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Category: Word of Mouth

Don’t Look Like an Ad

My radio ads were roundly criticized when I first started doing them the way Roy H. Williams taught me. The biggest criticism was, “They don’t even sound like an ad!”

Good.

That was my goal.

Filters In Play
We are bombarded with advertising – over 5,000 advertising impressions a day! Our brains can’t handle all that info. Our brains don’t want all that info. Our brains realize most of it is useless and irrelevant. So our brains filter as much of it out of our lives as they can. If it looks or sounds like an ad, the brain shuts off and says don’t look, don’t listen.

The more your ads look or sound like everyone else’s ads, the less likely you’ll get the attention of your target audience. (Not to mention the less you’ll stand out in the crowd.)

Here is the script of the most successful radio ad we’ve ever run…

I couldn’t believe it. They were taking customers into the men’s bathroom. Yes, my staff was taking men and women, young and old into our men’s bathroom. And the customers were coming out laughing and giggling, oh yeah, and buying, too. I guess when you find a product that cool, you just have to show it off however and wherever you can. The men’s bathroom, gotta love it. Toy House in downtown Jackson. We’re here to make you smile.

I ran that ad in August 2008. I still have customers asking about the men’s bathroom two years later. It doesn’t sound like an ad. There was no music or jingle behind it. Just my voice plain and unvarnished.

It Really Works
It didn’t look or sound like anything else on the radio, so people heard it. And people responded. We have now sold over 2200 of the product hinted at in the ad, mostly because of trips to the men’s bathroom. That ad had legs because we were willing to be different from all the other advertisements on the air, which got us past the filter and into the minds of our customers.

One of the benefits of such an ad is that we also generated a lot of word-of-mouth from it. Everyone was talking about our ad, the local deejays, the newspaper, the local TV, and oh yeah, a whole bunch of customers.

The Wrong Way
But none of that would have happened if it looked and sounded like an ad. I could have written an ad like this…

It fills up your room with a starry night and puts your mind at ease. The greatest new sleep aids, the Twilight Turtle and Twilight Ladybug, are helping parents get their children happily to sleep. If your kids are struggling with bedtime, make sure you get them a Twilight Turtle or Ladybug for their room and watch the transformation. Bedtime becomes fun time when you have the Twilight Turtle or Ladybug in your child’s room. Available at the Toy House.

Sales would be in the dozens, not thousands with an ad like that. And I can guarantee no one would be talking about it.

Your message is good. You just need to deliver it more powerfully. When your ads don’t look or sound like ads, more people will pay attention.

-Phil

PS For more examples of radio ads I have used, click here.

Field of Dreams

“If you build it, he will come.” -Shoeless Joe Jackson, Field of Dreams

Great movie. Bad advice for business.

Yet too many independents start out that way, thinking all they have to do is build a wonderful little shop and people will climb all over themselves to get in and give them money.

Roy H. Williams said, “If making a profit were easy, everyone would be doing it.” But not everyone is making a profit. Those who aren’t making a profit are closing their doors. And the first complaint out of their mouth is that they didn’t get enough traffic, followed quickly by the blame…

  • The downtown doesn’t have enough parking.
  • The Buy Local campaign didn’t advertise me enough.
  • The city didn’t support me.
  • The newspaper wouldn’t write a story about our opening.
  • There just aren’t enough people in the area.
  • No one knew about me because of the sign ordinance.
  • Unemployment is too high.
  • People are too cheap.

You know somebody who has made one of these statements. Heck, you probably have thought one or two of them.

Yet there are businesses thriving in hard-hit downtowns, thriving in high unemployment locales, thriving in spite of a lack of support from government, the newspaper, or a Buy Local campaign, thriving without coupons, discounts or cheap products.

You Have To Market Yourself
One of the biggest things they are doing differently is Marketing. Just building a store is not enough. We are over-retailed as it is. The most successful businesses are making a conscious choice to actively and creatively market themselves to the public. They are creating marketing messages, marketing plans, and mapping out new and unique ways to attract customers.

You Can Afford It
And it doesn’t cost as much as you think. There are many ways to advertise your business spending primarily time, not money. You can learn seven of them by downloading my FREE eBook Main Street Marketing on a Shoestring Budget.

And if you have the money to spend, before you drop a dime get to know how the different advertising mediums work with two more FREE eBooks – How Ads Work Part 1 and How Ads Work Part 2.

The movie is wonderful. But it is just a movie. In real life the quote is:

If you Market it, they will come.

