AMiable Solution #225: Unpredictable

This morning I heard a well-known local weatherman say on the radio that he’s no longer surprised by this winter’s crazy weather.  In other words, he’s gotten used to having no idea what’s going to happen next.

Have you ever felt that way about your marketing promotions?  You used to think you knew what to expect and then--BAM!--the lack of response or sluggish response to a previously successful or predictable campaign leaves you scratching your head.

As a marketer, you’ve done what weather predictors have done for thousands of years: make observations and predict behaviors based on past patterns.  Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. 

Don’t let it get you down. 

Although weather forecasting has come a long way since the Babylonians days of cloud-watching, forecasters still sometimes get next week’s weather activity wrong or miss something entirely.

What does that mean for you as a marketer?  Should you just throw your hands in the air and give up?

Not at all.  Despite all of our best efforts, we can’t always predict what someone--a customer, a prospect, a member, or a donor--will do.  People are just unpredictable that way, and there are often circumstances beyond our control or our knowledge affecting our audiences’ decision-making processes.  So what can you do?

·        Continue tracking customer, donor, and member behavior and look for ways to draw out more feedback and insight from your market.  People do surprise us sometimes, but they generally follow patterns of behavior.  Check the timing of your promotion against previously successful campaigns.  Look at what’s going on in your industry.  Keep observing and predicting, and really study and analyze those promotions that don’t perform according to plan.

·        Re-evaluate your sales process.  Make sure you understand how your audience evaluates and buys a product or service, and then make sure your marketing strategies, offers, and copy fall in line.

·        Compare apples to apples.  If you’re comparing this year’s response to last year’s, make sure the campaigns you’re comparing are identical: same offer, same format, same costs, etc.  If the campaigns are different, or if your costs or the offers are different, then one campaign might naturally create a better response than the other. 

The bottom line?  Don’t give up.  Even if you didn’t get the response that you expected today, we can guarantee you this: the sun will rise again tomorrow.  

AMiable Solution #224: Love It or Leave It?

If you market a charity that benefits children, you probably don’t have any trouble getting behind your organization and the services it offers. 

You know that the work you do helps kids get the medical attention or the everyday necessities or the clean water that they need to survive and thrive.  You’ve seen pictures of volunteers and smiling little faces in action.  You can write impassioned marketing copy because you love being part of something so wonderful and fulfilling.

But if you market a trash collection service, you may feel less than enthusiastic about what you sell.  After all, trash is trash, right?  There’s nothing glamorous or life-changing about a truck that picks it up, right?

Does it matter?  Do you have to love, even like, what you market?

No.  You don’t have to love what you sell, but you do have to believe in it.  You do have to take the time to understand it.  To understand who it helps and how.  To understand what makes your company or organization good at what it does.  To understand what it does or how it does it that’s unique.

And you have to love helping people.  If you don’t, your market will hear it in your tone.  They’ll sense it in your descriptions. 

And they’ll wonder why they should care if you don’t.

AMiable Solution #223: Love Thy Competitor

As humans, our tendency is to speak poorly about people we don’t like.  As professionals, we tend not to like competing businesses or organizations.  The truth is, we should love them.

Why?  Competition helps us grow.  It makes us work harder and perform better.  It also helps create better opportunities for us.  Consider the following:

·        Studying your competition can help you choose your “pick me” strategy.  You can identify what makes your company or offer unique and gives you a differentiating factor to market to your audience.

·        Knowing who your competition targets can help you create your own niche.  Why fight over the same customers if you don’t have to?

·        Understanding your competition’s product lines or services can create new products or services for you.  You might like something your competition’s doing but have your own ideas for making it better or doing it differently.  You might simply have the expertise or resources to create a product or service that works great in conjunction with something your competitor offers.

Understanding what your competition’s doing not only helps you create a better marketing strategy, but it also gives you more perspective on what your target audience wants so that you can create better products and services for them.

So don’t bad-mouth your competitors.  Be thankful for them.  You’ll be better for it.

AMiable Solution #222: Three Ways to Show Your Customers Love

We all say we love our clients, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to send them mushy Valentine’s Day cards.  It’s not that type of relationship.  It is, however, a human one, one that demands that we treat our clients, donors, and members in the same caring, respectful way we treat our significant others.

How do you show love to your customers? 

1.      Listen to them.  And not just occasionally.  Every day.  Make it easy for them to communicate questions, concerns, complaints, compliments, and suggestions to you.  Be gracious and receptive to their feedback and insight.  Build trust and a relationship.

2.      Hire good people.  And we’re not just talking about good customer service people.  Your customer service department must be friendly and patient to help maintain good customer relationships, but the rest of your company should be filled with good people, too.  People who work well with others.  People who like to solve problems.  People with great imaginations and solid knowledge bases.

3.      Don’t be a poser.  You’ve met them.  People who pretended to be something they weren’t.  How long did those relationships last?  Not long, most likely.  No one wants to be in a relationship with someone who isn’t truthful with themselves or others, and no one wants to do business with an organization that puts up fronts or hides things from its market, either.  Be honest.  Be yourself.  And let your company’s personality shine.

Not all relationships last forever, but treating them with courtesy and kindness will give you a future worth talking about.

AMiable Solution #221: Increasing Trust in 2017: Insight from Social Media

Okay, we realize it seems a little sketchy to say we can learn any valuable marketing lessons from social media.  After all, people communicate differently from the comfort and seclusion of their electronic devices than they would face-to-face (have you seen the post-election ugliness going on?).

