emulate chefs!
FUTURE: Share your gift of knowledge with those around you. Even if you don’t go outside your company, you can share the know-how with new hires, for example. Or you can set up an internal program for professional growth and development and share your experience and expertise. The more you share, the better you’ll feel and the more of an impact you’ll have on those that surround you.
Know someone who needs to emulate chefs and write a “cookbook”? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Marketing, Planning, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 27 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 9 points to consider when creating and telling a great marketing story
— From All Marketers are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works-and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All by Seth Godin
Seth Godin, marketing guru, talks about telling stories in his book All Marketers Are Liars Tell Stories. His premise is that “successful marketers are just the providers of stories that consumers choose to believe.” And he calls a story that a consumer believes a lie. Why? Because we tell ourselves stories about the things we want and we believe them. Otherwise, why would we pay top price, say hundreds of dollars, for a pair of sneakers or a smart phone or some other product that costs very little to make in China? Clearly, it’s the story we tell ourselves about said product, and it’s the same story we embellish and tell our family and friends afterwards.
If you have a story to tell, Godin points out 9 attributes of successful stories to capture your audience’s imagination. Please note that while the book has a tongue-in-cheek approach to lying, you must tell the truth and your story must be authentic to resonate with your audience. And this is a perfect segue into the first feature:
1. A great story is true. “Not true because it’s factual, but true because it is consistent and authentic. Consumers are too good at sniffing out inconsistencies for a marketer to get away with a story that’s just slapped on.”
2. Great stories make a promise. “They promise fun or money, safety or a shortcut. The promise is bold and audacious and not just very good—it’s exceptional or it’s not worth listening to.”
3. Great stories are trusted. “Trust is the scarcest resource we have left. No one trusts anyone… As a result, no marketer succeeds in telling a story unless he has earned the credibility to tell that story.”
4. Great stories are subtle. “Surprisingly, the less a marketer spells out, the more powerful the story becomes. Talented marketers understand that the prospect is ultimately telling himself the lie, so allowing him (and the rest of the target audience) to draw his own conclusions is far more effective than just announcing the punch line.”
5. Great stories happen fast. “They engage the consumer the moment the story clicks into place. Great stories match the voice the consumer’s worldview was seeking, and they sync right up with her expectations.”
6. Great stories don’t appeal to logic, but they often appeal to our senses. “Pheromones aren’t a myth. People decide if they like someone after just a sniff. And the design of the Alessi teapot talks to consumers in a way that a fact sheet about boiling water never could.”
7. Great stories are rarely aimed at everyone. “Average people are good at ignoring you… If you need to water down your story to appeal to everyone, it will appeal to no one. [You need to] match the worldview of a tiny audience—and then that tiny audience spreads the story.”
8. Great stories don’t contradict themselves. “Consumers are clever and they’ll see through your deceit at once.” Make sure you are congruent, constant and consistent in the story you tell.
9. Great stories agree with our worldview. “The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead, the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes the members of the audience feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place.”
ACTION
TODAY: Are you telling a story to your customers? Analyze the story against Godin’s points. How good is it? How can you make it better in an authentic way that will resonate with their worldview?
FUTURE: Whenever you are about to tell a story about your business, your products or services, run it by the 9 points above to make sure that it will indeed resonate with your customers. In the trite-but-true example, remember that people don’t want a drill; they want a hole in the wall to hang the family picture of a lovely and most memorable vacation.
Know someone who needs to tell a better story? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Marketing, Planning, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 39 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 5 Theses of the power of a presentation
— From Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power[point].” –Abraham Lincoln
And with this fantastic quote [and its oh-so-funny addition] begins Slide:ology, a great, practical book by Nancy Duarte on how to craft great presentations and slides. We all have been at presentations where the slides are insufferable. (!) And if we are lucky, we have also been at (or watched on video) incredibly moving, beautiful, memorable presentations, such as TED Talks. What’s the difference, above and beyond the delivery? The visuals. You can have death by PowerPoint (very funny video), in which the slides act as a crutch for the presenter and are a true distraction for the audience. Or you can have slides that “act as a visual aid to reinforce the presenter’s message,” and help with recall of the main points afterwards.
“The audience will either read your slides or listen to you. They will not do both. So, ask yourself this: is it more important that they listen, or more effective if they read?” If they read, there’s no point in doing a presentation. “People will love you for respecting their time enough to use the media appropriately.”
“Communication is about getting others to adopt your point of view, to help them understand why you’re excited (or sad, or optimistic, or whatever else you are). If all you want to do is create a file of facts and figures, then cancel the meeting and send in a report.” – Seth Godin
Duarte created a manifesto with 5 theses that are the foundation on which powerful presentations stand. They may seem basic, but sometimes we need a reminder of the obvious, since we are so involved in the project that we don’t see it. I’m sharing the 5 points with you here verbatim as I think they have enormous merit.
- Treat your audience as king. “They didn’t come to your presentation to see you. They came to find out what you can do for them. Success means giving them a reason for taking their time, providing content that resonates, and ensuring it’s clear what they are to do.”
- Spread ideas and move people. “Creating great ideas is what we were born to do; getting people to feel like they have a stake in what we believe is the hard part. Communicate your ideas with strong visual grammar to engage all their senses and they will adopt the ideas as their own.”
- Help them see what you are saying. “Epiphanies and profoundly moving experiences come from moments of clarity. Think like a designer and guide your audience through ideas in a way that helps, not hinders, their comprehension. Appeal not only to their verbal senses, but to their visual senses as well.”
- Practice design, not decoration. “Orchestrating the aesthetic experience through well-known but oft-neglected design practices often transforms audiences into evangelists. Don’t just make pretty talking points. Instead, display information in a way that makes complex information clear.”
- Cultivate healthy relationships. A meaningful relationship between you, your slides, and your audience will connect people with content. Display information in the best way possible for comprehension rather than focusing on what you need as a visual crutch. Content carriers connect with people.”
Lastly, always remember the Golden Rule of presentations: “Never deliver a presentation you wouldn’t want to sit through.”
ACTION
TODAY: Watch one or more TED Talks and look at the visuals (here are one, two, and three presentations with slides from the 25 most popular TED Talks of all time). Notice how they help drive the point home. What made them memorable? How was the information displayed so that it delivered the idea/message and made it memorable?
FUTURE: Here are Seth Godin’s rules to avoid Really Bad PowerPoint. Go through them as well as through the 5 theses above every time you have to build a slide deck so that you can ensure that it will be successful and well received by your audience. And if you love design as much as I do and want to learn more about it to apply it to all aspects of your life, here’s an awesome free online course (one lesson per week, learn at your own pace).
Know someone who needs to improve their PowerPoint skills? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