-Phil

Don’t Alienate Your Fans

At the Michigan Downtown Conference two speakers talked about sign ordinances. The first was Sheila Bashiri, City Planner from the city of Birmingham, MI, a well-to-do suburb of Detroit nestled in amongst the other wealthy suburbs.

Because Of or In Spite Of?
Birmingham has the most strict sign ordinance in Michigan, so strict that some of the slides Sheila showed us of attractive signage wouldn’t even be allowed in her city. Yet many retailers want to be part of that bustling downtown. And Sheila claimed that her sign ordinance was a main reason for their success.

I guess the dense population of millionaires is only a secondary cause of the businesses thriving there.

The next speaker, Robert Gibbs, mentioned how much he liked the Birmingham sign ordinance and how all communities should adopt it for their business districts. In a private conversation afterwards, he went so far as to tell me that all existing businesses in those districts should be given 5 years to change their signs or move out.

Does he really believe Frankenmuth should tell Bronner’s and their two million visitors a year to take down the billboards or get the f*** out? Or that Ann Arbor should give Zingerman’s a remove the ugly trailer and all that neon outside the Roadhouse or else ultimatum? Hugely successful, yet eccentric retailers are what give our cities their character.

Businesses do not thrive because of sign ordinances. They thrive in spite of them because the city has the population base to support them and the stores are taking care of that population. Period. End of story. Sure, a well-crafted sign ordinance can give a city a uniform characteristic and look, but that does not draw traffic or grow business. The stores draw the traffic because of who they are and what they do. And signs are what help you find those stores.

It is no wonder that most downtowns are struggling. There is a huge disconnect between the city leaders/planners and the businesses that pay their taxes. Both of these speakers advocated not having businesses in the discussion for things like sign ordinances. Both believed that only city leaders should make decisions on what they want their business district to be.

A Business Lesson
That would be the same as you not listening to your customers. You wouldn’t do that would you? Of course not! You will value some customers’ opinions more than others. But if you aren’t listening to your best customers, they won’t be your best customers for long.

Don’t make the mistake others are making. Listen to your best customers. Include them in your plans. Not only will you make better plans because of it, you’ll empower those same customers to become evangelists for your business. By giving them a say in the matter, they will be your strongest advocates, and give you incredible word-of-mouth exposure.

Not everyone has an unlimited supply of millionaires. Take care of those who are taking care of you. That’s a lesson for retailers and for cities.

-Phil

How Long is Your Shoestring?

The term “Shoestring Budget” dates back far enough that no one really knows who or how it got started. Some say it’s because shoestrings are so low to the ground and your budget is really low. Some say it’s because shoestrings are so cheap that they’re all you can afford. Some say it’s because broken shoelaces were used to tie together all your other belongings, meager that they were. One theory I liked was in reference to shoestring gamblers, gamblers without a lot of money who played low stakes games.

Regardless of it’s origin, most independent retailers have a Shoestring Budget when it comes to your marketing. And most of your marketing is a gamble, spending X hoping to get Y in return.

On Monday I did a presentation at the Michigan Downtown Conference called Main Street Marketing on a Shoestring Budget.

The notes for that presentation are now downloadable in the Freebies section of www.PhilsForum.com.

Those of you who want to learn the truth behind Word-of-Mouth Advertising, how to use Social Media properly, or would like a way to turn all those requests for donations into actual business for your store will download this document.

Those of you who want to learn an easy way to turn your customers into fans, a simple way to draw traffic at only $2.50 per new customer (guaranteed), or want to learn how to meet people that can make a difference in your business will download this document.

Those of you who want to learn two techniques that will strengthen all the businesses on your Main Street at once will download this document.

The rest of you can continue to gamble with your shoestrings. But I’m betting that a lot of you are going to download this document and pass it along to your friends (strongly encouraged).

Did I tell you it’s FREE?

-Phil

Your Actions Tell Us Who You Are

A friend and colleague of mine had an experience using Groupon, a company that sells discounted coupons online to your store, that went horribly wrong. Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor, did a Case Study on his blog. (Go ahead and read it… I’ll wait)

In a nutshell, Kim made an incredible offer that sold in far greater quantities than anyone expected and will end up costing her tons more money than she will recoup in new business.

It is a cautionary tale about discounting that Bob Phibbs so eloquently points out. There are so many lessons that could be learned from this, but I want to bring up something that stuck out like a sore thumb, especially in light of all the comments made by Groupon supporters (plants?) putting all of the blame on Kim.

Yes, Kim made mistakes, but the company did nothing to help her.