Regardless, the general appeal of social media lies in its ability to connect people.  In fact, according to the Statistic Brain Research Institute’s last count (September 2016), the ability to connect with family, friends, and old acquaintances is the main reason why millions of people (more than 1.3 million on Facebook alone) create and use profiles on social media sites.

So what can marketers learn from this?  People trust people like them.

And it’s not just a social lesson, either.  MarketingCharts.com reported this week that “60% (of consumers) would consider information they heard from a person like themselves to be very or extremely credible, on par with the proportion who would consider information from technical and academic experts to be credible.”

Why?  It’s a matter of trust.  According to MarketingCharts.com’s article, “The 10 Most Important Ways to Build Trust in Companies (According to Consumers),” a mere 37% of the world’s general population believe CEOs are credible, an all-time low.

How can CEOs and companies alike regain consumers’ trust?  Consider the following survey results:

• 62% of general population respondents would be more likely to believe a company’s social media posts than its advertising
• 54% deem blunt and outspoken styles more believable than diplomatic and polite ones
• 51% trust personal experience over data

Consumers do want the things you’d expect them to want: high-quality products or services, good customer service, and fair treatment of its employees.  But they also want your organization to be relatable.  Honest.  Accessible.  Able to communicate professionally but in their style and language. 

The growth and longevity of any relationship depends on a trust that is demonstrated and sustained.  How does your organization rate?

AMiable Solution #220: Growth from Within

If you want to improve your professional skills this year but don’t have the time or resources to travel or attend costly conferences or workshops, you can achieve your goals without ever leaving the office.

How?  Think about the skills you’d like to improve.  Maybe you’d like to be a better time manager.  Maybe you’d like to develop better analytical thinking.  Maybe you wish you had a fresh outlook on old subjects. 

Now look around your office.  Which of your colleagues excel in the area where you’d like to improve?  Pick one (or two, if they’re willing) and get learning.  You can’t expect anyone to drop everything to help you, but you can talk to a colleague or supervisor about your interest in improving your own skills based on theirs and suggest one or more of the following:

1.      Have a lunch meeting.  While you’re not going to make any massive, life-altering changes in just an hour or two, you can start to get a feel for the information you’re looking for--without taking up too much of your colleague’s time--over lunch.  Ask questions.  Get advice.  Learn about his/her process for achieving certain tasks.  You may find that one lunch leads to two, two leads to three, etc.

2.      Request collaboration on a project.  Seeing your mentor in action will help you better hone the skill you’re trying to improve.  It will also give your mentor insight into your approaches and habits, making it easier for him or her to offer suggestions and guidance.

3.      If appropriate and possible, review his/her past projects, reports, etc.  Study them.  Learn from them.  See how they differ from your own.

4.      Be a shadow.  See if you can follow your mentor around for a day or two.  Study how the individual manages his/her time, prioritizes tasks, handles complications, interacts with others, etc.

Even if your colleagues/mentors of choice can’t help you right now, don’t give up.  Most likely they’ll be flattered that you’ve taken interest in their strengths and want to help you in one way or another when they can.  Be patient.  Be observant.  And most of all, be grateful.

AMiable Solution #219: Time Cheats

Trying to fit 10 hours of work into eight?  These 12 time-saving shortcuts will help you get through your day and on your way home:

·        Recycle.  Reuse text, headlines, formats, layouts, even graphics from older, successful campaigns and promotions.

·        “To-do” tonight.  Don’t wait until morning to make your to-do list.  Create your list at the end of each day so that you’re ready to start tackling your tasks as soon as arrive the next morning.

·        Say no.  Helping a colleague is great, especially since you’ve likely asked for help once or twice before, but don’t fall into the habit of doing others’ work.  Make sure you and your colleagues know that you have responsibilities and priorities that come first.

·        Go team!  You may be able to delegate a task or two of your own, but you can’t expect to be able to dump all of your work on someone else’s lap, so why not find a co-worker or two to work with?   As CIPHR, a U.K.-based provider of software and services for people and data management said in its February 13, 2014, blog, by working as a team you’ll be able to complete tasks efficiently and in less time than an individual might.  “Not all tasks are suited for a team to work on,” CIPHR warns, “but if you require assistance and the use of a colleague’s particular skills, then ask them if they can book some time to assist.”

·        Do the dreaded tasks first.  Jonathan Long, Founder of Market Domination Media®, says in his August 11, 2014, Entrepreneur.com article that unattractive tasks will “consume your thoughts until they are completed.” He suggests doing them first so that you “have a clear head to plow through the rest of your tasks.”

·        Address problems right away.  Again, putting off problems not only complicates them, but it also distracts you from other tasks you’re working on.

·        Write it down.  If something crosses your mind that you want to remember to do or research, or someone you need to call or follow-up with, make yourself a note.  We’ve experienced the frustration of trying to remember what you needed to do and wasted precious time doing it.

·        Work from home.  If your office permits it, try to work from home once a week or pay period.  You’ll save time lost to commuting and to regular office distractions.

·        Go to work earlier.  We tend to have our most productive hours in the morning.  Take advantage of that energy and focus--and of fewer colleagues/distractions at that hour--and get more done while you can.

·        Eat lunch later.  Just like getting in to work earlier buys you some more quiet and alone time, eating later than most of your colleagues can have the same effect.  Plus, you’ll get more done before the post-lunch slump hits.

·        Focus, focus, focus.  Multi-tasking isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.  Pick one task and focus on it only.  You’ll do a better job in less time.

·        Keep up with the Joneses.  Identify the achievers in your office and try to keep up.  No one said peer pressure is always bad.