Two Mistakes
Kim’s first mistake was to make such a big offer with so little restrictions. But the people at Groupon allowed it to happen. They had the power to say, “Hey Kim, you might want to re-think this.” But they didn’t. They knew they would sell a lot of coupons and make a lot of money with the offer Kim was making.

The second problem happened when the coupon sales took off. Kim noticed the problem, asked Groupon to halt sales and they refused. They told her it was her mistake and she had to live with the consequences. Of course they didn’t want to halt sales. They were making a mint.

Your Actions Give You Away
Look at the signals Groupon sent through their actions to Kim, and subsequently everyone who knows Kim.

First signal… By not helping Kim write up a proper offer, they said that the almighty dollar was far more important to them than the success of the client.

Second signal… By not halting the process in the middle when it was known by all parties that something was wrong, they said that the profit from this one transaction was worth more than any repeat business could generate. They certainly weren’t going to get repeat business from Kim after treating her that way.

More importantly, you can pretty much infer from this encounter that they already know their model is not good for their clients and don’t expect repeat business, so they are willing to do whatever possible to maximize their own return on what they believe is their one and only shot with you.

Bad News Travels Fast
Between Bob’s blog and Kim’s telling everyone she knows about this experience, Groupon is getting a lot of negative publicity and people are seeing from their actions what Groupon truly believes. Their actions speak loudly of their credibility (or lack thereof).

Do you ever have customers who don’t shop with you “the right way”? Do you ever have customers that make mistakes? Do you ever have customers that want to make changes half way through? Do you help them get it right or do you let them fail just so that you can keep the sale?

How you treat your customers when things go wrong speaks loudly to them and their friends of who you are and what you believe. Groupon showed it’s true colors. What are yours?

-Phil

Help Me Choose A Workshop

At many conferences we have breakout sessions – three or four different topics and speakers from which you can choose.

I struggle with these because I usually want to attend more than one, and cloning has not reached the level to allow me that luxury. And trying to decide between one session and another is tough.

I need your feedback here…

I’m going to give you four options for sessions you could attend. For the sake of argument, let’s assume all the speakers are well-qualified to talk on their respective subjects and you can only attend one of those sessions.

Which session will you attend and why?

Session #1 – Marketing & Advertising on a Shoestring Budget
Learn the smartest ways to get the most out of your limited advertising resources. This class will show you how to use Social Media the right way, teach you new ways to market your business without spending a dime, how to get a guaranteed return on the money you do spend on advertising, and why you’re not getting the word-of-mouth you think you deserve (and how to change that). Every attendee will leave with at least four inexpensive ways to increase traffic and sales that they can implement right away.

Session #2 – Everyone has Customer Service, You Need Customer Delight
This session will show you how to train your staff to consistently give your customers far more than they expect. Topics covered include how to meet and greet your customers the right way, understanding the different customer temperaments, how to solve their problems, and how to finish each sale leaving the customer happier than when they came in. Each attendee will get a blueprint for training their staff including role-play examples and key phrases to avoid.

Session #3 – Knowing the Numbers, It’s Your Money After All
You can just hand over your financials to your accountant and hope for the best, or you can learn the numbers yourself and make them work for you. This class is for the financials novices who wish to learn simple ways to understand the financials behind their business. You will learn how to calculate important numbers like Cost of Goods Sold, Gross & Net Profit, and the many different ratios that banks use to determine if your business is growing or dying. When you finish this class, you’ll know exactly where your money is, what it is (or isn’t) doing for you and how to make it better.

Session #4 – Cash Flow Basics – How Smart Buyers Make More Money
When is a deal from your vendor too good to pass up? When is a discount not worth the loss of cash flow? How do you know when you have too much inventory? Too little? These and other questions will be answered in this buyer’s workshop including tools you can use to increase your cash flow and make you more money. You don’t need a point-of-sale system to be a better buyer. You just need to know these simple principles of buying that dramatically change your financial picture.

Which will you choose and why?

-Phil

How Much Marketing Does it Take?

Here are some of the ways I have decided to market my new book…

  • Face-to-Face Sales – I do speaking engagements all around the country and get opportunities to sell my book one at a time to attendees. Plus, I sell it in my store. And I always have a few copies with me wherever I go (sold two at a recent birthday party!)
  • Web Marketing – I have it for sale on my website
  • Blog Marketing – Yeah, this is the fourth time I’ve talked about it to you.
  • YouTube – already one video review online about the book, more coming…
  • Facebook – The book has it’s own page, positive reviews starting to come in.
  • Friend Blogging – I have given away a few free copies to influential friends who have blogged about it or at least given it some link love (one of those links increased my blog traffic by a factor of 15!)
  • Direct to Buying Groups – There are retail buying groups made up of independent retailers to whom I am reaching out.
  • Radio – I already did one radio interview, working on setting up more
  • TV – Ditto
  • Newsprint – I will be profiled soon in the local paper as a local author, working on getting profiled in other papers, too.
  • Human Resource Professors – this is tougher nut for me to crack, but I am working on making contact with HR Professors to try to get this book into their hands and into their classrooms
  • Human Resource Professionals – I have been following HR groups on LinkedIn, posting where applicable, getting involved in discussions, and getting to know other people there. Soon I will be enlisting their help in spreading the word.

As you can see from this list, there is a lot I am doing to market one tiny little book on Hiring & Training.

How does this apply to your business? Simple. All of the above marketing techniques are basically free. They only cost me time and a few free books. If you don’t have enough business, then you have enough time to get cranking on any one of them. (Yes, they are all applicable to your business – email me if you can’t see how.)

-Phil

Who is Your BFF?

Had lunch today with one of my best friends. Good food, good conversation, and more than a few laughs.

Got me thinking about why he’s my friend. We certainly have common interests – go to the same church, hang out with the same people, have boys of a similar age. But there are more than a few people that fit that profile with whom I am not close friends.

Why him over others?

Two reasons come to mind…

  1. Shared experiences
  2. Insider information

Shared Experiences

We’ve done a lot together over the past 15 years – parties, kid events, Red Wings games, travel. Just the proximity of doing things together builds a bond of friendship. Taking our kids to the fireworks, grilling in the backyard, and spending New Year’s Eve together bring us even closer.

Insider Information

You can’t do that much together and not know a little more about a person than the average public knows. Yeah, we share some secrets. More importantly, because we know how each other ticks, we know how to act and react appropriately to keep the friendship humming. Those insights are part of the glue that holds our friendship together.

That’s why we’re BFF’s.

Here’s a question for you…

How do you turn your customers into BFF’s?

I believe it’s the same way – Shared Experiences & Insider Information. When you actively get involved in their visits by getting to know more about them and sharing more about yourself, you will quickly find those customers becoming more loyal and more vocal about you.

There are thousands of people who fit the profile of what your perfect customer should be, but few of them are loyal, vocal customers. Put your focus on getting to know them and sharing experiences in your store with them and that will change. They will soon be your new BFF’s.

-Phil

I Served Them Ice Cream

Staff Meeting. 8:30am. Ice cream served.

Ice cream for breakfast?

Some loved it. One employee had two bowls.

Some hated it. Who would eat ice cream for breakfast?

Some were indifferent. “No thanks, I had a bagel.”

Kinda like your business, right? Some love you, some hate you, some are indifferent.

Do you know what causes people to love you – the proverbial ice cream for breakfast that you serve?

Are you willing to serve that ice cream at 8:30am just for those that love it against all conventional thinking? That’s what the best stores do (metaphorically speaking). And their best customers reward them with loyalty and evangelism.

Think about it…

Apple Stores – you can’t have a store without cash registers!
Whole Foods – there’s no long-term market for expensive, organic/natural/gluten-free foods being pushed upon the public through fancy displays
Nordstrom’s – you can’t take everything back no questions asked – people will take advantage of you

Yet, those three stores were ranked #1, #2, #3 in RetailWire’s survey of best customer shopping experiences.

They are all serving ice cream at 8:30am.

As Seth Godin recently pointed out, it’s easier to serve ice cream to those who want it than to change the mind of those who think it’s weird.

What are you scooping out for your best customers?

-Phil

New Freebie for Non-Profits

I’ve just posted a new eBook in the Freebies section of my website titled Non-Profit Marketing on a Shoestring Budget.

It’s my notes from the presentation I gave yesterday to the Jackson Non-Profit Support Network about simple ways non-profits can improve their marketing without spending a ton of money.

Thanks, Regina, for the opportunity to speak to your group. They are doing important work and I was glad to have this opportunity to support them.

If you’re in a non-profit or know someone running a non-profit, click here to see what I said.

-Phil

PS Printing more than one copy – or distributing the free eBooks electronically – is not only legal, but is actively encouraged. Please share the documents in the Freebies Section with anyone you think would benefit. Pass them along to coworkers, colleagues and friends with my blessing. You may also reprint the text in your own writings as long as you credit the author (me:-).